South-eastern Independent. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1871-1871, 1871-09-01
The Nerves and " Tone"

WHAT is the source of this i~rritability
which renders it impossible to keep the
muscles still? We can answer, in general,
that irritability means weakness-it is q
tendency to too easy an overthrow of the
balance in which the living textures exist;
the excessive actionarises from too rapid
a decay. A philosophical physician COM
pares it to the whirling movement of the
hands of q watch of which the main spring
is broken; and the eminent French exper-
imentalist, NJ. Claude Bernard, has thrown
a light on this condition by pointing out
that an unnatural p%roneness to activity ex-
lists in every organ of a living animal at a
period Immediately preceding the death of
the part. In our physical, as In our moral
nature, strength is calm, patient, orderly;
weakness hurries, cannot be at rest, at
tempts too much. The force which, in the
living frame, binds up the elements into
organic forms, being relaxed, too easily
permits them to sink down, and Intellectual
mimicries of energy ensue.
But how is living strength to be insured
in respect to the functions we have spoken
of? The laws we have been tracing give
us a partial answer to this question.
Strength in the living body is maintained
by the full but natural exercise of each or
gan; and as we have seen, the action of
these portions of the nervous system is
made dependent upon the influences con-
yeyed to them by the sensitive nerves dis
tributed over the various parts of the body.
And among these the nerves passing to the
skin are the chief. The full access of all
healthy stimuli to the surface, and its free
dom from all that initiates OF impedes its
functions, are the first external conditions
of the normal vigor of this nervous cir
Gle. Among these stimuli, fresh air and
pure water hold the first place. Sufficient
warmth is second. The great and even
wonderful advantages of cleanliness are
partly referable to the direct influence of
a skin healthily active, open TO all the
natural stimuli and free from morbid irri-
tation, upon the nerve-centers of which
it lie the appointed eXcitant. This infiu-
ence is altogether distinct from those
cleansing functions which the healthy
skin performs for the blood, and in any
Just estimate of its value is far too impor-
tant to be overlooked.
That STATE of general vigor which we
call "tone also depends upon the healthy
action of these nervous centers. 1t con-
sists in an habitusl moderate contraction
of the muscles, due to a constant stimulus
exerted on them by the spinal cord, and is
valuable less for itself than as a sign of q
sound nervous balance. Tone is main
tanned partly by healthful impressions "a
dated upon the spinal cord, through the
nerves, from all parts of the body, and
partly by the stimulus poured down upon
it from the brain. So it is disturbed by
whatever conveys irritating or depressing
inflences in either direction. A single in
judicious meal, a sleepless night, a single
passion or piece of bad news will destroy
it. On the other hand, a vivid hope, a
cheerful resolve, an absorbing interest,
will restore it as if by magic. For in
man these lower officers in the nervous
hierarchy draw their very breath accord
ing to the biddings of the higher powers.
But the dependence of the higher IN the
lower is no less direct. The mutual &C.
ton takes place in each line. A chief
condition of keeping the brain healthy is
to keep these unconscious nervous func-
tons in full vigor, and in natural alter
nations of activity and repose. Thus
it is that besides its effect in in
creasing the breathing and the gen.
eral vigor of the vital processes) muscu-
lar exercise has so manifestly a beneficial
influence on a depressed or irritable state
of mind. The bodily movement, by af-
fording an outlet to the activity of the
spinal cord, withdraws a source of irIita-
ton from the brain; or it may relieve ex-
element of that organ by carrying off its
energy into a safe channel. We see evil
] dence Of the same law in the delightful