News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-07-31
TERMS $1.5O.
THE COMING OF DEATH.
The Signs Many and Variable-Dying
Usually Painless Experience.

The Signs Many and variable-Dying
Usually a Painless Experienced.
The signs of impending death are
many and variable. No two instances
are precisely identical, yet several signs
are common to many cases. Shake
speare, who observed everything else,
observed and recorded some of the pre-
monitory signs of death also. In the
account of the deatl of Falstaff the
sharpness of the nose, the coldness of
the feet, gradually extending upward,
the picking at the bedclothes, and the
playing with flowers are accurately de-
scribed.
For some time before death indfca-
tions of its approach become apparent
Speech grows thick and labored, the
hands, if raised, fall instantly, the
respiration is difficult, the heart loses
, its power to propel the blood to the ex-
tremities, which consequently become
cold, clammy moisture oozes through
the pores of the skin, the voice grows
weak and husky or piping, the eyes be-
gin TO lose their luster.
In death at old age there is a gradual
dulling of all the bodily senses and of
,Rany of the mental faculties; memory
fails, judgment wavers, imagination
goes out like a candle. The muscles
and tendons get stiff, the voice breaks,
the cords of the tabernacle are loosen
ing. Small noises irritate, sight be-
comes dim, nutrition goes on feebly,
digestion is impaired, the secretions are
insufficient or vitiated or cease, capil-
larry circulation is clogged Finally the
central organ of the circulation comes
to stop-a full stop-and this stop
page means a dissolution. This is the
death of old age which few attain to.
Many people have an idea that death
is necessarily painful, even agonizing,
but there is no reason whatever to sup
pose that death is a more painful pro-
cess than birth. 1t is because in a GER
tain proportion of cases dissolution is
accompanied by a visible spasm and
distortion of the countenance that this
idea exists, but it is as nearly certain
as anything can be that these distor-
tions of the facial muscles are not only
painless, but take place unconsciously.
In many instances, too, a comatose or
semi-comatose state supervenes, and it
is altogether probable that more or less
complete Inconsistencies then pre-
vails
We have, too, abundant evidence of |
people who have been nearly drowned
and resuscitated, and they all agree in
the statement that after a few mo-
ments of painful struggling fear and
anxiety pass away and state of tran
quillity succeeds. They see visions of |
green fields, and in some cases hear
pleasant music, and so far from being |
miserable their sensations are delight |
full But where attempts at resuscita-
ton are successful the resuscitated per-
sons almost invariably protest against
being brought back to life, and declare
that resuscitation is accompanied by
physical pain and acute mental misery.
Death is a fact which every man
must personally experience, and conse-
quently is of universal interest. And
as facts are facts the wisest course is to
look them squarely in the face, for
necessity is coal black and death keeps
no calendar. Medical Journal