Page:The elephant man and other reminiscences.djvu/169

 IX

IN ARTICULO MORTIS

HE recent work on "Death and its Mystery," by Camille Flammarion, the eminent astronomer, cannot fail to be of supreme interest. The second volume of the series, entitled "At the Moment of Death," will more especially appeal to medical men, and it is with this volume and with the reminiscences it has aroused that I am at present concerned.

About the act or process of dying there is no mystery. The pathologist can explain precisely how death comes to pass, while the physiologist can describe the exact physical and chemical processes that ensue when a living thing ceases to live. Furthermore, he can demonstrate how the material of the body is finally resolved into the elements from which it was formed. The mystery begins in the moment of death, and that mystery has engaged the thoughts and imaginations of men since the dawn of human existence. It was probably the first problem that