246 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



moment when a man afflicted with neuralgia receives the mor- 

 phine injection for the first time, to free himself temporarily from 

 pain, may be decisive for his whole future life. It soon happens 

 that the anodyne is resorted to, not merely for unendurable nerv- 

 ous attacks, but for every little discomfort, care, and grief, so 

 that the veil of f orgetfulness may be drawn over the unpleasant- 

 ness and the pressure of the unwelcome reality may pass away in 

 dreaminess. Thus the unhappy man sinks from step to step in 

 the slough of opium-poisoning, from which deliverance is possible 

 only rarely and with difficulty. Energy, the power of resistance, 

 the sense of duty and pleasure in action are lost, and he becomes 

 a physical wreck ; indolent and indifferent, timid and uneasy, 

 emotional and excitable, the unhappy man presents the most 

 critical symptoms of what is called "morphinism." Similarly 

 terrible consequences follow the habitual use of other quieting 

 drugs, including the preparations of cocaine. Those, therefore, 

 who suffer from nervous disorders can not be too earnestly warned 

 never to use any such preparations, except in extreme cases, by 

 the prescription of their physician. 



Massage has recently played a considerable part among the 

 remedies applied for the removal of nervous pains. Good effects 

 are.obtained in neuralgias which originate from colds or stagnation 

 of the blood by means of the kneading and the muscular exercises 

 which are implied in this term. The structures in which the dis- 

 ordered nerves branch out should be worked in all directions, 

 but only by experienced, intelligent hands with pressure, rub- 

 bing, kneading, shaking, and moving, in order to remove the dis- 

 turbance. Rough handling by awkward persons, such as those 

 to whom the process is too often intrusted, may do more harm 

 than good. Health gymnastics is included among the movement 

 cures which are resorted to for the alleviation of nervous pains. 

 In many cases, too, the opposite course complete rest is pre- 

 scribed for quieting the excited nervous system, for the reduction 

 of oversensitiveness. 



In desperate cases, where medicines and mechanical applications 

 have failed, surgical operations are called in, to remove the pain 

 by severing the nerves. The results which have been often at- 

 tained by this operation justify its application. 



The best protection against nervous disorders is found in spar- 

 ing the nervous force ; in avoiding overexertion of body and mind ; 

 in systematic practice of bodily exertion and muscular exercise ; in 

 a wise alternation of work and recreation, and in hardening the 

 power of resistance of the body and steeling that of the mind ; in 

 everything that can protect our emotional nature against degener- 

 ating into sentimentality, our feeling into tenderness. Translated, 

 for the Popular Science Monthly from Di,e Oarienlaube. 



