12 - THE TONER LECTURES 



Many lawyers are among the cases collected from those in 

 political and official life; but, in addition, three judges and four 

 lawyers in active practice, and not in political careers, are included 

 in my notes. The temporary but severe break-down of two judges 

 was attributable to the habit long persisted in of examining papers, 

 comparing authorities, and preparing opinions at night — a form of 

 mental labor taxing to the highest powers. Successful lawyers are 

 often subjected to sudden, prolonged, and severe mental work and 

 strain. Cases must be prepared with great rapidity, important prin- 

 ciples of law nuist be mastered in a short time, and exhausting efforts 

 must be made in courts under conditions of excitement and bad 

 hygiene. With lawyers, as w'ith physicians, self-imposed tasks, in 

 addition to their necessary labors, are sometimes the cause of their 

 downfall in health. A young lawyer, with a decided taste for philo- 

 sophical pursuits, wrote an able scientific monograph, and developed 

 insanity directly as the result of continuous mental work, legal and 

 scientific. Another succumbed Avhile editing a legal work. 



Before success is assured the mental effects of pecuniary pressure 

 are often felt with great force and intensity by men in the profes- 

 sions of medicine and law. Such men, waiting for business until 

 reputation is acquired, and, in the meantime, often doing unre- 

 quited work that calls for an immense output of mental energy, 

 have both their intellectual and emotional natures under constant 

 tension. Both work and worry do their parts. 



In attributing impairment of health to w^orry rather than to 

 work, it is sometimes forgotten that a man wuth an over-worked brain 

 often worries about small matters which would otherwise be met 

 Avith fortitude. Worry, in such cases, is begotten of over-work. 

 "When," says Blaikie,^ "a celebrated editor complained of lieing— 



Over-worked, over-worried. 

 Over-Croker'd, over-Murray "d, 



the first word of his lamentation explained all the rest." Worry, 

 1 Macmillan's Masjazine. 



