Brain-work, in moderation, is no more wearing than
any other kind of work. Duly regulated, it is as promotive of
health as bodily exercise; and, where due attention is paid to the
physical system, it seems difficult to put more upon a man than he
can bear. Merely to eat and drink and sleep one's way idly
through life is vastly more injurious. The wear-and-tear of rust
is even faster than the tear-and-wear of work.
But overwork is always bad economy. It is, in fact, great waste,
especially if conjoined with worry. Indeed, worry kills far more
than work does. It frets, it excites, it consumes the body--as
sand and grit, which occasion excessive friction, wear out the
wheels of a machine. Overwork and worry have both to be guarded
against. For over-brain-work is strain-work; and it is exhausting
and destructive according as it is in excess of nature. And the
brain-worker may exhaust and overbalance his mind by excess, just
as the athlete may overstrain his muscles and break his back by
attempting feats beyond the strength of his physical system.
NOTES
(1)In the third chapter of his Natural History, Pliny relates in what
high honour agriculture was held in the earlier days of Rome; how
the divisions of land were measured by the quantity which could be
ploughed by a yoke of oxen in a certain time (JUGERUM, in one day;
ACTUS, at one spell); how the greatest recompence to a general or
valiant citizen was a JUGERUM; how the earliest surnames were
derived from agriculture (Pilumnus, from PILUM, the pestle for
pounding corn; Piso, from PISO, to grind coin; Fabius, from FABA,
a bean; Lentulus, from LENS, a lentil; Cicero, from CICER, a
chickpea; Babulcus, from BOS, &c.
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