SEVERIN6 THE CONNEXION OF PAIN

has been known and stadied in the past ; tbe old Vedic sages spoke of " severing the connexion of pain " ; they taught a method by whidi the mind conld, at wiU, be so ùi severed from the sensés that the painful affections of the latter could, if need arose, be barred from reaching the mind.

Some light is thrown upon this andent habit of severing "the connexion of pain" by the modem discovery that the Sensory tracts, by means of which sensations pass to the brain from the varions sense-organs, do not consist of continuons nerves, but rather of a séries of short nerve-structures, called neurons, set end to end but not in permanent contact ; contact is made by means of radiating terminal fibres which, under certain conditions, hâve the power of withdrawing themselves from their neighbours ; in which case, as in sleep or rêverie, the stimulus received by the sensé does not reach the brain. The problem of the conquest of pain would seem therefore to résolve itself into the problem of securing some control of the terminal fibres of the neurons. Clearly, however, since pain has sometimes a protective value, this method of deaUng with pain would, if applied ail round and indiscriminately, be mischievous ; and, to the Western mind at least, it will always appear that the virtue of self-control with a view to endurance and selfassertion is of greater value than when practised solely with a view to avoidance and escape.

The article just referred to contains a charac-