Nervousness and its Cure.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 250, 21 October 1893, Page 3 (Supplement)

Nervousness and its Cure.

Dr. Gobdon Stables, well-known as a writer for ' The Boy's Own Paper,' in the 1892 Christmas number of that journal has an excellent article on the above, under the title of * A Christmas Yarn with Growing Lads.' The advice and information given in this article are worth the serious attention of every young fellow.

He states that he writes all the more willingly on the subject because he knows that numbers of quacks prey on the unhappy sufferers from this complainb, unprincipled scoundrels who thrive and fatten on the money they extort from lads who are frightened by them into the belief that there is something seriously wrong with them. He remarks that hanging is too good for these scoundrels, who should be tied to the cart-tail and flogged round the streets; that many a young life has been ruined, nob so much by bheir medicines as by bhe effecb produced by bheir lies on bhe minds of bheir unhappy vicbims, who in some instances have gone mad or committed suicide from over-brooding on their fancied ailments. He goes on to advise as part of the cure : 1. Never to read any quack advertisement, as no real medical man requires to advertise himself in the press nor to vaunb his powers of curing ailments of any kind. 2. Never bo be prevailed upon bo read a quack pamphlet on any consideration. 3. Never to receive one or talk upon the subject they discuss, He states bhab medicine is nob necessary bo cure bhis kind of nervousness, and bhab the foolish and ignorant belief bhab ib is necessary has ruined thousands of lives. The quacks often geb hold of some powerful drug which in their hands is more dangerous j than a drawn sword. Once ib was mercury, now ib is phosphorous, and this latter, baken in excess or injudicially, produces necrosis or decay of the bones, and other ailments too loathsome even to mention,

The very worst thing a young fellow can do is : to consult a quack, no matter how plausibly tbe latter may write or talk. He states that in nine cases out of ten this nervousness is brought on by bhe sufferer himself. From fourteen or fifteen till twenty-one a boy is becoming a man, and any interference with Nature's processes for the physical development of the body tends tc decrepitn.de and prem&fesre dd age. Of course errors in living fall with double force on the naturally weak. Take smoking for instance, though smokier is not tbe worst habit a boy can fall i"*.-—a strong, muscular boy may smoke a labia withoub any apparent injury, while a pony boy gees pale, nervop.p and flabby under tha ioflueoce ol tbe habit. Ib is the game as regards other bad habits. Bnb bhab which he calls inbe-iarance with Nature's development sttrftaa straight at tiio root heart, the body Jißil soul of i&c ttrfipg as trap aa a., w«*k.

If a boy were as sbrong and lusty as a Donald Dinnie, Buoh interference wibh Nature would sap his constitution to tha core. -_»v He condemns smoking in no measured terms, and states thab in excess ib causes whab is called tho tobacco hearb even in strong men, and bhab boys cannot smokeat all without having more or less of this terrible affection. And how can a boy hay©-a., strong body if his heart, the centre of his,;,/. life, be feeble and flapping? _•' ', He stabes bhat lie has hope for thousands who will read his article if bhey have, strength of mind to renounce all bad habits of every kind, and go back bo the straighb. path which alone leads to health and consequent happiness. _ Very many lads under the sway of bad habits of various kinds find the struggle to overcome them very severe indeed at first, and they may fall again and again..; They 'need nob, however, think there.is no forgiveness for them. This is but a wile of the Evil One's to make them despair. But their repentance must be very sincere and their prayer for help very earnest indeed. 'Resist,' saya a great preacher, 'the beginnings of evil. If you have not resisted at the stage of thought, then summon every power of your soul to resist at the stage of acb. Fighb inch by inch; fight , step by step—if nob ab bhe thoughb then, ab the act, then at the habit; if not even ab the habit, bhen, ab least, at the frightful surrender—the utter massacre of the last defenders of all thab is holy or pure wibhin you. Bub bear in mind bhab each stage of the losing battle is more perilous, more difficulb than bhe preceding. It is easier to frighten the enemy than to route him by a eh arge; easier to rout him than await hip onset; easier to defeat him than recover * one inch of ground. There is more hope for a boy who may have had bad thoughts than for one who has leb bhem pass into words and deeds, and more hope again for him who has sinned once than for bim who has sinned twice, and more hope for the sinner of a week than for the sinner of a month. Oh ! if any of you have lost the draw bridge, in God's name drive back the enemy from the wall; if he has reached the wall fighb for the portcullis; if he has carried the portcullis, rally every shattered power and wounded energy, and die rather than admit him ab bhe gate.'

The first step to a cure is the complete renunciation of every bad habib. This having been done bhe mode of life and method of living must be reviewed. Boys cannob, perhaps, always get the food, most suited for them, but this is a secondary consideration so long as they have enough to eat and that nob boo fluid-r-for wibh bne' exception of milk and soup, fluid food of all all kinds is bad for them—provided they do not over-eat and thus fever and congest the body, and that bhey take bime bo cab. If bhey have free choice, while having variety daily, they should take only one or two kinds of food at any one. meal. The best is underdone mutton or beef, with potatoes and one other vegetable. Cheeße and: pastry must be avoided, also too much pudding. Nothing should be drunk with tbe food, except half-a-tumblerful of good milk, bub a libble water or lemonade may be taken immediately after.

Stimulants of all kinds must be avoided, and cocoa or milk alone should be used in preference to tea or coffee. • Smoking must be abandoned. Exercise is of a very great importance. Judicious exercise in the open air equalises the nutrition of the body and tranquillises bhe mind. Ib musb be pleasurable—something to carry the thoughts with ib and make bhe bime pass very quickly. Ib musb be taken to tbe boundary line of fatigueno further. ' "»:T

Cycling does much harm if taken to excess, or if the ' safety stoop' be assumed, or if endeavous be made bo spurb hills pjf; keep up wibh companions on the road who are stronger. Club captains should accommodate the pace of club rides to the moro ; weakly members. Pure fresh air is parb of bhe cure and should be obtained by keeping the windows open, even ab night. Clothing should be all wool till well and strong, bub very lighb. As to sleeping, early retiring will give time for exercise in the morning.

The cold sponge-bath is most essential, and should be taken regularly or ib will d.o;_ no good. A hard mattress should be BlenSjl on. If any parb of the body seems congested/ the local douche three or four times a day will do good. A Turkish bath once ox twice a week ofben does greab good. Medicine.-—This is lefb to the lasb, be*-~ cause, strange as ib seems, ib is of the leasb importance. If constipation, be suffered from, a teaspoonful"of compound liquorice powder may be taken every morning, or a teaspoonful of the liquid extract of cascara sagrada at night. Either should be taken in waber. .If paleness* and anaemia be a sympbom, very small doses of reduced iron,. say bhree grains once a day ; may be baken for a month,

If fatness and flabbiness be a sympbom, a glass of Pullna or Friedrichsball waber in a tumbler of cold water every obher morning. If sallowness and thinness, with little appetite, cod liver oil will do good, especially if combined with the Kepler extract of malt as sold in the shops.

Want of appetite, if dependenb on a sluggish liver, may be remedied by baking about ten drops of the dilute nitro-muriatic acid in an ounce of quassia waber a few minutes before each meal.

And now the writer leaves his readers with the assurance thab if his advice be taken, they will be stronger and happier in a month, and well and jolly in three,