The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1867-11-09
NERVES AND NO NERVES.

There m no portion Of the human body
that comes In for 90 much daily abuse - the
Nerves. Not only are the Nerves made ac.
countable for their own peculiar foibles, but
to them are attributed oil the short couings
Of the corporal system. What 10 called the
fractious, vacillating. aimless man. 10, In
reality, the man without nerve. Such .
person, for instance, as DR.. Holmes has hap.
pily sketched In one Of his humorous lyrics.
This person is driven to the verge OF dis
traction BY those common sights and sounds
which have no power to ruiils well-couduct-
cd, gentlsmsnly nerves. Lille becomes o
burden TO him, because OF
sChIidren, with drums
Strapped round them By the fcoa pssernai 49,
Puipatetics with blade Of grass
Besween their thumbs.n
OF course he accuses his nerves. Every
other man in the civilized world is doing the
same injustice to those long-su6ering and
inaliensble friends. Matthew Browne did
an act Of philanthropy, q year or twn since.
when he wrote "An Apology fortbs Nerves" !"
II should be called defence rather than an
apology. The nerves on that occasion had
no humiliating confession to make, bot calm,
logical evidence to show, touching their
right to deep respect and . moro elevated
place In society. II, he Gays, there IL with
out Nerve no Thought land 90 scientific men
assure us), we can hardly have too much OF
the Nerves, unless Thought itself Is object
ed to. The writer then proceeds In law.
yer.like manner to state the claims Of hla
clients. He observes that the nerves are
the objects Of systematic enmity and depre.
citation among mankind at large: he exposes
the ignorance and wontonness Of this. The
fat man. he justly complains, is tolerated,
loved, or, at worst, only laughed at; but
the nervous man, the man with nerves, Ia
not only laughed at, but disiked and de-
aided. Yet tho English nation, according
to Mr.. Browne, would not trust Its income
with an obese man. Thus It is with ner-
vous men We trust our money, they are In
fact the men for our money, and IL is from
them We expect all that makes money worth
having. In short, II is the nervous man
who thinks, invents, and builds, writes
books. fights battles. and by the FREQ excr
else of his powers, creates those comforts and
blessings which are grumblngly enjoyed by
the men without nerves.
And yet these admirable nerves which do
everything worth doing are held responsible
for half the unpleasantncss Of life. Our
ability 10 considered In tho light Of q dis
ease, and lsmented and doctored, ,-literally
doctored.
That the majority Of people regard their
nerves as things to be tanned and held IN
control, is made manifest by an entertaining
circular Of DR.. Turner'S, In which are found
several letters from gentlemen well.known
in the medical, legal and other professions,
acknowledging that they have successfully
combatted with their nerves, and speaking Ui
DR.. Turner's Universal Neuralgia Pill with
the same ardor that military man would
discuss newly invented conical steel shot,
or q peculiarly eficacious mimic ball Per-
haps, indeed, these gentlemen were over.
hurdened with nerves for 1t 10 possible to
have too much Of good thing. Too much
thought, strictly speaking. too much nerve,
has, before now, led to the saddest results.
= DR.. Turner'S essay furnishes us with some
notable examples: "Swiit dying in moody
mania !" "Slr Isaac Newton with intellect
temporarily shattered -" johnson oppress'
ed by thick. coming fancies." But then
these arc exceptional cases, and there 10 no
saying what the result might have been,
cOuld they have availed themselves Of the
recent discoveries In psrmacology. In the
meantime no reasonable person will look
upon Mr.. Brownies "Apology for the Nerves"
as either untimaly or injudicious.-.flanl,c
Monthly for Ntp.