Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1884 — The Utility of Pain. [ARTICLE]

The Utility of Pain.

The utility of pain is seen in the membrane which sweeps the surface of the eye, for instance, in several animals, whenever any irritant particle is brought into contact with these delicate structures. The pain caused by the foreign body sets up reflexlv a muscular contraction in this membrane, and thus it is brought across the eye, sweeping the surface, and so the offending matter is removed. When the foreign body is too fixed to be so removed, disorganization of the eye follows, and amid a general destruction of the organ the irritant matter is got rid of. Destruction of the eye in these animals would be a common occurrence if it were it not for this muscular arrangement, and pain is the excitant; it is, as it were, the finger which pulls the trigger, and so the machinery already provided and prepared is set‘in action thereby. In man the suffering caused by a foreign body in the eye calls the attention to the part and leads to its removal. If it were not for the pain so produced, irremedible mischief would often be permitted to go on unchecked, because unnoticed. Not only does pain so defend the eye from the injurious effects of foreign bodies, it often serves to protect the delicate organ from overwork; and where pain is so produced rest is given to the part, and recovery is instituted.