The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1874-03-12
Wakefulness from Oyerwork.

dicative of very great degree of menta
strain, is persistent wakefulness. Thu
physiological cause of this condition j,
well understood. During excessive labol
of the brain there is an increased flow o.
blood to the working organ; the vessels
Of the head and neck become distended
with blood, as is shown by the flushing
of the face. If this condition of disten
ton is long continued, the vessels are apt
to lose the power of contracting when
mental activity is diminished. Hence
arises the impossibil;ty of fulfilling the
physical conditions of sleep, the mos
important of which is the diminution ol
the flow of the vital fluid to the brain
Some extraordinary instances have been
recorded of prolonged wakefulness as q
result of mental overstrain. Boerhave
mentions that when, on one occasion, in
tently engaged on a particular study, he
did not close his eyes in sleep for six weeks
Sir Gilbert Blame was informed by Gen
Pichegrue that for a whole year, when
engaged in active campaign, he
slept but one hour out of twenty.
four. These and other similar cases
have, probably, been unconsciously ex
aggerated, for people often sleep with
out having an after-consciousness Of the
fact. 1t is certain that the continued
deprivation of any considerable part Of
the normal amount of sleep will be seri
ously detrimental to health. DR.. Ham
mond, in his work on sleep, mentions the
case of q literary man in America who
for nearly a year, while intently engaged
in favorite study, restricted his period
of rest to four hours day, and frequently
less. At the end of that time the over.
tasking of his mental powers was mani.
tested in q curious way. He told the
hysician that, though still able to main.
tain a connected line of reasoning, he
found that as soon as he attempted to
record his ideas on paper the composition
turned out to be simply tissue of arrant
nonsense. When in theAct of writing his
thoughts flowed SO rapidly that he was
not conscious of the disconnected ma
ture of what he was writing; but as
soon as he stopped to read it over he
was aware how completely he had mis-
represented his conceptions. If the
language happened to be at all Ineligible
1t was sure to have no relation to the idea
he wished to express. Thus, wishing to
obtain book from friend, he found
that instead of the request he had writ
ten the prayer of Socrates as given by
Plato.
Sir Isaac Newton, in the later years oil
his life, suffered greatly from wakeful.
ness. The fact, we'll known to every
medical man, that persistent sleeplessness
is frequently the precursor of initiatory
stages of several most intractable mala.
dies, physical and mental, always invests
the presence of this indication of mental
overstrain with grave interest. But a con.
tinued course of excessive mental labor
generally manifests itself in various ways,
all more or less premonitory of approach.
ing collapse. The brain worker begins
to perceive an unwOnted want of clear
ness in his ideas; work comes gradually
less on him; he is alarmed at sudden
awkward failures of memory; feeling
of surfeit or disgust will steal over him
in the midst of work; he becomes unable
to fix his attention, and latterly feels as il
all mental energy was crushed out oi
him.
If these warnings of an overwrought
brain, now speaking distinctly with the
tongue of disease, are disregarded, the
wonder frequently is, not that the inevita
BILE retribution follows, but that it should
have been so long delayed. What par
ticular form the Nemesis shall assume,
whether of physical or mental disease
will be determined by accidents partly Of
personal habit and temperament and part
ly of inherited predisposition. 1t is note
worthy, however, that the common opin
ion that excessive mental occupation
gravitates toward insanity does not ap
pear to be verified by facts. Indeed, one
of the foremost Of living physicians
doubts whether alienation of mind is ever
the result of overstraiD. 1t is to physi
cal not to mental arrangement that ex
cessive work of the brain generally gives
rise. Insanity, he points out, finds the
most suitable material for its develop
ment among our Goldfish, uneducated
classes; while the worst forms of physi
cal diseases are originated and intensi
fed by our educated, overstrained brain
workers.-Chambers' Journal.