Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-10-07
Hearts OyerWorked.


No organ of the body is so liable to
De overworked as the heart. When
every other part of the body is asleep, il
Keeps on its perpetual III, ion. Every
increased effort or action demands from
he heart more force. A man runs to
catch train, and his heart beats audi.
oily. He drinks wine, and his blood
rushes through its reservoir faster than
ever intended by nature. His pulse
rises after each course of dinner. A tel
egram arrives and his heart knocks al
his side. And when any one of these
'excitements" is over, he is conscious
Of 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 this
central fountain. When the hearts ac-
ton is arrested, the stomach, which re.
quires from it a large supply OF blood,
becomes enfeebled. The brain, also,
waiting for the blood, is inactive. The
heart is very willing member, but if it
be made to fetch and carry necessarily,
if it be put upon," as the unseltish
member of a family often is, it under
goes disorganization which is equiva.
lent to its rupture. And this disorgan-
ization begins too often nowadays in the
hearts of very young children. Parents
know that if their sons are to succeed in
any of those competitive examinations
which have now become SC exigent.
high pressure is employed, Hence,
young persons are stimulated to over
work by rewards and punishments. The
sight of clever boy who is being trained
for competition is truly a sad one. The
precocious, coached-up children are
never well. Their mental excitement
keeps q flush, which, like the excite
ment caused by strong drink in older
children, looks like health, but has no
relation to it in word, the intemper-
ance of education is overstraining and
breaking their young hearts. If in the
school room some hearts are broken
from mental strain, in the playground
and in the gymnasium, others succumb
to physical strain. at is no object of
mine" says DR.. Richardson, "to under
rate the advantages of physical exercise
for the young but | can scarcely over
rate th,, dangers of those fierce COMPETE
tive exercises which the world in gen.
eral seem to applaud. | had the oppor-
tunity once in my life of living near
great trainer, himself being champion
rover. tie was patient OF nine, sufier-
ing from the very form of induced heart
disease, of which | now speak, and gave
me ample means of studying the condi-
tons Of those whom he trained both for
running and rowing. / found occasion,
certainly, to admire the physique to
which his trained men were brought;
the strength of muscle they obtained;
the force of their hearts; but the admir-
alton was qualified by the stern fact of
the results" But, indeed it is not by
overwork so much as by worry and
anxiety that our hearts are disorgan-
lied. "Laborious mental exercise is
healaly, unless it be made anxious by
necessary or unnecessary difficulties.
Regular mental labor is best carried on
by introducing into il some variety" Blu
siness and professional lnen wear out
Aeir hearts by acquiring habits of ex-
press train haste, which little attention
to method would render unnecessary.