Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-07-08
Oyer.Taxed Brains.

Over.Taxed Brains. g.
Human life is in many respects worth
more now than it was hundred years
ago. We no longer, as rule, eat and
drink to excess as our ancestors did; we
do not invite apoplexy by covering our
heads with cap of dead hair, and
swathing our throats in folds of unneces-
sary' linen: our sanitary arrangements
are hundredfold better, and our town
dwellers see much more of the country,
and taste much more of the country air.
Yet it is certain that nervous disorders
are greatly on the increase, and it is to
be feared that the excitement of modern
life is introducing new maladies while
removing old. A physician of the early
or middle Georgian era, said that large
proportion of the deaths of Englishmen
was due to repletion. The proportion
under that head is now very much less;
but what we have gained in one direc-
ton we have lost in another. Among
intellectual and mercantile classes of the
present day the greatest danger to life
is from nervous exhaustion. We make
too serious and too incessant demands
on the most delicate part of our struct-
ure, and the whole fabric gives way I'M
der paralysis, or heart complaint, or
softening of the brain, or imbecility, or
madness. Disease of the heart is con-
stantly sweeping off our men of intellect,
and the vast size of our modern lunatic
asylums, together with the frequent ne
cessity of adding to their number, is a
melancholy proof of the over-wrought
state of a large part of the population.
The lamentable suicide on Sunday of
Admiral Fitzroy brings us face to face
with the depressing fact that modern
civilization is a brilliant but relentless
despot, to whom, in some shape or other,
our foremost men are called upon to
render up their lives. The evidence
given at the inquest brings out the pitt
able s'ory with only too great clearness.
At sixty years of age, while still presery-
ing the external app arance of man
ten years younger, he who had saved SO
many lives from the perils of the deep,
was brought to that pass of profound
mental wretchedness and depression
that self-infiicted death seemed the only
haven of relief from the sheer misery of
being. 1t is, perhaps. not unworthy of
note, that Admiral Fitzroy was q near
relative of the famous Lord Castlereagh,
who committed suicide in very simil r
manner. It may be, that there is a
tendency to this form OF insanity in the
family, since it is well known that such
predisposition may Turk in the blood,
and reveal itself from time to time In
repeated acts of self-murder. But it is
more probable that, In Admiral Fitz-
roy's as in Lord Castlereagh's case, the
origin of the suicidal madness is to be
traced to brain disturbance resulting
from overwork. The Prince Minister
gave way under the toll and response
bility of guiding such country as Eng
land through one of the most difficult
crisis of her history-a task rendered
the more difficult by tho unpopularity
of his acts among the masses of the peo-s
pie. The scientific man has been worn
out by the weight of continual cares re-
sulting from his post as meteorological
officer Of the Board, of Trade. Both
succumbed to demands which they had
probably not the physical strength to
answer beyond a certain point. In the
case of Admiral Fitzroy, we see laid out
before us on the inquest all the steps by
which the melancholy result was reach
ed. He had been a handsome man,
with fine, vigorous presence, genial
manner, and an amiable disposition.
With the accommodating pressure of his
work, which, it should be recollected,
involved calculations of the utmost nice
ty, whereon the safety of many lives de-
pended-he became depressed in spirits,
peculiar in manner, reduced in person.
He acquired that terrible inability to
sleep, which is one of the most dreadful
of those means by which nature avenges
the abuse of the mental powers; and he
was forced to take opium at night, at
one time to an extent which threatened
serious consequences. The right side
of the heart became weak in its action:
the brain showed symptoms of paralysis;
his medical attendant dreaded the adj
vent of insanity, and warned him that
he must refrain from work; his servants
noticed that he gave strange and inap-
propriate answers to questions; his
friends remarked that he could not make
up his mind on any subject, which he
admitted to be the case; he had noises
in the ears and twitchipgs of the hands.
His intimate friend, Captain Maury, told
him that he wanted dynamic force.o
meaning nervous power. In other words.
the subtle organization of nerves and
brain was worn out, or, perhaps we
should rather say, plunged into state
of abnormal and terrible excitement, In
which the perceptions became confused,
and nothing remained clear but the pain
and hopelessness of life.4 Then the des-
perate hand was raised against its own
existence, and we read the termination
of the story In the verdict of Tempo
rary Insanity" And much the same story
must, doubtless, be told of the other
suicide of the week, Mr.. Prescott, the,
banker. f'is9fnGeJ -
THAT men of intellect. are peculiarly
liable to mental disease might be safely
supposed, without any direct evidence,
from the very nature OF intellect and the
work it has to perform. Genius, wheth-
er it exhibit itself in literature, art, or
science, is the result of peculiar fine
ness and constituencies of the nervous
system, without which great men would
be nothing more than ordinary men :
and having which, they are often mar
tyrs as well as conquerors. The posses
sion Of this delicate and subtle frame
work enables them TO perceive what
others would pass over; but it also lays
them open to shocks and jars of which
the more robust would not be conscious. )
Too often in the end, If not in the be-
Ginning, genius, as witty French author
once said, sis disease of the nerves.
The brain becomes unnaturally sharp
ened, and eats into itself. The whole