Varieties
Smoke and madness
On April 15
th last the
Siècle reports the following:
“
The cases of paralysis and mental alienation have grown in France in direct proportion to the taxation of tobacco. From 1812 to 1832 the resources brought in by tobacco tax amounted to 28 million and the hospices of the alienated counted on 8,000 patients. Today that tax amounts to 180 million and the mentally ill or paralyzed patients sum up to 44,000 in special hospitals.Those comparisons provided by Mr. Jolly in the last session of the Academy of Sciences must offer food for thought to the lovers of nicotine vapors. Mr. Jolly finished his presentation by this scaring statement to the current generation: - The unrestrained use of tobacco, particularly pipes, results in a brain disease and in the spinal cord that produces madness.”
If it were still necessary to provide a refutation, after everything that was said, to those that pretend that Spiritism fills up the homes of the mentally ill, those numbers would offer an argument without replica since they not only are based on a material fact and a logical scientific principle but also attest that the increase in the number of patients goes back more than twenty years before Spiritism was in the picture.
Well, it is not logical to admit that the effect preceded the cause. The Spiritists are not sheltered from material causes that may affect the brain as well as from accidents that may break arms and legs. There is no surprise then to find Spiritists among the mentally ill. But, side by side with material causes there are the moral ones. It is against the latter that the Spiritists have a strong antidote in their beliefs. Therefore, if one day it is possible to have accurate statistics done without prejudices about the cases of madness from moral reasons one will undoubtedly see the number diminish with the propagation of Spiritism. It will also diminish the number of cases caused by excesses and abuse of alcohol but will not preclude fever and the delirious states caused by disruptions in reason.
It is remarkable the number of educated persons that died mad as a consequence of the abuse of immoderate use of absinth
[1]whose negative effects upon the brain and on the spinal cord are demonstrated today. If those persons had been associated to Spiritism they would say that it was the cause of their disease. As for ourselves, we have no doubt in affirming that had they been seriously involved with Spiritism they would have become more moderate in everything and would not have exposed themselves to those sad consequences of overindulgence.
A similar parallel to the case made by Mr. Jolly could, for the same reason and perhaps more, be made between the proportions of mentally ill persons and the consumption of absinth.
But here is another cause indicated by the Siècle on April 21th, with the following fact:
“The Droit reads: Josephine-Sophie D…, nineteen years old, polish worker, residing with her parents at Rue Bourbon-Villeneuve, used to devour popular novels purchased by the price of five cents. The exaggerated feelings, flamboyant characters and unrealistic events that are generally portrayed is such books had influenced her mind negatively. She thought that she was called up to the highest destines. Her parents that hardly made ends meet and made lots of sacrifices for her education, to her eyes they were poor creatures, incapable of understanding her and to reach out to her at the same level that she had aspired to position herself. Sophie had been given to that kind of thoughts for a long time. Finally acknowledging that there wasn’t any supernatural creature that would take care of her and that her life would go on as it would with the other workers, involved with her job and family affairs, she then decided to end her own life, undoubtedly expecting that her dreams would come true in the next life. Yesterday, in the morning, noticing that she did not show up at work, her sister was sent for her. When she opened the door she was horrified by the scene of her sister hanging from a hook installed on the ceiling towards the back of her bed. She called her parents that promptly cut the rope but every attempt to bring their daughter back to life was useless.”
There we have a cause of madness and suicide caused by the very ones that accuse Spiritism of filling up hospices of the mentally ill. Can romances then exalt imagination to the point that reason is disturbed? A good number of similar cases could be cited, not to mention the mad persons created by fear of the devil against weak souls. But enters Spiritism and everyone tried to make it the scape goat of their own evils.
[1] Aromatic liqueur with elevated alcohol content, now banned in most western countries (TN)
