THE BENEFITS OF PAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 211, 11 September 1897, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE BENEFITS OF PAIN.

ITS VALUE TO NATIONAL MO-

GKESS

The benefits of pain as an auxiliary to the physical, intellectual and moral development of man have rarely been set forth so clearly and convincingly as by Dr. W. Hutchinson, of Buffalo University, in the "Monist," a magazine devoted to the philosophy of science. All the conquering races, he reminds us, have come from a mountainous or barren land, or from a harsh, ungenial climate. They have acquired their force of character, their hardihood and intrepidity, by a stern and prolonged conflict with the rigours of nature ; and below a certain degree of latitude he white race invariably degenerates. " Among primitive communities hunger is one of the mainsprings of progress; and among those who. are more highly advanced the pressure of over population and the excessive competition it induces lead to the foundation of the new empires and the growth of fresh civilisations under happier conditions. "' "In line," observes Dr. Hutchinson, "hunger, cold, and poverty are veritable blessings in disguise, and even to-day prompt a large proportion of our productive activities. Without physical disease we should have known nothing of the structure and functions of the human body, and pathology has given birth to both physiology and anatomy. In the infancy of the race physical discomfort was attributed to the influence of evil spirits, and to counteract these the inter-. position of more powerful and beneficent ones were invoked, and thus propitiatory sacrifices were offered up, rituals were invented, and the religious sentiment was engendered. And in the realms of ethics," remarks the writer, 'it is obvious that without pain or the possibility of it there could be no true courage, no patience, no self-denial or devotion; without hardship, no endurance or fortitude; without tribulation, no faith. It is not too much to say that without suffering no true character or virtue could be developed any more than muscle and vigour without hunger and cold. And the spectacle of suffering, it may be added, inspires and calls into active exercise some of the noblest sentiments of human nature, such as sympathy, compassion, and the generous impulse to alleviate it. often at the cost o fself-sacrifice.