The morning news., 1889-05-06


bund condition lasts for hours, and in cases
like his where there is no hope for recov-
cry 'ath's door is opened and the patient
pa -ses away as quietly as if going to sleep.
C)nsumptIves, for instance (wno, stra gely
ough, have hope up to the very last, very
often die in this sleep, or If Inclined u
sleep, just before de lth they will say,
Doctor, please raise the pillow lit le,'
and as the head is being raised ere is
fai gurgling sound in the throat and
death takes place apparently without pain"
What deaf do you consider to be the
most painfulP'
II thin death from suffocation is, be-
cause the struggle for breath and the in
to 'se desire to overcome the impedime1ts
10 breathing is netting terrible to con-
template and still more terrible to expert
ence When a studen- at college | was
very nearly drowned. | wa taken out of
the wa g. in sens. b g, and so | can speak of
this kin | # d a h from experience. be-
cause was virtually dead, that Is to say
II had remaileI in the water few min
utes longer the curtain tn 1t divides time
from eternity would have simply come
down, and--well, the world W iuld ha a
been spared auo h@r doctor, wouldn't itP'
said he wi b smil.
II had hear previous to this experience
or mine" he went on, that d. owning was
very pleasant death, and that drowning
persons saw beautiful visions as tn result Of
the cirulatiol of cartonized blood, and
was waiting frr them to occur, but they did
not. l had read that it was very pleasant
sorth of death, but when / came to the
scratch under tie water found it anything
but p casa t, and the rem mbrance Of at
terrible stru lie for life in the water is, as
you may imagine among my most vivid
recollections. Tnere j., however, a mercy
in these violent dea hs, inaSmuch as the
,;ot-, 1.
must come, becau g the vital forces will
give way soDner"
"What do you think of the death chapters
so frequent in the novels of to-day? are
they true or untrue"
well, to that | must answer yes and no.
Many authors make a special Study of
death fir IN certain diseases efore de crib
ing them and the samc remark is true of
actresses. Many actresses make it a rule
to co suit soms physician on the effect of
certain poisol for example before acting
their parts in order to ascertain what sort
OF deaths they produce. B ,th authors
I'd actresses make a study of death in
our hospitals when 9ve' they can, out still
there are great ma ~ of our prese It day
writers who draw to an unlimited extent
upon the lmagi alton in deoicting death
scenes, and very often make ludricrous
mistakes in conseq lence. Aa eminent pro-
fessoT nd authof-a frisnd of mi e-de-
sired to introduce into one If his works a
man who had suffered severe injury in
the back as the result of fall, ID it was
necessar that he should be reasonably
active: The question arose whether it was
possible, and physician having been con-
suited it was found t be i'm 1oss be, and so
the writer altered it TO disease of ie bone.
Perhaps" the doctor went On "tae mo It
finished acc)u 1t of d at from an internal
disease is to be found in Evan Elyitch,' a
work by the fam )us Russial novelist,
Count Tolstoi. 1t is a most mastery pro-
ductlon, and could not fail to please any
medical m m who read it.n
Bat this is a very sombre subject isn't
it? It reminls me of the story of tue young
man who met friend on t o street Que day
who was dressed in black, and was to all
a p"arances in mourning, and when asked
by his friend who vas dead replied with
mournful smile, Nobody, old ma q, am
paving attention to the undertaker'S daugh-
ter"
"If l talk much more on this subject
people will think know far too much about
de lth, he laughingly continued.
Nv haj is the surest indication of ap-
preaching death'"
"Well, that differs In different disea ses
In some cases a veil passes over the facs of
the dying person which gives a grayish
aspect, but this does not ALWAYS ocour.n
'Is the average life longer or shorter than
it used to beF'
"The average life is much longer, not
withstanding the increasing pres sure of
modern life. There are more neople to-day
whom science has enabled 30 live than ever
lived before. Darwin's famous theory was
the survival of the fittest which has OBJ
tanned so many converts in the scientifi
world, but we are fast approaching the
survival of the unfittest The idiots and
crippleS and those wnD would have died
had they lived century ago, are ow en-
abled to live, and this is due to the rapii
strides which medical science has made
during the last few years"
The doc or arose, and came away i'm
pressed with le fact that death is not sucn
a horrible thing otter ALL and that Dr.
You has truly said:
1--WE die thousand deaths in fearing
one.n DAVID WECHsLER.