105 



pool, by a railway engine and tender passing over them. 

 Some hours elapsed before he was brought to the Infirmary, 

 where his hmbs had to be removed, higher up. During the 

 operation, the man seemed in a drowsy dreamy sort of state ; 

 nodded heavily, unless he was spoken to, when he would 

 answer slowly but rationally, and would then again fall asleep; 

 no pain whatever was complained of during the protracted 

 operations ; and the patient assured me that it was not until 

 the next morning that he had the consciousness of pain. Yet 

 his mind had not been insensible altogether, for he could tell 

 all that had passed between the accident and the time of his 

 being put to bed. He described the engine as producing a 

 ' stun-like' feeling, after which he was conscious of no pain 

 whatever. 



" Again, it is well known that when the mind is diseased, 

 as in the insane and those suffering from delirium tremens, 

 the most extensive injuries may be inflicted without being 

 accompanied by any painful sensation. 



" There is an oft-quoted case on record forcibly illustrating 

 this. A man, in attempting to escape from an asylum, fell 

 and sustained a severe compound fracture of the thigh bone. 

 This was dressed carefully by a surgeon ; but after his depar- 

 ture, the lunatic took it into his head that the splints had been 

 placed on the wrong limb ; they were therefore removed, and 

 put carefully on the sound thigh, wlule the injured one was 

 concealed in a hole purposely made in the feather bed : the 

 cheat was not detected for some time, until in fact it was too 

 late to mend matters. 



" Other cases might be adduced from the records of asylums 

 to prove the occasional absence of the sense of pain in lunatics; 

 but their detail would oidy harrow the feehngs, without mate- 

 rially strengthening the position we have assumed. 



"When the mind is stupefied by narcotics, ether, wine, 

 alcohol, opium, &c, no pain is felt, even from extensive injuries 

 or severe operations. This truth did not escape the penetrating 



