STUFFY ROOMS 375 



the avenues of sense are closed, the central nervous system is no longer 

 aroused and consciousness lapses. Laura Bridgeman, paralyzed in 

 almost all her avenues of sense, fell asleep whenever her remaining 

 eye was closed. The patient who lost one labyrinth by disease and, 

 to escape unendurable vertigo, had the other removed by operation, 

 was quite unable to guide his movements or realize his position in the 

 dark. Eising from bed one night, he collapsed on the floor and re- 

 mained there helpless till succor arrived. 



A sense organ is not stimulated unless there is a change of rate in 

 the transference of energy ; and this to be effectual must occur in most 

 cases with considerable quickness. If a weak agent is to stimulate, 

 its application must be abrupt (Sherrington). Thus the slow changes 

 of barometric pressure on the body surface originate no skin sensa- 

 tions, though such changes of pressure, if applied suddenly, are much 

 above the threshold value for touch. A touch excited by constant 

 mechanical pressure of slight intensity fades quickly below the thresh- 

 old of sensation. Thus the almost unbearable discomfort which a 

 child feels on putting on for the first time a " natural " wool vest 

 fades away, and is no longer noticed with continual wear. Thomas 

 a Becket soon must have become oblivious to his hair shirt, and even 

 to its harbingers. It is not the wind which God tempers to the shorn 

 lamb, but the skin of the lamb to the wind. The inflow of sensations 

 keeps us active and alive and all the organs working in their appointed 

 functions. The cutaneous sensations are of the highest importance. 

 The salt and sand of wind-driven sea air particularly act on the skin 

 and through it braces the whole body. The changing play of wind, 

 of light, cold and warmth stimulate the activity and health of mind 

 and body. Monotony of sedentary occupation and of an overwarm 

 still atmosphere endured for long working hours destroys vigor and 

 happiness and brings about the atrophy of disuse. We hear a great 

 deal of the degeneration of the race brought about by city life, but 

 observation shows us that a drayman, navvy or policeman can live in 

 London, or other big city, strong and vigorous, and no less so than in 

 the country. The brain-worker, too, can keep himself perfectly fit if 

 his hours of sedentary employment are not too long and he balances 

 these by open-air exercise. The horses stabled, worked and fed in 

 London are as fine as any in the world; they do not live in windless 

 rooms heated by radiators. 



The hardy men of the north were evolved to stand the vagaries of 

 climate — cold and warmth — a starved or full belly have been their 

 changing lot. The full belly and the warm sun have expanded them 

 in lazy comfort; the cold and the starvation have braced them to 

 action. Modern civilization has withdrawn many of us from the 

 struggle with the rigors of nature; we seek for and mostly obtain the 



