Observations placeholder
Pierre Gratiolet – Feeling sympathetic pain
Identifier
026027
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
As described in Illustrations Of The Influence Of The Mind Upon The Body In Health And Disease, Designed To Elucidate The Action Of The Imagination - Daniel Hack Tuke, M.D., M.R.C.P.,
PART I. THE INTELLECT.
CHAPTER II. INFLUENCE OF THE INTELLECT ON SENSATION.
Gratiolet (De la Physionomie. Par Pierre Gratiolet. 1843) relates that a law student who was present for the first time in his life at a surgical operation which consisted in removing a small tumor from the ear, felt at the same instant so acute a pain in his own ear that he involuntary put his hand to it and cried out. Gratiolet, who himself witnessed the circumstance, does not state whether the affected ear corresponded to that upon which the operation was performed, but this is implied. The case forms an excellent illustration of simple pain caused by what is popularly understood as "sympathy," a fellow-feeling, which almost brings it under the category of emotional influence.