Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1880-10-15
Take Care Of the Heart.

No organ in the body is so liable to be
over-worked as the heart. When every
other part of the body sleeps, it keeps on
its perpetual motion. Every increased
effort or action demands from the heart
more force. A man runs to catch O 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. When
any one of these "excitements" is over,
he is conscious of corresponding de-
pression-a sinking OF 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 supply 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," as the unselfsh member of
a family often is, it undergoes disor-
ganization which is equivalent to its rup-
ture. And this disorganization begins
too often nowadays in the hearts of very
young children. Parents know that if
their sons are to succeed at any of those
competitive examinations which have
become so exigent, high pressure is en-
ployed. Hence young persons are stimu-
lated to overwork by rewards and pun
ishments. The sight of clever boy who
is being trained for competition is truly
a sad one. The precocious, coached-up
children are never we'll Their mental
excitement keeps up flush, which, like
the excitement caused by strong drink
in older children, looks like health, but
has no relation to it; in word, the in
temperance of education is overstraining
and breaking their young hearts. If in
the schoolroom some hearts are broken
from mental strain, in the plays ground
and in the gymnasium Others succumb
to physical strain. 'It is no object OF
mine," says a physician, "to underrate
the advantages of ply sical exercise fol
the young; but can scarcely overrate
the danger of those fierce competitive
exercises which the world in general
seems determined to applaud. l had
the opportunity once in my life of living
near rover. He was patient of mine
suffering from the very form of induced
heart-disease of which am now speak
ing, and he gave meample means of study
ing the conditions of many of thost
whom he trained both for running ant
rowing. found occasion, certainly tt
admire the physique to which his train
ed men were brought; the strength o
muscle they attained the force Of thei
heart; but the admiration was qualified
by the stern fact of the results" But
indeed, it is not by overwork so mucl
. as by worry and anxiety that our heart
are disorganized. "Laborious menta
exercise is healthy, unless it be mad
anxious by necessary or unnecessar
difficulties. Regular mental labor
best carried on by introducing into
some variety" Business and profession
al men wear out their hearts by az
a quiring habits of express-train haste
i. which little attention to method woul
render unnecessary.