Year: 1866

have been evidently shortened Dy
ovorwork, and yet we were not aware
that the same cause was reducing tho
average of human life among al
classes of our people. An eminent
physician of this city calls our atten,
ton TO this fact as il is ooncisely and
foroibly set forth in Dr. Tyler's Report
of the Mclean Insane Asylum, which
is connected with the Massachusetts,
General Hospital DIR. Tyler says:


With the opportunities OF obser.
vation which my position give me,
shall scarcely be faithful TO duty with
out briefly referring to one terror Of
the times" which is shortening many
life, and bringing many TO our hos
pitals in a state of incurable brain
disease. refer to the intense and
unceasing activity displayed chiefly in
business, but extending to almost every
other pursuit. Every hour of every
day is given up TO an unhinching and
persistent devotion to whatever inter
ests the individual. Nights and Sun
days can scarcely be spared from
labor, and are compressed into such
small periods as shall just suffice to
appease a weary frame and a very
moderate conscience. No time is
taken for. recreation, and little for
meals, and that little in a very irreg-
ular way. Every moment not spent
in the keen drive of business is looked
upon as lost. Every nerve is strained
to accomplish just as much as is pos
sible to unremitting exertion Every
thing is done rapidly, or in the Ian
guage of tho day, "with rush. y
Every man has given amount OF
vital force to live with and work with.
His capacity for any kind of labor,
whatever it may be and however it
may compare with that of another,
has its limit. 1t never can be over
drawn upon without serious damage.
So much of this force as he wastes, or
SO much as he turns in any one direc-
ton, so much less has he for any
other. If ho overworks his brain his
body will suffer. If he overworks
his body his brain will suffer. He
may overworE one set of organs, or
invigorate them as he says at the ex-
pense of another set An illustration
of this is evident in those who give
their chief attention to the develop
ment of muscle, as boxers and men,
bers of boat clubs do. Their regimen
and diet tends to keep the digestive
organs in good order, and to develope
the muscular system. This is ire
quently carried to an excess, and when
it is, the Individual for time can
show an athletic figure, great strength,
and an external appearance OF high
health but in little while it is plain
that he has diverted his vital force
from other organs, say the lungs,
which have not been sufficiently nour-
ished; they fail him, and he dies of
consumption. To keep one in the
best working order, this vital force
must be properly distributed to every
organ, and to the digestive and respi-
ratory organs in full share, to keep
them active, else its supply will be
diminished. What is lost by use and
waste must be regained by regular
bodily nourishment and refreshment,
that is by food and repose. Its use
must be regular, must never be exces-
siye. and must alternate with rest
Each person will accomplish the great
ast amount that is possible for ham, by
working regularly for given number
of hours, and by taking time at regu-
larly recurring periods sufficient for
food, rest and recreation. The con-
sequences of overwork may not ap-
pear at once, but they are inevitable
and destructive. 0verworkers deceive
themselves by the, belief that they can
bear more than others, or that they
can bear what they are doing because
they have so long borne it without
breaking down.


During the last eighteen months I
have seen many persons who have
devoted themselves incessantly to their
business, as before described, and have
been sensible of growing sense of
exhaustion and inability, but have
been unwilling to intermit their pur-
suits until some proposed object had
been gained Before which, however,
the long continued strain has proved
too great, and paralysis or softening
of the brain, or some incurable mala-
dy, has ended both the work and the
desire to engage in it. Ihave also
seen a large number of persons who
have been sensible of the same feel
ings Of fatigue, of a growing irrita-
bility of temper, a loss of appetite,
indigestion, inability TO sleep comfort
ably during even the short time they
could spare for the purpose, of some
pain in the head, and who at length
have become alarmed by slight con-
fusion of thought, an inability to cast
their accounts correctly, great sense
Of WEAKNESS and a feeling of incom-
potency to undertake what they had
all along been earnestly engaged in,
and with all this, some depression of
spirits. Such persons may recover by
immediate rest and careful medical
treatment, but never to be again tho
vigorous workers they have seemed.
Their danger is indeed imminent, for
a single step more may place them
beyond possibility Of recovery. A
majority of the overworkers referred
to have been engaged in commercial
and manufacturing business, but some
have been professional men, and some
the overtasked female scholars and
teachers in our public schools"


These remarks deserve to be needed
1t is plain from them, that not only
literary and scientific men, and female
teachers, are in danger of premature
decline, or insanity, arising from over
work, but that all classes of persons,
an almost eyerv occu nation i'm ifa ara