St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-09-15
HE CAME PREPRAE0.
How a Chicago Youth Proved the Dep'~
of His Love Scientifically. -

l
| of His Love Scientifically
..You don't know what love is, Mr..
swackhammer, protester the beauti-
full GIRL, with smile of incredullty on
her face; 1.-The sentiment you enter
tain for me is only a passing fancy
When it has had its brief day and you
look at it in the cold light of reason you
will he surprised that you ever mis-
took so palpabIe delusion for the gem
uine thing it assumes to represent,
but hear me, Miss clearinghouse
exclaimed the young man. calmly, ye'
earnestly, .arn not old enough 10
know my own"
lit is not a question of age, Mr..
Swackhammer,n interposed Miss Gar
linghouse, still smiling increduiously'
but of scientific demonstration. AS
you are probably aware, have devoted
myself for the last two or three years
to a severe course of scientific study,
and / have acquired the habit, perhaps
unconsciously, of accepting nothing as
true that is not demonstrated by the
inexorable rules of mathematics or the
soundest process of logical induction.
Science has become with me the touch
stone of all things asserted, claimed or
proposed, and"
''But how do you apply the rules OF
science to matters Of the hearth" In.
quired the young man. How can you
subject my love to the test OF mathe-
matical or scientific demonstrations
'In this way, Mr.. Swaclhammer:
The action of the passion or emotion OF
love upon the various sympathetic gan
glia of the human organism causes cer-
tain we'll established and clearly-defined
phenomena. When you speak to me OF
love look for the appearance OF those
phenomena. From a scientific point OF
view they are not satisfactory. The
tremor in your voice is not sufficiently
pronounced. Your articulation is not
thick and husky. The color in your
face is hardly a shade paler than its
normal hue, and you have no nervous
movement of the hands. DO you think
mere assertion can disprove the, evi.
ience--'
"Alvira Clearinghouse" came impet-
uously from the lips of the young man,
as he rose to his feet, ''there are facts
in mental as well as physical science
that are not wholly beneath your notice.
Some men are gifted with a marvellous
faculty of self-control, so far as external
manifestations are concerned. Beneath
the apparently unmovcd exterior that
you have subjected to a scientific test
there RACES a volcano of passion. Do
you doubt itp will demonstrate it to
mathematical certainty. | foresaw
the skepticism with which you would
receive my avowal, and came prepared.
Listen to the De;tas-1.s.sss-af-mY De;ts1sssgs- heart!..
And with quick movemen.
from beneath his waistcoat the flexible
tube of stethoscope and placed it
against her ear.
Count the pulsationsr' he continued.
''They will run nearly one hundred to
the minute. Normal heartbeat, seven
ty pulsations. Note the revelation of
deathless love conveyed by this respiro-
meter!'' And he produced another
flexible tube. "Respirations per min
ute, twenty-eight!. Twenty-eight. AL
vira-count them-twenty- eight! Nor
NAL respiration per minute, from four
teen to twenty in adults. Observe the
mathematical certainty of tempestuous
passion demonstrated by my tempera=
tureE" And opening his tightly-closed
left hand he showed her small ther-
mometer. Temperature, Alvira, one
hundred and twelve degrees! Normal
temperature, about one hundred de.
grees Fahrenheit! Have / proved my
love?"
"Alpheus," murmured the lovely
girl, as she placed her head on his
shoulder, with her lips at an accessible
angle, "you have. Chicago Tribune.