Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-12-04

in truth there is no breach of continuity
between any of the forces of Nature, and
the common error in this regard arises
from Mans perversity in trying to separate
esprit" from matter to suit his ignor-
ant fancies. To understand this, however,
it is to comprehend the philosophy of the
miraculous as it never can be compre-
hended by studying the supernatural
theory. Not only cures but epidemics,
and even epidemical cures, have constantly
been caused in the way we have indicated.
The child pilgrimage, the dancing mania
and the fagellant craze of the Middle
Ages, were all cases in point. In later
times similar exhibitions have been given
at intervals in all parts of the world, and
always among the most ignorant and
credulous. 1t is noteworthy that these
epidemics never attack the educated, and
indeed that would be impossible.
The miraculous cures of Lourdes and
Knock, and wherever else such phenome-
ma are exhibited, belong to this category.
They are neither more nor less than fresh
illustrations of the influence of the mind
upon the body. What that influence is the
case of Perkins Metallic Tractors showed.
These tractors were pieces of metal which
it was claimed by the inventor could cure
disease by being passed over the affected
part A certain physician made wooden
limitations of them, and succeeded just as
well When nitrous oxide was first used
in medicine, prominent physician thought
it might be employed with benefit in
case of paralysis. Before applying it he
inserted a thermometer under the patients
tongue. The patient, an ignorant man,
thought this was the new remedy, and at
once declared that he felt better. The
doctor, struck with the circumstance,
made an experiment. He did not apply
his erroneous belief that the thermometer
was the curative agent. The result was
that the paralysis was actually cured by
the thermometer. Now apply the philos-
ophy of this case to the Lourdes miracles.
The patients there think they are un-
der supernatural influence. If their
belief is strong it will tend to pro-
duee the very effect they expect.
The anticipation of miracles produces them,
in fact, to all practical intents. Every
body has heard the story of Theodore
Hook and the stone lion ON the top of
Northumberland House. Hook for joke
suddenly halted on the street one day, and
fixed his eyes on the aforesaid lion. A
crowd rapidly collected. 1t was whispered
that the lion had been seen to wag his tail.
And in afew minutes a score of people were
ready to swear that they themselves had
seen the tail wag. The mind may
actually change the tissues of the body,
as instance the case related by Carter, of
lady who saw window fall on the hand OF
her child, cutting off three of it's fingers.
When the surgeon had dressed the child's
hand the mother complained of pain in
hers. "On examination, three fingers,
corresponding to those injured in the
"child, were discovered to be swollen and
"infamed, although they had allied
nothing prior to the accident. In four
" and twenty hours missions were made
Unto them, and pus was evacuated !;
"sloughs were afterwards discharged, and
'the wounds ultimately healed" Nor is
this an isolated case. The mind can in fact
effect any change upon the physical organs,
from curing even chronic diseases to
bleaching the hair and arresting life itself.
There is no need for the intro
duction of supernaturalism at all, and
its superfuousness is attested by the fact
that the kind of cures called miraculous
have been effected through all recorded
time, under the most diverse allegations,
and without any regard to the alleged
source of the influence. They have &C.
Cured under the auspices of all religions,
and under the auspices of entirely ire
lgious or extra religious performers. For
centuries the Kings of England, and for a
long period the monarchs of France also,
claimed and exercised the gift of miracu-
lous healing, and it was then ascribed to
the divinity that hedges kings. Nothing
is better attested than the reality of these
cures by royal touch, yet they cannot be
cited on behalf of any Church or creed.
The Zouave Jacob cured as many people as
Our Lady of Lourdes, yet without pre-
tending to sanctity. Shamanism as well as
Catholicism has its miracles, and they are
all of kind. And there can be no doubt
that this class of miraculous cures will
continue as long as simple faith and ignor-
ance go hand in hand, nor would there be
any cause for regret in this but for the fact
that Superstition turns all such phenomena
to her own ends, and thus puts farther off
the enlightenment and the intellectual en-
reimbursement OF the least advanced peoples.
A RADICAL LAND SCHEME
Mr.. Alfred Russell Wallace proposes, in
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