The awful shadows of death, which hang around the dying, seem at times to give the soul a glimpse, before it leaves the body, into the spirit world. In this peculiar state, when the spirit, although not separated from the body, seems partly in another state of existence, there is an expression on the countenance, almost unearthly, and occasionally words and disjointed sentences, which show, if the spirit is not passing the threshold of another world, and has become conscious of some of its scenes, it is unconscious of anything in this. A scene, which occurred several years since, produced at the time a strong impression on my mind. A young lady, a devoted christian, accomplished and beautiful, and whose fondness for music amounted to a passion, was dying. She seemed entirely unconscious, her eyes closed, the limbs cold, the pulse imperceptible or faintly fluttering, the breathing so faint as scarcely to stir the down of a feather. Her friends were standing around in silent anguish, expecting every moment the lamp which was burning so feebly would go out. Suddenly her lips slightly parted and a strain of heavenly music was heard, at first faint and trembling and then swelling in volume and harmony, until it seemed gushing forth wave on wave of liquid melody; no words could be distinguished; the strain was like nothing earthly, surpassing in sweetness anything to which I had supposed the voice was capable of giving utterance. The strain ceased and she was silent for perhaps half an hour, when it again burst forth, gradually swelling into a song of triumph. It seemed as if she had already crossed the threshold of the spirit land, caught the symphony of the skies, and was tuning her harp to the song of angels. After the strain had ceased, which lasted about five minutes, she remained in the same unconscious state for an hour, and then breathed her last.

When disease passes into dying, the symptoms assume a certain defined character, which generally tells the tale to every eye. The eyes half closed and turned upwards, sunk in their sockets, wear a glazed and filmy appearance. Cheeks and temple are generally sunken, the nose sharp, the lips and face sometimes pale, and wearing that ashy hue, which involuntarily reminds one of death, or livid with the dark blood which creeps sluggishly through the veins. The voice loses its familiar tones, and becomes faint or comes with a muffled sound The cold of death seizes on the extremities and gradually creeps towards the centre of life; the breath is chill, cold and clammy sweat bedews the skin. The respiration whether faint and languid, or labored, grows slow and feeble. The breath comes with a gurgling sound, and the death rattle is heard at every expulsion of air. The lungs like the pulse are intermittent in their action, and the breathing is in broken gasps. The pulse is faint and intermittent, and the artery scarcely swells beneath the finger. The pulse ceases, trembles along the artery, and again ceases; the heart flutters, the chest faintly rises; it is the last effort of expiring vitality: again the pulse quivers beneath your finger - stops - and all is over. "Life's fitful dream is past," A finely moulded form is before you, but the spark of vitality has fled. Death has conquered, and his seal is on the cold pulseless form before you.

Signs of death. Shakespeare, whose active brain allowed nothing to escape him, must have watched by many a death-bed, as in the description which the Friar gives to Juliet of the effects of the draught which is to transform her into the temporary likeness of a corpse, he thus sums up the more obvious characteristics of death:

"No pulse shall keep His natural progress, but surcease to beat; No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest: The roses on thy lips and cheeks shall fade To paly ashes; thine eye's windows fall, Like death when he shuts up the day of life; Each part, deprived of supple government, Shall stiff, and stark, and cold appear, like Death."

Respiration is a function essential to life, as without it, we know there can be no artcrialization of the blood, and therefore no circulation. Sir B. Brodie says, the heart never continues to act more than five minutes after respiration entirely ceases. The cessation of this function then may be considered a sure indication of death. To ascertain with certainty whether it had entirely ceased, it was formerly the custom, and is to a certain extent among the masses at present, to place a feather or mirror before the lips, and if the feather moved, or a mist stained the glass, they were convinced that life was not extinct. When Lear brings in Cordelia, dead, he exclaims:

"Lend me a looking glass;

If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,

Why then she lives!" and immediately adds. "This feather moves: she lives/' Prince Henry also was equally mistaken in believing his father dead,

"By these gates of breath

There lies a downy feather, which stirs not:

Did he suspire that light and weightless down Perforce must move!"

Neither of these tests can be relied on, as the down may he moved by some agitation of the surrounding air, and the mirror be covered, by some exhalation of the body, presenting the appearance of condensed vapor of the breath. Owing to extreme physical exhaustion, respiration may be so faint, that to the casual observer it appears to have entirely ceased. It is frequently the case, that the transition from life to death is so quiet and gentle, that the observer is not conscious of the change, until the drooping jaw and stiffening features tell that life is extinct.

Dr. Paris says, however slow and feeble respiration may become by disease, yet it must always be perceptible, provided the naked breast and belly be exposed; for when the intercostal muscles act, the ribs are elevated, and the sternum is pushed forward: when the diaphragm acts, the abdomen swells, now this can never escape the attentive eye;. and by looking at the chest and belly, we shall form a safer conclusion, than by the popular methods which have been usually adopted. No perceptible motion of the heart or arteries may be perceived, and yet respiration not have entirely ceased.