Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-10-27
IS DEATH PAINLESS?
WHAT PHYSICIANS GIVE AS THE
 RESULT OF OBSERVATIONS.

They Agree That Death, as n General Rule,
 Is Painless-The Appearance of Physical
 Suffering More Seeming Than Real.
 Some Cases.
 Dr. R B. Ridley said: t'I think it depends upon the cause of death. I think after pro- tracted sickness where the strength is ex- hausted, as in long levers, and the nerve forces are weakened, death is painless. I think sudden death is painless. have seen patients who died, I am satisfied, in physical distress. Just at the moment when death re- leased the body. believe 1t is painless
 Dr. G. G. Roy said: ''It 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 a 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 a complete relaxation, with per- feet calmness and placidity of every feature" :"
 Dr. F. H. Orme: q, Is death painless 2 Certalnly-as sleep is painless Death is the extinction of sensibility, release from pain. The experience of persons approach ing death is a 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 It is ill the early stage of fatal sick ness that suffering and apprehension are the professionalism and indifference usually following toward the close. The idea of a nf iS ofic o,,Sk rattle is due to paralysis"
 B Dr. w. C. Jernigan said: ''It is owing very much to the cause of death. Some cases are evidently painful, but think the great ma jority are painless. I remember the case of one prominent merchant who had congestion of the bowels He felt no pain, and a half hour before his death it was difficult to con- vince him that he was dying. He laughed at the idea, and he sat up in bed and signed his will ill as legible characters as he ever made, writing a beautiful hand.
 II have seen cases of death by violence that were 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 a reflex action than the result of pain. think you may say that in the great majority of cases death is painless. I am speaking in reference to the article of death the act of pain. In cases of hemorrhage there Is no dying In sudden death I think there is no pain; 1t Is more 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 tired feeling than one of pain"
 Dr. w D. Bizzell said: 'I have seen men die from almost everything, and think the s.& case of yellow fever. The man seems abso- lutely indifferent to his terrible condition, and lies there, seeing the black vomit and re- alizing what it means, seeming to be in his senses and answering questions intelligently, but apparently not caring at all.
 "The pain or painlessness of death is & question that engaged my attention good deal in my earlier practice. I remember going through a hospital with a professor when was student. We came upon a poor fellow who was in the last agony of death from consumption. The professor, who was once thought to have consumption and after ward died of lung trouble, seemed to have special interest in the case, and remarked to the students, Well, gentlemen, death has its terrors to most men as long as it remains at distance, and we rarely have the privilege of choosing the route by which we shall jour ney to meet it. Here you see man who is travelling, ill my opinion, as easy a route as man can go. With his senses about him. the passage from life into death is so easy that there is scarcely jar to shake his nervous system The poor fellow looked up and said, Well, doctor, when you get where I am you won't think so'
 ''In few cases that I can recall death seemed to have a terror for it's victims, who would call to the physician, Doctor, don't let me die-for Gods sake, don'tr Fortunately such cases are rare, and, whether saint or sinner, a man usually sinks, as it were, into slumber, a sort of dreamy unrest, and so passes away into death, confirming almost the ancient doctrine that death and sleep are twins.
 There is a strange thing about death. A child has the most intense horror of death, and looks upon it as the most supreme catas- trophe, but as man passes the meridian of life and his friends drop off one by one and be finds himself with the minority instead of the majority of his generation, and when cares and disappointments are multiplied, death has little terror for him. In fact, death seems to be relief. The natural death from old age-the one we. rarely see in nature where the wheels of life cease to revolve, the heart ceases to beat, and the body, from sheer lack of vital power, without any known disease, wears out, death is painless
 1.-The mental condition of man approach. ing death is frequently strange thing. A celebrated jurist, eminent ill church and state, died about year ago under my obser- vation. During the earlier period of his de, lirium be would exhort, pray and deliver opinions from the bench, but as the disease penetrated the more remote recesses of the brain he seemed to lose the impressions of recent events, and pass backward over his career as young attorney pleading at the , bar. Just before his death he seemed to be- as it were, in his youth again, and his soul had already rejuvenated itself before his final exit.
 "Another curious thing connected with dis ease is that persons who die from diseases above the diaphram are composed and. ot cheerful mind, and usually die quietly, but persons with disease of the liver, kidneys ol affections of that sort apt to be morose anG don't take as cheerful a view of things a! those who have diseases above the diaphram. Atlanta Constitution Interviews.
 A Cat Market fin Paris.