The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-02-07
NERVOUS ABOUT THEIR HEALTH.
A Case of Cancer HysteriGal
Troubles a Miracle.
cleveland Leader


cleveland Leader1
s'There is a man who, for the time be-
ing, feels perfectly happy" remarked a
leading physician Of this city to re-
porter. The person referred to was
Young, but his face, though now
wreathed with smiles, possessed a stand
ing haggard expression. He had just
emerged from the doctors private room,
and was evidently delighted at the re-
suit of his talk with the man Of medi-
cine
That man thought he had a cancer,
continued the physician, in response to
an implied Interrogation on the part Of
the newspaper man. q have convinced
him of his error, and he is happy. He
will remain so until he imagines that he
has some other of the troubles that
flesh is heir to- for he is of that nervous
disposition that is always imagining
that something is the matter with him.
That nervousness and abnormal power
of the imagination render his face nag
gard. and will tend to drive him to an
early grave through worry, if he IS not
careful to mend. -
Has he no diseased"
''No he is as healthy as you or !, but
he is nervous, and must worry about
himself Perhaps that should be called a
disease; / class it as simply nervous
ness. which large class Of Americans
possess in a greater or less degree,
generally, Of course, the latter. Few
may become nervous about their health,
but many are so about their business
and other matters. | had another
peculiar case of cancer nervousness a
short time ago; in fact, there has been
a number of these cases since the news
papers published such concise accounts
of the nature of Gen. Grants disease.
One young man discovered a pimple on
the side Of his face, and made sure it
was a cancer in it's incipiency. |
he insisted on it, and he felt of
his little pimple so often that he nour-
ished it until it grew to a considerable
'pimply' size. Finally, | met him on
the street one day, when he said:
Doctor, l know this must be a cancer.
My friends all tell me it must be so,
and / want you to cut it out Well,
my patience began to be exhausted, and
| saw that extreme measures were nee
essary. Putting my hand in my pocket
| whipped out my ackknife, and, open
ing it, slashed Off his pimple in twink
ling. He hurriedly put up his hands to
his face, which was bleeding a trife,
and | said: There is your cancer; now
try and be man OF course the fell
low was mad; he'll never come near me
again for advice, but then that is the
only way to treat such cases."
II suppose imagination has a great
deal to do with a patients recovery in
some caseS''
Yes, the mind exercises a great in
fuence over the body. While we do
not often prescribe bread pills, still pa
TENTS are often given doses just as
harmless, because we wish more to
reach the mind than the body. If
physician can insure perfect confidence
in the mind of his patient his battle is
often nearly won. Women afflicted
with nervous diseases or hysterical
troubles can often be cured by prompt
and emphatic, even rude, treatment. |
remember one case where the attending
physicians had given lady up, saying
that she positively could not recover. 1
was called as kind of last resort The
woman seemed to be in a stupor, the
friends were weeping, the physicians in
charge were still in consultation in an
adjoining room. but said they had
decided there was no hope, and the,
family were already thinking of notify
ing an undertaken. | had seen so many
similar cases, although not so far adj
that | knew, or strongly be-
lieved, | could cure the case mainly by
sheer force of character, or influence.
So | took the hand Of the fair patient
she was very beautiful, her face appear
ing like marble-and called her by I
name. There was no response. called
again, Nary Again no answer. |
applied a light restorative, and once
more spoke her name rather softly, but
and oommandingly. She
began to show signs of animation, and |
in a short time was sitting up in bed |
and talking. What do you think she
said first"'
She asked for her relatives, I sup
pose.
''No, she didn't; she wanted to know
if she could have plate of cabbage and
a cup of strong coffee Think of that
cabbage and co lee! Why, she was
hungry, and the poor thing had an alb
lormal appetite, and didn't realize the
ncOngruity of it. | had these little del
cacies prepared for her, too, although
he other physicianS-of my school, too
arose up and said cabbage would
surely kill her. But, in few days, she
vas around as well as ever"
Foods of Our Native Races.
IPOStOu Tra0coript