The relation of our public schools to the disorders of the nervous system / by C.F. Folsom.

  • Folsom, Charles Follen, 1842-1907.
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The relation of our public schools to the disorders of the nervous system / by C.F. Folsom. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    est anxiety, and they are denied the opportunity of thut vigorous physical exercise and sound mental discipline without which men know perfectly well that they would be neuralgic, dys]>eptic and suffering from all that is implied in the expressive word “nerves.” Physical defects and imperfections are more trying to women than to men, and more is demanded of them in the way of maintaining a respectable appearance and living. What they need most is more, rather than less training; perhaps in some respects better training of the kind such as the public schools give, more colleges for women, more physical exercise, more knowledge how to take care of themselves, more opport uni ties in every direction. If women had ail these, we should soon hear and see much less of the so-called nervous prostra- tion and of the evil effects of over-pressure. Wear and tear in their work is greater than in men’s work, and they need that higher education which is fast teaching the few to whom it is accessible how to live and keep their health. The colleges for women already established, as I read the evidence, have shown con- clusively that the firmer mental balance which women get thereby is already telling in improved physical health. We do not see the graduates of them working all day, studying in the horse cars, snatching out a book between the acts at the theatre, and reading until mid- night, kept up by tea, in order to converse intelligently about the last novel. In face of the many obstacles against which women in general have to contend, they must work harder, with greater worry and with more disappointments than men. There are more conditions necessary to avoid failures in women. Of course they break down earlier and oftener than men.