The Washington herald., 1914-12-09
DR.. Marden's Uplift Talks.
By ORISON SWEET MARDEN,s
Author of Pushing to the Front" Etc.
THE TONIC OF SUCCESS.

Army surgeons tell US that the NOR
tality from wounds is much greater in
a defeated army than in a victorious
one. The sense OF victory, Of achieve
ment, is q great tonic, real healing
force.
The joy in triumph, the mental exalta-
tion Of victory, were so great in Napo-
Icons army that his men were often
insensible even to mortal wounds. Grip
pied soldiers of the old guard would fire.
quently raise themselves upon their
bleeding stumps and cheer for their idol.
Napoleon.
There have been many instances in
the present war where soldiers were so
excited and eXhilarated because they
were driving the enemy back that they
were totally insensibIe Of their own NOR
tai wounds until they saw that they were
bleeding.
The emotions OF hope. joy. expectation
and the tonic OF victory increase the re-
sistlne power of the body and greatly
re-enforce physical strength and endur-
ance.
1t is the dIsheartened, defeated army
that succumbs to pain. is susceptible to
disease. and ravaged by epidemics Of
typhoid. dysentery and cholera The
specific germ which produces any one
of these diseases is much more likely
to breed and thrive in those who are de-
pressed or discouraged, because Of the
body's chose sympathy with the mind.
A great surgeon in Napoleon's army
after the battle of Eyliu, when the con-
fiict had waged bitterly for thirty-siX
hours without cessation, said that the
moral exaltation OF the soldiers, their
realization of triumph was so great that
they were literally insensible to pain,
hunger or exhaustion. even unconscious
OF mortal wounds. They were mentally
and spiritually buoyed up by their sense
OF victory
There is no health tonic like the con-
sciousness OF having actually realized a
great ambition.
Despair is a powerful depressant. Even
in our sports. in hard fought boat races
or football games, the defeated side suf-
fers very much more from the conse-
quent strain and fatigue because the
mind is depressed. while the victorious
side Is buoyed with the tonic OF victory,
the consciousness of achievement.
After the triumph of the Braves in
Boston recently the players were so ex-
hilarated at the sense OF their victory
that they forgot all the weariness and
the trials of their long baseball campaign
and they seemed as fresh. as buoyant.
and as exultant as though they were
J"sN SIdl tlhS oHt N' tiiS'i go"
On the other hand. the Athletics slinked
of OF the field and out OF sight as quick
" as possible. crestfallen and humiliated
with their defeat.
The depressing influence Of failure and
disaster are so great that during the
present European war the governments
are keeping. as far as possible, all un-
fortunate defeats and unfortunate hap
penings from the public. and publishing
only the things which would encourage.
They fear the influence OF such news
upon the public mind. and especially
upon the enlistment Of men and on the
soldiers who are not actually on the
battlefield.
Physicians are making more and more
nracti,a al use Of uplifting thoughts. cheer
full emotions. and all such health friends.
and at the same time are trying to elm