29 



In particular it happens in the case of the eye and of the ear, that 

 intense light and loud and grating sounds produce sensations 

 which we speak of as paining the eye and ear. Pain, therefore, 

 has no specific quality. 



With the feeling of pain there may be mingled a localised 

 impression by which we are to some extent capable of deducing 

 the cause and nature of the pain. We can tell a burn from a pin- 

 prick, or a cut from pressure, and by the same apparatus we can 

 characterise the various pains that occur in disease as " burning," 

 " tearing," " stabbing," &c. 



Persons who are half ashamed of their cowardice in bearing 

 pain may take heart of grace. For " there is not the least doubt 

 that some are far more sensitive to pain than others." Their 

 nerves are more easily impressed, and pain is more quickly pro- 

 duced in them than in others. As a rule females suffer more 

 than males. There is a state known to the learned as hijperces- 

 thesia, in which certain nerves, such as those of taste or smell, 

 are rendered extraordinarily sensitive. One can see illustrations 

 of Iqiiierastheshi even in North-street, when the brake of a descend- 

 ing omnibus is unusually active, and one can observe the marked 

 difference in the effect which the noise has upon different occu- 

 pants. The children as a rule enjoy it as a pleasant diversion, 

 some of the occupants may be unaffected, while others will be 

 tortured almost beyond endurance. 



Dentists, too, notice the marked difference in patients as to 

 the amount of pain they suffer. Mr. Moi'gan thought it is some- 

 times wrongly expressed when we say that some "bear" pain 

 better than others. It may be a fact that they do, but it is 

 equally a fact that some do not feel the pain as acutely as others. 



The fact that the disease or injury is not always at the same 

 spot as the pain may be surprising. There is frequently such a 

 thing as " reflected " or " sympathetic " pain. A familiar ex- 

 ample is to be found in the case of a blow to the " funny " bone, 

 otherwise the " internal condyle of the humerus." When the 

 bone is struck the tingling sensation is not felt at the seat of the 

 injury, but is "reflected" to the terminal distribution of the 

 nerve in the little finger. The same sensation is felt if the out- 

 side of the leg a little below the knee be knocked, when the 

 tingling will hv'. " reflected " to the toes. (These facts may be ex- 

 perimentally verified if desired.) 



A number of other cases of " reflected " pain were adduced, 

 and Mr. Morgan said that just as pain could be induced by reflex 

 action, so it could be subdued. One other very curious fact 

 alluded to was that of paeiidaxtlu'sia, or false pain. A clergyman 

 the Lecturer knew had his leg amputated after a severe injury, 

 and had a cork leg. He had had bad corns on his original leg, 

 and naturally thought he had felt the last of them. Not so. 



