The Clifton clarion., 1885-07-15
Docs Death stinge

| ohy '0SOeooi' wv 1o1i uo pleCes
 like flower This very fact, that
 the process is chemical, confirms
 us in the conclusion that the final
 'throe" is as painless as the in-
 convenience is nothing to the
 f@tal pilgrim when he touches on
 daylight. A moments examina-
 tion 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 in-
 tegrity of the tissues. An infam-
 nation heightens it; age depre-
 ciates it. Any defect in nutrition
 disturbs the comfort of the indi-
 vidual untii'the carbonic acid gen
 erated in the devitalization of the
 block becomes fixed in the cells
 or is no longer displaced. The
 sensory ganglia everywhere part
 with their irritability by virtue of this poison, and cease to conduct currents. The criteria of death are being satisfied, and the pro- cess is consummated when this extinction of sensibility prevails at the ultimate flaments.
 During the progress of this dis solution of the nerve force. this creeping on of the numbness of death, the individual is rapidly passing into condition of repose, and instead of torture or pangs, a degree of self-satisfaction oft approaching to enthusiasm is realized. The sensations peculiar to the therapeutical operation of opium, hasheesh, ether, etc, are not improbably akin to the mental activities of the dying. Barring the hallucinations experienced in the stupor as it gained on the subject, the moribund is familiar with naught that borders on sui fering. This carbonic acid has poisoned or narcotiSed the several ganglia, and reflex productions are interdicted. In short, the no- ton of pain is forbidden the in stant that any stimulus fails to excite response. The condition to this irritability is that the nerve center and the track be sound. If this vigor vanishes, reflex phe- nomena are at an end, and suffer ing, physiologically speaking, is impossible, because of the arrest of the function of the sympa- thetlc.
 Fortunately, for a wholesome study of ones demise, there are assurances abundant from vivi- section, the testimony of those who have been restored to con- sciousness and the affirmations of the dying that there is no physl- cal recoil from death. Burney tried hard to resist the efforts made to resuscitate him from drowning, so bewitched was he by his prolonged slumber. Dr. Sc lander, the traveller. was so de- lighted with the sensations of excessive cold that he was the first to lie down in the snow to realize the luxury of such a death. Will jam Hunter was sorry he was not able to write how easy and de- lightful 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 1nfrmities. Hanging is nat urally rated, next to crucifxion, 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 hallucinations of a fascinating va riety. One would fain believe that the kind God who suffered | us to feel no sign in coming would take no delight in turning our farewell into writhing-nay, ne does not quit us at the last. He is our greatest benefactor in allowing us to sleep out of weari ness. Death is, assuredly, no tax collector; it's 'jaws" are not the clutches of an assallant; tkere Is 10 "victory to the grave;" the ghost speeds away from us as it with no ruff1e. The sense 'f death, as Shakespeare has it, s most in apprehension. It is he fear of the lonely night, not he throes of nature, that makes he leaving painful.
 An EaStern Daper SAYS that a