The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1889-06-22

solve the unknowable, and determine
the ''why and wherefore" of all that
| is on earth or in the mind of man. An
apt illustration Of this searching and
penetrating quality of science is fur
nlshed by the proceedings Of the Med
|ico.Legal International Congress held
Fin New York last week. At the ses
sion of this august body various ques-
Etions hitherto uncertain and il)imitable
Ewere measured, squared, and corked up
with degree of certainty worthy of
mathematical habits. One Of these
strange and hitherto mysterious SUBJ
|jects was ''Mental Epidemics." On
this topic one ex-coroner Ellinger read
an essay purporting to show that sci
ence may yet declare that mental con
tagion springs from bacillus, the pre-
valance of which was the cause Of the
.crusades, the French Revolution, and
other great popular movements" 1t is
now supposed that the maladY popular
ly called consumption is not hereditary.
bat is contagious. That the germs of
the disease are spread from the expec-
torations of the consumptive, which sa-
liva when dry forms dust composed
of these germs scientifically called bac-
I'LL. The fact that children Of consum-
tiyes usually fall victims to the disease
is accounted for by explaining that this
is so only because those children are
continuously exposed from birth to the
inhuuce of the bacillus which is breath
ed in by them. In a like manner it is
now claimed that great popular move
ments, wherein extremes or lack of
reason seem to be essential, are to be
explained by the presence Of q bacillus
of insanity which is spread from one to
another and creates a contagious in
sanity leading to such acts OF madness
as marked the French revolution. One
Of the auditors suggested privately
that the essayist himself seemed to
have become victim to the insidious
bacilli and expressed some fear of the
spread Of the mental contagion to the
other members of the congress. How
ever this may be, we are sorry that
scientiico-legal gentleman did not
amplify bis theme and apply it to other
great movements such as the Lutheran
heresy and the manv progeny that have
found life in its womb of schism. Had
we been solicited to advance queries we
might have asked the Congress to find
the scientific cause of the disintegration
of Professionalism, or to establish the
exact mathematical proportions of the
sects that claim Luther's doctrine as
their mother. This last proposition if
successfully treated would create an as
founding sensation inasmuch as it now
rivals the unmeasurable and the illimit-
able. Another question which if solved
would give much comfort to the editors
Of religious papers is the scientific dis
tlnction between the bacillus of Epis~
copalianism and that of the so-called
''EnRllSh Catl0llcS or America" OCler-
wise known as excessive ritualists. 1t
is now known that the bacillus of the
Salvation Army is brass trumpet and
uniform combined, and that the conta-
gious germ OF Negro Metbodism Is
sociable emotion. AT the rate that
science now seems to be marching we
Let us hope that we will be spared the
misfortunes of some members of the
Medico-L Congress who seem to
have acquired too much scientific learn.
ing to be fitted into the confines Of a
narrow head, thus giving rise to that
malady known as the
Quintessence of folly.-Church Progress
aud Catholic World.