scriptions of the baths of Germany. Perseverance in a course of life in accordance with Nature's laws,— restores to health and happiness. Wordsworth says"The powers that had been lost By slow degrees, were gradually regained. The fluttering nerves composed, the beating heart CONVERSATION XIII. GRACE. You told us yesterday how necessary exercise was for the brain, and I conclude, that over-exertion, or ill-timed exercise, is as hurtful as it is to the other organs of the body. MRS. F. It is so. Its laws are in accordance with the laws of our other organs. We know that, if we use the eyes too long, or in too bright a light, (that is, if we give them too much stimulus,) they become bloodshot and uncomfortable. If we turn away and rest the eyes, the irritation gradually ceases, and a healthy state of vision returns. Just the same thing occurs with regard to the brain; only we can see what happens to the eye, but rarely what takes place in the brain. EDITH. But can you ever see the brain? I know you are somewhat of a witch, Aunt Ellen, "And can see right through the thoughts of men." You have told us wonderful things, but how can you peer through the thick scull? MRS. F. The brain has been peered into sometimes, when fractures of the scull occur; the part of bone being removed, the circulation of the brain is visible to the eye. Sir Astley Cooper had a young gentleman brought to him, who had lost a portion of the scull, above the eye-brow. Sir Astley says, "I distinctly saw that the pulsation of the brain was regular and slow; but at the time he was agitated by some opposition to his wishes; directly the blood was sent with increased force to the brain, and the pulsation became frequent and violent. If, therefore," continues this great surgeon, "you omit to keep the mind free from agitation, your means will be unavailing in the treatment of injuries of the brain." That is very curious! GRACE. EDITH. Well, as Hamlet says, "there are more things, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." MRS. F. A more remarkable case is mentioned by Dr. Combe-that of a young woman who had lost a large portion of her scalp; and thus part of her brain was open to inspection. When she was in a dreamless sleep, her brain lay motionless within the cranium; but when her sleep was imperfect or agitated by dreams, it protruded from the scull, and when she was awake, engaged in active thought or sprightly conversation, the brain protruded even more; this arose from a greater quantity of blood being sent to the brain during its activity than when quiescent. EDITH. This is most wonderful! Formerly it was supposed, that "when the brains were out, the man would die." MRS. F. These are very singular cases, for generally blows on the head are fatal, and cause instant death; so that medical men have not had many opportunities of peeping into their patients' brains. But to return to our subject of the mischief of excessive and continued mental exertion. It is, like all other overexertion, most pernicious in infancy and youth, be cause the brain, then, like the rest of the body, is feeble and immature. GRACE. The bones are soft, the muscles feeble, and the brain partakes of the infancy of all other organic parts; so that a precocious child is an unnatural little animal. EDITH. I cannot think how any one can admire a philosopher in a bib and tucker. MRS. F. A very precocious intellect is the effect of disease. Scrofulous and rickety children are often sufferers in this way. They are generally, too, remarkable for their large heads. EDITH. A child might as well be thought more perfect for having the width of shoulder and depth of lungs of a man, as for having a head as big as that of a grown person. MRS. F. Yes. For its unnatural-sized head is the effect of a morbid state of brain; and such children require great care, and even with the best management, the child passes the first of its life on the very brink of disease. years GRACE. How little some people are aware of this, for they seem so proud of what is called a wonderfully clever child, they endeavour by all means to excite its talents, by praise and emulation. MRS. F. They would not do this, if they were Physiologists; nor would they so often have to weep over the tomb of their darling pet, just as it seems to have realized all their hopes of genius. Or, if this premature exertion of the brain does not bring on disease or death, it so weakens the tone of the organ, that the mental powers are slow and depressed for the remainder of life, and the early genius is outstripped in manhood by his duller companions. GRACE. I have often heard it remarked, "how seldom a clever boy makes a clever man.” EDITH. And old nurses often say, "such a child is too clever to live." They must have observed that precocious children often die. MRS. F. The old nurses' sayings are sometimes founded in fact they mark the effects without searching for the cause. But taking for our guide the laws of Nature, we see that the mode of treating the precocious child is such as adds to the disease. The forward child is sent to school; his already too irritable brain is excited to activity, whilst the healthy and more backward boy is kept at home in idleness a few years more. In America the rage for early education is greater than in England, and Dr. Bringham says, "Dangerous forms of scrofulous disease among children have fallen under my observation, for which I could account in no other way than by supposing that the brain had been exercised at the expense of other parts of the system, and at a time of life when Nature is endeavouring to perfect all the organs of the body. When attacked by disease, the chance of recovery for these precocious children is small, for their mental precocity results from an unnatural development of one organ of the body at the expense of the constitution." GRACE. I have heard, that in the United States, books are written for children from two to three years old, and among them infant Manuals of Botany, Geometry, and Astronomy! |