A DISEASE OF CIVILISATION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4378, 25 March 1893, Page 3

A DISEASE OF CIVILISATION.

In the "North American Review" for December, Dr Henry Smith Williams, Medical Superintendent of the 'Randall's. Islands Hospital, and an authority on Discuses of the braiu, had an article on " General Paresis of, tho Insane," whioh attracted wido and deserved attention, Wo quote its opening paragraph:—

Of all diseases that menaco tho race, only a few aro absolutely fatal. Indeed, there is but ono common diseaso that invariably brings iis victims opeedily to the grave. This rnoßt ruthless of maladies is that terrible form of insanity technically called genoral paresis or parotic dementia,, mid kuowu to the laymen as " softening of tho brain." lis unvarying history entitles it to precedence over consumption, cancer, liright's disease; in short, places' it peerless in bad pre-eminence, And as if this were not enough, its malignity i,' emphasises by the way in which it juggles with its victim before it extinguishes his life, It changes bis personality, dethrones reason, almost eliminates the mind, and steadily woakening the body, leaves towards tho last a mere skeletal, vegetative being, scarce reoguisable as the vestige of his former self; unknown, unfeeling, mindles«; io bis friends at once a tearful memory and a terrible objective presence Finally death comes m a form horrible enough to ho the fitting climax of so awful a disease,

Paresis has numVrcd among its victims scores of eminent men. It does not strike <l™ n the clod, but the active, alert, nervously organised business man, author, ador, statesman, physician, journalist, etc, What is tho cause 1

In a word, abuse of function ; over-activity of tho bruin. Who among us does not know of a once brilliant intollect now periodically clouded, or, pf reliance, brought to an incurable condition by overwork or abuse of certain functions. We do not wish to unnecessarily barrow up the feelings of the reader. What we desire i« to point out the way of escape. When a man feels that ho is losing his grip of business, that his memory is failing him, that be tires easily, that his head aches, and that he cannot eat and sleep well, it is high time to call a Inlt. It is either a question of less business, less self-gratification, or softening of the brain and death. A certain stage of the disease having been reached, death from parens is just as certain as from au advanced case of consumption. It is, thorefore, the part of wisdom, that when a man realises that bo is over* exerting himself, to put a break on his desires aud bogin intelligent treatment. Let him not foolishly resort to stimulants, narcotics, drugs, etc, which aro bat temporary expedients, but to that which will put him on the road to permanent health. Such an aid is found in Warner's Sufo Ciiro and Warner's Safo Nervine, Warner's Safe Cure will reliovo the engorged kidneys, aid digestion, and assist in makinghealtby blood, while Warner's Nervine will bring rest and sleep to the tried brain and nerves, Thousands have escaped the asylum and premature death by pursuing the courso wo havo outlined, and we beg of you, render, if so afflicted, that for your own sake, as well as the happiness of those who are near and dear to you, to be wise in time, and to-day begin that course of Iking and to that help which will lead to a vigorous manhood, with faculties unimpaired and with years of usefulness in store,