St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-09-02
LION BITES NOT FELT.
A. she Moment or Attack the Victims
Sense of Feeling 10
Dulled.

The attacks of the lesser carnivora,
smaller in proportion to man. are fire.
quently very painful; but matters are
SO ordered that the bite of a dog or
ferret is usually more painful than the
injuries inflicted by the jaws OF the
lion. The instances quoted ;.re very
numerous md striking, and properly
grouped az .ording to locality. or the
species of the attacking beats. In
Somaliiand the experiences of the bit
ten are supplemented by Capt. Abud.
the resident at Berbera, who has had
long experience of cases, English and
native, as most of the FORMER, unless
killed outright, which very seldom hap
pens, are brought to Berbera.
He states that 1.-The view that no
actual pain is suffered ut the time
seems almost universal. In most cases
it would seem that there was no knO.vl-
edge of the actual contact. even in the
first rush of a lion, much less of any
pain experienced from tooth wounds" !"
This was the view notonly of the Eng
lish, but of natives. In one or two
eases where consciousness was entirely
lest the person ''came TO" while the
lion was still standing over him. a
period of complete anaesthesia and un-
consciousness having intervened. But
more commonly those who haye been
attacked and have recovered are con-
scious all the time, and if they suffer
at all do not feel acute pain. This may
be accounted for parry by the shock
given by the charge, which forms the
usual preliminary to being wounded.
A lion comes at its enemy at full speed.
galloping low, and dashes q man stand
ing upright to the ground by the full
impact of its body. Maj. Inverarity
states that ''the claws and teeth enter.
ing the flesh do not hurt as much as
YOU would think" but that the squeeze
given by the jaws on the bone is really
painful. When knocked over he was
still keenly conscious, and felt none OF
the dreamy sensation experienced by
Livingstone.
Mai. Swaine. struck down by lion
ess going at full gallop. was uncon-
scious for some minutes, and did not
know what had happened till he found
himself standing up after the accident.
Il felt no PAIN" he writes. mot, l be-
lieve, owing TO any special interposi-
ton of Providence, but simply that
the shock and loss of blood made me
incapable of feeling it. There was no
pain for few days, till it was brought
on by the swelling of my arm on the
l2 DAYS ride to the coast" Capt. Noycs,
attacked in the same district by lion
in 1895. was charged down and bitten,
until the creature left him, probably
when attacked by his servants. His
hand was badly bitten, but he was
not conscious of any feeling of fear,
or any pain whatever. probably because
there was no time, but felt exactly as
if he had been bowled over in football
match, and nothing more" \ far
worse accident was that which befell
Lieut.. Vandezee in the same year, near
Beira. The lion charged him down in
the usual way. and mangled his thighs
and fractured one of his arms. Dur
ing the time the attack on me by the
lion was in progress" he writes. Il felt
no pain whatever, although there was
distinct feeling of being bitten-that
is. was perfectly conscious. independ-
emily of seeing the performance, that
the lion was gnawing at me. but there
was no pain. =
Il may mention that while my thighs
| were being gnawed l took two car
l xr;rJsroS nr< Of fha hrQaSt r,Oclpt Of YOy
shirt and threw them to the Kaffr
who was lowering few yards away
telling him to load my rifle, ard i'm.
mediately the lion died and rolled of
me. / scrambled up and took loaded
rifle and fired at the carcass."-Londor