Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-05-25
THE CROUCH.
Il Is the Most Fatal of All Diseases.

police sergeant in Chicago, charged
with murder. 1t was stated that Har-
baugh, enraged because Charles Kel-
ly cooked two eggs instead Of three
in filling a restaurant order, plunged
knife into his heart.
"You want to know the cause Of the
killing?" said the police sergeant,
who knew human nature. "It wss
the crouch. This waiter had the
crouch; 1t made him murder: It
makes many men murder. The
crouch is worse than a ton of dyna-
mite"
Did you know this? Did you ever
realize its danger when you suffered
from a crouch? Apropos Of what the
police sergeant said, 1t Is interesting
to learn what medical authorities
think.
"The CROUCH" added the Chicago
police sergeant, has caused most Of
the separations in families. 1t causes
fights at the breakfast table. 1t
makes partners fight, and often ends
in bankruptcy. 1t has started as many
men on the road to ruin as whisky.
Most men have grouches. Some call
the trouble disordered nerves"
You get up in the morning. You
feel life isn't worth a hang" Busi-
ness has been bad. The babies have
been crying all night. Your wife
wants a new hat. The servant has
left. You are bilious. There is a
brown taste in your mouth. You kick
things right and left.
You go down to the breakfast ta-
BILE with a scowl on your face, you
refuse to answer the greetings Of your
wife, impatiently wipe your lips after
you have permitted the children to
kiss you and then take up the morn
ing paper. You just feel mean. At
the office you raise row. You be-
rate the stenographer, fire the office
boy, and so on the entire day.
But do you know the danger Of the
crouch, of what menaces you when
you permit yourself to fall victim :?
In a medical paper recently read
no less an authority that DR.. e. New
in Stump, a well-known scientific in
vestigator, said: There Is no doubt
that men in a temper suffer from a
toxic poisoning Of the blood. There
is a secretion in the vital fluids Of
poisonous matter which produces a
sort Of intoxication.
There Is an analogy between bill
iousness and the crouch, as 1t Is CALL
ed. A disarranged system will pro-
duce bad temper; indigestion will
predispose one to Ill moods; so will
poisonous matter absorbed from the
intestines. And just as bad temper
may be produced by these physiolog-
ical causes, it in turn Is likely to dis
arrange the system, cause attacks OF
indigestion, disarrangement Of the
circulatory system, which may have
far-reaching and disastrous results" :"
Never knew this before, did you?
Never knew a crouch might prove
fatal; that 1t might disrupt happy
family relations, bring about a d.
vorce, cause a failure in business, re-
suit in your losing friends?
There is a specific and decided
change in the blood after a man sue
cumbs to an attack of bad temper"
declares DR.. Stump. Naturally, the
crouch discolors ones psychical out
look; it naturally affects the physical
system. I should not hesitate to say
that a man is more liable to take cold
when he is angry; that, in fact,
man in a bad temper is susceptible to
any disease.
"Theosophists claim that 1t changes
the color of ones soul. If we were to
accept abstract theories, this seems
plausible. One can imagine the psy-
chical being Of an individual becom-
ing clouded and red tinted during an
attack of bad temper. Take the man
himself.
IF the attack of bad temper is
long lasting the unhappy man may
become a victim of distorted fancies.
He imagines everybody is his enemy.
He feels that he is prosecuted, imag-
ines his relatives have come too often
to his house for dinner; that his wife
has been buying too many dresses;
that his iceman has overcharged him
and his coal man has given him un-
derweight supply.
HE begins to suspect his bookkeep-
er of peculating and his stenographer
Of supplying secrets to rival firms
He begins to imagine, possibly, that
his wife is carrying on clandestine
correspondence with some one, may
even accuse and insult her. There Is
no limit to the pernicious and wrong
things the man may imagine.
Naturally, there are bad results.
People resent the imaginings Of a
man in a temper. They should real
ize, however, that he is victim Of
practically a disease. And 1t Is one
of the most fatal diseases.
"As I said, bad temper Is likely to
bring on physical ills. 1t may cause
nervous collapse, weaken the resistive
power Of the system. 1t undoubted-
ly has been the cause Of hundreds
of suicides. 1t has been the first step
in a degeneration to mental disease
and insanity. 1t has undoubtedly in
spired men to brutal murders"
From a scienfic standpoint, cheer
full temper is better than medicine or
gold. It tones the system. 1t gives
one a sane outlook on life. But the
crouch, physilogically and psychical-
l., 4, aoooarous -philadelDhia North