DOES THE BICYCLE MAKE WOMEN CRUEL?

DOES THE BICYCLE MAKE WOMEN CRUEL?

PARIS, June 1.—The doctors of France are puzzled by a new mania which is afflicting women who ride bicycles. Tho feminine bicyclists are becoming extremely cruel. Medical men who have made a study of the matter are Inclined to ascribe it to a form of insanity, the cause of which is to them an absolute mystery. There are in Paris a number of physicians who call themselves bicycle specialists, meaning that they have made an especial study of nervous and other troubles resulting from the use of the wheel. These men are completely mystified.

The first case which came into general notice was that of Mme. Eugenic Chantilly, wife of Desire Chantilly, a well-known silk manufacturer of Lyons. An enthusiastic wheelwoman for a very long time, she even takes her wheel with her when she goes upon visits to friends some distance away. It was on one of these visits to a friend of her girlhood in Paris, Mme. Henry Fournier, whose husband is one of the best known business men upon the Rue de l'Opera, that the strange affliction came upon her. Her hostess is also a wheelwoman, and the two went riding one morning along the boulevards which have made Paris famous.

When in the vicinity of the Jardin des Plantes, Mme. Fournier scorched ahead of her friend, and as she drew a way from her, looked back laughingly over her shoulder and called to her, "Adieu, mon amie." Mme. Fournier, who tells the story, said she received no response and looking back a moment later saw her friend darting down upon her at terrific speed. She rode to one side, thinking Mme. Chantilly would be unable to check herself by the time she came up with her, but what was her horror when her friend deliberately steered the wheel straight at her. Before Mme. Fournier could evade her, Mme. Chantilly had collided with her wheel and knocked her down. Mme. Chantilly rode back a few paces and then, riding at a lightning rate, actually rode over the prostrate form of Mme. Fournier.

Screaming with terror, Mme. Fournier attempted to rise, but was repeatedly knocked down by her infuriated friend, but it was not until others came to the rescue that she was able to gain security from the repeated assault of Mme. Chantilly. One of the most curious features of the affair is that during this whole time Mme. Chantilly preserved an unmoved expression of countenance, apparently never c yen looking at the face she was so cruelly assaulting. When she was taken into custody by those who hastened to Mme. Fournier's rescue, she only said, "Why do you interfere with me when I am enjoying myself?" She was conveyed in a carriage to the Fournier residence, and from thence was promptly sent to her husband at Lyons. Since then she has been kept in strict seclusion.

Mme. Fournier's injuries were such that the constant care of a physician was required for several days. Her right arm was broken between the wrist and the elbow, and she received.several internal injuries. Naturally, she was obliged to tell her physicians what had happened, although her friends and those of Mme. Chantilly had succeeded in keeping all mention of the affair out of the newspapers. The physician, deeply interested in so singular an assault, took pains to investigate it, and communicated with the insanity expert who had been called to examine into the condition of Mme. Chantilly.

Considering the case on the whole, these two medical savants determined that they had discovered a brand new disease, which was due solely to the bicycle. This determination was arrived at from the fact that the symptoms and the mania were entirely different, even in the smallest detail, from all that pertains to cases of insanity among women resulting from conditions best known to medical men. They also caused a careful inquiry to be made throughout France to discover if possible any cases which bore a resemblance to that of Mme. Chantilly. They found seventeen women who had been seized with the same irrepressible desire to injure all cyclists of their own sex whenever possible, at such times as they were awheel. The desire apparently took the same form in every instance, the first action being a violent collision, and then repeated attempts to ride over the form of the fallen cyclist.

All were not as successful as Mme. Chantilly. because she Is a Wheel woman so expert as to be wellnigh a professional, a fact clearly indicated by the difficult feats she achieved. The doctors also found that not only did the desire to ride down other wheelwomen appear, but there was plenty of additional evidence that the mania inspired a keen delight in all things savoring of cruelty. In some of the instances, women indicated this fact by torturing their pet dogs or cats in the most frightful fashion, although previous to the time the mania afflicted them, they had been kindness itself to the animals. One woman who was found torturing her dog said, when asked the reason, that she was illustrating the methods of the Spanish Inquisition. of which she had read not long before. She also stated that she was experimenting with animals in order that she might become sufficiently expert to make similar experiments with human beings.

The physicians found that the first known case of the mania developed lost January. The wheels that the different persons rode who were afflicted in the fashion described were carefully examined to see If it was was the result of the manner of building a certain make of bicycle. It was shown that the wheels were in almost every Instance English or American, American predominating. The saddles were in every instance found to be properly adjusted, and although the investigation was minute no sign could be discovered which would indicate the slightest peculiarity of the bicycle.

That it was cycling that brought the mania on there seems no question. Only wheelwomen have been afflicted with it, and oddly enough, in every instance, they have been over 30 years of age. The other theory advanced as to the cause Which has been seriously considered is that it is the result of the effect upon the nervous system of the intense exhilaration rapid riding brings about. French wheelwomen ride at a high pace. They are all embryo scorchers, much more so than their sisters in other countries. This being the case, It is suggested that the practice by women is likely to bring about a new form of insanity corresponding to that which afflicts the unfortunate French women.

It is, therefore, thought probable that if women are not forced to ride at a slower pace on their wheels, this remarkable mania will make its appearance In the wheeling countries other than France. The worst feature of it all is that there has thus far been found no method which would result in curing a patient or even rendering the mania less violent.