The Republican journal., 1885-07-02
About the Mind Cure.


| h'0APiie"pio hihuieu PHiu9eo dio oh oNely :
body's lips. The PHILOSOPHY of idealism,"
" Christian science" acknowledgements,
''psychlcal vrus,'' ''phrenopathy,' "the SYM
pathetic sense" all interlard table and parlor
conversation as plentifully as weather opinions
i'll New York. They are all different names for
the mind cure" which now holds Boston, so to
speak. in the hollow of its ideal hand.
This is not merely the craze Of few fan
atics it is IA plant that has taken root in intel
lecua and ariStocratic soil, and tlourishes to an
extent that would cause any ambitious green
| bay tree to hang its head in shame. So power
| full hold has this new science taken on the
| city thai regular" physicians are looking to
both their aurcls and their purses with alarm.
! heard one say he was certain that half, if not
| more than half, the practice of the city was in
the hands of "irreguiar' practitioners. phreno-
| pathic, magnetic and every other shade of de-
| parture from the Old established code. | don't
| doubt this assertion 1t seems TO me that every
| other house bears Il doctors shinSle, and the
| "iiregular>" certainly take the lead.
| But about this mind cure and its dispensers.
| They don't hang out their shngeS-at least,
| not often. | don't think they are given to
| other methods of advertising either. 1t is one
| OF those things that gets talked about to such
| an extent that lis practitioners are overrun
with patients and pupils. 1t il 50 new, 50
mysterious and 50 fascinating that everybody
wants to know something about it. saw one
| advertisement which read thus
| 'Atetaphysical llealing-This method dispen-
| scs with all material aid or viii power and Is
| known the mind cure Those who are un-
| willing TO give up drugs are not in 4 condition
| to be benefited"
The mind cure is taught in term of twelve
| lessons. usually one every day until a class
| graduates. The pupils obligate themselves not
| to teach until they have had two years practice
| Meantime the, are sent forth 10 operate on
| themselves and others for good 1t may be
| supposed. since as they have nalight to do with
| drugs they are not armed with the power for
| harm which makes the new practitioner of the
regular school Il creature to hold in fear until
he has demons ira, ed his compettncV Price,
for the twelve lessons vary. | am told from so
TO 500, according TO the means aud needs of the
pupil. So potent a power is the mastery OF
| mental cure said to be that the natural SUPPOSE
ton is no one possessed of ample worldly
means would hesitate on 500. 1t does not stop
| with curing bodily ills but promises alluring
things in the way of correcting inherited ten
dencie> SatanWad. improving uncertain dis
osiiionS, eliminating gnobe thoughts and
making the subject not only lord of himself,
bat Of his surroundings. In short, it usherS
in Il sort of Notwithstanding era Of faith. very
fascinating to such of u- as have been putting
in our time GA moIe-hills with our brilliant
success.
Faith is strong element in the mental cure
faith in ones self as well "A, faith in higher
powers TO desire and to deserve is the sum
OF it, said one ot It's disciples He declared III
Il public meeting where it was under discussion
that in - he had cured himself of rheumatism
of an aggravated character and long standing
Having read DIR. W. +. Evans book, Che great
est mind cure cXponent), he went 10 his room
one Sunday determined 10 stay there tin he
was cured or proved pbreuopathv Il failure.
On the following Thursday he left his room,
walked down stairs and out in the street with
out cru,ches-nay. forgetting njs crutchcs al
together until he returned to his room and saw
th m standing in Il corner.
The audience heard this statement with ap-
proving mods Here and there i pair OF EYES
bueed out far into space, indicating that. to
their owner. mind cures were new sensations
but the majority seemed TO have been pre-
yiou>ly saturated with rrcitalS Of a similar
kind. which had left them i'm A CONDITION of
recpp!ivity.
The man who said he had effected this re-
markabe cure on himself also said he could put
himself TO ,Ieep in five minutes AT ANY time.
| no matter What torments. mental or phvsical
beset him. | asked for pr,rtiral directions. Ue
said that on living down he mt his head in a
position to turn his eve, far back. ma then
painted an imaginary suot ON his forehead or
on the ceiling. at which he forced himself to
look with his mind, eve. The sIj@ht EFFORT
necessary TO concentrate his thonohfs on tb.t
took his mind from auythino else. After four
or five niehl, of mis- nrartice he Gained such a