appetite and sleep; he receives the visits. of the executioner and is not terrified two hours before the execution. When the executioner appears for the last time, the victim usually shows physical and moral prostration, followed by deep despair, so that it is almost a cadaver which pays the penalty of the law.

HUMAN VIVI-SECTION

There are certain cases, where persons have been executed, which might be classed under the head of human vivisection.

Resuscitation by galvanism was attempted on the body of John White, who was executed in Louisville, Kentucky, after hanging twenty minutes. The body was taken down and, while warm and even trembling, was subjected to galvanism; the victim arose suddenly to a sitting posture, afterward stood on his feet, opened his eyes and gave a terrific screech; his chest worked as if in respiration; on another shock given him, he jumped up with a sudden bound, disengaged himself from the wires and ran into a corner of the room, frequently opening his eyes; the breathing was so regular that many addressed him, but he showed no sign of understanding; yet by assistance he took a few steps and seated himself in an arm chair; he appeared as if intoxicated and overcome with exertion; effort was made to equalize the circulation, but congestion of the brain arose and terminated his existence (Annals of Electricity).

It is said that after the decapitation of Mary Queen of Scots, her lips moved and prayed for some time. In another case of decapitation, the word "murder" was called into the ear of the criminal immediately afterward, and "his half closed eyes opened wide and he stared with an expression of astonishment at those who stood before him.

It is related by Wendt, that after decapitation he put his mouth to the victim's ear and called him by name, whereupon the eyes opened, turning to the side from which the sound came. It would seem that all these actions of executed victims are reflex and without consciousness, and purely physical, due to the artificial stimulation.

PSYCHOANALYSIS AND DEATH.

The unconscious in us acts towards death almost like that of primitive. man; it does not believe in its own death. Primitive man did not seem to puzzle himself about death when by the corpse of his slain enemy. It was the conflict of emotions at the death of a beloved one and of a hated one. Spirits were invented in contemplation of the corpse of the beloved one. To prolong our existence into the past and imagine former existences and reincarnations of souls, had the purpose of doing away with death as the end of life. The civilized man when he returns home from war is not worried by thoughts of the enemy he killed. Primitive man is a murderer, for when he comes home he little different; he is not a remorseless must expiate his war murders by penance; he seems to have an ethical feeling, lost to present civilization (Freud).

The expression of over tender care for relatives and self-reproaches after the death of some beloved one are significant and leave no doubt as to death wishes

in the unconscious.

Our unconsciousness does not admit our death but, will kill the stranger and is ambivalent towards the one we love as was primitive man. A man says to a friend, "If one of us dies, I shall move to Paris." The expression, "The devil take him," frequently spoken in jest, is a real wish in the unconscious.

STUDY OF ONESELF WHILE DYING.

Socrates

Socrates looked upon death as a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or as migration of soul to another world; his ideals were negative. Plato tells of socrates' last moments, to the effect, that the jailer who gave him the poison to drink was very much affected and burst into tears. Plato himself wept when he saw Socrates had finished drinking the poison, not over Socrates, but at the calamity (he said) of having lost such a companion. Socrates was calm and said, "What is this strange outery for I have heard it said a man should die in peace." As his legs became weak and he lay on his

back according to directions, after a time the attendant pressed his feet hard and asked him if he could feel. Socrates said, "No;" and then his leg was pressed and so on upwards, showing him to be cold and stiff. Socrates felt them and said, "When the poison reaches the heart, that will be the end." He grew cold about the groin, and uncovered his face (he had covered himself up) and said: "Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt?" Crito said he would, and then asked Socrates if there were anything else, but there was no answer. In a few moments a movement was heard, and, on uncovering him, his eyes were set, and Crito closed his eyes and mouth.

The conservative Athenians seemed to regard Socrates as a radical and an enemy of the State, which was to be preserved at all hazards.

Von Haller

Von Haller, a most distinguished physician of the 18th Century, was born

a delicate constitution, which he had strengthened by temperance. In the last years of his life he was afflicted with a bladder disease, which proved fatal, after long and continued pain. Opium was the only medicine which afforded him relief, which, though it shortened his days, allowed him to keep up his work. He drew up a regular journal of his own disease; he perceived the approach of his death and in his last moments employed himself in marking the decay of his organs; he felt his own pulse from time to time; he said to his friend, an attending physician, with great tranquillity, "My friend, the artery no longer beats," and immediately he died.

Nothnagel

Professor Nothnagel, the great medical specialist of the University of Vienna, a few hours before he died made notes on his own condition as follows:

"Attacks of angina pectoris, with marked violent pains, pulse in attacks wholly vanished, at one time slow, about 56-60, wholly regular, then tense, then again increased 80-90, equal and regular, at last completely vanished,

wholly unequal, now increased, now slower, with a wholly changeable tension.

"The first sensations of these attacks date more, than three or four years back, beginning wholly weak, gradually and always more pronounced. Real attacks with strong pains now appeared for the first time five or six days previously.

"Written on July 6, 1905, late in the evening, after I had had just three severe attacks."

LAST WORDS OF THE DYING

To know about the death of human beings, their last words, their countenances and how they face it, might help others to know how to live better (as well as how to die). There are proverbs to the effect, that we know we are going to die, but we do not believe it. An author, Lewin, and student of the deaths of many, says he is "astonished at the fearlessness and ease with which human beings in general leave their mortal habitation."

There is no little sincerity in much we hear in modern times that words at the deathbed impress us most. It is true that some cases long life may not be desirable, as it may involve much suffering, helplessness and a feeling of uncleanness and burdensomeness to all around us. Yet old age is generally better then expected. With old age pensions and teaching of respect for the old, it will be still much more desirable. In the day of ancient Rome Petrunio Arbiter, being tired of life and suffering from an incurable disease, had his veins opened and then bound up again as the mood struck him. This calmness at death is found among the Orientals and American Indians.

With the increase of the idea of personal immortality and of fear of punishment after death, and the deprecation of the present life, the fear of death increased. The idea that present injustice might be adjusted in the life after death, and other cognate feelings have given more importance to the ending of life on the earth.

Thinking of the infinity of time to come and the infinity of time that has past, the length of time in which we live is truly infinitesimal. Yet it is all

we are sure of, whatever our beliefs. This should impress us with the importance of every moment of our lives, and encourage us to be active and doing all the time of our most limited career. A most practical principle is to know what to omit in life. If the quantity be so small, the importance of its quality is all the more evident. Even those who make the seeking of pleasure and avoidence of pain their object in life, usually face death with composure, which indicates the naturalness of death.

but also from the great increase in the pathogenic microorganisms resulting from the lowered resistance of the respiratory membranes. The use of vaccine therapy at this stage is therefore logical, and has given us satisfactory results."

"We use three forms of stock vac

cines, each containing 1000 millions to the cubic centimeter in various proportions of the following microorganisms: B. Friedlander, M. catarrhalis, pneumococcus, streptococcus pyogenes, staphylococcus aureus and albus.”

It will be observed that the formula employed by Dr. Scheppegrell is for all practical purposes indentical with Sherman's No. 36.

In this connection it is interesting to note that Dr. G. H. Sherman was the first physician to call attention to the role played by pathogenic microorganisms in Hayfever and to utilize therapeutic immunization with bacterial vaccines in this disease, to control the complicating infection. And as Dr. Sherman says, in his book Vaccine Therapy in General Practice: "We know that pathogenic bacteria are always liable to invade accessible tissues where normal resistance has been lowered by irritants. Pneumococci, streptococci, staphylococci and other organisms are found on the mucous membrane of the nose and throat of most normal individuals and in Hayabundance. That these organisms are fever cases these organisms are found in important complicating factors and are

responsible for much of the irritation and most of the fever is quite apparent.

Here the immunizing influence of bacterial vaccines is of real value in the treatment of Hayfever. By this means sufficient resistance to these pyogenic organisms is developeed to prevent them from becoming infective agents following the pollen irritation. The result is that the patient either goes on to complete recovery or the disease runs modified course, the pollen irritation being the only factor left, which causes comparatively little distress.

a

Hayfever and Asthma, Scheppegrell. Lea & Febiger, Publishers.