Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-08-09
FALSE NOTIONS OF DEATH.
The Act of Dying Loekea
Practical standpe
son,bern Practitioner.


Life and death. the only immeolSle con-
Germ of humanity are almost the only parts
OF the universal plan that DEFY ahAIysls ana
confound calculation. Dsatn; snGn In
less mysterious than life, spPAis ~ Tvs name
and startles by iis associations. ster IL
in its apprehension. The further on II Is
the more formidable it seems tue sns II
projects grows darker with ais1NHoe ser
face TO face, Imagination becohe Az Pasleu.,
and the reality, somber az il ne y
anticipated horror. Death ought 70 pe an
interesting subiect since death and regret
are the sole certainties oil Dsins. are
ever deludIng ourselves with dellgniIul pos
sibiIities. Why Should We not play the
philosopher sometimes aud cop.eHpiaie
calmly the sadness of TRUTH NoinIng nap,
pens which is predicted except oeatn, ana
that very rarely happens, as IL Is loreseen.
Presentiments spring from lem permanent not
from instinct; are forms of the fancy ratner
than the understanding. II u the oetermins-
ton of destiny that we shall not oenue ner
DEGREES. As man, so far as ne Can gee Win
his present light can die Dbl once, mere Il
nothing be is so likely TO De little acquainted
with rs death. He usually shuns what he
has always been taught to believe the greatest
OF evils, and avoids the vision OIL the monster
even when it knocks at bis irlenos and
neIghbor's door. The greatest majority OF
men, in these times of peace, SELDOM see
death until it is gone except wnen IL comes
10 them, and then they rarely recognize II, so
different is the original from the hIdeous
caricature. This death has oeen Tor ages
contrary to science and experience, depicted
in lis physical relations IS pang and an
agony, and morbid men have tortured adj
iectives to portray it's intolerable pain. The
"last struggle" is favorite phrase to express
the final dissolution, when, IN TACT, with the
coming of death all struggle ceases. As we
are unconscious of the exact time OF falling
asleep, SO we are also unconscious OF the
moment of dying. Outward signs that are
unmistakable, and accurate diagnoses tell US
this; but still the average mind holds to
tradition. So absurd were the notions asso-
ciated with the pain of death, that to hasten
it by violence was long regarded as an act oil
humanity. In the old world 1t was the Gus
tom for generations to jerk the pillow from
under the head of the dying, to preserve
them from what was thought 10 be the an
guish of the last moment. Those who have
witnessed the approach of death are aware
that from infallible symptoms insensibiiiiy
precedes death, and that cessation from pain,
in cases of mortal injury or bodily suffering,
is its almost certain forerunner.
"Had strength to live" said the famous
physician, William Hunter, in his last mo-
ments, 81 would write how easy and delight
full it is to die" Montaigne, after meeting
with an accident which it was supposed had
proved fatal, said when conscious, Il thought
my life hung only upon my lips, and closed
nv eyes to help me in expelling il, and Ihad
a sincere pleasure in the belief that as
passing away" Rabelais laughingly de-
clared when he knew he had but few min.
utes 10 live, "This is the best Joke that has
ever been played upon me-" 1t is natural to
die, but hardly natural to desire TO die. In
fact, it is much better to die than to be born.
To will 10 die is all there is of death. have
seen many men and women die. Ihave many
times been present when sick persons were
ebbing into eternity. l have seen young and
old, cultivated and ignorant, orthodox and
heterodox, in their last moments, and as
rule all of them passed away, if not without
regret, al least with entire resignation. None
of them showed dread of the future. Their
thoughts were fixed on what they were quit
ting, not on what they were going to. o b.
served that some of them were troubled,
perhaps distressed when they first thought
they could not recover, but that the nearer
their end came the more calm they grew.
If encouraged TO believe they might get
we'll, tho +seze anxiety they showed; proving
that their mental disquietude was born of
their expectation of life, not of their fear of
Ocdtu. I1crt lcl me say leeL
offend, as / would not, religious conviction,
that in this paper 1 speak of death in the
main simply as fact, a phenomenon of ma
ture, and neither to enforce or attack theo-
logical doctrines. Death is indeed a physi-
cal TACT whatever spiritual ideas may clus-
ter about il, and as such it is for me t. re-
gard it in this writing.
When about to die men look backward and
not forward, they are concerned with what
life has given them, not with what death
may bring. They think of their mothers,
wives, sweethearts and friends. They are
touched by tender memories, instead of be-
ing haunted by fears. The vision of death
is no grim specter, as he has been portrayed;
it is a mild-eyed phantom rather benignant
in seeming, suggestive of consolation. They
who have beheld it and come back will tell
you 60; they who have beheld it and returned,
have left evidence so denoting. Death soft
ems and sweeteus many hard and acrid ma
lures to whom he comes. In the last hours,
men and women want physical rest and ease
above all else; and / have known instances
in which the replies OF persons near the dis
solution were in such sharp contrast to in
luirIes made of them As TO become positively
yrotesque. One instance, wife said TO her
husband who was dying: "Do you love me,
iarlingH The response was, eyes, if YOU
asst words.
Henry Ward Beecher, in his remarks on
'Thanatopsis," says: "Our teachers have so
ong dwelt on the raps visions which cheer
he death bed of the righteous that we have
ome to consider such the very general rule,
md we have 30 often been reminded OF
what horrors ELL the guilty soul when on
! dying bed that this, too, is accepted as
moral truth with very few exceptions. Medi-
al experience refutes all this. In the gre at
majority of cases death comes without pain,
nd the spirit releases itself as quietly as the
,endulum ceases ticking, while the mind is
ither unconscious or too feeble for Joy or
Toe." He says: eve have derived from
ooks false notions of death-notions essen
tally heather and pagan, and not christian.
nd men are educated into sort of a pagan
SIM. For instance, it is generally thought
hat wicked men die IN great horror of i
Conscience. They do not; they die, except
a rare instances, as peacefully as chris
ians do.n
From the realm of shadows no voice
ONES back; to the land of hereafter no raw
t light can penetrate. What is natural
annot be evil; what is inevitable must tend
D good. Death is but spot on the bright
ess of imitless sphere, beyond the SPOT
ne brightness is not dimmed. We all admit
here are possessions far more precious than
fe, and yet we appear to think that which
nds life must be calamitous. Death il
collation. of nothing, it is simply a transition
ON the lower to the higher, from the par
al 10 the universal, from the lire to the
Dhere.
"Do NOT grasp at the shadow and lose the
distance" Kldney-Wo is able TO convert
gu from a shadow Of your former self into
lie substance of established health. Said a
lfferer from kidney trouble when asked 10
y Kidney Wort for remedy, "IJI trv II