Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-01-21
phasized, we nave the ~speelalized en-

phasized, we have the specialized en-
ergy of the senses. Will progress in
this line Of Investigation result in PROV
ing that we have a special brand Of
nerve for each special sensation? The
man who by special training could be-
come a bundle of pleasurable nerves,
and who could eliminate all of the
pain-dispatching one from his sys-
TEN would nd himself in an enviable
condition. But the suggestion that
such a development might be perfected
must not be laid at the door of DR..
Macdonald.
This ingenious investigator began his
pain studies in Europe. He applied his
newalgometer to all classes of people
met there. He took great pains with a
separate list of measurements of pro-
fessors in foreign universities. Now,
when he has just announced the results
of the entire study to the scientific
world, the number of subjects, in his
notebook reserved for the pain observa-
tons alone, amounts to several thous-
and, representing all classes from all
sections of both continents.
He finds that criminals in general,
especially murderers, appear to be less
sensitive to pain than the average indi-
vidual. Cruel boys are but slightly
sensitive to pain. What is painful to
others is not painful to them. This OBJ
tuseness to pain is in many instances
the Of their cruelty. Women are
more sensitive to pain than men, but
there is no evidence that they cannot
endure more pain than men. American
college professors are more sensitive
than American business men. They
are also more sensitive than either En-
glish or German professors. Artizans
and unskilled laborers are less sensitive
than professional and mercantile men.
Young men of the wealthy classes are
much more sensitive than those of the
! working classes. Poor women are
much less sensitive than those in more
comfortable conditions. Young women
of the wealthy classes are more sensi-
tive than young women of the wealthy
classes. Girls in private schools are de
cidedly more sensitive than girls in
public schools. University women are
more sensitive than washerwomen
Gw~enty-eight washerwomen were mea-
! sured), but less sensitive than business
women. Self educated women. not
trained in universities, are more sensi-
tive than business women. Girls in the
public schools are more sensitive at all
ages than boys in the public schools.
Giving the divisions of the female sex,
in the order Of their a%cuteness, they
stand, according to DR.. MacDonald's
averages: LIST, girls Of the wealthy
classes; End, se~lf-educated women; Sd.
business women; 4th, university wo-
men; 5th, washerwomen.
1T would appear" the doctor said,
that refinements and luXuries tend to
increase sensitiveness to pain. The
hardihood which the great majority
must experience therefore seems ad-
~vantageous. There seems to be no
necessary relation between intellectual
development and pain sensitiveness.
Obtuseness to pain seems to be due
more to this hardihood in early life.
The greater sensitiveness Of self-edu-
tated women as compared with uni
versity women may be due to over
taxing of the nervous system of the
former in their unequal struggle after
knowledge. In children there seems
to be an increase. of obtuseness to pain
from 10 to II. then a decrease from II
to u, then an increase from II to 10.
From 10 to II while the right temple
increases in o~btuseness, the left tenn
pie increases in a~cuteness. All of these
measurements of the least disagree
ableness or of the threshold of pain
are approximate measurements Of the
combination Of nerve, feeling and
idea"
JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS, JR.
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