The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-04-19
THE TERRIBLE INCREASE OF IN
SANITY.

inent part.
A certain class seems to be peculiarly
affected by this scourge. Not the hard
working mechanic or laborer, though
their physical work leaves fatigue and
exhaustion in it's train. But it is an ex-
haustion which produces sleep, and sleep
is an infallible restorer Of tired flesh.
But the man who treats his brain as the
worker does his muscles fOrgets that the
delicate organ has not the same power
of r%eparatiOn for it's waste Of tissue.
Excitement or e~xaltation of the brain
drives all rest away. The equilibrium
is destroyed, and that nice and complex
machine, the human mind, is thrown off
its balance for a time and perhaps for
ever.
The injury is done so i%nsidiously that
little II no warning is felt until too late.
Physical fatigue always clamOrs for re-
lief. 1t eOnpels obedience by a total
loss of power, but the same amount of
mental exhaustion gives few symptoms
of distress. A little heaviness, unstrung
nerves, a want of clearness in ideas
perhaps n little loss of memory, OF spir-
it's. Perhaps too (and those are the worst
cases) a feverish ~exaltation, a brilliancy
of fancy which inspires to fresh exer-
lions, until suddenly down comes the
black curtain. With women too, insan-
ity is on the increase. With them it is
not theresultof rash speculation OF over
study. 1t is that fierce hunger for ex-
element, the cause of too much leisure,
or, perhaps, over-wOrk. The woman
who PAGES her rapid round of fashion
and frivolity, and the noisy termagants
who are turning the world upside down,
seem to meet on equal ground as far as
insanity is concerned.
One day we read Of a beautiful young
girl killing herself because her life was
so aimless, and in the very next paper
we open, we find an account Of one of
the shriekers who, in her madness, at
tempted to put her children out of the
world. Mr.. Howell, in his "Venetian
Life,n tells of a Yankee who rushed into
the Armenian convent desiring them to
show him all they could in five minutes.
It is this same five minutes pressure
which has unsettled the national mind.
This craving for speed at whatever cost
of safety, is a national insanity which
has brought about more disasters, by
land OF sea, within the last twenty years,
than at any other period of the worlds
history.
The whole country is ringing with the
loss of thesteamer Atlantic. Yet it only
rounds the number Of t~wenty-six ocean
steamers which sailed for the port of
death since the i'll starred president"
went beneath the waters.
Is there noinsanityin steamship COM
pany which makes the saving of life an
object of no consideration beside the
making of large profits upon a given in
yestmentq
Is there no insanity among the pas
sengers themselves who, to save that
fateful half hour, give their patronage
to the sWiftest craft without any cOnsid-
Grafton as to it's seaworthiness, or how
it may be.manned and differed?
When such men as the Captain of the
Atlantic, who was asleep in the chart
room at the time of the accident, and
the first reported after it, escape the
penalty of their criminal negligence,
and when a company, which puts such
a man in charge of hundreds Of human
lives, because he was pleasant and So
cial,n is not materially injured, we are
tempted to believe in a wide spread ma
tional insanity.
We cannot avoid a comparison be-
tween the loss of the Atlantic and the
loss of the English vessel Northfeet.
"The women to the boats!n cried out
the gallant Captain of the last, standing
with loaded revolver at the gangway
until all were saved who could be saved,
and with "Good bye, my love-" to his
bride of three weeks, he went down with
his boat. The Captain of the Atlantic
saved his beloved self, but not one of the
thirty three women entrusted tohis care
1t was in the bond that he should make
good time, but not perilhis precious life
for others.
Altogether, when we say insanity has
become a national curse, we do not ex.
aggerate. No one can wade through the
filth of the Credit Mobiliern investi,
cation without being struck by a deal Of
p~urposeless crime. And in our secret
soul we believe that this "half hour
saving time which we carry into all thu
business of life is the prime mover il
the overwhelming to the natural ani
individual mind.
A breakfast was given at the st. Louit
Hotel in New Orleans, on the 9Th inst.
by Col. j. B. Price, complimentary t,
Post Master General A. j. Creswen, ant
United States Senators Simon Cameron
of Pennsylvania, and T. o. Howe, o
Wisconsin. The invited guests wer
Thos. A. Adams, Gen. G.. Z. Beaure
gard, Charles E. Fenner, VIM. NJ. Ran
dolpll, Hon. j. R. West, United State
Senator from Louisiana, Hon. Mr.. sly
pher, Gov, w. P. Kellogg, Col. D. B
PENN VIM. II. Hunt, Jas. F. Casey
Wm, NJ. Burwe1l, and others.
=Ea e
The bloodshed in Grant parish grey