The Indiana State sentinel., 1879-09-17
Hearts Overworked.
TChambers Journal


No organ in the body is so liable to be
overworked as the heart. When every other
part of the body sleeps, it keeps on its per-
petual motion. Every increased effort or ac-
tion demand from the heart more force.
A man runs to catch train, and his heart
beats audibly. He drinks wine, and the
blood rushes through its reservoir faster than
ever was intended by nature. His pulse
rises after each course at dinner. A telegram
arrives, and his heart knocks at his side. And.
when any one of these "excitements" is over,
he is conscious of a corresponding depression
"a sinking or emptiness as it is called. The
healthy action of all the members of our
frame depends upon the supply of blood
received from the central fountain.
When the hearts action is arrested, the
stomach, which requires from it large sup
ply of blood, becomes enfeebled. The brain,
also waiting for the blood, is inactive. The
heart is a very willing member, but if it
be made to fetch and carry incessantly-if it
be "put upon" the unselfish member of q
family often is-it undergoes a disorganiza-
ton which is equivalent to its rupture And
this disorganization begins too often nova
days in the hearts of very young children.
| Parents know that if their sons are to sue
| ceed at any of these competitive examinations
| which have now become so exigent high
pressure is employed. Hence young persons
| are stimulated to overwork by rewards and
punishments. The sight of clever
boy who is being trained for
competition is truly sad one. The
precocious coached-up children are never
well. Their mental excitement keeps UP a
flush which. like the excitement caused by
| strong drink in older children, looks like
| health, but has no relation to it; in a word,
| the intcmperance of education is overstrain-
ing and breaking their young hearts. If in
the school-room some hearts are broken from
mental strain, in the play and in the
gymnasium Others succumb to physical strain.
at is no object ofmine, says DIR. Richardson,
'to underrate the advantages of physical ex-
ercise for the young; but can scarcely over
rate the danger Of those fierce competitive
exercises which the world in general seems
determined to applaud / had the opportu-
nifty once in my life of living near a
rover. He was a patient of mine, suffer
ing from the very form of induced
heart disease of which / am now
speaking, and he gave me ample means of
studying the conditions of many of those
whom he trained both for running and row.
ing. found occasion. certainly. to admire
the physique TO which his trained men were
brought; the strength of muscle they attained;
the force of their heart; but the admiration
was qualified by the stern fact of the results IS
But, indeed, it is not by overwork so much
as by worry and anxiety that our hearts are
disorganized. "Laborious mental exercise is
healthy, unless j; be made anxious by necess-
airy difficulties. Regular mental labor is
best carried on by introducing into i. some
variety" Business and professional men wear
out their hearts by acquiring habits of ex-
press-train haste, which little attention to
method would render unnecessary.