The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-06-14
Brain-Sickly Literature.

That there is tendency IN our modern LIE
towards mental.byperasthesia cannot.we sup
pose, be denied. This il attendant upon a
nervous irrtability developed by conditions
in part physical and in part mental. The de
mand of the modern world upon the endu-
rance and the power Of adjustment and self
recovery of both body and mind 10 very great.
This is especially true IN cities and large
towns. where lite is stimulated and urged
along thousand lines. For every moment
there is not only employment, but one must
choose between many conflicting solicitations.
In the public schools the pupil IS
hurried from one thing 10 another. He
is interrupted at any point by the require
ments of the time schedule and this distract
ing tendency follows him into professional
and business life and into social and public
relations The first effect may be- and doubt
less is to develop great activity of our
powers-alertness, quickness Of decision and
action, and the extension of life over wide
range The net result is that much is accom-
plished in q given time, but the product does
not bear the marks Of palnstaklng care. At
the same time the powers OF life are rendered
not only quick. responsive. ready, but also
delicate. attenuate and easily disturbed.
The nervous temperament is developed, and
the impressbility and corresponding dellcacy
gained constitute a favorable field tor
pathological action. The balance between
impressibiity and self-recOvery, between re-
sponsveness and centricity, IS lost, and we
have passed from conditions of health to con-
ditions of disease The mind, being con-
dtioned by the physical nature, partakes Of
this over-refnement. delicacy and attenu-
alton. and at the same time similar conditions
of complex pressure operate upon the mind
directly. There appears under these condi-
tons O mental type marked by over-impressi-
biity. irritability. sentimentallty, hy-
peresthesia and hysteria, more or less COM
ba nf m
the dyspeptic stomach Graves what IT should
not have and grows by what 1t feeds
on. This diet is sensatIOnallsm and
strained feeling. the sensational novel.
the Sunday paper and such other lite.
nature as IS born of this very condition OF
mind 10 which it now ministers. The extent
of the malady may be understood from the
prodigious amount of this sort of reading
matter in perpetual demand. Physicians
know very well what all this means IN relation
10 nervous disOrdeTs-to insanity and all tho
diseases which originate in the nerve-centres
of the brain. With this phase of the subject
we do not here concern ourselves more than
10 suggest its relation to the attending mental
type with its liking for forced tone and
strained sentiment. its tolerance for high color
and thin texture. and its over-actlylty of the
imagination revealing in fantastic creations,
is sure 10 find Its way into literature. 1t has
found its way there in large measure,
and seems inclined to follow the apostolic IN
junction 10 abound more and more" The
result is most serious, for the evil reaches
down TO the very foundation of our civiliza-
ton and seems. indeed. 70 grow out OF the es-
sential conditions Of that civilization. The
fasity which appears IN books is seen equally
in the embodiment of our ideas along the
whole range Of life. Taste in art, IN music, IN
architecture in decoration and dress. in
schooling and in preaching is marked by the
same want Of soundness and wholesomeness.
Whether we are improving or otherwise the
fact remains that we are pleased with shoddy
and with gay colors. Doubtless there Is an
eyer-increasing number who escape all this
falsify. and take pleasure only in the best and
most profitable books: who give attention 20
the things that are highest their taste beng
healthy. simple and correct. The, fact re-
mains that the majority do not read the best
books OF love the best music and art mat
they are pleased with fashions that are hid
eous and effects that are tawdry.. The seri-
BUSINESS of the case is that the evil IS rooted az
the very centre of life. Ii can only be cured
by a force working widely and deeply.L-F. u.
Eggeston in the Unitarian Review for June.