The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-05-28

many maladies which are not so
far advanced as to be dependent
upon changes in structure or "or-
ganIc diseases" may be remedied
by or through the agency of the
mind We will even 90 so far as to
affirm that very large proportion
Of the ailing might be, and proba-
bly, would be, sound. if onlv
they were sufficiently strongly inn
pressed to believe themselves so.
This influence of the mind on the
body has been the stronghold of
quackery from the earliest times.
and faith" is as powerful an in
huence for good or evil now as il
has ever been. Such miracles" as
the salvationists are WORKING with
their presage among the emotional
classes, whether illiterate or well
informed, have uniformly signal
lied the commencement of a new
era in religious. enthusiasm. When
the first enthusiasm subsidies. "mir-
acles cease Of physical mental ne
cesslty. The large class of So
called hysterical, cataleptic, and
even epileptic affections are dis
tinctly amenable to this influence,
so are those nervous disturb
ances and arrangements which cou-
sist wholly or chiefly in disorderly
activity, as distinguished from ac-
tual disease. The mimeuc mala-
dies, of which there are always a
very large number Of cases, are of
course amenahle to the curative in
huence of faith. Outside these
classes, no Rever, stand a multitude
OF badly misunderstood cases
which only need to be placed on a
new foOting-it matters little what
to get well. A wondrous crowd
of ignorant prejudices still hovers
over many districts as to the cura-
blllty or hopelessness of special
diseases which are better under
stood and more successfully treated
ON common sense principles--in
the centers of knowledge.
For example, we know of locali-
ties and affections which, being as
ISOLATED, produce the most dire de-
lusions as to the length Of time
bones usually take to unite in
healthy subjects; and how coughs
ana other distressing maIadies are
or are not under the control of the
Will. In such combinations of facts
and fiction, it is easy to get mira
cles out OF such common matters AZ
the union Of the accurately applied
ends of fractured radius in three
or four days! There is not n word
to be said against the healing by
faith Every busy practitioner has
cases under his observation that he
would be heartily glad to find 80
powerfully affected that they could
be cured even by this agency. All
we are anxious to 'pOint out is that
an Intelligent lay press ought to
not to lend itself to the promulga-
ton OF nonsensical beliefs and i'm
pressions. or course, it is true
that many Of the poor people who
are reported to be "cured" are &C
tually benefited, and by their faith,
This Is a fact, and there is no Pea-
son why the benefits received
should not be permanent. If the
subjects of these cures are thank
full to the Giver Of all good, thai is
not matter to make merry about.
1t Is rs it should be. We are glad
Of their gain, and pleased to find
them moved to gratitude. Mean
while, if these cures need be dis
cussed, let the comments made be
neither irreverent, offensive, nor
puerile. The moaus operanG of
such recoveries is perfectly well I'M
derstood, and there is nothing eli
Iher specially noteworthy or won
derful about them.-Scientific Am.