E-text prepared by Turgut Dincer, sp1nd, and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made
available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)



Note: Images of the original pages are available through
      Internet Archive. See
      https://archive.org/details/mindbodyormental00atki





MIND AND BODY

Or

Mental States and Physical Conditions

by

WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON







L. N. Fowler & Company
7, Imperial Arcade, Ludgate Circus
London, E. C., England

1910
The Progress Company
Chicago, Ill.

Copyright, 1910
By
The Progress Company

P. F. Pettibone & Co.
Printers and Bindors
Chicago




CONTENTS


        Foreword                                9

     I. The Subconscious Mind                  15

    II. The Sympathetic System                 29

   III. The Cell-Minds                         39

    IV. The Mental Basis of Cure               58

     V. The History of Psycho-Therapy          84

    VI. Faith Cures                           115

   VII. The Power of the Imagination          135

  VIII. Belief and Suggestion                 155

    IX. Psycho-Therapeutic Methods            173

     X. The Reaction of the Physical          196




FOREWORD


Mind and Body--Mental States and Physical Conditions! To the mind
of those who have contented themselves with merely the superficial
aspects of things, these two things--mind and body; and mental states
and physical conditions--seem to be as far apart as the two poles; seem
to be opposites and contradictories impossible of reconciliation.
But to those who have penetrated beneath the surface of things,
these two apparent opposites are seen to be so closely related and
inter-related--so blended and mingled together in manifestation--that it
is practically impossible to scientifically determine where the one
leaves off and the other begins. And so constant and close is their
mutual action and reaction, that it often becomes impossible to state
positively _which_ is the cause and which the effect.

In the first place, Science now informs us that in all living
substance, from cell to mammoth, there is and must be Mind. There
can be no Life without Mind. Mind, indeed, is held to be the very
"livingness" of Life--the greater the degree of manifestation of Mind,
the higher the degree of Life. Moreover, the New Psychology informs
us that upon the activities of the Subconscious Mind depend all the
processes of physical life--that the Subconscious Mind is the essence
of what was formerly called the Vital Force--and is embodied in every
cell, cell-group or organ of the body. And, that this Subconscious Mind
is amenable to suggestion, good and evil, from the conscious mind of
its owner, as well as from outside. When the subject of the influence
of Mental States upon Physical Conditions is studied, one sees that
the Physical Condition is merely the reflection of the Mental State,
and the problem seems to be solved, the mystery of Health and Disease
solved. But in this, as in everything else, there is seen to be an
opposing phase--the other side of the shield. Let us look at the other
side of the question:

Just as we find that wherever there is living substance there is Mind,
so do we find that we are unable to intelligently consider Mind unless
as _embodied_ in living substance. The idea of Mind, independent of
its substantial embodiment, becomes a mere abstraction impossible
of mental imaging--something like color independent of the colored
substance, or light without the illuminated substance. And just as we
find that Mental States influence Physical Conditions, so do we find
that Physical Conditions influence Mental States. And, so the problem
of Life, Health and Disease once more loses its simplicity, and the
mystery again deepens. The deeper we dig into the subject, the more do
we become impressed with the idea of the universal principle of Action
and Reaction so apparent in all phenomena. The Mind acts upon the Body;
the Body reacts upon the Mind; cause and effect become confused; the
reasoning becomes circular--like a ring it has no beginning, no end; its
beginning may be any place we may prefer, its ending likewise.

The only reconciliation is to be found in the fundamental working
hypothesis which holds that both Mind and Body--both Mental States and
Physical Conditions--are _the two aspects of something greater than
either--the opposing poles of the same Reality_. The radical Materialist
asserts that the Body is the only reality, and that Mind is merely
its "by-product." The Mentalist asserts that the Mind is the only
reality, and that the Body is merely its grosser form of manifestation.
The unprejudiced philosopher is apt to stand aside and say: "You are
both right, yet both wrong--each is stating the truth, but only the
half-truth." With the working hypothesis that Mind and Body are but
varying aspects of the Truth--that Mind is the inner essence of the
Body, and Body the outward manifestation of the Mind--we find ourselves
on safe ground.

We mention this fundamental principle here, for in the body of this
book we shall not invade the province of metaphysics or philosophy,
but shall hold ourselves firmly to our own field, that of psychology.
Of course, the very nature of the subject renders it necessary that
we consider the influence of psychology upon physiology, but we have
remembered that this book belongs to the general subject of the New
Psychology, and we have accordingly emphasized the psychological side
of the subject. But the same material could have been used by a writer
upon physiology, by changing the emphasis from the psychological phase
to the physiological.

We have written this book to reach not only those who refuse to
see the wonderful influence of the Mental States over the Physical
Conditions, but also for our "metaphysical" friends who have become
so enamored with the power of the Mind that they practically ignore
the existence of the Body, indeed, in some cases, actually denying the
existence of the latter. We believe that there is a sane middle-ground
in "metaphysical healing," as there is in the material treatment
of disease. In this case, not only does Truth lie between the two
extremes, but it is composed of the blending and assimilation of the
two opposing ideas and theories. But, even if the reader does not fully
agree with us in our general theories and conclusions, he will find
within the covers of this book a mass of _facts_ which he may use in
building up a new theory of his own. And, after all, what are theories
but the threads upon which are strung the beads of _facts_--if our
string does not meet with your approval, break it and string the beads
of fact upon a thread of your own. Theories come, and theories go--but
_facts_ remain.




CHAPTER I

THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND


In order to understand the nature of the influence of the mind upon
the body--the effect of mental states upon physical functions--we must
know something of that wonderful field of mental activity which in the
New Psychology is known as "The Subconscious Mind," and which by some
writers has been styled the "Subjective Mind;" the "Involuntary Mind;"
the "Subliminal Mind;" the "Unconscious Mind," etc., the difference in
names arising because of the comparative newness of the investigation
and classification.

Among the various functions of the Subconscious Mind, one of the
most important is that of the charge and control of the involuntary
activities and functions of the human body through the agency of the
sympathetic nervous system, the cells, and cell-groups. As all students
of physiology know, the greater part of the activities of the body
are involuntary--that is, are independent (or partly so) of the control
of the conscious will. As Dr. Schofield says: "The unconscious mind,
in addition to the three qualities which it shares in common with the
conscious--_viz._, will, intellect and emotion--has undoubtedly another
very important one--nutrition, or the general maintenance of the body."
And as Hudson states: "The subjective mind has absolute control of the
functions, conditions and sensations of the body." Notwithstanding the
dispute which is still raging concerning _what_ the Subconscious mind
_is_, the authorities all agree upon the fact that, whatever else it
may be, it may be considered as that phase, aspect, part, or field
of the mind which has charge and control of the greater part of the
physical functioning of the body.

Von Hartmann says: "The explanation that unconscious psychical activity
itself appropriately forms and maintains the body has not only nothing
to be said against it, but has all possible analogies from the most
different departments of physical and animal life in its favor,
and appears to be as scientifically certain as is possible in the
inferences from effect to cause." Maudsley says: "The connection of
mind and body is such that a given state of mind tends to echo itself
at once in the body." Carpenter says: "If a psychosis or mental
state is produced by a neurosis or material nerve state, as pain by
a prick, so also is a neurosis produced by a psychosis. That mental
antecedents call forth physical consequents is just as certain as that
physical antecedents call forth mental consequents." Tuke says: "Mind,
through sensory, motor, vaso-motor and trophic nerves, causes changes
in sensation, muscular contraction, nutrition and secretion.... If
the brain is an outgrowth from a body corpuscle and is in immediate
relation with the structures and tissues that preceded it, then, though
these continue to have their own action, the brain must be expected
to act upon the muscular tissue, the organic functions and upon the
nervous system itself."

Von Hartmann also says: "In willing any conscious act, the unconscious
will is evoked to institute means to bring about the effect. Thus,
if I will a stronger salivary secretion, the conscious willing of
this effect excites the unconscious will to institute the necessary
means. Mothers are said to be able to provide through the will a more
copious secretion, if the sight of the child arouses in them the will
to suckle. There are people who perspire voluntarily. I now possess the
power of instantaneously reducing the severest hiccoughs to silence
by my own will, while it was formerly a source of great inconvenience
to me.... An irritation to cough, which has no mechanical cause, may
be permanently suppressed by the will. I believe we might possess a
far greater voluntary power over our bodily functions if we were only
accustomed from childhood to institute experiments and to practice
ourselves therein.... We have arrived at the conclusion that every
action of the mind on the body, without exception, is only possible
by means of an unconscious will; that such an unconscious will can be
called forth partly by means of a conscious will, partly also through
the conscious idea of the effect, without conscions will, and even in
opposition to the conscious will."

Henry Wood says of the Subconscious Mind: "It acts automatically
upon the physical organism. It cognizes external facts, conditions,
limitations, and even contagions, quite independent of its active
counterpart. One may, therefore, 'take' a disease and be unaware of
any exposure. The subconsciousness has been unwittingly trained to
fear, and accept it; and it is this quality, rather than the mere inert
matter of the body, that succumbs. Matter is never the actor, but is
always acted upon. This silent, mental partner, in operation, seems
to be a living, thinking personality, conducting affairs on its own
account. It is a compound of almost unimaginable variety, including
wisdom and foolishness, logic and nonsense, and yet having a working
unitary economy. It is a hidden force to be dealt with and educated,
for it is often found insubordinate and unruly. It refuses co-operation
with its lesser but more active and wiser counterpart. It is very
'set' in its views, and only changes its qualities and opinions by
slow degrees. But, like a pair of horses, not until these two mental
factors can be trained together can there be harmony and efficiency."

In order to understand the important part played in the physical
economy by the Subconscious Mind, it is only necessary to understand
the various processes of the human system which are out of the ordinary
field of the voluntary or conscious mind. We then realize that the
entire process of nutrition, including digestion, assimilation, etc.,
the processes of elimination, the processes of circulation, the
processes of growth, in fact the entire processes manifested in the
work of the cells, cell-groups, ganglia, physical organs, etc., are
in charge of and controlled by the Subconscious Mind. Our food is
digested and transformed into the nourishing substances of the blood;
then carried through the arteries to all parts of the body, where it is
absorbed by the cells and used to replace the worn-out material, the
latter then being carried back through the veins to the lungs where the
waste matter is burned up, and the balance again sent on its journey
through the arteries re-charged with the life-giving oxygen. All of
these processes, and many others of almost equal importance, are out
of the field of the conscious or voluntary mind, and are governed by
the Subconscious Mind. As we shall see when we consider the Sympathetic
Nervous System, the greater part of the body is dominated by the
Subconscious Mind, and that the welfare of the major physical functions
depends entirely, or almost so, upon this great area or field of the
mind.

The best authorities now generally agree that there is no part of
the body which may be considered as devoid of mind. The Subconscious
Mind is not confined to the brain, or even the greater plexuses of
the nervous system, but extends to all parts of the body, to every
nerve, muscle, and even to every cell and cell-group of the body.
The functions and processes of the body are no longer considered as
purely mechanical, or chemical, but are now seen to be the result of
mental action of some kind or degree. Therefore, in considering the
Subconscious Mind, one must not think of it as resident in the brain
alone, but rather as being _distributed over the entire physical
body_. There is mind in every cell, every organ, every muscle, every
nerve--in every part of the body.

The importance of the above statements regarding the power and
importance of the Subconscious Mind may be realized when one remembers
the dictum of the New Psychology, to wit: _The Subconscious Mind is
amenable to Suggestion_. When it is realized that this great controller
of the physical organism is so constituted that it accepts as truth
the suggestions from the conscious mind of its owner, as well as
those emanating from the conscious minds of other people, it may be
understood why Faith, Belief, and Expectant Attention manifest such
marked effects upon the physical body and the general health, for
good or for evil, as indicated in the preceding chapters. All of the
many instances and examples recited in the preceding chapters may be
understood when it is realized that the Subconscious Mind, which is in
control of the physical functions and vital processes, will accept the
suggestions from the conscious mind of its owner, and also suggestions
from outside which the conscious mind of its owner allows to pass down
to it. If, as Henry Wood has said in the paragraph previously quoted,
it "acts automatically upon the physical organism," and "seems to be a
living, thinking personality, conducting affairs on its own account,"
and at the same time, _accepts and 'takes on' suggested conditions_,
it may be readily understood how the wonderful and almost incredible
statements of the authorities mentioned in the preceding chapters have
had real and substantial basis in truth.

This understanding of the part played by the Subjective Mind in
controlling and affecting physical conditions and activities, together
with its suggestible qualities and nature, gives us a key to the
whole question of the "Why?" of Mental Healing. Suggestion is the
connecting link between Mind and Body, and an understanding of its
laws and principles enables one to see the moving cause of the strange
phenomena of the Faith Cures, under whatever name they may pass, and
under whatever guise they may present themselves. "Suggestion" is the
explanation offered by the New Psychology for the almost miraculous
phenomena which other schools seek to explain upon some hypothesis
based either upon religious beliefs, or upon some metaphysical or
philosophical doctrine. The New Psychology holds that it is not
necessary to go outside of the realms of psychology and physiology in
studying Mental Healing or Psycho-Therapy; and that the theories of
the semi-religious and metaphysical cults are merely strange guises or
masks which serve to conceal the real operative principle of cure.

The following quotation from Dr. Schofield will serve to call the
attention to the important part played by the Subconscious Mind in
the physical activities, a fact which is not generally recognized:
"It has often been a mystery how the body thrives so well with so
little oversight or care on the part of its owner. No machine could
be constructed, nor could any combination of solids or liquids in
organic compounds, regulate, control, counteract, help, hinder or
arrange for the continual succession of differing events, foods,
surroundings and conditions which are constantly affecting the body.
And yet, in the midst of this ever-changing and varying succession of
influences, the body holds on its course of growth, health, nutrition
and self-maintenance with the most marvelous constancy. We perceive, of
course, clearly, that the best of qualities--regulation, control, etc.,
etc.--are all mental qualities, and at the same time we are equally
clear that by no self-examination can we say we consciously exercise
any of these mental powers over the organic processes of our bodies.
One would think, then, that the conclusion is sufficiently simple and
obvious--that they must be used unconsciously; in other words, it is,
and can be nothing else than _unconscious mental powers_ that control,
guide and govern the functions and organs of the body.

"Our ordinary text-books on physiology give but little idea of what I
may call the intelligence that presides over the various systems of the
body, showing itself in the bones, as we have seen, in distributing
the available but insufficient amount of lime salts in disease; not
equally, but for the protection of the most vital parts, leaving
those of lesser value disproportionally deficient. In the muscular
system nearly all contractions are involuntary. Even in the voluntary
(so-called) muscles, the most we can do is to will results. We do
not will the contractions that carry out these results. Muscles,
striped and unstriped, are ceaselessly acting without the slightest
consciousness in maintaining the balance of the body, the expression
of the face, the general attributes corresponding to mental states,
the carrying on of digestion and other processes with a purposiveness,
and adaptation of means to new ends and new conditions, ceaselessly
arising, that are beyond all material mechanism. Consider, for
instance, the marvelous increase of smooth muscle in the uterus at
term, and also its no less marvelous subsequent involution; observe,
too, the compensating muscular increase of a damaged heart until the
balance is restored and the necessity for it ceases, as does growth at
a fixed period; consider in detail the repair of a broken bone. These
actions are not mere properties of matter; they demand, and are the
result of, a controlling mind.

"The circulation does not go round as most text-books would lead us
to believe, as the result merely of the action of a system of elastic
tubes, connected with a self-acting force-pump. It is such views as
these that degrade physiology and obscure the marvels of the body.
The circulation never flows for two minutes in the same manner. In an
instant, miles of capillaries are closed or opened up, according to
the ever-varying body needs, of which, consciously, we are entirely
unaware. The blood supply of each organ is not mechanical, but is
carefully regulated from minute to minute in health, exactly according
to its needs and activities, and when this ever fails, we at once
recognize it as disease, and call it congestion and so forth. The
very heart-beat itself is never constant, but varies _pro rata_ with
the amount of exercise, activity of vital functions, of conditions
of temperature, etc., and even of emotions and other direct mental
feelings. The whole reproductive system is obviously under the sway and
guidance of more than blind material forces. In short, when thoroughly
analyzed, the action and regulation of no system of the body can be
satisfactorily explained, without postulating an unconscious mental
element, which _does_, if allowed, satisfactorily explain all the
phenomena."




CHAPTER II

THE SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM


The average person has a general understanding of what is meant by
"the nervous system," but inquiry will show that by this term he
usually includes only that part of the nervous system which is known
as the "cerebro-spinal system," or the system of nerves consisting
of the brain and spinal cord, and the nerves extending therefrom
throughout the body, the offices of which are to control the voluntary
movements of the body. The average person is almost entirely ignorant
of the existence of the Great Sympathetic System which controls
the involuntary movements and processes, such as the processes and
functions of nutrition, secretion, reproduction, excretion, the
vaso-motor action, etc. In physiology, the term "sympathetic" is used
in the sense of: "Reciprocal action of the different parts of the body
on each other; an affection of one part of the body in consequence of
something taking place in another. Thus when there is a local injury,
the whole frame after a time suffers with it. A wound anywhere will
tend to create feverishness everywhere; derangement of the stomach
will tend to produce headache, liver complaint to produce pain in the
shoulder, etc."

An old authority thus describes the Sympathetic Nerves: "A system of
nerves, running from the base of the skull to the coccyx, along both
sides of the body, and consisting of a series of ganglia along the
spinal column by the side of the vertebræ. With this trunk of the
sympathetic there are communicating branches which connect the ganglia,
or the intermediate cord, with all the spinal and several of the
cranial nerves proceeding to primary branches on the neighboring organs
or other ganglia, and finally numerous flexures of nerves running to
the viscera. Various fibers from the sympathetic communicate with
those of the cerebro-spinal system. The term 'sympathetic' has been
applied on the supposition that it is the agent in producing sympathy
between different parts of the body. It more certainly affects the
secretions." In the New Psychology the Sympathetic Nervous System is
recognized as that directly under the control of the Subconscious Mind.

The Cerebro-Spinal Nervous System is concerned with the activities
arising from the conscious activities of the mind, including those
of the five senses. It controls the muscles by which we speak, walk,
move our limbs, and pursue the ordinary activities of outer life. But,
while these are very important to the individual, there is another
set of activities--inner activities--which are none the less important.
The Sympathetic System controls the involuntary muscles by means of
which the heart throbs, the arteries pulsate, the air is conveyed to
the lungs, the blood moves to and from the heart, the various glands
and tubes of the body operate, and the entire work of nutrition,
repair, and body-building is performed. While the Cerebro-Spinal
System, and the Conscious Mind are able to rest a considerable portion
of the twenty-four hours of the day, the Sympathetic System and the
Subconscious Mind must needs work every minute of the twenty-four
hours, without rest or vacation, during the life of their owner.

Dr. E. H. Pratt, in his valuable "Series of Impersonations" published
in the medical magazines several years ago, and since reproduced in
book form, makes "The Sympathetic Man" speak as follows: "The entire
body can do nothing without me; and my occupation of supplying the
inspiration for our entire family is so constant and engaging that I
am compelled to attend strictly to business night and day from one
end of life to the other, and have no time whatever for observation,
education, or amusement outside of my daily tasks. As a rule, I perform
my work so noiselessly that the rest of the family are scarcely
conscious of my existence, for when I am well everything works all
right, each organ plays its part as usual, and the entire machinery
of life is operated noiselessly and without friction. When I am not
well, however, and am not quite equal to the demands made upon me, I
have two ways of making it known to the family. One is by appealing
to self-consciousness through the assistance of my cerebro-spinal
brother, with whom I am closely associated, thereby causing some
disturbance of sensation or locomotion (the most frequent disturbance
in this direction being the instituting of some form of pain); or I
sometimes take it into my head to say nothing to my cerebro-spinal
brother about my affairs, but simply shirk my duties, and my
inefficiency becomes manifest only when some one or all of the organs
suffer from some function poorly performed."

The nerve-centres of the Cerebro-Spinal System are grouped closely
together, while those of the Sympathetic System are scattered about
the body, each organ having its appropriate centre or tiny-brain. The
heart, the liver, the kidneys, the spleen, the brain, the intestinal
tract, the bladder, the generative organs, have each its own particular
nerve-centre of the Sympathetic System--each its tiny-brain--each,
however, connected with all the others. And more than this--in addition
to the tiny-brains in each of the important vital organs, there are
found scattered through the trunk a number of _ganglia_, or knots of
gray nervous matter, arranged longitudinally in two lines extending
from just in front of the spinal column from the base of the skull to
the end of the spinal column, each vertebra having its appropriate
ganglia. In some cases several of these ganglia are grouped together,
the number ranging from two to three. Each ganglion is a distinct
centre giving off branches in four directions.

There is also one place in which are grouped together several very
large ganglia, forming what is known as the Solar Plexus, or Abdominal
Brain, which is situated at the upper part of the abdomen, behind the
stomach and in front of the aorta and the pillars of the diaphragm,
and from which issue nerves extending in all directions. By some
authorities the Solar Plexus is regarded as the great centre of the
Sympathetic System, and the main seat of the Subconscious Mind. Dr.
Byron Robinson bestowed upon this centre the name "The Abdominal
Brain," saying of the use of the term: "I mean to convey the idea that
it is endowed with the high powers and phenomena of a great nervous
centre; that it can organize, multiply, and diminish forces."

One of the most interesting and significant features of the ganglia is
that of their connection with the nerve centres of the Cerebro-Spinal
System, indicating the reciprocal action existing between the two
great nervous systems. From each one of the ganglia in the two great
lines forming the system, issues a tiny filament which connects with
the spinal cord; and at the same time it receives from the spinal
cord a tiny filament in return, thus establishing a double line of
communication. It is held by some authorities that one of these
filaments acts as a sending wire, and the other as a receiving wire
between the two systems. Be this as it may, the inter-communication
between the two systems is clearly indicated.

It must be remembered that the involuntary muscles which move the
heart, as well as the tiny muscles which form the middle-coat of the
arteries and the veins, are controlled by the Sympathetic System,
and thus the important work of the circulation, which goes on day
and night, year in and year out, during life, is directly under the
charge of the Sympathetic System and the Subconscious Mind. Also, the
involuntary muscles which are concerned with the activities of the
liver, the kidneys and the spleen, are under the same direct control.

Dr. E. H. Pratt, in the "Series of Impersonations" above referred to,
makes the "Subconscious Man" tell the following wonderful truth, which
we suggest each reader read carefully and fix in his mind: "My brother
the Sympathetic Man has told you that I am the animating spirit of his
construction; and as he is the great body builder, having furnished
the emotions under which our entire family has been put into form, you
can understand by what right I pose before you as the human form of
forms. All the rest of the family are because I am. Even my Conscious
brother, who claims superiority to his fellow-shapes because he bosses
them around a little and makes use of them, is a subject of my own
creation.... I am the life of the Sympathetic Man, whose existence as
a human shape has already sufficiently been well established, and as
there is no part of him which is not alive, the conclusion is very
evident that his shape and mine are identical. _There is no part of
the sympathetic system which is not animated by my own principle of
vitality._ Indeed, he is but a cup of life, though I can assure you
that his cup is full, and he would not be good for much if it was not.
So, if you are able to conceive the shape of the Sympathetic Man, you
can regard this form as identical with my own. This is really a very
modest claim on my part, and does not quite do justice to myself, for
in reality the Sympathetic Man does not contain all there is of me by
any means, for I am not only in him, but all around him, and he is not
by any means capable of containing my full self."

When it is seen that the vital activities of the physical body are
ruled, governed and controlled by the Sympathetic System, animated by
the Subconscious Mind, and that the latter is amenable to Suggestion
from the Conscious Mind and from outside, we may begin to get a glimmer
of the great light which illuminates the principle of Mental Healing.
If the Subconscious Mind, _the builder_, is influenced by Suggestion
to neglect his work, or to build wrongly, it is likewise possible for
him to heed proper Suggestion and to repair his mistakes and to rebuild
properly. This principle being grasped, the rest will seem to be merely
an understanding of the best methods of reaching the Subconscious
Mind by Suggestion or Auto-Suggestion. We may now begin to understand
the truth of the old axiom: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is
he"--physically. And as Thought is based largely upon Belief, can we not
see the dynamic force of Faith? Is there not a real psychological basis
for so-called "miracles?" Is not the wonder-working of the cults now
understandable?




CHAPTER III

THE CELL-MINDS


Modern science has demonstrated that the human body is composed of a
multitude of microscopic cells, that is, that the muscles, nerves,
tissues, blood, bones, hair and nails are made up of minute cells, and
groups of cells. Virchow says: "It is of the cells that the tissues
are built up and the nerves formed. There is no part of the human body
in which the cell is not seen. All these cells are neuclated--have in
them a central life-spot like the yolk of an egg. Each cell is born,
reproduces itself, dies and is absorbed. The maintenance of life and
health depends upon the constant regeneration of the cells. When man
can control the life and death of the cell he becomes the creator."
Medical science now practically asserts that disease of the body is
really disease of the cells of which the body is composed, and that all
healing of the body must consist of the healing of the cells--that is,
of restoring the cells to normal activity and functioning.

The following quotation from Hudson, following Stephens, is
interesting: "An aggregation of cells became a confederation, with its
differentiation of cell functions and still further division of labor.
As a result of a long process of such differentiation, the organisms
of the larger animals and of man came to be composed, as we find
them, of thirty or more different species of cells. For example, we
have the muscle cells, whose vital energies are devoted to the office
of contraction, or vigorous shortening of length; connective-tissue
cells, whose office is mainly to produce and conserve a tough fibre
for binding together and covering in the organism; bone cells, whose
life work is to select and collocate salts of lime for the organic
framework, levers and joints; hair, nail, horn and feather cells,
which work in silicates for the protection, defense, and ornamentation
of the organism; gland cells, whose _motif_ in living has come to be
the abstraction from the blood of substances which are recombined
to produce juices needed to aid the various processes or steps of
digestion; blood cells, which have assumed the laborious function of
general carriers, scavengers, and repairers of the organism; eye, ear,
nasal and palate cells, which have become the special artificers of
complicated apparatus for transmitting light, sound, odors, and flavors
to the highly sentient brain cells; pulmonary cells, which elaborate
a tissue for the introduction of oxygen and the elimination of carbon
dioxide and other waste products; hepatic (liver) cells, which have, in
response to the needs of the organism, descended to the menial office
of living on the waste products and converting them into chemical
reagents to facilitate digestion--these and numerous other species of
cells; and lastly, most important and of greatest interest, brain and
nerve cells."

The various cells of the body are constantly busy, each performing
its particular task, either singly or in connection with other cells
in the cell-group. Like a great arm, the cells are divided into
classes, some being engaged in the active daily work, while others are
held back on the reserve line. Some are engaged in building up the
tissues, muscles and bones, while others are busy manufacturing the
juices, secretions, fluids and chemical compounds required in the great
laboratory of the body. Some remain at their posts, stationary during
their entire life, while others remain stationary only until the call
comes for their services, while a third class are in constant motion
from place to place either following regular routes or else travelling
under a roving commission. Some of the moving cells act as carriers of
material--the hod-carriers of the body, while others move about doing
special repair work such as the healing of wounds, etc., while others
still are the scavengers and street cleaners of system, and others form
the cell army and cell police force. The body has been compared to a
vast communistic or socialistic colony, each member of which cheerfully
devotes his life-work, and often his life itself, to the common good.
The brain cells are of course the most highly organized, and the most
highly differentiated of the cells. The nerve cells constitute a living
telegraph system over which is carried the messages from the several
parts of the body, each cell being in close contact with its neighbor
on each side--the nerve cells practically clasp hands and form a living
chain of communication.

The blood cells are important members of the cell-community, and are
exceedingly numerous, there being over 75,000,000,000 of the red-blood
cells alone. These red-blood cells move in the blood currents,
carrying through the arteries each its little load of oxygen which it
transports to the distant tissues that they may be invigorated and
vitalized anew; and, returning, carrying through the veins the debris
and waste products of the system to the great crematory of the lungs
where the waste is burnt and thrown off from the body. Like the ships
that sail the sea, each cell carries its outgoing cargo, and returns
with another one. Some of these cells perform the office of special
repairers, forcing their way through the walls of the blood-vessels and
penetrating the tissues in order to perform their special tasks. There
are several other kinds of cells in the blood besides the carriers
just mentioned. There are the wonderful soldier and police cells which
maintain order and fight battles when necessary. The police cells
are on the constant lookout for germs, bacteria and other microscopic
disturbers of the peace of the body. When these tiny policemen discover
vagrant germs, or criminal bacteria, they rush upon the intruder and
tying him up in a mesh, proceed to devour him. If the intruder be too
large or vigorous, a call for assistance is sent out, and the reserve
police rush to the assistance of their brothers and overpower the
disturber of the peace. Sometimes when the vagrants are too numerous,
the policemen throw them out from the body, by means of pimples, boils
and similar eruptions. In case of infectious diseases, an army corps
is ordered out in full strength and a royal fight is waged between the
invading army and the defenders of home and country.

Some of the blood cells take a part in the process of extracting from
the food its nourishing particles, and then carrying the same through
the blood-channels to all parts of the body, where it is used to feed
and nourish the stationary cells there located. These cells manufacture
the chemical juices of the body, such as bile, gastric juice,
pancreatic juices, milk, etc., in short the entire physical process is
carried on by these indefatigable tiny cells. The body of each of us is
simply a great community of cells of various kinds. The cells are born
by the form of reproduction common to all cells, that of sub-division.
Each cell grows until a certain size is reached, when it assumes a
"dumb-bell" shape, with a tiny waist line, which waist is afterward
dissolved and the two cells move away from each other. In this way,
and this way alone, does the body grow, the material required for the
enlargement of the cell being supplied from the food and nourishment
partaken by the individual. Cells die after having performed their
life-work, and their corpses are carried through the veins by the
carrier cells, and cast into the crematory of the lungs where they are
consumed.

The body is constantly undergoing a process of change and regeneration.
Old cells are being cast off every second, and new cells are taking
their places. Our muscles, tissues, hair, nails, nerves, brain
substance, and even our bones are constantly being made over and
rebuilt. Our bodies to-day do not contain a single particle of the
material which composed them a few years back. A few weeks suffices to
replace our entire skin, and a few months to replace other parts of
the body. If a sufficiently large microscope could be placed over our
bodies, we would see each part of it as active as a hive of bees, each
cell being in action and motion, and the entire domestic work of the
human hive being performed according to law and order. Verily, "we are
fearfully and wonderfully made."

A number of the best authorities have used the illustration of the
process of the cells in healing an ordinary wound, in order to show the
activity and "mind" of the tiny cells. We have become so accustomed to
the natural healing of a wound, scratch or broken skin, that we have
grown to regard it as an almost mechanical process. But, science shows
us that there is manifested in the healing process a marvellous degree
of life and mind in the cells. Let us consider the process of healing
an ordinary wound, that we may see the cells at work. Let us imagine
that we are gazing at the wounded part through a marvellously strong
microscope which enables us to see every cell at work. If such a glass
were provided we should witness a scene similar to that now to be
described.

In the first place, through our glass, we should see the gaping wound
enlarged to gigantic proportions. We should see the torn skin, tissues,
lymphatic and blood vessels, glands, muscles and nerves. We would see
the blood pouring forth washing away the dirt and foreign substances
that have entered the wound. We would then see the messages calling
for help flashing over the living telegraph wires of the nerves, each
nerve-cell rapidly passing the word to its neighbor until the great
sympathetic centres received the call and sounded the alarm and sent
out a "hurry up" call to the cells needed for the repair work. In the
meantime the cells of the blood, coming in contact with the outside
air have begun to coagulate into a sticky substance, which is the
beginning of the scab, the purpose being to close the wound and to
hold the severed parts together. The repair cells having now arrived
at the scene of the accident begin to mend the break. The tissue,
nerve, and muscle cells, on each side of the wound begin to multiply
rapidly, receiving their nourishment from the blood cells, and quickly
a cell bridge is built up until the two severed edges of the wound
are reunited. This bridging is no haphazard process, for the presence
of directing law and order is apparent. The newly-born cells of the
blood-vessels unite with their brothers on the other side, evenly and
in an orderly manner, new tubular channels being formed skillfully. The
cells of the connective tissues likewise grow toward each other, and
unite in the same orderly manner. The nerve-cells repair their broken
lines, just as do a gang of linemen repair the interrupted telegraph
system. The muscles are united in the same way. But mark you this,
there is no mistake in this connecting process--muscle does not connect
with nerve, nor blood-vessel with connective tissue. Finally, the inner
repairs and connections having been completed, the scab disappears and
the cells of the outer skin rebuild the outer covering, and the wound
is healed. This process may occupy a few hours, or many days, depending
upon the character of the wound, but the process is the same in all
cases. The surgeon merely disinfects and cleans the wound, and placing
the parts together allows the cells to perform their healing work, for
no other power can perform the task. The knitting together of a broken
bone proceeds along the same lines--the surgeon places the parts in
juxtaposition, binds the limb together to prevent slipping, and the
cells do the rest.

When the body is well nourished, the general system well toned up,
and the mind cheerful and active, the repair work proceeds rapidly.
But when the physical system is run down, the body poorly nourished,
and the mind depressed and full of fear, the work is retarded and
interfered with. It is this healing power inherent in the cells that
physicians speak of as the _vis vita_ or _vis medicatrix naturae_,
or "the healing power of nature." Of it Dr. Patton says: "By the
term 'efforts of nature' we mean a certain curative or restorative
principle, or _vis vita_, implanted in every living or organized body,
constantly operative for its repair, preservation and health. This
instinctive endeavor to repair the human organism is signally shown in
the event of a severed or lost part, as a finger, for instance; for
nature unaided will repair and fashion a stump equal to one from the
hands of an eminent surgeon.... Nature, unaided, may be equally potent
in ordinary illness. Many individuals, even when severely ill, either
from motives of economy, prejudice, or skepticism, remain at rest in
bed, under favorable hygiene, regimen, etc., and speedily get well
without a physician or medicine."

Dr. Schofield says: "The _vis medicatrix naturae_ is a very potent
factor in the amelioration of disease, if it only be allowed fair play.
An exercise of faith, as a rule, suspends the operation of adverse
influences, and appeals strongly through the consciousness, to the
inner and underlying faculty of vital force (_i. e._, unconscious
mind)." Dr. Bruce says: "We are compelled to acknowledge a power of
natural recovery inherent in the body--a similar statement has been
made by writers on the principle of medicine in all ages.... The
body does possess a means and mechanism for modifying or neutralizing
influences which it cannot directly overcome." Oliver Wendell Holmes
says: "Whatever other theories we hold we must recognize the '_vis
medicatrix naturae_' in some shape or other." Bruce says: "A natural
power of the prevention and repair of disorders and disease has as real
and as active an existence within us, as have the ordinary functions
of the organs themselves." Hippocrates said: "Nature is the physician
of diseases." And Ambrose Pare wrote on the walls of the great medical
school, the Ecole de Medicine of Paris, these words: "_Je le ponsez et
Dieu le guarit_," which translated is: "I dressed the wound, and God
healed it."

It is of course true that the life and mind in the cells is derived
from the Subconscious Mind, in fact the cells themselves may be said
to _embody_ the Subconscious Mind, just as the cells of the brain
_embody_ the Conscious Mind. In every cell there is to be found
intelligence in a degree required for the successful performance of the
particular task of that cell. Hudson says: "All organic tissue is made
up of microscopic cells, each one of which _is a living, intelligent
entity_." And, again, "The subordinate intelligences are the cells of
which the whole body is composed, _each of which is an intelligent
entity, endowed with powers commensurate with its functions_." In
short, _the cells of the body are living organs for the expression and
manifestation of the Subconscious Mind_. There is not a single cell,
group, or part of the party which is devoid of mind. Mind is imminent
in the entire body, and in its every part, down to the smallest cell.

The following quotation from Dr. Thomson J. Hudson's "Mental Medicine"
clearly expresses a truth conceded by modern science. Dr. Hudson says:

"It follows _a priori_, that every cell in the body is endowed with
intelligence; and this is precisely what all biological science tells
us is true. Beginning with the lowest form of animal life, the humblest
cytode, every living cell is endowed with a wonderful intelligence.
There is, in fact, no line to be drawn between life and mind; that
is to say, every living organism is a mind organism, from the monera,
crawling upon the bed of the ocean, to the most highly differentiated
cell in the cerebral cortex of man. Volumes have been written to
demonstrate that 'psychological phenomena begin among the very lowest
class of beings; they are met with in every form of life, from the
simplest cellule to the most complicated organism. It is they that
are the essential phenomena of life, inherent in all protoplasm.'
(Binet.) It is, in fact, an axiom of science that the lowest
unicellular organism is endowed with the potentialities of manhood.
I have remarked that each living cell is endowed with a wonderful
intelligence. This is emphatically true, whether it is a unicellular
organism or a constituent element of a multicellular organism. Its
wonderful character consists not so much in the amount of intelligence
possessed by each individual cell, as it does in the quality of that
intelligence. That is to say, each cell is endowed with an instinctive,
or intuitive, knowledge of all that is essential to the preservation of
its own life, the conservation of its energies, and the perpetuation
of its species. In other words, it is endowed with an intuitive
knowledge of the laws of its own being, which knowledge is proportioned
to its stage of development and adapted to its environment."

The cell has the intelligence sufficient to enable it to seek
nourishment, and to move from one place to another in search for
food or for other purposes. It holds to its food when secured, and
envelops it until it is absorbed and digested. It exercises the power
of choice, accepting and selecting one portion of food in preference
to another. It has the power of discriminating between nourishing food
and the reverse. The authorities show that it has a rudimentary memory,
and avoids the repetition of an unpleasant or painful experience,
and also returns to the locality in which it has previously secured
food. Biological experiments have shown that the cells are capable of
experiencing surprise, pleasure and fear, and that they experience
different degrees of feeling, and react accordingly in response to
stimuli. Verworn, a biologist, even goes so far as to assert that they
habitually adapt means to ends, near and remote. In his remarkable
work on cell-life, "The Psychic Life of Micro-organisms," Binet says:
"We shall not regard it as strange, perhaps, to find so complete a
psychology in the history of the lower organisms, when we call to
mind that, agreeably to the ideas of evolution now accepted, a higher
animal is nothing more than a colony of protozoans. Every one of the
cells composing such an animal has retained its primitive properties,
giving them a higher degree of perfection by division of labor and
by selection. The epithelial cells that secrete the nails and hair
are organisms perfected with reference to the secretion of protective
parts. Similarly, the cells of the brain are organisms that have been
perfected with reference to psychical attributes."

Dr. Schofield says: "That life involves mind has, of course, like
all else, been vigorously disputed and equally vigorously affirmed.
'Life,' says Prof. Bascom, 'is not force; it is combining power. _It is
the product and presence of mind._' ... The extent to which the word
mind may be employed as the inherent cause of purposive movements in
organisms is a very difficult question to solve. There can be no doubt
that the actual agents in such movements are the natural forces, but
behind these the directing and starting power seems to be psychic....
There being an indwelling power, not only for purposive action in each
cell, but for endless combinations of cell activities for common ends
not at all connected with the mere nutrition of the single cell, but
for the good of the completed organism." Dr. R. Dunn says: "From the
first movement when the primordial cell-germ of a human organism comes
into being, the entire individual is present, fitted for human destiny.
From the same moment, matter, life and mind are never for an instant
separated, their union constituting the essential work of our present
existence." Carpenter says: "The convertibility of physical forces and
correlation of these with the vital and the intricacy of that nexus
between mental and bodily activity which cannot be analyzed, all lead
upwards towards one and the same conclusion--_the source of all power is
mind_. And that physical conclusion is the apex of the pyramid which
has its foundation in the primitive instincts of humanity."

Having seen the evidences of life and mind in the single cell, let us
now proceed to a consideration of the intelligence or mind inherent
and manifest in the groups of cells, large and small, including the
largest groups which compose the several organs of the body. This
line of investigation will lead us to a fuller understanding of the
influence of the mental states upon the health or disease of the organs
and parts. It will be seen that Mental Healing has a sound biological
as well as a psychological basis of truth, and that it is not necessary
to invade the fields of metaphysics or theology in order to find an
explanation of the effect of mind over body.




CHAPTER IV

THE MENTAL BASIS OF CURE


We have seen that in each cell in the human body is embodied a part of
the Subconscious Mind, sufficient in quantity and quality to enable the
cell to perform its particular work in the physical community of cells.
In the same manner each group of cells, large or small, is possessed of
the quantity and quality of mind adapted to the successful performance
of its particular function. And, rising in the scale, we find that
each of the physical organs is possessed of a "composite cell-soul" or
"organ-mind." As Hudson says: "Each organ of the body is composed of a
group of cells which are differentiated with special reference to the
functions to be performed by that organ. In other words, every function
of life is performed by groups of co-operative cells, so that the body
as a whole is simply a confederation of the various groups."

For instance, as Haeckel says: "This 'tissue soul' is the higher
psychological function which gives physiological individuality to
the compound multicellular organism as a true 'cell commonwealth.'
It controls all the separate 'cell souls' of the social cells--the
mutually dependent 'citizens' which constitute the community.... The
human egg-cell, as soon as it is fertilized, multiplies by division and
forms a community, or colony of many social cells. These differentiate
themselves, and by their specialization, by various modifications of
these cells, the various tissues which compose the various organs are
developed. The developed many-celled organisms of man and of all higher
animals resemble, therefore, a social civil community, the numerous
single individuals of which are, indeed, developed in various ways, but
which were originally only simple cells of one common structure."

Biology shows us that there are unquestionably methods of communication
between cell and cell, although it has not as yet been definitely
determined just how this communication is effected. In the
cell-communities of the micro-organisms there is undoubtedly present
the power to communicate on the part of the several cells composing
the community, and the pain or discomfort of one part is evidently
felt by the whole community. Just as an army, or a congregation, has
a mind common to the whole, in addition to the individual minds of
its units, so has every organ of the body an "organ mind" in addition
to the individual cell minds of its unit cells. The fact of the
existence of "group-mind," or "collective-mind" is recognized by the
best authorities in modern psychology, and the study of its principles
throws light on some hitherto perplexing phenomena.

Prof. Le Bon, in his work "The Crowd," says of the "collective mind" of
men: "The sentiments and ideas of all the persons in the gathering take
one and the same direction, and their conscious personality vanishes.
A collective mind is formed, doubtless transitory, but presenting
very clearly marked characteristics. The gathering has become what,
in the absence of a better expression, I will call an organized
crowd, or, if the term be considered preferable, a psychological
crowd. _It forms a single being_, and is subjected to the law of the
mental unity of crowds.... The most striking peculiarity presented by
a psychological crowd is the following: Whoever be the individuals
that compose it, however like or unlike be their mode of life, their
occupation, their character, or their intelligence, the fact that they
have been transformed into a crowd puts them in possession of _a sort
of collective mind_, which makes them feel, think, and act in a manner
quite different from that in which each individual of them would feel,
think and act, were he in a state of isolation. There are certain
ideas and feelings which do not come into being, or do not transform
themselves into acts, except in the case of the individuals forming
a crowd.... In the collective mind the intellectual aptitudes of the
individuals, and in consequence their individuality, is weakened....
The most careful observations seem to prove that an individual immerged
for some length of time in a crowd in action soon finds itself in a
special state, which most resembles the state of fascination in which
the hypnotized individual finds himself.... The conscious personality
has entirely vanished, will and discernment are lost. All feelings and
thoughts are bent in the direction determined by the hypnotizer.... An
individual in a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains of sand,
which the wind stirs up at will."

In short, psychology recognizes a _mental fusion_ between the
individual minds of units composing a community of cells, insects,
higher animals and even men. The "spirit of the hive" noted by
all students of bee-life, and the community spirit in an ant-hill
are instances serving to illustrate the general principle of "the
collective mind." As we have seen in the preceding chapter, the entire
human body is a vast community of cells, each unit in the community
having relations with every other unit, and all having sprung from
the same original egg-cell. This great community, or _nation_ of
cells is divided into many smaller communities, chief among which are
the principal organs of the body, as the stomach, the intestines,
the liver, the kidneys, the spleen, the heart, etc. And, following
the general rule, each of these organ-communities possesses its own
"collective mind," subordinate, of course, to the great community mind
known as the Subconscious Mind. Ordinarily these communities live in
peace and harmony, and in obedience to the national government. But
occasionally rebellions and revolutions are started, which cause much
inharmony, pain and disease. Sometimes these rebellions arise from
abuse of the particular organ by its owner, or from sympathy with
another abused organ, or from general abuse of the system. But, at
other times, there seems to be an active discontent springing up in an
organ, to the quelling of which the entire Subconscious Mind bends its
energy and forces. Very often these rebellions are started by adverse
auto-suggestions or fearthoughts emanating from the conscious mind
of the individual, which act according to the law of suggestion and
practically _hypnotize_ the mind of the organ in question.

This idea of each organ having a mind of its own--being practically an
entity, in fact--may be somewhat startling to those who have never had
the matter presented to them, but the statement is backed up by the
best scientific authorities who, however, do not usually state it in
so plain terms, or popular form. It is likely that the science of the
future will make some great discoveries regarding this matter of the
"collective mind" of the organs, and that the schools of medicine will
adapt the new knowledge to the treatment of disease. In the meantime,
the practitioners of Mental Healing are availing themselves of this
principle, often without realizing the principle itself.

The writer has been interested in this subject of the "organ mind" for
a number of years, and has conducted a number of experiments along this
line, the result being that he feels more firmly convinced each year of
the truth of the theory or idea. He has found that mental treatments
based on this theory have been very successful, much more so in fact
than those conducted in pursuance to other theories. It seems that
by applying the suggestive treatment direct to the affected organ a
quicker response is had. The writer is indebted to Dr. Paul Edwards,
a well known mental healer, who several years ago advanced the idea
that the mind or "intelligence" in the several organs differed greatly
in temperament and quality. He informed us that he had proven to his
own satisfaction that the heart is "_very_ intelligent," and quite
amenable to mild, gentle, coaxing suggestions, advice or orders; while,
on the other hand, the liver is a most mulish, stubborn, obstinate
organ-mind, which requires one to drive it in a sharp positive manner.
Investigation along these lines suggested by Dr. Edwards has convinced
the writer that the theory is warranted by the facts. Experiments have
shown that the heart organ-mind is gentle, mild, and easily influenced
by kindly suggestion, advice and requests, and that it needs but a word
directed to it to attract its attention. Likewise, the liver has been
found to be brutish, stubborn and obstinate, needing the most vigorous
suggestions--in short the liver-mind is a donkey and must be so treated.
The liver-mind is sluggish, torpid and sleepy, and needs much prodding
before it will "sit up and take notice." The stomach has been found
to be quite intelligent, especially when it has not been brutalized
by "stuffing." It will readily respond to suggestive treatment of all
kinds, it being noticed that it may be easily flattered or "jollied"
into good behavior, just as may certain children. The nervous system
has a mind of its own, and will accept suggestions, although it is
usually difficult to attract its attention, owing to its habit of
concentration upon its regular work. The bowel-mind will respond
to firm, kind treatment, as will also the uterus-mind and the mind
controlling the other organs peculiar to women.

In another work, the writer has said regarding this form of treatment
of the organs through their organ-minds: "Remember, always, that you
are mind talking to mind, not to dead matter. There is mind in every
cell, nerve, organ and part of the body, and in the body as a whole,
and this mind will listen to your central mind and obey it, because
your central mind is positive to it--the organ is negative to _you_.
Carry this idea with you in giving these treatments, and endeavor
to visualize the mind in the organs, as clearly as may be, for by
so doing you get them in better _rapport_ with you, and can handle
them to better advantage. And always remember that the virtue lies
not in the mere sound of the words that happen to reach the organ or
cells--they do not understand words as words, but they do understand the
meaning behind the words. But without words it is very hard for you
to think, or clearly express the feeling--and so, by all means use the
words just as if the organ-mind understood the actual meaning thereof,
for by so doing you can drive in the meaning of the word--and induce the
mental state and conditions necessary to work the cure.

Dr. S. F. Meacham, in a magazine article published several years ago,
said: "Let me once more call your attention to that one great principle
of disease and cure. It is the only medical creed I hold to-day and
will bear repeating, lest we neglect it. _Disease is a failure of the
cells to make good their waste, or to do their full duty._ This may
be an individual matter with the cell, or may result from imperfect
co-operation; there may be a mutiny in the co-operative commonwealth
constituting the body. Apart from all mutual help, or co-operation of
cells, each individual cell must either do its full duty, or suffer,
and perchance die, as the result. Remember that each individual cell
lives, and has an office that no other cell can fill to save it. If the
other cell does the work, it will live, but the failing cell will not
profit thereby. By co-operating they may lighten each other's labors,
but _no cell is or can be exempt from doing its part_. Any failure of
this kind is disease either local or general, according to the degree
and nature of the failure, or according to the importance of the
mutinous or weakened cell. A cure results when the cells again do their
work. Or, if a certain number die, a cure is established when other
cells learn to do that particular work, which is sometimes the case. A
remedy is any substance, or force, or procedure that will stimulate,
or help, or remove obstacles that prevent these cells from doing their
work. _Keep in mind, that the life process acting through or in the
cell does the work either aided, or alone._ The lesson then is that
all these methods do good, and that owing to the view point, mental
status, or expectancy of the individual, now one and now another method
will appeal to him and be accepted. No matter what we do, we aid, we
assist only--we do not cure.... _The process going on in each cell is an
intelligent one_, and all extrinsic methods are really but suggestions
offered to the cell, the real worker; and the fact is that any one of
these helps may be chosen, and all may be rejected...."

"The repair of a cell is as equally as intellectual a process as any
other can be. If, for instance, blind force can repair one cell, it
can many; if it can build one, it can all, and mind and intellect are
then without causal efficacy, without spontaneity, and blind force,
fatality and purposeless action reign supreme.... According to this
theory the building and repairing of cells would not be intellectual,
as there would be no working plan or purpose. I am aware that a purely
extrinsic study of the cells and of the body will force this conclusion
upon any candid, unprejudiced mind; but _a study from the inside_
is a different matter. A cell, looked at from without, moves only
when stimulated; but is this really true? The body is but a compound
of cells when viewed from the outside; then if one cell moves when
stimulated, why not twenty, a hundred, a thousand, a billion, the
entire body? But is it true of the body? You come to me and propose
some scheme, or act, which I carry out. Now is your proposition the
real cause of my act, or only a condition? Do I not choose, and either
do the thing or not, as determined from within? If this is true of
the body, why not of the cell? May not the stimulation we see be a
condition only, and the real cause of the act be within the cell
itself?... The cell is not a mere machine, _but a living entity_, doing
everything that the body does. It eats, drinks, moves, reproduces its
kind, selects its food, repairs its waste, etc. These are intellectual
processes, but may not be conscious....

"The cure consists in the repairing of the wasted tissue, and in the
cells restoring and repairing themselves into a definite pattern,
necessary to mutual work, so that the commonwealth may prosper. Air,
water, sunshine, food, etc., are necessary to the performance of
this work of repair. When these are furnished, even under the best
conditions possible, the cells must use them to build up the waste,
and this they do by their internal forces. But this process is what is
called repair on the one hand, and cure on the other. External means
may be essential, but that will not make them really curative.... It
is well, also, to keep in mind that external in the true sense of the
term as we are using it here. _Any force outside of the diseased cell
is an external force to that cell even if it be thought-force._ Disease
is always treated by external force, external as defined above, and
all disease is just as surely cured by internal force--viz.: _force
resident in the cell itself_. Here we all stand around the suffering
cell, one with drug-power in his hand, another with electricity, or
water, or heat, or directed attention--thought-force or more nourishment
which necessitates a better circulation to that area, or some other of
the thousand therapeutic measures, and we are close enough together
at last to see that we are simply using different stimuli to try to
aid the real worker within the cell to do his work by furnishing, not
only material that is necessary, but force as well, that out of the
abundance his work may be easy and rapid."

The reader who will consider the numerous instances of cure by
Suggestion or Faith-Cure, as noted in the following chapters, will
be better able to understand the principle underlying these cures if
he will realize the fact brought out so forcibly by Dr. Meacham, as
above quoted. The attention of the patient being directed to the organ
affected, in connection with the stimulating and vitalizing effect
of Faith and Belief, starts into renewed activity the cell-mind of
the organ in question, and arouses its reparative and recuperative
energies. Each organ, and its component cells and cell-groups, is of
course under the control of the Subconscious Mind, and forms a part
of the material embodiment thereof. The Subconscious Mind, being
stimulated by the Suggestion and Faith, and having its Expectant
Attention aroused, concentrates its energies upon the reparative and
recuperative processes in the organ, and the work of cure proceeds.
The cure, in every case, is simply either repair work, or else the
restoration of normal functioning--in either case the cells themselves
doing the work.

In the consideration of the reasons underlying the cure of disease
by Psycho-Therapeutics, we must first consider the question of
what disease really is. And in this phase of the consideration, it
will be well for us to first dispel the erroneous ideas concerning
disease which we have been entertaining. Perhaps the following
striking statement from Sidney Murphy, M. D., printed in the magazine
"Suggestion" several years ago, may help you to form a correct idea
of the nature of disease, or rather a correct idea of what disease
_is not_. Dr. Murphy says, in the said article, among other things:
"Prof. S. D. Gross, formerly of the New York University Medical School,
says: 'Of the essence of disease very little is known--indeed nothing
at all.' Nevertheless it is evident that medical men have an idea on
the subject. The theory generally held, I believe, is that disease
is destructive action; but just what this means, whether destructive
action on the part of vitality itself, or by something acting upon
the vitality, is not so clear; but we are enabled to gain some light
by reference to the expression used in medical books concerning it.
Thus we find that disease 'attacks us,' that it 'seats itself in an
organ,' that 'it works through us, runs its course,' etc. It is also
said to be 'very malignant,' or 'quite mild,' 'persistently resisting
all treatment,' or 'yielding readily' to it. In fact, it is considered
an entity, possessing character and disposition and general vital
qualities--a something which domiciles itself in the vital domain,
and exercises its forces to the destruction of the vital powers. It
is indeed spoken of as one would speak of a rat in his granary, or a
mouse in his cupboard, and efforts are made to dislodge it, or kill
it, as one would dislodge or kill any other living thing. This theory
of disease is beginning to be looked upon even by the medical world
as untenable. Living things are always possessed of organizations
having form or shape; and hence if disease were such, its form would
be discerned and described; a thing which never has been done. Disease
by our ancestors was considered a subtile and mysterious thing which
pounced down upon us, and runs its course without any reference to
causes; and language being formed to convey this idea, it has been
transmitted almost unchanged from generation to generation down to
the present time. And the medical profession of to-day is simply an
embodiment of that idea. It is probable that the term 'destructive
action' is generally held to mean destructive action on the part of the
vitality itself.... Life in organic form is developed according to law.
Slowly rising into power, organization at length reaches its zenith,
and then goes down the gentle declivity, until the soul steps off into
the great beyond, without pain or struggle, provided always that the
conditions of life are natural and therefore favorable; but if these
be unfavorable, unfavorable results must of course follow; vitality,
nevertheless, doing the best it can under the circumstances to
preserve the normal state of the body. Disease, we propose to show, is
not antagonistic to vital action, but the opposite, a remedial effort,
_or vital action on the defensive_. It is not a downward tendency, nor
the result of a downward tendency on the part of a living organism,
but is itself an upward or self-preservative tendency, the result of
disobedience to natural laws. _It is simply abnormal action, because of
abnormal conditions._"

In considering the above revolutionary statement of Dr. Murphy, we
must remember that "vitality" or "vital force" is simply the action
of the Subconscious Mind operating through the sympathetic system,
the organ-minds, and the cell-minds. _All vital energy, at the last
is mental energy._ And, we must also remember that the "abnormal
conditions" which Dr. Murphy speaks of as being the cause of
"abnormal action" or disease, are not confined alone to physical or
material conditions, but also to abnormal mental conditions, such as
fear-thought, adverse suggestions, improper use of the imagination,
etc. As we have seen in the preceding chapters, the causes of disease
may be mental as well as material or physical.

The Subconscious Mind in its vital activities is constantly at work
building up, repairing, growing, nourishing, supporting and regulating
the body, doing its best to throw off abnormal conditions, and seeking
to do the best it can when these conditions cannot be removed. With its
source pure and unpolluted the stream of vitality flows on unhindered,
but when the poison of fear-thought, adverse suggestion and false
belief is poured into the source or spring from which the stream rises,
it follows that the waters of life will no longer be pure and clear.
Let us notice the general direction of the vital activities of the
Subconscious Mind.

In the first place we find that the vital activities are primarily
concerned with _self-preservation_, that is with the preservation of
the individual and the race. One has but to notice the ever-present
manifestation of the "race instinct" which draws the males and females
of the several species together, that they may mate and bring forth
the young needed to keep alive the species. The parental devotions,
with its many sacrifices of personal pleasure for the young, are
instances ever before us. And no less striking is the companion
activities which make for the preservation of the individual. The
instinctive tendency toward self-preservation is so strong that it
overpowers the reason in the majority of cases. Men may decry the
value of life, but let their life be threatened and the instinctive
protective feeling causes them to fight for life against all odds.
"All that a man hath will he give for his life." And this instinctive
activity is manifest not only in the individual as a whole, but in
every cell of his body. Every cell is striving hard for the welfare of
the community of which it forms a part. Even in disease it strives to
throw off the abnormal conditions which afflict the body, and failing
to do so it hobbles along doing the best it can under the circumstances.

The tiny seed sprouting in the ground, and lifting weights a thousand
times that of itself, shows the self-preservative energies and
activities of the mind principle within it. The healing work of
the cells in the case of a wound, or of a broken bone, as described
elsewhere in this book, gives us another example. The healing efforts
of the organism striving to throw off the morbid substances within the
body, purging them away in a flux, or burning them up with a fever,
show the operations of the same principle. This, we have seen, is
called the _vis medicatrix naturae_, or "healing power of nature,"
which operates in man as well as in the case of the lower animals--but
it is really but the operations of the great Subconscious Mind of the
individual. As Dr. Murphy, previously quoted, says: "Certainly all
experience declares and all physicians will admit that where vital
power is abundant in a man he will get well from almost any injuries
short of complete destruction of vital organs; but where vitality is
low, recovery is much more difficult, if not impossible, which can only
be explained on the principle that vitality always works upward toward
life and health to the extent of its ability under the circumstances,
because, if it worked downward, the less vitality, the more surely and
speedily would death result."

Following the law of self-preservation, we find that of _accommodation_
manifesting itself in the vital activities of the Subconscious Mind.
This principle or law works in the direction of _adjusting the organism
to conditions which it cannot remedy_. Thus a sapling bent out of
shape, will bend its branches upward until once more they will reach
toward the sky notwithstanding the deformed trunk. Seed sprouting from
a narrow crevice in a rock, and unable to split the rock, will assume a
deformed shape but will hold tenaciously to life, and will thrive under
these abnormal conditions. This principle of accommodation acts upon
the idea of "life at any price," and of "making the best of things."
Man and the lower animals accommodate themselves to their environment,
when they are unable to overcome the unsatisfactory conditions of the
latter. The study of anthropology, natural history, and botany will
convince anyone that the principle of accommodation is everywhere
present in connection with that of self-preservation. And the diseased
conditions, and abnormal functioning, which we find in cases of
chronic diseases is simply the principle of accommodation in the vital
activities of the Subconscious Mind, but which it is "trying to make
the best of it," and holding on to "life at any price."

Dr. Murphy, previously quoted, says: "Disease, in its essential nature,
has a deeper significance than simply abnormal manifestations. It is
really a remedial effort, not necessarily successful, but an attempt
to change, or have changed existing conditions. And for this reason
any improper relation of the living organism to external agents
necessarily results in an injury to that organism, which by virtue of
its being self-preservative, immediately sets up defensive action, and
begins as soon as possible to repair the damages that have accrued.
This defensive or reparative action, of course, corresponds to the
conditions to be corrected, and hence is abnormal and diseased; and its
severity and persistence will depend upon the damages to be repaired,
and the intensity and persistence of the causes that produced it.
Serious injury present or impending will demand serious vital action;
desperate conditions, desperate action. But in all cases the action
is vital, an attempt at restoration, and the energy displayed will
exactly correspond to the interests involved and the vitality that is
available."

From the above, and from what has been shown in previous chapters,
it will be seen that just as is health the result of the normal
functioning of the Subconscious Mind, so is disease the result of its
abnormal functioning. And it may also be seen that the true healing
power must come alone from and through the Subconscious Mind itself,
although the same may be aroused, awakened and directed by various
outside agencies. As Dr. Thomson J. Hudson says: "Granted that there
is an intelligence that controls the functions of the body in health,
it follows that it is the same power or energy that fails in case
of disease. Failing, it requires assistance; and that is what all
therapeutic agencies aim to accomplish. No intelligent physician of
any school claims to be able to do more than to 'assist nature' to
restore normal conditions of the body. That it is a mental energy
that thus requires assistance, no one denies; for science teaches
us that the whole body is made up of a confederation of intelligent
entities, each of which performs its functions with an intelligence
exactly adapted to the performance of its special duties as a member
of the confederacy. There is, indeed, no life without mind, from the
lowest unicellular organism up to man. _It is therefore a mental
energy that actuates every fiber of the body under all its conditions.
That there is a central intelligence that controls each of these mind
organisms, is self-evident...._ It is sufficient for us to know that
such an intelligence exists, and that, for the time being, it is the
controlling energy that normally regulates the action of the myriad
cells of which the body is composed. _It is, then, a mental organism
that all therapeutic agencies are designed to energize, when, for any
cause, it fails to perform its functions with reference to any part of
the physical structure._"




CHAPTER V

THE HISTORY OF PSYCHO-THERAPY


One of the most remarkable achievements of the New Psychology is that
of gathering up the scattered instances of the effect of the power of
the mind over the body, under the various masks and guises worn during
the ages, and uniting them in one broad and general synthesis in which
is to be seen the one fundamental principle of Mental Healing operating
under a thousand names, forms and theories, in every race, nation and
clime in all ages past and present. The New Psychology is the great
reconciler of the various theories, dogmas and speculations concerned
with the subject of the strange cures effected by the mind, as well as
with the equally strange adverse effect upon the physical organism of
negative thoughts.

From the earliest days of history we find records of strange and
marvelous cures effected by non-material agents. In some cases the
effect is attributed to magical power, while in others, and the
majority of cases, the cure is attributed to some particular religious
belief, creed or ceremony. Not only in the folk-lore of the several
races, and in their general traditions, but also in the written and
graven record do we find traces of the universality of the principle of
mental therapeutics.

H. Addington Bruce says: "Psychotherapy might well be cited in support
of the old adage that there is nothing new but what has been forgotten.
Traces of it are to be found almost as far back as authentic history
extends, and even allusion to methods which bear a strong resemblance
to those of modern times. The literature and monumental remains
of ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia, India and China reveal a
widespread knowledge of hypnotism and its therapeutic value. There
is in the British Museum a bas-relief from Thebes which has been
interpreted as representing a physician hypnotizing a patient by
making 'passes' over him. According to the Ebers papyrus, the 'laying
on of hands' formed a prominent feature of Egyptian medical practice
as early as 1552 B. C., or nearly thirty-five hundred years ago; and
it is known that a similar mode of treatment was employed by priests
of Chaldea in ministering to the sick. So, also, the priests of the
famous Temples of Health are credited with having worked numerous
cures by the mere touch of the hands. In connection with these same
Temples of Health were sleeping chambers, repose in which was supposed
to be exceptionally beneficial. Asclepiades of Bithynia, who won
considerable fame at Rome as a physician, systematically made use of
the 'induced trance' in the treatment of certain diseases. Plautus,
Martial, and Seneca refer in their writings to some mysterious process
of manipulation which had the same effect--that is, of putting persons
into an artificial sleep. And Solon sang, apparently, of some form of
mesmeric cure:

  "'The smallest hurts sometimes increase and rage
    More than all art of physic can assuage;
    Sometimes the fury of the worst disease
    The hand by gentle stroking, will appease.'

"Many other instances might be mentioned testifying to the remarkable
extent to which psycho-therapy, in one form or another, was utilized
in the countries of the ancient world. This, of course, does not
necessarily imply that the ancients had any real understanding of the
psychological and physiological principles governing its operation.
On the contrary, there is every reason to believe that they used it
much as do too many of the mental healers of to-day--on the basis of
'faith cure' pure and simple, with no attempt at diagnosis, and in a
hit-or-miss fashion. It was not until the very end of the Middle Ages,
so far as history informs us, that anything even remotely resembling a
scientific inquiry into its nature and possibilities was undertaken,
and then only in a faint, vague, indefinite way, by men who were
metaphysicians and mystics rather than scientists. The first of these,
Petrys Pomponatius, a sixteenth-century philosopher, sought to prove
that disease was curable without drugs, by means of the 'magnetism'
existing in certain specially gifted individuals. 'When those who are
endowed with this faculty,' he affirmed, 'operate by employing the
force of the imagination and the will, this force affects their blood
and their spirits, which produce the intended effects by means of an
evaporation thrown outwards.' Following Pomponatius, John Baptist von
Helmont, to whom medical science owes a great deal, also proclaimed
the curative virtue of magnetism, which he described as an invisible
fluid called forth and directed by the influence of the human will.
Other writers, notably Sir Kenelm Digby, laid stress on the power
of the imagination as an agent in the cause as well as the cure of
disease, compiling in a curious little treatise published in 1658, as
interesting a collection of illustrative cases as is contained in the
literature of modern psycho-therapy."

In the Middle Ages, we read that there were many instances of
miraculous cures effected at the various shrines of the saints, and in
the churches in which were exhibited the bones and other relics of the
holy people of church history. As Dr. George R. Patton says: "A word
scrawled upon parchment, for instance, would cure fevers; an hexameter
from the Iliad of Homer cured gout, while rheumatism succumbed to a
verse from Lamentations. These could be multiplied, and undoubtedly all
were equally potent of cure in like manner.... At one time holy wells
were to be found in almost every parish of Ireland, to which wearisome
journeys were made for the miraculous powers of cure. It was the custom
of the cured to hang upon the bushes contiguous to the springs small
fragments of their clothing, or a cane, or a crutch as a memento of
cure, so that from afar the springs could be easily located by the many
colored fragments of clothing, rags, canes and crutches swayed upon the
branches by the wind. Inasmuch as the bushes for many rods around were
thus adorned, the cures must have been far from few."

In the Middle Ages it was the custom of persons afflicted with scrofula
and kindred disorders to come before the king upon certain days to
receive the "Royal Touch," or laying-on-of-hands which was held to be
an infallible specific for the disease. The custom was instituted by
Edward the Confessor, and continued until the accession to power of the
house of Brunswick. It is a matter of history that many persons were
cured by the touch of the king's hands. Wiseman, a celebrated surgeon
and physician of old London testifies as follows: "I myself have been
an eye-witness of many thousands of cures performed by his majesty's
touch alone, without any assistance of medicine or surgery, and those,
many of them, such as had tired out the endeavors of able surgeons
before they came hither.... I must needs profess that what I write
will little more than show the weakness of our ability when compared
with his majesty's, who cureth more in one year than all the surgeons
of London have done in an age." The virtue of the "King's Touch" was
finally brought in doubt by the wonderful successes of a man by the
name of Valentine Greatrakes, who in the Seventeenth Century began
"laying on hands" and made even more wonderful cures than those of the
king. So marked was his success that the government had difficulty
in suppressing the growing conviction among the common people that
Greatrakes must be of royal blood, and the rightful heir to the throne,
because of the great healing virtues of his hands, which, they argued,
could be possessed only by those having royal blood in their veins.
The Chirurgical Society of London investigated Greatrakes' cures,
and rendered an opinion that he healed by virtue of "some mysterious
sanative contagion in his body."

But perhaps the most notable figure in the European history of Mental
Healing was Franz Anton Mesmer, a native of Switzerland, who was born
in 1734, and who later in the century created the greatest excitement
in several European countries by his strange theories and miraculous
claims. Frank Podmore in a recent work says of Mesmer: "He had no
pretensions to be a thinker; he stole his philosophy ready-made from a
few belated alchemists; and his entire system of healing was based on
a delusion. His extraordinary success was due to the lucky accident of
the times. Mesmer's first claim to our remembrance lies in this--that
he wrested the privilege of healing from the churches and gave it to
mankind as a universal possession."

Mesmer held that there was in Nature a universal magnetic force which
had a powerful therapeutic effect when properly applied. He cured many
people by touching them with an iron rod, through which he claimed the
universal magnetism flowed from his body to that of the patient. He
called this magnetic fluid "animal magnetism." Later on he devised his
celebrated "magnetic tub" or _baquet_, by means of which he was able to
treat his patients _en masse_. Podmore gives the following interesting
account of scenes surrounding his treatments:

"The baquet was a large oaken tub, four or five feet in diameter and
a foot or more in depth, closed by a wooden cover. Inside the tub
were placed bottles full of water disposed in rows radiating from the
center, the necks in some of the rows pointing towards the center, in
others away from it. All these bottles had been previously 'magnetized'
by Mesmer. Sometimes there were several rows of bottles, one above the
other; the machine was then said to be at high pressure. The bottles
rested on layers of powdered glass and iron filings. The tub itself
was filled with water. The whole machine, it will be seen, was a kind
of travesty of the galvanic cell. To carry out the resemblance, the
cover of the tub was pierced with holes, through which passed slender
iron rods of varying lengths, which were jointed and movable, so that
they could be readily applied to any part of the patient's body. Round
this battery the patients were seated in a circle, each with his iron
rod. Further, a cord, attached at one end to the tub, was passed round
the body of each of the sitters, so as to bind them all into a chain.
Outside the first a second circle would frequently be formed, who would
connect themselves together by holding hands. Mesmer, in a lilac robe,
and his assistant operators--vigorous and handsome young men selected
for the purpose--walked about the room, pointing their fingers or an
iron rod held in their hands at the diseased parts."

Mesmer made many wonderful cures, and attracted wide attention. In
1781 the king of France offered him a pension of thirty thousand
livres if he would make public his secret. The offer was refused, but
he gave private instruction and opened a school. He had many pupils
and followers, prominent among whom was the Marquis de Puysegur, who
made discoveries resulting in the identification of Mesmerism with
the "trance condition" now commonly associated with the term, whereas
originally Mesmerism included simply the healing process. Mesmer's
methods continued popular for many years after his death, until Braid's
work resulted in the founding of the modern school of Hypnotism, and
Mesmerism died out.

The Abbe Faria, about 1815, after investigating Mesmerism and
attracting much attention, discarded the "fluidic" theory of Mesmer,
and held, instead, that in order to induce the mesmeric state and
to produce the phenomena thereof, it was necessary merely to create
a mental state of "expectant attention" on the part of the patient.
The cause of the state and the phenomena, he held, was not in the
operator but in the mind of the patient--purely subjective, in fact.
Alexander Bertrand, a Frenchman, published a work about this time,
holding theories similar to those of Faria. In 1841 James Braid, an
English physician, becoming interested in Mesmerism, discovered that
the mesmeric state might be artificially induced by staring at bright
objects until the eyes became fatigued, etc., and, later, that any
method whereby concentration and "expectant attention" might be induced
would produce the phenomenon. He duplicated all the feats of the
mesmerists, including the healing of diseases. He called his new system
"Hypnotism" to distinguish it from Mesmerism, and under its new name it
gained favor among the medical fraternity. Moreover, in connection with
his predecessors, Faria and Bertrand, he laid the basis for the modern
theories of Suggestive Therapeutics.

Shortly after Braid's death, in 1860, Dr. A. A. Liebault, a French
physician, established his since famous School of Nancy, in which
during the after years the later wonderful discoveries in Suggestive
Therapeutics were made. He used the methods of hypnotism, but
Suggestion was ever the operative principle recognized and applied.
Liebault said: "It is all a matter of Suggestion. My patients are
_suggested_ to sleep, and their ills are _suggested_ out of them.
It is very simple, once you understand the laws of Suggestion." Dr.
Charcot, in his celebrated clinic in the Salpetriere, in Paris, did
great work along the same general lines, although proceeding under
somewhat different theories. Following the example of these and other
eminent authorities, the medical fraternity has gradually adopted many
of the ideas of Suggestive Therapeutics, and to-day many of the best
medical schools throughout this country and Europe give instruction in
this branch of healing. Many books have been written on the subject by
eminent medical authorities, and the indications are that during the
present century Suggestive Therapeutics, in its various forms, will
come even more prominently into popular favor, and that it will be
developed far beyond its present limits. Experimental work along these
lines is now being conducted in many psychological laboratories in our
great universities.

At the same time, as we shall now see, Mental Healing has been
attracting much attention along other lines, outside of the medical
profession, and often allied with religious and metaphysical movements.
To understand the subject, we must study it in all of its phases.

In the early part of the nineteenth century Elijah Perkins, an ignorant
blacksmith living in Connecticut conceived a queer idea of curing
disease by means of a peculiar pair of tongs manufactured by himself,
one prong being of brass and the other of steel. These tongs were
called "tractors," and were applied to the body of the patient in
the region affected by disease, the body being stroked in a downward
direction for a period of about ten minutes. The tractors were used
to treat all manner of complaints, ailments and diseases, internal
and external, with a wonderful degree of success. Almost miraculous
cures of all manner of complaints were reported, and people flocked
to Perkins from far and near in order to receive the benefit of his
wonderful treatments.

Soon this system of healing came to be called "Perkinsism," as a
tribute to the inventor. The popularity of the system spread rapidly
in the United States, particularly in New England, every city and
many towns patronizing Perkins' practitioners and healers. From this
country the craze spread to Great Britain, and even to the Continent.
Centers of treatment, and even hospitals, were established by the
"Perkinsites," and the fame of the tractors increased daily in ever
widening circles. In Europe alone it is reported that over 1,500,000
cures were performed, and the medical fraternity were at their wit's
ends to explain the phenomenon. Finally, Dr. Haygarth, of London,
conceived the idea that the real virtue of the cures was vested in
the minds, belief and imagination of the patients rather than in
the tractors, and that the cures were the result of the induced
mental states of the patients instead of by the metallic qualities
of the apparatus. He determined to investigate the matter under this
hypothesis, and accordingly constructed a pair of tractors of wood,
painted to resemble the genuine ones. The following account by Bostock
describes the result: "He accordingly formed pieces of wood into the
shape of tractors and with much assumed pomp and ceremony applied them
to a number of sick persons who had been previously prepared to expect
something extraordinary. The effects were found to be astonishing.
Obstinate pains in the limbs were suddenly cured; joints that had
long been immovable were restored to motion, and, in short, except
the renewal of lost parts or the change in mechanical structure,
nothing seemed beyond their power to accomplish." The exposure of
this experiment, and the general acceptance of the explanation of the
phenomena, caused "Perkinsism" to die out rapidly, and at the present
time it is heard of only in connection with the history of medicine and
in the pages of works devoted to the subject of the effect of the mind
over the body.

The success of "Perkinsism" is but a typical instance which is
duplicated every twenty years or so by the rapid rise, spread and
then rapid decline of some new "craze" in healing, all of which, when
investigated are seen to be but new examples of the power of the
mental states of faith and imagination upon the physical organism. The
well-known "blue glass" craze of about thirty-five years ago gives
us another interesting example. General Pleasanton, a well-known and
prominent citizen of Philadelphia, announced his discovery that the
rays of the sun passing through the medium of blue glass possessed a
wonderful therapeutic value. The idea fired the public imagination
at once, and the General's book met with a large sale. Everyone,
seemingly, began to experiment with the blue glass rays. Windows
were fitted with blue glass panes, and the patients sat so that the
sun's rays might fall upon them after passing through the blue panes.
Wonderful cures were reported from all directions, the results of
"Perkinsism" being duplicated in almost every detail. Even cripples
reported cures, and many chronic and "incurable" cases were healed
almost instantaneously. Bedridden people threw aside their blankets
and walked again, after a brief treatment. The interest developed into
a veritable "craze," and the glass factories were operated overtime
in order to meet the overwhelming demand for blue glass, the price of
which rapidly advanced to fifty cents and even a dollar for a small
pane, because of the scarcity. It was freely predicted that the days of
physicians were over, and that the blue glass was the long-sought-for
panacea for all human ills. Suddenly, however, and from no apparent
cause, the interest in the matter dropped, and now all that is left of
the blue glass craze is the occasional sight of an old blue pane in
some window, the owner of which evidently felt disinclined to pay the
price of replacing it with a clear pane. Only a few days ago, in an
old-fashioned quarter of a large city, the writer saw several panes of
the old blue glass in the frame of the window of an old house which had
seen better days but which was now used as a cheap tenement house.

The history of medicine is filled with records of similar "crazes"
following the announcement of some new method of "cure." The striking
peculiarity of these cures is that they all occur during the height of
the excitement and notoriety of the early days of the announcement,
while _they decline in proportion to the decline in public faith and
interest_, the explanation being that in every instance the cure is
effected by the action of the mental states of expectancy, faith, and
the imagination of the patient, irrespective of any virtue in the
method or system itself. In short, _all these cures belong to the
category of faith-cures_--they are merely duplicates of the world-old
cures resulting from faith in sacred relics, shrines, bones of holy
people, sacred places, etc., of which nearly every religion has given
us many examples. The history of medicine gives us many instances of
the efficacy of the therapeutic power of Faith.

Sir Humphrey Davy relates a case in which a man seriously ill
manifested immediate improvement after the placing of a clinical
thermometer in his mouth, he supposing that it was some new and
powerful healing instrument. The grotesque remedies of the ancient
physicians, and the _bizarre_ decoctions of the quacks of the present,
all work cures. The "bread-pills" and other placebos of the "regulars"
have cured many a case when other remedies have failed.

It is related that several hundred years ago, a young English
law-student while on a lark with several of his boon companions found
themselves in a rural inn, without money with which to pay their
reckoning. Finally, after much thought, the young man called the
inn-keeper and told him that he, the student, was a great physician,
and that he would prepare for him a magic amulet which would cure all
diseases, in return for the receipted account of himself and friends.
The landlord gladly consented, and the young man wrote some gibberish
on a bit of parchment, which together with sundry articles of rubbish
he inserted in a silk cover. With a wise and dignified air he then
departed. Many years rolled by, and the young man rose to the position
of a High Justice of the realm. One day before him was brought a woman
accused of magic and witchcraft. The evidence showed that she had
cured many people by applying to their bodies a little magic amulet,
which the church authorities considered to be the work of the devil.
The woman, on the stand, admitted the use of the amulet and the many
cures resulting therefrom, but defended herself by saying that the
instrument of cure had been given to her father, now deceased, many
years ago, by a great physician who had stopped at her father's inn.
She held that the cures were genuine medical cures resulting from
the medicinal virtues of the amulet, and not the result of magic or
witchcraft. The Justice asked to be handed the wonderful amulet.
Ripping it open with his pen-knife, he found enclosed the identical
scrawl inserted by himself many years before. He announced the
circumstances from the bench, and discharged the woman--but the healing
virtues of the amulet had disappeared, never to return. The cures were
the result of the faith and imagination of the patients.

The modern instances of the several great "Divine Healers," such as
John Alexander Dowie of Chicago, and Francis Schlatter of Denver,
give us additional evidence of the efficacy of Faith as a therapeutic
agent. John Alexander Dowie, a Scotch preacher, came to America some
twenty years ago, and instituted a new religion in which healing was
an important feature. He claimed that all disease was the result of
the devil, and that belief in God and the prayers of Dowie and his
assistants would work the cure of the devil's evil operations. Great
numbers flocked to Dowie's standard, and thousands of wonderful cures
were reported. His "Tabernacle" was filled with testimonials and
trophies from cured people. Back of Dowie's pulpit were displayed many
crutches, plaster-casts, braces, and other spoils wrested from the
devil by Dowie and his aids. His experience meetings were thronged
with persons willing and anxious to testify that whereas they had been
afflicted they were now whole again. Dowie succeeded in building up a
great following all over the world, and had he not overreached himself
and allowed his colossal vanity to overshadow his original ideas, the
probability is that he would have founded a church which would have
endured for centuries. As it is, he was discredited and disowned by his
followers, and his church is now but little more than a memory.

Francis Schlatter, the German shoemaker of Denver, with his Divine
Healing, was a well known figure in the west several years ago. He was
undoubtedly a half-insane fanatic, believing himself inspired by God to
heal the nations. Persons flocked to him from afar, and he is reported
to have healed thousands, many of whom were suffering from serious
ailments. He afterward disappeared, and is believed to have died in
the desert of the far west. Students of Mental Suggestion and Psychic
Therapeutics find in the instances of Dowie and Schlatter merely the
same underlying principle of Mental Healing resulting from faith, which
is operative in all of the other cases mentioned. The theology, creed,
theories of methods have but little to do with the cures, so long as
the proper degree of faith is induced in the mind of the patient. Faith
in _anything_ will work cures, providing it is sufficiently intense and
active.

Another branch of Mental Healing is seen in the modern schools of the
"New Thought," "Mental Science," "Christian Science," and the "Emmanuel
Movement." The authorities generally agree upon tracing the rise of
these several schools to the general interest in the subject manifested
in the United States and Great Britain about the middle of the last
century. Some of the authorities believe that this general interest was
induced largely by the teachings of Charles Poyen, a Frenchman who came
from France to New England about 1835, bringing with him the French
teachings and theories regarding mesmerism and the phenomena allied
thereto. Poyen's teachings attracted marked interest and attention, and
he soon had a host of followers, students and imitators. Teachers of
the "new science" sprang up on all sides. Many theories were evolved
and actively supported by the adherents of the several prominent
teachers. The rise of interest in phrenology and the dawning interest
in spiritualism aided the spread of the new teachings regarding
mesmerism, clairvoyance, psychic healing, etc., and the pages of many
magazines and books published about that time show that a public taste
had been created for the strange and mysterious.

Dr. J. S. Grimes, a physician interested in phrenology, taught that
the phenomena were due to the action of a strange atmospheric force
which he called "etherium." Rev. J. Bovee Dods evolved a theory based
upon the supposed existence of an electrical principle, and called his
system "Electro-Biology," by means of which he attracted to himself
a large following. Dods wrote several large books on the subject,
and traveled on lecture tours in this country and Great Britain,
arousing great enthusiasm and making many cures. Rev. Leroy Sunderland
expounded the doctrine of "patheism," in which he combined a strange
mixture of mysticism and what has since been called "suggestion," to
which he afterward added the current teachings of spiritualism after
his conversion to that philosophy. It would seem that credit should
be given Sunderland for his early announcement of the principle of
suggestion, for he said: "When a relation is once established between
an operator and his patient, corresponding changes may be induced in
the nervous system of the latter by mere volition, and _by suggestions
addressed to either of the external senses_." The decade, 1840-1850
witnessed a remarkable interest in psychic phenomena of all kinds, and
during that time there was undoubtedly laid the foundations upon which
the later structures have since been erected. Any one reading the short
stories of Poe, and other writers of that period, may readily see the
state of public interest in these subjects at that time.

The authorities generally agree that in Phineas Parkhurst Quimby we
have the direct connecting link between the period just mentioned and
the present. Quimby played quite an important role in the evolution
of the modern conceptions of mental healing, or psycho-therapy as it
is now called. He was a poor clockmaker, of quite limited means, of
good character and a strong personality. His education is said to
have been limited, but he made up for his lack in this respect by
his naturally keen and inquiring mind. In 1838 one of the teachers
of mesmerism visited his home in Belfast, Maine, and Quimby attended
the seance. He became intensely interested in what he saw, and in the
theories propounded, and began to experiment on the people in his town,
the result being that he soon acquired a reputation as a powerful
mesmerist and a good healer. He followed along the general lines of the
"Electro-Biology" theory for a time, and then evolved theories of his
own. He cured himself and many others by manual treatment, and was soon
kept quite busy in his healing work.

Quimby, thinking deeply regarding the cures he was making, soon came
to the conclusion that while his _cures_ were genuine, his _theories_
were wrong. He gradually evolved the idea that diseases are caused
by erroneous thinking, and that his cures resulted from changing
these wrong mental states for those based upon true conceptions. He
held that all that is required to effect a cure is to bring about "a
change of thought." Following upon this new conception, he ceased
mesmerizing his patients, and began to treat them by simply sitting
by the side of the afflicted person, picturing him as well and whole,
and impressing upon the patient's mind that he is well and whole, _in
Truth_. From this fundamental idea he gradually evolved a philosophy
which has strongly influenced that of later schools. Quimby talked much
regarding his great "discovery," as he called it, and built great hopes
upon establishing "the science of health and happiness." He began to
speak of the "Truth" in his "science," which he held to be identical
with that taught by Christ, and by means of which Jesus performed his
miraculous cures. Before he had firmly established his "science,"
however, he died, leaving his work to be carried on by others, notably
by Dr. Warren F. Evans, and Julius A. Dresser, to whom should be
given the credit for launching what is now known as "the New Thought
Movement."

Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, who afterward established "Christian Science"
was one of Quimby's patients and students, and Dresser and others have
positively stated and claimed that from him she received her ideas of
the philosophy which she afterward developed into the great "Christian
Science" movement. Mrs. Eddy, and her adherents, as positively deny to
Quimby any credit for having inspired Mrs. Eddy's work. We merely state
the opposing sides of the controversy here, taking no sides in the
matter, the discussion not concerning us in the present consideration.

The success of Evans and Dresser, and of Mrs. Eddy, in their respective
schools and organizations, have caused many other teachers to come to
the front, until at the present time there are many schools, cults
and organizations basing their cures upon the broad principles of
Mental Healing. Mrs. Eddy, and her followers, deny having anything in
common with the other schools, however, holding that the latter are
concerned with "mortal mind" while "Christian Science" alone is based
upon Divine Mind, or Truth. In spite of the conflicting claims and
theories, the fact remains that thousands of persons have been healed
of various diseases by the various schools, cults, and teachings. To
the authorities who stand outside of and apart from these opposing
organizations, it seems that all the cures are based upon the same
general principle, _i. e._, that of the influence of mental states
over physical conditions, and that religious theories or metaphysical
philosophies have nothing whatever to do with the production of the
cures, except in the direction of giving a strong suggestion to those
accepting them. The fact that _all_ the schools make cures, in about
the same proportion, and of the same general classes of complaints,
would seem to show that the theories and dogmas have nothing to do
with the process of cure--and that the healing is done _in spite of the
theories_, rather than because of them.

The much advertised "Emmanuel Movement" now so popular in the orthodox
churches throughout the country, is recognized by all the authorities
as being nothing more than suggestion applied in connection with the
religious and theological principles of the churches in question,
and, in truth, as applying methods more in favor by the old school of
mesmerists than by the later "New Thought" practitioners, or by the
"Christian Science" healers. From this movement, however, there will
probably evolve a more scientific system, manifesting none of the
crudities which so disfigure its present stage, at least in the hands
of some of its practitioners.

In the following chapter we may see that the same element of Faith,
Belief and Expectancy is manifested in all the various forms of Mental
Healing, by whatever name, or under whatever theory, the method is
applied. In short, that the cures are purely _psychological_, rather
than metaphysical or religious, in their nature.




CHAPTER VI

FAITH CURES


Following the scientific study of the phenomena of cures of physical
illness by means of the power of mental states, and the recognition of
the fact that there is a common principle operative under the various
guises and forms, there sprang into scientific usage the term "Faith
Cures" which was used to designate all instances and forms of cures
coming under the general classification of mental healing. Prof.
Goddard defines the term as follows: "A term applied to the practice
of curing disease by an appeal to the hope, belief, or expectation of
the patient, and without the use of drugs or other material means.
Formerly it was confined to methods requiring the exercise of religious
faith, such as the 'prayer cure' and 'divine healing,' but has now come
to be used in the broader sense, and includes the cures of 'Mental
Science,' and hypnotism; also a large part of the cures effected by
patent medicines and nostrums, as well as many folk-practices and home
remedies. By some it is used to include also Christian Science, but the
believers in the latter regard it as entirely distinct."

The term "Suggestion," used in the same sense as "Faith Cure" in
relation to the healing of disease, has also come into popular usage,
but inasmuch as Suggestion has a much larger meaning outside of its
therapeutic phases, it may be said the best authorities to-day use the
term "Faith Cure" as representing simply one phase of Suggestion.

Prof. Goddard, in his article on "Faith Cure," in the _New
International Encyclopaedia_ (Dodd, Mead & Co., New York), says:
"Besides these recognized forms (divine healing, mental science, etc.),
faith cure is an important element in cures wrought by patent medicines
and nostrums, home remedies and folk practices. The advertisement,
testimonial of friend, or family tradition arouses the faith of the
sick man, and he comes to believe that he needs only to follow
directions to be fully cured. The actual value of faith cure as a
therapeutic method has been the subject of much discussion. It can
no longer be denied that it has value. From divine healing to patent
medicine and Father Kneipp's water cure, all cure disease. Each appeals
to a particular type of mind, but _the results are practically the
same in all--same diseases cured, same successes, same failures_. Many
faith-curists claim that all diseases in all persons can be cured by
their method; others hold that the principle is of limited application.
Of them all, the hypnotists are the only ones who do not make sweeping
claims."

After stating "the tendency to exaggeration and the infrequency of
impartial judgment" in connection with many instances of claimed cures,
the above mentioned authority proceeds as follows: "The actual cures,
however, are sufficiently numerous and sufficiently striking to need
an explanation. These different forms agree in only one point--viz.,
_the mental state of the patient is one of hope and expectation_. Can
states of mind cause or cure disease? Some familiar occurrences seem
to justify an affirmative answer. It is well known that certain glands
and secretions are markedly affected by emotions. Fright causes the
saliva to cease to flow and the perspiration to start. Sorrow causes
the lachrymal glands to secrete tears. Happiness favors digestion,
unhappiness retards it. Mosso has demonstrated that the bladder is
especially sensitive to emotional states. In general, the pleasant
emotions produce an opposite physical effect from the unpleasant ones.
There are many glands within the body whose action under emotion
we cannot observe; but we may reasonably assume that they also are
affected by emotional states. Hence, if unpleasant emotions so act upon
the glands as to derange the system and cause disease, the pleasant
emotions may reasonably be assumed to tend to restore the normal
functions. The various forms of faith cure tend strongly to put the
patient in a happy frame of mind--a condition favorable to health.
However, there are all degrees of faith and wide differences in the way
the system responds to the emotional state. One person is slightly
affected by a strong emotion; another is strongly affected by a weak
emotion. Hence, there must always be a wide difference in the results
of faith-cure methods. The diseases most amenable to faith cure are
nervous--including many not recognized as nervous, but having a neural
condition as their basis--and functional derangements. Organic diseases
are not usually cured, though the symptoms are frequently ameliorated.
Chronic diseases due to neuro-muscular habit often yield to hypnotic
treatment."

Prof. R. P. Halleck says: "Were it not for this power of the
imagination, the majority of quack nostrums would disappear. In most
cases bread pills, properly labeled, with positive assurances of
certain cures accompanying them, would answer the purpose far better
than these nostrums, or even much better than a great deal of the
medicine administered by regular physicians. Warts have been charmed
away by medicines which could have had only a mental effect. Dr. Tuke
gives many cases of patients cured of rheumatism by rubbing them with
a certain substance declared to possess magic power. The material in
some cases was metal; in others wood; in still others, wax. He also
recites the case of a very intelligent officer who had vainly taken
powerful remedies to cure cramp in the stomach. Then 'he was told
that on the next attack he would be put under a medicine which was
generally believed to be most effective, but which was rarely used.'
When the cramps came on again, 'a powder containing four grains of
ground biscuit was administered every seven minutes, while the greatest
anxiety was expressed (within the hearing of the party) lest too much
be given. Half-drachm doses of bismuth had never procured the same
relief in less than three hours. For four successive times did the same
kind of attack recur, and four times was it met by the same remedy, and
with like success.' A house surgeon in a French hospital experimented
with one hundred patients, giving them sugared water. Then, with
a great show of fear, he pretended that he had made a mistake and
given them an emetic instead of the proper medicine. Dr. Tuke says:
'The result may easily be anticipated by those who can estimate the
influence of the imagination. No fewer than eighty--four-fifths--were
unmistakably sick.'

"We have a well authenticated case of a butcher, who, while trying to
hang up a heavy piece of meat, slipped and was himself caught by the
arm upon the hook. When he was taken to a surgeon, the butcher said he
was suffering so much that he could not endure the removal of his coat;
the sleeve must be cut off. When this was done, it was found that the
hook had passed through his clothing close to the skin, but had not
even scratched it. A man sentenced to be bled to death was blindfolded.
A harmless incision was then made in his arm and tepid water fixed so
as to run down it and drop with considerable noise into a basin. The
attendants frequently commented on the flow of blood and the weakening
pulse. The criminal's false idea of what was taking place was as
powerful in its effects as the reality, and he soon died.... There is
perhaps not a person living who would not at times be benefited by a
bread pill, administered by some one in whom great confidence was
reposed."

The same authority also says: "It has been known for a long time
that if the attention is directed toward any bodily organ, abnormal
sensations may be caused in it, and disease may be developed. The
renowned Dr. John Hunter said: 'I am confident that I can fix my
attention to any part, until I have a sensation in that part.'" Dr.
Tuke says that these "are words which ought to be inscribed in letters
of gold over the entrance of a hospital for the Cure of Disease by
Psychopathy." Hunter's confident assertion is the more interesting
because, drawn from his own experience, it shows that the principle
is not confined in its operation to the susceptible and nervous, but
operates even on men of the highest mental endowment. We have examples
from the literature of the seventeenth century, showing how the
expectation of a complaint will produce it. In 1607 an ignorant English
physician told a clergyman's wife that she had sciatica, although
there was, in reality, nothing the matter with her sciatic nerve. Her
attention was thereby directed to it and a severe attack of sciatica
was the result. When a person inexperienced in medicine reads carefully
the symptoms of some disease, he is apt to begin an attentive search
for those symptoms and to end by fancying he has them. Seasick persons
have been relieved of their nausea by being made to bail a leaking
boat from the fear that it would sink. All their attention was thereby
diverted from themselves. Many can recall how children, and grown
persons, too, have forgotten all about their alleged intense thirst,
as soon as their attention was diverted. Some persons, after eating
something which they fancy is a trifle indigestible, center their
attention upon the stomach, expecting symptoms of indigestion, and are
often not disappointed. A man who had good reason to fear hydrophobia,
determined that he would not have it. The pain in the bitten arm became
intense, and he saw that he must have something to divert his attention
from the wound and his danger. He therefore went hunting, but found no
game. To make amends, he summoned a more inflexible will and exerted
at every step 'a strong mental effort against the disease.' He kept on
hunting until he felt better, and he mastered himself so perfectly that
he probably thereby warded off an attack of hydrophobia. Accordingly
as we center our attention upon one thing or another, we largely
determine our mental happiness and hence our bodily health. One person,
in walking through a noble forest, may search only for spiders, and
venomous creatures, while another confines his attention to the singing
birds in the branches above. One reason why travel is such a cure for
diseases of body and mind is because so many new things thereby come
in to claim the attention and divert it from its former objects. The
following expression from Dr. Tuke should be remembered: '_Thought
strongly directed to any part tends to increase its vascularity, and
consequently its sensibility_.'"

Dr. C. F. Winbigler says: "The practitioner secures the same effects
from a placebo or powdered pop-corn as from some drugs by using
suggestion with the former. Every successful physician has used this
method at one time or another, and sometimes when he was utterly
puzzled as to what he should prescribe, he thus secured a marvellous
result, and a cure of the patient was effected.... Every believer
in Psycho-therapeutics knows that there is a psychical as well as a
physical effect from the use of drugs. The psychical value is based
on the expectation of their special action, and that which is in the
physician's mind may be subtly and powerfully carried over into the
patient's mind. The physician's personality, attitude and interest in
the patient accomplishes vastly more than the drugs he prescribes or
administers. If he is cheerful and hopeful, he gives potency to their
action; if he is gloomy, pessimistic and hopeless, he nullifies their
effects. The cure of the patient is effected through the subconscious
mind, and the attitude and bearings of the physician, attendants, the
surroundings and the medicines employed, become powerful suggestions."

Prof. Elmer Gates says: "The system makes an effort to eliminate
the metabolic products of tissue-waste, and it is therefore not
surprising that during acute grief tears are copiously excreted; that
during sudden fear the bowels and the kidneys are caused to act, that
during prolonged fear, the body is covered with a cold perspiration;
and, that during anger, the mouth tastes bitter, due largely to the
increased elimination of sulpho-cyanates. The perspiration during fear
is chemically different, and even smells different from that which
exudes during a happy mood.... Now if it can be shown in many ways
that the elimination of waste products is retarded by sad and painful
emotions; nay, worse than that, these depressing emotions directly
augment the amount of these poisons. Conversely, the pleasurable and
happy emotions, during the time they are active, inhibit the poisonous
effects of the depressing moods, and cause the bodily cells to create
and store up vital energy and nutritive tissue products."

In an issue of "_The American Practitioner and News_," is reported a
discussion before the Lexington (Ky.) Medical and Surgical Society, in
which a member, Dr. Guest, related the following experience: "I have
a brother-in-law who suffers every summer with hay-fever. He has a
relative who believes in Christian Science. She told him that she felt
positive that she could direct him to a woman, a Christian Scientist,
who would cure him. He at first objected, because he hated to go to a
woman physician. He arranged, however, to communicate with her daily by
letter. When his hay-fever broke out he suffered with it all that day
and night, and the next morning wrote her a note telling her to put him
on treatment immediately. When he returned that night he was improved
and slept better. He wrote a second note the next morning and was much
encouraged. The third day he repeated his letter writing and stated
that the symptoms had almost ceased. And he was guying me about being
cured by Christian Science when regular physicians could do nothing for
him. The night of the third day, when he came home to supper, he found
a note from the Christian Scientist, stating that _she has been in the
country and would put him under treatment the next day_. Realizing
that all his treatment had been only in his imagination, the symptoms
reappeared with the same intensity as before."

Dr. A. J. Parks of New York, says: "The absolute and complete control
that the sympathetic nervous system exercises over the physical
organization is so perfectly clear and well-known to every observer
that the recital of the phenomena in the vast and countless series
of manifestations is unnecessary. We are all aware of the fact that
digestion is promptly arrested upon the receipt of bad news. The
appetite at once disappears. It ceases, and the whole system feels the
effect of the depressing impulse--the mental and spiritual wave which
lowers the vital thermometer. Fear not only suspends the digestive
function but arrests the formation of the secretions upon which
digestion depends. A sudden fright frequently paralyzes the heart
beyond recovery, whereas a pleasant and pleasing message soothes and
gently excites the whole granular system, increases the secretions,
aids digestion and sends a thrill of joy to the sensorium, which
diffuses the glad tidings to every nerve fibril in the complex
organization."

Dr. T. A. Borton, in an address before the Indiana State Medical
Society, said: "The subject which I desire to present to you to-day
has to do with the influence of the mind over the functions of the
body. Its silent, unobserved force results in producing pathological
conditions, and those, by reflex action, excite morbid sensibilities
of the mind and thus derange the nerve centres, resulting in a
changed condition or over-excitability of the nerve energies, which
becomes a secondary diseased condition in the form of different types
of neurasthenia. I have been interested in this subject for many
years, and in my practice have had extended opportunities for making
observations as to the potency of the mental and suggestive pathology
bearing on this subject. I would especially refer to the healing of the
body through these mental forces, changing healthy, normal conditions
into unhealthy or diseased conditions and _vice versa_. These changes
are not miraculous, but proceed from natural causes in the operation
of the mind, as a therapeutic agency, operating through the functions
of the body, sometimes as a tonic or stimulant, warding off diseases
under the most exposed conditions, defending and holding the system in
a state of health, while those void of these mental assurances become
victims to the ravages of disease through contagion or infection. This
protective mental force of the mind has been demonstrated many times in
hospitals and other places where contagious diseases were prevailing.
The mental force possesses a protective power when rightly exercised
beyond what is usually conceded, not only in the way of defense; but
also in correcting disease when in existence. I believe these to be
much greater than has been generally admitted or understood.... We all
know how difficult it is to get good results from medication in which
our patients have no confidence, and it is an established fact that
we get better results from drugs which are given with the patient's
knowledge of their intended effect. _I have often produced desired
results from means entirely inert, stating the desired and expected
effect of its administration. I have frequently quieted the severest
pain by injecting pure water into the arm of the patient._"

Dr. G. R. Patton, in an address before the Wabasha County (Minn.)
Medical Society, said: "As Bacon said, 'Faith, confidence, belief
and hope are the working forces that make the cure--that work the
miracle.' The mind as a dynamic force exerted over the functions of
the body has been, doubtless, operatively manifest from the cradle of
our existence. By the phrase, 'the mind as a dynamic force,' I refer
to the various forms of suggestion as well as to various affective
faculties of the mind, or those states caused by the sympathetic
action of the brain, such as faith, confidence, belief, imagination,
emotions, hope and the like. Any or all of them may become active over
the bodily functions.... As instance of the mental impression acting
upon observable functions revealed through the capillary circulation
as revealed to the sight, I will mention blushing or pallor of the
face, depending upon the theme presented to the thought; the mouth
watering on the sight or thought of tempting food; the flow of tears
from words or thoughts that excite grief; nausea or vomiting from
a sickening spectacle; sexual excitement from obscene thought or
lascivious sights. Instances might be multiplied. And is it not a fair
inference, indeed, that through the vasomoter nerves, the internal
viscera may be subject to like effects through mental impressions, and
that thus acute as well as chronic congestive ailments thereof may be
favorably influenced or even cured thereby?... It is my conviction that
recognition of the power and usefulness of mental dynamics, including
all forms of suggestion over physiological and pathological processes
in combating diseases, is unquestionably the most impressive advance in
modern medicine. Mental influence alone may diminish or increase the
activities of the physiological processes to the extent of removing the
pathological effects of disease.... A celebrated medical teacher, after
an exhaustive dissertation over a case was leaving the bedside without
prescribing any treatment when the house physician asked what should be
given the patient. 'Oh,' said the professor, 'a hopeful prognosis and
anything else you please.' To this he added, 'the doleful doctor will
be a failure, while the hopeful one will prove a winner from start to
finish.' It is reasonably assured that ultimately the physician will
become not so much the man behind the pill as the judicious advisor,
the wise counsellor, gently leading the sick 'into green pastures,
beside still waters,' through paths that lead onward to recovery,
assisting nature at times, if needs be, with a big bread pill."

Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn, the well-known authority on suggestive
therapeutics, says: "Certain results will follow certain thoughts,
and in every instance that it is possible to get the patient to think
the thoughts we desire, we secure the results we desire. It is the
work of the suggestionist to place these thoughts in the mind of the
patient so that he is bound to think them, and this can be done to some
degree, if not perfectly, in every case. It is well to have faith, but
faith is not absolutely necessary at the outset. It is time enough for
the patient to have faith in the treatment when he can perceive the
benefit he is receiving. Understanding the mental and physical changes
which follow a certain thought, the suggestionist is able to bring
about those mental or physical changes, by using direct suggestion in
such a way that his patient is bound to think the thoughts which will
produce the results. A man may not have faith in the statement that
the thought of lemon juice will stimulate the flow of saliva, but if
he will imagine for a moment that he is squeezing the juice of a lemon
into his mouth the saliva will immediately flow more freely than usual,
regardless of his faith. Similarly, many, if not all of the organs
of the body, can be affected by impulses following certain lines of
thought, and these impulses will follow the thought and stimulate the
organs regardless of faith. It is simply necessary to get a patient to
think the proper thoughts, and it is in the thought directing that the
work of the suggestionist lies."




CHAPTER VII

THE POWER OF THE IMAGINATION


Dr. F. W. Southworth says: "Fear is itself a contagious disease and is
sometimes reflected from one mind to another with great rapidity. It
passes from one to another, from the healthy to the ill, from doctor or
nurse to patient, from mother to child, and so on. The greatest fears
we can usually get away from, but it is the little fears and anxieties,
constant apprehension, fears of imagined evils of all sorts which
prey upon our vitality and lessen our powers, thus rendering us more
susceptible to disease. To avert disease, then, we must eradicate fear;
but how shall we accomplish it? Through wise education--educating the
people to a higher standard of living; by teaching a sounder hygiene;
a wiser philosophy and a more cheerful theology. By erasing a thousand
errors and superstitions from fearful minds and pointing them to the
light, beauty and loveliness of the truth. This mental and moral
sanitation is still ahead of us, but it is more valuable and desirable
than all quarantines, inventions, experiments, and microscopical
researches after physical or material causes."

Sir George Paget, M. D., says: "In many cases I have seen reasons for
believing that cancer has had its origin in prolonged anxiety." Dr.
Murchison says: "I have been surprised to find how often patients with
primary cancer of the liver have traced the cause of this illness to
protracted grief and anxiety. These cases have been far too numerous to
be accounted for as merely coincidents." Sir B. W. Richardson, M. D.,
says: "Eruptions of the skin frequently follow excessive mental strain.
In all these, as well as in cancer, epilepsy and mania, the cause is
frequently partly or wholly mental. It is remarkable how little the
question of the origin of physical disease from mental influences
has been studied." Prof. Elmer Gates says: "My experiments show that
irascible, malevolent and depressing emotions generate in the system
injurious compounds, some of which are extremely poisonous. Also that
agreeable, happy emotions generate chemical compounds of nutritious
value which stimulate the cells to manufacture energy."

Dr. Patton, in the address before the Wabasha County Medical Society,
above mentioned, gives the following interesting case of the effect
of faith and expectant attention, or Suggestion: He said: "While
surgeon of a Cincinnati hospital one of the messenger boys was often
disobedient of orders. The sister superior once asked me how to
punish him. I suggested putting him to bed and making him sick with
medicine. My advice was acted upon with alacrity. A tea-spoonful of
_colored water_ was given him every fifteen minutes. With assumed
gravity, I ordered the nurse, in the boy's presence, to keep giving the
medicine until he became sick and vomited. Within an hour he vomited
profusely.... A funny incident illustrative of the faith and confidence
sometimes reposed in the medical man and his power in curing disease,
happened in my first year of practice. An Irish laborer, much given to
profanity, came to my office, with a cold on his chest. I prescribed
a soothing mixture and a liniment of camphor, ammonia and soap. A few
days later, meeting him on the street, I asked him if the medicine
had cured him all right. He replied with enthusiasm, 'Oh! yes, yes,
it acted most beautifully and cured me pretty d---- d quick, but it was
awful hot stuff, for it burned in my throat like hell-fire itself.' I
knew at once, but did not tell him, that he had been swallowing the
liniment of camphor, hartshorn and soap, and rubbing the cough mixture
on the outside. His faith was even stronger than the liniment, and
cured him in spite of the blunder.

"Perhaps the most wonderful confirmation came under my observation
while wintering in San Antonio, Texas, in 1880. Some nostrum fakirs
with a retinue of fourteen musicians and comedians came to this city
in an immense chariot, drawn by eight gaily caparisoned horses. Every
evening they came upon the military plaza to sell their panacea. I
went over one evening out of curiosity, being attracted by the songs
and music. The head fakir was shouting to an immense crowd about
the virtues of his specific. He claimed that it contained thirteen
ingredients, gathered at a great expense from all quarters of the
globe, and would cure all the ills that flesh was heir to. Cures
were warranted in every case, or the money refunded on the following
evening. After this harangue, he said that the medicine was for sale at
$1 per bottle, until 300 bottles had been sold, as it was an invariable
rule to sell only that number on any one evening. Immediately a
frenzied mob rushed pell-mell to the end of the chariot, each one
holding aloft a silver dollar. He had previously announced that no
change would be made, and that every one to get the medicine should
have a dollar ready in his hand. In half an hour 300 bottles had been
sold, the empty trunk closed with a bang, and the statement made that
no more could be had until the following evening, although there was
yet a great multitude clamoring for more. Curiosity again led me to the
plaza the next evening, and I went early. The initial performance was a
free tooth-pulling, to last thirty minutes. He said he was the kingpin
of the tooth-pullers, and I believe he was. The rapidity of his work
was a marvel. He snatched from various jaws about 250 teeth, including
the good ones, within the limit, throwing them from his forceps right
and left among his audience. Those operated upon were wrought to such
a frenzy of excitement and wonder that each one, without an exception,
declared that no pain whatever had been experienced. A call was then
made for the 300 who had bought medicine on the previous evening to
mount the chariot and tell what the medicine had done for them.

"From every quarter men and women, both white and colored, pressed
forward to give their experience. Their stories were grotesque and
curious enough, but no matter what their ailments, cures had resulted
in every case. At the end of half an hour, while the experience meeting
was at its acme, the fakir abruptly closed it, saying, in a regretful
voice, that the rest would have to wait until the next evening to tell
of their cures, as he now wanted those to come forward who had not
been cured by the medicine bought on the previous evening. He stood in
silence with folded arms for three minutes. No one having come forward,
the voice of this arrant charlatan rang out in stentorian tones, 'All,
_all_ have been cured! We have cured _everyone_!' Then another 300
bottles were sold in a jiffy, I myself being one of the fortunate
purchasers. The chief of this outfit stopped in the hotel where I was.
After dinner the next day, I made his acquaintance in the smoking room,
saying I was a doctor, too; that I had attended two of his soirees,
bought his medicine and was greatly interested in it. I surprised him
by the statement that his medicine was made by M. & Co., wholesale
druggists of Cincinnati, and that it was fluid extract of podophyllin.
He stared for some moments, but made no reply. I continued, 'I know
M.'s fluid extract, as his process of its manufacture is peculiar, and
differs from other manufacturers in this, that he exhausts the root
by percolation with alcohol, ether and glycerine, giving the product
a sweetish taste and a slight ethereal odor.' The man asked if I was
also a chemist. I replied, 'Yes, I once lectured in a medical college
in Cincinnati on drugs and their uses, and I can readily tell fluid
extracts by their taste, odor and physical characteristics.'

"After some hesitation, he said, 'Yes, this is M.'s podophyllin _and
nothing else_.' I inquired if he attributed all his success to the
medicine. He answered, 'No, for once in Missouri the mandrake ran out
before a new lot arrived. We found something like it in a drug store of
the town, and the people got well just the same. _If the people believe
you can cure them, and have faith in your medicine, they get well
anyway, or they think they do, which is the same thing._' The fakirs
remained one week, sold 2,100 bottles, and presumably cured 2,100
people, as no one came forward to reclaim his dollar for the medicine,
which was contained in a two-drachm vial of 120 drops. A dose was one
drop after each meal in one spoonful of water.

"When I was in California recently a friend mentioned that an
intelligent relative of his was being treated by a celebrated Chinese
doctor. The relative claimed that Chinese physicians were better than
our own; that they had devoted 5,000 years to medicine and had thus
become so learned and skillful that they could tell all diseases
without asking a single question, simply by feeling the pulse. Out of
curiosity I visited this physician, ostensibly as a patient. Without
so declaring myself, he knew intuitively that I came to consult him.
Without asking any questions he placed his finger upon my right wrist,
communed with himself for a few moments, and then gravely informed
me that I had _thirty-seven diseases_; some in the blood, some in
the brain, some in the kidneys, some in the liver, and many others
in the heart and lungs. He said it would take _sixteen different
herbs_ to cure me. He volunteered the statement that he could detect
6,000 diseases by the pulse alone, and that he used 400 herbs in the
treatment of the various diseases. Upon his request, I examined his
portfolio containing 350 testimonials of marvellous cures, wrought
upon American residents of California during his seventeen years'
practice on the coast. Many of them were from parties of intelligence
and eminence, and were so extraordinary that nothing short of their
being attested by numerous witnesses of unimpeachable veracity, could
satisfy one of their truth. Now, permit me to say that I have no pulse
in the right wrist, the pulse being congenitally absent; but through it
he made the pretense of locating so many diseases. This doubtless is
the form and character of medical practice in China among the native
Chinamen, and probably has been for many centuries among a population
of 400,000,000. Is not the logic from the above facts irresistible,
that in China the native physician cannot tell one disease from
another, and that all his work is simply nonsense and guess work?
There can be no escape from this conclusion--it follows as lucidly as a
demonstrated problem in Euclid--_that_ any benefit that may ever accrue
from their treatment is wholly due to the dynamic force of the brain
upon the functions of the body."

The following, from a Philadelphia journal, gives a striking
illustration of the fact that the imagination is a _real_ factor
in many cases of physical ailment: "The fact that the throes of
the imagination under great nervous excitement often produce a
corresponding physical frenzy was illustrated recently in the case of
a man who had gone to sleep with his artificial teeth in his mouth.
Waking suddenly with a choking sensation, he found his teeth had
disappeared. He looked in the glass of water where they were usually
deposited, did not see them and realized they must be far down his
throat. Choking and struggling, he hammered on the door of a friend
sleeping in the house, who, seeing his critical condition, vainly
tried to draw the teeth out of the sufferer's throat. He could feel
the teeth, but had not the strength to extract them. He ran for a
blacksmith who lived a few doors away, but the blacksmith's hand was
too big to put into the man's mouth. A doctor had been sent for, but he
was so long in coming that the victim of the accident seemed likely to
die of suffocation before the physician arrived. A little girl of ten
years was brought under the impression that her small hand might reach
the obstacle and withdraw it, but she got frightened and began to cry.
The sufferer became black in the face, his throat swelled out, and his
friends expected every moment to be his last, when finally the doctor
arrived. He heard the history of the case, saw that the teeth were not
in the man's jaws nor in their nightly receptacle, felt the throat
and cast his eyes seriously upon the floor. _There, on the floor,
he saw the whole set of teeth._ He adjusted them to the jaws of the
patient, told him to breathe freely, and every symptom of suffocation
disappeared."

The following from an Eastern journal illustrates another phase of
the subject: "Saltpetriere, the hospital for nervous diseases, made
famous by the investigations of Dr. Charcot, has an interesting case
of religious mania. The patient, who is a woman of about forty years
of age, entertains the belief that she is crucified, and this delusion
has caused a contraction of the muscles of the feet of such a nature
that she can walk only on tip-toe. The patient, moreover, is subject
occasionally to the still more extraordinary manifestation--that of
'stigmata.' Instances of 'stigmata' are tolerably frequent in the
'Lives of the Saints' of alleged supernatural marks on the body
in imitation of the wounds of Christ. These 'stigmata' have been
observed beyond all question on the woman at the Saltpetriere. Their
appearance on the body coincides with the return of the most solemn
religious anniversaries. These 'stigmata' are so visible that it has
been possible to photograph them. The doctors of the Saltpetriere in
order to assure themselves that these manifestations were not the
result of trickery, contrived a sort of shade having a glass front and
metal sides, and capable of being hermetically attached to the body by
means of India rubber fixings. These shades were placed in position
a considerable time before the dates at which the stigmata are wont
to appear. When they were affixed there were no marks whatever on the
patient's body, but at the expected period the 'stigmata' were visible
as usual through the glass."

In a Southern journal there is reported an interesting case, in which
a New Orleans physician tells the following story: "A nervous man
recently called on me and asked, 'In what part of the abdomen are the
premonitory pains of appendicitis felt?' On the _left_ side, exactly
here,' I replied, indicating a spot a little above the point of the
hip-bone. He went out, and next afternoon I was summoned in hot haste
to the St. Charles hotel. I found the planter writhing on his bed,
his forehead beaded with sweat, and his whole appearance indicating
intense suffering. 'I have an attack of appendicitis,' he groaned, 'and
I'm a dead man! I'll never survive an operation!' 'Where do you feel
the pain?' I asked. 'Oh, right here,' he replied, putting his finger
on the spot I had located at the office. 'I feel as if somebody had a
knife in me turning it around.' 'Well, then, it isn't appendicitis,
at any rate,' I said cheerfully, 'because _it is the wrong side_.'
'The wrong side!' he exclaimed, glaring at me indignantly. 'Why, you
told me yourself it was on the _left_ side!' 'Then I must have been
abstracted,' I replied calmly; 'I should have said the _right_ side.'
I prescribed something that wouldn't hurt him, and learned afterward
that he ate his dinner in the dining-room the same evening. Oh! yes; he
was no doubt in real pain when I called, _but you can make your finger
ache merely by concentrating your attention on it for a few moments_."

Frank F. Moore, in "A Journalist's Note Book" tells the following
amusing and significant story of the influence of imagination upon
health. "A young civil servant in India, feeling fagged from the
excessive heat and from long hours of work consulted the best doctor
within reach. The doctor looked him over, sounded his heart and lungs,
and then said gravely: 'I will write you tomorrow.' The next day
the young man received a letter telling him that his left lung was
gone and his heart seriously affected, and advising him to lose no
time in adjusting his business affairs. 'Of course, you may live for
weeks,' the latter said, 'but you had best not leave important matters
undecided.' Naturally the young official was dismayed by so dark a
prognosis--nothing less than a death warrant. Within twenty-four hours
he was having difficulty with his respiration, and was seized with an
acute pain in the region of the heart. He took to his bed with the
feeling that he should never rise from it. During the night he became
so much worse that his servant sent for the doctor. 'What on earth
have you been doing to yourself?' demanded the doctor. 'There were no
indications of this sort when I saw you yesterday?' 'It is my heart,
I suppose,' weakly answered the patient. 'Your heart!' repeated the
doctor. 'Your heart was all right yesterday.' 'My lungs, then.' 'What
is the matter with you, man? You don't seem to have been drinking?'
'Your letter,' gasped the patient. 'You said I had only a few weeks to
live.' 'Are you crazy?' said the doctor. 'I wrote you to take a few
weeks vacation in the hills, and you would be all right.' For reply
the patient drew the letter from under the bedclothes and gave it to
the doctor. 'Heavens!' cried that gentleman as he glanced at it. 'This
was meant for another man! My assistant has mixed up the letters.' The
young man at once sat up in bed and made a rapid recovery. And what of
the patient for whom the direful prognosis was intended? Delighted with
the report that a sojourn in the hills would set him right, he started
at once, and five years later was alive and in fair health."

The following is clipped from a medical journal: "Some physician makes
use of this suggestive phrase--'the dynamic power of an idea,' and, as
an illustration of what is meant by this expression, the following
incident is related. Not long ago a man in taking medicine was suddenly
possessed by the notion that he had by mistake taken arsenic. His
wife insisted to the contrary, but he proceeded to manifest all the
peculiar symptoms of arsenical poisoning, and finally died. So certain
was his wife that he had not taken arsenic that an autopsy was held,
when not an atom of the poison could be found. Of what did this man
die? Arsenic? No, of the dynamic power of an idea or arsenic. Happily
for humanity this dynamic power of ideas works constructively no less
certainly than it does destructively, and an idea of health fixed in
the consciousness and persistently adhered to would tend to bring the
best results. Over a hundred years ago, old John Hunter said, '_As the
state of mind is capable of producing disease, another state of it may
effect a cure_.'"

Dr. William C. Prime relates the following case in his book "Among
the Northern Hills." "The judge was summoned in a hurry to see an old
lady who had managed her farm for forty years since her husband's
death. She had two sons, and a stepson, John, who was not an admirable
person. After a long drive on a stormy night the judge found the old
lady apparently just alive, and was told by the doctor in attendance to
hurry, as his patient was very weak. The judge brought paper and ink
with him. He found a stand and a candle, placed them at the head of the
bed, and after saying a few words to the woman, told her he was ready
to prepare the will if she would go on and tell him what she wanted
him to do. He wrote the introductory phrase rapidly, and leaning over
toward her said, 'Now, go on, Mrs. Norton.'

"Her voice was quite faint, and she seemed to speak with an effort.
She said: 'First of all, I want to give the farm to my sons, Harry and
James. Just put that down.' 'But,' said the judge, 'you can't do that,
Mrs. Norton. The farm isn't yours to give away.' 'The farm isn't mine?'
she said in a voice decidedly stronger than before. 'No, the farm isn't
yours. You have only a life interest in it.' 'This farm that I've run
for goin' on forty-three year next spring isn't mine to do with what I
please with it? Why not, Judge I'd like to know what you mean!' 'Why,
Mr. Norton, your husband, gave you a life estate in all his property,
and on your death the farm goes to his son, John, and _your_ children
get the village houses. I have explained that to you very often
before.' 'And when I die, John Norton is to have this house and farm
whether I will or not?' 'Just so. It will be his.' '_Then I ain't goin'
to die!_' said the old woman, in a clear and decidedly ringing and
healthy voice. And so saying, she threw her feet over the front of the
bed, sat up, gathered a blanket and coverlet about her, straightened
her gaunt form, walked across the room and sat down in a great chair
before the fire.

"The doctor and the judge went home. That was fifteen years ago. _The
old lady is alive to-day._ And she accomplished her intent, She beat
John after all. He died four years ago."




CHAPTER VIII

BELIEF AND SUGGESTION


The writer has been informed by a prominent physician of Chicago, that
for many years he has been in the habit of administering hypodermic
injections of distilled water, accompanying the same by the statement
that he is injecting morphine. He states that in every case, he
has succeeded in inducing a quiet, peaceful sleep, and a cessation
of pain after the injection, which can be attributed only to the
_belief_ of the patient. The same physician also relates the case of
a woman who believed that she had taken strychnine by mistake. When
the doctor was called he found the woman manifesting every symptom of
strychnine poisoning, even down to the most minute details, and he
is of the opinion that death would have ensued in a short time had
he not proceeded to administer the regular antidotes and restorative
treatment. After the woman was brought out of the condition, it was
discovered that the supposed strychnine was nothing but a harmless
powder. In relating the case, the physician always adds that the woman
had witnessed the death struggles of a dog which had been poisoned by
strychnine several months previous, which might have had some effect in
enabling her to unconsciously counterfeit the symptoms.

Dr. Max Eastman, in a recent magazine article says: "The mission
of this paper is to offer guidance in a matter about which a great
quantity of the general public is very much at sea. In this question
of 'mind over matter,' the reformers have done their work. They have
stirred things up. They have bestowed upon the world about a hundred
and fifty little religions and a confused idea that there must be some
truth in the matter somewhere. The ignorant have done their work. They
have persecuted the believers, jeered at them, or damned them with
a vacuous smile. The world will never lack ballast. It is only the
scientists that have failed of their duty. They have stalked through a
routine of elevated lectures, written a few incomprehensible books,
and kept the science of psychology, so far as the hungry world goes,
sealed up in their own proud bosoms. In all this uproar of faith-cures,
and miracles, and shouting prophets, we have heard few illuminating
words from the universities. The consequence is that we are without a
helm, and the reform blows now one way and now another....

"The law of suggestion, which is one of the great discoveries of modern
science, was first formulated by Dr. Liebault at Paris, in a book
published in 1866. Since his day the number of physicians who practice
'suggestive therapeutics' has steadily increased, until to-day no
thorough clinical hospital is without a professional suggestionist. The
practice _does not involve any metaphysical theories_, the passage of
any hidden force from one brain to another, any 'planes of existence,'
or any religious upset, or any poetic physiology, or the swallowing of
any occult doctrines whatever. It is one of the simplest and coolest of
scientific theories. It is a question of the relation between the brain
and the bodily organs. It seems never to have been clearly stated that
healing disease by suggestion depends not in the least degree upon
any theory of the relation of mind and matter.... The attempt to fix
an idea in the mind without reason is suggestion. It is accomplished
usually in medical practice by asking the patient to lie down and relax
his body and his mind and then vigorously stating to him the desired
idea. It may be accomplished in a number of ways. The patient may be
told that the operator is a wizard and is about to transfer an idea
from his own mind to that of the patient. If the patient believes him
he will very likely accept the idea. It may be accomplished by gestures
or incantations which the patient regards with superstitious awe,
provided it is explained beforehand what these gestures are meant to
produce. It may be accomplished by telling the patient he has no body,
and sitting with him for awhile in spiritual silence, _provided he
knows what to expect_.

"All these methods, _if one believes in them_, are good, and they prove
by their success the law of suggestion. But the method that is based
on a sure truth is the method of the scientist. He reasons with his
patient, he stirs in him what moral or religious enthusiasm he can,
and to these means he adds tactfully the subtle suggestive powers of
his own presence and eloquence. This force, together with the power
which is revealed in a man of correcting his own mental habits, is
the greatest practical discovery of modern psychology.... Suggestive
therapeutics is the use of suggestion to fix in the mind ideas of
healthy mental habits....

"Our question is: can the physical conditions of the brain affect the
physical condition of the stomach? We know that the brain-building
condition which accompanies the idea of raising our hand can affect
the condition of the muscles of our arm--and we call that a voluntary
function. Now the question is whether the brain condition which
accompanies the idea of enlivening our stomach can have an effect upon
that involuntary function. Experiments with suggestion have proved that
in some cases it can, if it continues long enough. Persons of a very
suggestible nature, can, for instance, by concentrating their mind
upon a certain part of the body, increase the flow of blood to that
part, although the regulation of blood flow is supposed to be entirely
involuntary. The action of the heart, also the movements of the
digestive organs particularly, and of the organs of elimination, are
almost directly affected in suggestible persons by that change in their
brains which accompanies certain ideas.... Science has established
then, that suggestion can effect to some extent, the so-called
involuntary functions of the body; but the extent or limitation of
these effects is by no means determined. It could not be determined
scientifically without years of diligent experiment and tabulation.
Any dogmatic statement upon one side or the other of that question, is
therefore premature and against the spirit of science."

Dr. Leith, in his Edinburgh lectures in 1896, said: "I am inclined
to doubt whether the benefits of Nauheim (a treatment for the heart)
is not after all to be explained largely, if not entirely, by the
influence of the mental factor." Tuke says that: "John Hunter says he
was subject to spasm of his 'vital parts' when anxious about an event;
as, for instance, whether his bees would swarm or not, whether the
large cat he was anxious to kill would get away before he could get the
gun. After death it was found that he had some heart disease.... Lord
Eglinton told John Hunter how, when two soldiers were condemned to be
shot, it was arranged the one who threw the number with the dice should
be reprieved; the one who proved successful generally fainted, while
the one to be shot remained calm." Dr. Schofield says: "During the rush
of Consumptives to Berlin for inoculation by Dr. Koch's tuberculin,
a special set of symptoms were observed to follow the injection and
were taken as being diagnostic of the existence of tuberculosis; among
others, a rise of temperature after so many hours. These phenomena were
eagerly looked for by the patients, and occurred accurately in several
who were injected with pure water. The formation of blisters full of
serum from the application of plain stamp and other paper to various
parts of the bodies of patients in the hypnotic state, is well attested
and undoubtedly true."

Dr. Krafft-Ebing has produced a rise from 37 degrees centigrade to 38.5
degrees centigrade in patients by fixing their minds by suggestion.
In the same way Binet lowered the temperature 10 degrees centigrade.
The latter authority says: "How can it be, when one merely says to
the patient: 'Your hand will become cold,' and the vaso-motor system
answers by constricting the artery? _C'est ce que depasse notre
imagination._" Schofield commenting on the above, says: "Indeed there
is no way of accounting for such a phenomena but by freely admitting
the presence of unconscious psychic forces in the body, capable of so
influencing the structures of the body as to produce physical changes."
Tuke says: "A lady saw a child in immediate danger of having its ankle
crushed by an iron gate. She was greatly agitated, but could not
move, owing to intense pain coming on in her corresponding ankle. She
walked home with difficulty, took off her stocking and found a circle
around the ankle of a light red color, with a large red spot on the
outer side. By the morning her whole foot was inflamed, and she had to
remain in bed for some days. A young woman witnessing the lancing of an
abscess in the axilla immediately felt pain in that region, followed
by inflammation. Dr. Marmise of Bordeaux tells us of a lady's maid,
who when the surgeon put his lancet into her mistress's arm to bleed
her, felt the prick in her own arm, and shortly after there appeared a
bruise at the spot."

It is related that St. Francis d'Assisi dwelt so long in concentrated
meditation upon the thought and picture of the Crucifixion that
he suffered intense pain in his hands and feet, at the points
corresponding to the place of the nails in the hands and feet of
Christ, which was afterward followed by marked inflammation at those
points, terminating in actual ulceration. The phenomena of the
_stigmata_ in the cases of religious enthusiasts and fanatics has
been mentioned elsewhere in this book. Prof. Barrett says of the
phenomenon: "It is not so well known, but it is nevertheless the
fact, that utterly startling physiological changes can be produced
in a hypnotized subject merely by conscious or unconscious mental
suggestion. Thus a red scar or a painful burn, or even a figure of a
definite shape, such as a cross or an initial, can be caused to appear
on the body of the entranced subject solely through suggesting the
idea. By creating some local disturbance of the blood-vessel in the
skin, the unconscious self has done what would be impossible for the
conscious to perform. And so in the well-attested cases of _stigmata_,
where a close resemblance to the wounds of the body of the crucified
Saviour appears on the body of the ecstatic. This is a case of
unconscious self-suggestion, arising from the intent and adoring gaze
of the ecstatic upon the bleeding figure on the crucifix."

Dr. Schofield says: "The breath is altered by the emotions. The short
quiet breath of joy contrasts with the long sigh of relief after
breathless suspense. Joy gives eupnoea or easy breathing, grief or
rather fear tends to dyspnoea or difficult breathing. Sobbing goes with
grief, laughter with joy, and one often merges into the other. Yawning
is produced by pure idea or by seeing it, as well as by fatigue. Dr.
Morton Prince says a lady he knew always had violent catarrh in the
nose (hay fever) if a rose was in the room. He gave her an _artificial_
one and the usual symptoms followed. How many cases of hay-fever have
a somewhat similar origin in the unconscious mind?... The hair may
be turned grey and white by emotion in a few hours or sooner. With
regard to the stomach and digestion, apart from actual disease, we
may notice one or two instances of unconscious mind action. A man who
was very sea-sick lost a valuable set of artificial teeth overboard,
and was instantly cured. If the thoughts are strongly directed to the
intestinal canal, as by bread-pills, it will produce strong peristaltic
action. Vomiting occurs from mental causes, apart from organic brain
disease. Bad news will produce nausea; emotion also, or seeing
another person vomit, or certain smells or ideas, or thoughts about a
sea-voyage, etc., or the thought that an emetic has been taken.... The
thought of an acid fruit will fill the mouth with water. A successful
way of stopping discordant street music is to suck a lemon within a
full view of a German band. Fear will so dry the throat that dry rice
cannot be swallowed. This is a test in India for the detection of a
murderer. The suspected man is brought forward and given a handful of
dry rice to swallow. If he can do this he is innocent; if he cannot he
is guilty, fear having dried up his mouth.... A young lady who could
not be cured of vomiting was engaged to be married. On being told that
the wedding day must be postponed till cured, the vomiting ceased.... A
mother nursing her child always found the milk secreted when she heard
the child crying for any length of time. Fear stops the secretion of
milk, and worry will entirely change its character, so as to become
absolutely injurious to the child."

Maudsley says: "Perhaps we do not as physicians consider sufficiently
the influence of mental states in the production of disease, their
importance as symptoms; or realize all the advantages which we take
of them in our efforts to cure disease. Quackery seems to have got
hold of a truth which legitimate medicine fails to appreciate or use
adequately." Dr. Buckley says: "A doctor was called to see a lady
with severe rheumatism, and tried to extemporize a vapor bath in bed,
with an old tin pipe and a tea-kettle; and only succeeded in scalding
the patient with the boiling water proceeding from the overful kettle
through the pipe. The patient screamed: 'Doctor, you have scalded
me,' and leaped out of bed. But the rheumatism was cured, and did not
return." Tuke relates an amusing instance of the effect of suggestion
and faith upon warts. He had been considering the subject of the
various "pow-wows" or "wart-cures" of the old women, and determined to
try some experiments in order to see whether these cures were not due
simply to mental influences and expectant attention. On an official
tour he visited an asylum, where he was regarded as a great personage
by reason of his office. He noticed that several of the inmates were
afflicted with warts, and muttering a few words over the excresences,
he told the owners that by such and such a day the warts would have
completely disappeared. He forgot the circumstances, owing to the
press of his official duties, and was agreeably surprised when, on his
next round of visits, he was told that his patients had been cured
at the time he had predicted. Nearly everyone has had some personal
acquaintance with some of these "pow-wow" wart cures, in one form or
another. Tying a knot in a piece of cord, then rubbing the wart with
it, and burying the string, has cured thousands of cases of warts--the
suggestion being the real cause behind the mask.

Ferassi cured fifty cases of ague by a charm, which consisted merely of
a piece of paper with the word "Febrifuge" written on it. The patient
was directed to clip off one letter of the word each day until cured.
Some patients recovered as soon as the first "F" was clipped from the
paper. The writer hereof knows personally of a number of people having
been cured of fever and ague by means of a written "charm" which an old
man in Philadelphia sold them at a dollar a copy. The old man informed
him that he, "and his father before him" had cured thousands of people
in this way, making a comfortable living from the practice. Dr. Gerbe,
of Paris, cured 401 out of 629 cases of toothache by masked suggestion
administered in the form of causing the patients to crush a small
insect between their fingers, after having strongly impressed upon them
the fact that this was an infallible cure.

Dr. Schofield reports the following interesting cases of cures by
auto-suggestion and faith: "A surgeon took into a hospital ward some
time ago, a little boy who had kept his bed for five years, having hurt
his spine in a fall. He had been all the time totally paralyzed in the
legs, and could not feel when they were touched or pinched; nor could
he move them in the least degree. After careful examination, the doctor
explained minutely to the boy the awful nature of the electric battery,
and told him to prepare for its application the next day. At the same
time he showed him a sixpence, and sympathizing with his state, told
him that the sixpence should be his if, notwithstanding, he should have
improved enough the next day to walk leaning on and pushing a chair,
which would also save the need of the battery. In two weeks the boy was
running races in the park, and his cure was reported in the '_Lancet_.'
... A young lady who had taken ether three and a half years before, on
the inhaler being held three inches away from the face, and retaining a
faint odor of ether, went right off, and becoming unconscious without
any ether being used or the inhaler touching her face. A woman was
brought on a couch into a London hospital by two ladies, who said she
had been suffering from incurable paralysis of the spine for two years,
and having exhausted all their means in nursing her, they now sought to
get her admitted, pending her removal to a home for incurables. In two
hours I had cured her by agencies which owed all their virtue to their
influence on the mind, and I walked with the woman half a mile up and
down the waiting-room, and she then returned home in an omnibus, being
completely cured. An amusing case is that of a paralyzed girl, who on
learning that she had secured the affections of the curate, who used
to visit her, got out of bed and walked--cured; and soon afterwards
made an excellent pastor's wife. A remarkable instance of this sort of
cure is that of a child afflicted with paralysis, who was brought up
from the country to Paris to the Hotel Dieu. The child, who had heard
a great deal of the wonderful metropolis, its magnificent hospitals,
its omnipotent doctors, and their wonderful cures, was awe-struck, and
so vividly impressed with the idea that such surroundings must have a
curative influence, that the day after her arrival she sat up in bed
much better. The good doctor just passed around, but had not time to
treat her till the third day; by which time when he came round she was
out of bed, walking about the room, quite restored by the glimpses she
had got of his majestic presence."

Having now shown by numerous disinterested authorities, the majority
of whom belong to the medical profession, that the mental states of
belief, faith and expectancy, and their negative aspects of fear,
apprehension, and false-belief, may, and do, influence physical
conditions, functioning and activities, irrespective of the particular
theory, creed, or explanation accepted by the patient himself, or
herself, we see the necessity of seeking for the common principle of
cure manifesting in the various forms of phenomena. And before this
common principle may be grasped, we must needs acquaint ourselves with
the physical organism involved in the process of cure. Accordingly
the several succeeding chapters will be devoted to that phase of the
general subject.




CHAPTER IX

PSYCHO-THERAPEUTIC METHODS


The reader will have seen from the preceding chapters that we have
proceeded upon the theory that Suggestion is the universal operative
principle manifesting in all forms of mental healing, under whatever
guise the latter may be presented and by whatever method it may be
applied. But it must be remembered that by "Suggestion" we do not mean
the theories of any particular group of psycho-therapists, but rather
the broad general principle indicated by that term which operates in
the direction of influencing the Subconscious Mind and its activities.
Let us consider the principle of Suggestion that we may understand what
it is, and what it is not.

The term "Suggestion" has as its root the Latin word _suggero_, which
is translated as follows: _sug_ (or _sub_), "under;" and _gero_, "to
carry;" that is, "to carry or place under." In its general usage it
signifies "The introduction indirectly into the mind or thoughts; or
that which is so introduced." Ordinarily a "suggestion" is an idea
indirectly insinuated into the mind, and generally without the process
of argument or reasoning. In the New Psychology, the term "suggestion"
is used in the sense of an idea which is "carried under" the objective
or conscious mind, and introduced to the subjective or Subconscious
Mind. In Suggestive Therapeutics, a "suggestion" is an idea introduced
into that part of the Subconscious Mind which governs and controls the
physical functions and activities, and which is embodied in the cells
and cell-groups of the body as we have stated in the preceding chapters.

By many mental healers the term "Suggestion" is applied only to the
particular method of applying Suggestion employed by physicians
and others who practice under the general theories of Suggestive
Therapeutics, and the first mentioned class deny that they use
Suggestion because, as they say, they do not use the methods of the
practitioners of Suggestive Therapeutics, and make their cures by
"metaphysical" or "spiritual" means, or according to some creed or
metaphysical theory which, accepted, works the cure. We think that
the unprejudiced reader who has followed us this far will have seen
that these metaphysical theories, creeds, and special dogmas are
simply the outward mask of Suggestion. These healers simply supply a
form of Suggestion which is acceptable to the patient because of his
temperament, training, etc., and the healing process operates along the
lines of the "faith cure."

The fact that healers of entirely opposite theories and doctrines
manage to make cures in about the same proportion and in about the same
time, would seem to prove that the theories or dogmas have but little
to do with the real work of healing. Whatever form of Suggestion is
most acceptable to the patient, will best perform the healing work
in that particular case. This will also serve to explain why some
patients failing to obtain relief from one school of mental healing
often are cured by healers of another school, and _vice versa_. Some
need Suggestion couched in the mystical terms of some of the cults;
others need it garbed in religious drapings, while others prefer some
vague metaphysical theory which seems to explain the phenomena. Others
still are repelled by any of the above forms, but respond readily to
the Suggestion of a physician administering "straight" suggestive
treatment, without any religious, metaphysical, or mystical disguise.
In all of these cases the real healing work is done by the Subconscious
Mind of the patient himself, the various forms of Suggestion serving
merely to awaken and rouse into activity the latent forces of nature.

We invite your consideration of the following forms of "treatment" for
various disorders, as given by some of the "Divine Scientists" and
other metaphysical and semi-religious organizations and cults. As you
read them, try to discover the Suggestive germ so nicely surrounded
by the sugar-coating--the Suggestive pill so cleverly concealed by the
"metaphysical" raisin.

From a journal published in Chicago several years ago, called
"Universal Truth," the following "treatments" were clipped:

A correspondent who asked for a "treatment" adapted to the cure of
_nervousness_, is instructed to use the following formula, which must
be "repeated over and over":

"_I am warmed and fed and clothed and healed by Divine Love._"

Another correspondent is given the following formula for the cure of
sore feet, the affirmation to be made frequently:

"_I so thoroughly understand the divine working of the Truth, and I so
thoroughly realize the presence of the Father in me and about me that I
am now conscious that omnipotent Love rules in every atom of my being,
soul and body. My feet can never be weary nor sore. God created my feet
perfect. I walk the pathway of life in perfect ease and comfort. All
the obstacles in my path have vanished, and my feet are bathed in a
sea of pure love. Through a knowledge and realization of the presence
of Omnipotence, I praise and thank God for the perfect spirit of peace
that now dwells within me._"

The following additional "treatment" is suggested to this sufferer from
_sore feet_:

"_Mentally place yourself in an attitude to realize the power of the
words you utter, for the fullness of peace and harmony in your feet
comes with realization. The more frequently this spiritual medicine is
used, the sooner comes manifestation of perfect health._"

The same journal contained the following item:

"The following invigorating affirmations are used at the Exodus Club,
Chicago, Sunday mornings, the congregation repeating them after the
leader: _'With reverent recognition of my birthright, I claim my
sonship with the Almighty. I am free from disease and disorder. I am in
harmony with my source. The Infinite Health is made manifest in me. The
Infinite Substance is my constant supply. The Infinite Life fills and
strengthens me. The Infinite Intelligence illumines and directs me. The
Infinite Love surrounds and protects me. The Infinite Power upholds and
supports me. I am out of bondage. I have the freedom of the sons of
God. With all that is in me I rejoice and give thanks. God and man are
the all in all, now and forever more._'"

The same journal recommends the following affirmations for general
health treatment:

"Monday--_Perfect health is my external birthright_.

"Tuesday--_I have health of intellect, therefore I have wise judgment
and clear understanding_.

"Wednesday--_I am morally healthful, therefore in all my dealings I love
to realize that I am quickened by the spirit of integrity_.

"Thursday--_Healthfulness of soul gives me a pure heart and
righteousness of motive in everything I do_.

"Friday--_Meditation upon the health of my real being outpictures in
physical health and strength, in even temper, joyous spirits and in
kind words_.

"Saturday--_My health is inexhaustible, because I keep my eye steadily
fixed upon its eternal Principle, and my mouth filled with words of its
Omnipotence_.

"Sunday--_The Father and I are one; one in purpose, alike in Substance,
and one in manifestation_."

In the same journal a correspondent gives the following treatment for
_rupture_:

"_You were conceived in Divine Love. You are the expression of that
pure, perfect Love. Divine Love is a binding, cementing power. It is
the power that holds all atoms in their places. Every atom of your body
is drawn and held together in its place by this power. If any of them
get separated as by rupture or any other appearance, they may be drawn
together and cemented by the omnipotent power of Love; but the word
must be spoken. Therefore use the following: 'The omnipotent spirit
of Love in me heals this rupture and gives me peace.' Then, mentally
realize the truth of your words, for the Spirit alone can heal._"

The following treatment for _appendicitis_ is given in the same journal:

"_The false theories of physicians and surgeons, and the general
impressions regarding that error named Appendicitis are powerless to
produce or perpetuate such manifestation. The great law of harmony
reigns and only waits the universal acknowledgment of its supremacy to
obliterate all such falsity, thereby obliterating the manifestation. We
claim, therefore, freedom from such error for every soul. We make this
claim in the name of Jesus Christ._"

From the same source is taken this treatment for _periodical nausea in
a child_:

"_Dear child, every organ of your body is designed to represent the
ideal and perfect organ in your real spiritual being; and every
function of your body must respond to the word of truth which is now
sent forth to establish harmony in your consciousness. The infinite
Love that is omnipresent and all-powerful permeates and penetrates
every organ and function of your body, and corrects every tendency to
discord or disease. By that infinite Love you are now made free. You
are fearless and free. You are joyous and free. You are free from the
fear of others. You manifest health, strength and peace. Harmony reigns
in mind and body. The word of truth has made you free._"

Also the following treatment for _constipation_:

"_I do realize that the power of divine Love so permeates every atom of
my being that my bowels move freely and without effort. This inflowing
of divine Love removes all obstructions and I am healed. I realize joy
and eternal life so fully that the spirit of Peace is ever present with
me. I acknowledge the fullness of joy, peace and power, and have come
into a realization of my oneness with infinite Spirit; therefore I rest
in thee, O my father._"

Another journal of "Divine Science" gave the following "Health Thought"
to be held during the month:

"_All the natural channels of my body are open and free. The substance
of my body is good._"

Also the following treatment for _general health_:

"_What is true of God is true of man. God is the One All, and is always
in a state of wholeness. I, the man of God, am always whole, like unto
the One All. No false belief environs or limits me. No shadow darkens
my mental vision. My body is a heavenly body, and my eyes do behold the
glory of God in all visible things. I am well, and provided for, thank
God, and nothing can make me think otherwise._"

While to the orthodox practitioner of medicine the above affirmation
and "treatments" may seem to be nothing but a ridiculous conglomeration
of mystical, religious and metaphysical terms, without sequence,
logical relation, or common-sense, _it is true that statements and
treatments similar to the above have successfully healed many cases of
physical ailments_. There are thousands of people who will testify that
they were healed in a similar manner, and the majority of them believed
that there was some particular and peculiar virtue in the formula used,
or in the theories and beliefs upon which the formula was based. But
the unprejudiced student of Suggestion will readily see that the real
healing force was with the mind and being of the patients themselves,
and that the _faith, belief and expectant attention_ was aroused by the
formula and the theories. The principle is that of all Faith Cures--the
principle of Suggestion.

Other schools of metaphysical or religious healers treat the patient
by impressing upon his mind the fact that God being perfect, good
and loving could not be guilty of creating evil, pain or disease,
and that such things are non-existent in the "Divine Mind," and are
merely illusion, errors, or false claims of the "mortal mind," or
"carnal mind" of the patient; therefore, if the patient will deny their
reality, and will admit as existent only such things as are held in
the Divine Mind, _i. e._, the _good_ things, then the evil things,
being merely illusions and untruths, must of necessity fade away and
disappear and perfect health will result. Others treat their patients
by impressing upon their minds the idea that sickness and disease is
either the world or "the devil," or of the "principle of evil," the
latter being described as "the negation of truth," and similar terms;
and that therefore fixing the mind and faith upon the "principle of
Good," or God, must result in driving away the evil conditions.
Others hold that disembodied spirits are aiding in the cure. There are
thousands of variations rung on the chimes of metaphysical or religious
suggestions in the cults. _And they all make some cures_, remember--_in
spite of their theories_ rather than because of them.

The Mental Scientists come nearest to the ideas of the New Psychology,
when they teach that "As a man thinketh, so is he," and that the
mind of man creates physical conditions, good and evil, and that the
constant holding of the ideal of perfect health and the assertion
thereof, will restore normal healthy conditions to the person suffering
from physical ailments. Mental Science is very near to being "straight
suggestion" so far as the actual method of treatment is concerned,
although it resembles some of the other cults when it begins to
speculate or dogmatize regarding the nature of the universe, etc.

Differing from these metaphysical, mystical, or religious schools of
healing in theory, although employing the same principle, we find the
school of Suggestive Therapeutics, proper, favored by many of the
regular physicians and by a number of other healers who base their
treatment upon the idea of "straight suggestion" coupled with hygienic
truth and rational physiological facts. Perhaps a better idea of the
theories and ideas of this school may be obtained by referring to the
actual treatments given by some of their leading practitioners.

Herbert A. Parkyn, M. D., an eminent practitioner of Suggestive
Therapeutics, gives the following instruction to his pupils: "Students
often ask for information as to what they should say to a patient when
thorough relaxation is realized. As no two cases are exactly alike, it
follows that the suggestions given must necessarily fit the case, and
be given with a view to bring about the mental and physical condition
desired. For instance, in treating a patient who is afflicted with
insomnia, suggestions of sleep should be persistently given; and in
cases of malnutrition suggestions of hunger should be made to stimulate
the appetite for food. The operator should bear in mind that _the
reiteration of the suggestion that will change the condition existing,
to that desired, is always the right one_, and his own intelligence
will be the best guarantee as to what the suggestion should be....
Always arouse the expectant attention of a patient.... So logical a
line of argument can be made that each patient will have a reason for
expecting certain conditions to be brought about. _With the patient's
attention on the desired results, they generally come to pass._ It is
better not to give negative suggestions, such as, 'You will not, or
cannot do this, that or the other thing,' etc. Pointing out what is not
desirable does not suffice. In place of such suggestions, tell what you
really wish your patients to do. For example, if a man should mount his
bicycle incorrectly, he would profit nothing if we should merely tell
him that the way he mounted was not the proper one. How much easier
it would be for all concerned if the proper manner of mounting should
be shown at once. Just so it is with therapeutic suggestions, _keep
suggesting the conditions of mind or body you wish to bring about_."

The following treatment given as an example by F. W. Southworth, M. D.,
in his little book on "True Metaphysical Science, and its Practical
Application through the Law of Suggestion," furnishes an excellent
illustration of the form of suggestive treatment favored by this
particular school. The patient is addressed as follows:

"As thoughts are not only things, but forces and act upon our mental
and physical life for good or ill, we must be careful to always keep
ourselves in that condition of thought which builds up and strengthens,
to constantly think thoughts of _health_, of _happiness_, of _good_,
to be _cheerful_, hopeful, confident and fearless. (Repeat five or
six times.) In order to sustain this condition of positive thinking
it requires the development of the will power. The will is the motive
power and the controlling force in all aspects of our life, but we
develop it especially for the concentration and control of thought.
This is the higher self--the infinite will. Exercise it with vigor and
earnest persistency, and learn to _rely_ upon it. Assert its power as
you assert the power of the muscles in exercise and it will manifest
itself and the thought will be positive, the secretions of the body
will be normal, and the circulation of the blood in the head will be
kept at that proper equilibrium which insures the constant nutrition of
the cells of the brain and their constant vigor and strength of control
of all the organs and tissues of the body, and this vast and intricate
machinery of the body will work harmoniously for the production of
nutrition through elaboration of the food elements.

"As our body is constantly changing and wasting, we must rebuild and
restore it constantly, and we do so from the air we breathe, the water
we drink, and the food we eat. The most important of these is the air
you breathe, as it is not only a food in itself to the tissues, but
it vitalizes the food you eat and the water you drink. Give it that
quality of your thought and breathe it as you have been directed at
least six times per day for a period of from five to ten minutes each
time. Recognize it as both a food and an eliminator of poisons, as it
is, and breathe, breathe, breathe, by Nature's method, and the lungs
will distribute the oxygen to the blood, and the blood being the common
carrier of the body will take it to all parts of the body and on its
return will gather up all the waste and poisonous matters and will
bring them to the lungs, where, meeting the fresh oxygen, they will be
burned up and exhaled as carbonic acid gas, leaving the body pure and
clean.

"The water you drink, in the proportion of three and one-half pints
each day, is necessary in all adult bodies to insure perfect secretion
and excretion. As the result of this required liquid being provided
in normal quantity, the secreting glands will manufacture the proper
amount of juices needed in digestion, absorption and assimilation of
your food, and the excreting glands, those which bring about excretion
or the removal of waste matters from the body--the liver giving you the
bile, which produces a daily movement of the bowels--the kidneys and
bladder removing the chemical deposits which come about through the
processes of digestion, and the skin excreting a large amount of waste
matter from its twelve square feet of surface, which you remove with a
towel each morning after moistening it with cold water. By following
these laws of Nature you will have a good appetite and digestion, a
daily movement of the bowels, refreshing sleep, and, as your nutrition
is restored from day to day, a feeling of satisfaction and happiness
will be the result. Be earnest and persistent and do everything
cheerfully, with a firm determination of doing your part to restore
nutrition.

"When you breathe, give it the quality of your thought; it is for the
purpose of getting food, life; feeding from the air and eliminating
poisons from your body. (Repeat five and six times.) When you sip the
water, think each time that it is to produce perfect secretion and
excretion--to give you a good appetite, digestion, refreshing sleep and
a free movement of the bowels each morning. (Repeat five or six times.)
Each day look forward to the morrow for progress and advancement. Think
health--talk it and nothing else. Do not talk with anyone about disease
or allow any person to talk to you on such subjects. _Be cheerful_,
_hopeful_, _confident_ and fearless always, and you will be happy and
healthy. Eat, drink, breathe and be merry."

It will be noticed that in the above described treatment, the
suggestions are made along physiological and hygienic lines. That
is, the suggestions indicate the physiological processes which are
performed normally in the healthy person, the idea being to set up an
ideal pattern for the Subconscious Mind to follow. In all scientific
suggestive treatment the idea is always to paint a mental picture
of the _desired conditions_ rather than to dwell upon the existing
undesirable conditions. The _ideal_ is always held up to view, and the
patient's mind is led to _realize_ the ideal--to make the ideal real--to
manifest the thought in action--to materialize the mental picture.

The general principles of Suggestive Therapeutics may be applied
effectively by means of Auto-Suggestion. In fact, the "affirmations,"
"statements" and "assertions" used by many of the New Thought schools
are but forms of Auto-Suggestion. There is no essential difference
between the Suggestion given by others, and the Auto-Suggestion given
by one's self to one's self. The healing power is in the mind of the
patient, and whether it is called forth by his own Auto-Suggestion
or the Suggestion of a healer matters not. The Auto-Suggestion is
merely a case of self-healing by Suggestion, and is administered upon
the principle of "every man his own suggestionist"--"sez I to meself,
sez I." Auto-Suggestions are usually given to one's self in the form
of "affirmations," as, "I am improving; my stomach is doing its work
well, digesting what is given it, and the nourishment is assimilated,
etc." In other works by the writer hereof, the method of addressing
one's self as one would another is recommended as particularly
efficacious. That is to say, instead of saying, "_I_ am, etc.," in
Auto-Suggestion, it is better to address one's self in the second
person, as "_John Smith_ (naming yourself), _you_ are, etc." In short,
the Auto-Suggestion seems to have additional force imparted to it by
being directed as if it were being given to another person.

The following thought of Dr. Schofield is worthy of careful
consideration in connection with the methods of applying Suggestion.
He says, referring to the treatment of hysterical disorders and
ailments: "We must, however, remember one great point with regard to
suggestion--that it is like nitrogen. Nitrogen is the essential element
in all animal life; it forms four-fifths of the air we breathe, and
yet, curious to say, we have no power to use it in a pure state. We
can only take it unconsciously, when combined with other substances
in the form of proteid food. It is the same with suggestions. Not one
hysterical sufferer in a hundred can receive and profit by them in a
raw state--that is, consciously; they must generally be presented, as
we have said, indirectly to the subconscious mind by the treatment
and environment of the patient. An electric shock often cures slight
hysterical diseases instantaneously, acting, as it often does, on the
unconscious mind through the conscious. No doubt it would be easier if
we could say to these sufferers, 'The disease is caused by suggestions
from ideal centers, and to cure it, all you have to do is to believe
you are well.' Still, it would be as impossible for us to take our
nitrogen pure from the air, the mind cannot as a rule be thus acted
on directly when the brain is unhealthy. Suggestion must be wrapped
in objective treatment, directed ostensibly and vigorously to the
simulated disease."

Not only is the above true regarding the treatment of hysterical
disorders, but to _all_ disorders as well. The methods which will bring
about the best results must be carefully modeled upon the patient's
particular temperament, education, prejudices for and against, and
general belief. The skilled suggestionist adapts his treatment and
methods to each individual case coming to him for treatment. Whatever
method will best arouse the patient's belief, faith and expectant
attention is the best method for administering the suggestions. The
successful suggestionist must be "all things to all men," never,
however, losing sight of the fundamental principle of Suggestion--the
arousing of faith, belief, and expectant attention.




CHAPTER X

THE REACTION OF THE PHYSICAL


As we have stated in our Foreword, there is a constant action and
reaction between the Mental States and the Physical Conditions. In this
book, from the nature of our subject, we have started with the phase
of the Mental State and worked from that point to the consideration of
the Physical Condition. In the same way, many physiologists start from
the phase of the Physical Condition, and work up to the Mental State.
But, starting from either phase, the candid investigator must admit
that there is an endless chain of action and reaction between Mind and
Body--between Body and Mind.

This action and reaction works along the lines of building-up as
well as tearing-down. For instance, if a person's Mental States are
positive, optimistic, cheerful and uplifting, the body will respond and
the Physical Conditions will improve. The Physical Conditions, thus
improving, will react upon the Mental States giving them a clearness
and strength greater than previously manifested. The improved Mental
State again acts upon the Physical Conditions, improving the latter
still further. And so on, an endless chain of cause and effect, each
effect becoming a cause for a subsequent effect, and each cause arising
from a preceding effect. Likewise, a depressed, harmful Mental State
will act upon the Physical Conditions, which in turn will react upon
the Mental States, and so on, in an endless chain of destructive
cause and effect. It is a striking illustration of the old Biblical
statement: "To him who hath shall be given; to him who hath not shall
be taken away even that which he hath." In improving either the Mental
State or the Physical Condition, one gives an uplift to the whole
process of action and reaction; while, whatever adversely affects
either Mental State or Physical Condition, starts into operation a
depressing and destructive process of action and reaction. The ideal
to be aimed at is, of course, "A healthy Mind in a healthy Body"--and
the two are so closely related that what affects one, favorably or
unfavorably, is sure to react upon the other.

Just as the influence of the Mental States over the Physical Conditions
has been shown to operate by means of the Sympathetic Nervous System
(controlled of course by the Subconscious Mind), so the influence
of Physical Conditions over Mental States may be explained in
physiological terms. In order to understand the reaction of the Body
upon the Mind, we have but to recall the fact that the Subconscious
Mind is the builder and preserver of the very brain-cells which are
used by the Conscious Mind in manifesting thought. And also, that the
entire Nervous System, both Cerebro-Spinal as well as Sympathetic, is
really under the control of the Subconscious Mind so far as growth
and nourishment is concerned. The very brain and nerve-centers in and
through which is manifested thought, feeling, emotion, and will, are
nourished by the Sympathetic System, and are hurt by anything affecting
the latter. The Sympathetic System joins all parts of the organism
so closely together that trouble in one part is reflected in other
parts. Just as depressing thoughts will cause the organs to function
improperly, so will the improper functioning of an organ tend to
produce depressing thoughts.

Herbert A. Parkyn, M. D., well states the action and reaction of Mind
and Body, as follows: "A tree is much like a human being. Give it
plenty of fresh air, water and a rich soil, and it will flourish. In
the same degree in which it is deprived of these does it wilt, and _the
first part of the tree to wilt when the nutrition becomes imperfect
is the top_. This is owing to the force of gravity; the blood of the
tree, the sap, having to overcome this force of nature when nourishing
the highest leaves. The blood of man is also affected by this same
force, and the moment a man's circulation begins to run down, owing to
stinted nutrition, we find that the first symptoms of trouble appear
in the head.... The brain failing to receive its accustomed amount of
blood, such troubles as impaired memory, inability to concentrate the
attention, sleeplessness, nervousness, irritableness, the blues and
slight headaches develop; and the impulses sent all over the body
becoming feebler, the various organs do not perform their functions
as satisfactorily as usual. The impulses to the stomach and bowels
becoming weaker and weaker, dyspepsia, or constipation, or both, soon
follow. As soon as these, the main organs of nutrition, are out of
order, nutrition fails rapidly and more 'head symptoms' develop. Every
impulse of the muscular system leaves the brain, and the strength
of these impulses depends upon the nutrition to the brain centers
controlling the various groups. As the nutrition to these centers
declines, the whole muscular system, including the muscles of the
bowels, becomes weaker and the patient complains that he exhausts
easily. The impulses for elimination becoming weaker, waste products
remain in the circulation, and any of the evils, which naturally follow
this state of affairs, such as rheumatism, sick-headache, biliousness,
etc., are likely to develop. The centers of the special senses feeling
the lessening of the vital fluid, such troubles as impaired vision,
impaired hearing, loss of appetite (sense of taste) and inability to
detect odors quickly soon follow. The sense of touch becomes more
acute, and it is for this reason that one in poor health becomes
hypersensitive. Lowered circulation in the mucous membrane of the
throat and nose is often the cause of nasal catarrh appearing on the
scene as an early symptom."

It will thus be seen that the Physical Conditions, perhaps originally
caused by depressing Mental States, have brought about a state
of affairs in which the brain is imperfectly nourished and which
consequently cannot think properly. The liver being out of order, the
spirits are depressed; the brain being imperfectly nourished, the
attention and will are weakened, and the patient finds it hard to use
his mind to influence his bodily conditions. The bowels not moving
properly, the waste-products poison the circulation, and the brain is
unable to think clearly. In fact, the whole physical system is often so
disturbed that a condition known as "nervous prostration" sets in, in
which it is practically impossible for the patient to hold the Mental
States which will improve the Physical Conditions. In these cases
outside help is generally necessary, unless in cases where a sudden
shock, or an urgent necessity arouses the latent mental forces of the
individual, and he asserts the power that is in him, and begins to
reverse the chain of cause and effect and to start on the upward climb.

The following additional quotation from Dr. Parkyn, gives us a vivid
insight into the effect upon the Mental States of abnormal Physical
Conditions: Dr. Parkyn says: "No organ of the body can perform
its functions properly when the amount of blood supplied to it is
insufficient, and we find, when the blood supply to the brain is not
up to the normal standard, that brain functions are interfered with
to a degree corresponding to the reduction in the circulation. Since
the amount of blood normally supplied to the brain is lessened in
nervous prostration, we find that the memory fails and the ability
to concentrate the attention disappears. The reasoning power becomes
weakened and the steadiest mind commences to vacillate. Fears and
hallucinations of every description may fill the mind of a patient
at this stage, and every impression he receives is likely to be
greatly distorted or misconstrued. Melancholia with a constant fear of
impending danger is often present. In fact, the brain seems to lose
even the power to control its functions, and the mind becomes active
day and night.... The reduction of the nutrition to the brain lessens
the activity of all the cerebral centers also, and digestion becomes
markedly impaired, thereby weakening the organ itself upon which the
supply of vital force depends."

The physiologist is able to furnish a great variety of illustrations
of the effect of Physical Conditions over Mental States. He shows
that many cases of mental trouble are due to eye-strain, and other
muscular disturbances, and that serious mental complaints sometimes
arise by reason of physical lesions. The very terms used to designate
certain abnormal mental states show the relation, as for instance,
_melancholia_ which is derived from the Greek words meaning "black
bile"; and _hysteria_, which is derived from the Greek word meaning
"the womb; or uterus." Every one knows the Mental States produced by
a sluggish liver, or by dyspepsia, or from constipation. We all know
the difference between our mental capacity for thinking when we are
tired, as contrasted with that accompanying the refreshed physical
condition. No man, whatever his philosophy, can truthfully claim to be
able to maintain a placid, even disposition, and a perfectly controlled
temper, when he is suffering from a boil on the back of his neck. And,
all know that after indulging in the midnight "Welsh rarebit," one is
apt to dream of his grandmother's ghost, or see dream elephants with
wings. All know the delirium produced by overindulgence in liquor, and
the hallucinations that accompany fever. The effect of drugs, tobacco,
and alcohol upon the Mental States are well known. "Philip drunk" is
a very different mentality from "Philip sober." The Mental States
accompanying particular diseases are well known to physicians. One
disease predisposes the sufferer to gloominess, while another will
induce a state of feverish hilarity. Some leading authorities now hold
that many cases of insanity are really due to abnormal conditions of
the blood, rather than to any diseased condition of the brain.

One of the most marked instances of the action and reaction of Mental
States and Physical Conditions is met with in the activities of
the sexual organism. Psychologists very properly hold that sexual
excesses and abnormalities are largely due to improper thinking, that
is, by allowing the attention and interest to dwell too strongly and
continuously upon subjects connected with the activities of that part
of the physical system. Mental treatment along the lines of Suggestive
Therapeutics has resulted in curing many persons of troubles of this
sort. But, note the correlated fact--excess and abnormalities of the
kind mentioned, almost invariably react upon the mentality of the
person indulging in them, and softening of the brain, paralysis, or
imbecility have often arisen directly from these physical abuses. It
will be seen that any sane treatment of these troubles must take into
consideration both Body and Mind. In the same way it is a fact that
just as certain Mental States, notably those of fear, worry, grief,
jealousy, etc., will injuriously affect the organs of digestion and
assimilation, so will imperfect functioning of these organs tend to
produce depressing mental states similar to those just mentioned. Many
instances of the strange correspondences are met with in the study of
physiological-psychology, or psychological-physiology.

In order to more fully appreciate the relation between the Body and the
Mind, let us read the following lines from Prof. Halleck: "Marvelous
as are the mind's achievements, we must note that it is as completely
dependent upon the nervous system as is a plant upon sun, rain and
air. Suppose a child of intelligent parents were ushered into the
world without a nerve leading from his otherwise perfect brain to any
portion of his body, with no optic nerve to transmit the glorious
sensations from the eye, no auditory nerve to conduct the vibrations of
the mother's voice, no tactile nerves to convey the touch of a hand,
no olfactory nerve to rouse the brain with the delicate aroma from
the orchards and the wild flowers in spring, no gustatory, thermal or
muscular nerves. Could such a child live, as the years rolled on, the
books of Shakespeare and of Milton would be opened in vain before the
child's eyes. The wisest men might talk to him with utmost eloquence,
all to no purpose. Nature could not whisper one of her inspiring truths
into his deaf ear, could not light up that dark mind with a picture
of the rainbow or of a human face. No matter how perfect might be the
child's brain and his inherited capacity for mental activities, his
faculties would remain for this life shrouded in Egyptian darkness.
Perception could give memory nothing to retain, and thought could not
weave her matchless fabrics without materials."

The very feelings or emotions themselves are so closely related
to the accompanying physical expressions, that it is difficult to
distinguish between cause and effect, or indeed to state positively
which really is the cause of the other. Prof. William James, in some
of his works, strongly indicates this close relation, as for instance
when he says: "The feeling, in the coarser emotions, result from the
bodily expression.... My theory is that the bodily changes follow
directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling
of the same changes as they occur _is_ the emotion.... Particular
perceptions certainly do produce widespread bodily effects by a
sort of immediate physical influence, antecedent to the arousal of
an emotion or emotional idea.... Every one of the bodily changes,
whatsoever it may be, is _felt_, acutely or obscurely, the moment it
occurs.... If we fancy some strong emotion, and then try to abstract
from our consciousness of it all the feelings of its bodily symptoms,
we have nothing left behind.... A disembodied human emotion is a sheer
nonentity. I do not say that it is a contradiction in the nature
of things, or that pure spirits are necessarily condemned to cold
intellectual lives; but I say that for _us_ emotion disassociated from
all bodily feelings is inconceivable. The more closely I scrutinize my
states, the more persuaded I become that whatever 'coarse' affections
and passions I have are in very truth constituted by, and made up of,
those bodily changes which we ordinarily call their expression or
consequence.... But our emotions must always be _inwardly_ what they
are, whatever may be the physiological ground of their apparition.
If they are deep, pure, worthy, spiritual facts on any conceivable
theory of their physiological source, they remain no less deep, more
spiritual, and worthy of regard on this present sensational theory."

A deeper consideration of the relation between Mind and Body would
necessitate our invading the field of metaphysical speculation, which
we have expressed our intention to avoid doing. Enough for the purposes
of our present consideration is: _the recognition that each individual
is possessed of a mind and a material body; that these two phases or
aspects of himself are closely related by an infinite variety of ties
and filaments; that these two phases of his being act and react upon
each other constantly and continuously; that in all considerations of
the question of either mental or physical well-being, or both, that
both of these phases of being must be considered; that any system of
therapeutics which ignores either of these phases, is necessarily
"one-sided" and incomplete; and that, while, for convenience and
clearness of specialized thinking, we may consider the Mind and the
Body as separate and independent of each other, yet, we must, in the
end, recognize their interdependence, mutual relation, action and
reaction._

Thus, the New Psychology recognizes the importance of the Body, while
the New Physiology recognizes the importance of the Mind. And, in the
end, we feel that both physiology and psychology must be recognized as
being but two different phases of one great science--the Science of Life.




      *      *      *      *      *      *




Transcriber's note:

There are two occurrences of an unmatched double quotation mark. It was
unclear where the missing opening or closing quotation mark belonged,
and no attempt was made to insert one.