The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-09-25 00:00:00

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF DEATH.

Dying, considered as a mere physical act, I can con-
scientiously and truly affirm, produces in my mind not
the least alarm. I view the point of dissolution, or the
period' of total cerition,- as the last link in a process
which: has been prey**. going On, and Only differing
from the-nther links', just in being-the _last. , Death may
be said to consist of two parts-Ist, the annihilation of
the sensitive powers; 2d, the consequent termination of
the vital functions, the- moment the first of these states
obtains death, in, the true sense. of the ternkbas taken
place. The occurrence of the- second state is merely. a
result of the• first, rendering the phenomenon more pet-
ceptible to our senses. Thus the latter, or vital functions,
(with the exception of respiration or bteathing,) viz-. :
circulation, digestion, nutrition, assimilation, &c. &c.,
go on for a considerable time after death, that is, after
sensation and volition are lost fur ever. The period,
therefore, at which the sensitive powers of
.the brain ate
terminated is death, and at this moment the body can no
more be regarded as• in the act of dying, than at any
other period of the disease. The act of dying is but the
tertnjnation of an established process, which may have
been,..more perceptibly, or more, silently working pnt its
own purpose, but which, in so far as the body is_concerned,
is identically the same in its nature at the period of its
close, as it was during the whole of its progress. In cases
of recovery, our sufferings terminates by the removal of
the cense ; in What is called death, by our. becoming in-
sensible to its effects. The genetally entertained sup-
position that extreme pain is necessarily attendant upon
the last moments, receives do countenance whatever,
from the view we have taken of the physiology of death.
For since we assert that death consists in the complete
extinction of the sensitive principle as connected with the
functions of vitally, and if it were true that this act of
total extinction is accompanied with agony and suffering,
it must hold equally true that the temporary cessation of
these principles, which for the time being is just as com-
plete as if it were final, ought, by a parity of reasoning,
to be attended with similar enduring. BO the reverse
of this we know to be the fact, as is clearly shewn in cases
of suspended animation, and in several other diseases.
In these instances, 'after the process of'dying.may be said
to haye been completed, it is under certain circumstances
not,ton late,to arrest that process and restore the sufferer
to,_the perfe2t enjoyment of his faculties. In all these
cases the patient awakes as from some deep and dream-
less sleep, perfectly unconscious of the state of existence
through which he has just passed, and equally unconscious
of any attendant suffering connected With it. The im-
mediate termination of life, or that stage which precedes
our ceasing either to act, or will, (which is death) it is
true, often seems to evince a direful struggle, but this
'observation and investigation clearly demonstrate to be
!more in appearance than reality, for the evidence ofithose
individuals who. have recovered from the most desperate
and hopeless condition go to show that in reference to
that condition, and to every thing connected with the
material world, they were perfectly unconscious. In
many cases, again, whilst to the eye of the weeping
relatives, the heavy sweats—the heaving chest—the hip-
pooralie countenance—would seem to indicate the pre-
sence and the power of some fearful agony within. ,
supposed sufferer has in reality no need for such sympathy
.—calm and composed in the apparent conflict, he feels
within him only the rising and ripening of a principle as
incapable of injury as it is of annihilation, and which is in
fact already (amidst the decay of organized life) partially
enjoying the exquisite pleasures of its approaching
felicity, and catching -from the vantage ground of the
krave the distant sounds and symphonies of paradise.
We are aware that many preachers, either front igno-
rance, or from an attempt to obtain a certain species orl
popularity, invest the subject we have been discussing
with all the horrors which their crude and vitiated imagi-
nations can suggest, and thus create the most fearful alarm
in the minds of the timid and the fanciful—surely such
practices cannot be too much deprecated. It is true that
the curse runs, that in the day thou eatest thereof. thou
shalt die, but !it is not asserted that this death must
necessarily be attended with severe suffering. We were
insensible of pain at the nioment of birth; and when the
silver cord is loosed at that moment we shall feel nothing.
Perhaps the first act of consciousness that shall obtain in
our new state of existence will be our certainty of the
immediate presence of the Author of our beingt apd the
realities of that state where there Shall. be neithe,r_ the
mutations of change nor the possibility of decay.--From
Dr. C. Miller's Lectures-vn the Physiology of Man.

- -
CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

O'CONNELL AT GLASGOW.—The reception of the Pig'
Beggarman was neither flattering nor enthusiastic. Few,
comparatively speaking, even, wept to witness the ap-
proach of the arch-agitator, and his travel-soiled adherents
who walked in procession, excited nothing but derision
and contempt. In point of a ,tubers, they were utterly
beneath regard ; and; as to raiment, though there were
all. the colours of the rainbow displayed in the motley
.group, there was nothing either.fanci fill or elegant. With
the exception of about fifty, the gathering was composed
of the lowest Irish; and, notwithstanding their parade
through two streets of protestant Glisgow was considered
to be a gross insult to the religious feelings of the mass
of the inhabitants, they were permitted to befOol them-
selves after their own fashion without the slightest inter-
ruption or annoyance. When the Agitator appeared, no
one cried " God bless him." He wended his way through
masses of people, whom nothing but curiosity had col-
lected, uncheered by a single symptom of applause, while
on their laces could be read the stern displeasure with
which they, regarded the desperate effrontery of this
political mountebank and enemy to protestantisrn, in
venturing within the walls of this once stronghold of the
Reformed Church.--The. members of the Clique having
any pretensions to respectability, who aocompanied -
seemed utterly miserable. Every one appeared as if he
had taken an emetic in the morning, and all seemed
agoniOngly sensible of the ludicrous situation in which
they ?la ed-them lees. before their felim;i-citlieris, by
dragging the chariot wheels of the mendacious mendicant,
whom, at the command of the present ministry, they were
desired to honour.

O'Connell's speeches, on his tour through England
and Scotland, have hitherto been one and the same, with
one or two slight verbal alterations, and consequently
are not worth recording. • The speech he spoke at Man-
chester was repeated at Newcastle. and what he said
there was served Up to his gaping slaves at Edinburgh.
Here it was the same. Never was there a greater huM-
bagger, or a more arrant charlatan in politics. His
mission to Scotland will, however, open the eyes of the
country to his designs, and those of the contemptible
ministry•with whom he, for the present, acts in concert.
courier,