Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-10-01
Worry.

The cause, or condition. which most COM
monty exposes the reserve Of mental energy to
loss and injury is worry. The tone and strength
Of mind are seriously impaired by its wearing
| influence, and, if it continue long enough. they
will be destroyed. 1t sets the organism u
thought and feeling vibrating with emotions
which are not consOnant with the natural
| liberation Of energy in work The whole
machinery Is thrown out Of gear, and exef.
| else, which would otherwise be pleasurable
and innocuOus, becomes painful and even
destructive. 1t is easy to see how this must
be. The longest note in music. the most steady
and persistent ray Of light-to' use old
fashioned expressioD-the tonic muscular con-
traction, are all, We know, produced by rapid
succession of minute motive impulses or acts,
| like the explosion and discharge of electricity
from alternately connected and separated points
In circuit; i'm fact a series Of vibrations Mental
energy doubtless takes the same form Of de-
velopment. If q disturbing element is intro.
duced by the obtrusion Of some independent
source OF anxiety, or if out of the business In
hand the mind makes q discord, confusion en-
sues, and for the time being harmonious action
ceases. working under these conditions in obe-
diences to TIN will. the mental organism sustains
injury which must be great and may be lasting.
The function Of the warning sense is suspended;
the reserve Is no longer a stock In abeyance,
and it ceases to give stability to the mind;
the rhythm fthe mental forces is interrupted; .
crash is always impending, and too often sud-
den collapse occurs. The point to Be
made clear is this overwork is barely possible,
and seldom, IL ever happens while the mind 10
acting in the way prescribed by its constitution
and in the normal modes Of mental exercise.
The moment, however. the natural rhythm Of
work is broken and dscord ensues, the mind 10
like an engine with the safefy-valve locked. the
steam-gauge falsifed the governing appar-
may occur at any instant The state
pictured is one Of worry, and the beset-
ting peril is not depicted i'm too lurid colors
The victim of worry is ever on the verge of .
catastrophe; If he escape the marvel is not at his
strength of intellect SO much as his good for
tune. Worry is disorder, however induced and
disorderly work is abhorred by the laws of ma
ture which leave 1t wholly without remedy
The energy employed In industry carried on
q small result, and speedily exhausted. The
reserve comes into play very early in the task,
and the faculty of recuperation lie speedily
arrested. Sometimes loss Of appetite an
nounces the cessation Of nutrition; other
wise the sense Of hunger, present in the sys-
TEN, fs for time preteTnaturally acute and
marks the fact that the demand Is occasioned INV
loss Of power to appropriate, instead of any
diminution Of supply. The effort to work 10.
comes daily more faborious, the task of flying
the attention grows increasingly dificuIf'
tnoughts wander: memory fails, the reasoning
power is enfeebled; prejudice-the shade of de.
IancI emocon or some past persuasion-takss
tne place Of Judgment; physical nerve Or hguin
disturbance may supervene, and the crash M
tnen come suddenly, unexpected By 0nl0okera
perhaps unperceiyed by the sufferer himssI
This Is the history OF IVORY" or disorder No.
duccd By mental disquietude and dist1el3on
occasionally BY physical disease.-1As N1hS
teezafh Century