Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1857-02-19
uI1SGIl = A II ROUS.
THE FORCE OF IMAGINATION;

Or, Peter SWiegho8er's AdUenfure
With q SndkG.-People of strong nervous
temperament are slaves to the whims and
caprices of their imaginations; and hence,
people Of good mental, but OF very ordi-
nary physical requirements, are the most
subject 10 this tyranny of mind over mat
ter. Occasionally, a very ordinary sort Of
person--that is, an individual of consider
able mind, hut whose mental capacities
are unsustained, and so partially undevel-
oped-suffers from this peculiar fact in a
most distressing degree. No doubt (says
the best physical authority one-half the
ills that flesh is heir TO are supernduced
by the fancy of the sufferer alone. Hun
dreds have died by mere symptoms of
cholera, yellow fever and plague, induced
by sheer dread and fear of those terrible
maIadles.
A case is recorded wherein a felon con-
demned TO death by phIebotomy had his
arm laid bare to the shoulder, and thrust
through hole in partition, while he was
fast bound to the opposite side; the hidden
eXecuuoner, upon The other side, applied
the lances 10 his arm with click; the poor
culprlt heard the muddy stream outpour-
ing, and soon growing weaker and fainter,
he fell into swoOn, and died; when the
fact was, not a drop of blood had been
she'd a surgeon having merely snapped
his lancet upon the arm, and continued 10
pour a small stream Of water over the limb
and INTO a basin!
Another case in pint was that Of a
Philadelphia amateur butcher, who, in
placing his meat upon hook, slipped, and
hung himself instead of his beef, upon
the barbed point. His agony was intense
he was quickly taken down and carried
10 physicians office, and so great was
his pain lin imagination) that he cried pit.
eously upon every motion made bv the
doctor in cutting the coat and shirt sleeve
from about the wounded arm! When a,
last the arm was barred, not scratch was
there! The hook point had merely graz
ed along the skin, and torn the shirt sleeve
| will not multiply the various facts ex
tant in proof of the force exercised by {
msdirecled imagination, but will mention
one case so ludicrously imposing as tc
cause a pretty broad smile, if not prove
otherwise interesting.
Some years ago, near the town of Rea
ding, Berks county, Pennsylvania, there
lived a cosy old farmer, named Sweighoffel
of German descent, and accent, too, a:
his speech will indicate. Old man Sweig
hotter had once served as a member in the
legislature. and was therefore ''no fool;'
and as he had also long commanded vol
unteer corps of rustic militia, he shoult
hardly be supposed inclined TO cowardice
His son Peter was his only son, a strap
ping lad Of seventeen; and upon old Pete
and young Peter devolved the prlncipa
cares and tolls of the old gentleman
farm, now and then assisted by the ole
lady and her two bouncing daughters--fo
it is very common in that State 10 see thC
women and girls at work in the fields
and upon extra occasions by some hlret
hands.
Well, one warm day in haying time
old Peter and young Peter were hard at
in the meadow, when the old man drop
his scythe and bawls out:
20! mine Gott, Peter!
whats de matter, fader?' answers tht
son. Strengthening up and looking at hi
sire.