Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1850-02-25
PAIN OF DYING.

guished from the pain of the previous disease,
for when life GIBBS sensbilty declines. AS
death is the final extinction OF corporeal feei-
ing, SO n1nbness increases as death comes on
The prosgation of disease, like healthtul fl
tigue, engenders & growing stupor-a sensation OF
subsding softly into coveted repose. The
transition resembles wha. may be seen in those
lofty mountains, whose sides exhibit every eli
mate in regular graduation; vegetation luxuriates
at their base and dwindles III the approach to the
regions Of snow till its feeblest manifestation is
repressed by the cold. The so called agony can
never be mere formidable than when the brain is
the last to go, and the mind preserves to the end
a rational cognizance of the state OF the body
Yet persons thus situated commonly attest that
there are few things in life less painful than the
close q If had strength enough to hold pel,"
said William Hunter, " | would write how easy
and delightful it is 10 die" If this be dying"
said the neice of Newton to Olney, " it is plea
SAINT thing to die;'' & the very EXPRESSION" adds
her uncle, +" which another friend of mine made
use Of on her death-bed few years ago" The
some words have frequently been uttered under
siynilar circumstances.
second and common condition of the dying
is TO be lost to themselves and all around them
ia utter Inconsistencies. Countenance and aes
lures might in many cases suggest that, however
dead to the external world an interior sensibiiity
aill remained. But we have the evidence of
those whom disease has left at the eleventh
hour, that while their supposed eufierinas were
pitied by their friends, existence was a blank
Wherever there is sensibity, virtual death pre-
eedes death itself, and to die is 10 awake In an
ether world.
The faculties survive, though averse 10 even
tbs faintest effort and they badly testify i'll Ian
guild and broken phrases that the torpor of the
body more than keeps pace with the jnerness of
the mind. The same report is given by those
who have advanced to the very border of the
country from whence ne traveller returns Mon
taigne after his accident passed for corpse, and
the first feeble indications Of returning lite re-
sernbled some of the contnonest symptoms OF
death. But his own feelings were those Of
man who is dropping into the sweets Of slun1ber,
and his longing was towards blank rest, and not
for recovery q Methought,a he says, my life
only hung upon my lips and l shut my eyes to
help 10 thrust it cut, aud took pleasure III ham
gushing and letting myself go,| In many OF.
these instances, as i'll the case of stupeiact9ol1,
there are appearances which we have learnt to
associate with suffering, because constantly con-
joined with it. A cold Precipitation bedews the
skin, the breathing is harsh and labored, and
Sometimes especially i'll delicate frames, death
is ushered in by convnlsiye movements which
look like the wrestling with an oppressive enc
my.-But they are Signs of debility and fail
ing system, which have no relation to pain.
There is not any situation in which steady
minds, and sweet dispositions evnce greater
superiority over the hasty and sensual part of
mankind but salf-control adapts it-elfto the or
binary exgencies Of life, and if surprised by
evils with which it has not bacn accustomed 10
measure its strength, the firmest nerve and the
sunnlest temper are overcome by the sudden
violence of the assault. unless the understand
ino ic ,HaefaJ irritab ilifx. apd
constantly diminish hen experience has shown
the wisdom and duty of patience, and there
soon springs up, with we'll ordered minds,
generous rivalry between submission on the one
hand, and forbearance on the other. From the
hour that sin and death entered into the world,
it was a mercy that disease aud decay should
enter too. sick-room is school of virtue,
whether we are spectators OF the mortality of
dearest connections or are experiencing our
own.
70 be shot is the easiest mode Of terminating
life /; yet rapid as it is; the body has leisure 10
feel, and the mind to reflect. In drowning, the
struggles at the outset are prompted by terror
not b. pala in the ajority OF instances pleas
ing languor succeeds, without any sense Of suf-
location.
That to be frozen to death must be frigh.f1
forturs, many would consider certain from their
own experience of the effects of cold But here
we fall into the usual error of supposing that
1he euaering will increase with the energy of the
agent. which could only be the case if sensibiI
ily remained the same. Intense cold brings on
speedy sleep, which lascinates the senses and
fairly beguiles men out Of their lives.
The most curious example Of the seductive
power Of cold is 10 he found III the adventures
Of the botanical party, who, in Cook s Ijlst yoy-
2gs, were caught i'll a snowsorm on Terra del
Fuego. DR.. Solanaer, by birth Swede, and
well acquainted with the destructive deeeits Of
a rigorous climate, admonishea the company, ia
defiance of lassitude, to keep moving on.
Whoever" said he, :" sits down will sleep
and whoever sleeps will perish" The doctor
spoke as sage, but he felt as man. In spite
of the renonstfances Of those whom he had
instructed and alarsaed he was the first TO lie
down. The same was repeated a thousand
times in the retreat from Moscow
Worse than the halter, axe, Or wheel, was the
Ere which, as typical Of the flames of hell was
employed in the blindness of theological fury to
commune the foremost Of the pilgrims 10 heaven.
The legs OF Bishop Hooper We're charred, and
his body scorohed, before he was fully envel
oped in the fire, which wind blew aside nor was
II Till the pile had been twice repleushed that he
bowed his head and gave up the ghost A sim
liar misfortune attended Ridley. An excess Of
fagots hindered the flames ascending and his
extremilies were in ashes when his body was
uusinged. Ridley yielded slightly to the die
tates of nature, and s,rugeled at The height Of
his proracted anguish Hooper remained i'm
movable as the stake to which he was chained.
For three quarters Of an hour his patience was
proof against the fury of the flames, and he
died at length as quietly as a child in its bed.
But the pain Of burning is of fearful intensity,
and the meek endurance of these heroes the
stake was the triumph of mind over the tortures
of the flesh.
The head, the hope, the supporter of those
who gave their bodies 10 be burnt, drank him,
self Of bitter cup. Of all the devices Of cruel
Imagination, crucifyion is the masterpiece.
Othel pains are sharper for a time, but none are
AT once SO agonizing and so long, One aggra-
walton, however, was wanting, which, owing to
the want of knowledge in painters, is still, we
believe commonly supposed to belong to the
punishment. The weight of the body was
borne by ledge which projected from the mid
die Of an upright beam, and not by the hands
and feet, which were probably found unequal
10 the strain. The fraity of mans frame