1879O American Nervousness. 601 
in regard to which there can be no doubt whatever, namely, 
that nervous disease scarcely exists among savages or bar- 
barians, or semi-barbarians, or partially civilised people. 
Likewise, in the lower orders in our great cities, and among 
the peasantry in the rural districts, muscle-workers, as dis- 
tinguished from brain-workers, — those who represent the 
habits and mode of life and diseases of our ancestors of the 
last century, — nervous diseases, except those of an inflam- 
matory or syphilitic character, are about as rare as they 
were among all classes during the last century. These 
people frequently need more violent and severe purging, 
more blood-letting, more frequent blistering than the higher 
orders would endure. 
What, now, are the causes of this increase of nervous- 
ness in America during the past half century ? The primary 
cause is unquestionably civilisation, especially with its recent 
accompaniments, as the telegraph, railway, and the period- 
ical press. These three institutions have drawn, and continue 
to draw each year, most severely on the nerves of nearly all 
classes, but particularly upon those who are favoured with 
education. The introduction and popularisation of the rail- 
way and the telegraph, and the development of the period- 
ical press, belong, it will be observed, to the nineteenth 
century, and they have intensified in ten thousand ways 
cerebral activity and worry. This faCtor of civilisation 
applies to all the great countries — Europe as well as 
America. 
But after we have given this cause every credit to which 
it is entitled, we are yet face to face with this question — 
Why are the Americans more nervous than any other people 
on this planet ? The answer to this question, which has 
occupied the thoughts of philosophical observers for the 
past quarter of a century, is to be found mainly in these 
factors : — first, the dryness of our atmosphere ; and secondly, 
the extremes of heat and cold. In these two respeCts 
America differs from any other civilised country. 
Dryness of atmosphere produces nervousness in two 
ways : first, by taking up and absorbing the moisture of the 
body, thus causing us to literally dry up. When the atmo- 
sphere is moist, perspiration accumulates upon the surface 
of the body, because the air cannot take it up. Hence, in 
our dull dog-days, we are frequently annoyed by excessive 
perspiration. In a dry air which is hungry for moisture, 
the fluids of the body, as they become vapourised, are 
rapidly conducted away ; the body is thus wasted of its 
fluids. Dry air also prevents the electricity of the body 
