The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-31
fcentfnued from raKe NIne.D
LYING A DISEASE sArs


 LYING A DEsEAsE SAYS
 FRENCH DOCTOR.
 pr. Peiron, a medical publicist of note in parls 10 quoted as saying that the brain tn the course of it's develop ] menf. that is. tili the fftieth year in average men. may at some point or otlfAr develop a malformation which win have the effect of destroying the Fatfocinaffve or reasoning factuly. Like paresis, of which mendacity Is Kindred disease 1t may come upon the most truthful and the least suspectins man without moments warning. and 4rM aa the result of a sudden "kinkn occurring In the cerebral structure.
 And strange to say. pr. Pieron seems to take It for granted that the disease of lying is special attribute ok the character of women and children though he admits that if may overtaike a man unawares. He says Lying fs not by any means a moncply of wo- men and children.
 The male grown-up, even if he does not naturally evince the tendency to exAggerate or invent--a certain indica- ttoh of degeneracy--is always liable to become a victim Of the lying habit. The natural and spontaneous liar who has reached maturity Hes because he is physically or mentally stun an infant. and can neither exercise any power of criticism either sub1eckively or obJec- lively, and is wholly devoid of reason ing as to the effect his lies produce up on his hearers or upon their objects. He will lie malicicusly. just as rcck- leseiy or as easily as he lies spontan- e0uly or simply. the result being in calcpiable as far as he is concerned. Thpy are unfortunately amenable to the influence of stronger wills. and can, aa N 4a to assert almost anything, the truth of untruth of their declarations being to them not only an entirely absent consideration but without the scope Of 4hair mental or moral purview.
 The so-cal3ed harmless liar says pisron, differs only In a slight degree from the malicious or brutal liar who lies for motives of revenge, Jealousy or cruelty The physical maiformation is almost identical in both cases. the difference being only one of morbldity and . more diseased condition of the narvo cells which produces the state Of hysteria. of which lying is perhaps the most pronounced symptom.
 The children of drunkards and luna tics. more than any others, evince the disposition to lie and to deceive. and 1t Is an unfortunate fact that consider abfe ability and even religious and con scientious spirit--as for example in money rnatters-may exist side by side with the tendency toward nendacity. Xn women who are the children of lun- I etsAa and drunkards the lying spirit oflnn manifests itself. although keen Nense oe honor Is still preserved in tho common dealings of life. The woman renains however, wholly unconscious ox her lapse, say. in cases of infidelitp. ShA is, says Pieron. in the position of nerson who has no recollection of hav- fnR done wrong. She will deny her guilt and lie away her soul, really in good faith. simply because she refusea 70 persuade herself that she is doing wrong of that she has done wrong. Though such a woman were preparing fo eommit an oflense. or were even ac- annlly caught in an offense. she would stia deny her guilt, even though there haa been a thousand witnesses of 1t.
 This is not moral perversion. for tho moral sense in woman is rather a reflection of the sense of honor or jus- ticp in man than an active and orig inaA quality. It ia simply that in such women. even as In men of similar men, lality, the ideas cease to coordinate to become logical at certain point Vn the cerebal digestive process. It Is lust Ike this: If a psychopathic liar we're to look out of window and see } camel with one single hump the 3l8AAA mai way strike upon the retfna and. having ratiocinatively declared itself to De a camel, would iiguratively travel down the optic nerve and pass into the brain. At a certain junction of nerve tines the camel would--unconsciousy 10 the psychopathic liar-switch off she original nerve line 1t was intend cd that t chould follow. Having be- come deraiIed. so to speak, the camel avH Ina oqva4n sanei in the liars mind. change it's proportions relatively to its actual con- dif4on. It would. when left to the choice of other rails in the junction" developed into two-humped or even a thres-humped camel. Its pads would grow ten times their original size; It's hide would from light brown become a bright red, It's neck would become longer than that of a giraffe. All this because the central idea became derail- Cd sn the liars mind, and the cerebral s.stomach" refused owing to it's diseas- ed state, to digest the primary cen ception-
 Iying of this kind is. therefore. disease. and must be so accounted. NeVerth eless the existence of such be- fngB in the world should be noted by tho health authorities. since they are so easily influenced by interruptions persons. Where the disease of such a person can be diagnosed and recorded, the legal testimony is not of more validity than would be that of a gram ophone.
 PRIDE OF ANCESTORS.
 Pride of ancestorsi Is 1t good trait Or srather an interest and a oyalty to 9he memory of the dead, from whom one is descended, is eommendabIe. But why is it necessary that ones fore fathers should be dead to become worthy of consideration and loving re- gard? ..
 With some who are devoid to an in-