Wichita eagle., 1888-11-10
Is DEATH PAINLESS?
WHAT PHYSICIANS GIVE AS THE
RESULT OF OBSERVATIONS.

They agree That Death, as Q General Rule,
Is PainIess-The Appearance of Physical
Suffering More Seeming Than Real
Some Cases.
| DR.. 4. B. Ridley said: II think it depends
| upon the cause OF death. think after pro
t-acted 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. / have seen
patients who died. am satisfied, in physical
distress Just at the moment when death re-
leased the body, / believe it is painless.
DR.. G. G. Roy said: 1T Is my opinion that
death in the 'articulo nortis' 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
viii see death come in this way. A child or
grown person viii stretch himself with his
hands clenched and face distorted as if in
great agony, and just as soon as death comes
there viii be a complete relaxation, with per-
feet calmness and placidity Of every feature"
DIR. F. II. Orme: is death painless 2
Certainly-as sleep is painless Death is
the extinction of sensibihty, 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 rs the end is near, and
obtunded or paraiyzed sensibilities are the
result. 1t Is in 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 fiction, and the death
rattle is due TO paralysis"
s DR.. ". G. JerDigan said: at is owing very
much to the cause Of death. Some cases are
evidently painful, but / think the great ma
jority are painless. | remember the ca Sc 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
viii il as legible characters as he ever made,
writing beautiful hand
Il 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. |
>
of cases death is painless l am speaking in
reference to the article of death, the act Of
pain. In cases of hemorrhage there is no
dying. 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 e1hausting disease is more a tired
feeling than one of pain"
Dr. w. D. Bizzel said: 81 have seen men
die from almost everything, and | think the
most shocking death is that in malignant
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 inuelligently,
but apparently not caring at all.
1.-THE pain or painlessness OF death is
question that engaged my attention a good
deal in my earlier practice | remember
going through a hospital with professor
when / was a 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 Lave
special interest in the case, and remarked to
the students, Wen, gentlemen, death has its
terrors to most men as long as it remains at
a distance, and we rarely have the privilege
of choosing the route by which we shall Jour
ney to meet it. Here you see a man who is
travelling, in my opinion, as easy a route as a
man can go With his senses about him. the
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,
Wei, doctor, when you get where am you
went think so'
SIN 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 Gie-for Gods sake, don'tp Fortunately
such cases are rare, and, whether saint or
sinner, a man usually sinks, as it were into
slumber, 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, bat as man passes the meridian of
life ard 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 disappoirtnentS are multiplied
death has little terror for him. In fact, death
seems 20 be a 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.
''The mental condition Of man approach
ing death is frequently strange thing a
celebrated jurist, eminent in church and
state, died about year ago under my obser-
walton. During the earlier period of his de-
liriu,n he would exhort, pray and deliver
opinions from the bench, but as the disease
penetrated the moro remote recesses of the
brain ne 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 diaphrarn are composed and OF
cheerful mind, and usually die quietly, but
persons with disease Of the liver, kidneys or
affections Of that sort apt to be morose and
don't take as cheerful q view OF things as
those who have diseases above the diaphran."
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