Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1883-09-27
DEATHS FROM rHIGHT.
Instances, Ancient and VI od eFn, Cola I'd
from Authentic History.

mind. Fear can be mastered by an cf-
fort; fright has come and gone before
the brain has had time to come to the
conclusion that an effort Is possible.
There Is no fear in human beings so
strong rs the fear of death, and yet,
'there is no passion in the mind Of
man" says Bacon, truly enough, $50
weak but it meets and masters the fear
of death. Revenge triumphs over
death; love Sights it; honor aspircth to
it; grief tlieth to IT, fear preoccupieth
it," Pity which is the "tenderest OF
passions" led many to kill themselves
from compassion for Otho's suicide.
Eve tTdium vitr, mere utter weari-
ness of doing the same thing over and
over again, will lead a man to defy his
Unborn fear of death. But what pas
sion can guard against fright?
\ Hebrew. according to Lodoyicus
/ wives, once crossed narrow plank
over torrent in the dark, and visit
ing the place next day. saw the eXtrcm-
ity of his last nights risk. and died Of
what? Not Of fear, obviously. be-
cause there was nothing TO be afraid
OF, but possibly of fright So again,
persons have been known who always
tainted at the smell Of certain flowers.
notably, that Of the May blossom. but
1t would be ridiculous to accuse them
of being afraid Of hawthorn.
Surgeon-gencral Franc s, If the In
dian medical service, tells of a drum
mcr who was suddenly aroused from
his sleep 10y something crawling over
his naked legs. He mag ned il was a
cobra and his friends. collected by the
outcry, thought SO too, and he was
treated accordingly. Iucantations.
such As are customary with the ma
tiTes on such occasions, were re-prtcd
10, and th" poor fellow was tiaggcllat-
cd with twisted cloths on the arms
and legs in view partly to arouse him,
but principally 20 drive out tho evil in
ilucnce IsplrltI that for thc time being
had taken possession Of him. With
the first dawn Of light the cause Of the
fright was discovered IN the shape ot
harmless lizard, which was lying
crushed and half killed hy tn" side Of
the poor drummer, but it WAS too late.
From the moment when b" believed
that a poisonous snah" bad bitten him
he passed into an increasing collapse
until hc dieL The drummer was not
strong lad. and the shock was too
much for him.
The most remarkable death from
the accident of fright was that Il the
Dutch painter Pcnteman, in the seven
tcenth century. lie was At work on
picture in which were represented sew
cral death heads. gr.nuing skeletons
and other objects calculated to inspire
the beholder with contempt for The
vanItics and iollics II the day. In or
aeT I" 90 ms W"Th better be went 10
an anatomical room, and used it for
studio. on" sultry day, as he was
drawing those melancholy relics of
mortalit! by which he was surrounded,
he fell of into a quiet sleep, from
which he was suddenly aroused I'm
agine his horror at heholding the
skulls and bones dancing around the
room like mad, and the skeletons which
hung from the ceiling dashing them
selves together. Panic stricken. he
rushed from the room. and threw him
self headlong from ? window to the
. pavement below. lie sufficiently re-
recovered to learn that the cause Of
his fear was a slight earthquake but