Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1870-06-16
PRESENCE OF MIND.


be dashed to atoms; ,but what matter ?
Away yoti CO., You feel that. unless YOU
speedily retreat, you must obey thc dread
command and you turn yo1fr be ead a7vay
from gazing down the horrid abyss. You
ask yourself: What if l were so placed
that I could not withdraw, should / obey
the whispering demon? Perhaps YOU
reason with iyourse1f: Nonsensef it is
only feeling sensation; impossfblef
Try again adY es, theFesit isFagain;r you
dare not refnain!s What ,canit,b ? r you
ask aids 10 the demon of suicide Can it
be anything in my brainr?' n There, you
have hit it I 1t is no demonof suicide that
urges you OMIT is. only something in
your brain. Let us try and find out.
From pair of scissors to the Imperial
ParIiament, and, upwards still to the Syss
tenn ofthe- Universe, every agency, moral
or physical, Seems to be compounded of
two artagonistic forces, eontr ollable and
performing coftectly the duties assigned
to them as long As they work in unison !;
but uncontrolled and prone to run into
excess Of their functions, If separated from
eaoh otfeFiiI1oE Tol 80
TakB IavSayit the force of. gravity. and
centrifugal force uncontrolled would
scatter Us4ini fines dust through snace.
Abolish one of the constituent parts lof
snvFweIl organized government. and the
result. in a, moral sense. would probably
he pretty much the same. Even the
blade of a pair of scissors won't work.
without its Fellow Nor IS tfie5brain an
exception TO this rule 3 An eminent phi
losopher OF. Richardsonn, still living, In
experime entfng recently ON atimAleY with
the object ofostesting 2 the icofnparative,
value ofoyariotis anesthetics. discovered
that at least two antagonistic forces reside
in the5brairE3 ONE having its. abode in the
anterior OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES (the cerebruml.
the other in the lower and posterior. part
(the cerebellum) :, In his experiments. he
ohserved that ifttbe eerehir11m nf an animal
he rendered insensibIe and its mowers thus,
temnorariIv destrovedt the apimaI is inn
medIately impelled to rusbS forward: on
the other hand, the cerebelIu-Yf being par
alyzed, retroeade moyerI1ent is the result.
Thus he Account for that impulse which
many nhonIS feesT ftoreci nit Ia n beu3selves
from n heigbtr the ,eerebrum. which coIS
tains the tRinkinp and direcfinnp faculties.
under snch. tcireT instances becoming psr.
alyzed-dizzy+-and so the control which,
beine inc % nartiaIIVe- Nv removed tSe infinence of
the latter declares ITSELF
The learned professor having onened
the gate for us. we NAV walk in and OBJ
serve for ourselves. MANY things come
to our recollection which we can now &C.
count for nv this doI1I1e brain force we
can comnrehe9nd Kbv The other aItbohSh
flvino at tf5e same shesd fell hack in, the
air like a tumbler1pigeon, adttering still
backward to the1g ground u If we take up
t5ierced The shnII ,littlts. above -theSeves.
and we see the -deafh-wound of the other
at the back of the head. we canInow unl-
derstand, WHY those overcome with friehE
SO Frequently rush into the danger they
wish to avoid. Nor need we confine our,
selves to examples of a pdreIy, physical
We may place in the same cafe.
CORY the bashftn man who talks nonsense
when he zhSPla h4ad 2; a,tll his tEnsues % Shs RE
cause he is tnefvousZthe directing power
of his brain-is in abeyanee-and the pas-r
sionate man,yvhose words and actions are
uncontrolled by his reasoning powers. In
s7word, we can trace, half our foolish
words and actions to want Of equlhPrl=;
um between these two forces that inhabit
our Dra1ns, ana, his oHIy Waen the oai-
ance Is correct that we are ut to govern
ourselves suois
TO express this mental equilibrium,
The question has been freq1ently2
cussed III 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
an attribute almost peculiar TO women
young glri; entering society rs lquite st
her ease, While young man Is sure 70 De
awkward ar and y nervous. See how we get
oui OF a scrapei meyer at loss Ior an an4
s"er. ',A man woato stuIter ana 'mqqter,
and, get deeper s1nto the ml9rfe41 l9rfe41y IsYf es,
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