The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-03-14
IHE CHURCH AND DryORCE
The Views Of n DistinGuisheM Med'e"'
Expcrt In Insanity.

To THE Enron OF The sUS-Sir, l from ome
TO time some individual Is 10 be fou. nd. VINO
for one reason or another. or because ne r.a.,
cannot help II, sets himself industrio usv W
work 10 adjust tho private AFFAIRS and mo-"
conduct Of his fellows, not forgetting to- "Ny,
vido a remedy OF his own invention. Such q ~
tators IA the peripatetic ". T. Stead and othe.
! could mention are armies enough. ana
ara after all but examples OF what the GER
man writer's upon insanity call pdrdnotd re-
JOrIno'orin. that Is to say. persons with u manis
for reform.
Again. we find others more dangerous. VINO.
with the cochei OF q religious office and usually
In entire ignorance Of the practical ways OF the
world. succeed In setting the machinery OF
legislation at work To conform 10 ecclesiast4o
rather than civil standards. In Germany. Den.
mark and some other European countries
whore marriage or sexual matters are studied
from q socialistic and scientific point OF view.
the laws Of divorce are slngularly free from
sentiment. and are essentially lust but as soon
"a the influence Of the Church Il felt Common.
sense seems TO be. as q rule. superseded By
prejudice. and It IL rare that allowance is made
for any individual weakness.
when are we TO learn that marriage should
be regarded like any other contract, carrying it,
own obligations and penalties. and that the com.
mission of ono specified kind Of offence ought
MOI, 20 be the sole justification Of its dissolution.
as II Is in this StatcY Not. | fear, until clergy.
men and legislators begin 10 study the condi.
tions OF marrying aul giving in marriage. OF
temperament and inheritance, of education
and example. The clear duty OF the former
should be rather - discourage unions which
now are 50 often the result Of impulsive sexual
attraction. irresponsible experiments IN com-
panionship, or deliberate bargaining. On the
one hand. we find the fashionable clorgymcn
f~avoring worldly marriages without hue re.
gard TO the existence OF real feeling or shlta-
bi,ity. and. on the other. the individual who
often urges wholesale union with relation TO
the Scripturnl injunction Of extreme frnition.
Neither Of them realizes the awful fate Of those
who, under our existing social and civil laws.
enter into thouCh'lnsS mating. being ill-tltted.
improvihent or unable TO support themselves
or n family, n il so often tho case. Those who
study physical and mental disease are fully
aware that there are roasons why 80 many
marriages are unhappy and there ia no relief.
Although developed insanity in certain coun-
tries is u good ground for divorce. no notice Ia
taken of those mild but dislualifyine psychoses
which develop periodically or are stirred into
expression by marriage. Young men are often
deluled into marrying such women. being
quite ignorant OF congenital strains derived
from drunken. ~consumptive or insane forbears:
the romance Of marriage quickly disappearing
before the hysterin, ungovernahle ~neurotio
temper and all the moral nervcrsion which be-
longs to n certain kind of mental disease, with
diminished rcsponsIt ility. and many a useful
lie is wrecked because no remedy Ia Afforded
by the courts. whose cut-and. dried distinctions
are the product Of narrow minds.
What we really want are restrictions in re.
gard TO the marriage Of unfit or diseased peo-
pie, the passage Of more liberal divorce laws and
the observance Of marriage as a purely civil
contract. II the Church il to interfere at all.
let It exert its influence TO bring about q social
punishment when 1t ia deserved. NJ. d.
NEW YORK, March II.