The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-11-16
EPIDEMIC DELUSIONS.

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Mas which atcertain Intervals have
gulsed the world. Hislecture is marked
with the clear logical precision, the UNI
ravelling.o of the tangled skein of human
ideas and actions, which places him in
the front rank of the worlds Thinkers.
The lecture covers too much ground
for us to give more than a meagre syn
Opsis of its prominent" features. DR..
Carpenter has omitted in his list some
two or three of the extraordinary errors
of the 18th and 18th centuries, but he
probably has done SO Intentionally, so
as to give no offence to existing creeds
and institutions.
Between mental operations and will,
the lecturer traces the same connection
which exists between a horse and its ii
der. hehOrse Obeys the direction given
him by rein and spur, as the will influ-
ences thcmind. Sometimes too when the
will is unconscious of its leadership. or
does not exert it, the mind from the
mere force of habit follows its habitual
track, and joys along without whip or
spur. Like a startled horse too, thrown
ohlts balance by ON unexpected event,
it will run away from the guidance of
its directing will, and spread the I'M
reasoning panic through every herd it
meets, until they all take a stampede.
Blind to voice, and touch, they rush on
insensible to any check until the power
of motion, or endurance fails them.
Of this nature are certain epidemic
delusions arising from physical condi-
tiOns, which seem to propagate them
selves among those with similar mental
or physical decisions. Put a historical
woman III a room with others who are
given to the same affection, and how
long do you think it will be before the
whole party arc choking, and kicking,
laughing, and crying like so many mad
women?
In a factory town in Lancashire one
girl was thrown into a fit by having a
mouse thrust inside her dress. At the
sight of her commissions, some of her
companions fell to the ground in the
same kind of fit. Day after day at the
most unexpected times and in the most
unexpected places, the factory girls
would tumble down in strong cOnvul-
sions, and sometimes the whole body of
+ workwomen at once, until work was to-
tally suspended. 1t was rumored that
r the affection was caused by the mama
t lions from a bale of cotton, and as soon
7 as that was suggested there seemed no
end to the fits, and they even spreadinto
a neighboring factory. Aphysician was
called in at last, who, understanding the
case, brought an electric battery to bear
; upon the patients. One or two shocks
cured them entirely.
) In a convent in Germany one of the
young nun began mewing like a cat.
In a short time every u followed suit,
f and the mewing and caterwauling which
S resounded over the land was terrific.
The contagion spread to other converts,
some of which varied the performances
by biting like dogs. The celebrated
. physician Boerliaac was called in to one
8 of these cases in Holland, andhe heated
a.poker red hot, and threatened to eau
terize the first girl who fen into a fit.
They Were cured: s~~ ,s-... ..za..
e Singularly enough, DR.. Carpenter does
q notallude to he,,suicide maniai in the "De-
e partement de la Loire" A young girl
: drowned herself, and all the girls in the
s "Departementn seemed smitten with the
: madness of self destruction by water.
S Bodies We're fished out Of the river, the
G wells and ponds, so shallow as not tC
= cover them. When the girls were con
d fined to the house, by their anxious
friends, they drowned themselves in wa.
ter butts and jars. From the highest
ranks TO the lowest the mania spread
v until q law-giver, wiser than his broth.
ers, arrested il. He passed alaw, thai
the first body found, should be stripped
andexposedpublicly for twodays. There
was not q single suicide after that, HI
g had found, in the threatened modesty
of these young girls, a moral check
h strong enough to rein in the frenziet
{ action.
d In the middle of the 18th century, be
8, lieving that the end Of the world was q
e hand, whole communities gave them
II selves up to acts of penance and MORT
q ~ication for their sins. The Flagellants
Il, as they called themselves, went bouti
ID bands with music, banners, andscourges
y AT q given Signal they would dives
themselves. of their upper garments, an
Or Justify fog themselves and others. The
t. swelled into a little army, gaining re
III cruits as they passed along.
Then came the dancing mania, whic
nj followed the great plague of 1870, Whe
T. bands went from town totown, and eve
people of high birth and position joine
in the frenzy. They would jump an
I'll leap violently and continuously for THU
ty-six hours without food, until som
died from pure exhaustion. .s5 * il.
st Afterthem followed the +" ;Conyulsior
Il. naires of St. Medard" who wentabor
with organized bands of attendants, VIII
r. beat them with clubs, or piled heav
weights upon their st0machs. Tlisthe
of called "grand secours' and said it PR
sh duced a most pleasurable sensation.
MS The witchcraft delusion came muc
lie later, but with that our readers are a
nd familiar. 5.t1 !.
Snirifualism ia the endemic dalrsio