Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/212

AFFECTION. must suspend judgment until further evidence is submitted.

A third method, which has recently been proposed, is (3) that of suggestive disintegration of the affective consciousness. If we assume that the concrete feeling is made up of three elementary affections, one from each of the three main directions, it should be possible (whether with or without recourse to the hypnotic state) to "suggest away" two of the components, and so allow the third to come to its full bodily expression. This method has not as yet received any extended trial.

It remains to consider the nature of the phys- iological processes that underlie the appearance of an affection in consciousness. Sensations are conditioned directly upon the excitation of a determinate sense-organ. Affections, in all prob- ability, are conditioned by excitatory processes which arise indirectly, by way of reaction, from these first processes. The secondary excitations may be supposed to originate within the cerebral cortex, though some psychologists have referred them to the medulla. or even to the sympathetic system; but whether they are localized (Wundt) or diffused (Meynert), we have no means of deciding. The English school have found a bio- logical sanction for their traditional doctrine of pleasure-pain in the law that whatever is pleas- urable tends to further and perfect life, and whatever is painful to disturb or destroy it. The law appears to be substantially true. Ex- pressed in psychological terms, it would run somewhat as follows: A pleasant stimulus is a stimulus of moderate intensity, permitting the full exercise of attention, and connecting with the organic sensations set up by "anabolic" bodily processes; an unpleasant stimulus is one the intensity of which is adverse to maximal attention, and which connects with the organic sensations set up by "catabolic" bodily processes. Pleasantness and unpleasantness would then be conditioned, in the last resort, upon the intensity of stimulus: a result which accords well both with the results of experiment and with the notion of a diffused cortical reaction as sub- strate of the affective process. On the other hand, as we have seen, later theory connects pleasantness and its opposite with the quality, excitement - depression with the intensity, and tension - relaxation with the duration of stim- ulus. No one has yet attempted to work out these correlations upon the biological or teleolog- ical side. Here, as before, we must look to the future for a settlement of the questions at issue.

Consult: for the theory of the three affective directions, W. Wundt, Outlines of Psychology, translated by C. H. Judd (Leipzig, 1897); for methods, O. Kuelpe, Outlines of Psychology (London, 1895); E. B. Titchener, Experimental Psychology (New York, 1901); for the teleological law, H. Spencer, Principles of Psychology (New York, 1881), and Principles of Ethics (New York, 1892).

AF'FIDA'VIT (Perf. of Low Lat, affidare, "he has made an oath," from Lat. ad, to + fides, faith). A written declaration, or statement of fact, made before a magistrate or other person legally authorized to administer an oath, the truth of which is confirmed either by an oath sworn or a solemn affirmation. The name and designation of the party making the affidavit are written at length, and he usually signs it at the foot. When the paper is shown to him, he is required to swear or affirm that its contents are true, and that the name and handwriting are his, and it is thereupon attested by the officer before whom it is made. Affidavits in all the English courts must be taken and expressed in the first person of the deponent. In the United States, all judges, justices of the peace, notaries, commissioners, and some special officers, have authority of law to take affidavits. All the States appoint commissioners, residing in other States, to exercise the power. Generally the authority of foreign officials to take affidavits must be certified or verified in court. When a judge takes an affidavit in court, his signature must be authenticated. American ministers and consuls abroad have power to take affidavits, and so have British consuls and nearly all similar officers. No particular form of affidavit is prescribed. An affidavit of merits is one made by a defendant, which sets forth that he has stated his case to counsel and is by him advised that he has a good defense to the pending action on its merits. This is required by statute, or a rule of court, to protect plaintiffs from delay by frivolous shows of defense, but does not always effect the purpose.

AFFIL'IA'TION (Low Lat. affiliatio, adoption as a son or daughter, from Lat. ad, to + filius, son, filia, daughter). In the civil or Roman law, the ascertainment of the parentage and determination of the descent of a person, either through the mother or the father. In our law the term is commonly used to designate the proceeding for the judicial determination of paternity, especially of the paternity of bastards. ( See .) In cases where the person seeking to establish his paternity was born during coverture (q.v.), i.e., in lawful wedlock, there is a presumption of law that the husband was the father, which cannot be rebutted by direct evidence to show that he in fact was not the father, but only by proof that, owing to absence abroad, or in prison, or on the high seas, no cohabitation could have taken place, or that it was physically impossible. In French law, the term affiliation refers to a customary mode of adoption prevailing in some parts of France. See.

AFFIN'ITY (Lat. affinitas). The relationship created by marriage between the husband and the blood-relations of the wife, and between the wife and blood-relations of the husband. It is to be distinguished from consanguinity, which signifies relationship by blood. There can be no inheritance by legal succession from a relation by affinity. The relations of the wife stand to the husband in the same degree of affinity in which they stand to the wife by blood or consanguinity, or vice versâ. But between the relations of the two parties by affinity there is no affinity. Thus, there is no affinity between the husband's brother and the wife's sister, and, by our law, there is no impediment to their marriage. The question as to whether those who are related by affinity stand in all respects in the same position as regards marriage as those who are connected by blood is one on which some difference of opinion at present prevails, marriage between a man and the sister of his deceased wife is at present forbidden in England by statute, but not generally in the United States or the British colonies. See ;, and the authorities there referred to.