The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1909-06-03

From the earliest age, from the
first time that men began to think,
says the Lancet, the origin OF pain
has troubled the human mind. Inss-
much as pain is inflicted by one nan
on another mainly as a punishment
for actions which that other has done,
the first idea that arose was that
pain arising from unperceiyed causes
must be the punishment of some deity
or some power of nature which had
been wronged or offended by human
action. and the earliest prayers and
offerings were in all likelihood in
tended to mitigate or to remove the
wrath of the outraged deity and not
merely to obtain some blessing
The more our knowledge extends
as to the beliefs Of primitive races
the more certain we become that the
starting-point Of prayer is fear Of
pain. The storm and the earthquake,
the food and the drought, cold and
famine each showed to primitive man,
as is shown to many of his successors,
his powerlessness amid the convul-
sions of nature or the inclemencies
of the seasons; so man was led to at
tempt to propitiate the unknown pow
ers that can cause and can make to
cease the manifestations which he
breads. In conditions that may be
called civilized men have been found
willing at the command Of their
priests to sacrifice their nearest and
dearest to the offended gods, to cast
into the flames their own children,
and to give up their wealth IL only
they may attain peace from a devas-
tating foe or food in famine; for the
disasters, they felt, must be the out
come of some wrong-doing, intention
ally or unwittingly performed, pun
ishment which cannot be escaped eX-
cept by the propitiation OF the Of
Tended gods.
We find through the ages that mis-
fortunes Of all kinds, and pain among
the number, are looked upon as pun
ishment for sin. Jobs three friends
acknowledge that he has always ap-
peared upright and honest in his deal
ings, but they fear that that is only
because he has kept his sin hidden,
the mere fact that he has suffered so
many and great misfortunes is in it.
self clear evidence that he must have
sinned and sinned greatly.
Even at the present time there are
many, well-meaning and religious
people though they are, who decline
to look upon misfortune occurring to
others as anything less than the just
punishment of some secret sin.
OF all the misfortunes which man
may suffer the most striking and the
most obstrusive is certainly pain.
Loss of wealth may be for a time at
least forgotten, and there are many
compensations; loss of strength may
matter but little, but pain cannot be
put aside; 1t may Danish sleep, that
sovereign cure for the ills of man
kind; it cannot be forgotten and It
becomes an obsession, for 1t denies
the claim of the mind to consider
aught else.
Since, then, pain so thrusts itself
on our attention, 1t is we'll worth
while to consider the real meaning Of
pain. Why does pain exist? In its
origin pain is protective; it was
evolved for the benefit of the organ
ism which feels It. The well-known
experiments in which headless frog
withdraws his foot. from irritating
liquids or removes an irritation from
his leg show that the displacement of
a source of irritation has been ar
ranged in the reflex mechanism of the
body. In these and similar expert
ments we see definite reflex arrange
ments for the removal of irritants
any association with sensa-
ton and therefore without any pain.
The appearance of sensation, whether
or painful, complicates
the effect of a stimulus, for 1t super
imposes intention to the pre-existing
reflex mechanism.
It has been suggested that both
pleasure and pain are merely epiphe-
nomena and not casually related to /
the efforts, but this is clearly wrong. |
The object of pain is certainly TO i'm
crease the efficacy of the movements
which result from the application of |
an irritant. While the movements
are purely reflex, they are on the
whole well calculated. in simple cases
at least, to remove the source of ir-
ritation. But cases may readily |
occur in which the ordinary reflex
will prove harmful and not |
beneficial. For such occasions the
aid of the intellect is needed, and this