Part 1

Transcriber’s Note.

Italic text is indicated with underscores, bold text with =equals=. Small/mixed capitals have been replaced with ALL CAPITALS.

Obvious typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected silently. Inconsistent hyphenation has been normalised.

Half-titles & reiterations of the chapter title have been discarded.

EUTHANASIA:

OR,

MEDICAL TREATMENT IN AID OF AN EASY DEATH.

WILLIAM MUNK, M.D., F.S.A.

FELLOW AND LATE SENIOR CENSOR OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, &c., &c., &c.

LONDON:

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

AND NEW YORK: 15, EAST 16th STREET.

1887.

All rights reserved.

PREFACE.

Much has been ably written on Death, and on the physiology of the various modes of Dying, by Bichat, Alison, Wilson Philip, Symonds, and others; while but little has been written on the medical management of the Dying; or on the Euthanasia, to which such management should contribute. A short but valuable essay of less than twenty pages, “On the Treatment of the Dying”, by Dr. Ferriar, of Manchester, in 1798: and a very elegant academical oration, of about the same length, at my own alma mater, Leyden, in 1794, by Professor Paradys, “Oratio de Εὐθανασία Naturali; et quid ad eam conciliandam Medicina valeat”:--comprise all I know that has been written specially on these subjects in modern times.

Sir Henry Halford, who was confessedly a master in all that concerns the management of the Dying, did much by his example and counsel to commend the subject to the attention of his medical brethren. But the generation he personally influenced has passed away. His little volume of “Essays and Orations” contains much on this subject that is very valuable, and not to be found elsewhere. But his remarks are unconnected; they occur incidentally in the course of his various essays, and are now but little known. They were the result of an experience so large, and so carefully thought out, that I have been glad to adduce them, whenever I could, in support of, or in addition to, what I have had myself to state, on the delicate and difficult subjects considered in the following pages.

40, FINSBURY SQUARE. Sept. 24, 1887.

CONTENTS.

ON SOME OF THE PHENOMENA OF DYING 1

II.

ON THE SYMPTOMS AND MODES OF DYING 51

III.

ON THE GENERAL AND MEDICAL MANAGEMENT OF THE DYING 63

SOME OF THE PHENOMENA OF DYING.

“Quod ad nos Pertinet, et nescire malum est, agitamus.”

HORACE.

One of the wisest of our countrymen, Lord Verulam, saw reason to censure the physicians of his own time for not making the Euthanasia a part of their studies. And, although more than two centuries have since elapsed, it may be doubted whether as much attention is even yet given to the subject as might be done, to the obvious benefit and comfort of the dying.