Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-07-04

n OST Of us know what 1t means to
INl feel good" and those who do
not certainly know what it means
to feel bad" Few people, however. have
any definite idea of the exact causes that
produce these states of feeling We know,
for instance. that a pleasant breeze on q
moderately warm day is likely to make us
feel good. We know that a good dinner
properly digested has similar effect. But
the exact paths by which this feeling Is
spread all through our organism is q mys.
terry to most people.
Professor George V. y. Dearborn of the
Tufts College Medical and Dental Schools.
Boston, and the Sargent Normal School,
Cambridge, has made most ingenious at.
tempt to explain scientifically what 1t is
that makes us feel good" and Also to
some extent. what makes us feel bad"
Among his conclusions he finds that the
100000 Wilt Of the intestine, little tufts
rich In smooth muscle and sympathetic
nerves. adapt the nutritive fats and pro
TENS OF the blood TO the immediate needs
Of the nerve cells and may. besides send
sympathetic influences which. fusing in
the brain, make us feel good" or gen.
orally happy.
"Euphorla" is the pretty scientific word
that he uses for the condition OF feeling
generally we'll and happy "Dysphoria" is
the corresponding word for feeling bad.
OF factors principally make up the cond
ton Of "Euphoria": CAD Nutrit!onal and
sympathetic influences from the active in
festival Will; OBJ Kinesthesia, or the sense
of movement, and tC) the epicritic i'm
pulses or the impulses which flow from
sensations felt in the skin.
The nutritional influences toward good
humor or feeling good go to the neurons
or nervous units. and especially TO those
In the gray layer OF the brain and trunk
nerves through the blood streams from the
liver and digestive centres The sympa
thetic impulses that also contribute to
feeling good are certain nerve currents
which experimental physiology and the
investigators personal experience both
suggest to be in operation. These i'm
pulses from the intestines have much to
do with the determination Of moods and
passions and temperaments.
Professor Dearborn says that under
normal conditions there Is a direct rela
tionship between absorption OF food from
the small intestines and the general state
OF the mind This is why acute fatigue is
30 Immediately relieved by glass of hot
milk or matted milk or some variety Of
soup This profound physiological truth
also explains why the worried man on
coming home from the office feels his
worries slip away SO very quickly after
dinner. There is a direct nutritive stimu
lation" Of the central. and especially the
cortical, nerve centres.
ut is not traditional deluson." says
Professor Dearborn, that fat men and
boys are usually good natured. and lean
women cuttingly keen and not, obviously
too happy. On the one hand. the Eskimos.
and on the other hand the races OF South
ern Europe. both eaters of much fat. GER
tainly have higher euphoric index than
the Scotchman for example. or the thin.
down-East Yankee.
comfortable condition of the nerve
cells is dependent on the supply OF "Nissl's
sranules," complex substance com.
pounded Of fat and protein, In which the
characteristic determinant is what the
biologists term llpoid, fatlike material,
or phosphorized fat Experiments have
shown that there is very quick loss of
this material in the nerve cells when the
loss of material by the body exceeds the
intake. In addition to these important
bodies the sheath OF the principal nerves
Is fatty substance, very liable to suffer
from the same causes
The minute nerve cells are in imme.
diate and constant relation with the blood
stream. A blood corpuscle passes entirely