Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1889-09-05
Healthy vs.. Injurious Brain Work.

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strengthening work. In truth, IL is, as
every psychologist knows, only by work,
minds, or, more correctly speak ng.
brains can be strengthened in their
growth and naturally developed. Tho
exercise of those centres of the nervous
system. whose functions what we call
consc business and intellect are associ-
ated, Is rs essential to their nutrition
as activity is to the healthy growth OF
any other part of the organism,
whether nervous or muscular. Every
part of the living body is developed,
and enjoys vitality, by the law which
makes the appropriation of food de-
pendent upon and commensurate with
the amount of work it does. 1t feeds
m proportion rs it works, rs truly rs it
works In proportion as it feeds. This
,anon of organic life Is the foundation
Of those estimates which psychologists
orm when they compute the value OF
lood in weight lifting power. 1t is.
however, necessary to recognize that,
although these propositions are true in
the abstract they need the introduc.
hon OF new integcr or comb ming
power before any sum Of results can be
worked out.
We know that food is practically just
As truly outside the body after it has
been eaten. digested, and even taken
into tho blood current, as it is when it
lies on the table. Nutrition is q tissue
function, and its performance depends
on the appetite and feeding power.
which Is something different from the
organic need, OF the tissue with which
the nutrient fluid is brought into con-
tact. Again, any particular part of the
organism may be so exhausted by work
that 1t has not power enough left to
feed. 1t is a matter OF the highest
practical moment that this fact should
DO recognized. There Is undoubtedly
point at which work ceases to be
strengthening, and becomes exhaust.ng,
self-exhaus,ing. and self destructive so
far IS the particular issue in activity Is
concerned.
Work may be carried too far, in
fact to such point that not only the
last reserve OF power for action but
the ultimate unite, SO to say, of the
force of nutrition, which is, as we now
believe, identical with the force of gem
eral activity, may be expended in work,
and the organism left so utterly power
less that the exhausted tissues can no
longer appropriate the food supplied
or placed within their normal reach.
We have said that it is necessary this
should be understood, 1t has special
bearing on the question Of brain work
In childhood and Incidence.
just as extreme weakness and faint
ness of the BODY as a whole produce
restlessness and loss of control, so ex-
trems exhaustion of tho brain pro-
duces mental agitation and loss of
healthy self-consciousness. This is how
and why tho "over-workcd become
deranged. One of the earliest indica-
tions, or symptoms, Of brain exhaustion
is commonly irritabilty; then comes
sleeplessness of the sort which seems
to consist in inability to cease thinking
either of particular subject or things
In general; next the mental purestful
OF uncomfortable thought gets the bet.
ter of the will, even dur ny the ordi-
nary hours of wakefullness and actity,
which is step further toward the verge
of insanity than the mere persistence
of thought at the hour of slecp-this
| way lies madness; and. finally, the
thinking faculty. or. rs we say, the
imagination. gets tho better of the will
and asserts supremacy for it's phantoms,
those of sight or hearing being tho
most turbulent and dominant which
happen to be most commonly used In
intellectual work, and therefore most
developed by tho individual cere brum
this is madness. Such is the story
Of ovsrwork of tho brain or mind; and
IL Is easy to see that at any stage OF
progress from bad to worse the will
may be oyerpowered, and the judg-
ment perverted in such manner as to
| impel the v ctim of this mind trouble
TO seek refuge in death, or to so d sor.
der his consciousness that he supposes
himself to be acting in obedience to
some Just and worthy bchest when he
commits an act of self-destruction or
does something in the doing of which
hs accidentally dies Such. in the
main, Is tho story of suicide from
ufclWpIh
What. then. can be the excuse plead.
able by those who heap on the brains
OF the young or adolcscent such burdens
Of mind labor and worry as exhaust
their very faculties of self-help and
leave them prev TO the vagaries of o
starYsd brainp We pity tho suffering
Of those shipwrceked Sailors who, after
exposure in an open boat, perhaps
without food, for hours or days, "go
mad" and. raving of feast and pleas
ures, the antitheses of Their actual ex-
perience. fall on each other. or throw
themselves overheard. Have we nc
pity for brains dying of lack Of food
because we have compelled them to
expend Their very last unit OF force in
work. and now they are distraught in
the act of dying?
1t may be sublime ideal, that of a
highly educated people; but if it should
happen that the realization of this
beautiful dream Of our phlesophic re.
formers can only be achieved by the
slaughter OF the weak. it will scarcely
console the natural conscience to reflect
that. after all. "the survival of the
fttest'' Is the law OF Nature. Lancet,