National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-03

oimcult task In the spirit OF o prayer which We
lately heard attributed to q little child of six
"Bless dear papa and mamma, and help me to
cure my tell-tale-titness." .-
THE POWER OF THE MAGMA
TON
SOME SUGGESTIVE READING FOR THE
| PEOPLE WHO TAKE AN INTEREST IN
| SPIRITUALISM. 49,
| CFrom Prof. Brown-Sequard's last lecture, New
| ...--- York Tribune report-1 r....a
| There 10 question which now arises, after hav
ing shown you how various and how great 10 ths
action OF the nervous system on nutrition. It Is
| Are we to consider the nervous system as essen
tial to nutritonf II is certainly not essential to
nutrition but without doubt also 1t is most useful
to nutrition. But, unfortu nstsly, besides being
most useful to nutrition, 1t Il In . morbid state
most detrimental to nutrition. So that these thre,
points are now particularly established:
]. In the first place the nervous system is moi
essential to nutrition, which can and does go OF
without it. as you we'll know 1t goes on in plant
and fetuses before the nervous system 10 formed
and as Il goes on also In completely developed
animals after the destruction Of certain parts Of
the nervous system. For instance, the dsstruc
ton of great part OF the spinal column cord in
| cats allows the development Of the lower limbs
There is atrophy or wasting In size or girth Of
the limb but the Development In length takes
place.
2. The second point is that the nervous system
has, however, a great usefulness in improving
nutrition.
! g. And thirdly, it has great power in disturb.
ing nutrition, especially under certain influences,
prominent among which is the application of cold
| to the skin. may say here that the great dan
ger comes from the fact that we do not expose
ourselves sufficiently to cold. If we accustomed
our skin TO the influence Of cold then we should
be in q very much less danger Of having any Of
the morbid influences that cold acting on the skin
can produce.
Inow approach q broad subject, about which,
unfortunately, shall not have time to say as
much as should like. In fact, 1t would take a
large number ofIectures to develop It completely.
1t is the power of the mind over the body through
nervous force. That power OF the mind over the
body is much greater than most OF you imagine.
Indeed do not think that any one among you,
however exalted may be his or her idea Of the
strength and variety of their power, has an ade
quate conception Of its magnitude within the
bounds which will mention. You all know what
mesmerizers have tried to establish. You al
know what persons believing in animal magnetism
profess and declare. You have heard Of what is
called the tod force;" and you have heard Of q
peculiar process which originated in New England
and which we know under the name of Perkins
Tractors. All these views that have mentioned
have ground in nature, and may say there is
hardly any folly in mankind of any Importance
that has not some ground, some degree Of truth.
THE POWER OF IMAaINArIoN.
But, though there may be some ground for It
there may not be enough to establish the truti
of o certain view. The ground here is simply
that the power of Imagination on the body is i'm
mcnse, and that what is do,e by persons in
l-kn. IF Is Iad sis in n
the instances I have mentioned, which is appar
emily due to those odd forces-this time it ha
two dees-[laug hterl-is due to the imaginatIol
OF the person under these influences. JOIN
Hunter long ago having to deal with mesmer
iEer, showed very clearly what occurred In thes'
cases. He said he had observed Of himself tina
by thinking Of any part Of tie body ne could verl
soon produce q sensation there, and If he though
of q certain kind of sensation that kind Of sensa
tion was produced. Having been urged strongly
to go to q mcsmerizer's, he tells Us that he wal
very reluctant to do 50 because he was troubled
with that serious affection known as angiHG pee
toris and feared Tor his health.
Finally he made up his mind to CO. and deter
mined to call some sensation from q part remote
from that on which the mesmerizer was trying to
fix his mind; so that when the mesmeriEer was
trying to act on his hand, saying, "Dont you feel
this or that sensation when this instrument is put
to give himself the goutt the big toe. Laughter
Hunter unfortunately knew by experience what
the govt was, for he was careless of his health,
and had that complaint in other and worse parts
| than the big toe. But this time he thought he
would divert It to that member, and succeeded in
doing It so we'll that all the attempts OF the mes
| merizer to produce a sensation In the fingers
failed. Hunter had the true view about this
when he attributed 1t to the ina ination. Another
us of rnun nj hnu nj m
cording to my notion, he was carried away by hal
fluctuations and Illusions from q disorder in his
mind; that man, Swedenborg, had also very
clear view Of what John Hunter has expressed.
He lived before Hunter, and therefore preceded
him in this view, and he expressed it in his usual
way, somewhat mystically but very forcibly, for
he said that the brain had the power Of conveying
various sensations IL It Of other things 10 any part
| OF the nervous system.
And this is what Imagination may do. But the
real dIscoverer of this influence, the man who has
established on most solid grounds the agency Of
the Imagination in this matter is Thomas Braid,
of Manchester, the real introGucer Of hypnotism,
| although some three or four Americans had had
| Q good deal of his thought mixed up with notions
more or less Incorrect. The influence of the mind
on sensations especially Is exceedingly great.
Prof. Bennett, Of Edinburgh, relates the case Of
| q butcher who was once trying to hang piece Of
meat on hook. He found suddenly that he had
suspended himself to the hook instead Of the meat
His agony Of pain, when he discovered It was ter
rible, but an examination showed that the hook
had only passed through his sleeve and had
| hardly touched his skin. [Laughterl The ex-
sltation Of the senses that we see, especially in
mesmerIzsd persons, may 20 to Q =ondsrta! sE-
tent Indeed the power 1.-THE sense of hearing es-
pecIally IS such that It would be dangerous, If you
wanted to reach the truth about mesmerism, to
talk In . room adjoining the one In which was the
mesmerized person, about that which the mes
| merized person was to find. The mesmerized
person would have a good chance of hearing what
you say. All the senses indeed are exceedingly
delicate then.
KNOWLEDGE OF TIME WHILE UNcoEsoroUs.
Still there is another thing than an increase Of
the senses. Prof. Laycock, of Edinburgh, has
insisted on point Of great Importance. II you
put Q watch on the back part Of the head Of
mesmerIzed person-I have not seen It, but It
seems we'll ssserted-thst person Will know what
time 1t Is exactly to the minute, although some
hours may have elapsed since the person had the
opportunity to consult the time. In that case
Prof. Laycock suggests that we all know that
during sleep We have the power OF Judging Of
time. What that power 10 In us, It is not my
province to say. There Is no doubt bat there 10
such power Of knowing the time, 90 much SO
that some people can wake themselves up within
Ol . u4ou Iln0. 30 II Is quite easy 70
admit that the mesmerIzed person knew the time
BY that power, whatever It Is. Therefore, the
power Of knowing the time did not come from the
fact that the watch was there; or that the hands
ofthe watch were seen by the hair, the skin, or
the bones, 1t was thai there was o knowledge
within Of the real time. The way to asc srtsIn II
the person sees would be to put there watch
which gives the wrong time.
I could give o good many facts to show that
even In health, In persons Of Imagination, great
deal Of pain can be produced when there is no
organic cause for It. could show also that lack
of sensation may be producsd to such an extent
by the imagination that pain may scarcely be felt,
as in the case Of the Oonvulsionaires Of st. Me-
dard. These men and women were trampled
under foot in the most violent manner, and never
showed the least sensIbIlIty under pain. They
had come to imagine that they could bear almost
anything, and did do 1t. There IL q story told of
one of these poor Sisters Of Charity who was
struck and beaten all over the body, and trsmpled
on BY some ten or twelve persons, over her limbs,
and belly, and chest and still bore It all without