THE EXACT HOUR WHEN YOU ARE TO DIE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 229, 22 November 1900, Page 1

THE EXACT HOUR WHEN YOU ARE TO DIE.

By Charles W. Pilgrim, M.D., Hen York Journal.

It has occurred to me that) the itody of a year's statistics of the Rods on River State Hospital ought to be of much interest and value. As examination of "tie hour of death" showed that 26 par cent, died between midnight and 6 a.m., Id per cent between 6 a.m. and noon, 31 per cent, between neon, and 6 p.m., and 24 per cent between 6 p.m. and midnight By adding these percentages together we find the curious fact that the deaths were very evenly distributed between the Louts of darknesi and light, 115 patients having died between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. and 116 between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Desiring to pursue this question still further, I examined the deaths for the ten preceding years, nearly 1500 in all, and found this statement stiikiDgly confirmed, as a charge of one-half of 1 per cent, would bave made tbe deaths exactly even during the hours of day and night. A chart which I made cf the deaths for toe year—and I might also add that the statements which I am atoub to make were corroborated by a chart made of all the deaths during the preceding decade • showed when divided into sections of three hours each, that the highest point of the curve was reached, both far men and women, between the hours of 3 asd 6 p.m., nearly SO par sent of all the deaths having occurred between those hours, The next highest point was between the ' hours of 3 and 6 a.m., although there was decided fall for bath sexes for the single hour from 4 to 5, when the line went down to the lowest point reaohed in any hoar of the twenty-four. j There was also a decided fall, J especially for womeD, between 11 and ] 12 in the morning, which is in direct j contrast to the statement made by Dr. | Beadles, of Coiney Hatch, that the i most fatal hour for women is shortly before noon. For the other hours the recording line remained remarkably steady for both men and women. Theie figures, therefore, show that there is some reason for the popular belief that many deaths occur during the early morning hours, but' they shew still more plainly that the majority of tboje who gaffer from long continued mental disease give up their fives towards the lose o! the day. As a general rule " death softly follow* life/' and Buffering at the eud, either mental or physical, is ef rare occurence. In f>ct, it is not an uncommon thing to notice a clearing up of the clouded brain a few boars before the floal change. This fact was noticed by Bush a hundred years ago, and, in my opinion, too little has bean written of it since. From my own observations, and from tbe reports of reliable nurses, owny patients, especially those dying cf phthisis, or after surgical operations, «rf ram acute intercurrent diseases, or . injuries which produce a profound Aock upon the general sy&tsm, become / calm and coherent shortly before death, I ■This may be accounted for either upon the theory ef counter irritation i or on the principle enunicated by Claude Bernard that when a histological element dies or tends to die its I irritability augments before it is diminished. Of course this temporary brightening does not occur often in cases of terminal dementia or in general paresis where there are profound changes in the structure of the brain but I am convinced that it is not rare for the melancholy or maniacal insane, as good eld Dr. Bush observed, "to discover • greater or less'degree of reason in their last hours, just as the bod, after ft cloudy day, sometimes darts a few vpleodid rays across the earth before lie descends below the horizon." There can be no reasonable doubt that the seasons exert a marked influence upon the recovery rate, for 65 per cent, of those who have recovered were sent .home during the months of spring and summer, while only 35 per cent, were so discharged during the iratumn and winter months. Regis makes the statement that melancholia is aggravated in the winter, and that but few cases of mania recover during that beacon. It is easy to believe that the fresh air, the sun- j light, and the outdoor life of summer must act as powerful agents in helping to restore the diseased organs to their normal condition.