Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-03-29
As ONE WOMAN SEES IT
interesting Pamphist Only ssrvss. TO
Convince That the Only Proper
Way 10 Live 10 70 Avoid
Medina q Rest Cure
by SARAH p. LOWRIE

later, ! dare say, with the heading:
Isolation is and Forced Feeding paper
the author being j. Madison Taylor. MD.
.,l was struck first, a. I glanced idly at
the % Introduction, BY this phrase: !.
Inc late Weir Mitchell--whosc CHIEF OF
clinic was for ycars--deviscd and employed
ping rest Of its evils"
That expression, which Dr., Taylor 10 e,i.
dentiy quoting himself ''robbing rest Of its
evils s'--interested me. I have known more
'.nan one rest cured patient who has never
one reads story to get the plot and dis.
cover the sequel, and both were more inter.
esting than most best sellers"
7 CANNOT analyse the pamphlet here even
l. II were capable Of any valuable general
Judgment on the subject treated, but the
following quotation from what might Be-
called the opening chapter gives q very fair
idea how the subject is dealt with.
Ihese facts-vix., facts concerning re.
cent researches In the neuro and psycho
resources Of the ductless glands, ctc.--"were
nor. movable. to DR.. Mitchell. but he was
fully aware Of their clinical foreshadowings.
Ills primary training was that Of teacher
OF physiology, which made him alert TO much
ne could not define but guided determine
Absolute rest with its isolation, nnonotony,
its unhurriedness. ordrrliness. regularity,
tends TO release from all over tension. sus-
Pense. an1ieties. which thus fade into the
Daexground and tend to disappear Depressed
thus come back to poise. A state Of release
is created 10 over. .tension psychogenc and
muscular. Rest treatment thus supplies
peculiarly favorable opportunities for men.
tal distraction, FOR hypnoidal states (of
conscious and the coconscious. what Mitchell
called the pre- and post dormital states--in
which Sidis tells the precise time occurs 10
interject or introduce constructive sugges.
tions.
I'VE assistants were specifically instructed
as to how and when to utilize these receptive
states. and; In particular, how pst to abuse
them. To keep our hands off when delicate
or suspicious or strange conditions or revela-
tions were about to emerge.
The finer. more subtle. and the guiding
work was reserved for the master. We
could. and often did. contribute TO the re-
suits. but always within our jurisdiction.
I'm short. rest treatment may be CON
ccived Of as the artistic as we'll as the scien-
tine and common. sense adaptation of rest.
supplemented BY suitable accessory pro-
cedures In accord with the needs of the
individual.
Rest has been recognized since time i'm
memorial as paramount to the treatment of
acute. to many protracted and otherwise
complicated disorders and diseases. Mere
inaction. however, is by no means adequate:
hence Hilton. Weir Mitchell. Playfar and
later the experts in disorders Of metabolism.
the phthisiosraphers. and now the surgeons
have come TO use rest and the accessories Of
rest. and have defined the instrumentalities
whereby to bring about maximum of eff.
cheney for rest as radical agency in cellular
restitution and psychopathic re-establish-
ment. In acute disease and injury absolute
rest Is essential. not only as the chief agency
to retard the ebbng tide of defense energies
during infection or threatened infection after
shock or trauma. but also in order to fortify
the reparative potentialities.
In protracted or chronic or conv descent
states. rest. absolute, modified or partial Is
equally eficacious IN placing the sufferer in
position of advantage for rehabilitation.
while it is a simple matter to place an
individual in bed. or to immobilize a pari,
it is forcefully borne in upon men Of cx-
perience that. in delayed repair or unfortu-
nate eventualites. there is required quite as
isuch judgment. special skill and training to
employ rest advnntageousy as is needed to
successfully employ any other therapeutic
regime. In the golden age Of conservation
these accessory. supplemental and training
agencies will take so high a place in conf
dence and esteem as to reduce the need for
medicaments to their minimum
T ONG ago as a child | observed with
- wide-cyed amaZement rest cure nv
grandmother undertook under DR.. Mitchell.
IT was in my mercst childhood and in the
rery early days Of Weir Mitchcll's conception
Of the treatment. The very word was new.
and nothing of the process was corlprehended
hy the family or much believed in. so that the
test was probably NOT fair one even Tor
those less experienced days. in fact. the
only rest part Of 1t was the patients lying
in bed. Family and friends drifted in and
out OF the room more than usual, because the
patient was presumed to be in need of COM
pany, since she was deprived OF her ordi.
nary activities. That particular patient
room. but she never cared TO tahe up the
threads of life ngain even to the extent OF
coming down stairs and being one of the
family at meals. She lived a delightful and
on the whole sympathetic life for the next
twenty years, freed of all contacts thar af.
fected her unpleasantly. and protected from,
physical Jars OF sights or sounds or smells or
touch. In fact she prolonged her rest cure
such MS it was---indefnitcly or until she
died. But she was never cured of anything
but a desire to live normally.
suspect under regime. such MS tEc
school OF Weir Mitchell now uses the initial
cure would have been far more drastic an,i
the after. cure-the bringing he paticn, back
10 life--far more decisive.
N
n need rest cure. ] was talking IA q
woman not long ago who has Just undergone
one. and she remarked that she supposed her
ultimate recovery to complete health mislt
perhaps take as long as her illness.
'But you were only i'll short time. /
thought. some one remarked. unless you
count the rest cure your illness. -
The convalescent regarded us paeIy for a
moment and then she said lstcssly:
II have felt this thing coming on for at
least three years. Sometimes I wondered 7
was not taken by force by you all and shut
up
The ma iority OF i'll people Of this kind d,
not know how III they are. however, and fou,
all warnings. which fancy is part of their
illness.
Gambling is not confined wholly TO Grams
and cards and horse-racing. Very conscien
tious men and women gamble with their
health. Which Is only another way of say.
ing that one can commit suicide by doing
Ons thing too much day. quite as we'll IA
with a rope or a belt strap and a hook IN
the closet. Only in one ease you are not
given what is called "Christian bur;oI ;,