Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-05-20
AMERICAN NERVOUSNESS.
There Is No More of the Disease Here
Than Elsewhere.

AMERICAN NERVOUSNESS.
There Is No More of the Disease Here
Than Elsewhere.
The belief in the greater nervousness
of the American seems very widespread
The late Dr. Beard Of New York wa;
one of the first to describe nervous pros
tration and to give it its medical name
of neurasthenia, so that it has often beer
spoken Of as "the American disease. u
In his work on American Nervous.
ness'' he treats chiefly Of the causes OF
the nervousness and its symptoms, ac-
cepting almost as an axiom the state
ment that Americans are more nervous
than any other race and that there is a
vastly greater amount of nervous disease
in this country than in Europe. He adj
| mits, however, that the severer forms of
organic nervous disease, such as locomo-
tor ataxia and apoplexy, are probably
less frequent. the increase being in the
SO called functional conditions, neuras-
thenia, hysteria and the like. 1t is prob
able that the majority Of educated peo-
pie not physicians in this country would
admit without a murmur that as peo-
pie we are peculiarly subject to nervous
disease.
Although, as | have said, the statis-
tics are not conclusive, nevertheless such
| statistics as we have and the conclusions
| drawn from various general impressions
absolutely contradict this belief. It is
only since the war Of 1919 that the
American has acquired his reputation
for restless energy. Before that he was
denounced as indolent and sluggish. Up
to the period of the civil war he was
also denounced as physically degenerate,
inferior in bulk, strength and endur-
ance to his English cousin. The civil
war put an end to such talk. No armies
endured more than ours in the field; no
people endured more than those who
staid behind waiting and helping
The record of the first Kentucky bri-
gade in the Confederate army, almost
continuously in action or on the march
for 100 days in 1864; retreating from
their homes, with the hope of success
steadily fading away; LAO strong at
the beginning, suffering 1850 fatal or
hospital wounds, with only so left un-
wounded, yet mastering $40 at the end,
with less than 10 desertions-such a
record has never been surpassed. These
men were Of the purest American stock.
At about the same time DR.. Brown
Sequard found that the American man.
mails survived injuries that were inevi-
tably fatal to the European, and our
surgeons found a surprising percentage
of recovery from sevsre gunshot
wounds, greater probably S1an had ever
been observed in Europe: Dr.. B. A.
Gould found that the American soldier
was physically as we'll developed as the
European, and DR.. III. P. Bowditch
found that the American schoolboy was
the equal in measurement Of the boys
of Eton and Rugby. American life in-
surance underwriters. too, have found
that the longevity in this country is as
great as it is in Europe, or greater. The
rise Of the south since the civil war
and the prompt recovery Of individual
communities. such as Chicago, Boston
and Portland, after great confagrations,
are further instances Of the great recu-
perative power of our people
Since the civil war cur physical con-
dition has greatly improved. The great
er interest in athletics and better cook
ing have probably had something to do
with this Improvement. We have held
the Americas cup for nearly so years.
In shooting, cricket, rowing and tennis
we have not been inferior in interna-
tional contests. In track athletics Yale
has recently shown her superiority to
Cambridge, and the New York athletes
have not only surpassed their London
rivals, but have established new world |
records in more than one event. In the |
famous ride a few years ago between
Berlin and Vienna the picked riders |
and horses of the Austrian and German
armies were used up, yet our cavalry |
men and express messengers Oh the
plains, with ordinary mounts, have
made better records both for time and !
distance, without the slightest injury |
to horses or men-Dr Philip G. Knapp
in Century.