The Republican journal., 1872-10-31
From the Galaxy for November.
The kinq of Terrors DiscroWned.

tions. It's terror is in its apprehension.
The further off it is, The more formidable
it seems; for the shadows it projects grow
darker with distance. Seen face to face,
imagination becomes impotent, and the
reality sombre as it may be, is relieved
of anticipated horrors.
Death ought to be IN interesting sub
iect, since death and regret are the sole
certanties of being. We are ever delud-
ING ourselves with delightful possibilities;
why should we not play the philosopher
sometimes. and contemplate calmly the
sadness oftruth? Nothing happens which
is predicted except death, and that very
rarely happens rs it is toreseen. Pre-
sentiments spring from temperament, not
from instinct are born OF the fancy rather
than the understanding. The soldier.
naturally expecting to fall in battle,
| breathes his last in the bosom of his family.
| The quiet scholar, hoping to die in the
peopled solitude of his books, is made by
all-compelling circumstances the victim
OF terrific tragedy. The sailor who looks
| to find his watery home his final resting
| place, is run over and killed in crowded
| thoroughfare The hardy mountaineer
anticipates his end at the base Of a preci
pice, and is struck down by the sun on a
blazing plain Ii is the determination of
Destiny that we shall not divine her de-
crecS.
A man, so far as he may see with his
present light can die but once, there is
nothing he is so likelyto be little acquainted
with rs death. He usually shuns what he
has always been taught to believe the
greatest of evils, and avoids the vision of
the monster, even wher il knocks at bis
friend and neighbours door. The great
majority of men in these piping times of
peace seldom see death until it has gone,
except when it comes to them; and then
they very rarely recognize it, SO different
is the original from the hide0us caricature.
Thus death has been for ages, contrary to
science and experience, depicted in its
physical relations as a pang and an agony;
and morbid rhetoricians have tortured
adjectives to portray its intOlerable pain.
The "last struggle" is a favorite phrase
to express the final dissolution, when, in
fact, with the coming of death all strug
ole ceases. AS we are unconscious of the
exact time Of falling asleep, so are we
also unconscious of the moment OF dying.
Outward signs that are unmistakabe and
accurate diagnoses tell us this; but still
the average mind holds to tradition, and
believes most implicitly that which is most
imbued with superstition. So absurd
We're the notions associated with the pain
of death, that to hasten it by violence was
long regarded AS an act Of humanity. In
the Old World it was the custom tor gen
erations to Jerk the pillow from under the
head OF the dying, to preserve them from
what was thought to be the anguish Of
the last moment. They who have wit
messed the approach of death are aware
from intallible symptoms that insensibllitV
precedes death and that cessation from
pain, in cases of mortal hurt or bodily sui
fering, is its almost certain forerunner
''Had the strength to write" said the
famous physician William Hunter in his
last moments, 81 would write how easy
and delightful it is to die" 81 had
thought dying to be more difficult" ex
claimed Louis XIV. with his latest breath.
Montaigne, having met with an accident
which it was supposed had proved fatal,
said upon restoration to consciousness,
Il thought that life hung only on my lips,
and | had a sincere pleasure in the belief
that | was passing away" Rabelais
laughin9ly declared when he knew he had
but q few minutes to live, "This is the
best Joke that has ever been played upon
me-
Deaths from violence, generally con-
sdcred far more painful than those from
illness, are often easy, sometimes pleasant.
Subtle poisons (strychnine and bichloride
OF mercury are eXceptions,) such as opium
and hydrocyanic acid, act directly on the
nerves, produce stupor, and the victim
passes peacefully into insensibility and
oblivion. Drowning, which would seem
to be attended with anguish, is known by
persons who have been rescued from the
very Jaws Of death to be accompanied
with sensations not disagreeable, after
the brief strangliag has passed. Several
times during boyhood | had this semi
drowning experience, and as soon as the
instructive struggle for life and the pain
caused by swallowing water were over, |
felt much more comfortable than have
ever felt on land The sensations | then
enjoyed were really delightful. like those
which follow the taking of laudanum or
smoking Of opium-dreamily soft, deli
cious through perfect repOse. can well
understand how poor devils drawn out of
the water have been made angry by their
preservation, having been snatched from
the only condition of comfort they have
ever known.
I have talked with persons who have
themselves, and who may be said to have
and expected to die. They very rarely
suffered in body OF in mind, and they lost
their senses gradually as when laying !
their head upon the pillow at night.
Whatever pain they had was not in going
from, but in coming back to life, which |
would make it seem that the heads |
directing to death wound only those
anxious to return. We have on record |
the ante -mortem diaries OF men who, hav
ing swallowed poison with the deliberate
purpose OF suicide, had wished to leave |
a record Of the effect upon themselves of
the conscious approach of death. Most |
of these diaries show the surprise of the |
writer's at the total absence of the awe or |
fear commonly believed to be inseparable |
from such circumstances. Doubtless, the |
determination of self-extnction had alb
sorbed the anticipated strangeness, and
discounted the impressveness and solem-
nifty of the mortal occasion. 1t is natural |
to die, but hardly natural to desire to die.
To will to die is all there is of death.
To be killed outright by a gun-shot |
wound must certainly be easy. | have |
seen so many men SO slain in battle that !
am sure of this. l have narrowly noticed |
officers struck while leading q charge.
Their faces evinced startled surprise, not |
anguish, and their nervous system re-
ceved such a shock that, before sensation |
could rally, they had ceased to breathe.
To say that man suddenly put out of
life by violence does not know what hurts
him is exactly true. He is dead without
thought of death, and therefore spared all
mental apprehension. which is the worst
part of dying Abrupt death by external
agencies must be very analogous to the
shock from Leyden jar. 1t is sharp