Remarks on the influence of mental cultivation and mental excitement upon health / [Amariah Brigham].

  • Amariah Brigham
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the influence of mental cultivation and mental excitement upon health / [Amariah Brigham]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    107/166 (page 101)
    ! I the same fact as regards agitated Italy. This author i considers the powerful and irregular operation of the I passions as the most frequent cause of organic disease i of the heart.*^ Whoever reflects upon these facts, ^ must feel the importance of cultivating a quiet state j of mind in order to preserve good health. This is i, important at all times of life, but particularly so dur- U ing childhood. It should be recollected that the early [G8. Strong exertion of the intellect as well as of the passions, may t nliect the heart, and bring on irregular action of this organ. A young I gentleman whom I know well, had overworked his brain in prose. I ciitiiig his professional studies. The consequence was violent and I irregular action of the heart, which led his friends and himself to I apprehend organic disease of that organ. He was recommended to I abstain from mental action, and to take a voyage. In consequence of this advice, he laid his books entirely aside, went to the Mediter- I ranean and entirely recovered. About the age of eighteen a change I takes place in the male, analogous to that which occurs at an earlier I period in the female. The consequence is that the nervous system I becomes highly excitable, and a variety of curious mental and 1 bodily sensations aretheresult; and these are invariably aggravated I by much exertion of mind. It is very common for young medical I students to imagine they labour under aneurism of the aorta, or some other form of disease connected with the heart or its great outlet, especially if their teacher touches strongly upon this subject. Such is especially the case with hard-working and assiduous youths, whose overtasked brains produce palpitations of the heart: young females from fourteen to seventeen are very liable to similar sensa. tions, especially if their minds are muen excited by perusing works of fancy, by incipient sensations of love, or by devoting too much time to parties, and other amusements, calculated to over-stimulate the nervous system. At these particular periods of life, both in the male and female, the brain should not be excited, but rather kept in a state of considerable repose. Its natural tendency to excitement is, of itself, too great, and needs rather to be repressed than augmented by adventitious stimulation. It is very conceivable that disordered a.'tion of the heart, occasioned by such means, may produce organic disease of that important organ R. M.] 1 ‘2