The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1863-01-17
GI)c I)I)nsitial,.
From Halls Journal of Health |
Farmer Health.


Farmer Health.
In passing through unatic asylum,
the visitor Is sometimes surprised to
learn that the most numerous class Of
unfortunatcs are from the farm and
yet IN England, in 1850, but one fifth of
the population we're agricultural. Nor
do farmers live the longest. Travellers
and natural philosophers average a
grea CT age. The clergyman who devotes
his life to study and late hours who
spends three-tourths Of his cxistance in
doors who does not average two hours
muscular exercise in twenty-four; who
Is compelled to an inactivity of body
which would seem enough to undermine
any constitu ion, to say nothing of the
many depressing influences connected
with his office in listening to the trou-
bled, in counselng the sick, and in
wal ing on the dying and The dead, even
he often survives the farmer who rises
with the lark to breathe the pure out.
, door ar whose undis nrbed nights /;
whose supposed independence of the
world upon whose table is daily placed
the fresh butter and the new-laid eggs,
with pure rich milk from the SPRING
house, all cool and swec', vegetables
just dug from the ground or pulled from
| the vine, and melons taken from the
garden, berries from he bending bushes,
and fruits, luscious aud perfect and ripe
from the orchard wi hin the hour; in
short, class of men whose entire sur
roundlngs of quiet and pleny and indie
pendence would seem to guarantee a
heal hful and happy old age, do not
attain Il as often as some other classes
whose habits and modes of life are not.
other things being equal, as favorable to
longcvi y. In the light of these state
mems, it is proposed o inquire.
First Why is the farmer more liable
to insanity than the ci zen Second =
Why does he not average longer life {!
lnccssant thinking on any one subjcc
tends to craze the brain; and it does
unhinge the intellcc; of mul,itudes, as
WI ness the fate of men of cone idea :"
of inventors of invctcratc .udcnts of
prophecy Of those who abandon them
selves to thinking of he loved and lost :;
of the vic inns of remorse or mortified
pride or of those who feed on sharp
pointed memories. Learned physicians
OF all civilized countries agree that, in
cases like these, it is bes5 to divert the
mind, by travel, to a new class of
houghts, to greater variety of objects
of contemplation. 1t is known that
wi hin a short time the atten ion of the
French government has been officially
drawn to the fact that one in ten of the
young gentlemen who are educated for
the army, in the mathema ical dcpar,-
mcnt, becomes deranged this is be-
cause the mind will not bear exclusive
action on the subjec.. This is the key
to the so frequent cases of insanity aud
suicide among farmers their subjects of
thought are too few =; their life is Il ruin
Gus routine ; there is a samenoss and u
tamcness about i a pauci y of subjects
for contempla ion, most dangerous to
mental integrity.
1t is too much the case with our farm
ing population that they have no breadth
of view; they can not sustain a CONVEX
sa ion beyond few comments on the
weather, the crops, the markets, and the
neighborhood news. And it is wor nv
of note tina heir remarks on these sub
jects arc uniformly of the complaining
and unhopeful kind, as if their occupa-
ton and their thoughts were on the
same low and depressing level. This is
because the mind is not used enough
is not walked up by lively in crest i'll q
sufficient variety Of subjects to promote
heathful tone.
The proper and the all-powerful
remedy against the sad effects of
Flooding, routine exis ,ence, is higher
standard Of general intelligence and IA
livelier a tention to what is too of en-
derisively styled {" book farming" The
highest form of human health is found in
those who exercise the brain and the
body in some hing like equal proper.
tions. If the greater share of the ncr-
vous energies is sent out through the
muscles, hey will be largely, even pre-
lernaturally: developed ; but then the
brain languishes for want of its due
amount of aliment, vigorous thought,
while that same body, having been un.
duly worked, wears out before its time
and prematurely decays. 1t is even
better for The mind and body 10th, that
if either has the larger share of exercise
it should be the brain, for thereby the
chances of longer life are increased,
since statistics clearly show that, as a
general rule, the most intellec ual live
the longest. Prof. Pierce, of Cam
bridge, after having examined the sub
ject closely in reference to the young
gentlemen pursuing their studies at
Harvard University, remarks, as the
result of his observations, that: " TAX
ing classes in the average, those are the
first to die who are the dullest and most
stupid while, as general rule, those
who EXCISE their brains most cons tant-
ly, thoroughly, and faithfully, arc the
longest lived"
The lamented President FELTON, was
accustomed to urge upon the young gen.
tlemen of his classes, with great earnest
ness, as a means of high health, that
they should ssuse the mind !" use it
&C lively, and on a variety of subjects, so
as to avoid any dull routine.
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