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ODD PARADOX OF THE BRAIN The brain which feels everything feels nothing If you injure a finger or i toe tins brain feels the pain of it but if the brain itself is hurt there is no pain either in the brain itself or anywhere else According to Dr George W Crile if the skull be opened under anesthetics and the brain exposed when the patient returns to consciousness the brain tissues may IK explored with a nrobe without caus ¬ ing the slightest pain The brain itself is insensi ¬ tive to pin This is likewise true of other vital organs such as the heart or the lungs They may be cut or bruised without pain the parts of the body sensitive to pain lying chiefly near the surface surfaceThe The reason for this Dr Crile says lies in the fact that the purpose of pain is to excite u re ¬ action against injury The vital parts generally are well protected against injury and during the long ages of evolution they were so seldom subject to injury that there was no cause for their developing sensibility to pain painVital Vital parts subject to injury such as the wind ¬ pipe at the throat are exquisitely subject to pain reaction as the agonized struggles of an animal being strangled indicate IJut the brain securely incased in tins skull and the lungs and heart pro ¬ tected by the strong chest walls have no need to respond by means of naiu to injury New York World
