Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-16
CURED WITH A POKER.
Wonderful Eject of Threatened He
roic Surgical Treatment
MIRACLES PUT AT A DISCOUNT.
A Woman Is Frightened Back to Health
by Her Physician.
EFFECT OF THE MIND UPON DISEASES

NEW YORK, March la Williamsburg
physician has effected cure Of malady
similar to that which Saloon Keeper Michael
B. Mccarthy, of No. 101 West street, New
York, suffered. 1t will be remembered that
Mccarthy fell from horse car and later de-
veloped rate of respiration Of an abnormal
kind. He breathed at the rate of about
three respirations per second, and was
avowedly unable to prevent himself from
SO doing. The faculty of q New York hos
pital confessed itself puzzled over the case,
but finally concluded that the injuries
which the man had received at the time of
his accident had in some way interferred
with the nerves which controlled the lung
muscles
After applying remedies of the usual type
these doctors alleged that his disease was of
an incurable nature. A good many other
doctors, however, alleged that the mans
afliction was Of purely nervous nature,
and that had be been treated as victim of
hysteria the mystery of his malady would
have been solved in a very commonplace
way. Mccarthy was contented, however,
to accept the verdict of a New York physic-
ian and continued his steam-engine breath
ing to his personal misery and the discom-
fort Of those around him.
Somebody suggested that he should call
on Father Tom Adams, the suspended
Williamsburg priest, who alleges that he
can effect marvellous cures with the aid of
relics, and who excited a certain amount Of
public attention recently. The saloon
keeper did so and the priest went through his
formula
Relieved by Mental Process.
By mental process familiar to all vic
Tins of hysteria and the medical profession
at large, the man having mental methods
applied to his mental disease was tempor-
arily relieved. The story of the alleged
miracle was spread abroad, and Father
Adams s''boom" dates from that period.
The case to which reference Is made above
Is that of Mrs. Mary Marcus, residing on
briggs avenue, near South Second street.
Her husband is in comfortable circum-
stances, and sister is member of the
family. Mrs. Marcus is woman of nervous
and during the past few years
has developed hysteria, which has mani
Blaisdell, of Roebling street, is the family
physician, and owing to the frequency of
his visits to the house has become familiar
with the idiosyncrasies of the woman.
DR.. Blaisde1l was very reticent about the
case, but the facts are as follows:
Recently Mrs. Marcus developed respira-
tion of almost precisely the same nature as
that of the New York man. In her case,
however, there was apparently no prelimin-
ary reason for her so doing.
She Had an Attack of Hysteria.
DR.. Blaisdell, on being summoned to the
home, found that she was breathing at the
rate of 13O to 140 times per minute, and
that her respiration was 90 violent that it
could be heard all over the house. Her
pulse was normal, however, although her
throat was more or less infamed and the
chest muscles, owing to the strain placed
upon them, were giving her considerable
pain. She found it impossible to articulate
two consecutive words. The physician,
after examining her, came to the conclusion
that the case was one of hysteria, pure and
simple. He applied the remedies usually
in such cases, but found that they
were useless, and at last concluded that an
appeal to her mentality rather than to her
bodily being would be the only way of effect
ing a cure. He was confirmed in his belief
that hysteria was at the base of her trouble,