Chapter IX: The Psychology of Death (4)

[44] A few even recent writers have gone to the extreme of doubting the authenticity of every record of human life beyond a century, although Young seems to have demonstrated it in his twenty-two annuitants. All such contentions are only doctrinnaire. Lives exceptionally prolonged may be abnormal, like dwarfs and giants, and extreme skepticism here has hardly more justification than extreme credulity. In 1799 James Easton believed he had demonstrated that 712 persons between the years A.D. 66 and the above date had attained a century or upward. He found three whom he thought had lived between 170 and 175 years; two who had lived 160 to 170; three, 150–160; seven, 140–150; twenty-six, 130–140; eighty-four, 120–130; and thirteen hundred and ten, 100–110. Even Babbage assumed 150 as the limit of age in his abstract tables based upon seventeen hundred and fifty-one persons who had attained 100 or more. A. Haller (1766) accepted the age of Parr and Jenkins and is quite uncritical, saying that over one thousand men have lived to be 100–110, and twenty-five have lived to between 130–140. He even accepts Pliny’s story of a man who lived to be 300, and another 340 years. Hufeland seems to approve the traditional 157 years of Epimenides, 108 of Gorgias, 139 of Democritus, 100 of Zeno, 105 of St. Anthony, and credited J. Effingham in Cornwall with 144 years. W. J. Thoms (_Human Longevity: Its Facts and Its Fictions_, 1873) is skeptical of great longevities and found no sure case of centenarians in any noble family. J. Pinney (1856) went to the limit of credulity, believing that there were three eras in which men lived to 900, 450, and 70 respectively. G. C. Lewis thinks there is no authentic record of a life exceeding 100 years. W. Farr in 1871 said that in 1821 there were 216 centenarians in England; in 1841, 249; 1851, 215; 1861, 201; 1871, 160, making a total of 1,041, of whom 716 were females. Walford (in his _Insurance Guide and Handbook_) compiled a list of 218 centenarians from what he deemed authentic sources, and J. B. Bailey in 1888 in his _Modern Methuselahs_ discussed the question; while Humphry (1889) in his nine hundred returns, found 52 centenarians, 36 of whom were women.

[45] “The days of our years are three-score years and ten, and if by reason of strength they may be four-score years, yet is there strength, labor, and sorrow for it is cut off and we fly away.”

[46] _Oriental Studies_, Boston, 1894.

[47] _Das Lebensalter in der Jüdischen Literatur_, 1875.

[48] M. D. Conway, _The Wandering Jew_, 1881, and T. Kappstein, _Ahesver in der Weltpoesie_, 1906.

[49] _Greek Life and Thought_, London, 1896.

[50] E. Bard, in _Chinese Life in Town and Country_, p. 39, says, “In the worship of ancestors we have the keystone to the arch of the social structure of this strange country [China]. Hundreds of millions of living Chinese are bound to thousands of millions of dead ones. The cult induces parents to marry off their children almost before maturity so that they should have offspring to make their lives after death pleasant by means of worship and oblations. No matter how great the squalor, there must be many children in the family,” etc. “Funeral expenses for parents are the most sacred of all obligations, and it is not uncommon for the living to sell their estates to the very last foot and often their houses to be able to render proper homage to the deceased.” Presents of coffins, elaborate ones, are often very common. The sons of a deceased parent must at least wear mourning for three years, though this has been lately reduced to twenty-seven months. The expenses of elaborate funerals are enormous.

[51] Mahaffy, _Social Life in Greece from Homer to Menander_, p. 34.

[52] _The Greek Genius and Its Meaning to Us_, 1912.

[53] _Republic_, 329.

[54] _Talks with Athenian Youth, tr. anon._, New York, 1893, 178 p.

[55] _Aristotle on Youth and Old Age, Life and Death and Respiration_, tr. by Ogle, London, 1897, 135 p.

[56] Book II, Chap. 13.

[57] _Ibid._, Book I, Chap. 5.

[58] See Black’s _Law Dictionary_, 2d ed., 1910.

[59] Cicero, _Cato Major or Old Age_, tr. by Benjamin Franklin.

[60] “Woman as Witch” in his _Chances of Death_, 1897, vol. 2, pp. 1–50.

[61] _History of Witchcraft in England, 1557–1718_, p. 114.

[62] _Notes on Witchcraft_, Amer. Antiquarian Society.

[63] _The New Stone Age in Northern Europe._ New York, Scribner, 1921.

[64] “Old Age and Death.” _Amer. Jour. Psychol._, Oct., 1896, vol. 8, pp. 67–122.

[65] _Die Hygiene des Lebensalters._

[66] “Four Types of Protestants: A Comparative Study in the Psychology of Religion,” _Jour. of Relig. Psychol._, Nov., 1908, vol. 3, pp. 165–209.

[67] _The Vedanta Philosophy_, London, 1914, p. 16 _et seq._

[68] R. H. Lowie, _Primitive Society_, 1920.

[69] _Altersklassen und Männerbünde_, 1902.

[70] _Atlantic Monthly_, 1915, p. 385.

[71] See Le Bon: _The World in Revolt_, 1921.

[72] _The Art of Living Long_, tr. 1914, 207 p.

[73] _History of Life and Death._

[74] _Spectator_, Oct. 17, 1711.

[75] _The Anatomy of Melancholy._

[76] _Gulliver’s Travels_, Chap. X.

[77] _After Noontide_, Boston, 1883, 168 p.

[78] _Old People_, Boston, 1909, 236 p.

[79] _Three-score and Ten._ Dedicated to Chauncey Depew.

[80] _The Secret of Long Life_, London, 1871, 146 p.

[81] _Masters of Old Age_, Milwaukee, 1915, 280 p.

[82] “When Is Man Immortal?” _Technical World_, March, 1914.

[83] “A Physical Marvel at Seventy-three,” _Amer. Mag._, Dec., 1917.

[84] _Old Age: Its Cause and Preservation_, The story of an old body and face made young, New York, 1912, 309 p.

[85] “Young at Seventy,” _Am. Rev. of Revs._, vol. 57, p. 415.

[86] _The Secret of a Much Longer Life and More Pleasure in Living It_, 1906.

[87] “Why I am Well at Eighty,” _Ladies Home J._, April, 1919.

[88] “How I Came to Be Doing More Work at Seventy-Seven than at Forty-Seven,” _Ibid._

[89] “Viewpoint of a Sexagenarian Contributor,” _Unpartizan Rev._, July, 1920.

[90] James M. Ludlow, _Along the Friendly Way_, Reminiscences and Impressions, New York, 1919, 362 p.

[91] “Confessions of a Septuagenarian Contributor,” _Unpartizan Rev._, July, 1920.

[92] _Old Age._

[93] _The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table_, Chap. VII, and also in _Over the Teacups_, p. 26, _et seq._

[94] _Old Age and Immortality_, 1893.

[95] “Eighty Years and After,” _Harper’s_, 1919, p. 21.

[96] “De Senectute,” _Atlantic_, 1913, p. 163.

[97] “I Refuse to Grow Old,” _Amer. Mag._, Sept., 1919.

[98] “The Passing of Old Age,” _Independent_, Jan., 1914.

[99] “At Seventy-Three and Beyond,” _Atlan._, 1914, p. 123.

[100] _The Pursuit of Happiness_, 1893.

[101] _The Individual: A Study of Life and Death_, 1910, especially Chap. 13, “The Period of Old Age.”

[102] _The Fixed Period_, New York, 1881.

[103] _The Man in the Street_, 1907, 405 p.

[104] Richard le Gallienne, “Not Growing Old,” _Harper’s_, 1921.

[105] “Young and Old,” _Nineteenth Century_, June, 1920.

[106] _Worry and Old Age_, 1909, Chap. 14.

[107] London, 1908.

[108] _Back to Methuselah: A Metabiological Pentateuch_, New York, 1921, 400 p.

[109] See my _Jesus, the Christ, in the Light of Psychology_, New York, 1917, Chap. XI, p. 694, _et seq._

[110] See the end of the last chapter.

[111] _Ibid._

[112] By permission of, and special arrangement with, Doubleday, Page & Co.

[113] By permission of, and special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Co.

[114] From Webb’s _New Dictionary of Statistics_, 1911, p. 471.

[115] _A Discussion of Age Statistics_, Rept. 13, Bull. Bur. Census, 1904.

[116] _Life Insurance_, N. Y., 1915.

[117] _World Almanac_, 1921, p. 438.

[118] _Report of a Special Inquiry Relative to Aged and Dependent Persons in Massachusetts_, 1915.

[119] _The Elements of Vital Statistics_, Lond., 1909, 326 pp.

[120] “Death Rate and Expectation of Life,” _Science_, vol. 43, 1916.

[121] _Table of Mortality Statistics._

[122] “The Influence of Vital Statistics on Longevity.” Address at the sixth annual meeting of the Association of American Life Insurance Presidents, Dec., 1912.

[123] _The Duration of Life and Conditions Associated with Longevity_: A study of the Hyde genealogy (dealing with 8,797 persons) ending, for the most part, with the year 1825.

[124] “Who Shall Inherit Long Life?” _Nat. Geog. Mag._, June, 1919.

[125] _Social Adjustment_, New York, 1911.

[126] “Report on National Vitality,” Bulletin of the Committee of One Hundred on National Health, July, 1909, No. 30.

[127] _How to Live_, New York, 1915, Section 7.

[128] “The Extension of Human Life,” _Sci. Am. Sup._, May 4, 1916.

[129] _Social Insurance_, New York, 1913, Chap. 12, “The Old Man’s Problem in Modern Industry.”

[130] “The Biology of Death,” _Sci. Mo._, March-Sept, 1921, _incl._

[131] _Old Age Pensions: Their actual working results in the United Kingdom_, London, 1915, 196 pp.

[132] Edith Sellers, “From the Old Age Pensioners’ Standpoint,” _Nineteenth Century_, Jan., 1920.

[133] _Report of the Massachusetts Commission on Old Age Pensions, Annuities and Insurance_, Jan., 1910, 409 pp.

[134] “Canadian Government Annuities,” _Polit. Sci. Quar._, 1915, p. 425 _et seq._

[135] _Old Age Poverty in Greenwich Village_, 1915, 105 pp.

[136] Joseph Swain, “State Pension Systems for Public School Teachers,” _Bureau of Education Bull._, 1916.

[137] “Report on Teachers’ Pensions,” _N. E. A. Proc._, 1919, vol. 57, p. 145 _et seq._

[138] See Paul Studensky, _Teachers’ Pension Systems in the United States_, New York, 1920, and the companion volume of Lewis Meriam, entitled _Principles Governing the Retirement of Public Employees_, New York, 1918.

[139] “Problem of Poverty and Pensions in Old Age,” _Amer. J. Soc._, vol. xiv, 1908–9, p. 282 _et seq._

[140] See Spender, _Treatise on State Pensions in Old Age_, London, 1892; G. Drage, _The Problems of the Aged Poor_, London, 1895, 375 pp.; Metcalf, _Universal Old Age Pensions_, London, 1899, 200 pp.; Booth, _Pauperism and the Endowments of Old Age_, New York, 1906. For extended inquiries see _The Report of the Royal Commission on Old Age Pensions_ by the Commonwealth of Australia, 1906; also, William Sutherland, _Old Age Pensions in Theory and Practice_, London, 1907.

[141] _Old Age Dependency in the United States_, New York, 1912, 361 pp. a masterly book.

[142] _The Survey_, vol. 31, 1914–15, p. 483.

[143] _Clinical Lectures on Senile and Chronic Diseases_, Lond., 1881, Lecture 1.

[144] “Old Age and the Changes Incident to it,” _Brit. Med. J._, March 9, 1885.

[145] “Old Age,” _Brit. Med._, Oct 2, 1891.

[146] “Senility, Premature Senility, and Longevity,” _Med. Jour._, New York, July 10, 1915.

[147] “Nature of Old Age and of Cancer,” _Brit. Med. J._, Dec. 27, 1913.

[148] “Degeneration, Senescence, and New Growth,” _J. Med. Research_, vol. 33, 1918, p. 485.

[149] _The New Pathology of Syphilis_, Harvey Lectures 1917–19, p. 67.

[150] “Die Psychosen des Rückbildungs- und Greisenalters,” _Handbuch der Psychiatrie_, Spezieller Teil, 5 Abteilung, Leipzig, 1912.

[151] “Senile Mentality,” _Inter. Clin._, vol. 4, 1916, p. 48.

[152] “Some Clinical Indications of Senility,” _Inter. Clin._, vol. 2, 1914, p. 93.

[153] _Old Age: Its Care and Treatment in Health and Disease_, London, 1913, 312 pp.

[154] _Old Age Deferred: The Causes of Old Age and Its Postponement by Hygienic and Therapeutic Measures_, Philadelphia, 1911, 572 pp.

[155] “The Medical Significance of Old Age,” _Med. Press and Circ._, London, May 20, 1914.

[156] “The Delay of Old Age and the Alleviation of Senility,” _Jour. Amer. Med. Assn._, July 15, 1905.

[157] “Centenarians and Nonagenarians,” _Med. Rec._, Feb. 15, 1913.

[158] “Ancient and Modern Theories of Age,” _Maryland Med. Jour._, vol. 49, Feb., 1906.

[159] _Fads of on Old Physician_ (Sequel to _Plea for a Simpler Life_), London, 1897.

[160] “The Conservation of Energy in Those of Advancing Years,” _Pop. Sci. Mo._, 1903.

[161] “Evidences of Full Maturity and Early Decline,” _Pop. Sci. Mo._, 1917, p. 411.

[162] _Über Altern und Sterben_, Wien, 1913, 33 pp.

[163] See his articles in _Sci. Mo._, March-Sept., 1921.

[164] _The Germ Plasm_, 1893, p. 198 _et seq._

[165] See his _Essays Upon Heredity and Other Biological Problems_, vol. i, 1889, especially Chaps. I, “The Duration of Life,” and III, “Life and Death.”

[166] In his able and brilliant discussion on “The Biology of Death,” _Scientific Monthly_, March, 1921, p. 202.

[167] _American Handbook of Physiology_, 1897, p. 883.

[168] Mildly challenging Weismann’s non-inherited ability of acquired qualities is Irving Fisher’s “Impending Problems of Eugenics,” _Sci. Mo._, Sept., 1921.

[169] _The Nature of Man_, 1904, 309 pp. and _The Prolongation of Life_, 1907, 343 pp.

[170] See a valuable but unprinted thesis of W. T. Sanger, a pupil of mine, “The Study of Senescence,” Clark University, 1915.

[171] In her fascinating life of her husband, “Life of Elie Metchnikoff,” (1920) the widow of Metchnikoff describes him in his last days as anxious “that his end, which seemed premature at first sight, did not contradict his theories but had deep causes, such as heredity, and the belated introduction of a rational diet, which he began to follow only at fifty-three.” He was very anxious that his example of serenity in the face of death should be encouraging and comforting. He had no illusions and knew for a long time that he was living only from day to day. He speculated whether the end would come to-day or to-morrow and had several specific “death sensations,” pledging his wife to hold his hand when the end came. He was interested in the completion of her biography of him, begged for enough pantopon to bring an eternal sleep, directed his friend how to perform his autopsy and what to look for in the different organs, provided for his cremation and the final disposition of his ashes, etc. All was done as he wished, with no funeral and no speeches, flowers, or invocations, and his ashes now lie in an urn, as he directed, in the library of the Pasteur Institute.

[172] _The Problem of Age, Growth, and Death; A study of Cytomorphosis_, 1908, 280 pp.

[173] See his monumental textbook, _A Laboratory Textbook of Embryology_, 1903, 380 pp.

[174] _Senescence and Rejuvenescence_, 1915, 481 pp.

[175] For our purpose his views are best summed up in his _The Organism as a Whole from a Physiochemical Viewpoint_, 1916, 379 pp. See more specifically his “Natural Death and Duration of Life,” _Science_, 1919, p. 578 _et seq._

[176] Prof. W. J. V. Osterhout, “On the Nature of Life and Death,” _Science_, April 15, 1921, thinks that we can measure by quantitative methods such fundamental conceptions as vitality, injury, recovery, and death, by electrical resistance, which, he thinks, is an excellent index of what is normal condition. He believes that this holds for both plants and animals, for all agents known to be injurious change the electrical resistance at once. He also thinks this resistance proportional to a substance he believes he found and decomposed by a series of consecutive reactions and that on this basis we can write an equation that permits us to predict the course of the death process under various conditions, so that we can say that at a certain stage it is one-fourth or one-half completed. Stated chemically, the normal life process consists of a series of reactions in which a substance _O_ is broken down into _S_, and this in turn breaks down into _A_, _M_, _B_, and so on. “Under normal conditions _M_ is formed as readily as it is decomposed and this results in a constant condition of the electrical resistance and other properties of the cell. When, however, conditions are changed so that _M_ is decomposed more rapidly than it is formed, the electrical resistance decreases” and other properties are simultaneously altered. Thus death results from a disturbance in the relative rates of the reactions that constantly go on.

[177] _Sci. Mo._, Aug., 1921.

[178] _Sci. Mo._, Apr., 1921.

[179] Genevieve Grandcourt, “The Immortality of Tissues: Its Bearing on the Study of Old Age,” _Sci. Am._, Oct. 20, 1912. Also “What is Old Age?: Carrel’s Research on the Mechanism of Physical Growth,” _Sci. Am._, Nov. 23, 1918.

C. Pozzi, “_Vie Manifestée Permanente de La Tissue_,” _La Preusse Médicale_, p. 532.

Alexis Carrel, “Present Condition of a Strain of Connective Tissue Twenty-eight Months Old,” _Jour. Exper. Med._, July 1, 1914, and “Contributions to the Study of the Mechanism of the Growth of Connective Tissue,” _Jour. Exper. Med._, Sept., 1913. See also _Science_, vol. 36, 1912, p. 789.

[180] “Geschlechtstrieb und echt sekundäre Geschlechtsmerkmale als Folge der Innersekretorischen Funktion der Keimdrüsen,” _Zeit. f. Physiologie_, Sept., 1910.

[181] “Pubertätsdrüsen und Zwitterbildung,” _Archiv. f. Entwicklung der Organismen_, vol. 42, 1916, pp. 307–332.

[182] “Erhöhte Wirkungen der inneren Sekretion bei Hypertrophie der Pubertätsdrüsen,” _Archiv. f. Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen_, vol. 42, 1916, pp. 490–507.

[183] “Klima und Mannbarkeit,” _Archiv. f. Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen_, vol. 46, 1920, p. 391.

[184] “Verjüngung durch Experimentelle Neubelebung der alternden Pubertäts Drüse,” _Archiv. f. Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen_, vol. 46, 1920, Part 4.

[185] “Steinach’s Forschungen über Entwicklung, Beherrschung, und Wandlung der Pubertät,” _Ergebnisse der Inneren Medizin und Kinderheilkunde_, 1919, vol. 17, pp. 295–398.

[186] “Eugene Steinach’s Work on Rejuvenation,” _N. Y. Med. J._, vol. 112, 1920, p. 612.

[187] “Steinach’s Rejuvenation Operation,” _Central. f. Chirurgie_, Sept. 11, 1920.

[188] “Further Observations on Sex-Gland Implantation” _Jour. Am. Med. Assn._, vol. 72, 1919, p. 396.

[189] H. E. Goodale of the Massachusetts Experiment Station, Amherst, says (_Science_, Oct. 23, 1914, p. 594.): “A brown Leghorn male was castrated completely when twenty-four days of age, and the ovaries from two brood sisters, cut in several pieces, were placed beneath the skin and also in the abdominal cavity. At the date of writing the bird is as obviously female as its brood sisters. Skilled poultrymen have called it a pullet. While it has all the female characteristics, there can be little doubt, from the scars still visible as well as other things, that it was a male.” It is not likely that its peculiar individuality was feminized owing to constitutional condition. The author believes it was feminized by the implanted ovaries in similar fashion to the rats and guinea pigs of Steinach.

[190] _Life: A Study of the Means of Restoring Vital Energy and Prolonging Life_, New York, 1920, 160 p.

[191] _The Glands Regulating Personality_: A study of the glands of internal secretion in relation to the types of human nature. New York, MacMillan, 1921. 300 p.

[192] Book X, Epigram 23 D.

[193] _Spoon River Anthology._

[194] _Morale: The Supreme Standard of Life and Conduct_, New York, D. Appleton Co., 1920. 376 pp.

[195] _Belief in God and Immortality: A Psychological, Anthropological, and Statistical Study_, Boston, 1906.

[196] See my _Adolescence_, vol. ii, p. 113 _et seq._

[197] “The Psychology of the Teacher,” _Ped. Sem._, vol. 24, p. 531 _et seq._

[198] See Burton’s _Anatomy of Melancholy_, sec. 3.

[199] _Monologen._

[200] _Ethics_, Book II, Chaps. 3 and 6 and Book IV, Chap. 3.

[201] In the last few paragraphs I have, thanks to the courtesy of the editor of the _Atlantic Monthly_, freely used material from my anonymous article on “Old Age” in the January, 1921, number.

[202] _The World in Revolt_, New York, 1921, 256 pp.

[203] See my _Jesus, the Christ, in the Light of Psychology_, Chapters VII and XI.

[204] _Am. J. Psychology_, vol. 8, p. 67 _et seq._

[205] “A Study of Fears,” _Am. J. Psy._, vol. 8, pp. 147–249; see also Street, “A Genetic Study of Immortality,” _Ped. Sem._, vol. 6, p. 167 _et seq._

[206] L. Proal, _L’éducation et le suicide des enfants_, Paris, 1907, p. 204; G. Budde, _Schülerselbstmorde_, Hanover, 1908, p. 59; E. Neter, _Der Selbstmord im kindlichen und jugendlichen Alter_, 1910, p. 28; L. Gurlitt, _Schülerselbstmorde_, n. d., p. 59; Baer, _Der Selbstmord im Kindesalter_, Liepzig, 1901, p. 85; Eickhoff, “Die Zunahme der Schülerselbstmorde an den höheren Schulen,” _Zts. f. d. evangel. Religionsunter, an höheren Lehranstalten_, 1909, vol. 4; Eulenberg, “Schülerselbstmorde” in _Der Saemann_, 1909, vol. 5, p. 30; Gebhard, “Über die Schülerselbstmorde,” _Monatss. f. höhere Schulen_, 1909, vols. 3 and 4, p. 24; Wehnert, _Schülerselbstmorde_, Hamburg, 1908, p. 81.

[207] Mersey “La Tanatophilie dans la famille des Hapsbourg,” _Rev. d. Psychiatr._ Nr. 12, 1912, p. 493, describes the strange case of love of death in the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella and also Charles V. The former, after the death of her husband, Philip the Beautiful, whom she loved with a consuming jealousy, had his body embalmed and only with great difficulty could she leave the coffin where it lay. Sometimes she had it open for a time to kiss the bare corpse and did so with the greatest passion. This state had periods of remission and exacerbation. The history of Charles, too, can be paralleled in many modern instances, while dreams show us still more clearly how necrophilic man can be.

Witry says that from his own practice he believes thanatophobiacs are almost always from the professional or upper middle classes, those from the lower classes meeting death with more stoicism than those of the upper. Catholics, he says, have little fear of death. Thanatophobes are usually neuropaths of degenerate heredity. One of his cases, a girl of 18, was suddenly seized by a violent fear that she was to die within an hour. She was put to sleep by suggestion and woke up normal. A woman teacher of 49 had three acute attacks, cured by suggestion. A middle-aged physician, after being drunk, had acute fear of death and Hell, which yielded to medical treatment. Old priests, we are told, are especially subject to it if neuropathic or “_scrupuleux_.” Some feel it acutely when, after fighting a long reluctance to do so, they have compelled themselves to make a will.

Ferrari, “La peur de la morte,” _Rev. Scient._, 1896, vol. 5, p. 59, describes several cases of tolerably healthy people who have had sudden premonitions of death, with acute fear, and who have shortly thereafter died, some of them from no ascertainable cause. Hence he raises the question whether an obsession of death can be so strong as to cause it.

Fiessinger gives a case, which he thinks directly due to the symptoms of _angina pectoris_, and discusses whether patients should be told their disease and its gravity, in view of this possible phobia.

Ferrero, “La crainte de la morte,” _Rev. Scient._, 1895, vol. 3, p. 361, thinks the natural man has little fear or thought of death and its representations in art and religion are not painful, on account of the sustaining influences of our organic sensations. Still, the thought of death does have much influence upon our ideas, and to some extent our sentiments. The mathematical chances of death plays a small rôle in affecting the choice of professions. It is only the prospect of impending death that shocks. Chronic invalids have little fear but only hope for life, for example, consumptives, while to some, for example, Indian widows, lovers, it is attractive. Hence he thinks it normally indifferent and sometimes agreeable but becomes an object of fear only by association.

Levy, “Die agoraphobie,” _Wien. allg. medizin. Zeitung_, 1911, nr. 10, gives a case of an agoraphobia that was rooted in a very distinct dread of death by a special disease. A Dubois psychotherapeutic conversation, which proved the fallacy of its grounds and to which the patient attended, although with great effort, did not quiet but only increased excitement. Excitement and exhaustion were the chief symptoms and the case yielded only to isolation and rest.

[208] A striking illustration of this comes to me, as I write, in a popular song with lugubrious music that many of my young friends persist in singing and humming as if haunted by it.

SOME SWEET DAY

Did you ever think as the hearse rolled by
That some day or other you must die?

In an old churchyard, in a tiny lot,
Your bones will wither and then they’ll rot.

The worms’ll crawl up, the worms’ll crawl in,
They’ll crawl all over your mouth and chin.

They’ll bring their friends, and their friends’ friends, too;
You’ll look like hell when they’re through with you.

[209] _Am. J. Sociology_, March, 1921.

[210] _The Next War_, New York, 1921.

[211] _Die Sprache des Traumes_, 1911, pp. 214–284.

[212] _The World as Will and Idea_, vol. iii, p. 249 _et seq._

[213] See my _Jesus, the Christ, in the Light of Psychology_, Chap. XI, “Death and Resurrection of Jesus.”

[214] _Guérison et Evolution dans la Vie de l’Âme._

[215] See my _Jesus, the Christ, in the Light of Psychology_, Vol. II, Ch. 11.

[216] _Science and Immortality_, Boston, 1904, 54 pp.

[217] G. Lionel Taylor (_The Stages of Human Life_, N. Y., Dutton, 1921, 363 p.) says that there are four stages in the process of what he believes to be normal dying: first there is an appealing, anxious, puzzled look at the approach of a great crisis, as if wondering what the person will meet in the great darkness that is supervening, all not without an element of fear; then there supervenes a peace and poise, in which stage leavetakings are often made; third, when the last breath is drawn there is a strong impression on the bystanders that there has been a real departure, that something very actual has left, so that the body is no longer the friend. Then for perhaps an hour there is on the face of the dead a look of unnatural beauty and tranquillity which slowly fades and corruption begins.

Some in contemplating their own demise think chiefly of the isolation it involves. The most sympathetic friend can only go to the brink of the dark river which we must all cross absolutely alone. Suicide lovers sometimes vainly attempt companionship. Those about to die who are conscious of their impending departure may bid sad farewells to their friends. Aging and sickly people conscious of an impending end but with their faculties intact realize the inevitableness of dying alone no matter how many friends are about but are silent about it with an instinctive reluctance to betray any of the perturbations which weaklings, patheticists, and hystericals seek refuge in.

To others the thought of their own death centers in the idea of their body. They see themselves in thought pale, rigid, insentient, and follow the fate of their corpse in every detail at least up to interment or cremation, and some cannot resist a rather strong imaginative experience as to how their living sentient body would feel the rigidity, the cold, the treatment to which it is subjected, the gazing of friends, a custom which some interdict.

A third group focus on the cessation of activities which begins in the dimming of the senses and the weakening of motor or other powers, and here, too, we find two attitudes: that of compulsive but regretful renunciation, and the other of longing as for rest. In this sense death begins with the first abatement of powers, and as we have time slowly to adjust to progressive enfeeblement we do so more and more readily.

[218] See especially J. H. Leuba, _The Belief in God and Immortality_, 1916, 340 pp.

[219] _The Philosophy of Long Life_, Tr. from the French by Harry Roberts, 1903, 305 pp.

[220] See Chapter VI.

[221] _The Limits of Evolution and Other Essays_, New York, 1901.

[222] _The Conception of Immortality._ Also _The World and the Individual_.

[223] _The Evolution of Immortality._

[224] _The Study of Life and Death._

[225] _Death and Afterward._

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.

Page 425: “so they we have come” was printed that way, but may be a misprint for “so that we have come”.