Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-17
IS LOVE A DISEASE?.
Some Authorities Answer in
the Affirmative.
DIAGNOSIS AND CURE
UNHAPPY AFFAIRS OF THE
HEART CURED BY HYPNoTISM.
Measuring Effect Of the Grand Passion
on Oxygen and Blood SUPPLYING.
tons of Men and Women.

Copyright. 1905. by John Elfrcth Watkins.l
The other day scribe was at luncheon
with some of the wise doctors from the
temples and begged for novel theme-one
seasonable these golden June days.
Il have a paper tonight" said one, EFF
fects of Summer Heat Bituminous
Shale' Come and What, too dry? oh,
superficial mind!'
"Of course, man, It's too dry. He will
like this better" quoth another. pulling
from his pocket yellow brochure, "On the
Genesis of Radio-Activity."
'Bosh. Here is just the characterization
of Nuclei with the Intensity of Ionization.'
Technical? Editor would throw Well.
educate your editor! Shallow minds shall
low minds.' This from a third.
(Exeunt, in disgust-all save one)
Come with me-" the lingerer whispered
across the pie crumbs. Come with me and
will open your ears.3
Something about The Life History of
the Staphylococcus Pyogenes Aureus?
Some such summer theme as that?'
"A microbe more infectious-love."
Il am with you. Lead the way"
Yes, it's timely theme for June-the
month of weddings. And do you know, our
statistics here are corroborating those of
Letting the great London sociologist.
who discovers that in spring and summer
there Is more falling in love than In au-
tumn and winter, just as there are more
murders, divorces, assaults, duels, riots.
wars, political agitations and deaths? Yes,
in the warm months people are inclined to
be not only more immoral and unhealthy.
but more romantic than in the cool sea-
sons. The action of the heart is greater,
the nervous system more excited. From
both Of these conditions result high emo
ton, increased tendencies toward jealousy,
combativeness, irritability, mental depres-
sion reStlpSSpaSS time nj "a
increases with the other diseases"
Say Love is Insanity.
what, man, do you class love as a
disease?'
Love would be the most natural and nor
NAL emotion were it not for the artificial
ity of modern civilzati ton. But, as a mat
ter Of experience, 1t is one of the most pro-
life causes of mental physical and emo
tional alteration. In fact, 1t so often lacks
common sense that it is hardly a msnomer
to call 1t a form of insanity. Krafft-Ebbing
desiSnates 1t as a fixed idea,' Mol as an
'emotive deliriun,' Morselli, q rudimentary
which means a form of insanity
where there are delusions in a certain direc-
ton. the mental health being good in other
directions. DR.. Regis calls it a 'psychical
or nervous debility. Charcot
calls love symptom of hereditary degen-
eracy. However extreme these definitions
may be, one can't help seeing what a close
analogy exists between love and conscious
obsessions. People possessed with morbid
ideas can feel that they are victims of a
delusion, which they may know to be alb
surd. Likewise, it is not uncommon for
lovers to insist that their emotion Is i'm
posed upon them: that reason cannot re-
move it. They may admit at the time
that their love Is without hope or full of
dangers, yet they cannot resist it; they are
willing to sacrifice their fortunes and even
their lives. This Is the heroic love. true
love of the poets. How else can you class
it than with the other morbid and abnormal
ideas accepted as symptoms Of nervous dis
ease or insanity?
Physical Symptoms Of Love.
'"These love obsessions are accompanied
by physical symptoms. The cr.s:s is marked
by anguish. oppression of the abdomen or
difficulty of breathing, headache.
violent beatings of the heart. trembling
and general uneasiness. There Is low nu-
triton. loss of weight, loss of appetite, pail
lor and loss Of red corpuscles in the blood.
I know one young man reduced by love-
sickness to a diet of toast and tea. Dur
ing this high tension of feeling his desire
for food lessened. because his system,
under any other great nervous strain, was
much limited in its power Of digestion and
assimilation.
We had now reached the sanctum of this
iconoclastic savant.
Love-Measuring Instruments.
Here are the apparatus with which I
measure love-sick subjects and those suf-
fering from the varying phases Of the
grande passion. The modes OF love express
sion and the resulting acts must be studied
according to the methods OF modern psy-
chology. Thus the acuteness of the nervous
system of the senses should be measured.
The effects OF love upon the pulse or upon
the circulation in the brain should be as
certained. These instruments make these
tests.
Il select subjects who are in love. When
they first visit this room their attentions
are drawn away from their romance by the
novelty of the place and by the trend Of
conversation. 1 thus lead them into q
state Of normal interest, and while they
are in this / measure their rate Of pulse
beat. respiration, the blood distribution,
acuteness of taste, touch. smell, hearing,
seeing. l do this with the paraphernalia
of the usual phycho-physical laboratory.
Pneumatic bands about the wrist or chest
communicate their expansions or contrac
tons to tube, which. by pneumatic pres
sure, sets In motion hand marking on a
revolving cylinder of paper every time the
pulse beats or the chest breathes The re-
suit is waved line on the cylinder, and
the higher it waves the greater the pulse
or respir ION. Similarly, these smaller in
struments here impart increasing degrees
OF taste, touch, odor and sound When the
subject begins to taste, feel, smell or hear
I mark it down and thus get his acuteness.
Acuteness of sight is measured by this in
strument used by the oculists; the blood
circulation of the eXtremities by this glass
vessel, which holds the arm in water. The
more the blood circulates in the arm the
higher the water in the vessel and the
greater the air pressure between the water
surface and this rubber diaphragm, whose
movements are communicated by tube to
the same automatic handwriting on the
revolving cylinder. The greater the supply
of blood in the arms legs. the less the
supply to nourish the brain. The arm suf-
fees for the test, as the circulation seems
to desert all of the extremities at once
when 1t rushes to the head"
well. what have you learned from these
measurements of the lovesick?'
Il was about to explain that mako these
measurements first when the attention IL
normal. thus get the normal waves on
the cylinder. Then command my SUBJ
jects to fix their minds on their loved
ones. Sometimes they bring love letters
and read them to heighten this conceutra-
ton: some bring locks OF hair. photographs,
etc. When they are In the throes OF the
grande passion I measure them all over
again. Comparing the waves thus far !
discover this:
Love Lessons Oxygen Supply.
''The most notable effect L. the lessen-