Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-11-13
5 Death Sting9

~ ~ F~SesA SAoAOJt Al viz ~AAOs<sOtSs
d =. q Y u Reporter, concludes that
the NDf dying is quite as intense
as TIN ct of sef-preservation. In
deed, = Unot improbable, adds the
doctor, that numbers would care less
about living were the modes of leaving
the world theme for happy contem-
plation, or an innovation to the routine
of Flooding that was agreeable. One
is remarkably exempt from the crime
of hasty induction If he affirms that
there is no sane or healthy mortal who
anticipates his extinction with any de-
gree of pleasure. The function of dying
is absolutely vegetative-we fall to
pieces like a flower. This very fact,
that the process is chemical, confirms
us in the conclusion that the final
"throen is as painless as the inconveni-
ence is nothing to the fetal pilgrim
when he touches on daylight A mo-
ment's examination of the way we are
to die will show marks of goodness in
our taking off, The degree of sensi-
bility is proportioned to the integrity
of the tissues. An Inflammation
heightens it; age depreciates it.
Any defect in nutrition disturbs the
comfort of the individual until the
carbonic acid generated in the devitali-
cation of the blood becomes fixed in the
cells or is no longer displaced. The
sensory ganglia everywhere part with
their irritability by virtue Of this poi
son, and cease to conduct currents. The
criteria of death are being satisfied, and
the process is consummated when this
extinction of sensibility prevails at the
ultimate filaments. During the progress
of this dissolution of the nerve force,
this creeping on of the numbness of
death, the individual is rapidly passing
into a condition of repose, and instead
of torture or pangs, a degree of self
satisfaction oft approaching to enthu-
siasm is realized. The sensations pc
culiar to the therapeutical operation of
opium, hasheesh, ether, ETC., are not inn
probably akin to the mental activities
of the dying. Barring the hallucina-
tons experienced in the stupor as it
gains on the subject, the moribund is
familiar with naught that borders on
suffering. This carbonic acid has poi
sQned or narcotized the several ganglia,
and reflex productions are interdict-
ed. A consummate analgesia prevails.
In short, the notion of pain is forbid
den the instant that any stimulus fails
to excite response. The condition to
this irritability is that the nerve center
and track be sound. IF this vigor
vanishes, reflex phenomena are at an
end, and suffering, physiologically
speaking, is impossible, because of the
arrest of the function of the sympa-
thetic.
Fortunately, for wholesome study
of ones demise, there are assurances
abundant, from vivisection, the testi-
mony of those who have been restored
to consciousness, and the affirmations
of the dying, that there is no physi-
cal recoil from death. Burney tried
hard to resist the efforts made to re-
suscitate him from drowning, so be-
witched was he by his prolonged
slumber. DR.. Selander, the traveller,
was so delighted with the sensations
of excessive cold, that he was the first
to lie down in the snow to realize the
luxury of such death. VIM. Hunter
was sorry he was not able to s'write
how easy and delightful it is to
die Infants die as serenely
as they breathe, and not few among
the advanced in years treat death as
friend to their infrmities. Hanging is
naturally rated, next to crucifixon, a
most distressing procedure. But it is
reported of those who have been saved
from strangulation, that the agony
promised to be brief, and was rapidly
replaced by Authorizations of a fascina-
ting variety.
One would fain believe that the kind
God who suffered US to feel no sigh in
coming would take no delight in turn
ing our farewell into writhing-nay, he
does not quit us at the last. He is our
great benefactor in allowing us to sleep
out of WEAKNESS. Death is assuredly, no
tax collector; it's claws are not the
clutches of an assailant; there is no
victory to the grave the ghost speeds
away from US as it entered, with no
ruffle. The sense of death, as Shake
speare has it, is most in apprehension.
It is the fear of the lonely night, not
the throes of nature, that makes the
leaving painful. Scientific american.