, 1888-10-13
CURED BY IMAGINATION.


Fifth Not the Only Panacea Found Outside
the PharmacoPnia-Qucer Remedies
The beneficial effects of faith have
probably come under the observation of
us all when it has become a question Of
a change of doctors. The old medical
attendant does not please, a new one who
has been highly recommended is engaged,
and SO great is the patients faith in the
new conner that the progress of a fatal
disease often seems arrested. 1t is, of
course, but a temporary check, and it is
only a question of time before another
new doctor is looked for. Sometimes,
on the other hand, when it is not a case
of the destruction of the vital organs, a
cure has actually been effected. Ere
quently, too, patients become impressed
with the curative value of certain medi-
cines, and doctors of long standing have
been puzzled to say where imagination
or faith ended and reality began.
Faith, however, has by no means been
the only panacea found outside the phar-
macopoeia, as the shrewd manufacturers
of elxirs, charms, amulets and magnetic
thingumbobs very well know. Even the
wisest of men are not free from the pecu-
liar thralldom of imaginative medicines.
Bishop Berkeley, whose idea concerning
LII WCoIWdl COuI5e VI Ule SUdT OF empire
has become proverbial, was a very clever,
very sedate and very good man, yet he
was a victim to the idea that he had dis
covered a cureall. The universal restor-
alive in his case was tar water. Stir a
quart of tar in a gallon of water, and
drink three glasses of this water daily,
said the bishop, and you would never
know b it was to suffer pain or even
d1GNnmfOrt RarEnlnu rrnc rNt oNr%A-&
with calling the tar a simple remedial
agent, but he went SO far as to write
books about his tarry water, claiming that
tar contained the vital element of the uni
verse. Fol- a time tar water had a pro-
digious success. Tar water warehouses
were established, and every one was
going to be cured of everything. Then
the people began to remark that there
was just as much sickness about as ever,
and gradually the fad died out.
Another great remedy that set people
agog some two hundred years ago was
b earth bath. Establishments were
opened all over Europe where the pa
tients were covered up to their necks in
loose, dry earth, and thus planted were
supposed to be cleansed of every infirm-
ity and impurity known to human ma
ture. Human nature continued obsti-
nately to get out ii gear notwithstand-
ing the earth Gu: aid SO the establish
ments were closed up and the soil carted
off to the nearest garden.
Faith has had some curious allies in
effecting cures. Aided by the peculiar
forms of oolite called toadstone and ca
glestone, it has been a charm against dis
ease, shipwreck and famine. Joined to
a proper amount of faith, the two unat-
tached bones found in the heads of some
fishes, when mounted in gold and hung
around the neck, will prevent the collie.
With the powerful adjunct of faith it
has been found that a ring set with a
bloodstone would stop hemorrhages; that
an amethyst ring would cure drunken
ness, an agate was efficacious against eye
diseases, a jasper against the dropsy, a
sapphire against insomnia, and coral
against nervousness. - San Francisco
Chronicle.