第 4 节
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暖暖 更新:2021-02-24 22:59 字数:9322
her man nor woman; but a repelling Something intermediate。 Enough has been said to show that mind and character are dependent upon the health of the brain and the glands of the body; that somewhere in the interaction of tissues; in the chemistry of life; arises thought; purpose; emotion; conduct and deed。 But we need not go so far afield as pathology to show this; for common experience demonstrates it as well。
If character is control of emotions; firmness of purpose; cheerfulness of outlook and vigor of thought and memory; then the tired man; worn out by work or a long vigil; is changed in character。 Such a person in the majority of cases is irritable; showing lack of control and emotion; he slackens in his life's purposes; loses cheerfulness and outlook and finds it difficult to concentrate his thoughts or to recall his memories。 Though this change is temporary and disappears with rest; the essential fact is not altered; namely; fatigue alters character。 It is also true that not all persons show this vulnerability to fatigue in equal measure。 For that matter; neither do they show an equal liability to infectious diseases; equal reaction to alcohol or injury。 The feeling of vigor which rest gives changes the expression of personality to a marked degree。 It is true that we are not apt to think of the tired man as changed in character; yet we must admit on reflection that he has undergone transformation。 Even a loaded bowel may; as is well known; alter the reaction to life。 Among men who are coarse in their language there is a salutation more pertinent than elegant that inquires into the state of the bowels。'1' The famous story of Voltaire and the Englishman; in which the sage agreed to suicide because life was not worth living when his digestion was disordered and who broke his agreement when he purged himself; illustrates how closely mood is related to the intestinal tract。 And mood is the background of the psychic life; upon which depends the direction of our thoughts; cheerful or otherwise; the vigor of our will and purpose。 Mood itself arises in part from the influences that stream into the muscles; joints; heart; lungs; liver; spleen; kidneys; digestive tract and all the organs and tissues by way of the afferent nerves (sympathetic and cerebro…spinal)。 Mood is thus in part a reflection of the health and proper working of the organism; it is the most important aspect of the subconsciousness; and upon it rests the structure of character and personality。 '1' What is called coarse is frequently crudely true。 Thus; in the streets; in the workshops; and where men untrammeled by niceties engage in personalities the one who believes the other to be a 〃crank〃 informs him in crude language that he has intestinal stasis (to put the diagnosis in medical language) and advises him accordingly to 〃take a pill。〃
This does not mean that only the healthy are cheerful; or that the sick are discouraged。 To affirm the dependence of mind upon body is not to deny that one may build up faith; hope; courage; through example and precept; or that one may not inherit a cheerfulness and courage (or the reverse)。 〃There are men;〃 says James; 〃who are born under a cloud。〃 But exceptional individuals aside; the mass of mankind generates its mood either in the tissues of the body or in the circumstances of life。 Children; because they have not built up standards of thought; mood and act; demonstrate in a remarkable manner the dependence of their character upon health。 A child shows the onset of an illness by a complete change in character。 I remember one sociable; amiable lad of two; rich in the curiosity and expanding friendliness of that time of life; who became sick with diphtheria。 All his basic moods became altered; and all his wholesome reactions to life disappeared。 He was cross and contrary; he had no interest in people or in things; he acted very much as do those patients in an insane hospital who suffer from Dementia Praecox。 What is character if it is not interest and curiosity; friendliness and love; obedience and trust; cheerfulness and courage? Yet a sick child; especially if very young; loses all these and takes on the reverse characters。 The little lad spoken of became 〃himself〃 again when the fever and the pain lifted。 Yet for a long time afterward he showed a greater liability to fear than before; and it was not until six months or more had repaired the more subtle damage to his organism that he became the hardy little adventurer in life that he had been before the illness。 There is plenty of chemical proof of this thesis as here set forth。 Men have from time immemorial put things 〃in their bellies to steal their brains away。〃 The chemical substance known as ethyl alcohol has been an artificial basis of good fellowship the world over; as well as furnishing a very fair share of the tragedy; the misery and the humor of the world。 This is because; when ingested in any amount; its absorption produces changes in the flow of thought; in the attitude toward life; in the mood; the emotions; the purposes; the conduct;in a word; in character。 One sees the austere man; when drunk; become ribald; the repressed; close…fisted become open…mouthed and open…hearted; the kindly; perhaps brutal; the controlled; uncontrolled。 In the change of character it effects is the regret over its passing and the greatest reason for prohibition。 Alcohol causes several well…defined mental diseases as well as mere drunkenness。 In Delirium Tremens there is an acute delirium; with confusion; excitement and auditory and visual hallucinations of all kinds。 The latter symptom is so prominent as to give the reason for the popular name of the 〃snakes。〃 In alcoholic hallucinosis the patient has delusions of persecution and hears voices accusing him of all kinds of wrong…doing。 Very frequently; as all the medical writers note; these voices are 〃conscience exteriorized〃; that is; the voices say of him just what he has been saying of himself in the struggle against drink。 Then there is Alcoholic Paranoia; a disease in which the main change is a delusion of jealousy directed against the mate; who is accused of infidelity。 It is interesting that in the last two diseases the patient is 〃clear…headed〃; memory and orientation are good; the patient speaks well and gives no gross signs of his trouble。 As the effects of the alcohol wear away; the patient recovers;i。e。; his character returns to its normal。 It becomes necessary at this point to take up a reverse side of our study; namely; what is often called the influence of 〃mind over matter。〃 Such cures of disease as seem to follow prayer and faith are cited; such incidents as the great strength of men under emotion or the disturbances of the body by ideas are listed as examples。 This is not the place to discuss cures by faith。 It suffices to say this: that in the first place most of such cures relate to hysteria; a disease we shall discuss later but which is characterized by symptoms that appear and disappear like magic。 I have seen 〃cured〃 (and have 〃cured〃) such patients; affected with paralysis; deafness; dumbness; blindness; etc。; with reasoning; electricity; bitter tonics; fake electrodes; hypnotism; and in one case by a forcible slap upon a prominent and naked part of the body。 Hysteria has been the basis of many a saint's reputation and likewise has aided many a physician into affluence。 Nor is the effect of coincidence taken into account in estimating cures; whether by faith or by drugs。 Many a physician has owed his start to the fact that he was called in on some obscure case just when the patient was on the turn towards recovery。 He then receives the credit that belonged to Nature。 Medical men understand this;that many diseases are 〃self…limited〃 and pass through a cycle influenced but little by treatment。 But faith curists do not so understand; and neither does the mass of people; so that neither one nor the other separates 〃post hoc〃 from 〃propter hoc。〃 If the truth were told; most of the miracle and faith cures that are not of hysterical origin are due to coincidence。 Faith curists report in detail their successes; but we have no statistics whatever of their failures。 If thought is a product of the brain activated by the rest of the organism; it would be perfectly natural to expect that thought would influence the organism。 That thought is intimately associated with impulses to action is well known。 This action largely takes place in the speech muscles but also it irradiates into the rest of the organism。 Especially is this true if the thought is associated with some emotion。 Emotion; as we shall discuss it later; is at least in large part a bodily reaction; a disturbance in heart; lungs; abdominal organs; blood vessels; sympathetic nervous system; endocrines; etc。 The effect of thought and emotion upon the body; whether to heighten its activity or to lower its activity; is; from my point of view; merely the effect of one function of the organism upon others。 We are not surprised if digestion affects thinking and mood; and we need not be surprised if thought and mood disturb or improve digestion。 And we may substitute for digestion any other organic function。 As a working basis; substantiated by the kind of proof we use in our dai