The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1914-06-19
Observation-Disclosures FAG)-
ITS CAUSE AND CORRECTION
copyright, 1914. by A. S. Cray

NEURAsTHENiA-(BRAlN FAG)-
ITS CAUSE AND CORRECTION
or all the Ills with which humanity
is afflicted, undoubtedly the most prev
alent. certainly that one most effectu
ally destroying the happiness and the
general efficiency of the American PEG
pie, is what has come of be universal
ly known as THE Great American Dis
ease," popularity called brain-fag OF
nervous prostration, and more spe
officially known as neurasthenia.
Neurasthenia is condition induced
by severe shock or serious illness; OF
by the cumulative effects Of slight but
long continued and persistent irrita
ton of one particular set Of nerves;
or as the result OF general physica
and moral softening from the lack oil
normal body functioning. All these
several causes may bring about a cen
trail nerve cell exhaustion identical in
results. Just as too frequent or toe
long holding Of the finger on the push
button will quickly run down and ex
haust the primary battery cells of an
electric call bell circuit, so the toe
frequent or too long continued work
ing of our nerve cells will produce ex
haustion.
With reasonable care and use pri
mary battery cells have long life, be.
cause they recuperate between dis
charges; but If the signals follow toe
closely or they are operated too con-
tinuously the battery plates lose this
recuperative power and tend to polar
lie, and even disintegrate; and with
the same treatment the very same
thing happens to our nerve cells for
the same reason. Nerve cells may be
worked beyond the point of possible
recuperation; hence, to maintain nor.
NAL physical, mental and moral
health our cells must be given nor.
NAL physiological use with time to
recuperate between discharges.
The symptoms of the disease Of
neurasthenia are multitudinous, and to
attempt to enumerate them would take
us far beyond the scope of this short
article. Suffice 1t to say that begin
ming with simple (?) nervous indiges-
ton. insomnia, and an occasional touch
of the blues" xthaase9mptapaa range
through disturbances involving all the
special senses and most OF the alb
dominal organs in almost endless com
bination and degrees of severity
Functional diseases" abound, new
one usually breaking out about as rap
idly as the old one is controlled, SC
that the victim endures practically q
continuous round of i'll health. Pos
sibly the one general UNIVERSAL symp
tom is "a tired feeling" The sufferer
wakes In the morning tired and is APT
TO remain tired all day until evening
when the average neurasthenic wakes
up and wants to start something.
Besides that tired feeling" so char
acteristic in the neurasthenic the chic
symptom is worry. A neurasthenic II
busy most of the time worrying abou
something: either worrying abou
what has happened, what Is now hap
pening, or what Is likely to happen
some day. 1t Is a proved and accepte
physiological truth that the adult !
more gravely injured by worry thai
by fatigue, the effect Of worry on tn
brain cells being exactly the same a
that resulting from hard physical Ii
Dor.
But hard physical labor accomplish
something presumably worth while
and there Is a certain tonic and res
full effect in contemplating the produc
OF labor; but worry produces nothing
can never reach a conclusion because
is absolutely illogical in origin and i
application, and can only serve to d.
stroy the most valuable thing man POI
sesses, the very foundation Of a
wealth-thought the creative concep
To think is to exercise the facultie
of judgment; to worry is to haras
with care and anxiety. No two thing
can occupy the same space at til
same time, and no man can think {
do two things at the same time. Their
fore we cannot think when we worr
and conversely we cannot worry whe
we think: either one absolutely d
stroys the other Hence neurasthenit
are only worrying when they thin
that they are thinking. That they al
>adrift on mental sea without cor
pass, chart or rudder Is what di
tresses and makes them weary, TO
when they can think clearly ar
definitely to a conclusion and the
follow 1t, they are no longer neura
themes.
All that we possess that the ANNA
do not we have developed out of Il
material wealth of the earth by Il
power OF our thoughts, and witho