MAN ■ MAM 
ferent parts of the body, Tlie mufcles lofe their 
tone, the head fhakcs, the hands tremble, the legs 
totter, the fenlibility of the nerves decreafes, and 
every fenfe is obtunded. But the incapacity of 
generating is the mod charafteriftic infirmity of 
old age; and this impotency may be afcribed to 
two caufcs, viz. an" alteration ih the feminal fluid, 
^nd adefeift of tenfion in this external organs. 
All the caufes of decay which have been enume- 
rated a6l continually on the human frame, and 
gradually lead to it's diiTolution. However, na- 
ture approaches to this awful period by flov/ and 
imperceptible degrees; life is confuming day by 
day; and fome one of our faculties, or vital prin- 
ciples, is every hour dying before the reft: fo that 
death is only the laft fliade in the pi(5lure; and 
it is .probable that Man fufFers a greater change in 
proceeding from youth to age^, than from age to 
the grave. When our exiftence firft commences, 
our lives may fcarcely be faid to be our own : as 
the child grows, life increafes in the fame propor- 
tion; and arrives at it's height in the prime of 
manhood. But as foon as the body begins to 
decreafe, life decreafes alfo ; for, as the human 
framediminifiies, and it's juices circulate in fmaller 
quantities, life diminifhes and circulates with lefs 
vigour: fo that, as we begin to live by degrees, 
fifter the fame manner we begin to die. 
Why then fliould we be afraid of death, if we 
have no reafonable apprehcnfions of it's confe- 
quences? Why fhoulcl we dread that moment 
which is prepared by a thoufand others of the 
fame order; the firfl: pangs of ficknefs being pro- 
bably greater than the laft ftruggles of departure? 
Death, with regard to mofb perfons, is as calmly 
endured as the diforder that brings it on. If we 
make enquiries of thofe whofe bufinefs it is to at- 
tend the fick and the dying, we fhall find that, 
except in a very few acute cafes, where the patient 
dies in agonies, the greateft number depart quietly, 
and apparently without pain: and even the ago- 
nies of the former rather tend to alarm the fpe£la- 
tors than torment the patient; for how many have 
we not feen, who have been accidentally relieved 
from this extremity, and yet retain no memory of 
what they then endured ? In faft, they had ceafed 
to live during the time they ceafed to have any 
fenfation; and their pains were only thofe of which 
they pofTelTed the idea. 
The greateft part of mankind, therefore, die 
"'without being fenfible of the flital ftroke; and of 
thofe few who preferve their faculties entire to 
the laft moment, there is fcarcely one that does not 
alfo preferve the hopes of ftill recovering from his 
diforder. Nature, for the happinefs of Man, has 
rendered this impreffion ftronger than his reafon. 
A perfon dying of an incurable diforder, which he 
muft knov/ to be fo by frequent examples of his 
cafe, and which he perceives to be fo by the in- 
quietude of all around him, by the tears of his 
friends, and the departure or the appearance of 
his phyfician, is neverthelefs ftill poffcfled with 
the fond hopes of conquering his malady. His 
intereft is fo great, that he only attends to his own 
reprefentations; the judgment of others is re- 
garded as an hafty conclufion; and while death 
every moment makes new inroads on his confti- 
tution, and extinguifhes life in fome part, hope 
ftill feems to efcape the univerfal ruin, and is the 
laft hold that yields to the conqueror. 
A fick Man will obferve to thofe around him, 
that he feels the hand of death, that the king of 
Vol. H. 
terrors is juft about to arrive, and that his reco- 
very is impoflible; but if, either from zeal or in- 
difcretion, he is informed of his approaching dif- 
folution, his countenance inftantly changes, and 
he betrays all that anxiety which naturally attends 
the firft intimation of death. The Man, it is 
evident, gives no credit to his own aflertions: he 
may probably entertain fome doubts refpe£ling 
his fituation; but his hopes are always fuperior to 
his apprehenfions ; and if he were not alarmed by 
the fliew of grief which furrounds him, and which, 
too often embitters the fick man's couch, he would 
perhaps never perceive the approach of his diflb- 
lution. 
Death, therefore, is not that dreadful thing 
which we are apt to fuppofe it when contemplated 
at a diftance : it is a fpeftre which terrifies us be- 
fore we approach it more clofely; our ideas of it's 
terrors are conceived in prejudice, and drefled up 
by fancy; we regard it, not only as the greateft 
misfortune, but alfo as an evil accompanied with 
the moft excruciating tortures; and we have evea 
increafed our apprehenfions by reafoning on the 
extent of our fufferings. ' It muft be dreadful,' 
fay fome, ' fince it is fufficient to feparate the foul 
from the body: it muft be of long duration, fince 
our fufferings are proportioned to the fucceffion 
of our ideas; and thefe being painful, muft fuc- 
ceed each other with extreme rapidity.' After 
this manner has falfe philofophy laboured to aug- 
ment the miferies of our nature, and to aggravate 
the terrors of that period which is generally loft 
in infenfibility. Neither the mind nor the body 
can fuffer beyond certain bounds: the mind is, at 
that time, moftly without ideas; and the body too 
much enfeebled to be capable of perceiving it's 
torment. A very acute pain produces either 
death, or fainting, a ftate fimilar to death: if it be- 
comes cxceflive, it deftroys itfelf, and the mind 
ceafes to perceive when the body can no longer 
endure. Thus exceiTive pain admits of no re- 
fleftion; and wherever there are any indications of 
it, we may be fure that the fufi^erings of the pa- 
tient are not greater than we ourfelves remember 
to have felt. 
But, with refpeft to the m.oment of death, many 
are the inftances in which the dying perfon has 
difcovered that very refleftion which prefuppofes 
an abfence of the greateft pain; and confequentlv, 
that pang which finiflies life can never be fo great 
as thofe violent throws of pain which have pre- 
ceded. When Charles XII. of Sweden received 
that blow which terminated in an inftant both his 
enterprizes and his exiftence, he clapped his hand 
on his fword : this mortal pang, fince it did not ex- 
clude refle6tion, could not be exceftive. He 
found himfclf attacked ; he reflecfled that he ought 
to defend himfelf; it is evident therefore that he 
felt no greater pain than he would have done from 
an ordinary ftroke. This aftion could not be the 
refult of a mechanical impulie; for it is apparent 
that the moft precij^itate movements of the paf- 
fions depend on refle6lion, and are nothing but ha- 
bitual exertions of the mind. It is therefore the 
prejudices of perfons in health, and not the body 
in pain, which occafion our fuffering from the ap- 
proach of death: v/e have all our lives contraded 
a habit of depifting to ourfelves exceftive pleafures 
and pains; and nothing but repeated experience 
can convince us how feldom the one can be fuf- 
fered, or the other enjoyed to extremes. 
Should the gradual ceflfation of life^ or the in- 
T fenfible 
