Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-04-30
THE INCREASE OF FERROUS DISEASES.


institutions no longer possible
THE INCREASE OF FERROUS DISEASES
A New York physician, writing to the
San, observes that there is marked in
crease in nervous diseases among Americans
of the present generation, and that the In
dications justify belief that this tendency
will steadily proceed if the present general
conditions of life are maintained. He
says, we have to-day, as Americans,
81 morbid nervousness, which l consider to
90 be an entirely new state of the system,
developing itself in modern society, and
making itself manifest by neuralgia, sick
headache, dyspepsia, hay fever, and
"nervous exhaustion. This unprecedented
nervousness, when it does not pass into
actual disease, is also indicated by our
Increased sensitiveness to heat and cold,
''and greatly augmented susceptibility
to the action of the stimulants and mar
cotics Bright's disease of the
kidneys, nephritis, and granular kidney
"are also caused and aggravated by mental
q worry and anxiety. Heart diseases are
I" also increasing steadily particularly those
of neurotic origin and nature Rheuma-
tism and govt, in both of which there is
as neurotic element, are more severe than
- 4ba az 1,-ara v-aore ono ;fa a,,a,, 4Lo-,oI,
sit be not shortened, is often rendered
miserable by so-called mild nervous dis.
"orders, such as hysteria, herpes zoster,
urticaria, writers cramp, and sick head
ache
He adds that the consumption of sedativcs
and stimulants is increasing alarmingly :;
that the use of morphine and other opiates
has never been SO general as at present !;
and that &" the neurotic circle in society is
increasing out of proportion to the in
{" crease OF population, as well as the dis
tinctly insane circle OF society,"" The
causes of these changes he thinks are the
increasing complexity of the nervous sys-
TEN, and the increasing complexity OF life.
There is reason to believe that the brain is
becoming more and more complex, in re-
Spouse TO the increased demand upon it,
and while the nervous system is thus rein
forced, the general constitution is thrown
out of balance. The obvious remedies, or
palIiatjvcs, for this state of things are,
first, more muscular exercises second, less
mental exercise. 1t may be questioned
whether the second OF these is likely to be
duly attended to- As rule it is useless
to tell men engaged in active pursuits that
they are working too hard for their health.
They have established habits of applica-
ton, and they find it easier to yield to
those habits than to combat them. They
are generally in the condition of Sir Walter
SCOTT, who, when in his last illness he was
told by his physicians that he must not
work, replied you might as well put the
kettle on the fire and then tell it not to
boil" He could not help working, and
he died in harness.
This is the rule, and it is why so many
energetic and strong Drained men in these
days drop out of the ranks apparently in
the full flush of success. They will not
or cannot heed the warnings OF science,
and so they go on until a crisis is reached,
and then they collapse. But it is evident
that the only results Of a great increase in
this kind of thing must be to eliminate the
high strung element completely. For those
who have developed their nervous system
| at the expense of their constitution will
either fail to perpetuate their race, or will
hand down their own weaknesses to their
children, and thus produce feebler
| breed, and one less able to contend with its
| surroundings. The ultimate outcome of
the present blind and irrational struggle
for wealth and place, therefore, must be to
retard the progress of civilization by
throwing back the weight of that progress
upon less intelligent but more hardy ele-
ment The brute development will out
strip the intellectual in continuous con-
test, and thus the very passion Of adj
| vancement will defeat its own purposes.
A due regard to muscular training may
! however be had in the education of the
young, and thus they may be preserved
from great part OF the evils which are
fastening more and more upon their seniors.
Judging from the tendencies of the times
towards increased brain development,
there is little danger of excessive ath.
letic exercises. In fact until within the
past ten years, or since the war, athletic
training has been far too generally neglected
in this country, and even now it is only be.
ginning to be taken up in systematic way.
Outdoor exercise, muscular exercise,
plenty of relaxation and recreation, are
what we all want, and what we all ought
to have tenfold more of than we ever get.
Both old and young deprive themselves too
much of holidays and resting places in life,
and what is very much to the purpose, we
do not gain anything by this hot haste
and unresting work. There are very
few men nowadays who do not worry
themselves twice as much as they have
any need to over their business, and still
fewer who have the resolution to break
away from 1t at intervals, and give them
selves change of scene and air and occupa-
ton. And the result is that people grow