embalming

[unpakwon]

Please make the following in red clear for me.

My fear of being buried alive was even more absurd: I don't imagine that---even back in the days before embalming was the rule---that one person in ten million was buried alive; yet I once cried for fear of it.

Is this saying "I think that (even back in the days before embalming was generally done) even one person in ten million was not buried alive. In other words, almost no one was buried alive even in the days"? And I'm not sure what "being buried alive" has to do with "embalming".

Thank you.

 

[SoothingDave]

When you are embalmed, they drain all of your blood out and replace it with chemicals to help preserve the body.

Your chances of being buried alive after embalming are exactly zero. The embalming will kill you if you are alive.

 

[Barb_D]

Or, hopefully, the mortician will notice that you are still alive before beginning the procedure, had you somehow been mistaken for dead!