Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1870-03-12
BRAIN WORE

rye, lOT Ineu W eAeIt tuc Utaiu Nv lno
expense Of the body, giving undue
labor to the one and scarcely giving
enough to the other. Health of mind
and health of body ought to 80 to-
gether, and if Il man wishes to make
the most Of himself and of his facul-
ties, he should observe regular hours
for sleep, work, recreation and exer-
else, and be temperate in his diet and
in all other things. He should treat
each day of his life as a whole in itself,
and avoid bringing himself into a state
In which artificial stimulants become a
necessity. But how many persons do
we find following these simple and
oft-repeated rules? As a rule, profes-
sional men permit themselves to be
oyertasked, for they dislike rejecting.
business when it offers itself. And the
same may be said Of men engaged in
trade and commercial pursuits. While
business is brisk they will do, or at
temp to do, all that is possible, without
regard to the perniciors strain upon
their system which such orerwork
entails. If to this be added the per-
petual anxiety, hurry, loss of temper,
Encouragement a tlosses or failure, and
undue exultation at success, which
characterize the life of most business
men, together with the system Oh
taking hasty meals, and not allowing
sufficient time for sleep and relaxation,
one need not be surprised at the num-
Der of premature deaths which daily
occur. The wonder is that it is not
greater. When a mar desires to do a
very great quantity of work, he almost
always is obliged to violate the rules
of health to accomplish it; he has to
a a price for being allowed to do it /;
unless gifted with a peculiarly strong
organization, his labor is accompanied
by its W retribution. Ofcourse, there
frequently occur situations in which
men must work to the utmost; they
ha,en no. choice; but, on the whole, 1t may
be affirmed that most Of the ordinary
work of the world may be got through
without any glaring i%nattention to or
defiance of the rules Of health and the
requirements of society. And II each
man would try to find out how he can
best do his own work, and not try to
do it according to the ways Of Others, a
great deal of useless toll and irritation
might be saved. 1t will, perhaps, be
urged that there have been many bril-
liant cases wherein the rules of health
were not only violated but outraged,
and yet the work performed was OF
the very highest order. This is un-
doubtedly true of many men Of extra
ordinary genius, who were, however,
exceptional men, in every sense Of the
word, and hence their example is not
to be cited as that which ordinary per-
sons should follow. No one, for III
stance, should do as the great French
novelist Balzac used to. When he
was engaged OH a novel he would re-
tire wholly from the world to write
with scarcely any interruption, and
without taking any exercise, from two
o'clock in the morning till six in the
evening; he allowed himself six hours
sleep, and lived entirely on fruit and
vegetables. At the end ofsome months
of this life he would enter the world
again, looking like a spectre; yet II
may be true that it was only BY such
abnormal work as this he coult
achieve what he undertook. The vas
majority of men would break down
under it. Some men cannot do brain
work we'll. except at night. This wa
the case with Schiller; while his great
rival, Goethe, did all his work In the
morning, and never wrote after hi
midday dinner. Sir Walter Scott
wrote his novels mainly before break
fast, while Byron composed hi:
poems mostly late at night. The
contrast between the results o.
these two opposite systems OF a.
Dor, is very remarkable in these
tour cases. Goethe and Scott respect
lively attained the ages Of 81 and 81,
while Schiller died at 46 and Byron n
80. Moreover, Schiller INDUCED In
champagne, Byron in gin and water,
and both habitually wrote under the
influence Of stimulants. They short
ened their lives by their irregular
mode of living and working. Would
they not have lived longer and accom-
plished more by observing the laws o
health? Goethe worked without slim
ulants, and Scott, though not averse t
wine and ale, was a temperate man, al
early riser, and fond Of field sport
and exercise in the open air. Blu
even he ultimately succunbcd to over
tension of the brain, In his desperate
but honorable efforts to pay off tin
debts for which he considered hilnsel
responsible; had it not been for thi
unnatural bralnwork he might hay,
lived many years longer. Southey
though n diligent student and n con
slant worker, would never under an.
circumstances do with less than nin'
hours sleep, and he was an abstemiou
man accordingly he lived to the ag'
of sixty-eight; he did all his writing
by day. The late Archbishop Whate
", who lived till nearly eighty, was
however, 4 remarkable instance to til,
contrary. He said that he could no
produce original matter except a
night, but that he could best CRITICS
and correct in the morning. The habl
of reading and writing at night ma,
be acquired; and, indeed, 1t very ofte'
Is, especially by persons connected
with the press, and by others who ar
called upon by their avocations to d