Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-01-03
PHENOMENA OF DEATH.
Some Strange and Startling Facts Re-
garding the Last Hour.

Some Strange and Startling Facts Re.
Garding the Last Hour.
THE PAINLESS NATURE OF DISSOLUTION AND THE
CAUSES OF THE DEATH RATTLE-AvERAGE AGES OF
DYING AND THE HOURS PARTICULARLY FAVORED
By THE GRIN SPECTRE.
From the Philadelphia Press.
The neurology OF the old year will be read
with mournfu! interest by those who cross full
Of health and vim over the threshold of the new
year. In the long list of deaths will be recorded
the demise Of many young and hearty man or
woman who on the 1st of January, 1882, looked
hopefully forward to decades of happy new
years and yet had to succumb to the grim
spectre, stricken by sudden accident or horrible
disease.
physician OF this city has made the pho
nomena of death special study; by careful OBJ
servatiOn and lengthy consultation with his
brother DOCTORS he has acquired fund of inter-
esting facts Interpretations regarding the fatal
moment which all humanity sooner or later have
to experience.
lone of the things of which | am convinced"
said the doctor in conversation yesterday, ''is
that death is painless. | mean that the mo-
ment OF dissolution approaches as unconsciously
as it enters it. Whatever be the causes of DEATH
whether by lingering malady or nviolence,
dissolution comes either through syncOpe or as
phyXia. In the latter case. when resulting from
disease. the struggle is long. protracted and ac-
cOmpanied by all the visible marks of agony
which the imagination associates with the clos
ing scene OF lite-tDe rnched and pald features
the cold, clammy skin. the upturned eve, and
the heavy, laborious. rafting respiration.
Death does not strike all the organs of the body
at the same time; some may he said to survive
Others. and the lungs are the last to give up
tie performance of their functions. As death
approaches the latter become gradually more
and more oppressed the air-cells are loaded
with an increased quantity Of the fluid which
naturally lubrcates the surfaces the atmOs-
pherc can then no longer come into contact with
the minute blood vessels spread over the air
cells without first permeating his vscous fluid
hence the rattle. Nor is the contact sufficiently
perfect to change the black venous into the red
arterial blood; an unprepared fluid consequently
issues from the lungs into the heart. and is
thence transmitted to every other organ of the
body. The brain receives it and its energies
appear to be lulled thereby into sleep-gener-
ally tranquil sleep-tied with dreams which
impel the dying to nurmur out the names of
friends and the occupations and recoilectiOns
OF past life. The rustic babbles of green
neltis, and the hero expires amid visions of
battle.
Were the last words OF Marmion
LONGEVITY OF LIFE.
"A very large number of deaths are attributed
to old age" continued the physician, 'yet few
even of the oldest, die purely from exhaustion
or gradual decay; some positive disease in most
cases, overwhelms the small remains of vitality
Yet death from actual old age is not impossible
and must be the sweetest death of ala sleep
inNo hnf alyn, in, o%,
longevity, it is asserted that the United States
is more favorable to long life than any other
country. 1t | cannot abide entirely by that
opinion. can at least agree that this country
has and can produce ten centurians to any one
of any other land. and | think Washington's
bodv servants affirm my statement. The average
of human life is thirty-three years. One
quarter die previous to the age of seven years;
one-half before reaching seventeen; so those
who pass their teens enjoy felicity refused
to one-half the human species In every 1000
persons only one reaches beyond the nineties:
In every 100 only six reach the age of sixty
five. and not more than one III 500 lives to
eighty years. OF the upwards of 1,OOO, OOO.-
Goo inhabitants of the globe One-third die every
year, 81 .S24 every day, 3. 730 every hour and
sixty every minute. Married persons live
longer than single; tall men longer that short
their favor. previous to being fifty years of age
than men have, but fewer atterward. Persons
who are born in spring generally grow more
robust than those who come into the world at
other seasons Deaths are more freuuent nv
night than by day"
HOURS FATAL TO LIFE.
"Have the hours most fatal to life ever been
ascertained:
Eyes. to certain extent. have the data
here OF some very interesting conclusions ascer-
tanned in 1850 instances Of death at all ages
The examples are taken from all conditions of
life and during period of several years. If the
deaths of the 1850 had occurred indifferently at
any hour during the "a hours, 100 would have
occurred at each hour. But this was by no
means the case. There are two hours in which
the proportion was remarkably below this-tWO
minama, in fact-namely from midnight to l
O'Clock. when the deaths were So per cent below
the average. and from noon to o'clock when
they were 2OM per cent below. From to 6
o'clock am, inclusive. and from to pm,
there is a gradual increase in the former
of $3.50 per cent above the average. in the latter
of 81 per cent. The maximum of death is from
to 8 O'Clock am, when it is 40 per cent above
the average; the next. during the hour before
midnight, when it is Is per cent in excess; a
third hour of excess is that from 9 to 10 o'clock
In the morning. being ~ per cent above From
10 am. to 3 pm. the deaths are less numerous,
being 1917 per cent below the average, the hour
before noon beingthe most fatal. From o'clock
pm. to pm. the deaths rise So per cent above
the average. and the fall from that hour to II
pm. averaging 81 per cent below the mean.
During the hours from 9 to IL o'clock in the
evening there is a minimum of 611 per cent be
low the average. Thus the least mortality is
during midday hours, namely from 10 to 3
o'clock, the greatest during early morning hours,
from 3 to 6 o'clock.
"By-the-way." remarked the doctor as his
visitor got up to leave. 81 said Just now that
America could produce more cases of longevity
than any other country. Imust except the coolest
regions of Russia, as l understand there is a
level country of about 100 leagues square,
slOping to the south on the borders of Siberia.
where year rarely passes in the course of
which some person does not die at the age of
100. l asked Russian physician whether the
report could be depended upon, and he says
they are kept by the priests of the Greek Church.
who, for reasons of faith, are most rigid in
regard to the exactitude of age of their dead.
In one year. the foreign doctor informed me, 416
persons Of 100 years and upward. died in the
Russian empire. The oldest was 1876 years. and
there We're Ill above ITO years old. i regret to
own that an American record can be beaten in
anything, but in this instance the land of the
Car walks over the course. Many happy new
years"
An Editor ON Early Marriages.
From the Rising Fawp (Ga.) Gazette
Nine-tenths of the unhappy marriages are the