title: Ideas about pain, a historical view.
abstract: The expression 'painful' can be used to describe both an embarrassing moment and a cut on the finger. An explanation for this dichotomy can be found in the convoluted history of ideas about pain. Whether pain is an independent sensation and the product of dedicated neural mechanisms continues to be a topic of debate. This overview concentrates on the issue of specificity together with other notable information regarding pain that has emerged since 1800.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell & Molecular Physiology, 5109D Neuroscience Research Building, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7545, USA. erp@med.unc.edu
authors.forename: Edward R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Perl
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D010146:Pain / Q000266:history* / Q000503:physiopathology*