Providentia

Facebook, Bullying, and Social Rejection

Online Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are immensely popular, especially among adolescents. Activity on these sites leaves digital footprints, which may be used to study online behavioral correlates of adolescent psychological distress and to, ultimately, improve detection and intervention efforts. In a new study published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, researchers explore the digital footprints of adolescent depression, social rejection, and victimization of bullying on Facebook. Two consecutive studies were conducted among Israeli adolescents (N = 86 and N = 162). Researchers collected a range of Facebook activity features, as well as self-report measurements of depression, social rejection, and victimization of bullying. Findings from Study 1 demonstrate that explicit distress references in Facebook postings (e.g., "Life sucks, I want to die") predict depression among adolescents, but that such explicit distress references are rare. In Study 2, researchers applied a bottom-up research methodology along with the previous top-down, theory driven approach. Study 2 demonstrates that less explicit features of Facebook behavior predict social rejection and victimization of bullying. These features include 'posts by others', 'check-ins', 'gothic and dark content', 'other people in pictures', and 'positive attitudes towards others'. The potential, promises and limitations of using digital Facebook footprints for the detection of adolescent psychological distress are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

Nigerian Father Kills Children Suspected of Witchcraft

A Nigerian man was arrested on Wednesday for poisoning two of his children after he accused them of being witches.  A third child narrowly escaped being killed as well.  Samuel Sunday Otasi, a 42-year-old resident of Nigeria's Bayelsa State, tied his three children to a tree and poisoned them with a common household insecticide.  He was assisted by his younger brother,  Levai Ayah.   While the eldest child, 14-year-old Success managed to survive, the other children, 12-year-old Miracle and 10-year-old Godstime died at the scene.  

According to investigators, Otasi began abusing his children after a prophet told him that the children were responsible for his illness which they had brought about through witchcraft.  The children's mother had divorced Otasi some months earlier and he believed that she had bewitched the children.  Though Otasi denied the allegations and insisted that he had told his brother to return the children unharmed, police said that he had already confessed to the crime.

When interviewed in hospital by reporters, the surviving child, Miracle, told reporters that he had survived because he managed to escape. "My father came to take us from our grandmother and told us that we were going to a church in Yenagoa," he said.   "When we got to the road, he and his brother took us to the bush and tied me and my younger brothers to trees and gave us 'Sniper' pesticide to drink,” he added.   "I managed to come to the road after I used my legs to untie the rope and people saw me and took me to the hospital "  Doctors have since reported that he is responding well to treatment.  

Otasi is receiving support from other villagers who maintain that he was correct to kill the children and that the witchcraft allegations were true.  Belief in witchcraft remains strong in many parts of Africa and the killing of suspected witches continues to occur despite government crackdowns.  

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Who Are the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine?

In 1878, while on a pleasure trip to Maine's Moosehead Lake district,  prominent neurologist Dr. George Miller Beard made a rather peculiar discovery.   

Being on the border with Quebec, numerous French Canadian woodsmen lived and worked in Maine's forests all year round,  whether as loggers or trappers.  Intrigued by local stories about the strange behaviour displayed by many of them, Dr. Beard decided to investigate personally. What he found was  that many of these woodsmen (not all of whom were French Canadian), tended to what he described as an  "exaggerated startle response" that could produce a bizarre range of behaviours.   As he would later report, the startle response would cause them to "jump, others would react with echolalia, repeating a word shouting to them and automatic obedience."  Already well known for his work with neurasthenia and other bizarre neurological conditions, Beard wrote an article about this new condition that appeared in a medical journal that same year.  Almost immediately, many newspapers across the country picked up on the story and thus, the legend of the "Jumping Frenchmen of Maine" was born.   

Once the floodgates were open, eager readers sent in letters describing their own experiences with the "queer people in Maine's woods" (as one newspaper termed them).  According to one man who wrote a letter responding to a New York Sun story, "I have seen a good many jumping Frenchmen.  Their involuntary acts are not limited to jumping.  Tell one to strike a person near him or he will hit any other object...When one is surprised by the shout of "Throw it!", he will fling an axe, knife, or any other article without regard to consequences.  It seems unconscious muscular action."   Another medical doctor wrote that "one of them, whom I have interrogated, says that when suddenly spoken to, "it scares him" and that he strikes by an uncontrollable impulse."  

It seemed almost inevitable that many of these "jumpers" would become the target of practical jokes by people trying to take advantage of their strange condition.  On discovering that one particular woodsman could be made to start vomiting whenever he saw someone else vomiting, he began being harassed by locals who"just for the fun of it" went through the motions of vomiting to set him off.  He eventually almost killed one young boy who was part of a gang that kept following him around trying to make him vomit.   

Others could be made to start shaking hands non-stop when instructed to do so.   According to one newspaper story, two jumpers were made to keep shaking hands with each other whenever someone called out the word "shake."   As the story also mentioned, "the jumpers shake like two automata:  their eyes are fixed and glassy; a cold sweat breaks out on them; and as they gaze at one another with a helpless stare, they look as if they were mesmerized."   Interestingly enough, jumpers also appeared to be prone to delusions.   In one case, flinging a rope on a jumper made him convinced that he was being attacked by a snake.  He began to scream, tear at his clothes, and grovel at the ground, apparently terrified.   Given the popularity of these practical jokes, it's probably not surprising that jumpers remained wary of anyone who had managed to "jump" them and often preferred to keep to themselves as much as possible.  

Aside from their place in medical history and the occasional news story, the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine were  ignored for the most part (aside from the practical jokers).  Cases were hardly limited to Maine however and similar occurrences were being reported among Louisiana's Cajun population (hence the term "ragin' Cajun").   Since no medical explanation for the phenomenon could be found,  "jumping" was seen as a mysterious nervous disease with no apparent cure.  

 In 1898 however, a brutal murder case made "jumping" front page news once more.   A 20-year-old French Canadian man named Thomas Nulty was arrested in Rawdon, Quebec for the ax murder of his three sisters and a brother as well as attacking his parents.   Nulty had apparently quarreled with his family because he wanted to marry a girl and bring her to live in their home though this would only come out later.   The fact that  Nulty happened to be a "jumper" provided some interesting courtroom drama when he was arraigned.   Though he had initially entered a plea of not guilty, he later changed his plea in open court and even confessed to the killings.  As one newspaper story of the hearing related, "the trial judge, who had a clear understanding of the "jumper" disease, promptly refused to accept the new plea, holding that it was more than likely that the officer standing near the prisoner had taken advantage of the defendant's disease, and by a timely word and a touch had forced him to declare himself guilty and make the confession which Nulty later repudiated."    As legal defenses go, it wasn't particularly compelling considering that Nulty was retried, found guilty, and hanged just a year later.

A perhaps more permanent development occurred courtesy of French neurologist Gilles de la Tourette.   During the 1880s, he reported on a rather odd tic disorder that he observed in some of his patients. Almost at the same time, an American surgeon, William Hammond, wrote about a similar tic disorder called miryachit that had been observed in Siberia by American naval officers stationed there.  Tourette also noted similar symptoms in the "Jumping Frenchmen of Maine" as well as a culture-bound syndrome called latah that affected women in Malaysia and Indonesia.  In an 1884 paper, he commented on these different movement disorders and suggested that they were all probably based on the same tic disorder that he had been observing.  

So are the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine suffering from some form of Tourette's syndrome (as it is now known)?  And how about latah and miryachit?   While the modern consensus among researchers is that the jumping Frenchman disorder, miryachit, and latah are highly similar, there are enough differences to distinguish them from Tourette's.   Beyond that, the actual cause for these extreme startle disorders seems open to speculation.   Attempted explanations range from the biological (that they are genetic disorders) to the psychological (a purely psychogenic reaction to stress) but nobody seems to have resolved the mystery.  Still, while miryachit seems largely extinct these days, there are still cases of latah being reported.   As for the jumpers themselves, they still seem to be around though, understandably, they tend not to call attention to themselves. 

To date, no real treatment exists for people dealing with jumping disorder though they can function normally provided they avoid being startled.  Though episodes typically decrease with age, stress and anxiety often aggravates the symptoms (which may account for why they were so common in lumber camps which can often be stressful places).   Given how rare these hyperstartle conditions are, they tend to be classified as "orphan diseases" that get ignored by pharmaceutical companies looking for more profitable cures to research and market.  

Such is life.

The Long Road To PTSD

The outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 meant new challenges for the medical doctors treating the wounded on both sides of the conflict.   But with these new challenges came timely new  developments to help diagnosis and treatment of injured soldiers.   This included morphine,  the hypodermic needle and the stethoscope. 

Being able to listen to a patient's heart meant a new appreciation of how the heart worked and, to some extent, how it didn't.    Though the heart was recognized primarily as a muscle that pumped blood, old notions about the heart being the centre of emotion and personality in humans had not been completely forgotten by the mid-19th century.   Physicians already recognized that strong emotion could affect heart activity but, rather than simply relying on patient description of how stress affected them, physicians could listen to the heart directly and draw their own conclusions.   Conflicting ideas of what a heart actually did came into play during the Civil War as doctors began monitoring the vital signs of soldiers under combat conditions.  It was through studying soldiers that three physicians independently described what would be known as the "Irritable Heart Syndrome" or  more simply as "Soldier's Heart."   

Early reports of Soldier's Heart began in 1862 following the first attempt of the Army of the Potomac to invade Virginia.   If the soldiers expected an easy victory, they quickly learned otherwise as Robert E. Lee's Confederate troops managed to beat them back and eventually forced a retreat.   The shock of this defeat was a major blow to Northern confidence and the high casualty rate, including wounded soldiers who were simply abandoned as the army withdrew, added to the number of dead.    With defeat after defeat at Antietam and Fredericksburg came more casualties and physicians began noting unusual symptoms among the soldiers being treated.

Along with battlefield injuries and diseases such as malaria, dysentery, and typhoid, army physicians also observed severe heart palpitations in the soldiers who had survived combat.  According to one physician, Alfred Stille, the soldiers themselves attributed the strange symptoms to the rigourous campaigning, including long marches with heavy backpacks.    Based on his own observations, Stille concluded that the palpitations were due to "a state of extreme exhaustion, especially when produced by prolonged and violent muscular effort."   Other physicians reported on the "cardiac muscular exhaustion" seen in soldiers and expanded on what Stille was observing.   Henry Hartshorne described what he was seeing as "soldier's heart exhaustion."  Specific symptoms included a rapid, feeble pulse rate,  an abnormally fast heart rate (even when the solder was at rest),  and breathing problems.     Hartshorne argued that the symptoms were caused by overexertion, lack of rest, and poor nutrition though he was careful to distinguish the new syndrome from ordinary nervous exhaustion.

The name most commonly associated with the irritable heart syndrome seen in soldiers was Jacob Mendes Da Costa who was the first physician to link the symptoms he was observing to psychological factors.   The condition he described is often called Da Costa's Syndrome in his honour.   Essentially, he regarded the condition he was seeing in patients as a "cardiac neurosis" since "the mass of cardiac disorder is not organic, but functional. And of these again a very large proportion belong to the group which I have designated 'irritable heart'"    Since there was no physical signs of actual heart disease involved, the symptoms themselves represented the condition he needed to treat.   Along with the heart symptoms, soldiers were also describing "jerking during sleep" ,  disturbed sleep, and nightmares.    While Da Costa was careful not to label the new syndrome as being a mental disorder, he did insist that the condition was not easily faked (even then, military authorities were wary of possible malingers).  He also acknowledged that the condition was being seen more frequently in soldiers as the war dragged on, however.   Treatment with conventional heart medications such as digitalis showed little real effect.

After the war ended,  Da Costa continued writing about the condition which he saw in civilian patients as well.   He maintained that the symptoms could be caused by any significant strain which, among other things, could mean emotional shock.   Many of the case histories he presented described how his syndrome could develop even in non-soldiers.   Based on his cases, Da Costa wrote:  

We can understand how even mental emotion, acting through the nervous system on the nerves of the heart, may produce real trouble, and how the worry of life, and strain on the feelings, when long kept up, may give rise to conditions which, in figurative language, we call “heart-weary,” and “heart-sick,” and which, not as a figure of speech, but in truth, may be the beginning of actual cardiac malady.

Da Costa also  suggested that irritable heart symptoms could be caused by anything that resulted in overexertion of the heart including sexual disorders, abuse of tea or coffee, irregularity or excess in eating or drinking or, "long matrimonial engagements."    In other words, virtually anything that caused nervous irritability could cause irritable heart syndrome.  For treatment, Da Costa recommended rest about all else though he also advocated medication (especially digitalis for the heart).     Despite the lack of real evidence that "irritable heart syndrome" actually involved heart disease,  Da Costa's based his ideas about the syndrome on patients becoming "heart-weary" due to chronic overexertion.  

Though Da Costa and his colleagues came close to realizing the role that traumatic stress could play on the body, they never quite managed to make that final connection.   According to Robert Kugelmann,  physicians such as Da Costa mainly focused on the role that overexertion and fatigue had on the heart since these were things they could observe directly.    Acknowledging the role of psychic factors that could only be inferred likely seemed a step backward.  Da Costa described the rigours of combat that soldiers faced as well as lack of sleep, poor nutrition,  and exposure to disease.   All of these were potential factors for irritable heart syndrome as far as he was concerned.    That soldiers were also constantly afraid was something he failed to mention in his writings.   Whether because he did not want irritable heart patients accused of cowardice or  simply refused to consider other factors besides overwork, Da Costa never wavered in regarding fatigue as the culprit.  

And fatigue was certainly a problem in 19th century medicine.   In an era before labour legislation or safety regulations, many workers were obliged to work long hours under unsafe conditions we nowadays see only in Third World factories.   That many of these workers also developed irritable heart symptoms seemed to prove Da Costa's hypothesis about overwork being the culprit.   There were also the inevitable racist comparisons with some ethnic groups deemed to be hardier and less vulnerable to irritable heart symptoms than others.     As Roberts Bartholow pointed out in an 1867 Sanitary Commission report on military health, soldiers of Anglo-Saxon descent were the most immune to fatigue.  For African-American soldiers, he regarded them as "less enduring than the white soldier; less active, vigilant, and enterprising, and more given to malingering. The Mulatto is feebler than the Negro."   As the very bottom of the heap were the Spanish-American soldiers coming from states such as New Mexico who were "cowardly, unreliable, and difficult to control, in consequence of a very mercurial temperament."

As the memory of the Civil War faded and new wars arose, the Irritable Heart Syndrome gave way to later diagnoses including "shell shock" which became popular during World War I.    With each new case, physicians also recognized that it was not a heart sydrome at all.     As cardiologist James MacKenzie pointed out in 1916, such cases " were overwhelmingly non-cardiac, the most likely etiology being the strain and exhaustion of life in the trenches superimposed on some 'toxic influence' caused by infection."  Once again, physicians were extremely reluctant to attribute the symptoms they were seeing to psychological factors such as acute stress given the stigma attached to anything suggesting that soldiers lacked courage.   Though "shell shock" made its introduction as a diagnosis during World War I, it would not be until well after World War II that the devastating impact of posttraumatic stress on soldiers would be grudgingly recognized.

Even today, true diagnosis of the Irritable Heart Disorder symptoms described by Da Costa and other physicians is likely impossible based on the limited information available.   Though Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) remains the most popular explanation for what Da Costa was describing,  physical causes such as poor nutrition and infection cannot be ruled out either.     That the horrors of war take a terrible toll on soldiers and civilians caught in the crossfire seems obvious enough now.   Recognizing that constant threat of death could lead to "legitimate" medical conditions rather than the type of symptoms associated with "cowardice" would take much longer.

Does Chronic Pain Increase Suicide Risk?

Death by suicide is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Because individuals with chronic pain are at least twice as likely to report suicidal behaviors or to complete suicide, it is of utmost importance to target which risk factors contribute the most to increasing suicidality. A comprehensive review recently published in the journal Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry aims to provide an update on research advancements relating to the identification of potential risk factors for suicidality in individuals with chronic pain. Supporting the results of prior reviews, the authors found robust evidence that chronic pain itself, regardless of type, was an important independent risk factor for suicidality. The only sociodemographic factor found to be associated with suicidality in individuals with chronic pain was being unemployed/disabled. Depressive symptoms, anger problems, harmful habits (e.g. smoking, alcohol misuse, illicit drugs), childhood or adulthood adversities, and family history of depression/suicide were all also identified as general risk factors. Regarding pain-related factors, sleep problems, poorer perceived mental health, concurrent chronic pain conditions, and more frequent episodes of intermittent pain, were all found to be predictors of suicidality. Unexpectedly, pain characteristics (e.g. type, duration, and intensity/severity) and physical status (e.g. pain interference or disability) were not related to suicide risk. The authors also identified promising new psychosocial factors (e.g. mental defeat, pain catastrophizing, hopelessness, perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness) associated with suicidality outcomes. A large number of these factors are amenable to change through targeted intervention, highlighting the importance of comprehensively assessing chronic pain patients at risk for suicide, while also incorporating a suicide prevention component into chronic pain management programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

"Confused" 86-Year-Old Florida Woman Accused of Beating Husband to Death

An 86-year-old Florida woman has been arrested after the beating death of her 89-year-old husband.    On January 5, Ramona Maxine Lund was spotted by a neighbour as she was standing on the front porch of the home that she shared with her husband, Francis, at their home in Pace, Florida.  Her husband was lying at her feet and the neighbour, believing that Francis had fallen, contacted 911.   The neighbour then attempted to revive Francis until first responders arrived.    It was only after an investigator noted bruises and indentations on the deceased man's head that a full investigation was launched.   Police then found parts of a walking cane covered in blood which Ramona had apparently left soaking in a bucket by the door.   They also found Ramona's bloody nightgown as well as traces of blood on her hands and feet.   She was then arrested and taken into custody.

When interviewed at her home, police noted that Ramona Lund was extremely "confused" and was unable to answer basic questions (such as naming the day of the week).  Now being held in the Santa Rosa county jail on a $250,000 bond, Lund had initially been scheduled to appear in court early this week but this has been delayed pending a competency hearing.   Her public defender asked for the hearing due to his difficulty in getting the client to understand her legal rights.  

In a press conference held on Monday, Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson described the case s "unusual" given that Lund is the oldest person that the Sheriff's Office has ever charged with murder. "We're dealing probably with someone's grandmother now," Johnson said in a media interview. "It's not something that happens every day."   He also added that Ramona Lund's mental state would definitely be a factor in the investigation.  "Based on observations of my investigators, as well as other personnel, when you interact with her on a personal level, when you ask her questions, it's clear that she's confused. It's important that, while we are going to focus on the mental confusion and that aspect, it's important to remember and be reminded that she is charged with a very serious crime that has resulted in the loss of a human life." 

While the Sheriff's Office is working closely with the Public Defender's office to seek an expedited competency evaluation,  the Sheriff stated that it was still unclear if she suffered from a medical condition such as dementia.   Such a diagnosis can potentially be used as the basis for an insanity defense though both the Sheriff's Office and the Public Defender's office insist that it is too early to make that argument.

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Panic On The Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge is a marvelous feat of engineering.   

Now one of New York City's most popular tourist attractions, the completion of the hybrid cable-supported suspension bridge in 1883 was meant as a symbolic joining of the boroughs of Manhattan and Boston.   With numerous lanes to carry streetcars, elevated trains, pedestrians, bicycles, a total length of 5,989 ft (1,825.4 meters), and rising nearly 300 feet above the East River, it was hardly surprising that construction supervisor Washington Roebling called it the "most stupendous engineering structure of the age"

After more than fifteen years of construction, the grand opening of the bridge on May 24, 1883 was a major media event.  Newspapers across the country carried stories about the majestic bridge, complete with photographs, engineering details, and descriptions of the political battle that led to the bridge being approved in the first place.   Naturally enough, thousands of pedestrians marked the historic occasion by crossing the bridge on foot (it likely helped that the toll for pedestrians was only one cent U.S.).    Considering the breathtaking views that pedestrians and cyclists could get while on the bridge, there was no shortage of people lining up to cross.

Even after a week following the grand opening, thousands of people were still crowding onto the bridge on May 30, 1883 when something went very wrong....

Though eyewitness accounts seem to vary, the problem apparently began when a woman tripped and fell as she was descending the wooden stairs on the Manhattan end of the bridge.   This, by itself, shouldn't have done more than spark mild concern.  Unfortunately, it was late in the afternoon when the crowds were at their thickest.    As one newspaper reported the events of the day, "strong men and feeble women, manhood and infancy were wedged together in that fearful pressure of the crowd which extended miles, one might say, on either end of the line." 

It was apparently at this point that the things became particularly chaotic.   Being acutely aware that they were suspended 130 feet over the water, people in the crowd became convinced that the bridge was in danger of collapsing and began pushing frantically to get back to solid ground.   One woman even dangled her baby over the side of the bridge and begged someone below to take it to safety.   Since the only exit was along a narrow wooden promenade, that was where the crowding was at its densest.  Though some quick-thinking officials managed to cut away the iron fences that were preventing people from going over the sides of the promenade, this may have made things even worse since the fences were the only thing preventing many from falling to the street below.  

What followed was a scene of carnage.   One reporter covering the story likely described it better than I ever could: 

"Those unfortunate to be near enough, and weak and fainting, fell helter-skelter, heels over head, down on the jagged, gravelly road beneath, a mass of bruised, discolored human flesh.  Scores were trampled on instantly and to stumble was death.  Men were dragged out of that heap of humanity with their faces blue as indigo, and their life blood trickling out of their nostrils.  Children and women, pale, disheveled, and dead.  The roadway on either side was strewn with the dead and dying, a pitiable sight, and yet it is said of the bridge officials that no efforts were made to stop people coming on the bridge.  The dead and dying were carried off in wagons, carts, etc., improvised on the moment for service, and it was a long time before anything like order was restored or an ambulance appeared."

Fortunately, nearby soldiers in uniform took charge of the scene and acted as volunteer police officers to restore order and evacuate the injured.  A makeshift morgue was set up at the nearby hospital on Chambers Street and all of the injured were brought there for treatment.  After hearing news of the disaster, hundreds of anxious relatives swamped the hospital trying to get news about their loved ones.  Newspapers wrote lurid stories describing the carnage and the life-threatening injuries many of the survivors had sustained. 

Though only twelve fatalities were actually linked to the bridge disaster, hundreds of others, including men, women, and children, had injuries included crushed limbs and broken bones.  But the stories spreading across New York by word-of-mouth suggested that the disaster was far greater than it actually was.   One story going around for a while was that the bridge had collapsed with a death toll of over 1,000 people.  While the rumours slowly subsided, there was still the question of who would be held responsible for the deaths involved.

In the months that followed the Brooklyn Bridge disaster, new safeguards were put into place  to ensure greater safety for pedestrians and vehicles crossing the bridge.   Also, a New York court held that same year absolved the Bridge trustees of any responsibility for the tragedy.   Still, the deaths made people more apprehensive about using the bridge and, as a result, the revenue from bridge tolls were much lower that year than originally predicted.   Considering that the Bridge was supposed to be self-supporting (at least in terms of maintenance costs), not to mention the expensive bonds that had been issued to help fund construction,  the Bridge that had been hailed as a wonder of the modern world began to look like a financial sinkhole.

Which brings us to  P.T. Barnum, master showman and inveterate promoter, who decided on a rather unique way of demonstrating the bridge's safety (not to mention drumming up enthusiasm for his circus).   On May 23, 1884, Barnum marched his entire herd of elephants, twenty-three in all, including his star attraction, Jumbo, across the bridge, while hundreds of pedestrians followed.   Not only was it the biggest day since the bridge's opening the year before, but it also helped end lingering fears about the Brooklyn Bridge's safety.  The event proved to be so popular that Barnum would repeat the stunt in later years.

While there were far greater tragedies occurring in 1883, including the enormous loss of life following the Krakatoa eruption that same year, the Brooklyn Bridge panic is still memorable for how easily a panic can start and the often tragic consequences that can follow.   It's a lesson that needs to be carefully considered in any large gathering of people and, yet, somehow, new tragedies always seem to arise.

Searching for the Moon Men

When Galileo first reported on his careful observations of the Moon's surface using the newly developed telescope, fellow astronomers were astonished to learn that the Moon had geographical features that seemed to match the ones on Earth.   Along with mountains, valleys and flat surfaces (which were erroneously assumed to be seas),  various other features could be seen that Johannes Kepler, among others, speculated could be the work of the Moon's inhabitants (who were quickly named "Selenites").  Beginning in the 18th century, astronomers such as Johannes Hevelius and Giovanni Riccioli were already debating whether the Moon was inhabited or not with scientific evidence being used to back up both sides of the argument.

As William Herschel pointed out in a 1780 to fellow astronomer Nevil Maskelyne, "who can say that it is not extremely probable, nay beyond doubt, that there must be inhabitants on the Moon of some kind or another?"   The exact nature of these lunar inhabitants remained a mystery of course since there was no way to get a closer look without much more powerful telescopes.   That didn't prevent "Selenites" from finding their way into the popular consciousness.   Even Emmanuel Swedenborg claimed to have encountered them during his spiritual journeys to the various planets in the solar system (he described them as "small, like children of six or seven years old; at the same time they have the strength of men like ourselves").  Cyrano de Bergerac wrote about the Moon's inhabitants in his book,  L'Autre Monde: ou les États et Empires de la Lune (The Other World: or the States and Empires of the Moon).   Published in 1657 after his death, it was one of the first true science fiction novels. 

While de Bergerac's novel and Swedenborg's mystical writings did nothing to resolve the question of whether the Moon was inhabited, more credible scientists eagerly weighed in on the controversy.    About the same time, New York journalist R.A. Locke launched his Great Moon Hoax in 1835 with six New York Sun article describing supposedly fantastic discoveries by astronomer John Herschel (probably the best-known astronomer of his time).   That included discoveries of unicorns, bipedal giant beavers, winged humanoids, and other fantastic creatures, all made visible by an "immense telescope of an entirely new principle."    Though the Moon Hoax was exposed just a few weeks later, the speculation over whether the Moon was inhabited seemed as strong as ever. Edgar Allen Poe came out with a tongue-in-cheek Moon hoax of his own at about the same time. 

Though these hoaxes may seem unbelievable now, there was enough scientific speculation about the Moon at the time to make Selenites seem plausible enough.   Along with John Herschel, astronomers such as Johann Hieronymus Schroter provided detailed maps of the Moon's surface, complete with certain features which he attributed to cloud formations.   Shroter also identified large parts of the lunar surface which he assumed were similar to plains on Earth and even suggested traces of a Selenite city.  While the case against lunar life was already strong by the opening of the 19th century, die-hards such as Schoter were still determined to preserve the possibility of Selenites.

Which brings us to the most famous lunar astronomer of his time, at least for a while, Franz von Gruithuisen.  Though trained as a medical doctor,  von Gruithuisen was one of the most prolific astronomers of the 19th century with hundreds of scientific papers and acting as editor to three astronomy journals at the same time.  He was also a keen supporter of Johann Schroter and his Selenites.  In   1821, von Gruithuisen wrote a paper defending Shroter's theories about lunar life and even argued for the existence of lunar lakes and a rarified lunar atmosphere.   In 1824, he published one of his most famous papers, "Discovery of Many Distinct Traces of Lunar Inhabitants, Especially One of Their Colossal Buildings."    Based on various features he had seen on the Moon's surface, including how they changed colour with light,  von Gruithuisen argued for a wide belt of lunar vegetation around the equator extending "55 degrees to the south and 645 degrees to the north."     He also identified lunar crossing sites along which animals migrated.    While von Gruithuisen added a caution that there were limits to what was possible with telescopes, he then described various spots on the Moon's surface which he insisted were roads, walls, fortresses and even cities.    His discovery of a star-shaped structure on the Moon led him to speculate that it could be a temple and that the Selenites had their own religion.

The astounding finds von Gruithuisen reported in his paper attracted attention across Europe.   The fame from his paper was enough to get him appointed professor of astronomy at the University of Munich.   In the meantime, von Gruithuisen wrote other papers arguing for the existence of life on Mercury, Venus and the comets.  He was particularly fascinated with Venus and the "ashen light" previous astronomers had seen on the dark part of the planet.   Not only did he consider this proof of life, but von Gruithuisen argued that these showed that Venusians held enormous "fire festivals" to mark important occasions in the Venusian civilization.

Unfortunately for von Gruithuisen, his findings about the Moon and Venus were not supported by other astronomers with more powerful telescopes.   Carl Friedrich Gauss, the eminent mathematician and astronomer, dismissed von Gruithusen's "mad chatter" and Wilhelm Olbers lamented how his Munich colleague could be taken in by "the power of imagination."   It seems ironic that Gauss would be so skeptical since one popular legend maintains that he had once proposed sending messages to the Moon's inhabitants by creating giant images in the Siberian plains.   Though the story is likely bogus, Gauss was definitely a pluralist as far as life on other planets was concerned.  Still, while many scientists were open to the possibility of lunar life, the evidence von Gruithuisen came up with was hard for skeptics to take seriously.

Olbers, in particular, was especially scathing about what von Gruithuisen was claiming to see.  In an 1824 letter to a fellow astronomer, he wrote: 

"Have you see the representation of Gruithuisen's alleged lunar city and his avenue of trees and his roads in the moon?  The power of imagination of the man is large; but nonetheless what he maintains is a city, even though it has no similarity to such, is surely noteworthy if otherwise his drawing, which I have no reason to doubt, is correct"

Wilhelm Olbers had even more reason to complain as his name and Gauss came to be associated with von Gruithuisen in the popular press due to their own ideas about life on other worlds.    Considering that von Gruithuisen's claims were getting international press at the time, the success of the Great Moon Hoax in 1835 becomes easier to understand.   

But the twilight of the Selenites would arrive soon enough.   In an 1834 lecture, Friedrich Bessel denounced the entire notion of Selenites based on his own observations which showed that the Moon had no atmosphere, which meant it had no water either.  In discussing why the idea of Selenites was so appealing, Bessel suggested that it was due to a romantic preoccupation in finding aliens like ourselves that kept the idea of lunar life alive.    At the same time, more accurate lunar maps became available using far more powerful telescopes than anything von Gruithuisen had.   Needless to say, there was no trace of the lunar buildings and roads that von Gruithuisen had reported.  If anything, the Moon appeared even more airless and lifeless than his critics had suggested.   

As for Franz von Gruithuisen, writing about life on the Moon and Venus largely ruined his scientific credibility despite his incredibly prolific career as an astronomer.  By the time of his death in 1852, he was largely remembered only as an extremely gullible observer who allowed his ideas about life on other worlds to overcome his own training as an observer.   Today, his chief legacy is the tiny lunar  crater  named in his honour.   

Though science abandoned the notion of Selenites, they were not entirely forgotten due to the rising popularity of science fiction.   H.G. Wells featured Selenites his his 1901 novel, The First Men in the Moon,  while Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote a series of novels with human-like creatures populating the interior of Earth's moon.    As astrophysicists learned more about lunar conditions however, novels featuring Selenites were largely abandoned in favour of more likely sites for extraterrestrial life such as Mars and Europa.

Such is progress...

Why is PrEP Not Used More Often to Curb HIV?

HIV is a serious problem in the USA, particularly for men who have sex with men (MSM). A new means of HIV prevention, called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), has been shown to be highly effective. However, in spite of earning FDA approval, adoption of PrEP by MSM has been limited. A study published in the journal Health Communication examined the experiences of a sample of 38 MSM who have adopted PrEP, focusing on communication with healthcare providers and social networks. In-depth interviews were used to collect data. Findings revealed that stigmatization by healthcare providers as well as stigmatization by other MSM was a relatively common experience for participants. Additionally, participants described that a high level of health literacy, health advocacy, and communication skill were necessary to adopt PrEP. Given these findings, strategies are suggested for improving MSM’s healthcare and increasing rates of PrEP adoption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

Brazilian Psychic Charged with Multiple Counts of Sexual Abuse

In a case already being described as the largest sex abuse scandal in Brazil's history, media superstar and psychic João Teixeira de Faria is facing accusations of sexual harassment and rape from well over five hundred women.   While the identities of most of these women have been hidden by a media blackout, many of the victims have gone public to talk about their encounters with Faria.  Many of their stories describe episodes of inappropriate touching, sexual assault, and being threatened into performing oral sex, often under threats of contracting diseases or of becoming possessed by evil spirits should they try to stop him.  

Public outrage grew after a television talk show about Faria's abuse was broadcast on TV Globo, Brazil's main network television channel, last December 8.   While most of the women interviewed spoke under conditions of anonymity, one woman, Dutch resident Zahira Lienike Mous  openly talked about what happened when she visited Faria's "spiritual healing center",Casa Dom Inácio de Loyola, in the Brazilian state of Goiás. She had been referred to the center by relatives in Brazil for  treatment to deal with a previous sexual trauma. 

In her account, Zahira talked about how betrayed she had felt by Faria.  "[He] opened his pants, put my hand on his penis and started to move it. (…) I was in shock. Meanwhile, he kept talking about my family and told me to smile. (…) Afterwards, he cleaned himself up, took me to his office, opened a cabinet with precious stones and told me to choose the one I liked best. (…) I don’t know how many days after this, he pulled me again to the bathroom. It was a similar pattern, but this time he went a step further and penetrated me from behind."   The other victims shared similar accounts.

Soon after this episode ran, the national magazine Época published ran their own story on Faria with accounts by six victims who reported similar encounters.   In all of the accounts, Faria forced himself on the women making various threats of supernatural retribution for anyone who refused or tried to tell on him afterward.   Almost immediately after the story broke, police issued an arrest warrant after learning that he had tried to transfer the equivalent of 10 million US dollars overseas in an apparent attempt to flee the country.   After a four-day manhunt, he turned himself in though he has yet to be charged and is denying all of the accusations.

Despite having no medical training, Faria first rose to prominence as a "psychic surgeon"  and spiritual healer who has been operating the Casa de Dom Inácio de Loyola since 1978.  Along with selling various herbal remedies (marketed by a company owned jointly by his wife and driver), he has also traveled extensively to other countries doing healing and became a media darling for North American celebrities such as  Oprah Winfrey.   Ironically, he required conventional surgery for a malignant tumour in 2015 (something he kept hidden at the time to preserve his mystique as a spiritual healer).   While prominent skeptics such as James Randi have attempted to debunk Faria's claims, his popularity remained undiminished, after as early claims about sexual abuse of patients continued to be heard.

While Faria is currently housed in a special prison facility, his lawyers have been actively engage in discrediting his accusers.   For example, Zahira Lienike Mous has been accused of being an ex-prostitute with a "history of extortions."  In the meantime, police have yet to lay charges as their investigation is still proceeding.  Additional charges may also be laid against staff at Faria's Center if the investigation determines that they assisted in the assaults.  As for Brazilian society as a whole, there seems to be an enormous groundswell of support for Faria's victims and a sharp break from Brazil's machismo history. 

As feminist activist Antônia Pellegrino wrote in an Instagram post, the country is witnessing the "biggest silence break in its history.”   She also added that, "As of today, 330 women have united to denounce the same man. For harassment, rape, pedophilia, incest all committed over the course of decades. Decades during which every one of them kept silent, was discredited or threatened with death. Those 330 women are not crazy, liars or jealous. They are victims. Victims of a powerful man who used the name of God as his last name. They are victims of centuries of silencing. But women’s time has come. Empowered by all the testimonies that came before, in Brazil and around the world, they have decided to unite and speak up. It’s time to investigate and punish whoever has to be punished. It’s time for justice. Congratulations for the courage of all the women involved in this historic breaking of silence. We are with you."