Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

them; but various are their colours, and their virtues are diverse. To one is given knowledge; to another meekness; to another humility; to another charity; by the same spirit. Each has its use and its beauty; and he who would make honey must suck virtue from all. But, above all, forget not to dwell evermore on the contemplation of him who grew from the virgin stem of Jesse; for in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and of his fullness have all others received. He is the true rose of Sharon; red in the day of his passion, opening his beauties as the morning, in the midst of a crown of thorns, and perfect through suffering. He is the lilly planted in the humble vale, and from thence ascending up towards heav en, having his garments white as the light, which admits no stain to sully its virgin purity, and passeth through all things undefiled. Fly daily to him and delight thyself in meditation on his life and death. From him and the other sweet flowers of his planting, when thou hast drawn matter of instruction in righteousness, return home and deposit these treasures in the cells of thy understanding and affections, thy head and thy heart, that thou mayest become a land flowing with honey, a land wherein dwells the righteousness of Jesus, and the comforts of the Holy One. And when thou hast thus laid up within thee the words of eternal life, be a faithful dispenser to others of the manifold grace of God, and let thy tongue be a channel to convey it from thy heart into those of thy brethren, distilling it in such proportions as every one is able to receive it: so that the heavenly bridegroom may seal thee to salvation with this gracious testimony: Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honey-comb; honey and milk are under thy tongue; sweet and healing as the one, innocent and nourishing as the other, are all thy communications. And to encourage thee to be thus liberal to others of what he has freely given thee, thy dear Lord has told thee that what thou givest to the least of thy brethren, he takes as given to him. And as, when risen from the dead, he accepted at the hands of his disciples a piece of an honeycomb, so in the person of his members, risen from the death of sin, through the power of his resurrection, he expects from his disciples, and more especially from his ministers, a portion of that word which is declared by the holy psalmist to be sweeter than honey and the honey-comb. And in this respect he is graciously pleased to say, that he does himself feed upon it; for so it is written "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have eaten my honey-comb with my honey." These lessons of heavenly wisdom, O my soul, mayest thou learn from that pretty insect, of which the son of Sirach saith "The Bee is little among such as fly, but her fruit is the chief of sweet things." BP. HORNE.

[The subject of the following Address is of such serious importance, that no apology can be necessary, for having recourse to a newspaper, to fill the pages of the Magazine.]

FROM THE UNITED STATES' GAZETTE.

SUSPENDED ANIMATION.

TO THE HUMANE CITIZENS OF The united STATES.

I HAVE been highly gratified by looking over a volume of the "Transactions of the Royal Humane Society" of London.The benefits which have already, and may still farther be received from this benevolent institution, entitle them to the gratitude of all mankind. To men, such as they must be, the most acceptable manifestation of it would be to follow their godlike example. That this has been done in so few instances in the United States, I can attribute to nothing but the limited knowledge that we have of the existence of such transactions. Surely the citizens of the United States would be behind no people upon earth in encouraging amongst them, institutions from north to south, which have for their object the res cuing their helpless fellow creatures from the jaws of death. Why are not these transactions to be found in our bookstores? It is an institution which could not fail to be favoured by every thinking man in every class of the community, could the transactions be but generally known.

The main object, however, of this address is not to call your attention to the demand for such institutions amongst us, though it would be to me a subject of unceasing happiness for the remainder of my life, if it were to be effectual to that end. I had before read enough on the subject of suspended animation, to view with horror the precipitancy of our measures in cases of death happening amongst us. That there have been instances of suspended animation from various causes, is too well attested to admit of dispute; how numerous these causes may be, probably the best physicians cannot decide.

Amongst the learned, a criterion on which to rely, in the ascertainment of the difference between real and apparent death, is found a question of great difficulty. With us this fact is for the most part left to be decided by the most ignorant of human beings; beings that are no less careless than ignorant, to say nothing of the circumstance of the cover, which the precipitate measures usually adopted, offered to those who may be actuated by the most diabolical views in their proceedings. A person is no sooner reported to be dead, than the physician turns his back; he thinks it unnecessary even to take a view of the body, and, without one single caution, leaves him to be treated in the way that may seem best to those about him. They indeed but too often begin their proceedings at an earlier date. To a reflecting man what can be more shocking than the habit that is said to prevail of snatching the pillow from under the head of a person gasping for breath? and that, for the most part, perhaps in less than one hour, every chance of recovery, in case of

suspended animation, is cut off, when he is laid out, if not before. The vital spark must be strong indeed, to remain when every step that is taken is against it. The head is lowered, the mouth is closed, the arms are pinioned, and a weight, (a plate of salt) is placed on the pit of the stomach. The hurry that there is especially amongst the lower classes of people, in putting the dead into the ground, must have been observed by all. Those who have come from Europe cannot fail to have been struck with horror at it. This is a subject in which all are interested: to this state of suspended animation we are all liable, however free we may individually think ourselves from it. To whomsoever of us it may happen, it were better for him that he were out of the reach of man than in the house of his most affectionate friend. But I will not suppose a suggestion of individual risk necessary to excite an interest in my subject, in a community abounding with benevolent characters, and professing a religion, which, in order the more fully to enforce on us the duties we owe to each other, teaches us to regard all mankind as our brethren. There is one consideration that must operate with peculiar force on the minds of the pious; that is, the probable reformation that would take place in those who might recover from a state so nearly approaching to death. The prospect of being in any way instrumental to a happy change in the eternal state of a fellow creature, cannot but have great weight with those whose views of happiness are fixed upon another life.

I hope, I trust, I pray, that it may not be long before societies upon a similar plan as that of the "Royal Humane Society" of London, will be common amongst us. More active measures would then be pursued for the ascertainment of cases of suspended animation, and for the restoration of those labouring under it. And I am not without hopes, that in the mean time, extracts may be offered by others, who have a better opportunity of examining and selecting from the transactions than I have, containing directions for those ends that may be proper to be generally recommended. My present aim extends little farther than to the prevention of mischief. The extracts which will be subjoined from this invaluable book, when the weight of authority is duly considered, will suffer a doubt to remain on the mind of no reflecting man, respecting the frequent existence of a state of suspended animation. Of the difficulty of discriminating between real and apparent death, there is no less doubt. However small and imperceptible the remains of life may be, we know that we cannot be guiltless in doing any thing that may have a tendency to extinguish it. Let me then implore you, at least, to forbear from those habits by which unquestionably but too many lives have already been lost. Avoid every measure by which the semblance of death may be turned into the reality. Let nothing be done which can impede the return of breath in those under your care, respectively, who may appear to be dead. Let them be kept in all respects in such a situation as may be most favourable to reanimation, and every circumstance attended to that can be conducive to that end: until the safety of those about them, which ought never to be lost sight of, requires that it should

be otherwise. The attendance of a physician you will see the necessity of, after having read the extracts. The obstacle that I have the greatest apprehension of, is from the prevalent idea of the necessity of laying out the body in a short time, and the manner of proceeding in the doing of it. To those who may feel an objection to the trouble and expence of sending after a physician, on what they deem a needless errand, I must remark that if it turn out so, all trouble and all expence on their friend's account is about to cease, and that the recollection of having been thus cautious, may be a subject of consolation to them for the remainder of their lives.

I must now entreat the aid of those who are blest with influence in society, in endeavouring to dispel those noxious prejudices that prevail amongst us, and eradicating the habits that are the consequence of them. Let none such, as, in their own minds, feel the propriety of using these precautions, satisfy themselves with resolving to adopt them in cases that may come under their immediate care: they consider not the obstacles that they may have to encounter in the doing of it, in the present turn of thinking. It may happen to them to have the dearest friends under their care, in places where they may find impediments to every measure they may wish to pursue. To the task of duly impressing the public mind, I feel my own inequality. A sense of duty has been my only motive for this address. Let those who are better qualified, and who view the subject in the same light that I do, answer to themselves the keeping silence upon it.

The extracts that I shall submit, may not all be applicable to the purpose that I have expressed myself as having more immediately in view, but, for the most part, it will be found that they are no farther otherwise, than as the object of the institution, from the transactions of which they are selected, aim at a higher degree of utility. And it must be granted that any argument that can be used to enforce the duty of taking active measures to restore suspended life, may be still more forcibly used against any line of conduct which has a tendency to destroy it. It is hoped that these extracts may beget in the humane a desire not only to be intimately acquainted with the transactions of this society themselves, but for the general diffusion of the knowledge of them. I am happy to add that in the course of this address, I have received information from a friend, that directions perfectly clear and distinct, and applying to all cases of suspended animation, from whatever cause arising, are published together with the accumulated facts of the year, annually in London, on the general meeting of the society. These must be in the hands of some amongst us. In whose hands soever they may be, I trust they will joyfully grant the public the benefit of them.

I shall now proceed to submit the extracts which I have taken from the first volume of the transactions of the "Royal Humane Society," first concluding what I have to say with this caution. The society have specified certain complaints, wherein suspended animation is to be apprehended. It may be by many inferred, that in cases that are not specified, precautions are needless. There are various considerations that might be brought to obviate such a conclusion, and against being actuated by it. The following I hope will be sufficient.

That it is presupposing limits to have been ascertained without the support of reason or authority. Perhaps there are no cases in which it would formerly have been thought less necessary to have guarded against the existence of suspended animation, than in some of those that are now specified as cases wherein it is particularly necessary to do so. That even if it were ascertained that the danger was confined to the cases specified (speaking of cases of natural death) we are even liable to mistakes, as to the disorders by which people are carried off, and, that by being guided by the inference alluded to, it must often happen that the precautions would be neglected in the cases specified, in which we were ready to acknowledge that we ought to attend to them, and that at worst, the precautions can only be superfluous, if they can be called superfluous, when the reflection of having observed them, may be a source of so much comfort, however unavailing. A. B..

EXTRACTS.

1st. Incessantly and uniformly our labours have been directed in order to apprise all ranks of people of the extreme danger of immediately and rashly extending the pallid corse on the bed of death, when the trembling pulse ceases to beat, the eye to contract, and respiration to go forward.-Page 435.

2d. The popular idea, that life quits the body in an ærial form, at the instant respiration ceases, has introduced dangerous errors. And it is painful to reflect that the mere semblance of death has too often been mistaken for the reality, in which state the hapless victim has been consigned to the grave. These unfortunate and dreadful events should awaken caution, and repress that inconsiderate hurry which you so justly censure of laying out the dead and precipitating the funeral ceremonies.-Page 337.

3d. The Birmingham Humane Society have likewise addressed the public on this important and interesting subject, in the following philanthropic observation:-"It is particularly recommended to all persons not to lay out bodies, and abandon their relatives as dead, upon the first disappearance of the signs of life; but in all such cases to have them examined by some physician, surgeon, or apothecary, before they are inclosed in the coffin.*"-Page 482.

4th. Monsieur Thieurey, Doctor Regent of the Faculty at Paris, in a work lately published, is of opinion, that "one third, or perhaps half of those who die in their beds, are not actually dead when they are buried." "He does not mean to say that so great a number could be restored to life. In the intermediate state, which reaches from the instant of apparent death to that of total extinction of life, the body is not insensible to the treatment it receives, though unable to give any signs of sensibility." The author recommends the example of the English to his countrymen.

Baron de Hupsch, and Dr. A. Fothergill, in their judicious and philanthropick publications on suspended animation, observe, "that this matter is of the utmost importance; it is indubitably worthy of

* How proper it is that this caution should be extended to the laying out, or doing any act that might preclude a chance of recovery.

« ZurückWeiter »