[TWO OF THE GREATEST AFFLICTIONS OF GIRLHOOD:]
BLUSHING AND NERVOUSNESS.
By “THE NEW DOCTOR.”
Some years ago an enterprising physician discovered that the whole human race was insane.
This doctrine naturally drew forth from the public considerable indignation. We do not believe that we are insane. But the answer of the author was concise: “You cannot prove that you are sane, therefore you are insane!”
And a large number took his word and believed it. Nay; even now people are to be met who believe that everyone is insane. Nay—further! There are many persons who not only believe everyone to be insane, but believe that all physicians hold the same opinion!
And yet, if you ask one of these philanthropists if he thinks that he himself is insane: “Oh, well—no; you see I am an exception. I do not mean to say that I am better than anyone else, but I am different from everybody that I know. No, I do not think that I am insane.”
Yesterday we were interviewing a gentleman “lodger” in an asylum, who had come to the conclusion that all the inmates of the house—nurses, patients, physicians and servants—were all insane, himself alone excepted. This is a common creed in lunatic asylums.
No, everyone is not insane. The doctrine is fallacious. But we all pass through phases in our lives when our minds are not capable of fully grasping every detail of the situation. In other words, we are all liable to nervousness.
What is nervousness? Think for yourself and try to answer the question. It is difficult, we admit.