The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-08-13
The HypochOndriac.

THEHH is certain period in every man
OF woiiian's life Wien they begin an in
Prospective examination OF Themselves
THIS period Is usually in. tile vicinity of
middle age; When. the elasticity and vigor
of youth have given way before the ad
vances of absolute maturity: 1t is It this
period that one begins to lose his recu-
perative powers: The dissipation or de-
bauch of yesterday is not followed; on to-
day, by that perfect restoration which
once resulted from the rest of six or ten
hours. 1t requires longer to recover from
ver-exertion. In fine, the human bone
has begun to lose its springiness, and now,
when bent, it stays so, or RECEIVERS its nor
NAL shape slowly, and with difficulty.
It Is then that one begins this introspec-
tive examination to discover, if possible,
why it Is that he tires more easily, that he
sleeps lees sdundly; tlian lie did before. 1t
fafeiy happefs that, when one begins this
searching of Ills constitution, lie fails to
discover what he suppOses to be the cause
of the evils which annoy him. His inves-
tigations travel about from brain to joint;
from heart to liver, from nerves fluids to
arterial circulation, and, after fancying for
awhile that the evil is here or there, he
finally settles upon some one organ, or set
of organs, as being the cause Of his
troubles. He concludes that his stomach
refuses to digest, or his heart to perform
its offices, or that his nerves are impaired,
or that some other specific evil has taken
possession of him.
And here let it be observed that Just so
soon a. a man or woman reaches the con-
clusion, from self.examination, that he
or she Il affected with some specific dis
ease, from that moment the person and
health part company, rarely, if ever, to be
again United.
And now commences an existence that
is far from desirable The victim speedily
becomes more or less virulent hypOchOn-
driac, whose attention is fixed upon that
portion of his system which he has con.
cluded to be diseased. He constantly con-
templates, say, his heart, with an expect
ancy that becomes painful. Each little
pain in the region of this organ, each new
sensation, assumes prominence which,
in other days, would have attracted no at
tention. By some ingenious process
known only to this class of people, any
novel feeling in any portion OF his system,
any pain, however remote, any phenom,
enon, however alikely to be connected
Will Ills pct dlliutiit, 10 az VhNS AShSA ~ -
the complaint which he supposes to be
affecting him.
There would be no great harm in this
species of determination were it moi
that the sensitiveness of the nervous lines
is such that they not merely telegraph to
the brain all that is going on in the body
! but they very soon impress upon the body
any very decided convictions of the brain
It win thus very often result that dis
ease which is, at first, mere creature o.
the imagination, viii, in time, become
reality. Let one persistently fancy thai
his liver is deranged; let him contemplate
| it necessarily, and refer to its..diseased ac
ton everything that goes wrong in hi
system, and it is two to one that, in time
that organ will become all that he has Ions
since concluded it to lie. In this way al
| paost any person, whose bodily organs ar
sound a. oak, can readily produce s.rlop