Rest and pain : a course of lectures on the influence of mechanical and physiological rest in the treatment of accidents and surgical diseases, and the diagnositc value of pain / by John Hilton ; edited by W.H.A. Jacobson.

  • Hilton, John, 1804-1878.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rest and pain : a course of lectures on the influence of mechanical and physiological rest in the treatment of accidents and surgical diseases, and the diagnositc value of pain / by John Hilton ; edited by W.H.A. Jacobson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and slow repair whicli manifest themselves in the old after injury of any kind are familiar to us all. What I have here endeavoured to inculcate is, that growth and repair bear an exact relation to due physio- logical rest, local and general. Let me employ a familiar example to illustrate the effect on the brain of rest, by referring to any overworked member of our own profession at the end of the London season. Free from structural disease, but worn, and appearing prematurely old from exhaustion by mental labour, not physical exertion, he takes his holiday. His rest from professional duties consists in riding, walking, fishing, or shooting. It is physical exertion which he selects for his relaxation ; but during the same period he carefully excludes all mental worry. Now, I apprehend that under these circumstances some parts of his brain are nearly at rest; others are occnjDied with their appropriate function of regulating muscular exertion. He is, in fact, calling into activity the latent or suspended function of the cerebral centres, leaving the higher, the intellectual part of the brain to work out its own recovery from over- fatigue or exhaustion by rest—that is, by freedom from its own peculiar function or occupation. After a time he returns completely invigorated, improved in general appearance, active, and full of mental vigour, and equal to the resumption of almost auy amount of renewed pro- fessional exertion without fatigue to his brain. I may addiice this additional remark regarding the bene- ficial influence of rest, that those persons who drop off to sleep quickly^ anyhow or anywhere, and sleep soundly, undisturbed by active dreaming, are, cseterisparibus, capable of sustaining a greater amount of mental and corporeal exertion than those who find it difiScult to get ofi to- sleep, who sleep lightly, and, dreaming much, awake but little refreshed. Bearing on this subject, I, like others of our profession, have had repeated occasion to observe the effect of over- work on gentlemen who use their brains with an expendi- ture of energy inconceivable to the thoughtless—men of wide-spread mercantile affairs—men engaged in money transactions on a large and anxious scale. The condition