The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-05-10
VIXEN PEOPLE DIE.

= Means ETOEE Ns-Illg Light kGrY
iuA.'roSt fns subject
For many years medical science tshs
been wondering whether there is any
particular hour in tire twenty-four at
which more deoBhs occur than At any
other time of day, and while statistics
have beca complied and the figures
subjected 90 exhaustive Investigations,
but little, Il any. -s-ht has been thrown
upon the subject. Here il this city the
physicians al the diFerEut hospitals
arc almost eatirely Of the opinion that,
there is no reason to- believe that peo-
pie die at aIry paISiculau hour any
more than these is 10 believe that peo-
pie arc taken sick at certain. hour,
Lud, as no statistics as 10 the
hours at which patients died have
been kept, it Is impossible TO state
C1-Gu if Lhere are more deaths a. one
time OF the day than at another.
De. Wells, the chief physician at the
AErlzhousc Hospital said nc did not
believe there could DO auy thing IN the
idea "Of course" said he, there
arC certain diseases which are attend
ed by fcver during the night, and as O.
natural result tho patient wiz die Of
cXhaEatiOn after tho tension upon tho
uervoGs system incident 10 the fever
has relaxed. The relaxation occurs
with the coming of daylight, but the
patient does not necessarily die at that
time, the hour of death depending en-
tiroly upon his OK her constitution.
Ii they be strong and hardy pa
tients, whose ailments are attended by
fever, they VIII last much longer than
patients whose constitutions are run
down, and who are physical wrecks
Apart from this there are a thousand
and ono reasons which could be ad-
vanccd in denial Of amy existing theory
as 10 the hour at which most deaths
occur. The time of 4 persons death
depends entirely upon the age, the
sex, the physical condition and numer-
GUS other things, without considering
the disease. >-2-~ 80
The idea of a person dying at
! given hour is made ridiculous by the
/ fact that one physician might be able
| 20 prolong a patients dissolution sew
| eral days by treatment unknown TO
4 another physician, who, perhaps,
/ might hasten death. Even If sick
! people were allowed TO go without
| medical treatment, the physical and
/ other conditions which | have named
would still exist and have their infiu-
ence upon the time OF expiration and
! refuto all theories as to a set hour for
! dying"
At the Presbyterian and PennsyI-
vania hospitals the doctors to whom
the same questions were propounded
could not see how there could be any
basis for the idea. advancing tho same
| arguments practically as given by DIR.
Wells. S.
DR.. pcre, an eminent French spec
ialist, some twenty years ago became
imbued with the idea that the vary
ing atmosphere conditions that exist
ed during the progress Of tvventy-four
hours had a great deal to do with the
extinguishing or prolOnging of the
vital spark in human nature, and he
began TO make a special study of the
subject. AS he was connected with
one of the largest hospitals in Paris,
where the rate Of mortality among the
patients was from ten TO fifty per-
sons per day, he was given ample ma
terial upon which TO base his investi-
cations and make deductions.
Aitcr studying from all possible
views the figures collstcd in the first
ten years, he has lately announced
that there are no marked peculiaritiss
In the hour Of death of all tho patients.
with tho exception that the fewest
occurred between the hours of seven
and eleven o'clock ut night, and the
most between four and six in the
morning. He accounts for these pecu.
liaritios, however, by the statement
that the people who died during the
morning hours were mostly sufferer;
from diseases and injuries that pro
duced a high fever at night causing
exhaustion and death in the early mora
ing hours. $50 -
The time of the year and the condi
tion of the weather, he says, hav'
much t. do with the death of feve
patients. Dissolution or prolonging o
| life Is, in measure, controlled by tn
air currents, upon which depend tn
amount OF humidity in the air or it
clearuess. .-Thnadeiphia Record.
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