Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-11-03
HEALTH AND HAPPINESS
BY DIR. LEONARD KEENE HIRsHBE RIG.
A. B., NJ A., M d. (Johns Hopkins.

why You Turn Nervously When You Are
Stared At.
Teacher, Johnny is looking at
me-" is a not infrequent complaint
In school. 1t is not, however, lin
tied to youngsters to feel annoyance
Grown-ups also, when stared at'
feel ill at ease, If not absolutely re-
sentful
The Jealous swain accompanied by
his lady love does his utmost to de-
stroy the admiring gaze of each ana
every passing member of the male
.snecies by fiercely outstaring him.
At home pater familias obtains
more obedience by stare than with
the rod. To spare the stare is TO
spoil the child. Nevertheless, father,
looking over the top of the latest
war news or across his spectacles,
frightens bad little boys into correct
conduct by fixed, steady stare.
It is by no means the little tots
alone who grow nervous and fldgety
when they become aware that an eye
is riveted upon them. Perhaps the
notion of an all-seeing eye was de-
rived originally from this concep-
ton.
Science of Staring.
An investigation was recently I'M
dertaken by the psychologists of
Clark University to determine
whether there is any "telepathic'
occult or mysterious forces at work
which make children and men and
women conscious that they are the
objects of staring.
When you turn your head, sudden
ly aware that you are stared at, you,
as we'll as the one under surveillance,
are amazed if not fiabbergasted. You
are almost on the verge OF pelleVlng
that some unseen spiritual power has
been at work. Yet it is not so.
What actually was discovered in
the experiments upon several hundred
subjects who were thus exposed 70
stern glances, apparently without
their knowledge, was this:
Fifty in each hundred We're totally
oblivious to the steady espionage. Oh
the fifty, who began to squirm and
wrlggle, exhibiting self-consciousness
of fidgets. many were so naturally
self conscious and vain that they hao
always a well nigh pathological de-
fusion that people were staring at OF
inspecting them.
The Others who felt that they were
looked at intently with eyes strained
upon themselves were subjects whose
muscular sense was extraordinarily
well developed, who were very ag
eressive, active, mobile and ever alert
to each little movement and shadow
or activity round about.
Staring and superstitions.
In brief, the very type of individu'
al who is keenly alive to his environ.
ment, who is prepared for all emer'
gencies, who in practical life antici-
pates the very contingencies which
afterward arise, whose senses ant
tissues are sharply responsive to tbs
vibrations of air, ether and materia
things. are the very ones that know
when they are subjected to firm
gaze.
Much OF the poetry as well as tn
nonsense associated with the beliefs o
the efficacy of staring" has been fos
tered by superstitions, traditions an
the other restricted logic of tn
thoughtless, though much educated
civilized man. The absurd beliefs 0
the Influence" of a so-called "evi
| eye" want of knowledge about hyp
! notism over snakes and wild beast
| by 1.-The steady gaze Of the eye"--a.
| such untruths spread broadcast an
| then accepted as facts by the shee
weight of verbal repetition and tn
| printing press are in part responsible
for the errors.
To stare each other out of counte
nance is only possible In persons woe
fully wanting in a sense of humor an
ethics. 1Nhe etiquette Of polite circle