The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-19
WONDERFUL MYSTERY Which
ONLY THE DYING CAN SOLVE,
BY w. 9. MORROW.

A few days ago G. w. Hoffman, the
electrician of the San Jose Electric I'M
provement Company, went to the COM
pany's power-house, passed through the
dvnamo-room, in which the oiler, George
Johnson, was at work, and entered small
room adjoining containing the switch
board. He had been there but few Sec
onds when johnson, hearing him groan,
hurried in and found him sitting on the
floor, evidently in pain. Hoffman looked
up made futile attempt to rise and
said: George, I'm done for" FIVE min
utes afterward he was dead, having by
some accident received fatal shock of
electricity.
The most peculiar circumstance in the
case is the mans knowledge that he was
killed. AS the current had entered his
hand and passed out through his foot his
brain had not been paralyzed; hence he
not only recognized the oler, but was
conscious of being fatally hurt. The enor-
nous force of $500 volts had passed
through his vitals. That he lived any
length of time at all is almost as wonder
full as the clcarness both of his external
and internal perception, for the frightful
violence which the current must have
done to all the vital part of him below the
head would seem sufficient to have dis
organized all his faculties. Had he not
been fatally hurt it is likely that he would
have been UNCONSCIOUS, or at least IN 100
| great pain to speak or to recognize his
| surroundings.
His conduct was evidence that nature
| had performed again one of its incredible
! miracles-it had whispered to him and
made him understand within space of a
! few seconds q secret that no uniniured
man can hear. and that was the secret of
death. Within recent years medical Jour-
nails have published able studies of the
proposition that death is generally well
come and pleasant. Were it not SO, then
life would be monstrous. But the great
| mystery OF dying mans knowledge that
he is dying-that for the first time in his
existence he has come to an understand
| ing OF DEATHS the more wonderful thing.
1t is easy for all of Us TO speak of death.
| We all know that at some time we must
die, and some of US announce that we are
dying when we are not, but there are few
| of US who can realize that we can form no
| conception whatever of death except the
trivial and wholly inadequate one based
on its external manifestation. The sub
Ject is so mysterious as to be alluring; but
as l, being one not dying, can form no
| idea OF that condition | am able only to
give the subject such a surface analysis as
may prove interesting if not instructive.
A dying mans cheerful acceptance of
| death is the result of what Psychologists
term the natural preparation for that
event. That is TO say, II death be not in
Simultaneous while the health is good or
does not impair the perceptive faculties the
rational part of one is MADE aware of the
presence of death when it is at hand. 1t
is marvellous adjustment of things that a
knowledge OF this presence usually brings
tar ky1f hnr
appears to be fear it may be generally
ascribed to an automatic persistence of
; the instinct to live.
There is no better way to express the
matter than in the words of a thoughtful
physician, who once said this to me: 'In
my opinion, that which makes rs avoid
dangers that might cause our death has its
origin in dread of pain and not in fear
of death, for we can have no conception
, Of the condition of death in our own cases,
nor of the experience Of dying. You will
observe among the lower animals that the
death of one of their kind gives them no
concern whatever, and yet they Will en-
deavor to avoid that which produced the
death of their comrade if they know that
it will cause pain. You make take two
dogs and give one of them poisoned meat
in the presence of the other. The one not
poisoned will see his companion die in
agony, and still will readily take other
poisoned meat. That is simply because ne
cannot understand the action OF poisons
The same dog would run as readily from
a small whip that would only sting him
as from club that would kill him. He
runs because he wishes to avoid pain. He
did not run from the poison because he
did not know that it would produce pain.
The conduct of human beings is in
| t1uenced by identically the same consider
ton, except that tn cir higher intelligence
informs them that some things which do
not cause pain may produce death.
Among these are narcotic poisons But in
thus avoiding death they are merely avoid
ing what they know only to be condition
repugnant to the instinct of life. 1t is
only the mans wider knowledge that
makes him avoid dangers which dog
would not comprehend; neither knows
death, and the instinct TO live does not
carry with it the knowledge of death. Yet
the dogs instinct is safer than the mans
wisdom, for men acquire habits and per-
sist in indulgences which they know will
kill them.
There can be no such thing, in my
opinion. as fear of death. When a uog
knows that he is going to die he seeks a
retired place and dies in peace. We go
through life with the utmost indifference
of the end, yet we know that we must all
die. The matter of preparing for pos-
sible life beyond this is not factor in the
case. That means life, not death. That
is to say, we can imagine lite even be-
yond this, but we cannot imagine death"
That all sounds rational.
The condition of death and the act of
dying are separate matters Even the
dying, though they may know they are
dying, give evidence of that fact only, so
far as we can be certain. The visions
which many of them see may be attributed
to disorganiZing mentality. Some of
them do know, however, that they are
dying, and as dying is an entrance upon
the condition of death it might be rash for
us to say that they cannot see the condi-
ton tehlnd the act. But that is mere
guessing; the subject is beyond the COM
prehension of any except the one who is
dying.
Returning to the subject of a natural
preparation for death, it may be seen ope-
rating in a marvellous diversity of ways
1t is not difficult to imagine how fatal
disease of the body, progressing through a
consdera BILE time, will gradually bring the
mind to accept the inevitable and so break
down the instinct to live (for it would be
reasonable to suppose that this instinct
-