The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-08-15
DEATH rs PAINLESS.
THE ACTUAL PARTING WITH LIFE 4
: PEACEFUL TRANSITION.


ing Brain a. the Lamp Of Life
Burns Itself Out.
Despite the wise teachings and noble
example Of Socrates and despite the pos
tive assertions Of the best medical au-
thorities most people look with fear and
trembling toward the moment which sep
arates time and eternity for mankind
the moment of death. Physicians have
itself is relief, beautiful and by no
means painful transition, but they have
Rlso laid stress upon the fact that this
dissolution must not be COMPOUNDED with
the symptoms of disease which precede
death.
The question as to what transpires in
mankind during the approach Of death
has been the subject of many studies and
researches, and number of French sci
entists, among them V. Egger, DIR. Sol
lier and De Varigny, have collected mate"
rial that could be reached upon this point
and published it in a pamphlet issued in
Paris. Naturally the material is but
scant, but nevertheless furnishes an in
teresting contribution to the great issue
the moment Of death.
The French publication gives number
Of statements by intelligent and observ-
ing persons who were rescued from death
at the last moment. These statements
are confined to accidents and do not refer
to exhaustion resulting from old age, but
even in the case Of the latter the experts
claim to be justified in the assertion that
where the power of life gradually fades
away death Is no more painful than in
the case Of people who In the fullness Of
vitality confront the great destroyer.
A number of the instances cited in the
publication are connected with the ex-
periences of lion hunters in Algiers, who
have been actually within the grasp of
the claws and the terrible teeth Of the
king of animals.
Similar experiences are related by per-
sons who were in imminent danger of
drowning, One of them, physician HIM
self, tells how his boat capsized in rush
ing stream and how he, after heroic but
fruitless efforts to save himself, redou-
bled by the knowledge that he was rapid
ly carried toward a roaring cataract,
drifted INTERESTINGLY in sort Of peace
full semiconsciousness until rescue came.
In all these instances, where accident
brought people of well balanced mind
suddenly face to face with death, there is
the one consensus of thought that before
the minds eye of such people all the i'm
portant events of their life, almost their
entire life, SO to say, passes in moment.
This is in accordance with life In a
dream, where single instant sufiices to
comprise an almost endless chain Of
events.
Professor Heine Of the Zurich universe
ty, an indefatigable mountain climber,
had the experience Of a fall into steep
abyss. He'was rescued by what seemed
to be a miracle, and he Immediately set
to work to gather the experiences of 9TH
They all agreed.
what felt in the few seconds Of my
fall" says Professor Heine, "would take
hours to relate. All thoughts and mind
pictures were of marvellous distinctness
and cearness. A long train Of means to
break the tremendous rush Of the fall
occurred to me first. and next there pass
ed before my mind all the events of my
life, realistic as in a kinetoscope."
Whymper, an English Alpine tourist of
renown, fell from height of over 200
feet. II was perfectly conscious Of what
happened to me-" he states, "and count
ed every jolt got from protruding cliffs,
but, like chloroformed patient, felt no
pain. Each repeated jolt Of course was
greater than the preceding one, and re-
member quite well how calculated that
if the next jolt should be still more Sc
we're the end would come. But the most
wonderful experience was that in this
tremendous rush through space the air
pressure, which must Lave been terrible,
was not at all disagreeable.'
Admiral Beaufort of the British navy
relates what he felt when he once fell
overheard. "From the moment my eff
forts to save myself ceased" he said,
"the awful thought of death passed away
like magic and gave place to perfect rest.
This was apathy, pure and simple, and
not resignation, for 1t never occurred to
me that drowning was a misfortune. l
did not think Of rescue, and yet l did not
suffer. On the contrary, my sensations
were rather pleasant"
Darwin, who as competent observer
has few peers if any, relates that he once
fell from a garden wall only seven or
duction of the thoughts which passed his
mind in the brief moment of the fall
would fill volume.
If these phenomena Of panoramic views
of past life are closer examined, the
French scientists say the conclusion is
irresistible that the visions are limited to
a few scenes which are later on enlarged
by the imagination. Children, whose life
comprises less numerous and clearer ele- |
ments, never have these "reminiscences.
Almost invariably their only thought is |
that they will not see their parents again.
DR.. Solher reports the case of con-
frmed opium eater, a girl of unusual
brightness in her sober moments. He
treated her after the method which cuts
off the use Of the drug at once and which
involves repeated stages of unconscious
ness of the outer world. After each re-
turn to her senses the patient, who was
firmly convinced that she must die, stated
that her sensations were not only free
from pain, but positively beautiful
Usually the death struggle is painless.
The dying complain rarely. Even II
appears to be clear, the dy-
ing are in the past rather than in the
present, and the perfect rest which is
often taken as product Of strong will
power is in reality sign Of absolute in
sensibility. 'If only had the power to
WELD pen," murmured the dying Will
liam Hunter, 81 would use it to express
how easy and restful it is to die."-Chi-
cago Tribune.