The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-12-26
ALL IN THEIR MIND.
Diseases Which Exist Only In Their
Frightened Victims Imagination.

e>AoS Ia AA044
Frightened Victims Imagination.
Philadelphia Times.
This is a singular case sure enough"
said a young physician recently, "but
there are a great many diseases which
exist only in the imaginations of their
supposed victims" The doctor had
been reading the story of a man who
thought himself a victim of heart di-
sease until his physician discovered
that the breaking sound" of which he
complained whenever he took a deep
breath, wa caused by a little pulley
wheel on a pair of patent suspenders
which he wore The doctor laughed
and laid down his paper.
This is the first case 1 aver heard Of
where suspenders were to blame," SAID
he, "but a great deal Of what passes for
heart disease is mild dyspepsia. Ner-
vousness is an aristocratic name for irri-
liability and bad temper, and two thirds
OF the so-called malaria is nothing but
lazlness. A fellow practitioner once
told me of an old lady he knew of in
Newburyport, Mass. She kept her bed
for three years, and In spite Of her ply
sician's assurances she believed herself
hopelessly paralyzed. One night her
grandson got up a ghost to scare her,
and the old lady ran half a mile before
they could catch her.
The longer an hallucination is in
dulged the more deeply rooted it be-
comes. In many cases it ultimately
developes into monomania or delusion-
al insanity. DIR. S. Weir Mitchell per.
forms many of his most remarkable
cures of so-ealled nervous diseases sim
ply by his wonderful success in per-
suading patients that nothing on earth
ais them. Few physicians have the
ability to do this, and still fewer have
the discretion to adopt a course of
treatment adapted to the mental pecu-
liarities Of each particular case. Some
times persuasion is necessary, but FREE
quently a little tonic combined with q
good scolding produces the desired re.
| suit.
"WIen a delusion is harmless it is
often the best plan to humor it. A rela-
tive of mine, who was a clergyman,
lived for several years IN my family.
He firmly believed that he could not
sleep after preaching on Sunday night
unless he was under the influence of an
opiate. Time and again / have seer
him doze off as soundly as a tired child
after a teaspoonful of sweetened water,
which I had prescribed as 'morphia.'
Without this harmless little dose, how
eyey, he would toss about res tlessly for
| hours.
"The negroes indulge some very fun.
ny snperstitions about diseases and their
cures. One of the things of which they
have a peculiar horror is the commol,
difficulty known as elongation of the
palate. When / was practicing as a
newly-fedged student in Virginia an old
negress called on me one evening. Her
hair was pulled back from her forehead
and knotted with o cord in q tight bunch
on the crown of her head. She was
evidently suffering from a bad cold.
"Mars doctor, she said, Use afraid
Use got fallin' OBJ de palate. Use done
tied up my har' as hard as I can, but it
don't pear to make it no better, an /
'spects mebby I need some pills
II examined her throat and found
nothing the matter but slight inaamma-
ton. l don't think you need any pills,
auntie,' said I. II you can only got
your hair tied up a little closer for a day
or two | have ne doubt your palate will
shorten up all right She came in
again in a few days and told me she was
much better, but her ole man had tied
her hair 80 hard that she had to sleep
with her eyes open, "cause she couldn't
aver make q. wink"