The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-06-09
PRESENCE OF MIND.

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with it, anyway.
| PRESENCE OF MIND.
Now. thnn, throw yourself over: you'll
be dashed to atoms; but what matter
Away YOU 90. You feel that unless you
| speedily retreat, you must obey the dresd
command: and you turn your head away
| from gazing down the hOrrid abyss. You
ask yourself: What if l were so placed
that | could not withdraw, should | obey
the whispering demon? Perhaps you
reason with yourself: Nonsense it is
only feeling. a sensation; impossible
Try again Yes, there it is again; you
dare not remain. What can it be? you
ask. is it the demon of suicid-? Can if
be ANYTHING in my brain? There, you
have hit it 4, 1t is no demon Of suicide tbat
urges you ONT is only something in
your brain. Let us try and find out
From pair of scissors to the Imperial
Parliament. and upwards still to the Sys
tenn ofthe Universe, every agency, moral
or physical, seems to be compounded of
two antagOnistic forces, contrOllable and
performing correctly the duties assigned
to them as long as they work in unison
but uncomfortable, and prone to run into
excess of their functions, if separated from
each other.
Take away the force of gravity, and
| centrifugal force uncontrolled would
scatter us in fine dust through soace.
| Abolish one of the constituent parts OF
any well organized government, and the
result, in moral sense, would probably
be pretty much the same. Even the
blade of pair of scissors won't work
without its fellow. Nor is the brain an
exception to this rule. AN eminent phi
losopher (Dr Richardson), still living, in
experimenting recently on animals, with
the object of testing the comparative
value of various an9sthetics, discovered
that at least two antagOnistic forces reside
in the brain one having its abode in the
anterior and.upper,pOrtiOn (the cerebrum),
the other in the lower and posteriOr part
(the cerebellum). In his experiments, he
observed that if the cerebrum of an animal
be rendered insensible, and its powers thus
temporarily destroyed, the animal is i'm
medlately impelled to rush forward; on
the other hand, the cerebelluI. being par
alyZed, retrogade movement is the result.
Thus he accounts for that impulse which
many people feel to precipitate themselves
from height; the cerebrum, which con-
tains the thinking and directing faculties,
under such circumstances becoming par
ally yzed-dizzy-and so the control which
it normally exercises over the cerebellum
being partially removed, the influence OF
the latter declares itself
The learned professor having opened
the gate for us. we may walk in and OBJ
serve for ourselves Many things come
TO our recollection which we can now ac-
count for by this double brain force. We
can comprehend why the other, although
flying at the same speed, fell back in the
air like tumbler- pigeon, fluttering still
back ward to the ground. If we take up
the one, we find a grain of shot has
pierced the skull little above the eyes
and we sec the death-wound of the other
at the back of the head. We can now un
derstand why those overcome with fright
so frequently rush into the danger they
wish 10 avoid. Nor need we confne our
selves to examples of a purely physical
nature. We may place in the same cate
CORY the bashful man who talks nonsense
when he should hold his tongue; the
| awkward man, who is only awkward be-
| cause he is nervOus-the directing power
| OF his brain is in abeyance-and the pas
| siOnate man, whose words and actions are
uncontrolled by his reasoning powers. In
a word, we can trace halt our foolish
words and actions to want of equilibri-
| um between these two forces that inhabit
| our brains, and it is only when the bal
ance is correct that we are fit to govern
| ourselves.
Presence of mind is the popular term
to express this mental equilibrium.
The question has been frequently dis
cussed In social circles, whether men or
women are most prone to lose their pres
ence of mind. Lucy, just II, says, "Oh,
men, to be sure. Why, self possession is
| ali attribute almost peculiar to women
young girl entering society is quite at
| her ease, while young man is sure to be
awkward and nervous. See how we get
| out of a scrape; never at a loss for an an
swer. A man would stutter and mutter,
| and get deeper into the mire" eyes,
but" says Tom, who is just home from
school, and not much troubled with nerves
just look at you girls, how you scream
if your life depended on silence, you'd
| betray yourselves by scream"
| Then the ladies "Oh, we don't pre-
| tend to be as brave as men," And so
the question remains unsettled. Lucy,
no doubt, is correct, nor is Tom less
so. Perhaps the fairest arrangement
would be to grant the weaker sex pre-emi-
nence in the absence of physical danger
and yet, on the other hand, instances of
calm thought and deliberate action OF
women under trying circumstances are so
numerous, that they can scarcely be held
| as merely exceptions to the rule Amongst
| the tales Of shipwrecks are recorded noble
instances of presence of mind amongst
the women in the most appalling danger.
What could be more heroic, for instance
than the conduct of the women on board
the i'll -fated LondOnr Indeed, it is gener-
ally in circumstances of comparatively
trifling peril that the balance of the female
mind is disturbed-when, as Tom says
they shrek.
The following story, exemplifying re-
markable presence of mind IL an old lady,
has never been in print. 1t is perfectly
true. This old lady But stay; she
shall tell the tale herself, as she used tC
tell it to me, her little nephew.
"You know, my dear, l was living in
the country at the time, my little grand
daughter being my only companion. We
had two female servants and a man-ser
want, but he did not sleep in the house
but in q loft over the stable. One night
late in the autumn, went up to bed al
my usual hOur-9 o'clock. l was early
you see, for Fanny was only seven year.
old, and l did not care to sit up alone
alter she was In bed besides, by the time
had read my chapter, and said my pray