WHY?—

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 26 September 1925, Page 18

WHY?—

Why Does a Finger Lose its Feeling When it is Numb? The nerves of the finger end in the skin in a number of highly sensitive organs. The action of the ends of nerves and the organs at tho ends of them depends very much upon their temperature. That is probably the chief reason why, in the. higher animals, the temperature is fixed instead of moving lip and down with the surroundings. When nerves are made cold—as when the finger is numb—they cannot receive impressions at their ends, jior conduct them if received, and so wo do not feel. This can often be applied when we wish to make a little cut, or something of the sort, in a finger, or some other part of the skin. If the operation is slight and quick it seems a great pity to make the person unconscious, so as to avoid pain, and it is much better merely to numb the part of the.skin in question, if we can. Probably all the various things used for this purpose nowadays depend partly for their success not only on what they do to the nerve itself, but also on the fact that they lower the temperature of the skin and so interfere with the power; of the nerves to convey- to the brain the sensation wc call pain.