The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1908-07-09
SEX AND ETHER.
Women Fear the Anaesthetic Les. Than Men.

men," said surgeon Of great expert
ence. Il base this BELIEF entirely up
on my own observation, for l don't
know what the theorists have 70 say
about Il. Women viii undergo serl'
GUS surgical operations with lar less
trepidation than men. II you are CIV
en- to analysis you may account Tor
this in any one of several ways. You
may say, for example. that women are
always in closer touch, so TO speak,
with death than are men. refer 10
their bearing OF children. You may
say, again, that women are physical
ly more obtuse than are men, and
this is an established scientific tacL
The average woman can endure FAR
greater amount OF physical pain tnan
the average man. You may CONTEND
again, that women have less imagin'
alton than men, which causes them TO
regard death with less terror than do
men. Wen, this last fact hasn't been
so well established. | am inclined 10
believe, though, that women really
are less imaginative than men.
But whatever be the nature OF the
prop that supports them, women sure
ly approach the operating table with
a great deal less Of visible fear than
do men. Probably should not use the
word visible here, because If WON
an is afraid Of anything she will show
II. A man, even when he is in dead
ly fear. hates to show fear, tries to
cover 1t up. This reasoning brings
the women even higher atop Of the
men in the matter of courage in ap-
preaching operations. The woman
would show fear If fear obsessed her.
The man fights against revealing his
fear, and yet can't crowd 1t back. The
great fundamental differences be-
tween men and women in their ner'
vous and mental makeup are more
clearly shown by their respective at
titudes in approaching surgical oper'
ations than by any other method OF
comparison.
You will come upon a hundred In
consistencies, equally divided be
tween the men and the women, in
probing this matter For example,
the woman who at sight of mouse
will hop atop of chair in a frenzy
of hysteria or faint outright win under
go an operation in which she knows
that she has something less than an
even chance without turning a hair.
A man of proved courage. who would
take a chance on trying to pull the
eyes out of a mountain lion with his
naked hands, If 1t came to that alb
solutely unafraid of anything in life,
will become as invertebrate as a jel-
lyfsh and as whipped as a dog under
Z! porch over the mere likelihood that
he will have to subject himself to a
comparatively harmless surgical op-
GRAFTON. It's hard to strike averages
between such widely divergent view
points. But it is a certainty that sur
geons are sometimes almost led to
believe that in some respects women
and men are as far apart as any two
planets you might name.
IF / had the time-which l never
expect to have-I should like to in
vestigate, in the scientific mood and
manner, the actual underlying or ov-
erlapping reason why men have such
a far greater dread of anaesthesia
than women. That they do any sur
geon will tell you. Ninety-nine men
out Of hundred possess an Unborn
and ineradicable dread of surrender
ing their consciousness to the power
of an anaesthetic Indeed, most men
really dread the anaesthetic more
than they do the consequences Of the
operation. Even when the average
man knows that the operation which
requires him to submit himself to "a
anaesthetic is a comparatively trivial
affair his whole mind rebels against
the thought OF the anaesthetic. Even
when he is assured that his chances
Of coming out of the anaesthetic are
about 1899 in 10000 be sticks to this
dread. 1t is something which, appar-
emily, he can't reason against. It Is
inherent, instructive, an integral
part of him. | have seen some OF the
strongest men--strongest mentally,
mean, and often physically. too
slump 20 a state OF AFFECT, really pitt
able spinelessness at the very sugges-
ton of an anaesthetic.
with women It is different. Don't
take me as meaning TO imply that wo-
men like anaesthetics, or, indeed, that
they haven't actual fear of the eject
Of the anaesthetic, | should hate to
get so far away from the mark az
that But women, while you1l com.
monty hear lhem give expression TO