Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-08-14
A PERSON ossEssEp.
The Victim Of an ,lgsistent and Com
pulaixe Habit Of Action.

+.
Tho Victim Of anaIgsistent and Com
pulsive Habit Of Action.
The word "obsessionv may be defined
as an insistent and compulsive thought
habit of. mind ;7or tendency to- action.
The person so burdened is said to be
obsessed.
Few children are quite free from Oh.
session. Some must step on stones;
others must walk or avoid cracks;
some must ascend the stairs with the
right foot first; many must kick posts
or touch objects certain NUMBER OF
times. Some must count the windows,
pictures and figures on the wall paper;
some must bite the nails or pull the
eye .winkers.
Consider the nail bitter. 1t cannot be
said that he tolls not, but to what emo
Merely to crafty an obsession. he
nibbles little here and little there;
he frowns, elevates his elbow and In
verts his finger to reach an otherwise
inaccessible corner. Does he enjoy I'll
No. not exactly. but he would be mis-
cradle II he discontinued.
1t Is during childhood that we form
most of the automatic habits which
are to save time and thought In later
life, and 1t Is not surprising that some
foolish habits creep in. AS rule,
children drop these tendencies at need.
Just as they drop the rules assumed
in play, though they are sometimes so
absorbing as to cause Inconvenience.
An interesting instance was that OF
the boy who had to touch every one
wearing anything red. On one coca.
sion his whole family lost their train
because of the prevalence OF his color
among those waiting in the station.
The longer these tendencies are re-
talned in adult life the greater the dan
ger of their becoming coercive. And
so far as the we'll established case Is
concerned, the obsessive act must be
performed, though the business, social
and political world should come to q
standstill.
child who must kick posts is father
to the man who cannot eat an egg
which has been boiled either more or
less than four minutes, who cannot
work without absolute silence, who
cannot sleep II steam pipes crackls
and who must straighten out ali tan.
giles of his life, past, present and fu-
ture, before he can close his eyes In
slumber or take a vacation.
The boy Carlyle, proud, shy, sensi'
tive and pugnacious. was father to the
man who made war upon neighbors'
poultry and had q room, proof against
sound, specially constructed for his
literary labors. - Lippincotts Maya
zine.
Liquid Sulphur.
At Lake Charles, near the gulf OF
Mexico, 230 miles from New Orleans.
sulphur is obtained from deep deposits
in the form of liquid. Wells driven to
depth Of 600 feet in search Of petro-
leum revealed instead a rich deposit Of
sulphur. To obtain the mineral hollow
tubes were driven into the earth. Each
sulphur well consists of three tubes,
one within another. Through the outer
tube hot water is forced down, and 1t
issues through perforations near the
bottom. Through the central tube hot
air is driven a little lower than the
points where the hot water escapes.
Through the third tube, inclosed be-
tween the other two, the liquid sui
phur, dissolved by the water, rises to
the surface under the combined inau-i
ence of the pressure Of the column OF
water and the impulslon Of the rising
air. The liquid sulphur is led into
wooden reservoirs. where 1t co0ls and