The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1875-02-11

IHSu, Iual persons liaOIS 10 UIdHSO al
likely to escape from corporeal life pain
lessly, as bird leaves n cage, or travel
er his inn. Persons sometimes die from
having no desire or energy of will to live.
The individual of healthy body who has
avoided disease and unwholesome habits,
goes to death as to sleep, from which
for once he fails to wake 1t is more like
the insensibility from chloroform than
breaking up of the physical economy.
The stroke of lightning, the blow of the
ak, and the instantaneous crushing of
the brain, end life at once without a
pang. The terror constitutes the entire
suffering. Those who die IN syncope, if
they have any sensation, experience one
that is rather pleasurable than otherwise.
The rack and the fagot infict tremen-
dous torture, and execution by hanging
is, perhaps, next as means of torment,
now that cruciixion has gone out of fash
ion. 1t has long been a subject of mar
vel with us that Englishmen and Ameri
cans, boasting of their superior enlight-
enment and Christianity, adhere so te-
naciously to such barbarous infiction.
The gallows is simply an internal ma
chine an invention worthy only of one
of Millions devils Wild beasts seldom
hurt their prey very much, and they new
er equal men in cruelty.
Most diseases remove the source of
pain as they approach mortal issue.
The ''agonies of death are but struggles
or writings, in which there is no suffer
ing whatever. There are muscles which
are moved or kent in quiescence by the
influence of the will upon them. At the
period of death, and sometimes on other
occasions, this influence is withdrawn;
upon which they quiver and exhibit ap-
pearances that unsophisticated spectators
mistake for suffering A bird with its
head cut off struggles in the same man
ner. Those who die of fevers and most
other diseases experience their greatest
pain, as a general thing, hours, or even
days, before they expire. The sensibili-
ty Of the nervous system becomes gradu-
ally diminished; the pain is less acute
under the same exciting cause; and so
far from being in their greatest distress
when tLeir friends imagine it, their dis
ease Is acting upon their nerves like an
opiate. Many times, indeed, they are
dead so far as respects themselves, when
the bystanders are more to be pitied be-
cause of the anguish which they endure
from sympathy.
II we will look this matter of dying in
the face, SO to speak, as critically and
calmly as we consider other topics, we
can escape a world of apprehension,
alarm, and misery. We are perishing
every moment, so far as the molecules OF
our bodies are concerned; the textures
are constantly giving way, and even oxy-
gen, the vital air, takes the life from
whatever it touches, and sets it to decay
ing. Het this never alarms; the crisis
or elimination is what we regard as the
serious matter There are three modes
of dying, from syncope, asphyxia, and
lot io of
the functions of sensibility by operating
on the brain. The long-continued action
of cold reacting like opium and chloro-
form, LESSONS of the BRAIN as by fever or
apopleXy, occasions this condition.
There is little or no sensation. Asphyx-
ia, or sufocatiOn, occurs from suspension
Of respiration, or the access of oxygen to
the blood. At first the heart receives
venom blood into the left side and trans
mits it over the body. This operates on
the brain, suspending sensation; the me-
dplla is paralyzed, and with it the pneu-
lOgastric nerve; the lungs refuse to
transmit non-oXygenated blood, and the
heart and other vessels cease action
Drowning, strangulation, and poisonous
gases produce this condition The par
tjal stupor experienced in ilIYenti4ated
rooms is Of the nature of asphyxia Syn
cope proceeds from the interruption of
the circulation of the blood, and may oc-
cur through hemorrhage, weakness, or
paralysis of the walls of the heart, as
from the use of tobacco, or frominjuries
to the nervous system, as from concus-
sion or shock, as from violent blows, le-
sions, violent mental emotions, q stroke
of lightning, exposure to the sun, or from
poisons which disturb the rhythmical
motions of the heart, or aconite, digita-
tr.a1s E,11y 1yiY do
The death of Socrates by drinking the
juice of hemlock (C6niasu macuEat,sm) il
lustrates the operation Of narcotic poison
Having finished the draught and appeal
ed to his friends to forbear lamentation
that he might die with good manners, he
walked about the room till the arrested
cireulationin in his legs began to paralyze
them. He then lay down The man
who had brought the poison examined
his feet, proving them hard; then his
legs and thighs, but they were cold and
insensible. After this Socrates touched
himself to ascertain how completely he
was dead, remarking that when his heart
was reached he would depart. Presently
the parts around the lower abdomen be-
came almost cold, and he uncovered his
face to give the memorable charge: "Cri-
to, we owe the cock to Esculapius; pay
it, and do not neglect it. He evidently
was thinking Of the offering made to that
divinity at the Eleusinian Mysteries, lust
before the close of the initiatory ceremo-
MES, as the candidate was about to be-
come an adept. Shortly after speaking
he gave a convulsive movement; the man
covered him, and his eyes were fixed
which, Critic perceiving, closed his mouth
and eyes.
A little knowledge of physiology is
sufficient to show that neither of these
modes of dying are attended with any
considerable suffering and generally with
none at all. Disease, in its progress,
when involving the nerves of sensation,
or any violence to those nerves, will in
fict pain to any degree of which the per-
son is susceptible. Hence, man suffers
more from the same causes than the
beasts, and they, in turn, more thon the
fishes aud reptiles, and these more than
insects and worms, ct paSsim But death
seldom occurs, if ever, while such pain
endures.
We have often questioned whether, in
case Of wearing disease like phthisis,
cancer, or painful Inflammation, where
recovery was impossible, or in the event
of inevitable death from violence or star
walton, it was not justifiable to resort to
an@sthetics or other means OF speedy
and especially painless death. Recently
pamphlet published in England, on
EuhanaSia, has called attention to the
same subject. We know of no immorah.
ty in so doing, As rule, We think it
best to endure, on the principal that life
is IN some way beneficial, and, therefore,
should not be laid aside before its uses
are accomplished. Our instincts gener-
ally impel us to the same conclusion.
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