New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-08-05
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
NATURAL PROCESSES MISlNTERPREIED 81
SUPERSTITION.

MENTAL MEDICINE. BY W. F. EVANS. Same Pub
fishers.
DR. Carpcnter observed several years ago that 10
the prevalent neglect of the study of the mental
relations of Mind and Body may be traced many
of the fallacies discernible in the arguments
.dduccd on each side in the oit-repeated contro
vcrsies between the advocates of the Materiaistic
and the Spritualistic hypothesis" and he might
we'll have added that to the same preva'ep'
neglect is attributable the perennial crop Oh he"
and strange dclusions which attract the a''ch.'o"
of the curious enlist throngs OF believers ana "i.'i
time give place to fresher or more osd'Te ,nooo
and ideas But 1t is mistake to put aslde All 'n,e0
tpeculatons and systems as pure deiusoh' an" ."''
mistake Is too commonly made. Inc truth Is ''ia'
the fallacies which are so popular arc really no'
purely imaginative: they are tue results Vi iaiS0
reasoning upon sound PROMISES
The so-caled Mind-Cure, :wo volumes on WINCH
furnish the text of this review is not a delnsion so
far ne the facts are concerned. but only in regard
In the Interpretation of the facts 1t IS true that
mlpd-curcs arc possible; but 1t Is faliacy 10
believe that what is necessary to effect them Is
particular theory to the relations betwcoa NINA
and Body, OF o particular theological doctTihe
And tho fallacy of all such interpretations is so
fully and clearly demonstrated by experience that
its persistence is anything but crcditable TO the
enlightenment of tho ago. Yet it must be admitted
strengthened by the foolish resistance offered 10
facts by MANY men of science. Disguised by the
crednlous instability of popular beliefs these have
thought it beneath them to examine phenomena lot
the reality of which the evidence was overwheii-
ing and it is only of late years that the phenomena
have been accepted, and serious attempt has been
madc to clear away tho fog surrounding them ny
ANALYSIS and classification DR.. Carpenter and Dr.
Daniel Hack luke deserve much credit for thor
IL, Il hnf n
wide. and there are so many unsolvcd problems in
psychology vet that present it is much easier to
determine what is not the true explanation of facts
than to say positively how they arc caused.
An examination of occultism, so-called, furnishes
the key to many if not all of the phenomena which
arc so commonly msinterpretcd. For such study
shows plainly that the same curious effects in
psycho- therapeutics have occurred everywhere In
oil times, though, might have been expected the
most various explanations of them have been given.
The extent to which an imperfect knowledge OF
ench phenomena was used to buttrcss the priest
hood in archaic periods has no doubt had much to
do with the intermixture of tbeologic ideas with
MANY phases of mind-cure. But the same general
effects can DO traced from the ancient Egyptians to
the present day. and we have only to hold fast to
tho central facts to recognize their identity
they appear thaumaturgic marvcls in the
temple c0urtsof Isis and Rah, or in the Mysteries OF
Elcuss, or in the Acts of the Saints, or In the
miracles of a Hohenlohe an Able Paris, Zouave
Jacob or a Mind -curer or Mctaphysican" of tho
present day.
Throughout these Protcan changes the central
facts continue the same. Mind acts upon Body.
through Imagination. through Volition. through
Expectant Attention. as every one has ALWAYS
known that it acts through Fear, and Joy and
Anxiety But the speculative spirits who invent
new isms" are seldom content to travel the plain
highway. Iustead of questioning the Body and
the Mind. instead Of considering the obvious mean
ing of the phenomena under investigation they
have as rulo sought out recondite and occult
interpretations have gone to Plato to Bnddha for
enlightenment, have dabbled in Hegelianism or
Owed into Boston characterization for their
cxpostlons. And in this way they have done their
best to disguise the original facts out of knowledge,
and have eventually misled their followers INTO all
manner of Fools Paradises. the exit whence can
only be sorrowful and humiliating OF course
whoever chooses to invest natural phenomena with
mystic significance can reinforce himself perpetUally
with the reproduction Of the phenomena. To the
man who believes that AgnI is the God of Fire,
the appearance of fire will always recall Agni,
and the longer the belief is entertained the moro
real it will For it is part of the mysterious
processes of Mind that subjective ideas mag become
as real nay more real. than objective Dhc-
romena; aud this is one of the cews to Mind-cure.
The latter is not delusion, but genuine fact.
rs the chief medical journal of England. The Lancet,
has recently acknowledged. There is a delusion,
however and it consists in the belief that
effected by concoivipg the idea that nothing really
exists but spirit: that spirit cannot suffer physical
pain; and that therefore disease and suffering
mere Authorizations, to lie thrown oil by effort
OF tho will This is the theory expounded in Mr..
Evans's books and exponnded we are bound to say,
oh I,cf1 tv to md nj tat
mcnt. No doubt Plato would be astonished as
any one could he know the strange uses to which
his speculatious have been turned and no donbt
also the carly fathers would he as amazed to find
themselves in such heather company But as TIE
old saying has it, it takes something of everything
to make world" and in like manner it takes
thing of everything to make Mind-curc doctrine.
What the Mind-cure advocates will not turn
their attention tn. however is the significant fact
that precisely tho same effects have been produced
in and by people who did not believe that the
Body was not real entity IN fact, produced IN and
by the rankest Matcralists. Nor there be
reasonable doubt that Faith cures and Mind cures
ct hoe genus possible without any reference
to characterization whatever; may be super
Induced by sham metallic tractors, or by utterly
mistaken belief in the curative power of some
neutral object OF instrument. or by external nfu-
ence whilc the subject is unconscious. or in many
other ways into which metaphysics does not and
cannot enter We do not say that the facts recited
explain the processes referred to. We may know
that fear may 6lanch a mans hair that sudden
10Y may kill woman; that the Imagination of a
hurt not actually suffered may produce external
marks such as the hurt would have caused that
absolute faith in the removal of a long standing
complaint may induce such functional changes as
to effect cure; that fixed contemplation of any
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