Smyrna times., 1859-05-05
MISCELL A N E o U 5.
FORGE IMAGINATION.
BY REV. R. DoNKERsLEY.


II NAV be the opinion of some that our time
had been better spent in efforts to bring forth
,Ome sovereign panacea for the " ills that flesh
!. heir to-" instead of employing those precious
mOments in "adding insult TO misery, by an
uOgenerous exposure Of humas weaLness.-
But we must not overlook the fact that the ma
jOriy Of readers nave no objection, occasionally,
to turn aside from the contemplation OF deeply
serious and eminently- -practica! matters to
casual survey of curious facts. Moreover, we
are no. without hope that the strange facts here
set forth may not prove an incalculable boon
to some of that unfortunate class of your read
ers, called hypochondriacs, by curing them OF
one of the most painful and distressing mala-
dies that ever afflicted the human brain.
DIR. Holland, in learned and able treatise
piven to the world some years ago, has pointed
mt the effects of mental attention on the bodi-
" organs, showing that there are few persons
who do not experience irritation, or some i'm
ssidary feeling, in parts to which their atten-
,ion is much directed. If. at night, owing to
some unusual position, we feel beating at the
heart or at the temples, we easily imagine
there is something alarming; the resplratIons
are altered, if we think about it. 1t we sup
pose the mouth is dry, we Immediately swallow
the saliva and render it so. If we fancy we
have cough, we cough Immediately, and clear
the air passages. If we suppose any source OF
irritation exists on the skin, we involuntarlly
apply our hand TO rub the part. Nothing is
more common for medical students, when hrst
studying individual diseases. than for them to
imagine themselves to be the victims OF each In
succession. Then, in certain conditions OF the
system. il ia we'll known that actual pain may
be produced in any part by fixing our attention
upon it. Hypoehondriacs are martyrs to these
erroneous impressions. Inform valetudlna-
rian that be will certainly have rheumatic or
neuralgic pain on any given day, and it is more
than probable that the operations of his lmagi-
nation will award to you the power OF unavall'
ing the future. Sir Benjamin Brodie has given
some singular cases where so-called nervous
pains have actually led to tenderness and swell
ing Of the integuments covering the parts
We're complete history given to the world o
the transactions of the 1" code of honor" we
should meet with numerous instances where
Individuals have supposed themselves mortally
wounded. and have fallen down as dead, with
gu. having received the slightest injury.
The following facts will illustrate the power
Of Imagination in diversified forms. How fancy
will put life into young limbs, Thomas Fulle
shows BY an incident he gives: "a gentleman
having led company of children beyond thel
usual journey, they began to be weary ant
Jointly cried to be carried, which, because o
their multitude, ne could not do; but he tol'
them he would provide them with horses Il
ride on. Then, cutting little wands out of tn
hedges, as nags for them, and large one 70
himself, they mounted, and those who coul
scarce stand before, now full of mirth, bounds
cheerfully home."
Rev. e. Il. Taylor--er as ne is more affec
tiouately called, and more extensively known
nFather Taylor us said to have related tn
following amusing incident in lecture sewers
years since: alt happened years ago. IN ih
days Of old-fashioned meeting-houses,wIth the
pews like pens. and their pulpits perched up
an elevatioa which placed them without tf
pale of human sympathy, and when fire f
warmiog q church was thing uuheard of. th'
some enterprising young men, who had wo
z
SHIPPED 10 such church, determined to ha,
The house warmed by stoves. But the proje
encountered the most violent opposition fro
all The old people. They declared that it shou
not be that the stoves were not Gospel orc
nance; that the congregation must sufiocai
The young men. however, prevailed; and o.
Sabbath, the congregation beheld in church Is
forusdable black stoves, with the pipe travel
ing the entire length Of the house. The O
mea and women looked on with horror, and he
their breath tor the result. The exercises
traa.