GEADUAL DEATH. 561 



their aspect a difference of interest and importance. The death of indi- 

 viduals, as has been said, may occur in two ways, by acci- Death from ac _ 

 dent or by old age. But death from old age is very unusual, cident and by 

 for even in the cases of those who are very far advanced in 

 life, its close is ordinarily brought about by some lesion or derangement 

 of the vital organs, thus, in reality, constituting accidental death. 



Most men desire that their final scene may be attended with as little 

 derangement as possible of their ordinary mental powers, and 



*. *, . . Euthanasia. 



that it may be very brief. If this constitute the euthanasia, 

 or happy death, it certainly can not be thought that extreme old age is 

 desirable, constituting, as it does, a long-continued and dreary disease. 

 The senses fail us in the same manner and in the same order that they 

 do when we are falling asleep, their gradual deterioration bringing us back 

 to the helplessness and imbecility of infancy. In the long interval dur- 

 ing which this is going on, the aged man is not only a burden to himself, 

 but a sad spectacle to every one around him ; his perceptions arc being 

 gradually blunted ; and though he is, as it were, by degrees passing into 

 a final slumber, it is in that disturbed way which all have experienced when 

 they fall asleep after severe fatigue. 



The different portions of the body die in succession : the system of 

 animal life before that of organic, and of the former the sens- f 



.-.,_ , . ... Gradual death. 



ory functions fail first, voluntary motion next, while the pow- 

 er of muscular contraction under external stimulus still feebly continues. 

 The blood, in gradual death, first ceases to reach the extremities, its pulsa- 

 tions becoming less and less energetic, so that, failing to gain the periph- 

 ery, it passes but a little way from the heart ; the feet and hands become 

 cold as the circulating fluid leaves them, the decline of temperature gradu- 

 ally invading the interior. No one has ever yet offered a more accurate 

 picture of the appearance of the dying than that presented by Hippocrates : 

 " If the patient lies on his back, his arms stretched out, and his legs 

 hanging down, it is a sign of great weakness ; when he slides down in 

 the bed it denotes death. If, in a burning fever, he is continually feel- 

 ing about with his hands and fingers, and moves them up before his face 

 and eyes as if he were going to take away something before them, or on 

 his bed-covering as if he was picking or searching for little straws, or 

 taking away some speck, or drawing out little flocks of wool, all this is 

 a sign that he is delirious, and that he will die. When his lips hang 

 relaxed and cold, when he can not bear the light, when he sheds tears 

 involuntarily, when, dozing, some part of the white of the eye is seen, un- 

 less he usually sleeps in that manner, these signs prognosticate danger. 

 When his eyes are sparkling, fierce, and fixed, he is delirious, The Hippo- 

 or soon will be so ; when they are deadened, as it were, with cratic face - 

 a mist spread over them, or their brightness lost, it presages death or 



