Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-13

OF mind and It is not my purpose In this a.
t!cle to prove II so. The proofs are readily
accessible In works on psychology.
| Assuming. therefore. that mental health
| depends upon brain health. let us inquire
| what factors are detrimental to that with
| view OF ooviating them where possible.
| Firstly, the brain Is enabled to energizs
| In virtue of a constant and abundant supply
/ OF healthy blood. Within certain limits tht
/ greater the supply the greater Is the pro-
oue.lon Q, mental energy. Now, the blood
! Is required for other purposes also; namely
for digestion some time after a meal. an.
| for the muscles during and after hare
| physical exertlon. At those periods. there
fore the brain is robbed OF a large part OF
| the blood supply required for effective men
! tai work.
| Hence. Immediately after a meal or af
| ter severe exercise. arduous mental stud,
! should not be undertaken. IL the effort &
work the brain under either of these con
| ditfons Is persisted in one of three things
| must happen. Either defective work VIII b,
done by the brain through inability to con-
I centrate in ii supply of blood adequat,
| Tor good work. in which case the thinking
powers, instead OF developing through study
are likely to become permanently sluggish
through the engendering of lazy defective
habits of thought or the brain viii secure
| Its supply of blood at the expense o. the
digestive organs. in which case permanent
starvation of both body and brain will
| eventually ensue through defective assimi-
| lation of the food materials lying in the
digestive organs, temporary poisoning of
! the system will take place through the fer
mentation of those contents and the alb
| sorption into the blood of poisonous pro-
| jects thus engendered or permanent stunt
| ing of the muscular and bony system viii
| take place through a proper supply of blood
never being obtained for their nutrition.
School children. therefore. Immediately
after the play hour should be given some
light and interesting study which does not
demand concentrated mental exertion.
certain favor
and others mental sluggIshness has long
been familiar. Shakespeare says. Great
| paunches make lean pates and dainty bits
make fat the ribs, but bankrupt quite the
wits"
While it is well known that the grea
Scotch thinkers of Christopher North's day
Cultivated literature on little oatmeal.
Much meat food causes mental sluggish
| ness; but meat food is our chief source OF
the heterogeneous (proteid) elements Of our
bodies. and is largely used in the building
up of brain tissues. so that a happy NEAR
must be struck between that excess which
causes stupidity and abstinence too
great In this respect each man is a law
unto himself; but il may be taken as
general rule that children, and especially
adolescents, should be most careful to avoid
excess. Eggs belong to the same class or
| food stuff.
1t is, however, possible to procure all the
| proteid necessary from a food entirely com
| posed Of cereals; but an objection TO this
| is that our marketable grains have, through
to contain an excess of starch from the
! point of view of an ideal food: that al
| individual feeding on cereals alone is very
prone to suffer from nitrogen starvation
and in this state, Of course, mental vigor
is impossible.
An essential for healthy brain action Is
the readily assimlable phosphates. Thes'
are contained chiefly in whole cereals. II
milk. eggs, the brain and glands OF animals
in nuts. etc. The emasculated grain use
as white flour in the manufacture Of bread
cakes and biscuits is nearly useless as :
source of these clements: for they
present, almost entirely, just inside tn
hranny covering.
Mental activity is rendered fficult by ans
condition which causes a sluggish circula
ton. Signs of this are cold feet liver d.
rangements, shortness of breath, etc Whei
no organic disease exists. a sluggish circu
lation is generally remediable by CAREFUL,
graduated physical exercise on the prin
ciples fully indicated in a previous article.
Mental alertness cannot exist in an I'M
pure atmosphere. The more highly organ
lied is the brain of the person the create
and more insistent is it's demand for the
oxygen which in modern dwellings can b.
secured only by an intelligent knowledgr
of the principles of ventilation. The stat
of the atmosphere In some of our halls {,
learning is indication of how little In
tell gence is sometimes displayed in the az
plication of the principles enunciated las,
week.
Unphysiologic work connotes over-pres
sure, so called. II a horse while given to
little food, is worked for long periods
time he is said to lose condition. Los
of condition in a working child is show
by lassitude at work and lack of interes,
and desire to learn i'm a school, where tn
teaching Is known to be not incorrect n
method by other children not showing tina
lack of living interest in the school. A
with the horse, rest will restore the tire,
child; but had the horse been taken car
of nationally in the first instance. he woul
not have required that rest: and had II
child been given its regular interval
which to feed its brain through being s,
cured an unincommoded digestive activit
there need have been no signs of owe:
pressure. Over-pressure, therefore IS sin
ply a sign of brain starvation: and II
remedy is not removal from work. but II
correction of these hygenic errors whic
are it's root.