San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-06-19
NO PAIN In DEATH.
A FAMOUS PHYSICIAN TALKS FREE
" ON THE SUBJECT.

Christians Who Are I'm No Hurry to
Leave This worId-women Are Drawer
Than Men in the Last Moments,
One day writer was sitting in the Office
of DR.. Shrady, editor of The Medical Record
and the physician who attended Gen. Grant
in his last illness. The death agonies of fc-
ton writers came up in the course of con-
versation, and the question, Is death painlessi
naturally suggested itself. DR.. Shrady is a
man of commanding presence, of aggressive
disposition, and positive in his tones
Speaking generally" said he, 1.-THE death
agony is very rarely attended by pain, be-
cause the system is always prepared for death
by weakening of the vital forces, by the
circulation of impure blood through the
brain and by the obtunding of the nerves. OF
course some people have more pain than
others, and this is largely determined by tenn
permanent A nervous man-au other things
being equal-suffers more pain than a man
who has enjoyed robust health, because the
nervous mans sensibilities are stronger, but
the pain of death is more in the anticipation
of it than in the reality. The instinct for life
is strong in man, and the teachings of the
present day as well as the writings of our
novehsts 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 I'M
popular doctrine, but it is nevertheless
taught, and often adds to the torture of dying
people"
DO NOT WANT TO DIE
What people are the most afraid TO diel"
my own experience, strange as it may
seem, has taught me that Christian people
are, as rule the most afraid to die. My
profession has brought me into contact with
all sorts of men, and have made a study of
death from a psychological standpoint, and
| have found that the best Christians 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 philoso-
pher who weighs the chances, who knows
that death is inevitable, who recognizes that
there is no way Of escape, since every one be-
fore him has had to meet the grim visitor,
meets death as bravely as any. He knows
that the necessity of dying is the penalty of
living. He regards it from purely matter
of fact standpoint, and he is fully aware of
the fact that no argument or theory will
take off its edge.
81 am talking like an agnostic, am mott"
broke in the doctor, parenthetically, "but /
am believer in Christianity for all that, and
what have told you is the result of my ex-
perience as physician and quite apart from
my own preferences.
Speaking generally" continued the doc
tor, "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 way for death, and in Civ
ing hope of a life hereafter amounting in
some cases almost to realization of better
country beyond the line of time"
"Are men or women the drawer in facing
death 2"
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 neural
gia, but woman will often suffer without
nurmur. All other things being equal
woman will face death with more calmness
and fortitude than man, which may be
partly accounted for from the fact that the
instinct for life is stronger in a 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?
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 a man is prepared to
die, sudden death is the easist. 1t is abso-
lutely painless, such deaths as result from
apoplexy, a stroke of lightning or heart dis
ease. Death by electricity is easy, much
easier than people suppose. The punishment
to the criminal consists in the anticipation of
his approaching end, which is displayed in
the anxious eye, the trembling gait, the
quivering lip, and depressed condition gen.
orally. most firmly believe that if man
were placed on the scaffold, and kept in sus-
pense for five minutes he would have received
all the punishment he required, and if Eber-
ated 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 diseases the moribund
condition lasts for hours, and in cases like
this, where there is no hope for recovery,
deaths door is opened and the patient passes
away as quietly as if going to sleep. Con-
sumptives, for instance who, strangely
enough, have hope to the very last, very
often die in this sleep, or if inclined to 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 and death takes place APP
parently without pain"
what death do you consider to be the
most painfull"
II think death from suffocation is, because
the struggle for breath and the intense desire
to overcome the impediments to breathing is
something terrible to contemplate and still
more terrible to experience. When astudent
at college was very nearly drowned. was