years, twenty minutes; at from twelve to sixteen, twenty-five minutes, and so on in proportion. If, then, so few minutes can be given without injury to one subject, what must be the condition of the mind of children confined six hours each day? What a fearful crop of suffering and disease must be ripening in this harvest of injustice to childhood! All the time spent in school work after the time that the mind can be profitably employed, is like forcing a child to eat that for which it has neither appetite or ability to digest.

Duty demands a defense of the teachers of our public schools, as well as of the pupils they teach, for the wrongs inflicted on them by the public and by school officials, make them greater sufferers in proportion to their number than those they instruct. Most of them are overworked to meet the demand of what the public expect of them.

I regard teaching, like law and medicine, burdened with weighty responsibilities and arduous duties, for the discharge of which duties and responsibilities, I would hold each teacher bound in good faith and under proper penalty to perform. While I would urge these exactions of the teacher, I would also urge that he or she be recognized by law and usage as one who is set apart for a special duty, and recognized as a professor of public instruction, protected and defended as such, and who, after receiving from competent authority a membership in this profession, that each should be kept employed when their services are demanded, during competency and efficiency; that, too, without having to seek other pursuits as a means of support; also, that their pay be ample to call to their ranks the best talent in the country. Dr. Lincoln says

"the health of the teacher is more liable to fail under the present system than that of the pupils." "It is," says he, "a sad sight to see a young child's mind exhausted by overwork, but the real loss to the community is greater when a fully developed man or woman of cultivation and ability drops from a condition of perfect health and energy, into invalidism, temporary or permanent. In the case of a large number of teachers, the fatigue is so great that two months of the summer holidays are spent, as it were, upon the sofa, or partly so.

This almost unendurable exhaustion is caused by not only over mental strain, but also by the want of exercise and amuse

ment, by eating too little, too hurriedly and not eating that which the system demands. A more potent cause of this character of invalidism is overwork of the mind in the discharge of the duties demanded of them when not actually teaching. They are required to be in the school-room an hour before and an hour after school hours-from eight o'clock in the morning until five o'clock in the evening, making nine hours' mental work each day. This constant application, together with perplexing anxieties that results from enforcing school discipline, is enough to wear out the energies of the best constitution. This, however, is not all; much of the evening's hours have to be given to study to prepare work for the school and for school examinations, for teachers' institutes and public examinations.

I cannot, however, in this paper, give but a synopsis of the facts and arguments connected with each department of Mental Hygiene, even within the limits I have defined, and which covers. but a small portion of the entire subject.

The medical profession, as sentinels upon the watch-tower of public health, must not permit errors of such magnitude as those referred to, to exist without sounding the alarm. Passing from mental hygiene of schools, I must now briefly refer to the

HYGIENE OF OCCUPATION.

At

After school-life is over and education is called completed, so as to prepare the young for assuming the duties of citizens, tradesmen, of entering a profession, of becoming fathers and mothers, husbands and wives-then commences the struggle of life. this time the mind becomes burdened with the plans and the pursuits of life, which in some instances are so very absorbing; they are the cause of the mind grasping and contending with problems that transcend the bounds of prudence and endanger the health.

Late hours are often given to toil and study, sometimes to dissipation and unwarranted indulgences, and not enough time is given to sleep and amusement, or even to proper exercise.

Many have such a weight of cares upon them in their unjustifiable eagerness to possess fame or fortune, that when they do lie down to sleep, the mind does not rest, but runs over loss and gain, trade and speculation, and other subjects, until the temples throb,

the heart palpitates and the nerves tremble like autumn leaves, until the hours for sleep are passed and the strength is exhausted; but even after all this, the same thing is repeated again and again, until some disease of mind or body is devolved, which makes the balance of life wretched.

This over-taxing of mind and body is a very prolific source of diseases of the mind, of insanity, and even functional and organic disease of the body.

Dr. Roger S. Tracy, sanitary inspector of the board of health of New York City, says: "The exhaustion brought on by the continued waste of nerve-tissue and unceasing molecular conflict, so to speak, is not only a source of danger, but of suffering, to thousands, to obviate the ill effects of which irregular and unnatural wearing out of life, some take to using stimulants, which for a while supply an artificial strength; finally there comes a time for the complete breaking up of the life-forces, and the poor man or woman dies at once or lingers the wreck of what he or she once was. It should be written on every wayside-"Give the mind its required rest." Many occupations are necessarily exhausting to the mind. Physicians are often compelled to give their nights to labor and study or to neglect their professional duty, or violate obligations. The exhaustless literature connected with the study and practice of medicine, imposes upon its votaries who aim to comprehend it in any way fully, immense mental toil, and also burdens the memory with a large amount of information that must be carried in the mind to the bedside. Intricate cases have often to be looked up through volumes upon volumes of books and periodicals; often when the night demands sleep, the physician must look up the literature of his cases that his patients may have at his hands the benefit of all that is known and to which he has access, in the treatment. Who of you gentlemen could or would sleep with a human life depending upon your care, until you was master of all the means possible for relief. No wonder that physicians as a rule die young. Lawyers, bankers and railroad officials are often burdened with too much exhausting care and anxiety from mental effort and the responsibility imposed upon them. Careful attention to the demands of mental hygiene in connection with this enterprise would save many valuable lives and

untold suffering among those devoted to trades and professions. Whatever keeps the mind in one channel of thought, or does not allow the attention to be shifted from it, as much of the work in machine shops, factories and many other pursuits, has a tendency to praduce monomania and other diseases of the mind and body. A few thoughts must here be given to the

MENTAL HYGIENE OF AGE.

Nature has stamped the decree of the Creator upon our physical constitution, as well as upon our minds, that when we droop beneath the pressure of age, life's conflict is drawing to a close; that the time for hard work of mind or body, long at a time, cannot be tolerated with impunity; that it is a gross violation of the teachings of reason to struggle with perplexing questions, or to be annoyed with anxieties and cares. Age is the ripening time of life's purposes-life's resting place. When the eyes grow dim and the steps feeble, repose and quiet are demanded. Though the knowledge and experience of long years make the judgment more reliable, and the counsel of the aged valuable, yet it warns us that more rest is required for the thoughts. Old age is not to rust out in idleness and stupidity; much of the best work of life is done in comparatively old age. Plutarch learned the Latin language after his sixtieth year; indeed, there are many illustrious examples of what great ends have been accomplished in old age. In age, as in childhood, the time of mental effort must not be continued too long at a time.

TRICHINOSIS--A REPORT OF TWO CASES.

J. H. ALEXANDER, M. D., CLIFTY, IND.

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Sweezy were each attacked with chill, preceded by aching of the head, back and extremities, with general malaise, about ten weeks previous to the death of Mr. S.

The chill of Mr. S. was severe and protracted and immediately followed by diarrhoeic evacuations.

Each had frequent attacks of nausea and difficulty of breathing. The appetite at first deficient, but after the second week, craving; thirst insatiable.

The muscles of limbs and hands were in tonic contraction, and those of neck and back rigidly stiff.

The hands, feet and below the eyes were swollen, pitting on pressure; followed, during the second week, by great sensitiveness and a purplish hue.

Early in the disease, there was constant burning pain in the stomach, which was temporarily relieved by cathartics; also, considerable fever of remitting type, with some decided indications of spinal irritation as evidenced by delirium, opisthotonos tenderness,

etc.

After the fifth week, in the case of Mrs. S., the fever subsided, leaving her in a helpless condition, with little or no use of her back; feet oedematous and convalescence protracted. She had had no diarrhoea, but in every other respect her case was similar to that of her husband, but less severe.

Perspiration was, in both cases, somewhat profuse a considerable portion of the time during their sickness.

They had each eaten pork, and in a few instances raw.