DEATH. 



799 



exaltation of one part of the mental constitution 

 at the expense of the others. Excitement of 

 the imagination has, we doubt not, been fre- 

 quently mistaken for general mental vigour. 

 We should place such instances, however, far 

 below those in which there remains sufficient 

 steadiness of the understanding to direct the 

 provisions of a will; though by many observers 

 such a condition of the intellect would be con- 

 sidered a far slighter evidence of the triumphs 

 of mind over matter, than the impassioned 

 expressions to which the dying man sometimes 

 gives utterance, when describing the visions of 

 his phantasy. 



The delirium of the dying is often of a most 

 interesting character, and resembles dreaming 

 more than any other form of derangement that 

 has fallen under our notice. The ideas are 

 derived less from present perceptions than in 

 insanity, and yet are more suggested by ex- 

 ternal circumstances than in the delirium of 

 fever and phrenitis. Thus the sight of a by- 

 stander often suggests the image of a friend 

 long departed, in which character the mori- 

 bund man addresses him, and talks earnestly 

 of persons, scenes, and events belonging to a 

 former period of his history as if still present. 

 The vivified conceptions are generally derived 

 from subjects which either in his speculative 

 pursuits, or in the business of life, have princi- 

 pally occupied his thoughts. The last words 

 of Dr. Armstrong were addressed to an ima- 

 ginary patient upon whom he was impressing 

 the necessity of attention to the state of the 

 digestive organs. We have heard that a great 

 legal officer not long deceased, having raised 

 himself for a moment from his couch, said 

 with his wonted dignity, " Gentlemen of the 

 jury, you will find," and then fell back on his 

 pillow and expired. The visual conceptions 

 reproduced in some minds often appear to have 

 been derived from poetical reading. We re- 

 member hearing a young man, who had been 

 but little conversant with any but civic scenes, 

 discourse most eloquently a short time before 

 death, of " sylvan glen and bosky dell," pur- 

 ling streams, and happy valleys ; " babbling of 

 green fields," as if his spirit had been already 

 recreating itself in the gardens of Elysium. 

 It not unfrequently happens that the spectra 

 owe their origin to contemplations of future 

 existence ; and consequently that the good man's 

 last hours are cheered with beatific visions 

 and communion with heavenly visitors. 



" Saw ye not even now a blessed troop 

 Invite me to a banquet, whose bright faces 

 Cast thousand beams upon rne, like the sun? 

 They promised me eternal happiness, 

 And brought me garlands, Griffith, which I feel 

 I am not worthy yet to bear : I shall assuredly." 

 King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2. 



Dreadfully contrasted with such visions are 

 those which haunt the dying fancies of others. 

 The previous habits and conduct of the indi- 

 vidual have sometimes been such as to incline 

 spectators to enquire whether in the mode of 

 his departure from existence he might not 

 already be receiving retribution; just as, in 



other cases, celestial dreams and colloquies 

 have seemed fitting rewards for blameless lives 

 and religious meditation. It would be pre- 

 sumptuous, however, to hazard much upon the 

 final causes of the various modes of termina- 

 ting the career of life, not only for certain 

 obvious general reasons, but also because we 

 have known both the virtuous and the vicious 

 pass away in states of unconsciousness, to all 

 appearance precisely similar. 



One of the most curious instances of de- 

 rangement that we have met with occurred in 

 a phthisical patient. It consisted in a morbid 

 association of ideas by mere similarity of ver- 

 bal sound, or in other words a propensity to 

 rhyme. Every person who came to the bed- 

 side was sure to receive a distich in honor of 

 his name; nor could any remark be made in 

 his presence without his seizing one of the 

 words uttered and finding a rhyme for it, in 

 doing which he exhibited great ingenuity. 

 We were unable to ascertain whether he had 

 been addicted when in health to attempts at 

 metre. Recitations of poetry, appearing to recur 

 from a passive process of memory, with perfect 

 unconsciousness of what is passing around, 

 are frequent occurrences ; and the passages 

 selected have often a singular coincidence with 

 events in the life of the moribund rehearser. 

 Sir W. Scott's touching picture of the death 

 of Madge Wildfire has had many unfic- 

 titious counterparts. 



Dementia or imbecility sometimes comes on 

 a short time before death. It is for the most 

 part manifested by an incapacity of concen- 

 trating the ideas upon any one subject, and by 

 an all but total failure of memory. The study 

 of the degree of this condition necessary for 

 invalidating a legal document is of great im- 

 portance to the medical jurist. The mental 

 weakness is in no respect so painfully exhi- 

 bited as in the facility with which the subject 

 of it derives pleasure from puerile amuse- 

 ments. " Playing with flowers " is a token of 

 approaching dissolution enumerated by a dra- 

 matic author, one whose observation pervaded 

 human nature in all its phases. We remember 

 visiting a lady in the last stage of a uri- 

 nary disorder, during the progress of which 

 she had evinced both strength of mind and re- 

 finement of taste : we found her arranging 

 with great care, and with demonstrations of 

 delight at her success, a garland of flowers 

 around a chamber utensil. A more humilia- 

 ting spectacle could scarcely be witnessed. 

 We augured that her decease was near at hand, 

 and she died on the following day. 



In the delirium under consideration, repro- 

 ductions of visual sensations bear a considera- 

 ble part ; but in some cases the consciousness 

 is exclusively occupied by them; they are 

 mere ocular spectra. Thus with a vacant coun- 

 tenance, half-shut eyes, and gaping mouth, 

 and in a state of insensibility which no out- 

 ward impression can rouse, the victim of ty- 

 phus is seen catching at something in the air. 

 By the adjustment of the finger and thumb, 

 it is evident that the imaginary objects are 

 often minute ; and it is not unlikely that they 



