Star.
London, England, 1816-07-26 00:00:00

' -ON THE .TREiTIVENT OP THE DfNG. '
TO THIt mbrroß. .
-SIR—. 114. iing formerly entered pretty fully4nto the
means proper to be purrued when the silent of life
have become indistinct. or have entirely disappeared,
let us now turn our attention to the dying, a subject
worthy of the must serious investigation, as relating
to the manner in which every one ought to be treated
in their last momenta. It not unfrequently happens
that those who are in a dying state, become ;effect)?
sensible of their situation, anti submit to their fate
with composure and tesignatiOn. In this case, lo long
as the patient retains his senses he may be permitted
to direct his own aff.airs, both in his religious curies,
and in taking leave of his sorrowing friends. He
ought not to be perpetually teased to take medicines,
which now can be of no avail; but the offering a
little fluid, as occasion may require, will be beneficial,
so long as he retains the power Of swallowing. This
duty must be regulated .according to existing circum
stances, and renders it still in the power of medical
attendants, by judicious management, to pay that
kind of attention which is grateful to the dying, and
satisfactory to the friends. The still nearer approach
of death is indicated by a rattling noise in the throat;
by throwing out the arms, which 'is done to dilate the
chest ; by the interval between each expiration be-
coming greater; and by an increasing degree of
stupor : thus the world passes from his eyes, and he
gradually sinks into the silent tomb. Gently sup.
porting the head, and raising the body a little, as
respiration becomes difficult, tends to alleviate the
dreadful sense of suffocation that many feel from the
head laying low, an uneasy position, which adds
much to their sufferings. The room should be kept
quiet, and not crowded with people, and the friends
retrain from loud lamentations; for although the dying
appear unable to attend to surrounding objects, they
are often, even to the last, perfectly sensible, and con-
scious of what is going forward. Recalling them
again from the commencement of insensibility, either
by the loud griefol the relatives, or by the attendants
endeavouring to produce pain, is only increasing their
sufferings, and can' do no good. In some places it
is customary to remove those whose death is lingering
from off their beds, the attendants having an absurd
idea that they cannot die whilst in bed. This is a
most baneful practice: it is adding greatly to the mi.
series of the patient, without doing any good—it is
preventing a hope for life, when that remains, and it
is also a needless piTce of cruelty. There is another
custom, wry frequently followed in this country, and
I believe, almost throughout the kingdom, which
Dr. Ferriar. in his truly valuable treatise, " On the
Treat searsi of the Dying," thus notices :46 When the
patient is supposed by the nurses to be nearly in a
dying state, they withdraw the pillows and In-Aster
from beneath his head, sometimes with such violence i
as to throw the head back, and to add greatly to the
difficulty of respiration. A full account of this in-
human custom may be seen in a tract preserved by
Valentini, drawn up by a German lawyer, in which
he asserts, that. the patiepts have been repeatedly suf-
focated in this manner, when there was no reason to
expect death from the symptoms of the disease. As
the avowed motive for this barbarity is a desire to
tut the patient out offrain, that is, to put him to death,
it is incumbent on his friends to preserve him front the
hands of those executioners." The expression, 44 pull.
.away the pillow—let him die l"--is, with many, a ,
tottiesston phrase, in cases at lingering death. Wnet24
the fatal catastrophe has taken place, we may, in the
words of our immortal bard, I

" Close up his eyes, and draw the certain close

And let tis an to nsiditation."
The bed, and every thing about it, should remain un-
altered for some hours, and, only one or two persons
be left in the room. There is no occasion for that
great haste to lay out the body which generally takes
place, as the limbs do not speedily become rigid, and
by the cooling of the body, we may be certain that
sensibility is entirely extinguished. When death takes
place, with previous symptoms of excessive dekility,
hastily drawing away the clothes, and laying out the
body, cannot be too severely condemned. The fol-
lowing fact, which I can perfectly rely upon, will tend
to illustrate the absolute necessity of what is just ad
-
Winced :—A Gentleman, libcuring under typhus
fever, became so weak and low, that he was supposed
dead. In this state be was conscious of every thing
that passed, and heard his nurses say, We'll go
down and get our tea, and then come and lay him
out." Upon their return, lie, was so fir retoveted as
to be able to say blowly, 4, What noise is,that ?" He
eVentually got well, and lived many years; and fre-
quently declared it as his firm belief, that if his nurses
had laid him out before tea, and drawn the bed from
under him, he certainly must have perished.
I have thus stated some of the chief points to be
attended toin the treatment of the dying. - Those
who with for more minute informatiott may Consult
with advansge Dr. Ferriar's excellent treatise quoted
above. The idea of death is onc of those subjects
which gives to the mind of even the most thoughtless
an impression of melancholy'. They view with regret,
that world which they most shortie leave, and feel
an indescribable sensation. respecting what may be
their fate hereafter. The true Philosopher looksfor-
ward to that fatal period, when his time of probation
in this world shall be finished, with calmness and re-
signation. Religion teacbes, him death is the only pass-
port from this world into the regions of eternity. He
leaves the gloomy-minded Atheist, retired within his
own Chamber, to reason upon false principles, in en-
deavouring to explain the relation between cause and
effect; and says, in the words of a Reverend Divine,
when doubt perplexes him, ‘4 As iviiht covers with a
dark veil the little objects of this world, yet present
to me a multitude of bright stars, of suns (perhaps)
and worlds scattered over, the immensity of spice; so
death, when it shall cover me with its shade, will
cause a new light to spring up in my soul,. will dis.
cover a new universe, new, works of the GIMAT CREA.
von, more wonderful than those which will disappear
from my closing eyes !" To such a mind, little,
indeed, is the greatness of this earth. He treats with
proper contempt, the unmerited insolence and neglect
he too frequently receives from the affluent, and thinks
what -he may be—" when time itself shall be no
more !" Such, Oh Religion I is thisacred gift with
whAtt,hy followers are rewarded.—Your's, Etc.
, said. W. CRANE, jun. M.D.

The small-pox has recently prayed very fatal in
some parts of Staffordshire, in consequence of the ig-
norancrand obstinacy of the people, who refused to
their children the beutfit of vacciirauon.