Mental hygiene, or, An examination of the intellect and passions : designed to illustrate their influence on health and the duration of life / by William Sweetser.

  • Sweetser, William, 1797-1875.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mental hygiene, or, An examination of the intellect and passions : designed to illustrate their influence on health and the duration of life / by William Sweetser. 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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    Tolume, does a sound state of the mind com- municate a salutary influence to the functions of the body. The mind, then, needs occupation, not only for its own sake, but also for that of the organ- ism with which it is so intricately involved. Mental inactivity, in the existing constitution of society, is the occasion of an amount of moral and physical sufiermg, which, to one w’ho had never reflected upon the subject, would appear scarcely credible. From this proceeds that tcedinm vitce, that dreadful irksomeness of life, so often witnessed among the opulent, or what are termed the privileged classes of society, who are engaged in no active, or interesting pursuits, and who, already possessing the liberal gifts of fortune, and consequently the means of grati- fying all their natural and artificial v/ants, lack the stimulus of necessity to awaken and sustain in wholesome action their mental energies. I Hence, although they may be objects of envy j to those whose straitened circumstances demand j continued and active exertions, yet is their situ- | ation too often anything but enviable. Their j cup of life drugged with the gall and bitterness of ennui, their paramount wish is to escape from themselves, from the painful listlessness of a | surfeited existence. The mind must be occupied, j else discontented and gloomy, if not wicked, feel- | ings, v’ill be likely to take possession of it. j Paradoxical as it may seem, yet it is question- | able if a much heavier curse could be imposed | on man, with his present nature, than the com- | plete gratification of all his wishes, leaving ; nothing for his hopes, desires, or struggles. The ! joy and animation of the huntsman last but with the chase. The feeling that life is without aim or purpose, that it is destitute of any motive to action, is of all others the most depressing—the most insupportable to a moral and intellectual being. Men of different constitutions, habits, talents, and education, will, as might be expected, re- quire different sorts and degveesof mental action. Such as are endowed with vigorous intellectual powers, and in whose exercise they have been long accustomed to indulge, are liable to suffer the most when their minds are left unemployed. Those, for example, who are fond of study, and have been long used to devote a part of their time to its prosecution, may even sustain a mani- fest injury, both in their moral and physical health, by a sudden and continued interruption of such habit; a painful void being thus left in the mind, indirectly depressing its feelings, and, by a necessary consequence, all the important fimctions of life. It is told of Petrarch, when at Yaucluse, that i his friend the Bishop of Cavaillon, fearing lest his too close devotion to study would wholly ruin his health, which was already much im- paired, having procured of him the kej’' of his library, immediately locked up his books and writing-desks, saying to him, “ I interdict you from pen, ink, paper, and books, for the space of ten days.” Petrarch, though much pained in his feelings, nevertheless submitted to the mandate. The first day was passed by him in the most tedious manner ; during the second, he suffered under a constant headache ; and on the third, he became affected with fever. The bishop now, taking pity on his condition, re- timned him his key, and thus restored hirn to his previous health. Those, again, who, while yet in the vigour of life, retire from their wonted business, be it mercantile or professional, and thus all at once break up their habits of mental application, are apt to fall into a painful state of listlessness, or ennui, and which, in certain temperaments, will often grow into a morbid melancholy, shading every scene and every prospect with a dismal and hopeless gloom. And sometimes the disgust and loathing of existence become so extreme, that they rid themselves of its hated burden with their o^vn hands. This state of moral de- pression, if long continued, may also originate painful and fatal physical infirmities, or may pass into some settled form of insanity, especially that of monomania. In some instances, it will change into, or alternate with a reckless and migovernable excitement, the individual run- ning into wild extravagance, or rash speculations, —giving himself up to habits of gambling, or ^oss intemperance, to relieve the painful void in his purposeless existence. Elderly persons, who all at once give up their accustomed occupations, and consequently their mental activity, and retire to enjoy their ease and leisure, will not rarely, especially if they have been previously free livers, experience a rapid breakiug up of their mental, and perhaps bodily powers, passing sometimes into a more or less complete state of what has been termed senile dementia. Under the circumstances of mental inertia to which I have been referring, it is often observed, that anythiug arousing the mind to exertion, even positive misfortunes, will, by reviving the almost palsied feelings, be attended with a mani- festly salutary influence. Thus is it that the retired opulent are oftentimes, if not past the age of action, made happier, healthier, and I may also add better, by the loss of so much of their property as to render renewed exertions necessary to their subsistence. Retirement from long established and active duties demands in- tellectual and moral resources, of which few, in the present condition of society, have a right to boast. It is an opinion not uncommonly entertained, that studious habits, or intellectual pursuits, tend necessarily to injure the health, and abbre- viate the term of life—that mental labours are ever prosecuted at the expense of the body, and must consequently hasten its decay. Such a result, however, is by no means essential, unless the labours be urged to an injudicious excess, when of course, as in all overstrained exertions, whether of body or mind, various prejudicial effects may be natm’ally anticipated. I mean not to assert, that those in whom the intellect is chiefly engaged, will enjoy the same athletic strength, or display equal muscular development with others whose pursuits are of a more me- chanical character,—for Nature seldom lavishes upon us a full complement of her various gifts ; —but I do believe tliat, under prudent habits of