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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    are habitually overworked. The blood, under these circumstances, becomes loaded with improper materials: and it may be that the gouty habit is created, which in turn is prone, sooner or later, to produce degeneration of the walls of the blood-vessels, resulting in apoplexies. Habitual over-eating, or habitual drinking, plays havoc with vitality. As already stated, many well-to-do persons eat more than is necessary for the requirements of the system, but, as pointed out, Nature has provided for the removal of this excess. It should not be forgotten, however, that overwork brings enfeeblement to the eliminating glands, and an excess of noxious matters in the blood is a constant irritation to the emunctories. Enfeebled and irritated, no wonder that these long-tried but faithful servants often finally become fatally diseased. The food principles are chiefly taken out of the body by the kidneys, hence it is an overplus of food containing much of the nitrogenous principles— i.e., meats—which is especially liable to overwork and irritate the kidneys. Very few, if any, of those who read this book will ever suffer from an insufficient amount of food, but among the so-called working-classes cases of nervous exhaustion, hysteria, &c., are met with in which the lack of proper nourishment has greatly aided in the production of the disease. There are multitudes of seamstresses who chiefly subsist on bread and tea. Under these circumstances, the impoverished blood