INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE ON THE BRAIN. 217 



It is the weakening and depressing effect upon the 

 brain of the withdrawal of the stimulus necessary 

 for its healthy exercise, which renders solitary con- 

 finement so "severe a punishment even to the most 

 daring minds. It is a lower degree of the same 

 cause which renders continuous seclusion from 

 society so injurious to both mental and bodily health, 

 and which often renders the situation of govern- 

 esses one of *misery and bad health, even where 

 every kindness is meant to be shown towards them. 

 In many families, especially in the higher ranks, 

 the governess lives so secluded that she is as much 

 out of society as if she were placed in solitary con- 

 finement. She is too much above the domestics to 

 make companions of them, and too much below her 

 employers to be treated by them either with confi- 

 dence or as an equal. With feelings as acute, in- 

 terests as dear to her, and a judgment as sound as 

 those of any of the persons who scarcely notice 

 her existence, she is denied every opportunity of 

 gratifying the first or expressing the last, merely 

 because she "is only the governess;" as if govern- 

 esses were not made of the same flesh and blood, 

 and sent into the world by the same Creator, as 

 their more fortunate employers. It is, I believe, 

 beyond question, that much unhappiness, and not 

 unfrequently madness itself, are unintentionally 

 caused by this cold and inconsiderate treatment. 

 For the same reason, those who are cut off from 

 social converse by any bodily infirmity often be- 

 come discontented and morose in spite of every 

 resolution to the contrary. The feelings and facul- 

 ties of the mind, which had formerly full play in 

 their intercourse with their fellow-creatures, have 

 no longer scope for sufficient exercise, and the 

 almost inevitable result is irritability and weakness 

 in the corresponding parts of the brain. 



This fact is particularly observed among the 

 deaf and blind, in whom, from their being cut off 

 T 



