The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-22
PART TWO.
m WOMEN SUFFER M0ST?'
,o,s DISCOVERIES REGARDING
I'm s,>,irIIENEss TO PAIN.

p, Mean. of Newly Invented In
y ,.ent called the AlgOmeter
ar Arthur Macdonald of the
..,ol bureau of Education,
wade RenarIsabIe Series of
'n,estiantions-Americans More
si,ive rhan Germans or Eng
,,,,,aratiVe Sensitiveness of
n,.n and poor, Right and Left
80. women and Men.
washington Jan. 20. - Prof. Ar
Mcdonald. specialist in the United
sir,aa of education, is carrying on
ss If Investigations for the purpose
:. sr.isrr Gu, how sensitive the ordinary
s.rs,r is to pain. Under the direction of
h. Macdonald. school teachers all over
.oa,rfry have been testing school chill
a,o, and adults, and the result, averaged
n d,re contains some very curious
and upl5oked-for Information concerning
nam Prof Macdonald first made tests
=, t4-g persous and from them drew the
folowing. conclusions:
l. Women are more sensitive to pain
taan men.
American professional men are more
sensitive 10 pain than American business
men and also more sensitive than either
English or German professional men. The
tailoring classes are much less sensitive
10 pain than the non-iaboring classes.
g. Tie women of the poorer classes are
much less sensitive to pain than those in
more comfortable conditions.
T. Young men of the wealthy class are
much more sensitive TO pain than men of
the working classes.
s. Young women of the wealthy classes
are much more sensitive to pain than
young men of the wealthy classes. AS
TO pain. 1t is true in general, that wo-
men are more sensitive than men. but it
does not necessarily follow that women
cannot endure more pain than men.
Machine That Measures Pain.
These quite general results were OBJ
tanned in a preliminary series of investi-
cations, but they promised so much that
Prof. Macdonald determined to extend his
operations SO as to gain information of
much more special character. 1t was
thought that the individual human body
might exhibit great ranges in it's ability
TO withstand pain; that age might enter
in to make great differences. And so on.
Prof. Macdonald, therefore, invented a
little instrument which was designated to
be used as a recorder of pain He calls
il the algometer. 1t looks like an immense
hypodermie syringe, but the principle of
its operation is that of the ordinary spring
scale reversed, In short, it is a simple
barrel and piston affair. Inside the barrel
Is a cooled spring. When the piston is
pushed into the barrel it necessarily COM
presses the spring, which collapses ac-
cording to the pressure put upon it. A
scale IN the side of the barrel records
the amount Of pressure. Now this affair
was held against the temple of each per-
son examined. As it was pushed against
the temple, of course, the piston receded
INTO the barrel When the pressure of the
spring made the affair uncomfortable, the
subject under examination would describe
ms or h7r sensations. That is, whether
te instrument hurt or not OF course,
'ne moment it grew uncomfortable the in
kuument was removed. as it was the
greatest amount of constituencies TO pain
mat was to be tested. The Instruments
were used in tests all over the country.
lney We're tried on the pupils of public
anu private schools. They were tried on
BUSINESS men, business women, laborers,
"@sA"omen, professional men and univer-
s'F women. They were tried on various
Pal's oil the bodies of these persons and
ulNeiehceS Of ages were noted. Out of the
mass OF statistics received the following
lacls were obtained:
curious Facts About Pain.
Generally speaking, sensibility to pain
TS1'tases as person advances in age.
Iig eit temple is more sensitive than the
ISM temple. The left hand is more SEN
.u'e tlan the right hand. Children be-
80 l' ana II years old exhibit quite
ioo''Seness to pain which, however, d.
,'''sles between the ages of II and II.
I'l H. lhey can stand less general pain
eH Y years old than they could just
.,y' 10 years. But they become more
1ee AGAIN when between y and 10
- hel"een the ages of IS and II the
~, temple increases in obtuseness, while
'5l1 temple increases in acuteness. OF
mere are variations, but the above
.'led from the majority of examples.
~. ~ private schools, the children in
s'lef3lly come of wealthy parents,
'o1ib TO be much more sensitive to
r. yuan girls Of public schools. Thus,
v,,i3 language of Prof Macdonald, "it
p appear that refinements and luXu-
H. D' 10 increase sensitiveness to pain.
mn "''1'hooi which the great majority
az. ApeIIence seems advantageous. This
ne a.eofls with the result of previous
l7b1..-' Hehts to the effect that the nom
lbsg ing classes are more sensitive to pain
''''ilhs classes. BY laboring classes
br o artisans and unskilled laborers
ssr, 1oofins classes is meant profess
''I mercantile men"
educated Women the Most Sem
sitive.
,ea.5'slS-H women, that is, students and
nor DO .he larger colleges. are much
", 9l'e TO pain than washwomen.
than '' women are more sensitive
h3rd -,eSliy women. on the other
VIA s.-''ueated women, that is, those
stB ~. ''' trained in universities, are
Womsr. isltive 90 pain than business
neoas. I.'io seems. in fact to be no
re,or,5 relation between Intellectual de
tuser.. ANA pain sensitlveness. OBJ
Ia bar5, q" pain seems to be due more
eenstrrH 10 carly life. The greater
c5ne5r, 81 self-educated women as
Cue n wan university women may be
tenn 'l' ortr-taxing Of the nervous sys-
ea d.. 'a' NOR in their unequal strug-
Gnasr.-' ''' Wedge. In order to show the
rsss nj .'gual order of pain sensitive
men ,,3 sex, the several classes of wo-
first n- arranged as follows the