Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1901 — THE INFLUENCE OF NOISE. [ARTICLE]

THE INFLUENCE OF NOISE.

One of the Reusona Wuy Country Life la Healthful. Very few people realize how important a factor noise is in the production of disease. Although not generally recognized, this is one of the principal reasons why country life is more healthful than city life. The proportionate excess of disease in cities is not all due to defective dwellings and Imperfect nutrition, although they are grave contributing causes. It Is the ceaseless roar and din of a large city that slowly but surely undermine the health. Apart from its baneful effects upon the sense of hearing itself, the ceaseless babel of discordant sounds peculiar to large cities exerts a disastrous influence upon the brain and nervous system, which may with certainty be catalogued as one of the principal causes of neurasthenia. It Is true that the system becomes habituated to it, even as the operatives in a boiler factory become so accustomed to the clanging of the hammers that the cessation of work almost operates as a shock; but although the system becomes trained to take no active cognizance of it, its demoralizing effects are ever present. When will our legislators recognize the fact that the health of the community Is its most valuable asset, and take the necessary steps to assist in preserving it? Doubtless there are many noises incidental to city life which it is impossible to suppress, but a very large proportion of them are easily preventable —for Instance, the Incessant discordant clanging of ear gongs, the screeching and tooting of switch engines in railroad yards, the rattle of heavily loaded wagons over badly paved streets and the deafening yells of fruit vendor* and newsboys. In Loudon the city government has recently taken steps to suppress the last-named nuisance—* proceeding which might be followed with advantage in ouy own cities. At the risk of being considered deficient in patriotism we would raise the question whether a nation like the American, which leads the world in so many important matters, could not find some more reasonable method of expressing its jubilation than by a din of discordant sound emanating from fireworks, horns and steam whistles? The lower we descend in the scale of humanity the greater we find the partiality for noise, and reasoning from this standpoint the present means employed In the celebration of popular events is l>y no means complimentary to the boasted breeding of the nation. We cannot avoid the conclusion that in a nation of gentlemen the disease-produc-ing din which is an accompaniment of present city life would be conspicuous by its absence.—Health.