OVER-POWERED, OR NEGLECTED. 15 



it," he who would have had no hesitation in 

 thrusting his knife into the throat of the sheep, 

 or knocking down with his pole-axe a bullock. 

 The one which " he could not stand " was new to 

 him ; the other, to which he was indifferent, he 

 was accustomed to. There is another quality 

 befriending the over-sensitive angler, that of 

 abstraction. Eager in the sport, at the instant 

 of success, the mind is more intent on the 

 capture, the prize gained, than on the feelings 

 of the captive. Even when man is contending 

 with man, this is the case, whether the struggle 

 be that of the athlete, or of the warrior. 

 The surgeon, in performing an operation, is 

 a good example. It is related of Cheselden 

 that, before entering on an operation, he was 

 always affected constitutionally in a very dis- 

 agreeable manner ; but that when engaged in 

 it, his unpleasant sensations all vanished, his 

 mind was so concentrated on what he was 

 about. A friend of mine, a surgeon, has told 

 me of his own experience, similarly illustra- 

 tive, how, when operating, he did not hear 

 that is, he was not conscious of the screams 

 of his patient (it was before chloroform was 

 in use), though so loud that they attracted 



