_Do Martyrs always feel Pain?_--Is it not possible that an exalted state of
feeling--approaching perhaps to the mesmeric state--may be attained, which
will render the religious or political martyr insensible to pain? It would
be agreeable to think that the pangs of martyrdom were ever thus
alleviated. It is certainly possible, by a strong mental effort, to keep
pain in subjection during a dental operation. A firmly fixed tooth, under a
bungling operator, may be wrenched from the jaw without pain to the
patient, if he will only determine not to feel. At least, I know of one
such case, and that the effort was very exhausting. In the excitement of
battle, wounds are often not felt. One would be glad to hope that Joan of
Arc was insensible to the flames which consumed her: and that the recovered
nerve which enabled Cranmer to submit his right hand to the fire, raised
him above suffering.