The Uses Of Pain

The question is often asked, " Wliat is the use oí pain? It is scarcely ' céivable that the infliction has no object." There are obviously two aspeots of this question : In one, seience has an immediate interest; with the othor it has a Recomí ary, but not uniinportant concern. The first is essentially pliysic&l. What nfcful service does pain subserve in the animal economy i The answer is thrnst upon lis by daily observation and experience. There are two sentinels jjosted, so to say, alout tffeorganism to protect it alike f rom the assault of enemies without, and exaeting friends within. The first of these gnardians is the sense of fatigue. AVhen tliis sp aks there is need of rest for repair. If the monitor be unheeded, exlimistion may snpervene ; or before that point of injury is reached the second guardián will, perhaps, interposa for the vital protection - namely, pain. The sense of pain, however, is more dire tly significant of injury to structure, active or threatened, than an exccssive strain of function, although in thu case of the vital organs pain occurs wheneVer the prcssure is groat. Speaking generally, it may be set down as an fcasom that.' whatever collateral uses ]ain inay subserve, its chief and most obvious service to humanity is as a ieterrent and wnrning sensation to wurd j aS (langer. It is worthy of note, tliougli ■mlñeiently familiar to medical observers, that tho absence of this snbjective svmptom in cases of severe injury is too often indicatiTO of an injury beyondrepaár. The extinction oi puin is not highest, ilthough it nmy be&geiteroua impulse. If there were noguardian hcijsibility of this nature it would bs iuipossible to live long in the world without self-inflicting the most formidable injuries, ïhnt pain, in the second place, has an educational value as regarda tho niind and temper no one can de iubt. Borne fofmi of pain would seem to be cMefly intended for this purpose ; but even in this view pain lias a practical interest, because the higher development of tho mind, and of which the brain is the formative organ, is a procesa oi physieo-rnental interest, governed by natural laws, of which scieuce is perfectly competent to take cognizance. The' subject as a whole is one with which the physician and physiologist have much concern.