Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1899-12-09
BAD BUSINESS HABITS
Many Men Of This Age fastening
Mental Decay.
Insanity lnsreasins because Of over
Burdsned Drains - Notable
Instances Of Mental
Collapse.

Business men are to-day being driven
to the madhouse as they were never
driven before. And whyp Chiefly be.
cause they cannot or will not allow
themselves time in which to refresh
their jaded brains. Nature has equipped
us with no more exquisitely complex
piece of mechanism than the brain. II
Is capable of w~ithstanding tremendou,
strains, but because IL does not ALWAYS
cry out, like our limbs, when 1t is tired,
we are apt TO forget there is a limit 10
its endurance. Like the pirate omnibus
horse, 1t is fiogged up hill and down dale
until, after mute protests. II finally col.
lapses. How, then, can we make toler-
ably sure of keeping sane? This aues-
ton can be best answered perhaps by
citing a few examples of men who have
not succeeded in keeping sane.
There has lately died in the north of
England a ~well-known accountant, who
for seven years never took a holiday.
In splendid practice, he was anxious 10
amass a fortune and retire early. After
being five years in perpetual harness
his brain began to show signals of dis
tress- He was not so quick at figures
as he used to be, nor so accurate. IL
was plain that his mind required rest.
He refused to obey the mandate OF ex-
hausted nature, however, and stuck to
his books. Two years later his brain
gave way to such an extent that he was
unable to repeat the multiplication ia
Bile. Subsequently his mind became n
total blank; and, though perfectly CON
scious, he died without even recogniz-
ing his wife.
Even doctors do not invariably keep
sane. a popular member OF the profess
sion succumbed to insanity last year.
His brain warned him Of what was in
store for him. but he had jumped into
a big practice which brought him big
fees. The first indication of mental dis
was his inability to remember
names OF patients. Impaired
Is a certain sign of brain exhaustion
and want of repose, but the doctor dis
regarded it. The result was that he de-
veloped into a hopeless idiot.
An enormous amount OF insanity can
be traced to the habit INDUCED in by
business people Of taking their work
home with them. The men who achieve
most success In life and live to enjoy the
fruits OF their labors are those who, con-
hning their commercial operations
strictly to Office hours, devote their
evenings to their families or 10 the pur-
suit OF some hobby. The best brain
tonic is change Of occupation. Yet
some Of the richest men, while main
tanning their brains at concert pitch
throughout the day, spend their after
dinner hours in devising plans for ac-
quiring wealth. The disastrous conse-
quences Of their folly they discover
when IL Is too late.
One day about Ave years ago a city
merchant, who had boosted that he had
never wasted an hour, ordered some
soupat a restaurant. Strangely enough,
just as he took the first mouthful his
brain seemed to snap. From that mo-
ment his gold might have been so many
bricks for all the use II WA to him. for
he starved himself to death. Nature had
repeatedly held out the red flag to this
persistent money grabber. For some
~hhN nv hub UGH unublt W I'm MS at
tention on any subject; when writing
his flow of words was deficient and his
spelling inaccurate; but he preferred to
thrash his brain TO destruction rather
than lose a few sovereigns. Mind wan
dering is one Of the first precursors OF
mental decay; but the fault can be
remedied by relaxation-by forgetting
the cares OF business OF an evening and
bracing the mind with fresh interests.
Tradesmen are chronic sinners In this
respect. Engrossed with the one idea
Of getting ahead Of their rivals, as they
can scarcely help being in these siren
nous days, they unnecessarily employ
their evenings in connecting new enter
prises, overlooking the fact that the
brain is capable of much better things
after it's fair share OF rest than when IL
is continually on the move. A pros
porous tradesman was placed in an
asylum a few months ago after threat
ening to stab one Of his most intimate
friends. 1t was learned that he had
long suffered from headaches, and that
for a whole year his mind had been oc-
cupied, TO the exclusion Of everything
else, in plotting how he could crush an
opposition shop. In one of his sane mo-
ments he confessed that the pressure
on his brain was such that he felt il
could only be relieved by the shedding
of blood.
No more extraordinary illustration
of the danger OF overworking the brain
or, rather. concentrating il on one
spot. so to speak, for the brain is never
~overworked if it is engaged OF a variety
OF subjects-could be found than the
case Of a gifted lady artist who, after
shaving at a picture for months and
worrying about its ultimate fate at an
important exhibition, fell into n deep
sleep which lasted 10 hours. When she
awoke her knowledge Of art had COM
pletely enthusiastically journal.