Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-02
ABSENCE OF NERVES.
A DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIC
OF THE MONGOLIAN.


A DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIC
OF THE MONGOLIAN.
The Chinaman an Automatic Workman.
His Capacity for Sleep Under Adverse
Conditions-Breathing and Ventilation.
Without Worry and Anxiety-A Puzzle.
1t is not very common to dissect dead
Cinnamon, though it has doubtless been
done; but we do not hear of any reasons for
supposing that the nervous anatomy of the |
dark haired race differs in any essential |
respect from that of the Caucasian. But |
though the nerves of a Chinese, as compared |
with those of the Occidental, may be, as the |
geometricians say, similar aud similarly |
situated" :" nothing is palmer than that they |
are nerves OF very different sort from those |
with which we are familiar. 1t seems to
make no particular difference to Chinese
how long he remains in one position. He
will write all day, like an automaton. If he
is a handicraftsman he will stand all day in
one place from dewy morn till dusky eve,
beating, or whatever it may be, and do it
every day, without any variation in the
monotony, and apparently with no special
consciousness that there is any monotony to
be varied In the same way Chinese school
children are subjected to an amount of con-
finement, unreieved by any recess or change
of work, which would soon drive western pu-
pills 10 the verge of insanity. The very infants
in arms, instead of squirming and wriggling
as our children begin to do as soon as they
are born, lie as impasSive as so many mud
gods. And at a more advanced age, when
western children would vie with the monkey
in its widest antics, Chinese children will
often stand, sit or squat in the same posture
for a great length of time.
1t seems to be physiological fact that to
the Chinese exercise is superfuous. They can
not understand the mania which seems to
possess all classes of foreigners alike to walk
| when there is no desire to go anywhere,
much less can they comprehend the impulse
| to race over the country, at the risk of ones
| life, in such a singular performance as that
known as paper boat" or the motive
| which impels men of good social position to
| stand all the afternoon in the sun trying to
knock base ball to some spot where it shall
be inaccessible to some other persons, or, on
the other hand, struggling to catch the same
ball with celebrity so as to kill" another per
son on his ''baseI' Why any mortal should
do acts like these when he is abundantly able
to hire coolies to do them for him is, We re-
| peat, essentially mcomprehensible to a
Chinsman, nor is it any more comprehensi-
bic because he has heard it explained many
times
In the item of sleep, the Chinese establishes
the same difference between himself and the
Occidental as in the directions already speci-
fled Generally speaking, he is able to sleep
anywhere. None of the trihing disturbances
which drive US to despair annoy him With
brick for pillow, he can lie down on his
bed OF stalks, or mud bricks, or rattan, and
sleep the sleep of the just, with no reference
to the rest of creation. He does not want
his room darkened, nor does he require
others to be still. The infant crying in the
night may continue TO cry for all he cares
for ii does not disturb him. In some region.
the entire population seems to fall asleep, q.
by a common instinct dixie that of the hiber
mating bear during the first two hours o.
summer afternoons, and they do this with
regularity, no matter where they may be
At two hours after noon the universe a
such seasons is as still as two hours afte
midnight In the case of most workln!
people at least, and also in that of man,
Others position in sleep is of no sort of con
sequence. 1t would be easy to raise in Chin
an army Of 100000 men-nay, of 10000 90
tested by their capacity to 60 to slee
across three wheel barrows, with head down
ward, like spider, their mouths wide ope
and a fly inside.
Besides this, we must take account of tn
fact that in China breathing seems to b
}. optional There is nowhere any ventilatio
- worth the name, except when typhoo
blows the roof from building, or when
. famine compels the owner to pull the hous
down to sell the timbers We hear much {
Chinese overcrowding, but overcrowding
the normal condition of the Chinese, an
they do not appear TO be inconvenienced b
it at all, or in so triffing a degree that
scarcely deserves mention If they bad a
outfit of Anglu-Saxon nerves they would
as wretched as we frequently suppose them
be. The same freedom from the tyranny
nerves is exhibited in the Chinese endurant
of physical pain. Those who have any a
quaintance with the operations in hospita
in China know how common, or rather no
almost universal, it is for the patient to be-
without flinchirg degree of pain fro
which the stoutest of us would shrink
terror.
1t would be eas3 to expand this topic alo
into an essay, but we must pass it b
merely calling attention to a remark
George Eliot in one of her letters. 1T
highest calling and election she says-ir
tated, no doubt, by theological formulas,
which she had no taste-''is to do witho
opium and to bear pain with clear eyed c
durance" Ii she is right, there can be
little doubt that most Chinese at least ha
G. made their calling and election safe.
remains to speak of the worries and anx
ties to which humanity is everywhere ST
jected in this distracted world The Chint
are not only as accessible to these evils
any other people, but far more SO. The &C
ditons of their social life are such that
any given region there is large proporti
who are always on the ragged edge Of ru
A slight diminution Of the rainfall mea
starvation to hundreds of thousands
slight increase in the rainfall means the
vastation of their homes by destructi
foods for which there is no known remet
No Chinese is safe from the ENHANCEMENT
lawsuit, which, though he be perfectly
nocent, may work his ruin. Many of tn
IN disasters are not only seen, but their stealt
and steady approach is perceived, like [
gradual sinking of the Iron Stroud
l To us nothing is more dreadful than
|, momentary expectation of a calamity, VIII
-. cannot he forfended, and which may bri
Of all that is horrible il its train The Chin
rec face these things, perhaps because they Sc
red to be their normal state with clear ey
mr., endurance" which is one of the most
mi. markable phenomena of the race. Th
{ who have witnessed the perfectly quiet st
ing, vation in times of devastating famine
AND millions will be able to understand what
as here meant To be fully appreciated it N
be seen, but seen on no matter what scale
'' is as difficult for an occidental really to
pp derstand it as it is for Chinese truly to
pp' derstand the idea which the Anglo-Saxon
inherited and developed of personal and
- cial liberty.
In whatever aspect we regard them
TT | Chinese are and must continue to be tC
more or less puzzle, but we shall make
approach TO comprehending them until
have it settled firmly in our minds that
compared with US, they are gifted with
u, "absence of nerves." North China Ds
News.
Eat with Comfort and be Happy.
fri II is hy no means Uncertain hut