The cyclopaedia of practical medicine : comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc., etc. / Edited by John Forbes, Alexander Tweedie, John Conolly.

Date:: 1848

Credit: The cyclopaedia of practical medicine : comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc., etc. / Edited by John Forbes, Alexander Tweedie, John Conolly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Lamar Soutter Library, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

766/828 (page 764)

$especially if the system is not yet arrived at full maturity, it is observed to become gradually more and more susceptible of action ; to increase in size within certain limits determined by the con- stitution ; and thereby to gain strength, as indi- cated by an increased power of enduring fatigue, and a greater capacity of withstanding the influ- ences of the common causes of disease to which previously it would have yielded almost immedi- ately. The physiological explanation of this, as proved by experiments, is, that exercise causes an increased action in the nerves arid blood-vessels of the part, by which its vitality is augmented, and a greater supply of blood and nervous stimulus sent to it to sustain and repair the greater waste that is taking place, and also to supply additional sub- stance to fit it for the unusual demands made on it. The results of this process are visibly exem- plified in men whose habits or profession lead them to constant muscular exertion ; in sports- men, for instance, in blacksmiths, dancers, porters, &c.; and if it is less manifest in other parts of the body besides the muscles, it is only from other tissues admitting of less expansion, and showing their increased power in a dilTerent way. The improvement of the memory is a familiar instance of an increase of mental power produced by exer- cise ; and the beating sense of fulness and quick- ened circulation in the head induced by intense study or thought, shows that an organic process goes on when the brain is in activity, similar to that which takes place in the muscular system under exercise. On the contrar}', when the organ is little used, little expenditure of its power and substance takes place, little blood and little nervous energy are required for its support, and therefore little is sent; nutrition in consequence soon becon)cs languid, and strength impaired. To all these laws the brain is subject equally as the rest of the body. Frequent and regular exercise gives it susceptibility of action, with power to sus- tain it, the nervous energy acquiring strength as well as the vascular. Disuse of its functions, or, in other words, inactivity of intellect and of feel- ing, impairs its structure, and weakens the several powers which it ser\'es to manifest. The brain, tliercfore, in order to maintain its healthy state, requires to be duly exercised; and as it consists of several parts, each performing its proper func- tion, and as what holds good with res|)ect to the whole collectively, is equally true of each part individually, it follows that for healthful and adequate exercise every function requires its due share of employment, else not only do the portions consigned to inactivity become imjiaired, but the general health becomes deranged by the irregular distribution of nervous stimulus thus occasioned. But such is the nature of the mental functions, that each must be excited by its proper stimulus, or both it and the portion of brain subservient to it are consigned to inactivity and consequent loss of power. IS'o one would think of exercising the eye by sound, or the ear by colours. The elFect of mere quiescence arising from the want of appro- priate stimulus is signally manifested in tlie case of persons, and especially of the young, who in one mtuation manifest certain facilities very feebly, 6ut who, when removed to another in which appropriate and adequate stimulus is supplied, evince powers such as Ihty were never previously supposed to possess. When we consider how few of all the faculties which the mind possesses are duly exercised in the courses of education, both for males and females, which prescription, preju- dice, and fashion have ordained, we can have little dilhculty in comprehending how nervous derangements of various kinds result from causes so elTicient in jiroducing them. An appropriate exam[)le may be found in the ease of a nervous young lady, whose education has communicated nothing but accomplishments, who has no mate- rials of thought, and no regular and im{)crativc occupations to interest her and demand attention; who takes no active ])art in promoting the welfare and comfort of those about her; who looks to others for support and sustenance; and whose brain is in fact half asleep. Such a person has literally nothing on which to expend half the nervous energy which nature has bestowed on her for better purposes. She has nothing to excite and exercise the brain, nothing to elicit activitj-; her own feelings and personal relations necessarily constitute the grand objects of her contempla- tions ; these are brooded over until the mental energies become impaired ; false ideas of existence and of j)rovidcnce spring up in the mind ; the fancy is haunted by false impressions; and every trifle which relates to self is exaggerated into an object of immense importance. The brain, having literally nothing on which to exercise itself, be- comes weak, and the mental manifestations are enfeebled in proportion ; so that a person of good endowments, thus treated, will often exhibit some- thing of the imbecility of a fool. But suddenly change the circumstances in which such a person is placed ; suppose, for example, that her parents lose their health or fortune, and that slie is called on to use her utmost energies in their and her own behalf; that in short her brain and mental fiicul- ties, her intellect and her moral and social feelings, are blessed with a stimulus to act ; the weakness, the tremors, the apprehensions which-formerly seemed an inborn part of herself, disappear as if by enchantment; and health, vigour, and happi- ness take place, solely because now God's law is fulfilled, and the brain with which he has con- nected the mind is suj)plied with that healthful stimulus and exercise which lie ordained to be indispensable to our comfort and welfare. We once attended a young lady for various nervous complaints, who possessed the most exqui- site sensibility of frame we ever witnessed. For years she had endured almost every form of the most aggravated hysteria. She was brought up with every refinement of education, and the habitual indulgence of every luxury, her parents appearing to live only for the purpose of minister- ing to her gratifications. Such was her acuteness of sensibility that at certain times the mere open- ing or closing of a door was agony ; such her helplessness, that oftentimes she could scarcely muster energy enough to raise her hand to her head. In the midst of this her father becanic bankrupt, and soon after died. His family were now obliged to labour for their support, and on this feeble creature devolved much of the care of providing them subsistence. She had talents, and she exerted them. With the assistance of friends$