Show the exact moment of death dr D ferguson writes to the lancet perhaps one of your medical writers may be in a position to give me au answer to the following cory it has occurred to me as no doubt also to every medical man in active practice to wit ness a largo number of deaths in many cases according to the usual acceptation it is almost impossible to tell tho exact moment of dissolution athen the last few convulsive inspirations take i place we simply wait to see if they will bo repeated and after waiting a few moments and everything remaining quiescent wo conclude that that is the time of decease there is one sign however which I 1 think indicates much more cl uv the exact moment when life is extinct we have read many times in poetical effa and elegant discourses of a phrase like the following when tho thread of life is shaped but this though used merely metaphorically comes very near I 1 believe to reality if any one watches closely tho few last spasmodic gasps of the dying lie will hear in many cases a peculiar snap somewhere in the region cf head it is not loud but it can be plainly heard if watched for what this may be owing to I 1 cannot say but can only vouch for the fact I 1 have never heard of it being taken notice of iu any medical literature with which I 1 am acquainted but no doubt many of your readers havo noted the fact and may bo able to give some explanation of so important a feature in the last moment of life |