State Board of Health. 
311 
Jiave a very small re}>resentation. Inventors, whose mental activi¬ 
ties in given directions are intense, and their disappointments con¬ 
stant, have a very limited, or no representation; and it will appear 
through the entire list of occupations, that those which require the 
most mental strength and activity are least likely to break down. 
But if statistfcs should prove that the statement is not strictly true, 
it would not even weaken the other proposition, namely, that most 
of the insanity comes from disuse, and not overuse of brain power; 
for if a man goes into the competition of life, and risks his success 
upon the superior strength he may display in his little finger, and 
breaks it or paralyzes it, it is no proof that he would not have suc¬ 
ceeded if he had used the strength of his whole body. The simple 
truth is, we march out into the thick battles of life without reserve 
corps or a base of supplies, and some of us are wounded, some 
crippled, and some annihilated. Our brains should be our base of 
supplies — our impregnable fortress. If they are not, then we 
have none. 
But what shall we do with heredity? A large proportion of the 
insane have insane antecedents. Is heredity a hell gate against 
which no power can be successfully projected? We do make suc¬ 
cessful war against heredity in other directions. If heredity had 
been an impregnable fortress, we should all be savages to-day. If 
we wound an arm, we put it in a sling, and use other members of 
the body until it rests itself well. The same physiological law holds 
good in relation to the brain. Every physician understands this 
law, and when his friends are overwhelmed by a great sorrow, gives 
them something to do, and something to think about, that the 
wounded spirit may have rest. Alienists understand it, and so ob¬ 
ject to isolating hospitals for the insane. They would locate them 
in close proximity to towns, where they can feed some faculties 
through eyes and ears, and so rest the disordered members through 
diversion; but, unfortunately, the great majority of the insane have 
no mental appetite — no mental stomachs have been grown that 
can digest food, and so they must be left to find their way out, or 
perish utterly. 
The world has many schemes for securing the welfare and highest 
happiness of mankind. Some of them are formulated and enforced 
as panaceas. A formulated and enforced faith may have the power 
of momentum, but it will never secure personal development, good 
