Evening journal., 1893-09-18
The PHILOSOPHY OF NOISE.
Aversion to Disturbance Is symptom Of
Neurotie Degeneration.


Neurotie Degeneration.
A woman 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 boyhke 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 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 were not sick
would be inconvienced to ease the pains
Of one who was. In part, this custom
was one Of ostentation. II could be
practiced only by the influential who
were exalted by mailing themselves a
nuisance. When death ensued, hatch
ment was set up in the same spirit Of
vainglory. All the windows in the
house We're closed for 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 nervous function is deranged.
As we have seen above mankind has
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. It testifes to one part
of the price which that state exacts from
man on his physical side.
Within civilization itself indifference
70 noise is one of the distinctions Of a
system rudely healthful, both III body
and mind. The converse of this propo-
sition is equally true. Whenever a 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 il
follows that it is controllable to a great
extent by the will. Much of the dis
turbance that is experienced from noise
can be put completely aside by exercis,
Of the will. A barking dog may keeI
one person awake while his healthier ol
wiser neighbor sleeps the sleep Of tn,
| just. Under the pinging of the CABLE
car bells a yaletudinarian subsidies intC
frenzy while his younger clerk is lappe(
in dreams of the equally unconscioul
typewriter on the next floor. The con
trast here need not be one of RELATIVE
strength Of mind merely; one Of the tw,
minds is sick.
In such q case the will power is i'm
paired. 1t would probably be found tina
the complaining person is also irritsble
passionate, perhaps consumed by sci
contemplation. In many cases of thi
order relief could no doubt be game,
through treatment by suggestion. Blu
IN vastly the greater number the patien
is competent to minister to himself. ii
is still capable of exerting the Will, AM
in this exercise lies complete and per
manent cure. Furthermore, the cur
does not apply alone to the particula
noise that may have called for it. II vii
be found to have influenced the min,
permanently. The injurious effects at
tributed to noise do not proceed from
without, but from within. They do no
inhere in the aerial vibrations, but in tn
mental response made to them.
Finally it ought to be observed tina
the disease is one that increases by be
ing yielded to. The noise that is frs
noticed as an annoyance in some mo
ment of irritation, anxiety or other nerv
Gus disturbance can be nursed into al
object Of horror. Time was when folk
thought sensitiveness to noise to be evi
dence Of high strung character. The,
were rather proud of it and trotted i
forth in public The world knows bet
ter now. Iterects hospitals for the Mrs
Wittitterlys, whom it rather adnirel
in Nicholas Nickleby's time. 1t n
longer holds poor Tom Of Bedlam for in
spired, and sincs it has learned hoy
much sickness is either a fruit or a pbas
of ignorance it is getting a little sick o
those sick folks, at least Of whom it ha
a right to look for something BETTER
New York Evening Sun.