The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-27
WEARING MEN OUT.
business Habits Leading Some of
Them to Madness.

/ Them to Madness.
From Casseus Saturday journal!
! Business men aye to-day being or ven to
/ the madtouse as they were never d.iven
/ before. And why? Chiefly because tEey
cannot or VIII not allow themselves time
/ in which to refresh their jad bra ms
/ Nature has equipped US with no more ex-
/ quisiCely complex piece OF mechanism than
/ the brain. 1t is capable of w.thstanding
/ tremendous strains, but because it does not
/ always cry out like our limbs, when it is
! tired. We are apt to forget there is limit
/ 10 It's endurance. Like toe pirate omnibus
/ horse, it is logged up hin and down dale
untL after mute protests, /. fnai col
iapses. How, then, can we make ol4rably
sure of keeping SAM? This question can
lie best answered re haps by ting a few
examples of men who have not succeeded
/ In keg ping sane.
There has lately died in the north of
England a woH-known accountant, who for
/ seven years never took holiday. In splen-
/ did practice, he was anxious to amass a
/ fortuCe and retire early. After being five
( years in perpetual harness his b ain te-
gan to show signals of distress. He was
not so quick at figures as he used to be.
| nor 50 accurate. 1t was p n that h
I mind required es'. He refused TO obey The
mandate of exhausted nature, however,
| and stuck 10 his books. Two years later
his an gave way to such an eXtent that
lie was unable 10 repeat the multi pl cation
/ tatlc. Subs QUenfly his mind be came a to-
! tai bank; and, though perfect CON
sc.ous, lie di-d wi .h1ut even recognizing
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
foY~ = M b. ,. Er
practice which brought him big fees. The
first indication of mental disturbance was
his inability to remember names of pa
tents. Impaired memory is a certain
sign of brain exhaustion and want of re-
pose, but the doctor disregarded it. The
result was that he developed into hope
less idiot.
An enormous amount of insanity can be
traced 10 th@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 cOufining their COM
nercial operations strictly 10 Office hours,
| devote their evenings to their families, or
10 the pursuit of some hobby. The best
brain tonic Is change of occupation. Yet
some of the richest men, while maintain
ing their brains at concert pitch through
out the day, spend their after-dinner hours
| in devising plans for acquiring wealth.
they discover when it is TOO late
One day a bout five years ago, q city
merchant, who boosted that he had never
wasted an hour, ordered some soup at a
restaurant. Strangely enough, just as he
took the first mouthful his brain seemed
TO snap. From that moment his gold
might have been so many bricks for all
The use il was TO him, for he starved him
, | self to death. Nature had repeatedly held
/ out the red flag to this persistent money
erubber. For some time he had been una bic
to fix his attention on any subject; when
writing his flow of words was deficient and
his spelling inaccurate; but he preferred
10 thrash his brain 10 destruction rather
than lose a few sovereigns. Mind wan
derirg is che of the first precursors of
mental decay; but the fault can be rene
died by relaxation--by forgetting the cares
r 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
p getting ahead of their rivals, as they can
scarcely help being in these strenuous
days they unnecessarily employ their
J evenings in connecting new enterprises,
overlooking the fact that the brain is cap
, able of much better things after its fair
, share of rest than when it is continually
on the move. A prosperous tradesman
was placed in an asylum a few months
, ago after threatening to stab one of his
most intimate IlleQUS. 1t was learned lildt
. he had long suffered from headaches, and
that for a whole year his mind had been
; occupied. to the exclusion of everything
else in plotting how ne 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 1t on one spot, sc
! to speak, for the brain is never over
, worked if it is engaged on a variety OF
subjects-could he found than the case OF
gifted lady artist who, after Shaving
at a picture for months and worrying
, about its ultimate fate at an important
lasted nineteen hours. When she awoke
her knowledge of art had completely van
ished
one Of the surest ways of ending ones
, days in a madhouse is to stimulate a flag
ged brain by constant "nips" of spirits
observation-disclosures in spirits Injuries the
memory to an incredible degree. In years
a gone by no person who was known to be
3 of Incorporate habits was permitted tC
appear as a witness in the Spanish courts
, Of Justice, the authorities maintaining that
, alcoholism was so prejudicial to the brain
: that it was unsafe to accept the testimony
of an inebriate. There is a singular in
stance on record of a merchant who grew
so accustomed to jogging his brain by
brandy -drinking that unless he could pro
1 cure q nip he was utterly unable &c
i work Needless to say, he generally left
, the office in a state of intoXicatlon. The
day that his brain collapsed he went
r home and insisted on putting every mem
, Der of his family to bed, under the i'm
preston that they, too. had drunk not
wisely but too we'll