The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1893-09-27
THE PHILOSOPHY OF NOISE.
Aversion to Disturbance Is a Symptom oil
Neurotic Degeneration.

NeurOtic Degeneration
A woman suffering from neuralgia sta
lions 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 natural,
wholesome and boylike act, whereupon
there ensues a short, sharp light 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 pans
of one who was. In part, this custom
was one of ostentation. 1t 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 III 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 folk
and children. Dogs bark Ccurs 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 Ornolse.
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 seusibility 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 testifes 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 a per-
son displays peculiar sensitiveness to
noise we may know that The case Is one
Of IN unwholesome mind in an unwhole-
some body. From the fact that the dis
turbance is essentially a neurotlc one 1T
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
one person awake while his healthier or
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
tTasf here need ne not be one of relative
strength of mind merely; one of the two
minds is sick.
In such a case the will power is i'm
haired. It would probably be found that
the complaining person IS also irritable,
passionate, perhaps consumed by self
| CONTEMPLATION. In MANI cases OF this
order relief could no dubt be gained
through treatment by suggestion. But
in vastly the greater number the patient
is competent to ministerto himself. lie
is still capable of exerti1gfhe Will and
in this exercise lies compute and per-
manent cure. Furthermfe, the cure
does not apply alone to tie particular
noise that may have callefor it. 1t will
be found to have inhueHed the mind
,ornanentlv. The injurihs effects at
tributed to noise do not proceed from
without, but from within. They do not
;nbera in the aerial vibratns, but in the
mental response made to tenn.
Finally it ought to bebserved that
the disease is one that i1reases by be-
ing yielded to. The nor that is first
noticed as an annoyancfn some mo-
I nent of irritation anxiety other nerv-
s Gus disturbance can be irsed into an
object of horror. Time W when folks
{ thought sensitiveness to use to be evil
dence of high strung chacter. They
= were rather proud OF it hd trotted 1T
S forth in public. The wot knows bet
y tor now. Iterects hospit5 for the Mrs.
Wittitterlys, whom 1t per admired
in Nicholas Nicklebys fne. 1t no
longer holds poor Tom OF edlam for IN
a snired. and since it ha earned how
h much sickness is either a bit or a phase
of ignorance it is getting little sick of
g those sicl, folks. at least whom it has
Il a right to look for somepg better
New York Evening Sun.
2oO nieces of dress goo anI 100 rev
10 patterns, all different, a LAIN BIOS.