Brain-work and overwork / edited by George Black.

Date:
[1888?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Brain-work and overwork / edited by George Black. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sensitiveness of thousands of the race. The futil- ity of striving against the inevitable has, to some minds, an effect comparable to that upon conscious- ness of the first violent blow the maniac deals his head as he rushes against the wall. It is not, how- ever, to such points as these, but to the more indirect methods in which a man may mitigate the effects of emotional strain, that I want especially to direct attention. There are but very few men who cannot, by a direct act of the will, control their anxiety and am- bition, at least in some measure. The man who does not exert his will to influence his temper, is not much respected by his fellows. We teach our children from childhood the necessity of $uch control, and exercise them in it. If a sudden emotion can be to- tally suppressed, a more continuous one can be kept under. This truth should be taught everywhere. Men need to learn that by an effort they can inhibit anxiety as well as anger. One rule, into whose observance most men can train themselves, is to avoid business cares out of business hours. The man who carries his load eight hours a day, will carry it longer than he who bears it eighteen hours out of the twenty-four. There are various helps at hand towards this relief— the collect- ing of postage-stamps, the game of whist, the follow- ing of some natural history study, the opera, a