UFOs in the daily Press:

VERDICT FROM THE ACADEMY OF MEDICINE
on flying saucers:

"A collective psychosis dangerous to the moral health of society"

Paris, 16. -- FLYING SAUCERS WERE DISCUSSED THIS AFTERNOON AT THE ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, IN RELATION TO A REPORT BY MR. HOUYER [sic] ON COLLECTIVE PSYCHOSES.

THE CONCEPT OF COLLECTIVE PSYCHOSIS CAN BE LINKED, ACCORDING TO THE SPEAKER, TO THE DESCRIPTION OF “SHARED DELUSION” MADE BY FABRET. THIS PSYCHIATRIST DEMONSTRATED THE EXISTENCE OF A DELUSION, THAT IS TO SAY, A FALSE CONVICTION IMPERVIOUS TO REASON.

Gustave Le Bon, in "The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind", showed that crowds are driven much more by emotional and passionate states than by reason.

Currently, Mr. Houyer emphasizes, there is the psychosis of flying saucers. It appeared from we know not where, born from illusion and false interpretations amplified by the vast machinery of modern information. It is intensifying worldwide. The testimonies are laughable and overwhelming. Among the simple-minded, it leads, the speaker adds, to a conviction of espionage or even a Martian invasion.

In conclusion, the speaker stated that his intent was simply to highlight the danger to the moral health of society posed by psychoses born from the flying saucer phenomenon.

[Photo caption:] FLYING SAUCERS AND MARTIANS: A “GOLDEN” THEME FOR CATHERINETTE BONNETS. THESE LITTLE INHABITANTS OF MARS ARE CUTE ENOUGH TO EAT. (Agip.)