Daily Republican., 1883-01-10
INFLUENCE OF lMAaINATlON.
the Eject Of tho Mind upon the
Body Come striking Incidents.

lNFLUENCE OF I'M
the Eject Of tho Mind upon tn,
Body Some striktng Incidents.
The influence OF imagination upol
the physical powers Is well known, ant
also that 1t hAs often been known h
cause disease, and sometimes to fur
Nsh the most effective remedy. Ply
siciaus are well aCquain ted with the IN
fiuepce which fear and other passiont
of the mind exercise over the corpora
functions, and hope is with some, d
more powerful curative than all the
medicines which are enumerated in the
most 70 luminous pharmacope'a.
Numb rless inc dents have rranspired
which clearly show tho intimate COD
nection between the mind and b,dy
land the exercise OF that mysterious
pOwor which IS known uudsr the un
NEE ming term OF sympathy. An Old
Eng fish book relates a case illustrative
OF this I'll COry, respeCtinRa Singular dis.
case which hroke out among TIE .wo-
men and girls rmployel ID a mi Il allan.
ca hire, EbgIant.
| The disease first Appeared in the
Isplunin2 aepnr meo', whore a heSlthy
iyoung woman ten suddenly In con
Ivulsivc 1T, aud remained IN that condi.
tton fox nearly thiry SIX hours. Toe
| fits afterwards returned for several
days in succession, combating from
one TO tour hDusa each time. Two
days after this woman had been at
| tackled, a companion who had worked
with her was seized in the same man
ner, and the following day eight others
who were employed in the same room
were affected, and before the expira
| ton Of week from the appearance Of
The disease every woman, twenty alto
gether, employed in that department,
was sick with the sama disease
The patients had little or no warn
ing of the approach of the tits, but fei
down speeches., and remained perfect
ly dolirious during their continuance,
with the body bent back ard, and 80
powerfully convulsed that five or six
persons were scarcely able to prevent
one from biting or Otherwise inJuring
therself
u few days the terrors Of these
|peOple ard oil around tn em were in
creased to the highest pitch 'by the
spreading of the disease, and the inefti-
cacy of all the means which had been
tried for u cure. The lea soon be-
came prevalent that ii was some kind
OF a plague which had been introduced
~ the cotton used In the mill.
A noted physician was sent for from
Ia distance, who fortunately had made
the influence of the mind upon the
body study, and as sGOn az no had
made a careful examination Of tho first
rerson who had been seized with this
singular malady, and investigated the
cases Of some OF the others, declared
that it WAS a purely nervous disease.
He ascertained that tho first pers N
affected had been frightened by some
one putting a live mouse agail 81 her
check, and her companions were at
fected in a ike manner, merely by n
kind OF sympathetic epidemic. The
physician administered soothing medl,
clnes, separated the patients, and assur.
cd them OF a speedy recovery.
He also adopted all means in his
pc wer to queli the apprehensions of
o hers respecting the danger of the dis
In the course of few weeks the girls
were all at work again, and the disease
had entirely disappeared. The cele-
brated DR.. Darwin, IN speaking of this
species of disease, calls 1t an lrritative
imitation, Of which We are almost I'M
Conscious. The act ofyawning will pass
from one person to whole company,
while squirting and stammering have
been known to be propagated by ASSOC
alton with ersons who had those hab. |
Its. From this principle OF imitation
CRU ~ of a certain character are some.
times prevalent, and strikes, riots and
mobs will tax . plv cam dtlere.t parts |
OF tho country one year, while at an
other period murders will he of almost |
daily occurrence in some part of this |
land, or suicides will prevail. TO such an |
extent AZ almost to be termed epidemic. |
From this influence of mind over
body, causing the desire to initiate,
often arises the intrepidity of armies ia
battle, and TO the same cause can be
attributed the fear which sometimes
causes panic and freezes the energies
Of mighty host.
Diseases have often been cured by
The same means,an" the physician who
has studied CycOlogy kt W. that when
he has obtained a cOntroliUg influence
over the mind Of his patient, the cur.
ng OF the ailment Of Tho body is an
'asy task. A well known physician of
stated once how he had
'ured patient of an attack Of rheuma-
ISM toy administering pills made of
Jr6Lu, aud giving him sOu a Colurul