The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-10-02
THE ATLANTA TUESDAY OCTOBER q 1888
will die, and win go to hell. Do you think

will die, and win so to hell. Do you think
! am dying?'
II told her that she was not diving, and she
was no worse than when saw her few hours
before, and agreed to stay all night In tho
morning about o'clock examined her and
lo!nd that she was sleeping quietly, and I
fooe out to see my other patients. / returned
III an hotr or so and found that her fever was
broken, and from that time she improved and
finally got WE'LL"
DIR. r. b. Ridley said: ct think it depends
upon the cause of death. I 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 sud-
don death is painless. l have seen patients
VINO died, am satisfied, in physical distress.
just at the moment when death released the
body, believe it is painless.
In death does it make any difference
whether man is n beiev er or an unbeliever ?"
II think it does | have had patients who
were lnhdels up to that time to beg and sup
one moment Of rest that they might bridge
over. My experience is that Christian dies
with more comfort. There is no question
about that.
DR.. w. d. B;zzell said: 'I have seen men
die from almost everything. and l think the
most shocking death is that in q malignant
case OF yellow fever, The man seems ahso-
lutely Indifferent to his terrible condition, and
lies there, seeing the black vomit and realz-
ing what 1t means, seeming to be in his senses
and answering questions intelligently, but APP
parently not caring at all.
The pain or painleSsness of death is ques-
tlon that engaged my attention a good deal in
my earlier practice remember going through
a hospital with q professor when
was student. We came
upon poor fellow who was in the last agony
OF death from consumption. The professor,
who was once thought to have consumption
and afterwards died of lung trouble, seemed to
have personal interest in the case and remark
ed to the students, We'll, gentlemen, death
has its terrors to most men as long as it re-
mains at distance, and we rarely have
the privilege OF choosing the route by
which we shall journey to meet it. Here you
see man who is travelling in my opinion as
easy route as a man can go. With his senses
about him, tho passage from life into death is
so easy that there is scarcely a jar to shake his
nervous system The poor fellow looked up
and said, WELL doctor, when you get where /
am You won't think so'
I'm a few cases that L can recall death
seemed to have terror for its victims, who
would call to the physician, "doctor don't let
me die, for Gods sake don't!" For
tunately such cases are rare and
whether saint or sinner man
usually sinks, as it were, into slumber, a sort
OF dreamy unrest, and so passes away into
death, confirming, almost, the ancient doc
tIlue tldt u6dtn ana Steep 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
he 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 lie 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.
THE mental condition of man approach
ing death is frequently n strange thing. A
celebrated iuriSt, eminent in church and state
died about a year ago under my observation.
During the earlier period of his delirium he
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 ut 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 OF cheer
full mind, aud usually die quietly but persons
with diseases of the liver, kidneys or affections
OF that sort are apt to be morose and don't take
90 SiicCfiul wow Vi dS IuOoe VIM nave
diseases above the diaphram.
81 have seen few deaths of believers that
were magnificent illustrations of triumphant
death. They would express their feelings in
beautiful language and even after the lips re-
fused 10 move the eye continued to speak.
But this is rare even with men who have led
the most exemplary lives, and usually death
comes to believer and unbeliever as a sleep.
1t is as DR.. Livingston, the AFRICAN explorer
described his feelings when he was seized by %
lion. After the lion was on him, he seemed
to have no sense of pain or fear, though he
could feel the lions teeth crushing through
his bones. His nervous system seemed par
alyZed"