Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-11-08

Is Painless-The Appearance of Physical
Suffering More Seeming Than Real.
Some Cases.
DR.. R. B. Ridley said: 81 think it depends
upon the cause of death. think after pro-
tracted sickness where the strength is ex-
hausted, as in long fevers, and the nerve
forces are weakened, death is painless. /
think sudden death is painless. l have seen
patients who died, l am satisfied, in physical
distress. Just at the moment when death re-
leased the body believe it is painless.
DR.. G. G. Roy said: at is my opinion that
death in the 'articulo mortis' is painless, and
my reason for this is that vitality has so
waned that there is not enough nerve force
left to produce the sensation of pain. You
will see death come in this way. A child or
grown person will stretch himself with his
hands clenched and face distorted as if in
great agony, and just as soon as death comes
there will be complete relaxation, with per-
feet calInness and placidity of every feature |
DR.. F, II. Orme; Is death painless |
Certainly-as sleep is painless. Death is
the extinction of sensibility, release from |
pain. The experience of persons approach |
ing death is different thing, and differs |
with the disease, the age and other circum-
stances. The road to death is often rough |
and hard, but its asperities are generally
softened in proportion as the end is near, and
obtunded or paralyzed sensibilities are the
result. 1t is III the early stage of fatal sick
ness that suffering and apprehension are the
| greatest-relaxation and indifference usually
| following toward the close. The idea Of
death struggle is a fiction, and the death
rattle is due to paralysis"
| DR.. ". C. Jernigan said: at is owing very
| much to the cause of death Some cases are
evidently painful, but think the great ma
| iority are painless | remember the case OF
one prominent merchant who had congestion
| of the bowels. He felt no pain and half
| hour before his death it was difficult to con-
vincehim that he was dying He laughed at
the idea, and he sat up in bed and signed his
| will in as legible characters as he ever made
| writing beautiful hand
81 have seen cases of death by violence
that We're apparently very painful, but l
doubt very much whether those persons suf-
fered any very great pain at the time. The
appearance OF suffering is more in the nature
of reflex action than the result of pain |
think you may say that in the great ma jority
of cases death is painless am speaking in
reference to the article of death, the act OF
| pain In cases Of hemorThage there is To
diving In sudden death think there is no
pain; it is more a tired feeling than anything
else The death of consumptives. as an
ordinary thing, is comparatively painless
They really seem to welcome death. Death
from any exhausting disease is more a tired
. feeling than one of pain
| DIR. W. D. Bizzell said: 81 have seen men
2 die from almost everything, and | think the
most shocking death is that m q malignant
I case of yellow fever. The man seems abso-
1 lutely indifferent to his terrible condition,
and lies there, seeing the black vomit and re-
alzing what it means, seeming to be in his
q senses and answering questions intellgently
but apparently not caring at all.
THE pain or painlessness of death is q
question that engaged my attention a good
y deal in my earlier practice. remember
going through a hospital with a professo,
when was a student We came upon pool
fellow who was in the last agony of deatl
from consumption. The professor who wa
once thought to have consumption and after
ward died OF lung trouble, seemed to hav
special interest in the case, and remarked Il
the students, We'll, gentlemen, death has it
terrors to most men as long as it remains a
a distance, and we rarely have the privileg
of choosing the route by which we shall jour
nev to meet it. Here you see a man who
travelling, in my opinion, as easy route as
a man can go. With his senses about him, tn
- passage from life into death is so easy tina
there is scarcely jar to shake his nervou
system The poor fellow looked up and said
Well, doctor. when you get where am yo
won't think So
an a few cases that can recall deaf
seemed to have q terror for its victims, VII
would call to the physician, Doctor, don't Il
me die-for Gods sake, don'tr Fortunatel
such cases are rare, and, whether saint {
sinner, man usually sinks, as it were, int
, slumber, a sort of dreamy unrest, and {
passes away into death, confirming almo
the ancient doctrine that death and sleep al
twins.
There is strange thing about death.
child has the most intense horror of deaf
ant! looks upon it as tho most supreme cata
trophe, but as a man passes the meridian
life and his friends drop of one by one, al
he finds himself with the minority instead
the majority of his generation. and VII,
cares and diappointments are multiple
seems to be a relief The natural death fro
old age-the one we rarely see in nature
where the wheels of life cease to revOlve, t
heart ceases to beat, and the body, from she
lack of vital power, without any knos
, disease, wears out, death is painless
., ''The mental condition Of a man approac
ing death is frequently strange thing.
celebrated jurist, eminent in church a
state, died about year ago under my obs
vat.on. During the earlier period of his {
lirium be would exhort, pray and dsliy
opinions from the bench, but as the disc.
penetrated the more remote recesses of
brain he seemed to lose the impressions
1-r recent events and pass backward over
career as young attorney pleading at
bar. Just before his death he seemed to
as it were, in his youth again, and his ST
/, had already rejuvcriated itself before his fl
D.. exit.
''Another curious thing connected with {
ease is that persons who die from disea
above the diaphram are composed and
re- cheerful mind, and usually die quietly,
W. persons with disease of the liver, kidneys
this affections Of that sort apt to be morose 6
don't take as cheerful view Of things
} those who have diseases above the diaphrai
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