The St. Johns herald., 1892-12-01
Criminal COntagiOn.

"Heu OIle OI d party EaWHS duOtHeI
 Is liable to. There is an instinctive
 suggestion to look when the crowd
 are gazing on the street. This ele-
 mentary power of suggestion be-
 comes morbid in the case of the
 habitual thief. Seeing any desirable
 object suggest taking it; there is a spontaneous feeling too tempting to resist. If questioned closely
 why he takes 1t, the mans last and repeated answer is simply that he
 likes to. It was the custom in Den-
 mark during the last century to have
 q procession of priests, repeating psalms, accompanying the criminals
 from prison to the place of execu-
 ton, after which a sermon was
 preached. The contagious sugges-
 ton from this display made con-
 demned criminals ambitious to die
 amid such pomp. The result seem ed to be a large increase of murder
 in the country. At one time mar
 tyrdom became so contagious in the
 Church that 1t was forbidden. Re-
 ligious history contains many ex- amples of excessive enthusiasm arising from nervous contagion. In
 massacres, after a few men have been killed, the sight of blood in toxicates the crowd, who rush upon the prlsoEers with fury and reckless
 murder.
 Aubry defines the will of a crowd as the resultant of all the actions and reactions of the individual wills in contact. This collective will can be led by suggestion to act contrarily to the principles of many of the individuals who compose it. What an excited crowd will do no one can predict; the most timid man has been transformed into a beast. In the French Revolution certain men blamed the assassins  severely; but later these same men, finding themselves, from curiosity or by accident, in the presence of a massacre, were overcome by the ex- citement and participated in the slaughter. In a crowd some people are taken with dizzlness; others, not knowing what is going on, are influenced by the noise, or mystified, and give way to the least impulsion, initiating those around them, not knowing why; they may take arms without suspecting results. It is thus that riots sometimes arise.
 In Europe, where dislike or hatred exists between nations, the immense standing armies are q constant sug- gestion of future utilization: they are a menace to the temporary equilibrium of the forces of hatred. The frequent outbursts of anarch- istic or socialistic Radicalism in the of life or property are symptomatic of the neurotic tenn per of the times, and are a sign of a deeper social disease arising from the unfortunate condition of many in poverty or on the verge of pover- ty, Such discontented persons are particularly susceptible to danger ous suggestions, which can be fan ned into a flame by the daily read ing of detailed accounts of crime against government, property, life. Every daring robbery, every throw ing of dynamite, or other riotous act, is almost certain to be followed by similar crimes. A woman who throws vitriol upon her loyer-the practice is common in Paris-is seldom convicted. Sheis described in the newspapers the color of her hair and her other charms are dwelt upon; her letters and her photo graph are published. Women with more imagination than intelligence are fully prepared to initiate the heroine when any peculiar grievance or temptation affords occasion. The force of such suggestion has been known to result in epidemics of vit-