The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-08-27
OvertAxed Brains.
5Iro,l he Phrenoloqteal Lolnnal

| mol invite hppOpleAy-D Dy covering our
heads with cap of dead hair except
the barristers and judges In the Eng
lish courls); and swaLhing our throats
in folds OF unnecessary linen; our san
itary arrangements are hundred.fold
better, and our town-dwellers see much
| more, OF the country, and taste much
| more of the country air. Yet tits GER
tain that nervous-dIsorders areigreatly
| on the increase, and is TO be feared that
the excitement OF modern life is intro
duCing new maladieS while removing
old. A physician of the early or mid
| die Georgian era said that a large pro-
portion OF the deaths of Englishmen
was due to repletion. The proportion
under that head is now very much
in ore direction We have lost in an
other. Among the intellectual and
mercantile classes of the present day,
the greatest danger in life is from
nervous exhaustion. We make too Sc
rious and too incessant demands on the
most delicate part ofour structure, and
| the whole fabric gives way under par
alysis, or heart complaint, or softeuing
of the brain, or imbecility, or insanity.
| Disease of the heart is constantly
sweeping of our men of intellect, and
| the vast size of our modern lunatic asy-
lums, together with the frequent neces-
sity of adding to their NUMBER is a
state of large part of the population.
The 4lamentable suicide of Admiral
| FitZroy recently brings us face to face
with the depressing fact that modern
civilization is a brilliant, but relent-
less despot, to whom, in some shape OF
other, our foremost men are called upon
to render up their lives. The evidence
given at the inquest brings out the
pitiable story with only too great clear
ness. AT sixty years of age, while still
preserving the external appearances
of a man ten years younger, who
had saved SO many lives from the
perils of the deep, was brought to
that pass of profound mental wretch
edness and depression that self-inficted
death seemed the only haven of RELIEF
| from the sheer misery of being. II Is,
perhaps, not unworthy of note, that
Admiral Fitzroyywas. a near relative OF
the famous Lord CastlereaEh, who COM
mitted suicide in a very similar man
ner. II may be that there is tendency
to this form of insanity in the family,
since it is we'll known that such pre-
disposition may lufk in the blood. and
reveal itself from time to time in re-
peated acts of self-murder. But IL is
more probable that in Admiral Fitn-
roy's asin Lord Castlsreagh's case, the
origin of the suicidal madness is to be
| traced to Observation-Disclosures resulting
| from oVerwork. The Prime Minister
gave way under tho toll and RESPONSE
bility of guiding such country as
England through one of the most dith-
cult crisis of her history--a task rem
dered the more difficult by the unpopu-
larity of his acts among the masses of
the people. The scientific man has
been worn out by the weight of contin-
ual cares resulting from his post as
meteorological officer of the Board OF
Trade. Both succumbed to de-
| ,k..n ,.aA NhulA M
the physical strength TO answer be-
| yond certain point. In the case of
Admiral FitZroy, we see laid ont be-
fore us on the inquest all the steps by
which the melancholy result was
reached. He had been hand
some man, with fine, Vigorous
| presence, genial manner and an
amiable disposition. With the accumu-
lating pressure OF his wOrk-which, 1t
should be recollected, involved calcu-
| lations of the utmost nicely, whereOn
the safety of many lives depended-he
became depressed in spirits, peculiar in
manner, reduced in person. he ac-
quired that terrible inability to sleep
which is one of the most dreadful OF
those means by which nature avenges
the abuse OF the mental power; and he
was forced TO take opium at night-at
one time TO an extent which threatened
serious consequences. A very foolish
| resort. "A DAHL u ~" ulGLb
| and recreation would have done him
good, whereas the opium only did
| harm, aggravating the ditticulty.l The
| right side OF the heart became weak IN
| its action; the brain showed symptoms
of paralysis; his medical attendant
dreaded the advent of insanity, and
warned him that he must refrain from
mental work; his servants noticed that
he gave strange and inappropriate an-
swers to questions; his friends remark
| ed 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 twitthings in the hands. His ihti.
mate friend, Captain Maury, told him
| that he "wanted dynamic force" mean
ing nervous power. In other words,
the subtle organization of nerves and
brain was worn out, or, perhaps we
should rather say, plunged into a state
| of abnormal and terrible excitement, in
which the perceptions.became confused,
and nothing remained clear but the
pain and hopelessness oflife. Then the
desperate hand was raised against it's
own existence, and we read the Lermin-
alton of the story in the verdict of
Temporary Insanity" And much the
same story must, doubtless, be told of
the other suicide of the week, MIR. Pres
| colt, the banker.
That men of intellect are peculiarly
liable TO mental disease might be safe
| ly supposed, without any direct evil
| dence, from the very nature or intellect
and the work 1t has to perform. Genius,
whether II exhibits itself In literature,
art, or science, is the result of a pecu-
| liar fineness and SensitiveneSs OF the
nervous system, without which great
! men would be nothing more than ordt-
nary men, and having which they are
| often martyrs as well as conquerers.
| The possession of this delicate and sub
tile framework enables them to per-
ceive what others would pass over; but
| its also lays them open to shocks and
| lars of which the more robust would
not be conscious. Too often In the end, if
not in the beginning, genius. as a witty
| French author once said, ''iS disease
of the nerves." The brain becomes
unnaturally sharpened,a and eats into it
self. The whole physique suffers from
| the undue strain on its most exquisite
part. The ethereal spirit that sits with
in this mesh of nerves and arteries and
fibres suffers with the suffering of
that marvellous mechanism on which
1t Is dependent for its earthly
existence. The same week
in which we hear of Admiral Fitzroy's
Kmety expiring, prematurely old, at
tifty. Swift dyingin moody mania
Sir Isaac Newton with intellect tempo
rarily shattered, Johnson oppressed by
thick-coming fancies; Cowper over
come by them; Sir Walter Scott, excit-
ed to such pitch of mental activity
that he could not IeaYe of thinking" !"
aud moved about among familiar
scenes with sense of ghostly unreal
| ity; Southey struck down from his
! height OF literary fame into mere i'm
becility; Buckland smitten in his
strength; Lyman Blanchard, Hayden,
and Hugh Miller perishing by their