Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-08-16
THE PHILOSOPHY OF NOISE.
Aversion to Disturbance Is n Symptom ai
NenrnLic Dpranernfinn.

Aversion to Disturbance Is n Symptom, ai
Neurotic Degeneration.
A woman suffering from neuralgia sta.
tions her son to keep boys from making
n noise in front of the house. A boy
comes by whistling-a performance in
which we must recognize q natural,
Wholesome and boylike act. whereupon
there ensues n short, sharp fight between
the pair, in which oneis accidentally cut.
The upshot is not important: the origin
Of 1t 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. 1t could be
| practiced only by the influential who
We're exalted by making themselves a
nuisance, When death ensued, a latch
ment was set up in the same spirit of
vaingloiy. All the windows in the
house We're closed for term, the lura-
ton of which was fixed by custom, but
which bore a relation to the estate of the
deceased aud 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 derau%ed.
AS we have seen above mankind has
shown its appreciation of this fact j.; its
customs. Excessive sensibility to Eoise
IS thus one symptom of neurotic d2gen-
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 rom
man on his physical side.
Within civilization itself Indifference
to noise is one of the distinctions of Il
system rudely healthful, both i'll body
and mind. The converse of this propo-
sition is equally true. Whenever Il per-
son displays peculiar sensitiveness to
of an unwholesome mind in an unwhole-
some body. From the fact that the dis
turbance is essentially a neurotic one it
follows that it is controllable 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 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 sick.
In such a case the will power is i'm.
paired. 1t would probably be found that
the complaining person is also irritable,
passionate, 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 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 nerv-
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 it and trotted IL
forth in public. The world knows bet
ter now. Iterects hospitals for the Mrs.
Wittitterlys, whom it rather admired
in Nicholas Nicklebys 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
a right to look for something better
New York Evening Sun.
Fruit Good at Any Time,