Arizona republican., 1904-03-28
IS LOVE A DISEASED

Englishmen are proverbial for their sober judgment of things. and the Lon don Lancet is probably the ablest and most conservative medical journal in England. It will strike most people. therefore, as somewhat astonishing that several London newspapers, in- cluding the Lancet. have been engaged for some time past in gravely discuss ing the question whether the love of the sexes Is Il disease.
 The discussion has taken a wide range. including the history of the the ory, and the Lancet. in a learned arti- cle on the subject, contends that it has been held from the remotest antiquity that love is a disease. and that this belief finds expression in all the Greek and Roman classics. A contributor to the same journal marshals in its sup port all the medical authorities, from Galen to Horatius, and even the paint CTS of the sevepteenth century, who de- lighted in portraying lovesickness az an anaemic young woman.
 The reasoning of these disputants has not vet reached us. but it is easy to surmise what some of it would be. There can be no question that the passion of love bears a strong resemb- lance to the abnormal condition known as hypnosis. That is to say, it is founded in delusiOn.
 The salient features of hypnosis are a temporary suspension of ones nat ural taste and judgment. which makes him a phenomenon and z laughing stock to other people, and which is suc- ceeded by feeling of shame and em- barrassment; and this is word for word descriptive of the love of the sexes. Love covers up all defects, including those which the subject, in a sane mind, detests; it creates a galaxy of virtues in its object which never had any ex- istence; it is highly amusing to sane people to observe it: it is certain to pass away, though sooner in some cases than others. and when it has passed away it leaves the subject wholly unable to account for the de- fusion and greatly distressed at the indiscretions to which it has led.
 The aptness of love 10 mislead a person in the selection of a mate is an old theme. That delicious satirist. Josh Billings, wrote: Tt has been said that love is blind. but there are young men of my acquaintance who can see more in their girls than I can" Ac- cordingly writers who are not humor- Ous tell us that the majority of mar ried people, while thinking we'll of mat rimony, feel that as for them they made unwise selections of mates and in fact selected those who were the exact opposite of what they needed to make them happy.
 On the other hand. there are cogent reasons for repudiating the theory that love is disease. It certainly does not stand connected with other dis eases. No other disease leads to t. flows from tt or is associated with it.
 People who are paragons of physical and mental soundness yield to its in- huence. The idea of the seventeenth century painters that lovers are anaemic can only be taken as a joke.
 It is obvious that love is an integral feature of human nature designed to promote mating and to prevent a hum drum and selfish mode of existence
 In any race or community the love of the sexes is the exact measure of civilization, because without it there could not be a virtuous home If it should disappear there would disappear with. it the drama, the novel, the poem and almost the entire romantic and spiritual element in life.
 Whether love is a disease or not. it IS blessing, and it is safe to say that 1t has come to stay.-Chicago Chroni- cle