The Somerset reporter., 1893-12-11
THE PHILOSOPHY OF NOISE.
Aversion to Disturbance Is q symptom o,
Neurotic Degeneration.


Neurotic Degeneration.
Awoman suffering from neuralgia sta
tons her son to keep boys from making
a noise in front of the house. A boy
COMES by whistling-a performance in
which we must recognize a natural,
wholesome and boylil,e act, whereupon
there ensues short, sharp fight between
the pair, in which onei5 accidentally cut
The upshot is not important the origin
of it is.
1t 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 We're not SICK
would be inconvienced to ease the pains
Of one who was. In part, this custom
was one of ostentation. 1t could be
p:acticed only by the influential who
we're exalted by making themselves q
nuisance. When death ensued, hatch
ment was set up in the same spirit OF
vainglory. All the windows in the
house were closed for term. the dura
ton of which was fixed by custom, but
which bore 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 folh
and children. Dogs bark (curs only
meak 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 l Ut. In every form of sick
ness the nervous function is deranged
AS we have seen above mankind ha.
shown its appreciation of this fact by its
customs. Excessive sensibility to noise
is thus one symptom of neurotic degen
GRAFTON. 1t is the mark of one broad dis
tinction between the state of civilization
and its opposite. 1t 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
system rudely healthful, both in body
and mind. The converse of this propo
sition is equally true. Whenever 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 neurotic one il
follows that , ; is comfortable to 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
one person awake while his healthier OF
wiser neighbor sleeps the sleep of the
just Under the pinging of the cable
car bells valetudinarian 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 tive
minds is sick.
In such case the will power is i'm.
paired. 1t would probably be found that
the complain lg person is also irritable,
passionate, perhaps consumed by seb
contemplation. In many cases of thi
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 merry
Gus disturbance can be nursed into an
object of horror. Time was when folks
/ thought constituencies TO noise to be evil
dence of hisl strung character. They
We're 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 fruit or phase
of ignorance it is getting little sick of
those sick folks, at least of whom it has
right to look for something better
New York Evening Sun.