Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1879-05-22
Extraordinary Influence of the
Mind Over the Body.

In January Charles T. Taylor,
III. D., delivered before the Acad-
emY of Sciences, in New York, n
lecture on Bodily Conditions as
Related to Mental States" He
wastes very little time in prelimi-
nary discussions of psyche biolog-
ical relations, but proceeds at onco
to the relation of large number
of cases i'll which serious and ap-
parently chronic diseases, some
times of IL most alarming charac-
ter, were produced solely by the
operations of the mind. The first
given is very curious, because it
shows an Instance in which a man
came to have broken leg set, and
which proved to be a case in which
the bone was not broken at all.
The patient was crossing the street
one day when he fell, and, as he
supposed, broke his thigh-bon
Physicians of eminence were called,
who bandaged the leg and splint-
cred it, but they could obtain no
union of the fracture. An exam
ination by Taylor proved that thore
never had been Il fracture and yet
there was almost every possible
symptom of one. The leg swung
limp and useless when the patient
stood erect with the aid of crutch; !;
and when examined by Taylor it
was resistless to every motion the
muscles were attenuatea and soft
there was, in blief, every tyi-
derce of q fracture except that
there We're no signs OF nnion or of
callus at the point of the alleged
breaking. Ii was concluded that
there had been no fracture, and the
surprising changes in the leg were
purely mental i'll their origin. The
man thought he had broken his
leg, and henceforward he carried
1t, held it, and thought of it pre-
cisely as he would have done had
it been in reality broken. The sit
uation was explained to him he
let go, so to speak, of his leg with
his miud. In three days he could
walk on it, and in y very brief
time he was entirely restored to
health.
If there be something singular
and almost Incredible in the fact
that all the symptoms, save the
fracture, of IL broken leg can be
produced by il belief that tits bro
ken, there is matter equally aston
lshing III another case III which the
paralysis OF the leg OF a young
lady was found to DO mental in is
origin, and which was treated aud
cured from this standpoint. She
had not been able to move the
limb for years until her attention
was drawn from it, and then it was
found that she could move it with
out great difficulty. Another very
remarkable case given was that of
u young woman who, for three
years, had suffered from painful
affection of the shoulder, whose
result had been TO elevate the af
fected shoulder, and to so firmly
fix the arm on that side that it
could not be moved for distance
of three or four inches. She was
very haggard, Was worn out, and
her suffpllngs were very intense.
Every pos srble phase of medical
treatment Was tried, but without
producing tho smallest mitigation
in any direction. Concluding that
it must be men:a al, Taylor managed
to make her mind let go her uffec-
ted arm and shoulder by fixing it
on the other arm. As soon as this
was done the affected arm and
shoulder could be moved, with the
result that within a week she had
entirely regained control of the
stiffened muscles and the rigid
Joint In all these cases the dis
eased condition was proved to
come from voliticn, because as
snon as the mind left them their
character changed at once, and
when the mind was ueaned from
dwelling OH them recovery invaria
bly, followed.
1t would be of interest to give
these instances more in delail
Enough, however, has been adj
duced to clucidate the point under
discCssion-tO show how marvel
lousy potent is the mind upon the
body when it can produce paraiy-
sis, diseases Of the shoulder, and
all the symptoms of ii broken leg
when there is no physical cause
whatever for any such ailment. Il
is worth noticing in this connec-
ton that the same paper explains
from the same standpoint the mys-
terry attending cases of people who
have been supposed TO live TO:
months or longer without food OF
sleep. He admits that there are
cases in which persons who ale
thoroughly reliable state and be-
lieve that they are living without
food or sleep. The explanation
offered is in view Of the inference
of the cases related of the infu-