Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-04-14
CURE FOR RHEUMATISM
IL May Properly he Called tho New Elec
trio Car Remedy.

trio Car Remedy.
"The other day." writes n reader t
tho Boston Herald, "a sensible lady at
the South End told me that riding in
the electric cars had cured her of rheu-
matism, and had cured another lady
also"
The ordinary electrician, if not tho
ordinary man who is not an electrician,
might smile incrcdulously at the above
and say: "Purc Imagination" Perhaps
1t is, and then again perhaps it is not
To begin with, tho Imagination is natur-
ally excited by mystery, which is only
another name for lack of knowledge
for ignorance, in fact. Now If we see an
effect without knowing the cause, we
might guess for n year without guessing
correctly. Hence the imagination is cx
cited. Cases havo boon known whore
bread pills have effected cures of stom-
ach troubles. Why? No doubt because
tho patient believed they contained
some potent drug. lndoaling with hyp-
motto cases, Fronch physicians found
that steel magnets seemed to have a
peculiar effect upon tho subjects. Ono
OF tho experimcntcrs, more skeptical
than others of his brethren, had q mag
net made Of wood and fixed so as to re-
semble steel magnet, and found that
1t had equally as potent effects as the
steel magnet on subjects. A London
physician not long since went to France
to study tho practice OF hypnot-
ism for tho euro OF diseases. From
there he went to Amsterdam on tho
Same business. In his report of what
he observed he says: "Onc is asked
whether treatment by suggestion has
power over all forms of discase?" Over
some 1t has mono. 1t can not recon-
struct what disease has destroyed, nor
stay the course of smallpox, diphtheria,
or other acute maladics. 1t frequently
acts like magic on rheumatism, on par
alysis, or hysteria. Stripped of scien-
tito explanation, hypnotism may DO
said to be peculiar abnormal or I'M
healthy condition Of tho mind, in which
fancies or IDEAS that are suggested be-
come agents for changing ones abnor-
NAL condition las disease is) by substi-
tuting another for it (as hypnotism, or
faith in the potency of the unknown
is). How far this may account for the
cures related by tho correspondent
above quoted it is not easy to deter
mine.
1t is notorious that many people who
feel the electric current whenever tho
car starts up. Induction is u phcnon-
enon in electricity, whore conduct
ing body that is located close to wire
carrying an electric current becomes
magnetized by that current This may
be likencd to the heat that is given off
by stove being taken up by piece of
metal near it, but not in contact. Air is
a tnr .,fn oil fric nd
so arc wood, scat cushions, etc, and
electricians will tell us that oven by
a process analogous to induction no ono
can DO affected by tho electric current
in n street car. What, then. is it that
makes tho surface of the bodies of pco-
pie in electric cars Jingle as If some dis
turbing influence had taken possession
OF them through the capillary nerves?
These Same people will tell us that they
do not feel this peculiar sensation while
riding in cars drawn by horses. Hero
tho matter becomes involvcd-paradox-
ical. Are these unseen influences, act
ing in the all-pcrvading ether, which
mako healing impressions on the body
through the mind? If we admit this,
we must also admit that faith cure,
mesmerism and other things which
we regard as humbugs have n basis of
reality. However, rheumatism is an
atiliction that ought to have II cheap
and popular remedy for tho reason that
so many arc afflicted by it. If tho cleo
trio cars will fiji the bill, then the sooner
their usc becomes universal tho better
1T will be for the afflicted, and if they
will cure rhcmatism, why not toothache,
earachc, neuralgia, headache and all
other aches, including stomach-ache? If
all this can be realized from tho elcc-
trio cars, what double blessing they
will be to humanity, and what boon
to the stockholders. Truly, we are on
tering upon now era in our electrical
industries and-our therapeutics