Death mask

“ For ourselves, we hold the belief that the Man in the Iron Mask stood on the steps of the throne. Although the mystery cannot be said to be definitely cleared up, one thing stands out firmly established among the mass of conjecture we have collected together, and that is, that wherever the prisoner appeared he was ordered to wear a mask on pain of death. ”

“ The malingerer who wanted to get out of the front line and was willing to take any action, however cowardly, to achieve that end, deliberately removed the facepiece and thus suffered gassing of the eyes. The effect of mustard gas soon became so well known that the malingerer knew gassing of the eyes never resulted in death or permanent loss of sight. With the new type of American mask, the protection of eyes and lungs depends solely upon the fit around the face and no such playing with the mask can be done. ”

“ Server replied. "One could call it—though that doesn't get one much further—the Mask of Death."
"Why so?" I demanded while we all again looked at the picture. "Isn't it much rather the Mask of Life? It's the man's own face that's Death. ”

“ Hardly one per centum of the hundreds of biographers whose works I have consulted ever refer to the taking of a mask in life, or after death, and there is absolutely no literature which is devoted to the subject. The cast of Sheridan’s hand is often alluded to, the mask of his dead face is nowhere mentioned ”

“ If he stumbles and his hat falls to the ground, disclosing his face, or his crinoline is torn to tatters by the bushes, his attendants immediately surround him to hide his person from the vulgar eye. According to one writer, indeed, the performer who drops his mask, or lets it fall so that the sharp point at the top sticks in the ground, is put to death. ”

“ Having made portraiture my study for many years, and thus having in my mind’s eye, indelibly fixed, the faces of legions of public men, I have yet to see a death mask that I could recognize at sight; many I could recall when told whose masks they were, but more yet have, to my vision, no resemblance whatever to the living man. Mr. Story, the eminent American sculptor but recently deceased, recognized how untrustworthy even life masks are as portraits. In speaking of what is claimed to be Houdon’s original mask of Washington, which Mr. ”

“ Even short-term inhalation of harmful substances at sufficiently high concentrations can cause death or permanent damage to health, and effects on the eyes can prevent to leave the dangerous place. When gas cartridges are replaced in a timely manner, this may happen when there are gaps between the mask and the face. Then one inhaled the air, the pressure under the mask became below atmospheric pressure. Studies have been conducted to measure the protective properties of respirators in the laboratory and in the workplace. ”

“ There was also a dark lantern, and various implements used by burglars. The Dead Man then proceeded to adjust a mask over his hideous face, which so completely disguised him, that not one of his most intimate acquaintances would have known him. The mask was formed of certain flexible materials, and being colored with singular truthfulness to nature, bore a most wonderful resemblance to a human face. The Dead Man, who, without it, carried in his countenance the loathsome appearance of a putrefying corpse, with it was transformed into a person of comely looks. ”

“ How many thousands of casualties were suffered through men losing their mental balance from exhaustion and the discomfort of the mouthpiece and noseclip no one knows. Such men tore off the mask, stating that they would rather die than endure the torture of wearing it longer. Furthermore, the poor vision of this mask led to the habit of taking the facepiece off while still leaving the mouthpiece and noseclip in place. This gave protection to the lungs, but exposed the eyes, and as mustard gas affects the eyes very readily this alone led to thousands of casualties. ”

“ In this City of Masks there are hundreds of men and women in whose veins the blood of a sound aristocracy flows. By choice or necessity they have donned the mask of obscurity. They tread the paths of oblivion. They toil, beg or steal to keep pace with circumstance. But the blood will not be denied. In the breast of each of these drifters throbs the pride of birth, in the soul of each flickers the unquenchable flame of caste. The mask is for the man outside, not for the man inside. ”

“ Pshaw! a mask makes people but the more inquisitive, and is as ridiculous a disguise as a stage-beard: her shape, stature, habit will be known. And if we should meet with Horner, he would be sure to take acquaintance with us, must wish her joy, kiss her, talk to her, leer upon her, and the devil and all. No, I'll not use her to a mask, 'tis dangerous; for masks have made more cuckolds than the best faces that ever were known. ”

“ But I can't believe it was all a malicious prank. I just can't reconcile what I saw with any such convenient, easy-to-accept explanation. You've convinced yourself that the figure in the hall was wearing a mask. It was the first thing I thought of, but I couldn't go on believing it."
"Why not? It makes sense."
"Not to me. That creature was real, David. Real and alive and a monster. Not a man disguised by a mask. Its face had a fleshly look."
"But you said yourself that its face was masklike. And modern mechanical masks can be almost unbelievably lifelike. Mask-making has become a fine art. ”

“ During the many festivals when the Eskimos wore their animal masks, they believed that they actually became the creature that they represented. Some of their masks were ingeniously made with double faces, so arranged that, at certain times in the ceremony, the outer mask which was held in place by pegs could be removed, thus symbolizing the transformation of the animal into the man.
The Indians of California observe annual ceremonies of mourning for the dead. Ten or more men prepare themselves to play the part of the ghosts. ”

“ He has always worn twelve new masks every year, inasmuch as no mask can endure for many nights the near brightness of his face, before which even a mask of the best and purest silver soon tarnishes and wears away. ”

“ Masks do not necessarily hide sinister motives. If the highwayman wears a mask, a harmless Pierrot or a Columbine also finds it useful. My readers must have perceived that I am nothing but an innocent Pierrot out for a little fun and amusement which the frailty of some grey-headed and grey-bearded persons sometimes affords. ”

“ What is death? A tragic mask. Turn it and examine it. See, it does not bite. The poor body must be separated from the spirit either now or later as it was separated from it before. Why then are you troubled if it be separated now? for if it is not separated now, it will be separated afterwards. Why? That the period of the universe may be completed, for it has need of the present, and of the future, and of the past. What is pain? A mask. Turn it and examine it. The poor flesh is moved roughly, then on the contrary smoothly. If this does not satisfy (please) you, the door is open; ”

“ I know many cases where men have been forced to wear masks literally continuously for more than eight hours; and much longer periods than this, with perhaps short intervals of rest in protected dugouts or in unaffected areas, are common.
Of course the soldier has to be practiced in putting the mask on quickly. It is not quite so simple as the old “gas bag,” about which a drill sergeant said to a squad: “You just whops it out and you whops it on.” But it does not take long to make men proficient with the respirator, at any rate on the parade ground. ”

“ It has one disadvantage when it is desired to force immediately the wearing of the mask, and that is its delayed action and the fact that it acts so slowly, and is usually encountered in such slight concentrations that several hours’ exposure are necessary to produce a severe casualty. For these reasons the enemy may often take chances in the heat of battle with mustard gas, and while himself becoming a casualty, inflict quite heavy casualties upon opposing troops by continuing to operate his guns or rifles without masks. ”

“ Among other ceremonials, when certain persons die, after the chin has been blackened, the body washed, and prescribed feathers placed on different parts of it, a thin wad of raw cotton in which is punched holes for the eyes is laid upon the face. This is a mask and is called a rain-cloud or “prayer to the dead to bring the rain.” In general, as many writers have said, the use of the mask transforms the wearer into a deity designated by the symbolism of the same, [133] and as a consequence the dead, we may theoretically suppose, are thereby endowed with supernatural powers to bring rain. ”

“ The senior medical officer sniffed the fog critically and shouted to his driver.
"Stop!" he cried. "There's something funny about this fog. Every one put on gas masks."
He coughed slightly as he adjusted his mask. His orders were shouted to the ambulance in the rear but before the masks could be adjusted, every member of the crew was vying with the rest in the frequency and violence of the coughs which he could emit. The masks did not seem to shut out the poisonous fog which crept in between the masks and the men's faces and seemed to take bodily possession of their lungs. ”

“ A perfect mask is one which will remove completely every trace of gas or poisonous vapor before the air can reach the eyes, nose, or mouth of the soldier.
The first masks adopted by the allies were simply gauze pads saturated with neutralizing chemicals. These became unsuitable as soon as new varieties of powerful poisons were brought out. The mask development thereafter progressed to the box respirator type. This consisted of a mask or helmet connected to a box filled with absorbing and neutralizing chemicals which purified the air for the mask wearer. ”

“ It is a dreadful thing to wait and watch for the approach of death; to know that hope is gone, and recovery impossible; and to sit and count the dreary hours through long, long nights—such nights as only watchers by the bed of sickness know. It chills the blood to hear the dearest secrets of the heart—the pent-up, hidden secrets of many years—poured forth by the unconscious, helpless being before you; and to think how little the reserve and cunning of a whole life will avail, when fever and delirium tear off the mask at last. Strange tales have been told in the wanderings of dying men; ”

“ They seemed to feel that if a single gas casualty occurred through failure of the mask, their work would be a failure or at least they would be open to severe criticism. Accordingly efforts were made to perfect masks and to perfect protection regardless of the discomfort imposed upon the wearer of the mask. This idea was very difficult to eradicate. The laboratory worker who accustoms himself to experiment with a particular thing forgets that he develops an ability to endure discomfort, that is not possible of attainment by the ordinary man in the time available for his training. ”

“ A masker attired as a scarlet devil had climbed into the hood, and was now perched close behind her. She shook her head at him; but he only shook his in return, and chattered and grimaced, and bent over till his fiery mask almost grazed her shoulder. ”

“ Our gas-masks are quite efficient protection, and I have been a whole day under gas without injury, by keeping the cloth in my mask damp all the time. Men sometimes lose their lives through lack of confidence in their masks. ”

“ A realization of this need led mask designers to work very hard, long before the necessity for comfort in a mask was as fully realized as it was at the end of the war, to increase the length of life of the canister. ”

“ With a gas-mask on a man is not more than fifty per cent efficient. In any sort of combat, but particularly in hand-to-hand fighting, it is a fearful handicap. The temptation to tear off the mask becomes practically irresistible. Heroic doctors have been known calmly to lay aside their masks when with their faces covered they could no longer serve their suffering charges.
A GAS ATTACK
American soldiers in their trenches wearing gas-masks. ”

“ Its men and women hide behind a million masks; no man looks beneath the mask his neighbour wears, for he is interested only in that which he sees with the least possible effort: the surface. He sees his neighbour but he knows him not. He keeps his own mask in place and wanders among the millions, secure in the thought that all other men are as casual as he,—and as charitable.
From time to time the newspapers come forward with stories that amaze and interest those of us who remain, and always will remain, romantic and impressionable. ”

“ With the new American mask, with its much stronger and stiffer face material, the chances are that the life will be considerably increased although the more constant use of the mask will probably offset its greater durability. ”

“ And there we sat, calmly munching the apples. "Madame, will you do me the honor to raise your mask?" We watched the girl as she bathed and bandaged the wounded arm. With a contented sigh she rested her blue-slippered feet on the brass fender.
HEARTS AND MASKS
I
It all depends upon the manner of your entrance to the Castle of Adventure. One does not have to scale its beetling parapets or assault its scarps and frowning bastions; neither is one obliged to force with clamor and blaring trumpets and glittering gorgets the drawbridge and portcullis. ”