The Columbian fountain., 1845-11-04

name before eyes polite, and which, as a
Scotsman, | feel it point of nationality to
keep out Of sight In some cases, said our
doctor, this malady must be driven in---in
some il must be drawn out. Inons case the
disease must be assisted in its progress till
the humours are matured; in one another,
ii must be attacked and counteracted by anti
dotes. I" In ague,o said he, "whichis assur-
edly nohing but variety of this mysterious
complaint, we see the disease escaping from
the human body by bleedings at the nose and
eruptions of the upperlip, clearly making out
my theory.o
After good deal more in this strain, in
which he made out his case with equal pre-
cision, we asked him about his remedies.
This proved fertile theme; and he wrung
the changes on nux vomica, belladona, arsen-
ic, and prussic acid, till we stared with the
proper and expected degree OF wonderment
Calomel he scarcely condescened to men
ton, az rather too weak like the fire-king in
the strand, who disdains hot water for his
drink, and addicts himself solely to boiling
oil or melted lead
When asked how he prepared these for
midable medicines he confessed that the virtue
of his preparation did not consist so much in
the drugs themselves, or in the manner in
which they were combined, as in the mag
netic virtue which he impaired to them.
This, | thought, was sailing very near the
wind, and | exchanged glances with the
countess, who was lying on her pillows in a
state Of the highest enjoyment, for she had
nice perception Of the ridiculous; and, on
this occasion, her amusement was perhaps
heightened by some involuntary traces of
faith III the pretender. At all events, she
eagerly incourged the learned doctorto go on,
and begged to be informed whether the mag
netic virtue ofwhich he spoke was commu-
nicated by the touch and through his hands,
and, also, how it happened that SO subtle
fluid as magnetism could be arrested and en-
bodied permanently in a packet Of powders'
! "Ohn' cried the adept, 6 it is not by the
hands at all, but by the force of mind, that
! convey to these medicines the magnetic
influence which gives them their peculiar eff
cacy. feel, as it were, the effort Of good
will, the strong desire to do good, in my
mind, and this is followed by the power of
imparting the requisite degree of virtue to
these powders, which, if swallowed by the
patient in similar spirit--that is, with un-
doubling faith in their eficacy--will be GER
tain to effect cure.o
Whatever be the disease ~ we asked
Whatever be the disease,' replied he
"My existence continued he, now fully
warmed with the friction of his subject. g and
that ofmy patients is closely connected; my
life is, as it were, continuation or link in
the chain of theirs.''
That is very odd," we ventured to re-
mark. "But pray how is this connection
manifested"
"Ohp cried he, F" in various ways; can
tell, at any distance, the very moment when
my patients are Swallowing my powders
If write a letter, for instance, to person,
giving him instructions what powder to take,
! can tell, however far off may be, whether
he attends to what have said, provided he
have faith in what he is toldr'
| This, it will be allowed, was CARRYING
quackery about as far as human credulty can
be supposed capable of following. But there
seems to reside in the minds of very many
persons morbid confidence in the preten-
sions OF those who are bold enough to as
sert their claim to infallibility, and have
share of talents and address sufficient to sup
port their claimby acertaindegree of success,
as well as the most boundless assurance in
repudlatlng all failure as consequent upon
l4lx