The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1885-01-24
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Disorders Produced by Mental Disqu;et-
ude and Disturbance.
The carse, or condition, which most
commonly exposes the reserve of men,
tai energy to loss and in
jury is.worsyS Z The tone and
strength of mind are seriously
impaired by'its wearing influence, and,
tfit continufl6ng enough, they win be
destroyed. 1t sets the organism Of
thought and feeling vibrating with emo
tons which are, not consonant with the
natural liberation Of energy in work.
The whole machinery is thrown out of
gear, aud exercise, which would other.
wise be pleasurable and innocuous, be-
comes 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 an
old-fashioned expression-the tonic
muscular condition, are all, we know,
produced by rapid succession of minute
motiveimpulseso or acts like heexplosion
and discharge of electricity from alter
nately connected and separated points in
a circMt;in fact, a series of vibrations.
Mental energy doubtless takes the same
form OF development. If a. disturbing
element is introduced by the obtrusion
of some independent source of anxiety,
or if out of the business in hand the mind
makes discord, confusion ensues, and
for the time being harmonious action
ceases. Working under these cOndi-
fions in obedience to the will, the men,
tai organism sustains injury which must
be great. and may be lasting. The func-
ton OF the warning sense is suspended;
the reserve is no longer stock in abey.
ance, and it ceases to give stability to
the mind; the rythm of the mental forces
Is interrupted; a crash is always impend-
Ing, and too often sudden collapse oc-
ours. The point to be made clear is this:
overwork is hardly possible, and seldom,
II ever happens, while the mind is act
Ing in the way prescribed by the consti-
tuition and in The normal modes Of men
,Al exercise. The moment, however, the
aatural rythm of work is broken and
fiscord ensues, the mind is like an en-
CINE with the safety-valve locked, the
steam-gauge falsified, the governing APP
paratus out of gear; a breakdown may
occur at any instant. The state pictured
rs one of worry, and the. .besettino
peril is not depicted in too lurid colors.
The victim of worry is ever on the verge
of a catastrophe ; if he escapes. the mar
vel is not at his strength Of inteEect SO
much as his good fortune. Worry is
disorder, however induced, and disor-
derly work is abhorred by the laws of
nature, which leaves it wholly without
remedy. The energy employed in in
dustry carried on under this condition
Is lavished IN producing small result,
and speedily exhausted, The reserve
comes in ply very early in the
task, and the faculty Of recuperation is
speedily arrested. Sometimes loss of
appetite announces the cessation of nu-
triton; otherwise, the sense of hunger,
present in the system, is for time pre-
ternaturally acute, and marks the fact
that the demand is occasioned by loss of
power to appropriate, instead of any
diminution of supply. The effort to
work becomes daily more laboriOus, the
task OF fixing the attention grows in
creasingly difficult, thoughts wander,
memory fails, the reasoning. power is
enfeebled; prejudice-the shade-ef- de
funct emotion or some past persuasion
takes the place of Judgment; physical
nerve or brain disturbance may SUPER
vene, and the crash will then come sud-
denly, unexpected by onlookers, perhaps
impoverished by the sufferer himself.
This is the history Of. WORRY, or dis
order produced " mental disquietude
and distraction; occasionally by physical
diseases. Nineteenth Century.