NATURE'S REASON FOR PAIN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2401, 8 March 1900, Page 21

NATURE'S REASON FOR PAIN.

When one of Dr Abernethy'd patients re» marked that it gave him great pain to lift his hand to his head, the eminent physician responded that, in such case, he was a fool ior doing it. The observation was both brutal 'and unprofessional. The very fact that the act was" painful indicated a condition calling ior medical treatment; and to -provide that, if 'he could, 'was' the doctor's duty. > Stilly-one might-get on in comparative comfort without lifting "his hand to his head, if. that ..were the only source of pain about him. But "when a bodily operation which is absolutely' indispensable- TO-LI3?E, becomes, constantly pninfulj the situation, is vastly more serious. And that -was -what happened to Mrs .Emma Elwen, as related in her letter herewith printed for our information. "In the spring of 1889," she says, "I began, to feel weak and ailing. From being a strong, healthy woman, I gradually lost all my strength and energy. My appetita was poor, and all food gave he pain."

Be good enough for a moment to fix your mind on that statement. Nature has so arranged that all necessary acs or movements of the body shall be painless, if not distinctly pleasurable. Were it otherwise, we should avoid them to the extent of our power, and so produce incalculable mischief. And, above all, the act and consequences of eating were meant to be, and in health are, one of the highest of our physical enjoyments. This lady, having suffered from her food, then, signifies a state of things unnatural and dangerous.

"I had fulness and pain at the chest," she continues, '"between the shoulders and down my back. I had also a deal of pain at my side, and my heart palpitated so much hat 1 got but little sleep or rest on account oi it. My breathing was short and difficult. 1 was unable to do any housework, and often, wished I were dead."

The words, '" I wish I were dead," are often, on the lips of the victims of what seems tobe. hopeless disease, and they are sad and chilling words to* fall on the ears of those of us who, love them. They make us look despairingly; around- for 'the help which is so slow to come,! and too frequently never comes at- .all. _ 13; there, then, NO medicine, which has po\> er to save ?

"I grew lo be so weak," adds the writer, "that I was from to time confined to. my bed, and at other times had to lie dowrc oir the couch. I lost flesh rapidly, and was like a mere skeleton — my clothes hanging upon me. For three years I suffered in this way, no medicine that I took doing me any good. "In February, 1892. the Rev. Mr Knigh , of Bishop Auckland, recommended me to ta'l 3 Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup. Acting on. his advice, I procured a bottle from the Ccoperative Stores at Bishop Auckland,, ami after taking it I began to improve. My appetite returned, and food agreed with me, and I felt easier than I had done for 'years. The pain at my heart was less severe, and I gained strength every day. "Seeing this. I continued to use this remedy, and gradually I recovered my health, GAINING thbee stone weight Since that time I havo kept in good health. My husband has alca benefited by the use of Mother Seigel's Syrup when suffering from indigestion. You are at liberty to publish this statement as you like. (Signed) (Mrs) Emma Elwen, Primrose Hill, Newfield, Willington, near Durham, October 30,, 1896."

If Mrs Elwen were the only woman in the district wherein she lives who had suffered in this manner, the fact should excite the interest of the intelligent reader, but there are multitudes of others all over the land, all over the world. Her ailment was not heart disease, it was not any form of consumption, it was not rheumatism. It was dyspepsia — the disease that counterfeits most others and has many of their most painful symptome. It 4e idle to say that dyspepsia might be prevented, for we are not yet wise and careful enough to prevent it. Some day we may be. At present, however, it is inspiring to know that Mother Seigel's Syrup curea it even in its worst stages. Still, it is better to cure, it when it fißst appkahs. Watch yourself, and use the Syrup on the day yotje food AND YOU DO NOT ASESB.