THE ANALYSIS OF PAIN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, Issue LXXII, 13 July 1917, Page 8

THE ANALYSIS OF PAIN.

A LEGACY AND A RETROSPECT,

A correspondent of the London limes writes: rnSS a¥? ke '-V long ho»pital ward, n ght after night, day after day bleep seems something that has no .place m the present existence It is a memory of a far-away past, when the world has not yet gone mad. All ; tJus time there is a hot iron searine your spine, and every nerve, from the , base ot your skull-to your i'eet, seems 1 ™,+ i ■ Were \ channel for molten metal, m perpetual circulation. Learn to * hyP°dermic injection, • &.£ P6 T. r?' and, dream of its ef' j tects Then learn the bitterest disapiPomtment of all, when sleep does Zt body 3 a paui racks all y°ur I +v7 lienV D!£ haps ' ou may learn some- ' its W 1 fi 6 .P* y6bol?P Of Pain> an<* its tiue definition. One gets a queer ! pmlosophy in this case. As 1 ffc^ g n. erl ef»rm reaches the brain there is at first the idea that it cannot be borne. Then gradually comes a different outlook. You find yourself counting those tlu-obbing painl. You even speculate on where tie next one mil occur \ou calculate how many 1 thp ,: ? :ihe m] mitG- You measure worst mT? Slty > a^ see which are the' Sft' h 7 are llke the waves on a sandy beach open to the ocean, for they are not all equally powerful Perp i! eZ e*7 sevent* tells most. W- f gOes- to show' that the mere bearing of pain can be accomplished yT li hi\\™ a Phil<>sophic ternpe ament, and the usual amount of fvi V, GS m,. hos Pitals «here there aie nerve complications with structural wounds are more difficult to deal wfth A man s nerve can go so utterly that WT I ImaSmes Pai"- On the other hand, he can so' accustom himself to bearing pam that he can have the most comphcated dressing done without- anaesthetic. Races of tougheV stand these things with an almost unhelievable amount of stoicism. The JL"V+ a\ Toufso«in and Gallipoli, no matter how badly wounded he was never uttered a groan. He made no «ord of complaint, but sat stolidly on the hospital tram or ship, waiting the time when his wounds could be attended to. He refused anaesthetics in many cases, and sat upon the operating table smoking cigarettes while the surgeon did his work. It is the same with the condemned criminal in China xle can kneel at the end of a long line, and watch the executioner doin^ his work right up to the time when he reaches the man next to him. Then he bows his neck, and commends his soul to his ancestors with much less ado than the average European about to have a tooth out. Let us hope this is going to form a racial characteristic with us. Long after the war is over and we have re- , covered from the legacy of wounds I and bodily suffering, our men who j have been through the valley of the shadow and emerged safely, 'will have in added courage, which must be landed on to their children. It is one 3f the things we have to gain from ;he holocaust.