ne part of the frame, to the comparative
weakening of the rest), but with the firm-knit joints, the solid
fingers, the finished nails, the massive palm, the supple polished skin,
in which we recognize what Nature designs the human hand to be,--the
skilled, swift, mighty doer of all those marvels which win Nature
herself from the wilderness.

"It is strange," said I, thoughtfully; "but your susceptibility to
suffering confirms my opinion, which is different from the popular
belief,--namely, that pain is most acutely felt by those in whom the
animal organization being perfect, and the sense of vitality exquisitely
keen, every injury or lesion finds the whole system rise, as it were, to
repel the mischief and communicate the consciousness of it to all those
nerves which are the sentinels to the garrison of life. Yet my theory
is scarcely borne out by general fact. The Indian savages must have a
health as perfect as yours; a nervous system as fine,--witness their
marvellous accuracy of ear, of eye, of scent, probably also of touch;
yet they are indifferent to physical pain; or must I mortify your pride
by saying that they have some moral quality defective in you which
enables them to rise superior to it?"

"The Indian savages," said Margrave, sullenly, "have not a health
as perfect as mine, and in what you call vitality--the blissful
consciousness of life--they are as sticks and stones compared to me."

"How do you know?"

"Because I have lived with them. It is a fallacy to suppose that the
savage has a health superior to that of the civilized man,--if the
civilized man be but temperate; and even if not, he has the stamina
that can resist for years the effect of excesses which would destroy the
savage in a month. As to the savage's fine perceptions of sense, such
do not come from exquisite equilibrium of system, but are hereditary
attributes transmitted from race to race, and strengthened by training
from infancy. But is a pointer stronger and healthier than a mastiff,
because the pointer through long descent and early teaching creeps
stealthily to his game and stands to it motionless? I will talk of this
later; now I suffer! Pain, pain! Has life any ill but pain?"

It so happened that I had about me some roots of the white lily, which I
meant, before returning home, to leave with a patient suffering from one
of those acute local inflammations, in which that simple remedy often
affords great relief. I cut up one of the