JrxE 12, 1885.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



501 



tea, coffee, or alcohol which may with benefit, or even with 

 immunity from evil, be consumed. As I have said else- 

 where, '■ Every man is a law to himself in these matters," 

 his own sensations indicating wliether he is deriving benefit 

 or injury from any practice ho may pursue. 



In connection with the subject, the question of the 

 pleasure resulting to an individual from auy particular 

 habit must be taken into consideration. For the beneficial 

 effects produced by the four articles with which I am deal- 

 ing, wUl as readily result from certain medicines, which, 

 moreover, may be so prepared that no deleterious action 

 whatever shall follow. 



It may be stated, broadly, that while a very few persons, 

 with a distaste for smoking, pursue the practice merely to 

 fall in with custom, none smoke to excess who do not love 

 the weed. Since the former class smoke but little, the ill- 

 effects, if any, are temporary and consist of nausea or 

 headache. This very moderate smoking does not produce 

 lasting nervous symptoms, and it need not be further 

 considered. 



When a taste for tobacco exists, and the person smokes 

 to excess, there is no substitute for his favourite herb which 

 can be offered him. Stramonium is an abomination to the 

 smoker, and all the various vegetable preparations which 

 have been tried have been found wanting in that peculiar 

 fragrsuice and flavour which render tobacco dear to its 

 patrons. Alcohol, on the other hand, is desired by its 

 habitual consumer, not so much for the flavour of the 

 drink as for its stimulating properties. I Ijave said that, 

 besides arresting oxidation, alcohol stimulates the nervous 

 system. But as alcoholic liquors contain few nutritious 

 principles to offer to the tissues, the result of such stimula- 

 tion is a greater destruction of material and excretion of 

 its elements than can be supjilied by the drink in question. 

 Consumers of alcohol uncombined with nutrient princijiles 

 live on their vital capital, and the result of this, added to 

 the continued impediment to oxidation, is such a weakness 

 of the nervous centres that tTie individual feels in a state 

 of nervous atony, and flies to the only ^thing which he 

 knows wUl give him relief — the stimulant which has caused 

 his wretchedness. 



Kow, this craving for a "Pick-me-up" can be satisfied 

 by properly-prepared nerve foods, and the result will be not 

 merely the relief of the person's sensations, but the 

 strengthening or nutrition of the nervous system. 



Tea and coffee, like alcohol, are but scantily nutritiou.s, 

 and supply but little material for energy. Oi the millions 

 who habitually drink these two non-intoxicants, some 

 there are who do so because of their stimulating efl'ects, but 

 the majority, there is little doubt, merely from custom. 

 But this altogether fashionable use of the drinks, since it 

 involves the consumption of nearly as great a quantity of 

 the fluids as if the drinkers possessed a taste for the latter, 

 results in a proportionate amount of mischief. In both 

 cases it very frequently happens that, as the permanent 

 effects of the drinks begin to be felt, the consumers resort 

 to alcohol in order to overcome the debility they feel, with 

 the inevitable result of its intensification. Tea, coffee, and 

 alcoholic liquors are valuable as medicinal agents to be 

 given when circumstances point to their use as proper ; 

 but as ordinary beverages they should be very sparingly 

 taken. Never should they be drunk habitually as " Pick- 

 me-ups," that is to remove a feeling of nervous weakness. 

 The very fact of such sensations being experienced should 

 convince the sufferer that he needs ricrve food, that his 

 nervous system requires strengthening, and that he cannot 

 afford to draw on its energy without taking such " food." 



Excessive ilusccLAr: Exertion. — It is to the unini- 

 tiated astonishing to find how many athletes are nervously 



affected. A great amount of muscular exertion, unless 

 accompanied by such a dietary as may supply materials for 

 the tissue destroyed, will result in weakening the spinal 

 cord and certain parts in the brain concerned in controlling 

 the muscles, and called " motor areas," until they are 

 ■■.noqual to the steady discharge of their functions, and may, 

 through physiological laws with which I have not space to 

 deal, exhaust the whole nervous apparatus. 



Mextai, Work. — Remember that all mental action 

 results in destruction of nerve tissue. The emotions of 

 hate and grief, as well as fretful worry, are as brain wearing 

 as hard study. In violent-tempered persons, the temporary 

 debility produced by each fit of passion is very manifest. 

 The excessive work demanded of the nervous system need 

 not necessarily be an enforced energy during a certain 

 muiinuim j)eriod of time; on the contrary, deprivation of 

 sleep is as exhausting to the brain, and of bodily rest — to 

 the spinal cord, even though the individual be occupied in 

 pure amusement, or be inactive and listless, a? if the brain 

 and cord were engaged in the work against time alluded to. 

 For so long as the individual is awake, so long is there an 

 expenditure of nervous energy, and consequently of 

 material, over that which occurs in sleep ; the quantity of 

 such excess being in proportion to the activity of the body 

 or mind of the person concerned. To repeat what has 

 been before stated : A balance of waste and repair may be 

 said to be struck diurnally. During the waking state 

 there is more loss than repair ; during sleep there is more 

 repair than loss. The mechanism of sleep may be consi- 

 dered at some future date ; here it is sufiicient to say that 

 sleepiness is the conscious expression of the brain's weari- 

 ness and temporary exhaustion ; of its desire also for 

 repose and opportunity for recuperation. So, weariness of 

 the body, the " feeling tired," is an indication that the 

 spinal cord and the muscles likewise need rest and oppor- 

 tunity for repair. But rest and sleep are valuable, not 

 merely on account of the tissue-formation they allow to 

 proceed, but also that they aflbrd opportunity for existing 

 nervous tissue to mature — to come to the adult state of 

 development. 



The condition of nervous exhaustion may be congenital 

 and inherited — that is, there may be both an irritability 

 and physical instability of the nervous tissue, which, if not 

 physiologically treated, will develope with the growth of 

 activity in the body and mind into simple exhaustion. 



When the producing causes of this last are brought to 

 bear on a system already predisposed to, or incipiently the 

 victim of the condition, there results a state of nervous 

 weakness far exceeding in degree that of the merely acquired 

 variety. The distinguishing characteristics of complex 

 nervous exhaustion are due to the occurrence of the simple 

 variety in persons possessing the faculties of imagination or 

 apprehension strongly developed. 



It must be understood that while the brain tissue 

 requires for the performance of its duties a certain chemical 

 composition, the normal condition of this latter may be 

 found in very unintelligent persons, in idiots oven, since it 

 simply enables the brain to perform its duties as con- 

 structed. Brain-power, that is intensity in the strength 

 of the higher mental faculties, is due to elaboration 

 of structure, and the steadiness with which such 

 power is manifested is dependent on the maturation of 

 the nervous tissue. Hence complex nervous exhaustion 

 is very frequently found to affect the very highest intel- 

 lects. When the condition occurs in persons of such brain 

 development, the psychological phenomena peculiar to them 

 are unmistakable. There is a rough majesty of mind 

 imperial in its broad sway of power. The being wiU 

 invent, discover in science, create poetry, fiction, or works 



