Read the following excerpt from As I Lay Dying.
5. In a bed where people lie down all the time, the joints
and seams are made sideways, because the stress is
sideways.
6. Except.
7. A body is not square like a crosstie.
8. Animal magnetism.
9. The animal magnetism of a dead body makes the
stress come slanting, so the seams and joints of a
coffin are made on the bevel.