Note 23 — I. SOME OF THE PHENOMENA OF DYING.

“I think there is reason for affirming that the risk of evil from this cause is rated generally above the truth. In cases of imminent danger, the mind is not always, or even commonly, to be interpreted by the rule of health. Mental emotions are often altered in kind, or greatly abated in degree. Death itself is beheld under different views—a fact familiar to all who have watched over these scenes, and regarded the patient apart from those who are grieving around his death-bed. Suspicion of a painful truth often disturbs much more than the truth plainly stated.” (Sir Henry Holland’s Medical Notes and Reflections. Third edition, 8vo. Lond. 1853, p. 362).