Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-06
DR.. Allan McLane Hamilton Talks on
the Increase of Nervousness.
HOW TO CARE FOR THE BRAIN.
We Think Zoo Much Of Business and Too
Little Of Pleasure.
BRAIN FOOD ADELUsIoS AND A SNARE
rwnrrrrx ron THE DrspArcH. !

the minor troubles caused BY disordere,
brain; while some of the greater trouble
are general paresis, softening Of the brain
etc. General paresis has been very preva
lent of late. and many men prominent ii
their profession are now in insane asylum
suffering from this disease There is nj
cure, so doctors say, for paresis. Insomnii
and nervousness are more prevalent in thu
country than in any other country in tn
world, and doctors claim that it is due in
great measure to the way in which Ameri
cans live and try to get ahead.
DR.. Allan McLane Hamilton, of New
York, an expert on brain and nervous trou
bles, saws: Nervousness is the great brair
trouble in this country. tits caused chiefly
by the continued strain of business. Ameri
cans take too little time to think about theil
health, and to think especially about theil
brain. All the time they are thinking o.
business; how to get on in the world, and
how to make fortune. Many of Them
would work % hours out of the "a II they
possibly could, and would then complain
that they hadn't time to attend to their busi-
ness properly. This continued strain on the
brain is also the cause of so much insomnia
that is prevalent. People who live in for
|
amount of brain trouble that those who live
in this country have.
MORE HOLIDAYS NEEDED.
They give themselves more rest than we
take here, they have more holidays, more
times like the recent Centennial time when
all thoughts of business are put on one side
and the whole community give themselves
up entirely to rest and pleasure. think
those three days holiday in this CITY did
those who availed themselves of the holiday
more good than they will ever be able to
know of. They may have got tired out
physically, but it was great rest for their
brains: During the time of the festivities
their minds were entirely removed from
business thoughts and troubles. Another
cause of the nervousness OF Americans is
that they keep their brains working in too
narrow channel. They don't seem to de-
velop it enough. They keep working along
in the same groove all the time; Of
course, I am speaking of the majority.
The man OF business, the merchant
or the broker studies chiefly the market in
which most of their transactions occur, and
let other subjects go by. Children's minds
are not developed properly in my estima-
ton. They want TO have wide range of
study, and they want to have that study
made as easy as possible for them. Their
brains are not as strong as those of an adult
They must be trained carefully, and their
studies should be made just as light as pos
sible. Another great mistake that Ameri-
cans make is in their diet. They take as
adults too much of vegetable and farina-
ceous diet, drink too much beer aud eat too
many sweets. Children should have more
farinsceous food. and adults should eat more
meat and take more of an animal diet. Meat
1r1an H.
girls, and when taken by young boys is
likely to produce convulsions. Insomnia and
other nervous diseases are due to INSULT
cient exercise, misuse of the brain and abuse
of food; such as eating hot bread and hot
cakes for breakfast. Adults want more meat
than the average American adult eats.
DANGER OF STIMULATES.
''Thisclimate demands that the inhabitants
of the country should eat more nutritious
food than is eaten elsewhere; then again,
Americans are much less fitted to take
stimulants than foreigners are ON accoun.
of the climate in which we live. think
that foreign vices are responsible in very
large degree for American nervousness.
The habit of taking alcoholic drinks before
meals is one of these bad vices; and very
few know the tremendous amount of harm
and injury that one drink before breakfast
of drinking absinthe, liqueurs and
cordials is another very bad one. Brain
food is q misnomer: Many people claim
that fish is brain food because phos-
phorus is found In fish to q very large
extent. This is not so. A great many
set forth the advantages
of cereals as brain foods These are also
mistakes. The best brain foods are cold
fats and vegetable oils. 1 consider one of
the most important articles of diet that we
can possibly have in this country to be cot !
ton seed oil. 1t is one of the best fats and |
much more healthful than lard. If persons |
would use more olive oil they would be |
great deal better off There are lots of ways |
in which they can-take the olive oil with |
out its being unpleasant for them. There |
are great many adulterants of food which, |
If used under their own names, would be |
much more valuable than the food which |
they are now sold to represent. L consider
much more healthful than
butter. Butter may contain, during Its
products of decomposition,
and unless the butter is of the best possible
quality it may very often do great deal of
harm. Wheaton food or cereals taken to
,he exclusion of all else is very injurious to
'he brain and nervous system. 1t is unwise
'or anybody to live on a cereal diet to the
EXCLUSION OF animal diet.
SLEEP MORE AND WORRY LESS.
"If Americans would live more quietly,
would not be in such q constant state ofrush
Ind excitement, and would eat more food
hat contained some nourishment rather than
living on fancy dishes, there would be great
1eal less nervousness, insomnia and general
nervous disorders than there are at the pres
mt day. This nervousness has only come on
If late years comparatively, and it is caused
by the whirl of excitement in which Ameri-
cans, and especially inhabitants of large
,ities, will live. They keep on the go from
Early in the morning until late at night,
when half of that time should have been
yiven up to rest and recreation. They try to
crowd into a short space of time all the work
hey possibly can in order to gain the al
mighty dollar, and by doing so ruin their
health and constitution. Men should
Use early in the morning, eat a
rood breakfast that contains a
md discard all such items as toasted muf-
ins, corn bread, wheat cakes or anything OF
he kind, rest little after their breakfast,
70 through their days business with as llt-
lie worry and as little excitement as thev
possibly can, and after their work is fin
shed in the evening, say from to O'Clock,
20 the time when their business
lours close, they should have their dinner,
at it slowly and comfortably and then give
themselves up entirely to rest and recrea-
ion. They should try to develop other
ARTS OF their brain than those which are
xercised in following their daily vocations.
And then they should get to bed early and
ct good nights rest. Attempting to
'ork without proper rest at night is mis-
AXE. aud if man is troubled with insom-
ia at all he should consult physician and