Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1871-09-12
Oye1'tCOrk.

most mistaken notion is widely
prevalent, that n good many people. es.
pecially brain workers, are killing them.
selves with hard study, and much mis-
placed sympathy is expended in their be-
half No man who gets plenty of sleep
was ever worked to DEATH either in body
or brain. Hence. if q man OF his own
free will and choice deprives himself Of
sleep, he is as much suicide rs if he
starved himself to death. There may be
case now and then, although very rare.
where the hours Of sleep are deliberate
ly curtaiied to m unhealthful degree;
but we may as we'll come to the real
cause OF maladies attributed to overwork:
it is the unsystematic employment of
time, and the unwise use OF daily food
unwisc in frequency, quantity, and
quality.
The first great error is frequency. The
majority of dyspeptics are made before
twenty, on the part of girls especially,
because they are always in the house,
within easy reach OF eatables OF every
description; these are more or less
tempting, and few have the necessary
force OF character to resist with decision
the inclinations OF the appetite.
Physicians, az well rs others, are lia-
bic TO be hobby -horsical, but in sober
Judgment it is perhaps not too much to
say, that if from the age Of twelve years
children were habtuated, as matter OF
principle and philosophy. TO eat but three
times a day, and nothing whatever be-
tween meals, more nervousness. more
dyspepsia. more liver complaints, and
more neuralgia would be prevented, than
| from the observance of all other rules to-
gcther. about eating.
The mothers OF young families are
urged to possess themselves of the fol.
lowing facts. and impress them on the
minds of their children on all suitable
occasions, until firm root be taken in the
thorough comprehension of their i'm
portance-facts which all educated ply
sicians and Psychologists Of all schools,
of all nations and both continents, admit
and know 10 be true. The muscles OF
the body are the immediate cause of mo-
tion. Every part of the body which re.
quires to be moved is supplied with one
OF more muscles. The movement Of
these muscles promotes health by aiding
in the circulation Of the blood.
Several parts of the body have two,
three, or more muscles, and all must
move in combination, in order to pro-
mote one motion. The heart has sew
eral muscles, so has the stomach, so has
each limb. The benefcent Creator has
so arranged it that necessary muscular
motion is made without effort in some
eases, rs in the heart. and in the motion
OF the cyelids; in other eases muscular
motion is the cause OF pleasurable sensa.
tions. as in walking out alter several
hours confinement, rs well ~ in effect
ing kiss OF ones sweetheart.
But all muscles may be moved too
much, and they give evidence OF tired
ness in some cases, but not in all. 1t is
not any trouble, requires no appreciable
effort, to wink the eye or crack the finger
but, il either is attempted fifty times in
succession, or dozen times in quick sue
cessions. IAN appreciable effort is required
soon that effort becomes painful, ard
later on, impossible. So with walking
and when the limbs get tired, we stop
and rest them. But some muscles are
oyerworked without ouI knowing it;
they do not complain in the way of tired.
ness, but in such manner that the per.
son does not know what is the matter,
yet is conscious that something is wrong
by the great amount of discomfort in
duced. A person eats too much, for ex.
ample; restlessness and discomfort
takes hold Of the whole system this in
creases every moment until almost un.
endurable, when vomiting comes on, and
when it is all over, the body returns TO
its usual healthfulness. The fact is. the
stomach was tired; it was overworked,
and could not perform its duty.
When man eats Il common meal, it
requires the muscles Of the stomach to
work about five hours TO put the food
eaten into q condition for imparting nu-
triment TO the body, and to pass out OF
it. After this work, it requires rest; any
man requires rest after five hours work !;
but il, rs soon as his task is done, an
other five hours labor has been given,
and is insisted upon, and SO continued Tor
several seasons OF five hours labor in
any twenty four, he would become so
tired he could not work ut all. A child
of six years of age can be made to feel
the force of this argument. If man
eats hearty meal five hours after break
last, and another hearty meal five hours
after dinner, and another five hours after
supper, his stomach is kept working late
into the night, while the body itself has
long been resting; and if this is kept up,
premature loss OF stomach power is in.
evitable, and lifelong dyspepsia. with
all its daily horrors, repeated after each
meal, is The inevitable result. Much
sooner will these things follow, if per.
son habitually eats between meals. cs.
pccially as this important fact is known:
that when fresh food is taken into the