Profane Therapy

Cussers' morals do not arouse his respect, admitted Dr. Montague F. Ashley-Montagu of Philadelphia's Hahnemann Medical College last week. But he believes that swearing is darned good physiological therapy. Not so far back, in Psychiatry, he declared:

"In swearing there is no specific contraction of the diaphragm [as in laughter and weeping], but there is a general increase in neuromuscular tension, an increase in blood pressure and an acceleration of its flow, and a rise in the amount of sugar in the blood, respiration is accelerated, and there is a general feeling of tension which is gradually reduced as the swearing proceeds. ... [It] is a psychological means of keeping the organism physiologically clean." Dr. Ashley-Montagu approves swearing among females. "Today, instead of swooning or breaking into tears, [women] will swear and then do something useful. It is in my view a great advance upon the old method."

English-born Dr. Ashley-Montagu's own cursing is confined to an occasional

"Bloody, bloody, BLOODY!" on a rising pitch. Says he: "Sort of carries my bile away--I can just feel the yellow stuff oozing off."

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