WORK AND OVERWORK. X XV 



drive him into the church. This is a mistake that parents often make, and the 

 results are usually disastrous. 



The amount of work some people get through is simply enormous. Few people 

 are harder worked than a London physician in active practice. We know a doctor 

 who seldom gets more than four hours' sleep out of the twenty-four. He says that 

 it is not that he couldn't do with more, but it is as much as he can get. Many busy 

 men are constantly at work of some kind or the other from eight in the morning 

 till past twelve at night. Some of course break down, but others can do this year after 

 year, apparently without any detriment to their health. Instances are known of 

 professional men who have not slept for five days together, and who have not been 

 in bed for three weeks at a time. These sound almost like travellers' tales, but they 

 are true, although, of course, they are exceptional cases. It is astonishing what 

 interest and energy will do, in enabling a man to dispense with rest. It has been said 

 that the twenty-four hours might be advantageously divided into three equal parts, 

 eight hours for sleep, eight for meals, exercise, recreation, &c., and eight for mental 

 work. Few men really require more than eight hours' sleep, but the majority of us 

 have to do considerably more than eight hours' work in the day. It is not so much 

 that a man wishes for the work, as that it is forced upon him. He, perhaps, is the 

 only person who can perform a certain duty, and when, as is often the case, it is a 

 question of life and death, it is almost impossible to refuse. Many people can never 

 force themselves to do more than a certain amount of mental work, they get 

 nervous, and headachy, and then it is all over with them. Forced work, as a rule, 

 tells on a man much more rapidly than purely voluntary work, for in the former 

 case it is usually associated with anxiety. Real over-work gives rise to loss of 

 memory, a general sense of fatigue, and particularly of discomfort about the head, 

 poorness of appetite, lowness of spirits, and other similar symptoms. It is worry 

 that injures more than real work care killed the cat. Some people are so happily 

 constituted that they never worry much about anything, whilst others are in a fever 

 of anxiety on every trivial occasion. 



To get the maximum amount of mental work out of yourself you must be very 

 abstemious in everything. You will find that men who by their brains have made a 

 name for themselves have nearly always been small eaters and drinkers. Some of 

 the finest scientific work of the century was done by a man who at the time was 

 living almost exclusively on oatmeal porridge. The custom of taking a heavy meal 

 in the middle of the day is fatal to all real work. People who have to live by their 

 headpiece should never dream of taking either wine or beer for lunch. It is a small 

 matter, but practically they will find that they can do twice as much in the afternoon 

 if they substitute a cup of coffee for the alcohol. People who feel drowsy and 

 stupid, and disinclined for mental exertion after a meal, may take it as an indication 

 that they have been either eating or drinking too much. At the same time 

 there is not the slightest objection to a glass of beer or a glass or two of wine with 

 dinner after the greater part of the day's work is done. Those who are worried 

 about their work may derive considerable comfort from a cigar or pipe. There is no 

 reason why we should not avail ourselves of Nature's gifts, provided they in no way 

 impair our capacity for work. For those who have much writing to do the practice 



