Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1884-12-18
L IN THEIR I N
Diseases which Exist Only 1 n Their
frightened Victims Imagination.

frightened Victims Imagination.
Philadelphia Times.
This is q singular case sure enough"
said a young physician recently, "but
there are q great many diseases which
exist only in the inaginations OF THEN
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 "creaking sound" Of which he
complained whenever he took a deer
breath, was caused by o little pulley
wheel on a pair of patent suspenders
which he wore. The doctor laughed
and laid down his paper.
This is the first csse ! ever heard OF
where suspenders were 70 blame, SAID
he, but q great deal Of what passes TO,
heart disease is mild dyspepeia. Ner
vousness is an aristocratic name for irri,
liability and bad temper, and two-thirdi
Of the so-called malaria is nothing but
lazness. A fellow practitioner onct
told me OF an old lady he knew Of ir
New~buryport, Mass. She kept her bed
for three years, and IN spite Of her ply.
sician's assurances she believed herself
hopelessly paralyzed. One night heI
grandson got up a ghost to scare her,
and the old lady ran half q mile before
thew could catch her. .r
The longer an ~hallucinstion is in
dulged the more deeply rooted it be-
comes. In many cases it ultimately
deyelopes into monomania or delusion.
al insanity. DIR. s. Weir Mitchell per.
forms many Of his most remarkable
cures of so-called nervous diseases sim.
ply by his wonderful success in per.
suading patients that nothing on earth
ails them. Few physicians have the
ability to do this, and still fewer have
the discretion to adopt q course OF
treatment adapted to the mental pecu-
liarities of each particular case. Some
times persuasion is necessary, hut fire..
quently a little tonic combined With a
good scolding produces the desired re.
suit.
When q delusion is harmless IL il
often the best plan TO humor it. A rela.
tive OF mine, who was q 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 1 have seen
him doze of as soundly as a tired child
after o teaspoonful of sweetened water.
which l had prescribed as 'morphia.
Without this harmless little dose, how.
yey, he would toss about rettlessly foI
eours.
The negroes indulge some very fun.
ny superstitions about diseases and thei,
cnres. One of the things of which the,
nave q peculiar horror is the common
difficulty known as elongation of the
palate. WhenI was practicing as !
ne w~ly-fedged student in Virginia an old
negroes called on me one evening. Her
hair was pulled back from her forehead
and knotted with a cord in e tight buncl
on the crown Of her head. She W.
evidently suffering from a bad cold.
Mars doctor, she said, Use afraie
Use got fallin' OBJ dc palate. Use don.
tied up my har' as hard as / can, but i
don't pear TO make il no better. an
'spects mebby | need some pills
Il examined her throat and found
nothing the matter bu. slight infamma.
ton. l don't think you need any pills,
auntie,' said l. III you can only get
your ha.r tied up 2 little closer for a day
or two l have no doubt your palate viii
shorten up all right She came In
again IN q few days and told me she was
much better, but her ole man had tied
her bair so hard that she had to sleep
with her eyes open, cause she couldn't
even make a wink"