The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-05-23
MYSTERIES OF THE NERVES.
. problem that sorely Puzzles Men OF
Science.

a
Science.
FTom the San Francisco Chronicle.
when we find out tie secret of the nerves
-o shall probably bc.vo discovered the Sc
.-at OF life. We shall then perhaps know
.omething Of .de soul, whose very existence
= NOW disputed, and ne shall be able to
S,ruulate some definite opinion in regard to
;r,mortalitv. Science is slowly moving
inward toward that point, and seems at
shines 20 have some cew TO the mystery.
Tbeo Ia. scientists are all at sea again, aud
al beeomes dark as before. The study of
ahvsiology. physical and mental, is little
iI,cra than q study of the nerves simply be-
nonsa the nerves are intimately connected
.itb health of body and mind. In cases
~ prolonged disease, as long as the nervous
svstem is not completely shattered there is
hone. Nervous and delicate men and
women pass safely through epicemlcs that
.arrv off strong and healthy persons By the
tborsand. When the nerves refuse to act,
tbe will. which is the resistent power i'll the
human being, ceases to act also, and death
6nds an easy prey. There are persons
n+tacked with what seems to be a mortal
disorder who obstinately refuse to die. A
certain amount of nervous force comes to
heir relief, which acts on the physical
functions and brings back the PROSTATE
i0llVlQud1 AAOAA oAO eobSo va
death.
Sometimes this restoration of sick per-
cons TO health seems like a miracle, and
there is little doubt that many so-called
miracles have been the result of an aff1u-
ence Of nervous force coming from a sud
den excess of hope or shock TO the system,
emanatlng from no matter what source.
Did the alleged saints in the trst centuries
of the christian era ever cure the sick! Was
a sick man ever restored to health by the
tonch of a king in the times when kings
were thought to rule by divine right. Was
there ever such thing as faith cure:
Who will undertake to say that cures have
not been performed by each of these means
And vet if it were so, it Is not necessary to
suppose that there was any occult power in
either saint, king or apostle of faith cure.
The whole secret lay in the psychological
state of the sick person, in whom confidence
in the means and hope, combined with la
tent nervous force, consplred to set the vital
functions again in motion.
The pathological phase is only the border
land of the mysterious subject. On the phe-
nomena of the nerves, magnetism, spiritism,
and hypnotism have erected systems and
theories, involving host OF strange illu-
sions, but conveying also scientific facts of
supreme value. A spirit medium Is only
a being endowed with exceedingly sensitive
nerves A nervous subject may be hysteric,
epileptic, or the victim of Authorizations or
impulses of various kinds, which result in
eccentric actions or abnormal physical con-
ditions. The nervous system of some of
these persons is in such an excessively NOR
bid state that an external sensation, such as
g sudden noise. the ticking of a watch, a
pressure of the body, contact with a warm
or cold body, a breath, ray of light,
the reflection from some bright object, sus-
ponds animation. The subject falls into a
sleep, which lasts for a longer or shorter
time, and wakes to forget everything that
has passed during this period, though it
may have been filled with acts and Incl
dents. and may have continued several
weeks. The witch of Endor was probably
mere bundle of nerves-a sort of spirit
medium of Bible times. The pythoness of
Delphi was hysteric or epileptic. capable
of extreme nervous exaltation. The witches
and sorcerers of the middle ages were in
many cases the victims of nervous attacks
which those about them and they them
selves sincerely believed to be caused by
divine or demoniac inspiration. In the
light of modern science these characters
aud events are seen in a less mysterious
light.
Several cases involving hypnotism have,
within the last two years, appeared in
French courts. One was that of q married
woman in Algiers, of great correctness of
life, seduced by young man and after
ward killed by him with revolver during
clandestine interview He pretended that
he had consented to double suicide, but
his own courage seemed to have failed after
half the tragedy was accomplished. He
was condemned to hard labor for long
term of years. 1t was proved that she was
highly nervous woman, and had once
been found inanimate in the garden gazing
intently at a silver spoon she was holding in
her hand. The case of Gabrielle Bompard,
the mistress of Eyraud, the assassin of
Gouffe, is even more to the point. This
strange young woman, after having assisted
at the assassination. slept composedly two
nights with the dead body in a trunk beside
her bed. The lightness of her manner since
has astonished every one aware of the cir
cumstances. She is SO nervouSly suscepti-
BILE that she has been known to fall into a
magnetic sleep by simply looking at a
bright object on the mantelpiece. The
courts will have to decide how far she was
personally responsible and to what extent
she was dominated by the will of Eyraud.
Hypnotism is now regarded in France as SC
dangerous that the minister of war was
forbidden its practice by the army physi'
clans.
Among the many interesting cases that
the Investigations of French savants have
brought to light is that of a young lawyer
of 80, son of a father addicted to the Excess
sive use of liquors and an exceedingly
nervous mother. He lives actually two
lives, in either of which he is completely
ignorant of what transpires in the other.
All that is necessary to throw him into @
magnetic sleep is to gaze intently on some
point in space, to hear sudden noise, or
experience some vivid emotion. One day
he was hypnotizsd by looking into mirror
at cafe, and his companions had to take
him to hospital to have him awakened.
On another occasion he suddenly fell asleep
While pleading a cause in court because the
presiding judge looked at him atten-
lively, and was brought back to his
normal state with difficulty by o
friend. Sometimes he loses completely
the memory of the past, and new life
commences, in which he travels, stops at
hotels, sleeps, makes and receive visits, buys
and sells and takes part in the sports of
those about him. Returning to his original
state, he remembers none of these things.
On Sept. %, 1888, he had an alteration with
his father-in-law, from which date till the
middle of October be performed variety
OF acts of which he has no recollection.
W hen he returned to his normal state he
was in the department of Upper Marine, and
over $50 miles from Paris. He was after
ward told that he had visited the priest of a
village aud an uncle living not far Off, who
IS bishop, at whose house he had
broken numerous objects aud torn up a
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