Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-03-19
Difference. an Suffering.

IRON thc London snnIsg Ma-gEue.
We cannot explain the grim fact Of all animal
suffering as we caa grea. proportion Of that
endured by humankind by showing that 10 10
the just retri5ution for personal or ancestral
wrong dong. In the world Of animals the .ins
OF the fathers are not visited uron the children
even 20 the first and second generation: not be-
cause the general iaws which rule the bodily
natures Of animals different from those
which govern the physical constitution Of man.
but because an unressouing being cannot do
wrong. and In this respect j. mttic more than q
living machine. nctuated End i'm PEELED By blind
instincts. And the instincts Of an animal all
tend in the direction Of sclf-preseryation. They
teach II 20 satisfy its needs hut without giving
way 70 excess; they preserve Is from over-in-
diligence m the bodily PASSIONS; they lead it, in
a word. 20 observe al the laws OF health Ne
are very apt to fril into the habit OF estimating
the pain inflicted upon animal by given
injury by that which a corresponding injury
would occasion IN ourselves But are we iu-fi-
fed in doing SOP For pain. even In the
human subject. is purely a relative term II
expresses a very real sensation. but il does NOS
express ITS degree. And. tar as mank ind 10
concerned. the sense OF pau. in the intensity
IN which II can be felt. depends very largely
indeed upon two great factors
The first OF these Is civilization. IL is almost
a truism to assert that the white man suffers
infinitely more from u BODILY injury than the
savage. HIS brain and nervous system, rs the
outcome OF centuries OF intellectual improve
ment. are far more developed and far more
highly strung; 50 that DIR. Felkin. who. in the
course of a long series Of surgical operations
performed upon patients of ali uatIoaalities
enjoyed unusual facilities for forming an opin-
ica. arrived AT the deliberate conclusion that
the susceptibility to pain of an average Euro
bean. as compared With that OF the average
negro, was as three tn one. The stoicism Of
the North American Indian at the stake has
often been adduced as striking evidence Of
fortitnie under extreme suffering; but il seems,
matter OF TACT. TO be quite as largely due
To dullness OF the seasory nerves. And u 10
well known that sayaces Of almost every race
will endure. and be comparatively unAffec ted
by. injuries that would at once lay a civilized
man PROSTATE. Witness for example, the
horrible rites OF imitation" into the full
privileges OF manhood practiced by the Man.
dams. the Maqulrd dance Of the natives q
Guiana and the still more hideous sun dance
OF many Of the North American tribes. Aud
when We read of haiir laughing merrlly az
the appearance which his own thigh. after .
severe compound fracture. presented; and OF .
se.oad. whose skull had been broken in bv q
bloS from a knobkerry, submitting calmly and
without Gnasthetics 10 tie operation of trepan-
nInS and walking away afterward as though
nothing had happened; anG Il a third holding
on his cheek, which had been almost entirely
sliced on by blow from a sword, and yea
yelling and shouting with bis comrades in the
full enjocment OF Vietory-Se may not feel
cannot hold that he feels We feel
And tue second factor Is that OF education,
which greatly increases the ma tural susceptible
ity To pain. The agricultural laborer is much
less sensitive OF nerve tnan the artisan. and the
artisan than the scholar and the bra n worker.
And Dr. felkin, in the investigations alluded to
above. also discovered that the effect OF a fair
measure Of education upon a negro was TO in-
crease his susceptibility TO pam by one-third.
For education, which Is only civilization car
ris1 On in sfs1i Furfh.a- dcvalanrrapA
OF the brain and couseq aently Of the nervous
system which depends upon u. and the price
for increased Intelligence is paid in increased
senslbifity 10 pain SO that m injury which to
the man OF intelec: may mean positive agony,
by the pIoughman will be not only endurable,
but scarcely noucee at all For " is the brain,
and the brain alone. that feels. although the
actual sensation is localized. Cut the trunk
nerve which connects the seat OF the injury
with the brain and the pain which that injury
produced instantly ceases TO be felt For the
nerves are as Telegraph wires. which commune
cate the fact OF the ial1ry 20 the brain and re-
eeive IN return the sensation which it expe-
riences. And it is therefore easy TO UNDER
stand how the degree OF development to which
the brain has attained affects and controls the
degree of intcEsity OF possible pain
When tho sensltiveness Of the negro, CON-
pared with that Of the European. 10 bat one to
three what relation 10 the latter is borne by
the sensitiveness OF the monkey: Of the bird? OF
the reptile and the hshl OF creatures lower
still? Ascertained facts> indeed seem TO show
US that by the lower forms of animal life very
little pain as We understand the word can b
felt at all HOLSTERS. for instance will vslun-
tarily deprive themselves OF their claws IL sud-
denly alarmed by some such sound as thae
caused by the firing Of heavy gun above them
A crab. seizsd while feeding by a greater and
a stronger, wili continue its meal while being
itself devoured- fsh. torn aud mangied By
the hook. will return in u moment OF two 70 the
bait, with Its appetite unimpatred- blind
worm or . sand lizard. IL unexpectediy ssixed,
will snap its body in twain and glids away none
the worse for the mutilation. 20 reproduce the
severed substance. IL 10 hard. indeed, in caseo
such these, TO insist that pain m our sense of
the term, can be in any real degree endured