The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-01-06
REASON AND EMOTION.

l appears elsewhere in this paper, ant
in the light of recent criminal trials
may be read with profit. 1t describes
the necessity and utility of self
restraint, anG the dreaded dangers thai
follow the inordinate Indulgence of the
passions. 1t is an obvious truth thai
man differs from the brute in that the
former has reason to guide him, while
the latter is led by instinct. If man
comes down from the pedestal of rea-
son and grovels in the field of the lower
passions, by abdicating his higher sta
ton. he becomes worse than the brute.
Indeed it is not complimentary to the
brute to compare its actions with those
Of the man who thus forsal1es the con-
dition of his rational being. 1t is of
vital Importance, then, for parents to
check all exhibitions of undue emotion
by their children. 1t is sad, however,
to think that this is duty very much
neglected by parents, and that fire.
quently they are rudely awakened to
the responsibility that attaches to them
only when their children have made a
shipwreck of life. And if ever there
was an age when a strict discipline Of
children in this respect was necessary,
it is in this day of the nineteenth CEN
fury, when excitability and irritable
unquiet have taken hold of nearly
every class Of society. 1t is rushing,
pushing age, when a man really does
not live; he subsists. 1t is the rustler
who comes out ahead; therefore, it is
good to rustic Children see this and
naturally drop into the line of imita-
ton. Brevity, the law of heredity,
| comes into play, and as in cases of imi-
tation generally, it is not the good, if
any. but the bad that appears. 1t is
very necessary, then, that parents
should exercise a careful vigilance over
their children, and spare no pains to
inculcate upon them the necessity and
value of f-control, showing them the
physical and moral evils that attend
emotional indulgences. Of course, emo
tons are not bad when controlled by
reason. But developed unduly, they
produce conditions variously described
as hysteria, hypochondria and emotion
al insanity, and this brings us to this
plea, old and familiar enough in the
East, but rather new in the far West
To say the least of it, such defense
to high crime opens a wide field for
speculation. 1t seems to render life
and property less secure, and is a seri-
Gus reflection upon so-called modern
progress. Undoubtedly no man who is
not in the possession of sufficient rea-
son to distinguish right from wrong is,
or should be, responsible to the law;
on the other hand, the line Of den1arc- |
alton between reason and unreason
grows so thin that it is hard to see
how best to provide against injury to |
the community. Jures are sometimes |
quite emotional, and the pathetic plea /
is seldom amiss with them. Except for |
some technicality born of the emotional
law maker, far oftener than expert
ence tells. Judges would set aside what
may be called emotional verdicts.
it is not altogether a
sentimental age; and even in this direc-
ton of the sentimental. it is not I'M
known that many distinguished men
are seeking to give a practical charac-
.er to abstruser developments of psy-
Mesmerfsm. now learnedly
JAILED hypnotism, and mind-reading,
attract considerable attention from
scholars and specialists. This is, in
Iced, right, as it also that medico-
egaI jurisprudence should find in such
Interesting subjects material for grave
md conscientious thought. The study
# these questions may eventuate in
astening crimes where they properly
,eIong 1t may be said, anyhow, that
he widening sphere of pleas related to
he fundamental one of insanity, will :
-ladden the heart, fatten the pocket, :
nd enlarge the caDicity for usefulness {
f the practitioner of criminal law But :
is doubtful whether it will insure to
he general welfare. The optimist, 3
owever, thinks that old landmarks 7
re in the wsy, and to him the disk of
fe is speckless. Belonging to the =
aissez-faire school. he considers things
t the best when let alone. But opti- :
list and pessimist, like all extremists.
re wrong; the moderate is the right
lew. and the moderate man we'll
noWs that the whole system of human +
nd social machinery is a matter of +
and patching. This is what ,
he aw-maker must keep in mind. and
18th the so-called enlightenment of :
lie day,it should dawn on the voters
ind that the coming legislator should
chosen from the most highly edu- +,
tied and best classes Of society. They. b