The Portland daily press., 1871-07-04
CONTAGIOUS Mental Alienation i'm Paris

correspondence VI NiHcIHudu UdZetCo
As between the two branches of the armed
s. savages, on the 18th of March, it was the toss
of a sOus, and the communists knew it. And
= knowing it, we are not to be surprised at
their acting accordingly. They always acted
E. upon the well grounded hope that NJ Theirs
would be betrayed" No less when he came
back to Paris with his ears up and colors fly
! ing as when he sneaked away from it with
his tail between his legs. They may cry
'treason" always in France, for in France
8parties are always reasonable. Therefore, to-
a9set upon the communists Giving and dead
Gas sinners above all men who are in that
Sodom is preposterous. Communism is not
IA moral island in France. When you see a
talot CT men standing up against the wall and
8another lot of men shooting them, you will
l1see that there is very little to choose between
Qthem, whether you regard their physiognomy,
8their politics, their social ethics or their re-
= o.issos Sr RANCE is not thing OIL
Syesterday as to origin, and it will not be al
E3thing of tomorrow as to result.
An eminent Paris physician gives it as his;
6opniOn that the whole trouble arises from!
3contagious mental alienation. He says thei
,ssminds of the Parisians were gradually un-!
&hinged by the privations of the siege ssBy theI
s3lasclvious atheism OF century he sMAla, hayel
63said. The revolt of the 18th OF MafChsaa4ei
1.-the last blow, he says, and the greater
1.-THE people went ravng mad. This epiI
Zeal insanity is one of the most surpriSy
leases that PSYCHOLOGISTS have ever witness
JWomen, young girls and little children WI
4about throwing lighted torches and petrol
: UNI into houses, under the influence of NAL
4 mia for incendiarism. They acted under a!
ahallucination which is as incontestable as it isl
Edificult to explain. Women are more reck-J
sSless than men, because their brains are weak \
Yer, and their sensibilities more acute, which
Jby the way may suggest the reason why thea
Sfrench are more given to volcanic eruptionsS
ethan any other nation, not excepting theirs
j Latin sisters Spain and Italy, and their Celtics
dsister Ireland. Their brains are weaker andS
Atheir sensbilities more acute than those off
their Teutonic, AnglO-Saxon and Scandina-s
avian brothers. Consequently, as the doctorS
{says, they are far more dangerous and dos
amore harm; and because lascivious athesms
I has eaten up their common sense and virtue
3wlthOut which there can be no SANITY, mentale
Cor moral, and left nothing behind but rhetorct
gand what the physician calls 'vertigo," andk
6what Lamartine called Revolutionary verti-S
3go." We are told that the men who threwe
themselves Oh the bayonets of the soldiers in
Ia paroxysm of passion were seen in ten min
Eutes alter utterly PROSTATE and begging ford
amercy. 1hey were no more towards in they
Hast instance than they were heroes in theH
First; they are simply madmen." SO theseE
Isame poor, desperate wretches" would pleadf
tor mercy OF the Deity ten minutes after thew
Ehad fallen into His hands.
! The so-called "friends of order" are repres
scented as "struck with paralysis" The airs
lot Paris is poisoned with deleterious miasma-t
sta," says the physician, (which makes someE
4 men furious madmen, and others helpless id-E
3ots. have seen the strongest intellects stag
Iger under this pernicious influence, and IL
myself have felt as though reason was going" II
firmly believe in the doctors solution. toE
"a certain extent, or rather to greater thanE
The does. He puts the origin of the "furiousE
madness" and "helpless idiocy" at the siege
81 put it o century further back, and the CONF
stlnuance of it, l am afraid, may be put for al
century ahead. Paris is o.day as Jolly andK
iValn and rhetorical and lascivious and atheis-
tic as ever she vas. She sips and sips aroundR
Ithe smouldering embers The "furious mad 3
man" of yesterday is the "helpless idiot" of to-
3day. McMahon's admirable army" is stands
ling about, with its chassepot loaded and itsS
Ieye upon the third-stOry Misunderstanding son
Iciety." Again society is saved by force of 4
farms, and the "edifice is crowned" with di
laden of bayOnets. They are going to put az
Statue of "France" on the top of the new cola
1umn. Let it have two faces; the one then
lace of furious madman," the other the faceY
tot "helpess IDIOT" or let one face be thatE
|of a tiger, and the other of a monkey, accord-@
ing to the description # his countrymen byE
Voltalre, and let both faces be vital with theS
leer and sneer of lascivious atheism. q