The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-07-18
NUMBER 90.
Hysteria in Religion.

The epidemic character of certain
sOcalled religious manifestations in
which frances and sWOOnings figure
prominently has been pretty thor
OughIy established. These are now
well understood in medical circles as
nothing more nor less than the mani
festations or symptoms of the disease
known as hysteria, called into play
by the peculiar methods adopted by
a class of travelling "evangeliSts" who
appeal to the emotional feelings of
people whose nerves are unstrung.
One of the most remarkable recent
instances occurred in Indiana, where,
under the lead of female evangelist,
whole communities caught the con-
tagiOn, Speaking of Outbursts of this
character a secular journal sensibly
concludes that they betray an alarm
ing prevalence Of hysterical COM
plants, particularly among women.
The same journal says:
The precise aspects Of the epidemic
may be determined by almost any
trivial external incident, and it de-
pendS upon something of this kind
whether the victims shall! all new
like cats, as did a whole convent full
of nuns in Italy, or imagine them
selves monkeys, and try to climb the
pillars of the churches, as happened
to congregations in Ireland, or shout
GLORY ~ and roll on the ground, as
do the negro ecstatics at Southern
reYivals,
The COnvulsiOnaries of st. Medard
belonged in the same category. They
were seized with a furious desire to
be beaten, and so transported were
they by their hallucination that they
actually endured the most violent
blows, not only without sustaining
permanent injury, but without show
ing the least external lesion. In the
Irish epidemic, half century ago,
the people of whole parishes were
affected, and it was observed that
when those who passed from an in
fected village to one which had pre-
yiOusly escaped, the epidemic was
spread by contagiOn, just as zymo-
tic disease might have been. In re-
yiyals this is one Of the most marked
characteristics of hysteria. Merely
looking at a person in a convulsion
will often throw sentitive persons in
to precisely similar state. The phe-
nOmena, however, have nothing to do
with the will or the understanding.
They are physical, not mental, and it
is for this reason that they do not pro-
duce any permanent effects. The
common experience of lay observers
respecting the after effects of spas.
m0dic revival meetings is simply a
confirmation of the scientific cOnclu-
sions. The eYangelists who operate
by means of frances and exciting the
emotions Of their hearers powerfully
often produce very striking effects,
but cannot expect any lasting changes
in their subjects.
There is mischief in the deIusion
which cOnfOunds hysteria with relig-
ion, for the consequences of this mis-
take are of a kind to disgust sober
and rational people, while they afford
opportunity for rldicule to unbeliev-
ers, ana disturb and expose to bad
influences the weak men and women
who accept them for what they are
not. A little sound education in
physiology and the elements of med
ical science would dissipate the hallu-
cinatiOn that the evidences Ofdiseased
condition are analogous with the
proofs of religious conviction.