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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1908)
G) "Ralph GonnorV Warning to the Young Readers of -A menca F YOU had your choice, would you take a nest of rattlesnakes into your home rather, than one of the highly inflamed, erotic novels that have marked recent broad sides of modern literature from the printing press? You say you wouldprefer to handle the red-covered volumes of fervid love stories? 'But if you had children- daughters just bud ding into womanhood, or sons whose minds might be receptive to evil suggestion? What then? "if I had my choice," declared "Ralph Connor ---the Rev. Charles IV '. Gordon, of Winnipeg, Canada "I would rather take a nest of vipers into my house than such a book. Rattlesnakes might kill physically 'but bad books kill spiritually, f would rather take the worst man into my home a man of de graded, corrupt morals and let him be among my family, than a decadent book. the evil influence of a man but sou can't pro ject children from the bad influence of an evil book'. An evil book has a personality as much as a, human being. It cannot be de stroyed. Its influence is msidious. "The popularity of erotic fiction and pu trid poetry tends to degrade and corrupt the youth of the land. The success of books of mis type m a menca is most sigmpcani. ti is ominous R ALPH CONNOR," as y6u know, Is the author of "Black Rock.'! "The Sky Pilot'" and a num ber of other : novels which have enjoyed tremendous popularity. They are all healthy books, dealing with rugged people, out-of-door life; with men, and women with red blood In their veins, normal moral Instincts and high character. '' . What Dr. Gordon has to say, therefore, concerning the popularity of such books as the"late production of Mrs. Elinor Glyn Js of unusual interest - , ' I i ii mn i mhhiiwimi urn immmtMMmmiimmiimmmimLiMm.mmiimmM-i-iM- I - I " If 9 -v.M V Tou Will remember the iuss that was stirred up . .i y -- ' , - .; - when the Titian-haired authoress published the story "--:'S-- , .: . of her hero, Paul and fresh in your mind are the ' "W-MPORTANCB of the discover? af electric narcosis.' breathless, whispered discussions with s youf friends Tttlu t tl ffi .KiVtT ilrT I n about , the book. Critics were almost unanimous In I . neP termed, Is one which) America will consigning It to the .literary hades, . which meant a JL appreciate Only less than Europe, 'because here sale of about 875.000 copies. And so it was the sue- - the use of ether has registered a lower percent efts of the season. . . . age' of fatalities than has attended the more general - T6u recall, too, the visit of itrs. Glynto thlaooun- employment of chloroform ! Eurp more general ; THE OREGON . SOKDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY ft to t - -7. try, her spirited ruction with the Puritan Mothers In New Tork and her Indicant denial of any iuffgeitlon of Impropriety In her novel. "Why, the declared In a softly murmuroue voice, uplifting- her eyebrows, "It Is a moral story. It teaches a moral. It is the story of a young man's awakening his spiritual awakening through the love of a beau tiful and noble woman." Some people took It at that. One would not dare discuss some of the drollery of Balzao in polite so ciety, because It Is not Immoral, but unmoral. Mrs. Glyn gave her story a moral. That saved It in her opinion.. Recently there came on an evangelistic mission to the United States from his parish In Canada. "Ralph Connor." Appalled by the popularity of decadent books 'in this country, in an interview he has uttered the most ringing words of warning. He foresees a corruption of the youth of the country by modern books. He can see no moral in such stories. ,- "This is as though one would have to go to hell first to get to heaven. Is it not? Personally. I have not read Mrs. Glyn's book. I do not think I should wish to do so. But from what X am told of the story the claim of its teaching a moral Season is absurd. "When I read a book It leaves a most vivid im pression on me. It is as though I had met the char acters. And books which leave evil impressions wreak" more spiritual harm than vipers." The success of books of that type in this country, is regarded by the Canadian clergyman as the most HEKE is hopeleading scientists of France " t t AJ L-A are Already declaring ii a cerwuniy mat the mortal dangers which have always lurked in the use of ether and of chloro form as anesthetics are to be ended at last. lu Nantes, Professor Leduc, assisted by Miss louiBe G. Kobinovitch a young girl physician from, New York, who has already won distinction in France and Germany by, her experiments in electrical anesthesia, has developed a remarkable method of inducing narcosis, or suspension of sensibility, by means of the interrupted current. " llisa Robinovitch is likely to receive a permit to apply the system, on a large scale, to the patients in the insane asylums of Paris. M. Louis Parisot, who is general councilor for the District of the Seine, declares that the discovery is destined to influence greatly both medicine and surgery. It can be applied not only to the uses of major, turgitfal operationa, but also to cases of acute mania and of delirium tremens. -Eleetdeitw 1 MM 7 rr-. 3 ominous sign of national decay. , "In England a really healthy book has little chanoe nowadays," he declared. "The people have been poi soned by the fetid,, hothouse literature of the drawing room. Many of the popular books are perverse and poisonous. The people want such things. "But in the United States the people have demand ed healthy literature. And the recent popularity of decadent fiction Is a slgit of a cancerous formation. It should create alarm in the hearts , of parents. They should protect their children." An author, in the opinion of Mr. Gordon, should be judged by the influence of his books; whether they uplift and help the reader, or whether they depress the mind, weaken the character and corrupt the morals. Some of the most popular writers, he says, pander to a demand for the forbidden. Among the writers who have to greater or less degree Injected the decadent note In their books he places "Lucas Malet" (Mrs. St. Leger Harrison), An thony Hope, Marie Corelli, Hall Caine and Algernon Charles Swinburne. "People buy what they like to read," ajild the Ca nadian writer, "and the fact that they buy bad books Is one of the most awful signs of the times. It shows the mental attitude of a people. Books which deal with sin and make It attractive or glorify the baspr passions are deadly, poisonous, fatal. And such books are on the library shelves and tables of many fam ilies. They are literary rattlesnakes." EROTICISM LACKS POWER Possibly you have read Swinburne and surged on the roseate waves of passionate melody. But have you ever analysed his poetry, grasped the thought be neath the musical lines and become acquainted with the naked Immorality clothed beneath the glamour of his genius? , In the opinion of many critics Swinburne is the greatest living poet, the one notable figure In con temporary English literature whose voice sings above the mediocrity of the day. His work is classic. "Ralph Connor" asserts emphatically.: "Most young people and most women would find Swinburne deadly. His poetry is wonderful; it pos sesses sweetness and rhythm; It surges and sings and ripples with music and song. It intoxicates one With its sweetness and bewilders one with its ravish ing music "He has put In words the singing of nightingales and the thunder of the sea. But In many of his poems, beneath the words that flow so marvelously, one de tects grisly, horrible things. He touches gracefully. Upon things which, if expressed In ordinary language, would disgust and shock people. Many of his poems, while musical, are rotten. "Swinburne would appeal to the man who has gone through experience and tired of simple things and seen the lower phases of life. To the inexperi enced mind, which cannot detect his sobtletlea, many of his poems would have anything but a wholesome influence. "I fall to see any effect of Swinburne on English literature; I cannot detect a single mark of his in fluence. Shakespeare Is alive today in every man's mind, because be was strong and vital. Many of these writers who are the product of a certain type of Eng lish society, of the hothouse variety, are popular for efy. Sard i ' 'i HORNING HAY ; 3, v 1908 V, ' - f - ' ( hi a little wUe, but the current soon changea "In this country there was an effort to make Sa lome popular; It failed. The effort to give a vogue to the poems of Wilde is another evidence of an un healthy taste. His poems are graceful, beautiful, imaginative, but there is not in them a single vibrant note of power; passion undoubtedly, but not the calm strength which would appeal to the person with the big heart and broad, healthy mind. "In many books of fiction I find a lack of rever ence for marriage, loose Ideas about love and a lax sense of responsibility. The evil of such books is that they make sin attractive; by a specious phllos- 111 W-TAM I "iTi Vl "jf"" I .Promise, to AT- For years there has been no physician who has dared use either of the treacherous drug's without preparing for a deadly collapse, of his patient, and far too many such collapses have eocurred In spite of every precaution taken. Recent experiments upon the organs of patients who have died from chloroform and ether have shown that the most important organs of the body undergo a fatty degeneration heart, lungs, liver, brain and kidneys and the opinion is gaining ground that the appearance of .fatty, degeneraUon of eome of those organs in patients who at the time appear to suffer a minimum of inconvenience from the inhalation Is due to the baleful anesthesia. Professor Ledua's experiments, extensively con ducted upon animals, were carried by him. in the true, ",p.'ritf c!no. up to the use of man as his subject; with himself as the first subject. The result, he explained recently, was a narcosis analogous to that of ether, a condition in which the subjeot Is , without power of voluntary movement, makes no reply to stimulation, and exhibits only some reflex movements,' such as the beating of the heart and respiration. This state, produced by the action on the brain of a definite electric current, can be main tained for several consecutive hours, and eeases lm . mediately with stoppage of the current. APPLIED TO BASE OF BRAIN ' In order te Induce electric narcosis, the circuit is formed by the supply, the rheostat, the interrupter, the current reverser, the milliampermeter - end the .subject.- The hair is shaved from the head of the anf mal to be" experimented on, dog or rabbit. The naif should be shaved off close and the skin-must . not be cut. The shaven surface must extend la front to the eyes, so that all the anterior part ef the brain Is traversed by the current and under Its Influence. Oa the shaven surface is placed a thick piece or . fiS ophy they tend to blind people's eyes as to the propet relation of right and wrong. ' . .;i "Take Anthony Hope's 'Double Harness.' Hop la undoubtedly clever; some of his stories are th most delightful I have ever read. I admire In many way and consider Zenda a superb romance. The Dolly Dialogues' are diabolically clever. But his . idea of marriage is loose In Double Harness" he is like a man dancing a tight rope over a precipice. One watches breathlessly to see whether he can get back. But Hope deals with these things dexterously." "What do you think of the books of Hall Caine and Marie Corelli?" was asked. "I find a bad streak in both of them." he replied. "Caine, however, usually does paint evil without mak ing it attractive; he depicts the punishment of the sinner. I think the philosophy of Corelli is pretty ( shaky." ".'-"'V,. ' . j Probably eveey reader of "Three Weeks', gloated j over "The Sorrows of Satan." In this book is tha fa- j mom lovi scene between the Prince Lucio the earth-! ly incarnation of Satan and Lady Sybil Elton. It takes place in the depth of night on a stairway. Ladyj Sybil is in a white shimmering robe and la the red' glow of a window depleting the martyrdom of EC Stephen pleads) to Satan to reciprocate her love. V I The husband, listening at the top of the atairs, ' bears Satan scornfully reject the love-mad woman. Of ; course. Lady Sybil had a terrible end. A scene in some respects resembling this takes place In "Sir Richard Calmady," the popular novel of "Lucas Malet" "Parts of this book," said "Ralph Connor," "are J ghastly. "Lucas Malet" has written some charming things; she can write beautifully, and I thought It was pitiable that she should have put her pen to this." "INGROWING?' LITERATURE Another authoress who has undertaken to treat of the smart people of London society is ."Frank Danby," whose "Pigs in Clover" won such popularity, . The book was universally decreed as being "clever, but "slightly naughty." ....! '"Literature In London has been Ingrowing for years," said Mr. Gordon. "There the modern man hah his being 11) the Strand. The popularity' of hooks of this sort in the United States is alarming. Parents should be sure to learn the character of the book they buy. ': "I regard the United States as a field where cas grow up a healthy, virile, strong, wholesome liter ature. The colonies of the British empire and South Africa hold promise. They will produce great things. The men are of a manly type. Of the British colonies, Canada, in proportion to its population, baa done morv than any other. Mrs. Glyn's book, which received such an enthusiastic welcome In the United States, wa not very popular In Canada. "In England today Wordsworth Is not popular. Th' people prefer the drawing room poets. They ajk 'What is good and what is evil' what cood boov and what Is a bad book? There are standards of rlgh' asjd wrong In life and books. As X said, what elevate strengthens and ennobles is good; what tends to cor rupt, enervate character and destroy faith, la evil. "It Is a happy thought, however, that so bad boot has ever lived. People always demand what is their leveL I have read copies of The Gentlemen's" Migr aine, published a hundred years ago, and the corre spondence in It is awful. ' i "America undoubtedly is a great field for, grest good literature. But if you want to get it, you muy be careful that the coming generation is not poleonc by noxious poetry or fiction." absorbent cotton, soaked with a hot 1 per cent, solu tlon of sodium chloride. On this is placed a pllabl tin electrode, to which la soldered the conduct! n wire. The second electrode must be much larger, r may be placed on any point of the body, so long ; It is symmetrically placed In the axis. Alt the aceeaaory-apparafaaes are placed betw the supply and the large electrode on the back, wbf Is connected with the positive pole. The head ei trode must be connected directly with the negau pole. By this means the potential of the 'heail r mains always that of the negative pole f t&e supp When the experiment is properly carried out, t animal passes quietly and gradually, without a tr without a defensive movement and without a sln pain, into a state of cerebral Inhibition analogous t chloroform narcosis. The experiment can be top; instantly by cutting off the current - , Awakening is Instantaneous; usually the. anlm gets on its feet, looks quietly around, shows no ' of suffering, fright or fatigue, and. when rele.i' from the electrodes, jumps about gayly and tats wi appetite food offered to it. ... , There are no after efTeots, no vomiting, rarelv little stupor. The experiment eeetns te cause bo r a for the animals not only o not show It, but evir. no resentment, no aversion toward the experiment' no fear and no revolt during preparations fur 0thrr Robinovitch, assisting Dr. Ledua in seme of t ...in.. trent a rabbit Itr- electric narounU t i.h hnnn ajid twenty minutes wtinwi ins-rr - tlon. ' The animal came to without diaplaylntf comforts "ft- vVjuo himself. In presence of Malherbe and Konxeau, of the tjcl...' Medicine of Nantes, the current was flciently high te cause total unoonscloun"". b it carried far enough te convince the praurs t; necessary this could have been don. The current was-rained to J vlts n 4 t peres In the Interrupted current. AUoih.f i r. duo was under tb influence of tti cirr-nt 1 " 'minutes. He fo't n fte effects, nnl- we ' ' such a sense of well being an-1 rhysirxl v; mediately afterward he lectured before, the i IUtraite Ouvriera .
