POISONS OF THE PASSIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 13 July 1907, Page 3

POISONS OF THE PASSIONS.

PTOMAINES WE KXI'DE IN PERIODS OF EMOTION.

Professor Elmer Gates, of the laboratory of psvschology at Washing-ton, has just concluded, a New York correspondent writes, a remarkable series' of experiments illustrative of the physical processes induced by right and wrong, thinking. lie has reduced anger, jealousy, love, grief, and anxiety to chemical' formulae. According to the professor, every change of the mental state of an individual is expressed in the secretions, of the body. Treated with the same chemical agent tlie perspiration of allangry man one color, that of a man in. grief another, and so on through a longlist of emotions.

After condensing the volatile constituents of the brenth of his subjects, tluv professor obtained a brownish sediment from anger, a grey sediment from sorrow, and a pink sediment front remorse. Of the brownish substance the professor adniinistered doses to men and animals. In every ease it caused nervous excitement or irritability.

Til his experiments with .thought, conditioned by jealousy he obtained anoileir substance from tlie hveafh wbieli he injected into the veins of a guinea pig. [The pig died in a very few minutes. Af-

ter concluding from his various cxpftrimcnt.s that hate is accompanied by tililc greatest expenditure of vita! eneTgy, I'rofossor dates affirms that Uiis passion precipitates several chemical products. Knoi'gh of these would be precipitated in one hour of intense hate, according to him to cause the death of perhaps fou> M'Orc persons. as these ptomaines are Ithe deadliest poisons known to science.