The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1878-05-21
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CURES. BYaaS UGGESTIoN.
9n ,Yaftshis914 ~. 20 noileq1ss9 aGj
HOW a EASPtYByTHE EASILY-
M0VERsM!!ND ll;ll AZ! n MOVES g. THE THE
Moderr sMifaeles a1gofs] Science
Wrought With Bits OF Gild-
ed Wood or She'll hip5R
e;7 stfiE q SgIN+44sn-yt1sG doalw
Years aaoaui Ameriean doctotEnamedl
Perkins invented what subsequently, came,
to, be called the metallic cure for nervous
Taxing . patient with neural
glc pans ID the bead fof fnstance, he
would apply various kiuds Of metal
disks, one after the other to the patients
forehead After three or four trials at
most he would hit upon the Fright metal
for that person. and sure enough the
ne1raigic pains ceased as soon as the
metal was applied 9 Neither DR.. Perkins
nor any one else undertook to explain
how, the cures were effected, and yet no
one denied that these metals exerted a
potent influence upon the nervous sys.
tenn. he-t7 ~ }0tio'i5rsi y sili
Having ascertained the particularkind
of metal required by the patient, Dr..
Perkins method was to take rods com
posed Of that metal and bind them to
the parts affected, instructing the patient
to wear them day and night { Later this
plan was improved upon, and in place OF
the metallic rods, which were called the
"Perkins tractors" thin metallic bands
were made, Intended to encircle the arms,
legs, or even the head OF the patient
whichever member was suffering ail !
The fame of these s. Perkins tractors
Ia name which extended 70 the metallic
bands-went abroad, and the metallic
cures created quite furor, especially in
England Al length 1t was discovered
that an ienterprisinga Englishman, who
was making a speciality Of the metallic
treatment, was initiating the expensive
gold, silver, copper, ckel,iand what-no,
rings Of wood, painted or gilded SO as to
pass for the genuine metallic article. AS
soon as this deception was found out the
metallic cure lost caste, and at the same
time those who had become confused in
trying to solve che mystery became
worse confounded s1 aao9 nR9iifiaf
Respectable practitioners in this coun,
try dropped the thing entirely, but in
England and France the fame Of the
metal cure continued to spread, notwith-
standing the fraud that had been discov-
cred and fastened upon the ingenious
Englishman. In fact the metal cure has
now become so popular abroad that II
promises to recross the Atlantic
DR.. William A. Hammond, the distin-
guished professor Of diseases OF the
mind and nervous system, has been the
first to prepare for its reception in its
native land, and by a series OF very in
teresting experiments lately made and
still making, he has come very near to
explaining the secret of the metal cure
ssT am now engaged in preparing paper
on the subject said Dr.. Hammond to
the, writer, .sand it will probably be pub
lished before long. It is true that there
is good deal more about this thing thar
we can explain. but have investigated
it far enough to ascertain that it is moi
90 wonderful and unique as people had
supposed. have full set Of these me-
.tallic plates or disks, with the needles,
DC all done up in q neat little case, just
as they are prepared for US by the Euro
pean doctors By repeated experiments
/ have proved that the metallic plates OF
gold, silver, copper, bronze, DC. have
nothing to do with the cure, for have
produced the same results slwith plates Of
hard rubber, tortoise SHE'LL and in fact q
piece of chalk or cork will answer the
purpose just fas veil. The whole thing
is nothing more than the power of one
mind over another. cItis what l calhthe
principle Of suggestion. That iss if one
person suggests an idea to another who
has, complete faith in that persons pow.
|er the one acted upon will experience
All the Sensations the operator may sug-
yest to iiiriiImsgeE lliw 5s98t sqadlsg
asWill you state what have, been the
results Of some particular experiment p
aCertainly. Why, il you have the
right Kind Of subject you can make him
or her believe that the moon is made oi
green cheese. It's an old principle in !
new forrns Ihaye tried the experiment
lon several patients, and it works like {
charm. II have also experimental before
the class at the. University Medical Col
|lepe, and always with about the same re
sults.r Ofcourse,, it depends a good dea
ON tbe oonstitution OF the patient ani
his snsacentihility Of believing whatever
| ia told him Some time ago, q lady pa
tient Of mine from another State toli
l.me that she intended going to Europe t
| Itrys the metal cure,. OF which she hat
| heard wonderful reports. That was wha
set me 10 Investigating the thing NOR
carefully than Ihad done before. No
long after that l. tried the metals on
patient who came to see me. This wa
lady also. told her i had something
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