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amusing research find of the day
May. 11th, 2006 07:02 pmBeard, George M. (1881). Longevity of brain-workers, and the relation of age to work. In American nervousness: Its cause and consequences, pp. 193-291. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 352 pp.
(from the chapter) "This chapter discusses longevity in relation to occupation. A belief that has been held for centuries is that the mind can be used only at the injurious expense of the body. This belief has been something more than a mere popular prejudice; it has been a professional dogma, and has inspired nearly all the writers on hygiene since medicine has been a science; and intellectual and promising youth have thereby been dissuaded from entering brain-working professions. Between 1864 and 1866 the author obtained statistics on the general subject of the relation of occupation to health and longevity that convinced him of the error of the accepted teachings in regard to the effect of mental labor. He noted the following (1) The brain-working classes--clergymen, lawyers, physicians, merchants, scientists, and men of letters--lived much longer than the muscle-working classes. (2) Those who followed occupations that called both muscle and brain into exercise, were longer lived than those who lived in occupations that were purely manual. (3) The greatest and hardest brain-workers of history have lived longer on the average than brain-workers of ordinary ability and industry. (4) Clergymen were longer lived than any other great class of brain-workers. (5) Longevity increased greatly with the advance of civilization. and (6) Although nervous diseases increased with the increase of culture, and although the unequal and excessive excitements and anxieties attendant on mental occupations of a high civilization, were so far both prejudicial to health and longevity, yet these incidental evils were more than counterbalanced by the fact that fatal inflammatory diseases have diminished in frequency and violence in proportion as nervous diseases have increased; and also that brain-work is, per se, healthful and conducive to longevity."
(from the chapter) "This chapter discusses longevity in relation to occupation. A belief that has been held for centuries is that the mind can be used only at the injurious expense of the body. This belief has been something more than a mere popular prejudice; it has been a professional dogma, and has inspired nearly all the writers on hygiene since medicine has been a science; and intellectual and promising youth have thereby been dissuaded from entering brain-working professions. Between 1864 and 1866 the author obtained statistics on the general subject of the relation of occupation to health and longevity that convinced him of the error of the accepted teachings in regard to the effect of mental labor. He noted the following (1) The brain-working classes--clergymen, lawyers, physicians, merchants, scientists, and men of letters--lived much longer than the muscle-working classes. (2) Those who followed occupations that called both muscle and brain into exercise, were longer lived than those who lived in occupations that were purely manual. (3) The greatest and hardest brain-workers of history have lived longer on the average than brain-workers of ordinary ability and industry. (4) Clergymen were longer lived than any other great class of brain-workers. (5) Longevity increased greatly with the advance of civilization. and (6) Although nervous diseases increased with the increase of culture, and although the unequal and excessive excitements and anxieties attendant on mental occupations of a high civilization, were so far both prejudicial to health and longevity, yet these incidental evils were more than counterbalanced by the fact that fatal inflammatory diseases have diminished in frequency and violence in proportion as nervous diseases have increased; and also that brain-work is, per se, healthful and conducive to longevity."
