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  CONFESSIONS
  OF A
  NEURASTHENIC

  BY
  WILLIAM TAYLOR MARRS, M.D.


  With Original Illustrations


  PHILADELPHIA
  F. A. DAVIS COMPANY
  PUBLISHERS



  COPYRIGHT 1908,
  BY
  F. A. DAVIS COMPANY.


  [Registered at Stationers' Hall, London, Eng.]


  Philadelphia, Pa., U. S. A.:
  Press of F. A. Davis Company,
  1916 Cherry Street.




AUTHOR'S APOLOGY.


The author's life-work having been such as to enable him to be especially
observant, he can vouch for nearly every incident and statement recorded
in this monograph as being based upon an actual experience, and therefore
not merely the creation of something out of the whole cloth. In this
instance, the neurasthenic is made to carry quite a heavy burden; thus, in
a measure, suffering vicariously for the whole class to which he belongs.

The author has used his best efforts to tell his story in a happy vein,
without padding and a multiplicity of words. The writing of it has been a
task well mixed with pleasure, the latter of which it is hoped the reader
may, in some small measure, share. The suggestions that are intended to be
conveyed project between the lines, and therefore need no pointing out.

The one apology which the author desires to offer is for the constant
repetition of the personal pronoun. This has been all along a matter of
sincere regret to the author, but he saw no way of obviating it. It is a
difficult matter to tell a story, when you are your own hero and villain,
and keep down to a modest limit the ever-recurring _I_.

WILLIAM TAYLOR MARRS.

Peoria, Illinois.




CONTENTS.

  CHAPTER                                                         PAGE

      I. The Neurasthenic during his Infancy                         1

     II. The Perversity of his Childhood                             7

    III. As a Shiftless and Purposeless Youth                       16

     IV. His Pursuit of an Education                                20

      V. Tries to Find an Occupation Conducive to Health            27

     VI. New Symptoms and the Pursuit of Health                     35

    VII. The Neurasthenic Falls in Love                             42

   VIII. Morbid Fears and Fancies                                   50

     IX. Germs and How he Avoided Them. Appendicitis                55

      X. Dieting for Health's Sake                                  63

     XI. Tells of a Few New Occupations and Ventures                71

    XII. Tries a New Business; also Travels some for his Health     77

   XIII. Tries a Retired Life; is also an Investigator of New
         Thought, Christian Science, Hypnotic Suggestion            84

    XIV. The Cultivation of a Few Vices and the Consequences        90

     XV. Considers Politics and Religion. Consults Osteopathic
         and Homeopathic Doctors                                    94

    XVI. Takes a Course in a Medical College                       101

   XVII. Turns Cow-boy. Has Run the Gamut of Fads                  108

  XVIII. Gives up the Task of Writing Confessions                  113




ILLUSTRATIONS.

                                                                  PAGE

  Nursing the baby                                                   9

  I was weaker than I really looked to be                           11

  My bump of continuity was poorly developed                        21

  I read up in the almanacs                                         29

  Looking for new symptoms                                          33

  Informed me I had psychasthenia anorexia                          39

  The wind was blowing a hurricane through my room                  57

  Good-night and good-bye                                          115




CHAPTER I.

THE NEURASTHENIC DURING HIS INFANCY.


The neurasthenic is born and not made to order, but it is only by
assiduous cultivation that he can hope to become a finished product. To
elucidate the fact presented by the latter half of the preceding sentence
is the purpose of this little book.

In telling a story it is always best to begin at the beginning. I shall
start by saying that I was born poor and without any opportunities,
therefore I ought to have been able to accomplish almost anything. The
reader will readily agree that the best inheritance that the average
American boy can have is indigence and lack of opportunity. For getting on
in the world and for carving out one's own little niche, nothing beats
having poverty-stricken, but sensible and respectable parents. Many a
fellow has been heard to deplore the lack of opportunities in his early
youth when, in reality,