The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-10-14
THE PHILOSOPHY OF NOISE,

Aversion to Disturbance 10 . symptom 81
Nsurotic Degeneration.
Awoman suffering from neuralgia Sta
tions her son to keep boys from making
q noise in front Of the house. A boy
comes by whistling-a performance in
which we must recognize q natural.
wholesome, and boylike act. whereupon
there ensues a short, sharp fight between
the pair in which oneis accidentally cut.
The upshot is not important: the origin
Of, it il.
It has long been usual to accord spe-
cial privileges to invalids in, relieving
them against noise. Formerly straw
would be strewn in the street, and thou.
sands Of persons who were not sick
would be inconyienced to ease the pains
of one who was. In part, this custom
was one of ~ostentation. It could be
practiced only by the influential who
were exalted by making themselves a
nuisance. When death ensued. a hatch
ment was set up in the same spirit of
vainglory. All the windows in the
house were closed for a term, the dura-
tion Of which was fixed by custom, but
which bore a relation to the estate of the
deceased and the consequent degree of
exaltation descending upon his heirs.
All healthy animals delight in noise.
The description includes barbarous folk
and children. Dogs bark (curs only
sneak off }, birds scream, boys shout,
girls clap hands to their ears in sweet
confusion, horses paw, all animate ma
ture responds to the ~exhilaration of noise.
The sick do not. In every form of sick
ness the nervou function is deranged.
As we have seer above mankind has
shown its appreciation Of this fact by its
customs. Excessive sensibility to noise
is thus M symptom of neurotic degen-
Grafton. It is the mark of one broad dis
tinction between the state of civilization
and its opposite. It testifies to one part
of the price which that state exacts from
man on his physical side.
Within civilization itself indifference
TO noise is one of the distinctions Of a
system rudely healthful. both in body
and mind. The onverse of this propo-
sition is equally true. Whenever q per-
son displays peculiar sensitiveness to
noise we may know that the case is one
of an unwholesome mind in an unwhole-
some body. From the fact that the dis
turbance is essentially a neurotic one it
follows that it is comfortable to a great
extent by the will. Much of the dis
turbance that is experienced from noise
can be put completely aside by exercise
of the will. A barking dog may keep
n person awake while his healthier or
wiser neighbor sleeps the sleep of the
just. Under the pinging of the cable
car bells a yaletudinarian subsidies into
frenzy while his younger clerk is Tapped
in dreams of the equally unconscious
typewriter on the next floor. The con-
trast here need not be one of relative
strength of mind merely: one of the two
minds is sick.
In such a case the will power is inn
paired. 1t would probably be found that
the complaining person is also irritable,
passionate, perhaps consumed by self
contemplation. In many cases of this
order relief could no doubt be gained
through treatment by suggestion. But
in vastly the greater number the patient
is competent to minister to himself. He
is still capable OF exerting the will. and
in this exercise lies complete and per-
manent cure. Furthermore, the cure
does not apply alone to the particular
noise that may have called for it. 1t will
be found to have influenced the mind
permanently. The injurious effects at
tributed to noise do not proceed from
without, but from within. They do not
inhere in the aerial vibrations, but in the
mental response made to them.
Finally it ought to be observed that
the disease is one that increases by be-
ing yielded to. The noise that is first
noticed as an annoyance in some mo-
ment of irritation, anxiety or other nery-
Gus disturbance can be nursed into an
object Of horror. Time was when folks
thought sensitiveness to noise to be EVIL
dence of high strung character. They
were rather proud of it and trotted it
forth in public. The world knows bet
ter now. Iterects hospitals for the Mrs.
Wittitterlys. whom it rather admired
in Nicholas Nickleby's time. 1t no
longer holds poor Tom Of Bedlam for in
spired, and since it has learned how
much sickness is either a fruit or a phase
of ignorance it is getting a little sick of
those sick folks, at least of whom it has
. right to look for something better
Nou- Vork EvopipO Cun