The advantages of ether and chloroform in operative sugery. An address delivered to the Hunterian Society, on the 9th of February, 1848 / [T.B. Curling].

  • Curling, Thomas Blizard, 1811-1888.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The advantages of ether and chloroform in operative sugery. An address delivered to the Hunterian Society, on the 9th of February, 1848 / [T.B. Curling]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/48 (page 14)
    In treating of pain, I have hitherto dwelt chiefly on the differences which naturally exist, in the susceptibility of individuals to painful impressions, independently of any voluntary control. But the susceptibility differs further, according as the mind co-operates, and as the feelings are tutored for the perception or tolerance of pain. The state of the nerves of sensation, like that of the feelings, may indeed be strengthened and fortified against pain by mental influence,—by that healthy training of the mind which renders the emotions subservient to the powers of the understanding; and it is to the exercise of this acquired power of suffering that the term fortitude, in its highest sense, is most fitly applicable. On the other hand, the sensibility of the skin, like the finer sensibilities of the mind, may be exalted and increased by cultiva¬ tion—may be so cherished, that ordinary impressions become intolerable; and this may be carried so far as to constitute a state of morbid sensibility, the mind, of course, co-operating in the unhealthy excitement. The mind has, indeed, a remarkable powder of rousing or soliciting sensations in the nerves of common sensibility; just as the thought of something nauseous excites some¬ times the sensation of nausea, so the idea of pain gives rise to the actual sensation of pain in a part predisposed or liable to it/' Of the latter, we have a good illustration in cases of morbid sensibility of the breast in persons who, apprehensive of cancer, so anxiously watch every sensation in the part as to magnify their feelings into pain, and, unconsciously, to produce suffering. And it is in consequence of the influence of the mind, both in exaggerating and creating pain, that so much benefit is * Miiller.