Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-09-26
Science and Pain.



one cannot study the history OF his own times
very far before becoming CONSCIOUS that decided
point Of difference between our generation and any
former periOd-Detween what We call civilized peo-
pies and the rest OF the worlds In the compare
tive feeling IN regard TO pam. The modern evil
Led man Is squeamish about pain TO a degree
which would have seemed efiemlnite or worse TO
his great-grandfather or 10 the contemporary bar
Odrlan- His squeamishne>S Is not egOtlstie; he
does not seem 10 Oe any more afraid or being hurt
Than his gTeat-grdndIatHer Was II he can sc
any good reason for II. The German soldier,
while the mltrailleuse was still a weapon
OF unknown and Inghtful possibilities, cursed
TO face with the 'heii-machines" as un-
daunJedly ever his IOrelathers faced simple
bullets or ooS and arrows The nalneless rail-
heart of a great accident rather than desert a
tran-load OF passengers, face and DEFY possiDili-
ties Of pain such as the great Junus or Ney never
dreamed Of Is there a inner thing In Plutarch
than was seen when the English battalion. pre-
sntng arms 70 the helpless beings In the departing
boats went down In perfect parade Order Oh the
deck OF the laundering troop-ship? Modern hfe Is
III IN supremacy over personal sufferinS which
Taxes hlgner character only as tn inner organl-
zatiOn or the human being comes 10 Know more
exactly In advance the nature OF the pain which
~ Is 10 face.
IL is rather in Others and for others that the
modern clylIiZeG man breads pain lie finds IL
harder 70 know that other men are suffering the
pans pans Oh Sola OF hunger IN Kansas or Ireland or
Ihdla; or That prisoners or poverty" are working
fOf plttanees IN he great cities; or that laborng
men are driven 10 work sixteen hours a day; or
thdt CRIMINALS are tortured or mtstreated Ia the
ehain-gang, or tnat poiiticals are driven 10 IN
sanity IN the Russian state prisons He Tesents and
PQnishes cruelty 70 animals wnere his great-grAnd-
iath ., perhaps, thought nothing OF sending slave
70 The whipping post he reyOlts even against
hArsineSs In Just punishment and desires u al
leNidte some OF the hOrrOrs OF hanging. Ii he ig-
hoTes a case OF cruelty, II Is rum lack or o.uni-
scebce. let him kLown about IL and the world
shall Know his feelings about IL WIDerfol &c and
S0pIey might 90 on for years telling Engllsnmen
OF the horrors VI the middle passage and Of all the
NAIalnles VI the slave trade, aud stlll the slave
snips sailed out from Liverpool, aud the slave
traoe " a. represented In parliament. Cruelty In
more recent times lives by stealth and bushes TO
hId itSei famous In the newspaper pliIory.
~ Is IN lis relations 20 this general development
OF humanity, ana not In any alienation OF ndi-
Nidu.i suffering. that modern scientific inyesti-
CATION may found It's strongest claims 10 con-
ss9efANl0n- II should not De easy 20 deny that
there are such relations When the growing
sensitis ness 70 suffering In others and the full
admission Of tue methods OF modern science are
found II exactly the same peoples. In the same
PERIODS and 10 the same degree, the connec-
ton between the two ought not 70 be doubt
fuL The modern civilized man Is no longer
made dun anu caIlous BY the frequent recurrence
OF human suffering in those 1orms which science
can reach; and. when II comes In any form, IL
makes Tar deeper impression upon him. II
DaVy. oy inEentiDg the safety lamp, decreases the
chances OF collery accidents, he gives all men a
dreper horror when a hundred or more human
teings are locked up In burning mine or
choked 70 death oy damp. Ocean travel Is made
safer every year By Increasingly ingenious To-
Dul vi WreckS serves
70 make the event far more startling when
hfe or log succeeds Ia snatchlng It's victim from
among the great ocean steamers Surgical prog
IesS Particularly In anasIhetics, by removing a
VAST amount OF pain from the familiar acquaint-
ahce u tue people, must have had a very great In
nushCe IA intensnyinz their susceptibility 10
suueIihs IN Others, when it comes 70 their
kho.edse- But surgical progress, after an
10 Dull one Phase of lar Larger system: every In.
Nentlon reading 70 decrease In the amount OF
danger and suffering In human existeuce AN due
70 the methods OF Investigation Introduced by
modern scIence, mas acted In the same direction