New-York tribune., 1871-06-28
NEwyoRK DAILY TRIBUNE, WEDNESDAY JUNE 2s 1871

practice. At forty, she is sharp -nosed and nat
breasted irritable or morbid without reason,
she has bad digestive organs, ana no pack az
all worth mention; and her daughter OF eigh-
teen is her weaker counterpart. 90 ALARMING
has this everywhere apparent weakness In the
nervous system of the present generation De-
come that theories as to Its cause anu ouio "i'
thrust on us from every side.
II il n relief to receive at last few words
of exclamation and warning from an author-
tative source. A monograph on the suoJeo''
entitled "Wear and Tear" has just been VIII
fen by DR., s. Weir Mitchell, one OF the most
eminent authorities on Nervous Diseases IN the
countrv. The National Hospital for the cure
Of sucb diseases established by Government
dining fine war. and placed under his charge, Is
still maintained, and offers him an opportunity
for close and accurate observation among the
educated classes of the effects OF OvertaxihS
tbe brair. The facts he states are more alarm
inc than even the general uneasiness would
have anticipated. He goes direct to the
dootb-rates to prove the sudden in
crease of nervous maladies, which Is
hardly fair to his own argument, as 1t neces-
sarly excludes palsy in children and neuralgia
in the milder forms. Taking Chicago as " an
"illustration, in concentrated form, of causes
(Which are at work throughout the land" he
reports from 1859 to 1857 (omitting 1854, the
cholera year, that the deaths from nerve-dls-
orders were to the total mortality as in So'
Ten years later from 1864 to 1853, inclusive
the neural deaths were l In .. Among thoSe
diseases whose increase has been so inordlnate
are apoplexy palsy and epilepsy which are IN
the vast majority of cases due to direct disease
of the nerye-centers. The cause OF this APP
Mailing lack of endurance in the nervous sys-
TENS of Americans, he attributes not only
TO the suicidal strain upon them, but to
the fact that the climate of the United
States exhausts them sooner than that OF
other countries. :" believe" he says
:" hat something in our country makes intel
"leciual work of all kinds harder to do than
" it is in Europe; and, since we do 1t with
"terrible energy, the result shows itself very
soon. Among the higher intellectual workers.
"such as astronomers, physicists and natural
lists, have frequently heard this belief ex-
"pressed, and by none so positively as those
"who have lived on both continents" In con-
frmation of this, he quotes the personal expe-
rience of Agassiz and others, DEPRESSING from
the main point to show that physical labor
also is more trying here than abroad. "Why
:" this is,r he adds, :" cannot say; but 1t Is
Z" not more mysterious than the fact that agents
(which, as sedatives or excitants, affect the
"great nerve-centers, do this very differently
"in different climates. 1t is possible to drink
"with safety in England quantities OF VINE
(which here would be disagreeabe IN their
" first effect and perlous in their ultimate
"results. The Cuban who takes coffee enOr-
"mously at home, and smokes endlessly, can
"do here neither the one nor the other TO
the same degree. And so also the amount OF
"excitation from work which the brain will
"bear varies exceedingly with variations OF
Climatic influences"
The statistics which his notebooks furnish
with regard to the classes of men most likely
to suffer from cerebral exhaustion will surprise
in some points the ordinary observer. Next
to overtasked men of science, manufacturers
"and certain classes of railway officials are the
"most liable to suffer from neural exhaustion
=" After these come merchants in general, brokers,
"etc then less frequently clergymen; still less
"often lawyers and more rarely doctors; while
distressing cases are apt TO occur among the
"over-schooled young of both sexes. The worst
"instances to be met with are among young
"men suddenly cast into business positions IN
evolving weighty responsibility"
The ages when the man is most apt to man
ifest these diseases is, he states, when the
"mind is maturing, and at the turning point
" of life when the brain has attained its fullest
"powern An immature man goes into buSi-
ness with borrowed capital; the lifelong strain
follows. Then come Overwork, late hours of
"work, irregular meals boted in haste away
from home, the want of holidays and pur-
suits outside of business. When they get to
BE fifty or thereabouts, and are thinking
Now we will stop and enjoy ourselves the
brain suddenly refuses to work, and the
mischief is done"
There is no attempt in this treatise to usurp
the doctors place. the hints are those of pre-
vention rather than cure, and the effort to en-
able the victim to feel, as it were, the pulse of
| his brain in order to find when the doctor is
necessary. There are but two other untech-
ncal books on this subject, and both of these
are out of print DR.. MitchelPs effort is, there
fore, not only timely, but essential.
AMERICAN GIRLS.