. The bird . Page 157. The suppression of pain.—To prevent death isundoubtedly impossible; but we may prolong life. We may even-tually render rarer, less cruel, and almost suppress pain. That the hardened old world laughs at this expression is so muchthe better. We have seen this spectacle in the days when ourEurope, barbarized by war, centred all medical art in surgery, andonly knew how to cure by the knife by a horrible prodigality ofsuffering, young America discovered the miracle of that profounddream in which all pain is annihilated.* * Our author refers to the discovery of the anjBsthetic
. The bird . Page 157. The suppression of pain.—To prevent death isundoubtedly impossible; but we may prolong life. We may even-tually render rarer, less cruel, and almost suppress pain. That the hardened old world laughs at this expression is so muchthe better. We have seen this spectacle in the days when ourEurope, barbarized by war, centred all medical art in surgery, andonly knew how to cure by the knife by a horrible prodigality ofsuffering, young America discovered the miracle of that profounddream in which all pain is annihilated.* * Our author refers to the discovery of the anjBsthetic properties of ether by anAmerican. It was a surgeon of old Europe, ho-wever, that gave the world the far morepowerful anaesthetic of chloroform.—Translator. ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 323. Page 157. The useful equilibrium of life and death.—Numerousspecies of birds no longer make a halt in France. One with difficultydescries them flying at inaccessible elevations, deploying their wingsin haste, accelerating their passage, saying,-—■ Pass on, pass onquickly! Let us avoid the land of death, the land of destruction ! Provence, and many other departments in the south, are barrendeserts, peopled by every living tribe, and therefore vegetablenature is sadly impoverished. You do not interrupt with impunitythe natural harmonies. The bird levies a tax on the plant, but he isits protector. It is a matter of notoriety that the bustard has almost disappearedfrom Champagne and Provence. The heron has passed away ; thestork is rare. As we gi-adually encroach upon the soil, these species,partial to dusty wastes and morasses, depart to seek a livelihood else-where. Our progress in one sense is our poverty. In England thesame fact has been observed. (See the excellent articles on
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