Note 43 — II. THE SYMPTOMS AND MODES OF DYING.
Reading edition
In the words of Lucretius, vi. 1, 190—
“Item, ad supremum denique tempus, Compressæ nares, nasi primoris acumen Tenue, cavatei oculei, cava tempora; frigida pellis, Duraque, inhorrebat tactum; frons tenta meabat: Nec nimio rigida post artus morte jacebant.”
Or, as rendered by an accomplished physician, Dr. Mason Good—
“Then, tow’rds the last, the nostrils close collaps’d; The nose acute; eyes hollow; temples scoop’d; Frigid the skin, retracted; o’er the mouth A ghastly grin; the shrivell’d forehead tense; The limbs outstretch’d for instant death prepar’d.”