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MENTAL HEALING.

MESMERISM, HYPNOTISM, MIND CURE, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE, TELEPATHY.

No medical work is complete that deals only with drugs. Many theories of healing deal with the mind alone. The mind, which tells us of all our sufferings, is the path along which relief and recovery often travel.

Mesmerism.—This is a peculiar nervous condition in which the body and mind of an individual are supposed to be influenced by a mysterious force emanating from another person.

Hypnotism.—This is a condition artificially produced in which the person is apparently asleep and yet acts in obedience to the will of the operator as regards both motion and sensation.

Mind Cure.—This is the cure of disease by means of the mind alone.

Christian Science.—This teaches that those who really follow Jesus should follow Him in healing, which can be done through the mind.

Telepathy.—This is a power of mental vision or of mental hearing, or of a mental production of other sensations, by which the individual becomes aware of events happening in another part of the world from where he is, or can tell of the existence of objects which could not affect at any time any of his bodily senses.

HISTORY OF MENTAL HEALING.

It is natural that the apparent power of influencing the bodies and minds of others should attract much attention and be eagerly sought after for purposes of gain, or from a love of the wonderful and supernatural, or for the cure of diseases. So, while many have studied mental healing in a scientific spirit, more have done so as quacks and charlatans for the mere purpose of making money.

Modern Study of Mental Healing.—Recently, however, physicians and other scientists have set about investigating the subject and giving it much study and attention. The result has been that animal magnetism, as this power is sometimes called, has been put on a level with other sciences and has helped in relieving the sufferings of humanity.

Ancient Mental Healing.—In all ages there have been certain persons who could cure disease by a touch of the hand and who could communicate a healing virtue to the sufferer. Among the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans many of the priests effected cures or threw people into deep sleeps in the shades of the temples. During these sleeps the sleeper sometimes had prophetic dreams. Ofttimes they could produce effects like those now referred to animal magnetism.

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Supernatural Influence.—Such influences were held to be supernatural, and they added greatly to the power of the priests. In the middle of the seventeenth century there appeared in England several persons who said they had the power of curing diseases by a stroke of the hand.

King's Evil Cure.—Valentine Greatrakes, in the County of Waterford, Ireland, attracted great attention by his power of curing the king's evil or scrofula. Thousands of sufferers crowded to him from all parts of the kingdom. About the middle of the eighteenth century John Joseph Gassner, a Roman Catholic priest in Swabia, claimed that the majority of diseases arose from demoniacal possession, and could only be cured by exorcism. He believed his power to be altogether supernatural and connected with religion.

MESMERISM.

The Name.—Mesmerism was named in honor of one of its early investigators. Friedrich Anton Mesmer was born at Weil, on the Rhine, on May 23, 1733. He studied medicine at Vienna, took his degree and commenced to practice.

Mesmer's Belief.—He was always very much interested in astrology, and he believed that the stars exerted an influence on beings living on the earth. At first he thought this supposed force was the same as electricity. Afterward he believed it to be identical with magnetism. From this he deduced the theory that stroking diseased bodies with magnets might bring about a cure. He published his first book in 1766. Ten years later, while in Switzerland, with Gassner, he observed that the priest effected cures by manipulation alone, without the use of magnets.

Cure by Touch.—This led Mesmer to discard the magnets and to try to cure without them. He found he could relieve suffering by the mere touch of his fingers. He therefore supposed that some kind of occult force resided in himself by which he could influence others. He held that this force permeated the universe and more especially effected the nervous systems of men.

Marvelous Cures.—In 1778 he moved to Paris, and in a short time the whole city was thrown into a state of great excitement by the marvelous effects of mesmerism. Mesmer made many converts.

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Paris Inflamed.—Many controversies arose, however. The whole medical faculty of Paris rose in indignation and stigmatized him as a charlatan. But still the people crowded to him. He was offered 20,000 francs by the French Government for the disclosure of his secret, but he deliberately refused the offer. He received private rewards of large sums of money.

Mesmer's Office.—Everything about his office was enveloped in mystery. His consulting apartments were dimly lighted and hung with mirrors. All was quiet and still, save for the soft strains of music that occasionally were heard. All sorts of odors were wafted through the room.

Mesmeric Methods.—The patients sat around a kind of vat, in which various chemical ingredients were concocted or simmered over a fire. Holding each other's hands, or joined by cords, the patients sat in expectancy. Then Mesmer, clothed in the dress of a magician, glided amongst them, affecting one by a touch, another by a look, while he made passes with his hand at a third. The effects of this differed greatly, but all were benefited. Nervous ladies became hysterical or fainted. Some men were seized with convulsions and palpitation of the heart.

Franklin's Investigation.—The French Government appointed a commission of physicians and members of the Academy of Sciences to investigate these phenomena. Benjamin Franklin, the great American philosopher, diplomat and scientist, was a member of this commission. Franklin and his fellow commissioners drew up an elaborate report. They admitted many of the facts, but they contested Mesmer's theory that there was an agent called animal magnetism. They believed the effects were due to physiological causes.

Mesmer's Fate.—While Mesmer himself was honest in his belief, he had many imitators who brought the science into disrepute. They were a lot of imposters who fooled the people for the sake of gain. Even Mesmer himself was denounced as an imposter and a fraud. He finally had to leave Paris, and died at Meersburg in Switzerland, on 5th of March, 1815.

The New School of Mesmerism.—Mesmer left many disciples who investigated the subject in a scientific spirit. Chief among these was the Marquis de Puysegur. This nobleman revolutionized the art of mesmerism. He showed that many of the phenomena might be produced by gentle manipulation, causing sleep, and without the mysterious surroundings that Mesmer, himself, employed.

Spread of Mesmerism.—Since that time mesmerism has been studied by many. Each year more and more is known of it and greater use made of this knowledge. The power of mesmerism is no longer confined to France and Switzerland, nor is it exercised only by Mesmer and his followers. There is scarcely a town in this country that does not contain at least one inhabitant who can heal by the stroke of the hand. Few, indeed, are those who have not seen or heard of one possessing this peculiar power.

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The Mesmeric Power.—All who exercise this influence do not have power in the same degree. Some, of course, are noted for their magnetism and travel from city to city curing hundreds by their touch. Many, however, are not known outside their native village, where their gentle stroking is eagerly sought for by those suffering from terrific headaches, which nothing else can relieve. Not a few possess this power in a small measure without recognizing it as mesmerism. Many a throbbing, fevered brow has been soothed by a gentle mother's hand. How often has the touch of magnetic fingers done more than all the medicines the doctor has ordered.

Mesmerism in the Household.—Those who find that they possess this soothing property of animal magnetism, in ever so slight a degree, should endeavor to cultivate and increase that power by proper exercise. When one discovers that a light touch of the hand will cause an electric thrill which seems to drive away pain and suffering, that person must try again and again and find what strokings will bring about the best results.

Electricity in the System.—Some are born with more electricity in their system than is possessed by the average mortal. This can be seen by combing one's hair in the dark, when bright sparks will fly. Often rubbing the ends of the fingers together will bring a spark large enough to light a gas burner. If this electricity or magnetism is developed in the proper channels it will make its possessor one of the most sought after of mortals.

Mesmerism in Disease.—There are many diseases that medicines cannot cure. Some to whom medicines give no relief, can be cured by the current from the electric battery. But many sufferers are turned away with the terrible verdict that nothing can be done for them. In not a few of these cases animal magnetism or mesmerism has effected a cure.

Mesmeric Cure of Headache.—In those cases of sick headache where drugs have only increased the agony, a few light touches of a magnetic hand have caused the pain to disappear, and sweet, refreshing sleep to take its place.

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HYPNOTISM.

Name and Principle.—In the year 1841, a surgeon in Manchester, England, James Braid, began the study of what he called the pretentions of animal magnetism or mesmerism. He started without believing in it at all, calling himself "a complete skeptic" regarding all its phenomena. While investigating this subject he discovered that by a fixed and abstracted attention of the mind and sight on one object he could artificially produce a peculiar condition of the nervous system. To this condition he gave the name of neuro-hypnotism or nerve sleep; from the Greek νενρον, nerve and νπηοζ, sleep. Later the part neuro was dropped and the term hypnotism came into general use.

Hypnotism Explained.—At a meeting of the British Association in Manchester, on June 29, 1842, he read an essay on the cure of disease by hypnotism. In the following year his book came out, in which he reported a great number of cases in which he had successfully applied hypnotism in the relief and cure of disease.

Hypnotism a Science.—Since Braid started his investigation scientists in every country have studied the subject until now hypnotism is considered one of the national sciences.

Generally Taught.—In every college of the land hypnotism is taught and in every large city that art is practiced. It is not astonishing that this subject has caused such study among the scientists and has excited such wonder among all who have witnessed its workings.

Phenomena.—To think that by holding up a bright object or by waving a hand one person can put another so completely in his power that the victim not only acts but even thinks as the operator desires. If the operator tells his patient to walk across the room he is immediately obeyed. If he says there is a wild animal in the room the patient shrieks in terror at what he believes is a wild beast.

HOW HYPNOTISM IS PRODUCED.

Manner of Hypnotizing.—The usual method of inducing the hypnotic state is to cause the person operated on to stare fixedly at a bright object, such as a glittering piece of glass, or a polished watch charm, or the shining steel of a penknife. This object is held at from eight to fifteen inches from the eyes in such a position above the forehead as will strain the eyes and eyelids.

Effect on Eyes.—The operator may stand in front of, to one side of or behind the patient. As the patient strains to see an object so near it will be noticed that the pupils, the little round dots in the middle of everyone's eyes, are at first very small. You can see this whenever a person tries to look at a near object.

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Enlargement of Pupils.—In a short time, however, the pupils will begin to grow larger. It is then that the operator makes a few passes over the face without touching it. The eyelids then close. Or the operator may gently close them with the tips of the fingers, at the same time very gently stroking the cheeks. Often a twitching of the eyelids may be observed when they are closed. The eyes may afterward become widely opened.

The Hypnotic State.—The patient is now in a sleep-like condition. The limbs often remain in almost any position in which the operator may place them. At the same time the patient may now be caused to make movements in obedience to the commands of the operator. He must also act according to the ideas suggested to him.

Hypnotic Illusions.—Thus, he may eat a raw potato with relish, apparently under the impression that it is an apple. He may make wry faces on drinking a glass of water when told that what he is taking is castor oil. He may ride on a chair or stool as in a horse race. He may fight with imaginary enemies or show tolerance of affection to imaginary friends. In short, all kinds of actions, even of a ridiculous and degrading character, may be done by the patient at the command of the operator.

Effects on Muscles.—Another class of phenomena consists in the production of stiffness or rigidity of certain muscles or groups of muscles, or even of the whole body. For example, on stroking the forearm it may be rigid while bent or stretched out. The knee may be strongly bent with the muscles stiff, hard and immovable. The muscles of the trunk may become as rigid as to allow the body to rest like a log with the head and heels on two chairs. In this position it is so stiff and rigid that it can bear the weight of the operator sitting upon it. The patient may be made to hear sounds that don't exist and to see colors and feel various sensations which exist only in the patient's mind.

Waking Up.—The patient may remain in this condition for an hour or more. He may then be roused by holding him for a few minutes and blowing gently into the eyes; sprinkling water, making upward passes or simply saying "wake up" are other methods employed for awakening.

After the State.—Usually the patient has a vague recollection, like that of a disturbed dream. Sometimes, however, the patient distinctly remembers all that has happened and even feels ashamed at having been compelled to do ridiculous actions.

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Who May Be Hypnotized.—Certain persons are more readily hypnotized than others. It has also been observed that, once the condition has been successfully brought about, it can be more easily induced a second time, a third time more easily than a second, and so on. Finally the patient may be so under the will of the operator that a fixed look, or a wave of the hand, may throw him at once into the condition. M. Liegeois has hypnotized some of his subjects by telephone. Children under three or four, on the other hand, and insane persons, especially idiots, are unusually hard to hypnotize.

THE SYMPTOMS OF THE TRANCE.

Loss of Memory.—In the earlier stages of hypnotism the patient remembers what has happened, but with successive sittings he sinks into a deeper condition, which is commonly followed by complete loss of memory, On waking he can recall nothing at all.

Return of Memory.—But just as we may be reminded of a dream by meeting persons or objects that figured therein, so on being prompted the hypnotic subject will often remember what happened in his trance. One can often make them remember by merely telling them during the trance that they shall remember.

Suggestibility.—The patient believes everything his hypnotizer tells him and does everything the latter commands. The patient may do things over which the will has normally no control. He will redden, turn pale, sneeze, become hot or cold, and so forth.

Effects on Motion.—Tell the patient that he cannot open his eyes or mouth, cannot unclasp his hands or lower his raised arm, and he will be immediately powerless to do so. Say his arm is paralyzed and it will fall limp at his side.

Hallucinations and Delusions.—You can make your subject think he is freezing or burning, itching or covered with dirt, or wet. He can be made to drink a cup of vinegar for a glass of champagne and may become drunk in consequence. A chair will be a lion, a broomstick a beautiful woman. The subject can be made to believe that his personality is changed into that of a baby, of a street boy or of Napoleon. He may even be transformed into a beast or an inanimate thing like a chair or a carpet.

Sensation Abolished.—Legs and breasts may be amputated, children born, teeth extracted and the most dangerous operations undergone without the patient feeling any pain. In the same way neuralgias, toothaches and headaches may be cured. In one case the sensation of hunger was abolished and the patient took no nourishment for fourteen days. A subject may be made blind to a certain person, and to everything pertaining to him. What he says is not heard and his contact is not felt.

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Acuteness of the Senses.—The sense of touch is so delicate that a subject after simply poising on her finger tips a blank card drawn from a pack of similar ones can pick it out from the pack by its weight. A coin from the operator's pocket has been repeatedly picked out by the subject from a heap of twenty others by its greater weight. A subject may be made to hear a watch tick or his operator speak in a distant room.

Changes in the Tissues.—In certain subjects a congestion, a burn, a blister, a pimple or a bleeding from the nose or skin may be caused by a mere suggestion.

After-Hypnotic Suggestions.—These are given to the patient, during the trance to take effect after waking. They succeed with a certain number of patients even though the act is to be performed months or even a year after the command is given. In this way one can make the patient feel a pain or be paralyzed, or be hungry or thirsty, or do something ridiculous after coming out of his trance. In these cases he forgets that the suggestion was given him in a previous trance. He thinks he is acting of his own free will.

MIND-CURE.

The Mind and Disease.—It is well known that the mind has a great influence on matter. Physical changes have been wrought by mental states. Diseases have been caused and have been cured by the influence of the mind. Many instances can be quoted illustrating this fact. Persons have been shot dead with blank cartridges. An Edinburgh criminal died from a supposed loss of blood when it was only warm water that was made to trickle over his arm after it was badly pricked by the surgeons.

A Case in Point.—Dr. Moore mentions the case of a lady who died with every symptom of hydrophobia under the mistaken notion that she had been bitten by a rabid dog when it was demonstrable that the animal had only torn her dress.

Another Illustration.—One of the most instructive and satisfactory experiments on record showing the influence of the mind in the generation of fatal diseases is that tried upon four Russian criminals who had been condemned to death for political offenses. The cholera was raging at the time in Russia and the criminals, while ignorant of the fact, were made to occupy beds on which patients had recently died with the disease. Although thus exposed to the contagion not one of them exhibited the least symptom of the malady.

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The Second Experiment.—After this they were told that they must sleep on beds that had been occupied by persons who had been sick with the cholera. But in fact the beds were entirely new and had never been used by anyone. Their fear proved to be a more powerful influence than the contagion, for three out of the four took the disease in its most fatal form and died in four hours after the attack.

Effect of Faith.—The influence of faith in the cure of disease is well illustrated by a fact mentioned in Paris's Life of Sir Humphrey Davy. In the early period of his scientific career, Davy was assisting Dr. Beddoes in his experiments on the inhalation of nitrous oxide. Dr. Beddoes thinking the oxide must be a specific for paralysis a patient was selected for trial and placed under the care of Sir Humphrey. Before administering the gas, wishing to ascertain the temperature of the palsied man's blood, a small thermometer was inserted under his tongue. The paralytic, wholly ignorant of the process to which he was to be subjected, but deeply impressed by Dr. Beddoes with the certainty of its success, no sooner felt the thermometer between his teeth than he concluded that the talismanic influence was at work, and in a burst of enthusiasm declared he felt its healing power through his whole body.

Carrying on the Experiment.—Here was an opportunity to test the influence of the mind in the cure of palsy that was not to be lost. The gas was not used, but on the following day the thermometer was again employed with equally marked effects, and at the end of two weeks the patient was discharged cured, no remedy of any kind having ever been used except the thermometer. His faith made him whole, not by accident, nor by a miracle, but by an invariable law of our being.

The Power of Faith.—Faith is a spiritual force that has accomplished wonders. It is an actual psychological or spiritual force. To believe that we can do a thing, especially if that faith is the result of an understanding of nature's laws, empowers us to do it. To believe that we are well, or that we are becoming so, excites a spiritual force within us, that goes far toward making us so.

Faith in Remedies.—If we firmly believe that a certain remedy will cure us of a diseased condition, though it has no chemical adaptation to the removal of the disorder, we shall be benefited by it. Disease has often been cured by faith alone in the patients.

The Bible Instance.—The familiar case of the woman mentioned in the Gospel history, who had suffered for twelve years from a dangerous uterine hemorrhage, baffling the skill of various physicians, is known to all.

Requisites in Mind-Cure.—There are two things in a patient necessary to the mind cure. One is a desire to get well. The other is a faith in the efficiency of the remedial agency.

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How Mind-Cure Acts.—Through the grand system of sympathetic nerves each organ in the body is connected with every other, and the whole with the mind. There is no part or function which cannot be affected just as certainly, though perhaps not so sensibly, by the will-force, as the muscles of the arm.

The Nerve Conductor.—The pneumo-gastric nerve, according to Evans, which is distributed to all the organs within the cavity of the trunk, is the appointed conductor through which the mental force is communicated to them and influences their action. We have only to concentrate the mind's force upon any of the internal organs, as the stomach, liver or intestinal canal, and through the pneumo-gastric nerve its workings will be influenced.

Mind Cure in Indigestion.—If the stomach has become exhausted of its nerve force so that it fails to do its work and the food in it is a motionless and fermenting mass, according to Evans, it can be made to obey the command of the sovereign mind. Concentrating the mind upon it, bring our spiritual force to a focus, we may calmly and powerfully will it to proceed to business and attend to its proper work, and it will obey us as readily and as promptly as a good servant yields to the orders of his employer. The same effect may be produced upon the action of the intestinal canal.

Mind-Cure for Cold Extremities.—Mental-curists claim that if the blood and vital head do not circulate through the extremities, which feel a deadly coldness, it is because the spiritual life does not permeate the tissues. We may send the spiritual principle there, by the will force, to distribute to the negative parts their share of the vital flame.

Every Man His Own Physician.—A little practice, according to Evan, will render the mind-cure easy and natural, and we can become our own physician and healer without the use of actual medicine.

TELEPATHY.

Mind-Sight.—We know that the somnambulist or sleep walker, in the darkness of the night, with his eyes closed, can climb dizzy heights and walk along dangerous precipices with ease and apparent safety. This power thus exhibited, according to Prof. Barnes, is evidence that there is a medium adapted to the sight of the mind which enables it to see things beyond the sense of ordinary sight. Many instances have occurred where persons in a natural state have discovered that they possess the power to divine the thought of others.

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Division of Telepathy.—Telepathy or clairvoyance may be considered under two heads, namely, sympathetic and independent.

Sympathetic Telepathy.—A sympathetic clairvoyant takes on the feelings of the one with whom he is in sympathy. He very often feels, sees, hears, tastes and smells that which the other party does.

Telepathy in Disease.—He is sometimes able to locate pain and disease immediately through this wonderful faculty. Barnes gives the following examples of sympathetic telepathy: "I blindfolded a gentleman, placed my hands in contact with his, while the third party pricked me at various points with a sharp instrument. The subject would feel the pain immediately at the point upon his own body corresponding to the exact location where the instrument was being used upon me. . .

"I know a dentist in Western New York who is so sympathetic that he suffers whenever his wife does. He has the same feelings and never improves until she begins to recover. A pupil of mine, a contractor, who is exceptionally strong, told me that the above condition existed between himself and wife, and that the distance made no difference, as he was hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles away from home."

Independent Telepathy.—Independent clairvoyants are able to get information independently of any sympathetic relation, apparently. They are able to separate the soul from the body, as it were, and to travel to foreign countries. Time and distance seem to cut no figure with them. Prof. Barnes recites many startling instances of this kind of telepathy.

Practical Application of Telepathy.—The usefulness of telepathy lies in the knowledge of its practical application. Understood and applied, it is a most valuable and valued instrument in the hands of the learned physician or in any of the walks of life.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.

Mortal and Divine Mind.—In Christian Science a great distinction is drawn between mortal mind and the Divine mind. Mortal mind is part of our material being, it belongs to matter, and it gives us our feelings of pain, sickness, error and sin. The Divine mind is spiritual. It is part of that Divine Spirit that fills the universe. It is God. Inasmuch as the Divine mind is God and fills the universe, it is good and truth. There can be no sin or sickness in divinity.

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Nature of Sickness.—Sickness is merely a false impression conveyed by erring mortal mind. The way to cure both sin and sickness is by substituting the Divine mind for mortal mind. This can be accomplished by a proper realization of the Scriptures in their true meaning, according to Christian Science, until the seeker after truth separates the material from the spiritual, and thereafter is ruled by Divine mind.

Principles of Christian Science.—The fundamental propositions of Christian Science as laid down by Mrs. Eddy in book "Science and Health," are summarized in the four following, to me, self-evident propositions. Even if read backward, these propositions will be found to agree in statement and proof.

1. God is all.

2. God is good. Good is mind.

3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter.

4. Life, God, omnipotent good, deny death, evil, sin, disease.

Disease, sin, evil, death, deny good, omnipotent God, life.

The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the real science of being and so creates a reign of discord, assigning seeming power to sin, sickness and death; but the great facts of life, rightly understood, defeat this trend of errors, contradict their false witnesses and reveal the Kingdom of Heaven, the actual reign of harmony on earth. The material senses' reversal of the science of soul was practically exposed by the demonstrations of Jesus nineteen hundred years ago, yet this so-called sense still makes mortal mind tributary to mortal body, and ordains certain sections of matter, such as brain and nerves, as the seats of pain and pleasure, whence matter reports to this mind its status of happiness or misery.

Revelation of Christian Science.—The revelation of Christian Science consists of two parts:

1. The rediscovery of the Divine science of mind-healing, through a spiritual sense of the Scriptures and through the teachings of the Comforter, as promised by the Master.

3. The proof, by present demonstration, that the so-called miracles of Jesus did not specially belong to a dispensation now ended, but that they illustrate an ever-operative Divine principle.

Prayer and Healing.—"The prayer of faith shall save the sick," says the Scripture. What is this healing prayer? A mere request that God will heal the sick has no power to gain more of the Divine presence than is always at hand. The only beneficial effect of such prayer for the sick is on the human mind, making it all more powerfully on the body through a blind faith in God.

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Right Prayer.—In order to pray aright we must enter into the closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses. In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings we must deny sin and plead God's allness. We must resolve to take up the cross and go forth with honest hearts to work and watch for wisdom, truth and love. We must "pray without ceasing." Such prayer is answered, inasmuch as we put our desires into practice. The Master's injunction is that we pray in secret and let our lives attest our sincerity.

Method of Treatment.—Mrs. Eddy advises the following mode of treatment:

"Always begin your treatment by allaying the fear of patients. Silently reassure the patient as to his exemption from disease and danger. Watch the result of this simple rule of Christian Science and you will find that it alleviates the symptoms of every disease. If you succeed in wholly removing the fear your patient is healed."

Winning the Battle.—The great fact that God wisely governs all, never punishing aught but sin, is your standpoint, whence to advance and destroy the human fear of sickness. Plead the cause for science and in truth, mentally and silently. You may vary the arguments to meet the peculiar or general symptoms of the case you treat; but be thoroughly persuaded in your own mind and you will finally be the winner.

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