Why it should be
so difficult of relief is hard to comprehend, until we remember that the
brain is apt to go on doing its weary work automatically and despite the
will of the unlucky owner; so that it gets no thorough rest, and is in
the hapless position of a broken limb which is expected to knit while
still in use. Where physical overwork has worn out the spinal or motor
centres, it is, on the other hand, easy to enforce repose, and so to
place them in the best condition for repair. This was often and happily
illustrated during the late war. Severe marches, bad food, and other
causes which make war exhausting, were constantly in action, until
certain men were doing their work with too small a margin of
reserve-power. Then came such a crisis as the last days of McClellan's
retreat to the James River, or the forced march of the Sixth Army Corps
to Gettysburg, and at once these men succumbed with palsy of the legs. A
few months of absolute rest, good diet, ale, fresh beef and vegetables
restored them to perfect health.
In all probability incessant use of a part flushes with blood the
nerve-centres which furnish it with motor energy, so that excessive work
may bring about a state of congestion, owing to which the nerve-centre
becomes badly nourished, and at last strikes work. In civil life we
sometimes meet with such cases among certain classes of artisans:
paralysis of the legs as a result of using the treadle of the
sewing-machine ten hours a day is a good example, and, I am sorry to
add, not a very rare one, among the overtasked women who slave at such
labor.
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