Part 3 (2/2)
II. Again, if the arm or hand of a vigorous person, which has long been trained to make either large efforts, or the more delicate movements, or again, to make but little effort in any direction, be placed in splints, or be suspended in a sling so that there is little or no activity for a few weeks, more or less, there results a failure of nerve-function; and there may be any degree of impairment, from that of slight degree, such as may be evinced by spasm, to that of paralysis.
The same is true in reference to any portion of the nervous system which can be placed in a state of inactivity.
A few sentences of recapitulation in our process of reasoning will now be in order.
1. We have seen that imperfection and instability of nerve-function may be inherited; that weakness, or impairment, exists with many persons from the time of birth, which affects more or less the functions of the various portions of the nervous system; and that this is seen not only in the mechanical operations of the hand and arm, in the execution of all the more delicate movements of which it may be susceptible, but also in the mental operations. By no possible amount of training can the nerves of the arm in certain persons be educated to do the finer portions of mechanism, any more than can their brains be educated to continuous or concentrated thought on the solution of problems in the higher mathematics; that the broadest diversity as to strength and steadiness of nerve-function exists from the period of childhood to old age: while the nerves and brains of some bear long-continued and large effort without disturbance or failure of function, these portions of the system in others soon manifest the effects of such treatment, and ere long break down; and there may exist any degree of difference, from the manifestations of genius, to those of imbecility.
2. We have also observed that disturbance and imperfection of nerve-function may be produced in all persons by the action of causes operating from without upon the nervous system, and that the results may be similar in character, whether there has been too great or too little exercise of function.
It will further be observed, that we have in a definite and somewhat continuous line pa.s.sed from the production of disturbance and irregularity of the function of simple motion in the hand and arm, up to the more complicated and less understood activities of the hemispheres of the brain. We have seen that there exists at least a similarity in the exhibition of failure in the functions of execution in both cases, whether acquired or inherited.
I think there can be little doubt that there exists some such condition of that portion of the brain which is concerned in mental operations, as I have in a somewhat crude manner attempted to ill.u.s.trate, which is the primary condition in a large number of persons who become insane.
Precisely in what it may consist during the earlier stages we may not be able to explain. There doubtless is no change which can be termed _organic_ in either the nerve cell or any other portion of the substance of the brain during the primary stages of this failure in function, but rather an exhaustion or lack in functional power, which after a longer or shorter period _may_ lead to organic change of structure.
Now we have only to suppose a person with a nervous system so const.i.tuted that these conditions, which I have described as temporarily occurring with many persons from exciting causes, are permanent, though in a latent state, and we have that peculiar organization which we term _The Insane Diathesis_. That is, we have a nervous system so sensitively const.i.tuted, and illy adjusted with its surroundings, that when brought in contact with unusually exciting influences, there may occur deranged instead of natural mental action, and it becomes more or less continuous instead of evanescent.
The mind pa.s.ses from the control of the will, and wanders. .h.i.ther and thither, or persistently holds on in one channel of thought. Its action may become spasmodic and irregular in all degrees from slight aberrations, or excitement, up to incoherence and mental spasm; or from slight degrees of depression, down to almost inactivity and dementia: in short, such abnormal conditions of mental activity as const.i.tute insanity.
The husband hates his wife, and the wife her husband; the parent his child, and the child the parent. We have the person, whose brain is so perverted in its action that he feels no pleasure and experiences no satisfaction in life, but hates it, and longs to throw off its burdens and cares, and leaves no effort untried to accomplish it; while another is so filled with joyous emotion, his brain is so excited in functional activity, that he can neither eat nor sleep, but ideas flow forth in one constant stream of words--words; bright visions appear on every side, and his life is worth a thousand worlds. Or, we may have any other of the ten thousand perverted mental activities which attend the ”mind diseased.”
”And he * * * (a short tale to make) Fell into a sadness; then into a fast; Thence into a watch; thence into a weakness; Thence into a lightness; and by this declination Into a madness, whereon he now raves And we all mourn for.”
In the above view, there does not appear to be any well-defined, sharply bounded line between what is termed normal and abnormal mental activity in its primary stage. The one insensibly merges into the other, while both depend upon the physiological condition of the brain for the time being.
When that portion of it which is immediately concerned in thought is in what is termed a healthy state, that is, a condition in which its involuntary functions are normally performed and under the control of the will, then we have healthy mind; and, _vice versa_, when it varies from this condition, either from the effect of influences which have been inherited or acquired, then we have for the time, abnormal mind. Thousands are born into the world with brains so const.i.tuted as to become easily deranged by external influences and experiences, and thousands more attain to such conditions of the brain, from the frictions of life, and abuse of its enjoyments and requirements.
If these views, in relation to the princ.i.p.al condition of insanity, are correct, it is evident that the question of largest interest in relation to its _prevention_, relates, not so much to the long catalogue of exciting or secondary causes, as to the avoidance of such courses of life, habits, and tendencies of society, as specially a.s.sist to develop and perpetuate this diathesis. It now becomes necessary to suggest and discuss, more or less fully, some of the influences which are in operation in modern modes of education and habits of life, and which have a special tendency to create this condition of the brain. I shall first refer to some points in connection with present methods of education as related to the young.
CHAPTER V.
THE INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION.
The highest conception of an education would include the idea of its being symmetrical; that is, that the psychical and physical should be trained together and in harmony; that the system should be considered and educated as a whole, the brain not being stimulated in its cultivation at the expense of the body, or neglected while the latter is in process of development. If both are educated together, and with due proportion of attention to the laws of development and growth of each, then they will be in the most favorable condition to withstand the effects of the wear and tear which come in the lives of all.
That the courses of education at present pursued in the larger number of our select and common schools, especially those located in cities and large towns, are of this character, will hardly be claimed by persons who study educational systems and processes from a physiological and sanitary point of view.
At five or six years of age, and while for some years the system must be in the formative, growing period of its existence, the child is confined five hours a day on a hard seat or chair, in a room often illy ventilated and irregularly heated. During the larger portion of this time he or she is expected to have the mind occupied in study, or recitation, which is quite equivalent to study. In addition to this, after the child arrives at the age of ten or twelve years, tasks of such extent and difficulty are imposed, that it becomes necessary to study one or two hours during the evening. I think that most persons, with much experience in intellectual occupations, will agree with me, that six hours a day are quite enough for an adult mind to be occupied, with advantage, in study. I am confident it will be found that our most successful clergymen, lawyers, and _litterateurs_, though at times a more protracted period of mental effort may be necessary, yet, as a rule, do not spend a longer period daily in intellectual efforts.
Yet in the education of our little children, we find that both teachers and parents, in their blind ambition to hurry them forward, conspire in imposing tasks of such a character and magnitude as to require longer hours of study than we know to be best for the adult brain.[4]
I believe, however, that the largest mischief does not come from the length of time occupied in confinement and study, great as this may be. A still larger defect in the system lies in the multiplicity of the subjects studied and the lack of sufficient individuality in its administration.
In the graded schools children are parcelled out in numbers ranging from forty to sixty in one room, and put under the charge of one teacher. The system is too purely a mechanical one; all must come in, go out, rise up and sit down, study, and recite in very large cla.s.ses. There is no room or time for individuality in any department of study, and very little in any recitation. Each one goes on with the whole, or he drops out and back, while the half-exhausted teacher has neither time nor opportunity to bestow the little attention and aid which would often be of so much value.
No teacher can do even half justice to any such number of children, and I presume it is not expected he will. His task appears to be to find that in some way or other the pupil seems to be able to recite his lesson, and if not, that he work at it until he does; and if the unfortunate one fails, see that he goes back to a lower cla.s.s. Now, doubtless, one or two out of every five of these fifty or sixty children will be able to press on with comparative ease and health through all the studies which all are expected to master, but for the other three or four of the five, there exists a large tendency toward confusion of mind and imperfect knowledge, rather than those clear conceptions and definite understanding which tend to give vigor and strength of brain.
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