Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-11-01
REST AS A MEDICINE.

nave DetWe3Q lUeIl LIE uuGy 10 perform OF guaTI-
ing camp or fortress They must take it in
tuinS-when the enc goes Off, the other comes
on. Were Activity to remain too long on duty.
the heart would futter and fail the brain would
Ieel, and the sentinel drop dead OF fatigue. On
the other hand Rest might remain long enough
on guard to drop asleep. You see that even rest
may be overdone; 1t conduces to sloth, and
eanui, and atony of the brain. To my thinking,
there is no more miserable man than he who
has nothing to do.
My old friend DIR. k, that erst was profess
sor of medicine in certain university, labored
hard all his life till nearly sixty years OF age;
then he said he needed rest and would retire.
So, being wealthy man, he built himself a
beautiful house on a breezy cli1-tOp near the
sea, laid out pleasant gardens, and paid atten-
ton to every known principle of hygiene Six
months retirement killed him. He remembered
not the lines in Cowper's poem:
"Absence of occupation is not rest;
mind quite vacant is q mind distressed"
People who have been long in business OF any
Kind often make the same error as DR.. X.
They think they need complete change and rest,
and they seek It as he sought it, and too often
find it as he found it-in the grave.
1t is the sudden breaking off of all old ties the
uprOoting OF all old associations, the giving up
all at once the customs and habits Of years, that
work the change for the worse. People should
never forget that old trees don't bear trans
planting well. Do nothing too rashly. Reverse
the proverb, "It's best to be off with the old
love before you are on with the new" Rather
stick partially at least, to the old life, till you
are firmly rooted in the new.
The benefits OF rest in aiding the healing pro-
cess in diseases might be exemplitied in a hun
dred different ways. Indeed the disease itself is
often merely the result of dsobed1ence often
w1llful, of the great natural and universal law
Which ordaipS that period of rest must In
every case be the sequel TO one of activity. In
the vegetable as well as in the animal kingdom
this law holds good. Trees and shrubs go to
sleep in winter; flowers are generally more ten
der in their constitutions and go to rest during
the night, while Others, again, find it necessary
to take a nap, so to speak, during certain hours
Of the day, and this they do with such regularity
that one can pretty correctly tell the time from
the opening or closing of their petals.
Many people suffer from chronic Indigestion,
from the mere fact of having first and foremost
produced the dyspepsia by overlooking the stom-
ach, or by other errors In diet, they give it no
rest; they keep on worrying it to get well; the
very medicines they keep pouring into 1t keep
up the irritation in probably five cases out OF
three hours complete rest to the stomach every
day from both meat and medicine would soon
induce healthy hunger Those who have this
organ in good working order would do well to
remember that the time when every particle of
food has left the stomach is not the time to put
more in. An hours rest, at least, Is needed; and
II you give 1t this before each meal, it will be
willing servant, and will never think of suggest
ing the prOprfety of sherry and bitterS before
you sit down to dinner; and remember, willing
servant makes q glad master, and a gOOd-tenl-
pered one to boot.
The kidneys are extremely handwriting and
as rule, healthy organs, but are often out of
order when we little wot Of it. They are long
suffering organs, and are not like the liver or
stomach-they don't call out when first hurt.
But they, too need their periods of rest, and I'M
due stimulation is sometimes productive of the
most DIRE and fatal results Beer and alcohol
might be called direct stimulantS to the kidney;
abstinence from these in people who have been
used to them will often give this organ rest and
time to get over ailments trifling in themselves
but which if not cured might lead slowly onward
to DEATH ''Oh, but l must have my beer"
heard MIR. c. say last summer; he was suffer-
ing from very slight attack Of diabetes. He had
his beer, and never recovered.
The liver is another organ which often has to
complain for want of rest. 1t is greatly over
stimulated by overlooking the stomach with
ulartty in diet but above all by the abuse of fer
mented drinks. These alone are capable of pro-
ducing Illnesses, which, If not Immediately fatal
make life burden-a weary chain that the pa
the body, the liver must have rest, and you can
give it that rest by cultivating habits Of abste-
periods of activity regularly intervening. Some
people have naturally sluggish livers, and must
take medicine occasionally, such as blue Dill at
night and seidlitz In the morning; but for those
whose lvers are ordinarily pretty active, there
Is no FLIP to the liver equal to a good brisk
Walk-not mere Saunter along, but walk that
shall quicken the breathing, and cause the dia-
phragm to gently compress the organ between
it and the abdominal vtScera-
A liver that does not get regular rest. gets in
time changed In structure, to the great detri-
menu OF the neaUl OF us owner; 1t Is also render
ed more liable to diseases Of more active and
fatal kind, for the simple reason that it is
weakened organ.
The same may be said about the heart. How
reveal changes Of structure In this organ, which
regular rest alternating with periods Of activity
during Life might have prevented! Too much
constant worry OF mind grief and care and
sorrOw-an these act detrfmentally upon the
heart, and shorten, If they do not speedily take,
cause, you can, and rest whenever possible.
Unrequited love, or loss Of the loved one from
whatever cause, some will tell you never kills.
but could adduce more than one case to prove
1t may lead to death. A grief like this is hard
to bear; there is but one cure-change OF scene
and ,rork, the work being in this case actual
rest for the strained heart.
The brain is frequently the hardest-worked Or
gan In the body, and frequently, too, it Is Just
the one to which rest is denied. Brain-wOrkers
form f n very large portion Of the community, if
we include In the list as I think we ought to, not
only writer's, students, and deep thinkers, but
business men as well-men in city life whose
minds are on the rack from morning till night,
1t is absurd for such as these to think that they
can keep on forever without some regularly re-
curing periods OF rest and relaxation; but some
men do think so. They are mad on the point, or
strangely obtuse. Others, again, think they can
keep on till they are just within step or two of
the inevitable breakup: They may, however,
go just step farther than they Intended, and
either go out like the snuff of candle or walk
this earth, till they die, with ruined constitu-
lions. But there is another class of BRAIN work.
ers who make far more grave error namely
those who use St1mulantS to increase their brain
power and get still more work out of themselves,
From the ranks Of these men lunat1c aSylums
are recruited.
Now for a case of debility and illness, with
!oWness of spirits, ETC., and the loss Of power of
looking at everything In the brightest light, there
Is only one cure, and that is rest. But what
kind OF rest? Before you can get brain worker
to give up thinking about the work that has
made him Ill, you must give him some other en-
plOyment, and one, too, that he auiH take an in
te1eSt an. Every one must choose for himself
what that Shall be, whether shooting fishing, or
walking or boating tour. month of either
OF these VIII work wonders that particular por-
ton OF the brain which has been Over-worked to
WEAKNESS and weakness will have rest and the
tissues will be repaired, and at the end of the
holiday not only will mental vigor be restored
but the health Of the body generally will be
vastly improved.
There are cases in which, through the giving
way TO excuses of various kinds, including in
temperance in eating and drinking, the sufferers
feel what they often describe as altogether out
OF sorts" There isn't, perhaps, an organ in the
body that is not crippled more or less, and the
mind too seems to partake OF share of the gen
eral wreck. Mind you, there may be no real dis
ease In any part OF the Frame and still the pa
tent feels as i'll as possible. For cases like these
l can prescribe nothing better than change of
scene and complete rest OF body and mind.
This, combined with temperance In eating and