Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1894-03-03
rhE PHILOSOPHY Of NoIse.


Aversion TO DISTURBANCES IL = sympfsm ~
NearotEc Degeseraffon.
A woman suffering from neuralgia sta.
tons her son TO keep boys from making
: noise In front Of the housa. 4 boy
comes by whistling-a performance III
which We must recognize natural.
wholesome and boylike act. whereupon
there ensues short, sharp fight between
the pair, in which oneis accidentally cut.
The upshot Is not important; the origin
Of II Ii.
II has long been usual TO accord spe-
eial 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 ostentafion. II could be
practiced only by the influential who
were exalted by making themselves a
nuisance. When death ensued, hatch
rent 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
exaltaticn descending upon his heirs.
All healthy animals delight In noise.
The description includes barbarons folk
and children. Dogs bark (curs only
sneak on, birds scream, boys shout
girls clap hands TO their ears In sweet
confusion. horses paw, all animate nm.
ture responds 10 the exhilarati0n 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 It's
customs. Excessive sensibility to noise
Is thus one symptom Of neurotic degen-
GRAFTON. II is the mark Of one broad dis
tinction between the state Of civilization
and its opposite. II 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 a
system rudely healthful. both In body
and mind. The converse Of this propo-
sition Is equally true. Whenever a per-
son displays peculiar CONSTITUENCIES to
noise we may know that the case Is one
Of an unwholesome mind Ia an unwhole-
some body. From the fact that the dis
turbance Is essentially u neurotic one ii
follows that II IN controllable to great
extent by the will. Much Of the dis
turbancs 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
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 nick
In such q case the will power IL i'm
paired. II wonld probably be found that
the complaining person Is also irritable,
passionates 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 10 minister to himself. He
Is still capable Of exerting the win, and
in this exercise lies complete and per-
manent cure. Furthermore, the cure
does not spply alone to the particular
noise that may have called for 1t. Ii 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 10 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 II 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. It 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 1t Is getting little sick OF
those sick folks, at least Of whom it has
q right to look for something better
New York Evening Sun.