How it feels to Die.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13462, 7 December 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

How it feels to Die.

A CONSENSUS OF SENSATIONAL TESTIMONY. A distinguished. German medico, Dr. C. H. Berndt, who. has bean engaged for some time in .the investigation of the phenomena of .the universally dreaded sensations experienced by human kind in "the hour and the. article of death," Ims /arrived. .at the conclusion that, it is an utter mistake to suppose, that dying is painful. Br. Bemdfc has collected and published a great number of -authentic statements of intelligent perrons who were regarded by the faculty as dying, but. who unexpectedly recovered; and nearly all these testify that, what seemed to them dy.ng pleasant rather than agonising. 0 he terror. of dying is the worst part, of the eind of our mortal life. When one has passed a certain p6int on. the road to dissolution. physicial pain ceases—such ds Br. Berndt's contention What follows is culled from Dr. Berndt's very remarkable book. FALLING FROM AN ALPINE PEAK. Arnold Siegrist;,- the mountaineer, who recovered most- marvellously after falling from the fearsome Korpfstock peak in the Alps, 2,000 ,fe©t above "the surrounding system, thus'-describes his sensations: My nund worked with malrvellous rapidity. I must have lost, all conception of time., for although I coukl only have been a few seconds in the air it seemed - to me .a very long time. I thought of my: dear wife and little, ones and 1 deeply regretted that I was leaving them, but remembered what a handsome sum. of insurance money they would receive, . and I smiled gleefully at the tliougth that the Insurance people would have to pay this amount after receiving one premium only. ' " I tlien began to feel ecstatically, happy. I had-, shaken off the bonds of the ftesih and entered into the realm of immortality, * Every problem of human existence became absolutely clear to -me. I understood exactly how men should live in order to avoid all strife, .sorrow,'.misery, and'poverty.- I the secret of. perfect happiness." Wonderful to relate Siegrist survived his wonderful fall, and of his recovery the mountaineer says : " After hovering in the balance for a remarkably long time I began to .return , to life, and as I. did so experienced' pain and dfs'cbmJorb.. once more. When I was convalescent I suffered acutely, and often did I regret the happy moments when I thought I. was dying."- ' PINNED DOWN IN A ' BLAZING BUILDING. James Barton, a-member of the London Fire Bridgade, : was ■ caught m the ruins of a burning building in Aldergatie ' street," and ' remained hidden beneath the debris for eight hours, before he.' was rescued'. 1 When lii's: body w*a.s recovered lie was lying beneath may tons of hot bricks and burning wood, -and it was 1 naturally supposed that he was dead. His body was laid aside, while tlie doctors attended to the more urgent work of looking after the living. In the course of three hour? one of them examined bis body and found that life was not- extinct. : - Ba.rt-on was carefully nursed and ev- - entually restored to' health. . , "Dying lias been a pleasure to me" said Barton, " and if it were not for my wife and children I should be sorry that I lia/ve recovered. I have not suffered at all during my illness. Of course I do not mean to say that burning and suffocation ara not painful but T was fortunate enough to miss those sensations almost entirely. : ' i "T was on my way across the first, floor of the burning * building when it gave . and I. fell into tli6 cellfti. Before I could think about my predicament a beam .hit me on the liead and I knew no more. " When I came to consciousness I was lying in the hospital bed, but : I did not seem to be on the earth. I was perfectly happy and- delightfully comfortable. In fact. 1 have never 'been so happy in my life before. I wtis entirely free from any pain. I believe I was incapable of feeling anything with my limbs, but that did not prevent mo from imagining that I felt the most delightful sensations—as though I was lying on a bed of rases and beinrr caressed bv gentle hands." "WITH FRACTURED SKULL. Very extraordinary Was the -experience of Percy William®, an English di-vinity-student, who sustained a terrible compound fracture of "the ;slcull. J3ui. ing the period when lie was suffering from the injury and even _ when _ ho was on the operting table his jmnd was filled with the most f static visions "I believe I was in heaven, 'V lie remarked. . Mr. Williams.' testimony receives support- fromi .Professor Metschnikoff, of the. - Pasteur Institute of Paris, who avers that. " there are many illnesses and accidents 1 where the approach of death evokes no painful sensations. During the crisis of an intermittent fever, when my temperature fell suddenly from I±o degrees to below the normal I experienced a sensation of extraordinary . feebleness—similar no doubt, to that which heralds the approach of death. Strange to say this scnsatlo-n was rather pleasant) than painful. . HOW lA GIRL FACED DEATH. • Miss Bertha Kuhlmann, of Munich, contributed an interesting statement of her experiences. r " I had been stricken with a severe attack of pneumonia. During the"-early days I suffered keenly, but as the disease grew worse I suffered less and ,less, uih til 1/ became, perfectly comfortable. When the crisis was reached I was apparently lifeless, and was quite unable to move even a finger. "My relatives, being assured that I was dying, sent" for a priest to administer extreineunction to me. When the priest came, he sa.d he doubted if I knew. anVthing of what was being done, but nevertheless 'he.'proceeded with ceremony,' according to custom. In Spite of what they thought, I was entirely conscious of everything that was being done,

and the sacrament added greatly to tlio feelings of peace and comfort which I experienced." A MORIBUND MOTORISTS JOYOUS VISION. Very different, though equally • free from the feeling of mental suffering, were the sensations of Chauffer Sissay, who was hurled from a .motor in Normandby whilst taking part in speed trials. His car wa« going, at the rale of 9-1 miles an hour, «,iul how he escaped destruction no one can tell, for in endeavouring to avvoid a collision the machine was run over hedges and ditdus for a mile, tlio brake refusing to answer. It. was smashed up agair.ii-t a tree and Sissay lay motionless for many hours, with scarcely whole bone in lias body. But lie lived .to tell tho tale, and here it is : " I lay in a state of delightful happiness in which I had visions that were half dream and half reality. I thought that X was riding on the swiftest and most luxurious automobile. that had ever been: created. It was faster than ilia one in which I met. diwvster. • It flew along with never a, jar or jolt and sometimes 1 fancied I was riding on the clouds bet. when 1 . looked at the landscape, about inc I changed lnv mind, and concluded flint. -I was on a road of -inflated rubber. . ■