The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1889-07-26
NO PAIN IN DEATH.
A FAMOUS PHYSICIAN TALKS FREELY ON
THE sUBJECr.
EDUCATED PERSONS FEAR DEATH LEAST
GOOD CHRISTIANS WHO ARE IN NO
HURRY TO LEAVE THIS WORLD
WOMEN A. E BRAvER THAN
MEN IN THE LAST
MnMENTa

HURRY TO LEAVE THIS WORLD
WOMEN Az E BRAvER THAN
MEN IN THE LAST
MOMENTS.
One dav writer was sitting in the
office Of DIR. Shrady, editor Of The
MEDICAL REooRD and the physician
who attended General Grant in his i'll.
ness. The death agonies of fiction
writers came up in the course Of con
versati,n. aud the question, is death
painless 7 naturally suggested itself.
Dr. Srady'i is man OF commanding
presence, Of ag gyressive disposition, and
positive IN his tones.
speaking generally" said he, "the
death agony is very rarely attended by
pain, because the system is always pre-
pared for death by weakening OF the
vital forces, by the ci, ,culation OF i'm
pure blood through the brain and blythe
obtunding of the nerves. OF course
some people have more pain than 9th
era, and this is largely determined by
temperament. A nervous man - ali
other things being equal-suffers more
pain than man who has enjoyed ro-
bust health, because the nervous mans
sensibilities are stronger, but the pain
of death is more in the anticipation of
il than IN the reality. The instinct for
life is strong in man, and the teach
ings of the present day as well as the
writings of our novelists do not make
the majority of men any the more
ready to die. He'll fire is not preached
as much as formerly it is an unpop-
ular doctrine, but 1t is nevertheless
taught, and often adds to the torture
Of dying people"
II DO NOT WANT TO DIE.
"What people are the most afraid
to die p
"My own experience, strange as it
may seem, has taught me that Christ
ian people are, as a rule, the most
afraid to die. My profession has
brought me into contact with all sorts
of men, and have made study of
death from a psychological standpoint,
and have found that the best Chris
tians are the most willing to stop out
of Heaven as long as possible. They
all want to get there, but they're in no
hurry. The scientific philosopher who
weighs the chances, who recognizes
that there is no way of escape, since
every one before him has had to meet
the grim visitor, meets death as brave
" as any. He knows that the neces.
sity of dying is the penalty of living.
He regards it from purely matter of
fact standpoint, and he is aware of the
feet that no argument for theory will
take off its edge.
81 am talking like an agnostic, am l
not 7" broke in the doctor, parenthe-
tically, "bnt l am believer in Chris
tianity for all that, and what l have
told you is the result of my experience
as physician and quite apaio from
my own preferer ces.
Speaking generally" continued the
doctor, ''men of education face death
with greater fortitude than men who
are not educated. Philosophy has a
great deal to do with the art of dying.
although the Christian religion has
been a great comfort to the human
race in preparing the wav for death,
and in giving hope of life hereafter
amounting in some cases almost to a
realization of better country beyond
the line of time"
"Are men or women the braver in
facing death p
"Women are almost always pluckier
than men. They endure pain much
better. Have you ever observed how
irritable man is who is suffering from
toothache or neuralgia, but woman
will often suffer without a murmur
All other things being equal woman
will face death with more calmness
and fortitude than a man, which NAV
be partly accounted for from the fart
the instinct for life is stronger in man,
and his habits and surroundings have
trained him not to give in so easily"
QUICK DEATH THE EASIEST.
(which is the easiest kind of
death Z"
..'The quickest death is the easiest
death. In one of the prayers of the
common prayer book we pray to be
delivered from sudden death, but In
reality if man is prepared to die,
sudden death is the easiest. 1t is ab-
solutely painless, such deaths as result
from apoplexy, a stroke of lightning or
heart disease. Death by electricity is
easy, much easier than pc ople suppose.
The punishment of the criminal con-
sists in the anticipation of his ap-
preaching end, which is displayed in
anxious eye, the trembling gait, the
quiVering lip, and depressed condition
generally. l most firmly believe that
if man were placed on the scaffold,
and kept in suspense for five minutes
he would have received ali the punish
ment he required, and if liberated
would never again lift his hand against
his brother man as long as he lived.
The agony in hanging occurs before
death and not at death. In some d.
seases the moribund condition lasts for
hours, and in cases like this, where
there is no hope for recovery, death
door is opened and the patient passes
away as quietly as if going asleep.
Consumptives for an instance { who,
strangely enough, have hope to the
very lastl, very often die in this sleep
or if inclined 10 sleep, Just before
death they will say. Doctor, please
raise the pillow a little and as the
head is being raised there is faint
gurgling sound in the throat aud death
takes place apparently without pain.
"What death do you consider to be
the most painful 7"
IL think death from suffocation is
because the struggle for breath and the
intense desii e TO overcome the impedi
msnts to breathing is something terrible
to contemplate ard still more terribl,
to experience. When a student ca
college was very nearly drowned.
was taken out of the water insensiblc
and SO ! can speak of this kind o
death from experience, because ] wa
virtually dead; that is to say, if | hat
| remained in tho watar a fam nj pnt A