When at the battle of Dresden in 1813 Moreau, seated
beside the Emperor Alexander, had both limbs shattered by a
French cannon-ball, he did not utter a groan, but asked for a
cigar and smoked leisurely while a surgeon amputated one of his
members. In a short time his medical attendants expressed the
danger and questionability of saving his other limb, and
consulted him. In the calmest way the heroic General instructed
them to amputate it, again remaining unmoved throughout the
operation.
Crompton records a case in which during an amputation of the leg
not a sound escaped from the patient's lips, and in three weeks,
when it was found necessary to amputate the other leg, the
patient endured the operation without an anesthetic, making no
show of pain, and only remarking that he thought the saw did not
cut well. Crompton quotes another case, in which the patient held
a candle with one hand while the operator amputated his other arm
at the shoulder-joint. Several instances of self-performed major
operations are mentioned in Chapter XIV.
Supersensitiveness to Pain.--Quite opposite to the foregoing
instances are those cases in which such influences as
expectation, naturally inherited nervousness, and genuine
supersensitiveness make the slightest pain almost unendurable.
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