Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-07-09
THE HOUR OF DEATH"-A SCIEN-
TIFIC VEsTIGATION.

Ia Mr.. John limbs Notable Things Of
Our Own Time" are some accounts Of the
cnriozities Of scientific investigation among
them the following concerning the hour Of
death LII. r.
The subject Of the hour Of death lsays
Mr.. Haylland, an eminent surgeon, in a
paper read 10 the British Association has
occupied the attention Of medical writers
from the time Of Aclius, who nourished at
the court Of COnslantinople in the fifth
century, up to the present date, hut no
practical fruit has been the result for the
physician IN HE treatment Of the disease.
He concluded hat the time had now ar
rived for a thorough investigation Of the
facts "a our possession, inasmuCh A., II there
be- any latent truth in them Of importance
10 mankind, u IS 0lU simple duty 20 evoke
that truth, aud avail Ourselves Of It's teach
ing IA the practice OF medicine. He re-
marked that The physician's duties do not
cease when he has asceHained the disease
OF his patient aud prescribed medicine
10 remove it; by medicine alone the
patient is not healed he has to act
upon the advice Of Hippocrate7, and
see that those "a attendance do their
duty also, and in his absence watch
every phase and action of the liv-
ing present. But 10 30 direct, the ply
stefan must know each cause of change,
aud by his knowlcige anticipate what may
occur lay down simple rules for the guild
ance Of friends aud nurses, and Teach them
nov 10 watch each circumstances Of disease ;
he must know the changefu.ncss Of our
bodies IN health; he must take due ac-
count Of this changelulnes5 when illness
superVenes he must know when all our
vital functions are at their height he must
know when they are at their lowest ebb
Tor this knowledge is a most necessary ele-
ment OF success in his combat with the
enemy he il implored to encounter. Oflate
years the art ofnursiug has more than ever
occupied the thoughts Of physicians and
the laity at large We have had noble
efforts made Ia The camp ard at home to
suOthe the anguish Of the wounded and
diseased.
The author had collected over Eve thou
sand cases Of death, with the hour of death
aud other circumstances recorded, which
he had labulated aud exhibited on a large
chart the difficult collections being dis
tingulshed by colorcd diagrams. BY this
chart he showed that IN one thousand
cases Of death la children under FIVE years
Of age, the periods Of the greatest mortality
took place between the hours Of I and 3
A. NJ then an extraordinary depres-
zion took place IN the succeeding
hours between = aud L. r. ~, aud that the
ratio of mortality was at its minimum. He
then compared these statistics with two
thousand eight hundred aud ninety. one
deaths from all causes, aud the CharT showed
how remarkably the wave lines of death
compared with deaths from consumption,
which, although they showed a general re,
semhlance in the wave line, yet between
the hours of ! 10 S A. NJ, there was a de-
preston which compared with the rirsl four
hours period He showed that small num-
bers are not sufficient for a statistical truth,
and he therefore urged upon his provincial
brethren TO. assist him in his work 10y for
wardlng TO him data for further investiga-
non OF this interesting subject
lie commended that the tables on the chart
proved The extraordinary mortality IN the
early hours Of the morning, when the
powers Oi life were at their lowest ebb, and
strange 10 say, when the patient was most
cared for. lie urged the Necessity of feed
ing aud stimulating the patients at their
weakest hour, 80 As 10 tide them over crit
zeal periods and even if deaih be inev iia-
he, TO 80 support The patient that he might
at lea-t have a Few hours more life snatched
from eternity 10 admit of has being able 10
carry out some neglected duty, pardon some
enemy, OF see some beloved friend