Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1858-08-19
FAYETTEVILLE, So WHOLE $780,
Power Of the Imagination.

i Power Of the Imagination.
81 The Malksville Oa) Central @
: gan, of the 29th Of June, has the fc
: lowing:
Some two nights since death o.
CURED in a certain portion Of OIL
> parish, which was brought about in
strange manner. A gentleman livin
unhappily with his wife, some fe
months since committed suicide
This SO affected her that she often {
a morning declared that the ghost Z
the deceased had haunted her durin,
the night. Finally, one day she al
firmed that the devil had visited her
and stated that hereafter when sh'
attempted to eat or drink. her foot
and water would choke her. And
strange to say, whenever she took
any nourishment or drank anything
she was invariably choked, This con-
tinued for twtnty-seyen days, when
she died from pure starvation. These
facts we have from a gentleman Of
undoubted yeracity.
The death of this lady should un-
doubtedly be attributed to her imag-
nation. DR.. Noble, in lecture at
Manchester, England, some years
since, on the Dynamic Influence Of
Ideas,'' related an anecdote Of Mons.
Courthouse, a French servant, in il
lustration of the power Of the magma
ton, and the incident noticed by the
Louisiana paper is Of the same class.
Mons. Boutiboule saved in Napoleon S
army, and at the battle of Wagram, in
1909, and the ranks around him had
been terribly thinned, and at sunset
he was nearly isolated. While in the
act Of loading his musket. be vas
shot down by cannon ball, as he
supposed. His impression was that
the ball passed through his legs helow
his knees, separating them from the
thighs; for he suddenly sank down,
shortened, as he believed, to the ex-
tent of about one foot. His body
fell backwards On the ground, and the
senses were completely paralysed by
the shock. Thus he lay motionless
among the wounded and dead during
the rest of the night, not daring to
move a muscle, lest the loss of blood
should prove fatal. He felt no pain,
but this he attributed to the stunning
effect of the shock on his brain and
nervous system.
At early dawn be was aroused by
one of the medical staff who came
round to help the wounded. "What's
the matter with you, my good fell
low" asked the surgeon. "Ah!
touch me tenderly, / beseech you,"
replied Mons. Courthouse; "a cannon
ballhas carried off my legs" The
surgeon examined the limb referred
to-, and then giving him a good
shake, said, with a joyous laugh,
"Got up with you, you have nothing
the matter with YOU" Mons. Bonti-
bouse Immediately sprang up in ut.
ter astonishment, and stood firmly
on the legs which he bad thought
lost forever. He had not q wound
about him. He had. indeed, been
shot down by a cannon-ball, but in
stead of cutting off bis legs, as be
firmly believed it had, the ball pass.
ed under his feet, blowing hole in
the earth at least foot in depth,
into which be suddenly sank and
then fell backwards, giving him the
idea that be had thus Teen shortened
by the loss of his legs, an impress
sion which he retained for about ten
hours. Had he believed profuse
flow of blood was the result of bis
imaginary wound, he gonldy undoubt-
edly, have died.
II &c ranarallv aunposed that tha