MIND IN WORK.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3987, 8 October 1881, Page 4

MIND IN WORK.

Medical men see a great deal of life, and nothing strikes tbe observant family practitioner more than the number of feeble, sauntering, and loitering minds with which he is brought into contact. No inconsiderable proportion of the common, and some of the special, ailments by which the multitude are affected, may be traced to the want of vigour in their way of living. The human organism is a piece of physico-mental machinery, which can only be successfully worked at a fairly high pressure. It will almost inevitably get out of gear if the propelling force is allowed to fall below a moderately high standard of pressure or tension, and that degree of tension cannot be maintained without so much interest as will secure that the mind of the worker shall be in his work. It is curious to observe the way in which particular temperaments and types of mental constitution are, so, to say, gifted with special affinities 'or predilections for classes of work. Tbe men who work in bard material are men of iron will, which is equivalent to saying that the men of what is called hard-headed earnestness find a vent for their energy in work that requires and consumes active power. On the other hand, tbe; worker in soft materials is commonly either theoretical or dreamy. There is a special type of mental constitution connected with almost every distinct branch of industry— at least with those branches which have existed long enough to exercise a sufficient amount of influence on successive generations of workers. We are all familiar wiih what are called the racial types of character. It would be well if some addition could be bestowed on the industrial types, both in relation to, educational policy and the study of mental and physical habits in health and disease.— "Lancet."