New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-09

| Port Royal, who was cured Of O fstusa Eachry-
! mails In the same way, is as well attested, and
by as competent witnesses, as could be desired.
And Hume pertinently remarks, apropos OF the
Able Paris cases. that the Jesuits, who were
vitality concerned in discrediting their enemies,
the Jansenists, were wholly unable to find any
flaw in the evidence for these alleged miracles.
But since that time similar wonderful cases
have been related as occurring under the most
diverse circumstances. 1t is not indeed often
that such marvel Is told as that which the
Cardinal de Retz was made acquainted with at
Saragossa, of a sexton whose amputated leg
was restored through the application of sacred
oil to the stump. But cures of long-standlng
and deep-seated diseases have been testified to
most Enthusiastically and positively, not merely
by the ignorant laity, but by learned physicians
and men of scientific attainments. Hume pre-
ferred to repudiate all such testimony rather
than admit that there might be any truth in
what he too hastily assumed to be violation
of natural law; and many modern critics think
it safe to follow Hume.
But modern science does not need to
take Hume's easy but irrational method
to get rid of miraculous cures. 1t does not
deny their reality. 1t simply shows that
all such marvels can be produced by the
natural influence of the mind upon the
body. The secret of all these modern miracles,
in fact, is what DR.. Carpenter calls "expectant
attention" y; better and moro scientific detini-
ton of this agency than that of Faith or lmagi-
nation. The possibilities of this agency are very
great. 1t is quite capable of effecting structural
changes; of arresting the disorganization OF
tissues of putting stop to morbid processes;
of restoring healthy normal action; in short, OF
curing many forms of disease. The fact that
similar cures have taken place, whatever the
alleged origin of the curative influence; that Is
to say, under the name of Religion, both CathO
lie and Protestant, under the name of Mesmer-
ism, under the name of Spiritualism and under
divers other designations, ought long since to
have convinced careful observers that a com
mon law was at the bottom of all these phenOm-
ena.
That this is the explanation of modern
miracles there is no reason any longer to doubt.
The events themselves do occur. 1t is not nee
essary to account for them by assuming all
concerned to be fools or liars. The simple truth
is that the influence of expcctant attention fully
explains everything. This agency has been
known to arrest the vital processes completely,
and if it can destroy, there is no reason why it
should not be able to build up. All physicians
know that the expectation of recovery is more
than half the battle in dealing with sickness.
Confidence will do more than drugs, and de-
spondency will counterfeit the utmost thera
peutic skill. The world is full of miracles of
this kind, and always has been, and it is PIE
cisely because there is basis of truth to the
pretensions of all who pretend to effect cures
without medicine that they are able to hold
their own and to defy the arrogant sciolism
which, following in Hume's footsteps, sets down
everything as impossible which it does not
understand