The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-06-30

has been accepted by many physicians
since a schoH -r1y Frenchman, Dr. ia
net. published Il AUtOmatisme Psy-
Clique" a few weeks ago 1t is tne-
orsv easily justified from what neol-
cine has learned in the last ten years
through discoveries in bacteriology ana
physiological chemistry. Dr. an t1le-
son, chief of the Pathological lustltuLS
of the New York state lunacy cohllIls-
sion is conducting the great LABORATORY
On the theory that disease in general
is due to toxic or poisonous secretlons
IN the body He and his staff are
studying dementia particularly 4hey
are analy2ing the SecreuOnS OF SeF al
insane patients in the hope OF lSolat-
inc an organic poison which IS sup
posed to be at the bottom OF the olIn-
Guilty. ..... .o,,77
find out the toxic basis of love, TOR II
has instruments for measuring ana re-
cording emotions and other syIlpI oIIls
of nervous arrangement 1t mas one
machine which shows on d c4ls1I
whether the OdOr of a rose De
veIops more of a sensation in one mind
man in another. BY getting records
of several persons known TO pc de-
ranged it will be possible by testing the
sensibilities of a person to learn
whether he is shamming or not. There
seems to be no reason why the Same
process should not be applied TO 1ov-
ers Then a. rich girl would have DER
mite means of finding out whether her
sutton really and truly loved her
DR. Janet asserts in his new treatise
that I'VE can only fall in love at special
moments, when we are IN a peculiar
condition. When a man is fit and well,
morally and physically, he can expose
himself to the most infamuaUory cir
cumstances, but he won't fall in love.
But if he is fatigued or intellectually
OverWOrked or upset by grief or trou-
BILE, played out, sad, absent minded,
nervous, below par, he will fall in love
on the most paltry proVocatlon.
face, a gesture, a word, takes him and
is the germ of a long, amorOus COM
plant"
First" continues DR.. Janet, there
is, as in all virulent malad1es, a period
of incubation. The new idea fits
vaguely through the dreams of enfee-
bIed consciousness. then seems to de
part; but it has done it's work and pro
Voked actions whose origin is not in the
personal cCuSciOusne ?" These actions
generally are sufficient to give ground
for a breach of promise suit If not ad-
hered to. In support of the suggestion
that love comes like a disease, DR.. Janet
cites this:
What is the amazement of a man
of intelligence when he comes pitiably
to himself under the window of his
lady, whittier his wandering steps I'M
consciously have led him? What is the
surprise of a clever man, when, in the
midst of works, he hears his lips
ceaselessly murmur a name, always
the same?" He holds, in short, that
we are automatic when we are in love,
and are out of our own control, as
though we were highly intoxicated, or
had delirium, or some fever.
Such" goes on DR.. Janet, lis real
passion, not as idealized by fantastic
descriptions, but as reduced to its eS-
Sential psychological symptoms. Novel
lists have deceived US about love. So
for the most part have poets, though
some have come near to forestalling
science. Love is like a dizziness says
one, and another observes: Who loves
raves-'tis Youths frenzy Historians
give strong evidence in favor of thenew
theory. They relate that although
Alexander was fit and well Chis father
wanted to enter him in the Olympic
games), he despised women. Prince
Charles, according to Lord Elcho, had
a body made for war" but women in
variably bored him.
Everybody knows that love is cpl
demic in spring. It comes just as in
evitably as that tired feeIing-in fact
that tired, played-out feeling seems to
be the prOmOtive cause. Ones blood
is at it's worst then; ones entire sys-
tenn is at low ebb; melancholia and
malaria are more prevalent and sui
cides, from discouraged love or mental
depression due to physical illness, be-
come numerous. But in summer the
health improves Is that why seaside
firtatiOns are seldom serious wooing?
Yes, if one accepts the new theory that
love IS morbid condition, due to mi
crObe or a damaged nerve cell
Tobacco is called the antidote of
love People have supposed that it
was so called because a smoker often
prefers a pipe to the company of a vvo-
man. But it must now be considered
whether tobacco as a curative agent
IS not so on account of its prOphylactic
quaities-tobaccO being death to germs
which its juices can reach.