New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-05-09
JOHN B. HUBER, A. M, NJ. D.

~
have a lot Of that kind OF force; in vic
tory to hurl it upon the defeated foe and make
a good. thorough job Of the fight; in defeat
20 hold back the merciess dogs Of war and to
save as much as he can OF his army from ami
hilston
AS individuals every one OF US has such
forces in reserve. stored up in our bones, our
muscles and our organs. And the most OF US
don't suspect how rich we are in these re-
spects. There isn't one OF US alive without
latent resources OF mind and body which we
are able 70 draw for supreme occasions
The most OF US have but little idea OF our
capabilities.
Medical history teens with examples OF en-
DURANGO. both physical and mental, such as
prove enormous reserve potentialities The
Flagellants, in the Middle Ages, under stress
of emotion, were able TO submit to dreadful
scourgings, such as would surely, in our day
kill prisoners thus punished. In those medeval
dancing manias, those odd mental epidemcs'
swayng circles during hours together eXhib-
tied strength hardly conceivable to the pres
ent day reader Of such accounts. We have
something like dancing manias to-day though
not quite so strenuous. Yet when you come
10 think OF IT, considerably strenuous at that
And isn't it surprising to see fellow citizens
past forty. with undistrbuted middles and
very considerable heit, acquired through
eupeptic decades, doing the fox trot the same
as they would have dcnc II at twenty, and
elderly parties. with white whiskers and shin
ing domes. fringed lightly and Whitley behind
the ears giving the lie TO that nonsense about
youth being a stuff that will not endure. Who
would have believed, had we not seen every
body doing it, that such things can be done
and teot uD so steadily.
THE CONTEMPORARIES OF A CEN
TURY AGO.
Something more than century ago the
"convulsionnaires" could bend their bodies
bridge fashion and let very heavy weights be
dropped on to them. For hours and days they
were in convulsons-and lived. Lying thus, d
victim OF this mental malady could bear planks
seating several men. That most changeable
and g1otesque nerve trouble, hysteria, which
can. chameleon-like, simulate pretty much
every kind Of disease medical or surgical, has
in the past appeared in such lights that people
believed the phenomena were miraculous We
now know such sufferers have only drawn on
the unsupported forces they naturally en-
dowed with.
\ How. oftentmes. by the way. has the moral
i ist held nature up model for emu
lation. We are ever to list to natures teach
ings" In one respect we would be in very
bad way indeed, following her example For
there never was a more lavish, more reck-
lessly extravagant dame How outrageously
wasteful are her provisions. The roe OF sin
gle FISH. for instance is likely TO contain mill
ions Of potential FISH lives; and if such cruel
q. as that of the survival of the fttest should
become inactive for but brief season, no yes
sci could make its way through the piscine life
that would choke up the seven
NAPOLEON, THE UNTUTORED PSY-
CHOLOGIST.
The half Of his strength he put not forth"
And who among us hasn't, one time or another,
under stress Of fright or other profound emo
ton, done things we would never have mag
ined we had the strength for? Who is not
thrilled in reading how Napoleon led his men
across the Alps 10 the point when they be
Geved themselves absolutely spent not an
other stel could they carry their painting
bodies Whereupon the magnificent, though
untutored psychologist, had band take con-
spicuous position and play with vigor and con-
viction The Marseillaise.' The reverberating
music among those snow-capped heights, echo
ing from icy crag 70 glistenng peak, was
mighty stimulus 10 courage, 20 patriotism, to
the thirst for glory; whereby such strength
was aroused as the rank and file had not
dreamed themselves capable Of SO that, with
triumphant shouts, they finished the task their
determined and knowing general had set them
20 do. and saw already captive Italy lying at
their feet.
II sometimes takes real genius TO sense hui
mankinds most obvious needs. AS when, only
the other day. Kipling complained TO his coun-
trymen that their new armies are mostly with
out music, that mighty Quickener of the emo
tons that caller-out OF the soldiers individual
reserve forces. Who has not read one Of the
most powerful Of his stories The Drums OF
the Fore and Att" wherein drummer boy
and his companion hier saved a broken regi-
Ynent from worse than death, from bequeathing
20 It's Tosterity heritage Of shameful eowsr-
dice-and were killed, poor little fellows, while
fling and drumming.
After the Harvard Yale boat race year or
so ago il was the former, the losing crew,
which gave the greatest evidence OF exhaus-
ton The Harvard men were so utterly all