The times., 1898-10-30
People Who Are Said to Be
Born Tired Are Really Ill.
FATIGUE AS A DISEASE
Not Only Drunkenness and All Grim
iha'ity, But Also Laxiness. Is go,v
said to BE Pathological Coudi-
oon--The Importance of This View
in the Cases of Children.

| Pathaiosicai ana to consider habituai in
| ebrfety as a positive disease More rea-
| sonable Is the idea that fatigue, when it
Is persistent, is a symptom of disease.
writer in the Chicago Times-Heraid
takes up this subject, saying:
ITO speak of man or woman as having
been born tired conveyed. until n short
time ago. a suggestion of good-natured
contempt, If not of absolute censure and
reproach. Those We're the days when
school children who declined to study
hard and persistently were termed lazy,
idle or good for nothing.
But We have changed all that nova
days The mental, moral. and physical
| attitude of the man, woman or child who
refuses to work steadily or with any,
thing like a proper amount of energy 10
no longer due to laZiness or Incidence. IT
Is merely and simply the result of a de-
iectiVe condition Of the physical organ
ism or of the gray matter of the brain
and Is distinctly and clearly attributed
10 malnutrition or the disease of fa-
tisue- For-so say the present-day sciep-
'ists ana child students-fatigue is not
only the result but also the cause of
much of the poor work done by both chill
ureh ana ADULTS at the present time,
ana Is plainly and indubitably disease.
and should be treated as such.
Dr- Colin A. Scott, of the Chicapo
normal school, reached this conclusion
In company with many of his brotbar
students of child life and conditions
some time ago. Last year. in so far as
MS other scholastic duties allowed hin, IN
do so, he made wide and varied tes.s
among the school children of Chicago
WIZ, with the idea of finding out just how far
tHe nervousness resulting from undue
fatigue affected the physical and man,aI
condition of these children. The resnlts
OF these tests and examinations were de-
ciueuly surprising, and went TO proyo
that an almost overwhelming majority NJ
the public school students of Chicago are
doins poor work because of overwork
ootn on their own part and that of the
teachers who instruct them AT six wears
oil age, or when first entering school the
average child was found to be perfectly
normal, and usually free from defective
conditions. From six until eight wears
OF age however, the percentage of these
defective conditions Increased SLOWLY bu,
steadily. AT the age of eight wears
When many fresh Studies are taken nm
ana the mind of the child drawn in many
new directions, the condition of nervous
fatigue became much more general. AT
the age of fourteen for girls and fifteen
FOR boys it again increased alarmincly
the result being the production of a state
OF cooperative Illness, as Il were That
Is, the perpetual fatigue under which the
children suffered produced defective nu-
triton and undue nervousness; these all
ments, in turn, greatly encouraged and
assisted the condition OF oyerfatieuc.
which absolutely precluded the possi-
bility of anything like good and forceful
work or study.
In Boston similar conclusions have
been recently attained too both In re-
gard TO children and adults. Several ia
nous nervous specialists both in New
York and in European cities, have ar
rived at decisions of like character. The
tired feeling which has served as the
subject matter OF so many Jokes and COM
icalities, as well as done duty as the out
ward expression of the inward and con-
tinued weariness which constitutes the
terribly real but usually unspoken mar
tyrdom of so many American people of
both sexes. has been duly and finally la
beled disease. When in a normal.
healthy condition. so declare the physi-
cians and scientists who now aivanc-
ing this theory. the average human be.
ing, of whatever age. feels like work. as
witness the children who will work far
harder over their play than even the
sternest educator of the old-time type
would have dreamed of compelling them
to labor, and the men and women who
will dance. hunt. or play golf for rec-e-
atoms sake with vim and energy nsver
ezacted of the professional or commercial
h,tp, t,a-
irg. man. woman or child. is perretualiy
languid. disinclined for labor or effort of
any kind, afflicted with a chronic condi-
ton of morning tire'-to use the term
formulated by DR.. Scott and his brother
scientistS-he. she or 1t is in poor ner-
vous and nutritive condition, and suffer-
ing from the disease of fatigue. This IS
the basic theory upon which the new
fatigue philosophy Is founded.
''To the non-working school girl or boy.
whether suffering from overfatigue or
merely indolent, but little practical as
sistance or easing of the fatigue-produc
ing conditions will at present accrue from
this theory. save as its popu.arization
may induce individual instructors to mod
ify or avert these conditions or as the
parents may see fit to withdraw him or
her from school until the tired feeling has
been effectually banished
1.-The school teacher or principal of
Chicago has no authority to decree an
unrecognized holiday for the overfa-
tigued child, and this is perhaps just as
well for the cause of future education
and public culture. The fatigue tests
used in determining the nervous condi-
tion of such children are exceedingly
simple, and quite within the power of an
ordinary child to learn by heart after a
single experience of them. Were it pos
sible for the swaying arm or dropping
shoulder, which effectually evidence the
condition of overfatigue, to earn. a week
or two of respite from school room labors
the opening of the skating and baseball
seasons would doubtless find many
grammar school students badly afflicted
with the fatigue disease, and the warm
days of late Springtime and early Au-
tumn would undoubtedly show a remark
able depletion of the school room ranks.
1t is far easier, as well as less acutely
painful. to suffer from WEAKNESS and
lassitude than from tooth or stomach
ache, for instance. and the symptoms of
even the severest case of fatigue-disease
known are exceedingly easy TO simulate.
Some children also, although credited |
with possessing Chicago grit and energy
to an unusual degree at other times, have
been known to suddenly assume them
whenever requested to go upon an er- ]
rand or undertake a bit of household |
labor In fact, SO general and wide |
spread are fatigue symptoms of this
kind among children that even DR.. Scott |
would be puzzled occasionally TO decide |
which were real and which simulated or |
acquired
..W-i.i!e it is an awful thing II realize |
how many children have in byeone ages |