The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1856-09-25
BEVE SOUTH CAROLINA THURSDAY
PHYSICAL PAIN OF DEATH.

a paragraph is going the rounds the pa
pers giving the opinion of Lord Bacon and
others, that the pain Of hanging is incon-
siderable. 1t is asserted, for example, that
after momcntary feeling of suf1ocation,
bright colors dance before the eyes and
stretch away into vistas of indescribaLle
loveliness. There is no reason to doubt the
truth of this declaration, because numerous
instances have occurred of persons being
cut down before life was extinct; and it was
on the authority of wcl:-authenticatcd rx-
amplcs of this character that Lord Bacon
and Others founded thciropinion. Moreover,
hanging, in its effect OH the human organ
ism, produces results very similar to those
produced by some natural diseases, so that
this also affords criterion for Judging In
cases of drowning, likewise, the testimony is
universal that the physical pain, up to the
moment of consciousness being lost, is quito
inconsiderable. The same phenomena of
notes: stars and beautiful lights dancing 2
before the eyes, has often been mentioned
individuals restored after apparent death'by
drowning.
1t is nearly ccrtain-indeel, as certain as
anything chiefly speculative can be-that
in all deaths the physical suffering is small
Even where invalds experience the most
excrucating agony during the progress of
the disease, nature comes to their relief at
the last hour, and life goes out gently like Il
candle in its socket. Those who have wit
missed death beds most frequently, cspc-
cially if they have been intelligent persons,
and therefore capable of judging, agree
generally i'll considering the physical pain
of death as inconsiderable. They say that
the convulsive motions, Which frequently
attend The parting breath, are not evidences
of suffering, for that the invalid is inscnsi-
bic. They say also, that, when the senses
are retained, there is usually no such spasm.
A leading medical authority states that
scarcely one person in fifty is sensible at
the point of death ; and some physicians as
sert that they have never seen death bed
III Which the patient WAS sensible. AS life
fails, nature, it would seem, bcnciiceutly in
trrroses, dcadening the scnsibilily Of the
nerves. and otherwise preparing the indvid-
u;.l Tor the great and inevitable change.
These facts should teach all men, while
yet in health, "to put their houses in or
der" Many father, by ncgleeiirg to
make ii will, or keep his business always ar
ranged, has left his family an Inheritance of
litigation, or entailcd on them the scvercst
losses Few arc those, comparatively, who,
Oh Il sick bed, have sufficient clcarness of
intellect left to adjust entangled affairs, pro-
vide for the contingencies of trade, or even
direct wisely The distribution of their cs-
tatcs. Death usually comes rapidly in the
shape Of IL short disease, leaving time for
nothing but wild and hopeless struggle
with the enemy. Or it comes So msiliously
as to begule the victim and his friends, up
TO the last hour, with the hope cf recovery,
or at least of months of prolonged life.-
Men dread sudden death, and pray to be
delivered from it, forgetting that, to most
of us, death is always sudden, coming as
Scripture truly says, " like thief in tho
night" 1t is not for Its physical pain that
men should fear death, but lest it should
overtakc them ere they have "set their
house in ORDER" To be leaving family
unprovided for, or to have put off arrange
ments for settling up ones affairs, is the
real pang of tho dying hour.-PAiludeE-
phia Ledger.