Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1899-09-08
DEATH rs PAINLESS.
THE ACTUAL PARTING WITH LIFE A
PEACEFUL TRANSITIONS. a,5$

long since established the fact that death
itself is q relief, beautiful and By no
means painful transition, but they have
also laid stress upon the fact that this
dissolution must not be COMPOUNDED with
the symptoms Of disease which precede
death. @,'. S.5ss
\ The question as to what transpires In
mankind during the approach Of death
has been The subject Of many studies, and
researches, and q number Of French SCI
entists, among them v. Esger, DR.. Sol
Nes and DeSVarigny, have collected mate
rial that could be reached upon this point
/ and. dit In a~pamphlet issued In
Paris. Naturally the material 10 but
scant, but nevsrtheless furnishes an In.
teresting contribution to the great issue
the moment Of DEATH ~ 'N>'''' '.''>", ,
The French publication gives number
of statements by intelligent and observ-
inx pefsons 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 Or the latter the experts
claim 70 be justified 10 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 fullnesss OF
vitality confront the great destroyer.
4 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. 10
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 10 save himself, redou-
bled by the knowledge that he was rapid
~ carried toward q roaring cataract,
drifted INTERESTINGLY. In q sort Of peace
ful 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 a single instant suftices to
comprise an almost endless chain Of
events. o.
Professor Heine Of the Zurich universi-
ty. an indefatigable mountain climber.
had the experience Of fall into steep
abyss. He was rescued by what seemed
to be miracle. and he Immediately set
to work to gather the experiences Of 9th
ers who hau been In the same position.
They all agreed. -, x
"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 clearness. A long train Ut means to
break. the tremendous rush, of the fall
I occurred to me first, and next there pass
ed before my mind all the events Of my
life, realistic as in kaleidoscope"
Whymper, an English Alpine tourist Of
renown, fell from a height Of over 200
feet. II was perfectly conscious of what
happened to me-" he states, "and I 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 I re-
member quite we'll how calculated that
IL the next jolt should be still more &C.
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 ef-
forts to save myself ceased" he said,
1.-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 It never occurred to
me that drowning was a misfortune.
did not think Of rescue, and yet I did not
suffer. On the contrary. my sensations
were rather pleasant"
Darwin, who a. q competent observer
has few peers II any, relates that he once
fell from . garden wall only seven or
eight feet high, and he says that repro
duction Of the thoughts which passed his
mind In the brief moment Of the TALL
would fill a volume.
II these phenomena Of panoramic views
Of past life are closer examined, tho
French scientists say, the conclusion 10
irresistible that the visions are limited to
| q 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.. Solller reports the case Of con-
frmed opium eater, 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 stN:"s Of unconscious
ness Of the outer world. After each ie-
turn to her senses the patient, who was
firmly convinced that she must die, stated
that her sensations were not only free
IRON pain, but positively beautiful.
Usually the death struggle is painless.
The dying complain rarely. Even II
consciousness 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 ofra strong will
power is in reality sign Of absolute in
sensibility. IF only had the power to
WELD pen," murmured the dying vii.
liam Hunter, II would use it to express
how easy and restful it is to die."-Chi'
cago Tribune. 49,.
| Like Goats.
| Preaching one Sunday from the text,
"Love one another" the village parson
told little story Of two goats that had
| met on the one plank bridge which cross.