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age , it might be his lot to labour under some one , the result of which might be great and long-continued suffering . In this case , he knew that I should do everything" in my power to diminish pain and to render death easy ; the contributing to the euthanasia forming , in my
opinion , as he knew , no unimportant part of the duty of the physician . On the possible protraction of life , with the failure of the intellectual powers , he could not think without great pain ; but it was only during his last illness , that is , a few weeks before his death , that any apprehension of either of those evils occurred to him . From the former he
suffered nothing ; and from the latter , as little as can well be , unless when death is instantaneous . The serenity and cheerfulness of his mind , when he became satisfied that his work was done , and that he was about to lie down to his final rest , was truly affecting . On that work he looked back with a feeling which would have been a feeling of triumph , had not the consciousness of how much still remained to be done , changed it to that of sorrow that he was allowed to do no more : but this feeling again gave place to a calm but deep emotion of exultation , as he recollected that he left behind him able ^ zealous , and faithful minds , that would enter into his labours and
complete them . The last subject on which he conversed with me , and the last office in which he employed me , related to the permanent improvement of the circumstances of a family , the junior member of which had contributed in some degree to his personal comfort ; and I was deeply impressed and affected by the contrast this brought to my view , ' between the selfishness and apathy so often the compianions of age , and the generous care for the welfare of others , of which his heart was full .
* Among the very last things which his hand penned , in a book of memoranda , in which he was accustomed to note down any thought or feeling that passed through his mind , for future revision arid use , if susceptible of use , was found the following passage : —* ' I am a selfish man , as selfish as any man can be . But in me , some how or other , so it happens , selfishness has taken the shape of benevolence . No other
man is there upon earth , the prospect of whose sufferings would to me be a pleasurable one : no man is there upon earth , the sight of whose suffering's would not to me be a more or less painful one : no man upon earth is there , the sight of whose enjoyments , unless believed by me to be derived from a more than equivalent suffering endured by some other man , would not be of a pleasurable nature rather than of a painful one . Such in me is the force of sympathy ! ' *
c And this " force of sympathy" governed his very last hour of consciousness . Some time before his death , when he firmly believed he was near that last hour , he said to one of his disciples , who was watching over him : — " I now feel that I am dying : our care must be to minimise the pain . Do not let any of the servants come into the room , and keep away the youths : it will be distressing to them , and they can be of no service . Yet I must not be alone : you will remain with me , and you only ; and then we shall have reduced the pain to
the least possible amount . " 4 Such were his last thoughts and feelings ; so perfectly , so beautifully did he illustrate , in his own example , what it was the labour of his life to make others !'
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No . 70 . 3 **
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Critical Notices . —A Lecture ; fyc . 1 \ &
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1832, page 713, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1822/page/63/
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