New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-06-14

! An Inlaua journal has a long account of tic
-.rlrs. .p.u,, of ,D-cl.icl female c,'ut.lt' who
/ &. rl.ut tIrpu,l t'' country uI.i.n revival nrc'
| ing, m ah.ch alleged "irn.',' figaro o'Hspir
u,u.y. f. D., coup .lilDI los sober Hlud'd and oh
serving professors Of fc sou Tint tr effect, of these
/ rr.iyII- arr cta.csrout. ami talt 80 fact Ihr cN
element p4,.., a. rtp. iy as q comes. The minis
o., have 5crl ac.u ol of "l'i-' oi these n''i ING
Ala. tl. ia crs o.: Glu. ht tir '."r. dl,lpI rpval
..at-rt,i..I toward such method, JOS tA.t,.n-;
pl iof. r,-ts upou far higher grounds. Medical
.r.a. does not hesitate 90 I,- so t. mr'hoI, here
used tor religions purposes 10 t' el'rtory OF # be
c.-.s The kind oi frances into which g." Indiana
crnpgent fills rs not my--crpg, - tle student oi
m.I ..no He recognize D. one of 'hr manifesto
uons of the many sided disease called hy~tcrla.
And iu the epidemic character Of tn emotional ont
bur.t- at such res, y meet o., the influence of sim
liar aJuDrual conditions Is perceived 10 the
pAy,.clus apprehension There II ia these violent
physical phcnom ma no question OF mental couVIc-
ton OF conversion. no eyilcnc" Of any intellectual
process whatever: but solely and simply an inyoI-
untlry aud irrational nervous CONFUSION. propa-
gated bv contag.on. truly cpid'm be IT'S character
and inviting treatment by medicine Ike any other
plvsical complaint. The epidemic character of
-uth on breaks has indeed been cOuclusvely c-tab-
i,hcl The precise aspects of tho epidemic may
Doe dctrrn ned by almost any trivial external Incl
dent. and it depends upon something Of this kind
whether the victims shall all NOW like cats 90 dd
a whole convent full Of nuns i'm Italy. or imagine
them gives monkeys and try TO climb the pillars OF
ths churches, as happened to congregations in lrt-
land. or shout " Glory w and roll on the ground. as
do the negro cc,tntics at southern REVEALS.
The Conyuls,onarcs of st. Mcdtrd belonged In the
s,nc category. They wcro seized with u furions
desire to bo beaten. AMI so Transported were thoy
tit.. Ill rad
the most violent blows, not only without sustaining
permanent injury, put without showing the least
external lesion. In the Irish epidemic. half cen
tnry AGO the people of whole parishes affected,
and 10 was observed that whom those who passed
from an infected Ylagc to one which had previously
escaped tho epidemic spread by coniagion. ju't
osalymotc disease light have been. ia REVEALS TINS
element Of contlpon Is very powerful and this IS
one of the most marked charictcrftics OF hystrra.
Merely looking at u person n II CONFUSION will
often throw sensitive persons INTO precisely SIM
liar state Tho phenomena. however. have nothing
T. do with the viii or the UNDERMINING They aio
phy.lcl not mental and it is for this reason that
they do not produce any perm lnent elects. Inc
common experience Of lay observers respecting the
after effects Of spasmodic revival meetings is simply
4 confirmation of the scientific conclusions. Tho
,vanQeli,ts who operate by means of frances and
exriting the emotions of their hearers powerfully
often produce striking effects but cannot ex-
meet any lasting changes in their subjects.
There is mischief In the dclusi0n which coniounds
nystcra with rci son for the consequences Of this
mistake are of kind to disgust sober and rational
people, while they afford opportunity for rdiculc to
uuDecvcrs, and disturb aud expose to bad inlln-
ences tho weak men and women who accept thcm
for what they are not. little sound education IN
physiology aud tho elements of medical science
woud dissipate the hallucnaton that the evidences
of diseased condition analogous with the proofs
of religious conviction.