Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1894-08-25
rnr phYsloLooY or reARa.



Being Relieved of sensibisity.
Fear, grief and joy. 10 say nothing Of
pathos. and anger. bring tears to the
eyes. They are said to come from the
heart; and this is true. for no one ever
reasoned himself into weeping without
q first appeal through the imagination
10 some emotion. Tears are the nat
ural outlet OF emotional tension. They
are the result Of storm in the central
nervous system, giving rise to changes
IN the vascular terminals of the tear Sc
creting glands. These changes induce
profuse excretion Of water and weeping
results. In mild degree some excre-
ton il always in process. to battle the
eye aud lear IT of foreign matter.
The controlling center is at a distance,
though the secretion may be kept mp by
the small trace OF saline substance that
Is present Ia the tears themselves. The
lachrymal glands lie between the nerv-
GUS center and the mucuous surface OF
| the eyeball. Tears afford good Illus
/ tration Of the way in which nervous
fibers are capable Of conveying to a Sc
creting organ exciting impulses from
both sides Of gland lying in their
course. Afferent and efferent communi-
cations bring about a similar result. In
ternal nervous vibrations and external
excitation or reflex action cause flow
of tears. In both instances the exciting
impulse is vibration.
Niobe, s'all tears" and the unfortu-
nate pedestrian with minute particle
OF steel from the rail of an elevated road
in his eye, are unwilling exponents OF q
similar process. They weep the same
kind of briny fluid, in exactly the same
way, though from widely different
causes. Imagination Is at times sufh.
cient to excite the nervous system into
the production OF tears without exter-
nal aid or reflex. Writers and readers
OF good fiction weep over 1t alike, and
the actor loses himself so entirely in the
exigencies of dramatic art that he sheds
real tears and the audience shed tear;
with him. or truth the man who
never weeps has hard heart, and In,
quality of his intellect may also be CUES
toned.
r Emotion, then affection, grief, anxiety
| incite to tears; not pain or discomfort
, The pangs Of maternity are fearless
! though the influence of ether or chloro
form may cause some emotional dream
| that results In weeping. In the Garlic
days Of surgery patients might scream
r and utter such pitiful cries rs TO siekei
i the bystanders, might even faint wit
4 pain, yet there were seldom any tears
These being pure waves of emotion an
e relief to the heart are almost power
+ less to mitigate pain. Perhaps one VIII
weeps from pain does SO from uncor
! scious though selfish rity--in othe
1 words, from emotion.
! For the fearful change OF scene, mer
tai diversion and outdoor life are III
h best remedies. The author quoted oil
n jects to alcohol as fearfully injurious
I 1t disturbs and unbalances the nervor
7 system, keeps mp maudlin and pitifl
, sentimentaiity and sustains the evi
! Alcohol is the mother Of sorrow. A
opiate, however, prescribed at nigh
a soothes and controls and really disc
l. pines rebellious nerve centers. Slice
3 cures tears. And so does time-the r
" storer.
It Persons subject TO many and repeats
q griefs forget how TO weep. and the oil,
70 rs compared TO the young, are almo
fearless. Tears have their value in Il
y life Of humanity not as tears, but
n signs. They show that grief centers nj
being relieved of their sensibility, an
II that the nervous organization is lear
s. ing how to bear mp against sorrow,
r. Asclepiad