Henry Putnam Stearns

“ There is a law operative among all creatures, that every instinct of the being has something answering to it from without, toward which it turns in its periods of need and helplessness. The breast of the mother answers to the instinctive action of the hungry infant; the strength of parents to the feeble clinging of the child; the atmosphere to the outstretched moving wing of the bird; the water to the waving fin of the newly hatched fish; and these instincts would not exist except for the answering reality outside and about them, which calls them into activity. ”

“ Then, again, the sound of some voice, or the strain of some music long unheard, or the glance of an eye, will call up the memories of some bitter and suffering experience with its ten thousand harrowing associations, which go marching forward and backward through the trackless channels of the brain like a vast army of ghosts. ”

“ Governments and society encourage, and rightly so, the institution of the marriage relation; the family is the corner-stone of society, and on it are reared the fabrics of civilization and civil institutions. Probably from no other practice or custom does there ensue so large effects in the way of happiness, prosperity, morality, and well-being to the human race, as from that of marriage; but the conditions of a large part of the beneficent results of this institution, depend upon freedom from certain tendencies to disease. ”

“ Passing now to the conditions of the mental side of the human system, we find, in what are called healthy states, that there exists as broad a diversity of character as in the physical. While some apprehend any thing a little abstruse with great difficulty, or fail to do so at all, others understand it with a readiness which we are accustomed to call intuition; while many occurrences seem merely to impinge upon and glance off the minds of some persons never to be remembered again, they pass from the minds of others only after long years, or remain through life. ”

“ The expectation that, some time in the ages of the world, some of those who are to come after him may possibly be in a more favored condition of existence on earth, will afford too little comfort to him in his ofttimes-condition of suffering and ignorance. If the present is to end all, and there may be no to-morrow for him in which he may hope for some adjustment and anticipate a higher plane of existence, then the darkness and mystery of life itself become profoundly inexplicable. ”

“ Kings, and generals of armies, and rulers of petty nationalities and clans, were the personages who stood out in bold relief; their plans, intrigues, and movements, and the marshalling of their armies for combat, together with the results which followed in the way of conquering and re-conquering of territories, constituted the great business of life among these nations, and furnished the themes of which historians wrote; while the conditions of life, pertaining to the great body of the common people, as to education, modes of living, occupations, and health, were of almost no account. ”

“ When viewed in the light of physiology, or of political economy even, the State should educate her young in such a manner and to such an extent as will tend to give the largest measure of health, both of body and mind, to the individual, and make the most self-reliant and self-supporting citizen, rather than give a smattering of algebra or music or astronomy, the remembrance of which will be almost certain to fade into darkness in less than five years after the individual enters upon the active duties of any kind of work in life which does not require their practical use. ”

“ If something beyond mere knowledge of right and wrong always has been necessary, and is likely to be necessary for some ages to come, among adult persons, to deter many of them from violating the laws of society and of their own health; if persons need the fear of penalty in the way of illness, helplessness, and suffering to aid them in conforming to obedience, how much more necessary it is in relation to the young, whose experiences have been so limited, and whose reason is so immature. Hence it is, that the parent and the educator must not only instruct, but enforce obedience. ”

“ There exists a broad basis in the very nature of man’s system, on which to build up religious belief and practice. Temperance, honesty, obedience to parents, truthfulness, chastity, recognition of sacred times, and brotherly kindness are no less in accordance with the laws of bodily and mental health, than they are with the laws and ordinances of the Christian religion, and when man sins against one he does also against the other. The two are in harmony with the constitution of his system, and their observance can conduce only toward his highest health and consequent happiness. ”

“ No aspirations of woman can ever reach so high and grand a sphere in the activities of the world as that enshrined in the name of mother; and since Nature has crowned her with this supremest function, all effort to forget or change it, to belittle or push it aside for other more transitory pleasures or missions, can only lead, in the end, to unhappiness and too often to disease. ”

“ The brain may and does, in many cases, so far recover that it may fairly do the work, or a work in life, but it has attained a bias—a twist,—which will be seen to manifest itself in the next generation in something more than a twist; it will be an insane diathesis—a brain constituted in so unstable a manner, that the friction of ordinary life will upset it, ending in insanity. ”

“ In the conduct of life, the strong are almost sure, not only to neglect the weak, but often to tyrannize over them; they become selfish and not unfrequently covetous, and require much for little. The distinctions and conditions of society incident to wealth and poverty, knowledge and ignorance, appear, and the latter too often surrounds its unfortunate victim with such hardships and exposure, as tend rapidly, in too many cases, toward bodily and mental disease. ”

“ A larger importance will be given, in methods of education at home, to inculcating and enforcing obedience to laws and regulations. This is essential, not only to the interests of society, but especially to those of the individual in his relations to the laws of health. Man is endowed not only with intellect, but with a will in the direction and use of it, and it becomes his duty and essential to his interests to find out those courses of conduct which will lead to health. In a considerable degree he is capable of regulating his conduct so as to be in harmony with such regulations. ”

“ Physical labor is one of the greatest promoters of both physical and mental health, and its necessity should therefore be regarded as a blessing rather than a curse for the vast majority of mankind. On the other hand, idleness of mind and body, or conditions of life which give neither opportunity nor necessity for exertion, tend toward ill-health and unhappiness, and consequently are to be avoided.
The condition of poverty creates the necessity for labor, and, if its stress is not too great, is not to be regarded as an unmixed evil. ”

“ Man realizes at times, and will always continue to do so, that he is a very helpless being in the midst of a stupendous system, a relentless on-going of nature, silent as the tomb and terrible as fate, and from which there come to him no voices of assurance and no gleams of hope. ”

“ Science is good and its study ennobling, but it does not suffice for man’s highest aspirations, nor for the development of his moral nature. It has never explained the mystery of a single act of his will, and can never ascend into the region of the spiritual. Man may press onward and upward in its paths never so far, and there still remains the infinite beyond. ”

“ That physicians appointed by the State, and operating in conjunction with superintendents of public institutions and with teachers, would be able to accomplish a most valuable work, in reference to the conduct of education, and in instructing the public concerning those habits of life which are at variance with mental health, I have no doubt. I may add that there can be no question that a generous expenditure of money for such a purpose would save many minds from the suffering and ruin which result from disease, and, in the end, prove to be the wisest economy. ”

“ But, however this may be, I regard it of the highest importance that the child should learn self-control and some self-denial, both for individual and the public good, and when this element of education is lost sight of, and the child is permitted to grow up having his own way in most things, and his every wish gratified, he has a large disadvantage when brought into contact with the friction of adult life.
I have seen not a few young men and women hopelessly stranded in life, whose early education had been one of extreme indulgence. ”

“ I confidently believe the day will come when the first question which will be asked concerning a child who is to commence an education, will be as to his or her inheritance; and after obtaining all possible information concerning this point, it will be a part of the teacher’s duty to study the physical and mental traits and tendencies of each child in the light of this information. The time will come when the importance of individuality in education will be so highly appreciated that it will be considered as essential in all recognized systems. ”

“ From the time of birth until the body finally rests in its last sleep, the human system requires periods of repose under the conditions of sleep. The child, during the first few months of its existence, passes the larger portion of the time in this state. While in it, the brain and nervous system develop more rapidly, grow in stability, and attain capacity for activity more surely than is possible in any other.
It is true that we do not yet understand precisely in what the phenomenon of sleep consists; we do not know fully what change in the operation of the brain occurs for its induction. ”

“ We therefore perceive how even more important than for other organs it is, that the circulation of the brain, the tissue of which is the most delicate and sensitive, should remain unaffected by over-stimulation of the heart’s action, which, in reality and effect, is the controlling power of the system, and may be likened to an engine, by means of which is kept in operation the force requisite to move the machinery of all other portions of the system, and maintain them in harmonious activity. ”

“ The fact that more than one third of all admissions to those State hospitals which are located in the older portions of our country are from those who have never been properly educated in any of the regular occupations of life, is certainly significant, and I think will appear more so as we proceed. This, however, is only one element or factor in their condition, and it would be far from correct to conclude that this lack of education is in all, or nearly all, the only cause of their insanity. Doubtless many other causes have united in producing this result, as in other classes of society ”

“ Account for the fact as we may, the conditions of society are sadly out of gear. The vast majority of the human race now are, always have been, and are always likely to be, in a condition largely of dependence. The most sanguine optimist must admit that long ages will pass, ere that time shall come when the superior in physical and mental ability shall not use that superiority for his own advantage, as against that of his less-favored brother. ”

“ The rich have an abundance and surfeit, while the poor become poorer, and suffer for the requisites wherewith to become strong, or even to remain in physical health. To the one class pertain all those conditions which serve to invigorate and strengthen, while to the other pertain the opposite ones. To the one belongs abundance in the way of food, clothing, shelter, warmth, pure air, change, and education, while to the other pertain privation, insufficiency of food, impure air, overwork, ignorance, and a never-ending monotony and drudgery of life. ”

“ So true is it that certain trains of thought proceed only in limited channels of the brain, that it is found in experience, that a change of study from a subject which has long been under consideration, to another which has not been, and which is of a different character, and which requires combinations of memories and reasonings of a different order, is almost equivalent to a period of rest. ”

“ It cannot otherwise be, than that he should feel, even in the fulness of his strength and the highest realization of his powers, that he stands as on a grain of sand only; that the longest ranges of his vision are soon enveloped in darkness; that his knowledge is as ignorance when compared with that wisdom which is manifested by the greatness of worlds which look down upon him from the depths of space. ”

“ And in the history of the world, thus far, there has never appeared any high states of civilization without these unequal and inharmonious developments. No peoples have as yet ever learned the art of living under the conditions of civilization without them; no peoples have ever passed from the community of interests and possessions, which exists so largely in savage life, up to those conditions which pertain to civil life, except with attendant results similar to those already indicated; and these results are plainly those which tend largely toward the development of mental disease. ”

“ Knowledge, to be of much practical value to its possessor, must be clear and definite in the mind. When only partially understood or dimly perceived [Pg 78] by the mind, it tends rather to confuse and weaken than invigorate; consequently, during the earlier periods of life, study in our schools should be confined to a comparatively few subjects, and there should be opportunity for the teacher to see that the scholar receives such individual attention as will enable him to fully master the allotted tasks. ”

“ Again, the acquisition of self-control and obedience to law is essential to mental discipline and training. The operations of the brain are more or less under [Pg 121] the control of the will, and the more thoroughly the habit of obedience and self-control is gained, the more fully are all mental operations under individual or will-control. The will is the highest and grandest manifestation of the Ego possible. This it is which lifts man so immeasurably high above all other creatures, and so largely helps him to control his own destiny on earth. ”

“ If, therefore, he would have a brain capable of healthy mental action, he must learn to have its operations early under the control of his will-power. He must learn to guide it toward its higher and better impulses, and to strengthen it with the best nourishment. He must learn how to use not only his brain but his whole nervous system, and by this means acquire skill in the accomplishment of various kinds of labor. In no other way can he become self-supporting and independent, in the midst of the conflicting and competing tendencies of modern life. ”

“ How it is possible that instructors of young persons can suppose that any larger power of intellect, or any greater capacity for usefulness in after-life, can possibly be secured by such treatment, or rather by such abuse of the organ of the mind, or why they [Pg 86] have not been more careful to instruct those under their care as to this most important of all subjects to them in their future work, it is not easy to imagine, and can only be accounted for by the supposition that they have not studied the subject carefully enough in its physiological relations. ”