The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1881-08-03
PHENOMEVA OF DEATH.

EEEOncOuSnbsS-G the I"pu'dt NO'1VHe
as 10 the s9Death- h-AgOm'-DPaIh a
Psychological Process, and 1t and
Pain Seldom Go Ogether-YiSlOn
of the Dying Purely the Fantasies Of
a Fast -DiSOrganiZiDg Brain.
Thomas D Spencer, NJ. D., in the Popular Science
Monthly for July.
There seems to be no subject from
which the mind so instinctively
5hrinks, few thoughts more repellant
to the soul, and no dread vision of the
night, howsoever fantastic it be, that
presents to the Imagination so formid-
able an aspect as that of death. Indeed,
with this all nature seems at variance.
The English ivy creeping over fallen
ruins, or the fresh moss covering the
PROSTATE trunk of some forest oak,
seems as if endeavoring to hide from
view the havoc which death has made.
Beyond the merely instructive desire
to exist, the dread of death is matter
of education. Never does the child
forget his first sight of = corpse; the
darkened chamber, the storm of grief,
the white face and rigid features, all
combine to form an indelible impress
ion on the mind.
1t is probably the extensive para
phernalia attending the funeral of the
present day that renders death so for
midable. In war--on the battlefield,
where death assumes its most sangu-
mary aspect-the mind of the soldier,
from constant association, becomes so
Injured that it ceases to be impressed
with natural terror, and death seems
but another foe to be met and conquer
ed Although the consideration of
this topic be repugnant to the natural
ly healthy mind, there come times in
the life of every individual, that might
be termed periods of self-conscious-
ness, during which the mind brushes
aside the more vulgar affairs of life
and grapples with the awe-inspiring
my steries of death. AS these phenome-
ma are considered one after another in
their manifold aspects, the mind, owe
ing to the association of ideas, becomes
involved in such an intricate labyrinth
of thought, that, after wandering here
and there, VainIy ehdeayOringt solve
the problem Of death, il gives it'tup' as
a hopeless cOnundfum. 'V
It is our purpose 10 discuss, as brief
Irrlu a ,ooSSij1la Comm nf tho
MOST IMPORTANT 4sRECF OF DIssoLp<
Addison said that there was nothing
in history more imposing than, moth
ing so pleasing aud affecting as, the
accounts OF the behavior of eminent
persons in their dying hour; and
MontaigRe reMal Ks, while sPeculaIing
on death, that of all the passages in
the annals OF mankind those which at
tracted and delighted him most were
the words and gestures of dying men.
" If 1 were maker of books" he cor
Times, g. would compile a register
with comments of various deaths, for
he who shOufu GeaGn men 70 die would
teach them to live." There are three
elements presented in this fear of
death; First, the extinction Of life's
pleasures, interests and hopes, to which
the mind looks forwar with a degree
of apprehension proportionate to the
amount of happiness they are capable
of affordiug. With the young and vig-
orOus the loss of those animal enjoy
ments is contemplated with extreme
misery; hence the custom, among the
early Greeks, of bea.ing the lifeless
bC dy of youth to the funeral-pyre at
the break of morn, Elest the sun should
behold so sad !: sight as the young
dead.u SECOND, the d cad of the un-
known future, also depending upon
| the nervous temperament. And, last
| ly, comes fear more powerful than
either, WHICH is the dread of pain, in
herent in nature. From time imme-
mortal the actual moment of dissOlu-
tion has been supposed to be accom-
panied by throe of anguish known AS
THE . DEATH AGONY"
This is believed to occur at that mo-
ment when the spiritual and physical
( forces that have been 80 intim 8lelY
blended Tor many years are torn a>un-
DER the one to molder and decay, the
other to take upon itself that new life
beyond the ken of man. 81
This last element properly belongs
to the Psychologist. and as such we
propose to consider it. Sir Francis
Bacon, In one ofiiis essays, published
for the drst time I'm the year 1877. gave