The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-18

the courage of BCnaparte and d sgenetteg
IN arresting the progress of the plague
at Jana by sheer force Of energetic men
tai suggestion upon their soldiers Every
man. says Rousseau, fears to die. II is
the grand law of sensible beings without
Whcn every living being would soon be
uespolied. 1t IS this fear which the
physician has to fight against by reassur-
ing words and manner. Antoine Petit
narrates in his Memories de Chirurgie,s
that while operating one day upon one Of
ms intimate friends an alarming hemOr-
Ihage occurred which, as it could not
be stopped, was naturally a source OF
well founded anxiety. The patient ex-
claimed, Il am lost. d" ION the contrary p
replied Petit, with assumed GOODNESS. won
are so far from being lost that wit hOut
uouDt L snail be obliged to bleed Won
AGAIN TINS evening or tomorrow" This
vas plouS falsehoOd, but it's action
counteracted a mental shock which would
nave acted fatally; in fact. the hem0r-
image was stopped, the nearly bloodless
patient rallied and finally recovered
Alother aneCdote will serve to illus
ITate another phase. The Prince Of Sake
Welmar was attacked every day at pre-
clSely noon with all the SYMPTOMS of an
intermittent fever which would not ,ieiJ
10 clnchona or any other drug. Hufe-
land, his physician, gave orders to The
aLlendants TO set the clock two hours
ahead or time, and the patient not be-
ing attacked as usual al the apparent
hOur believed himself cured and was 81
powerfully influenced by his Imagination
never recurring. CharcOt in his day.
successfully checked cases Of sDasms,'
nervous contractiOns and commissions OF
purely nervous origin by simple bread
piIIs which We're seriously called 'Ifght-
LIIlIS pins. VINO does not remember the
ancient tradition Of the son Of Croesus1
dumb from his birth, who suddenly found
nus voice TO cry out against the murderer
VINO was about to strike down his fatherP
VINO has not in recent times heard OF
presumably paralytic persons bedriIIen
mr. Hs1
threatened by fire and flame?
before the discovery Of chlOroforr1,
Wheh II vas necessary to lessen pain
ana diminish muscular contraction the
surgeon had frequent recourse to dis !
traction or establishment to attract tina
attention of the patient. Dupuytren. cali I
ed 10 reduce dislOcated shoulder and
pelng hindered by the obstinacy of the
patient, said to her, in the presence Of
the whole family: You are a sanctimo-
NOUS person, madame, but 1 well know
that you are nothing but an old drunk
ard At this insult the arm almost
literally fell from the body Of the poor
woman and the head of the hUmerus
guided by the surgeon slipped back into
it's normal socket. At the hospital of the
Yal1de-Grace a military surgeon had a
soldier under his care who had simu-
lated deafmutism for a period of two
years The surgeon accused the pa
tlent OF having stolen his watch and the
soldier Indignantly denied the accusa-
ton.
Moral action has a powerful influence
upon the muscles. Fear Weakens the
muscles, hope strengthens them. and an
ger gives them the strength of a Her.
cules. AS already mentioned paralytics
walk In the presence of fire. In our own
cay as of old, the instantaneous cure Of
disease by faith is beyond quest ion but
these diseases are in themselves chiefly
II not wholly the results Of prior mental
emotion of a different type. It Is a case
or like burning like. Of hystera curing
hysteria. Physicians, especially. have
strange illustrations Of this. For ex-
ample, the simple application of the elm
1cal thermometer have been known tn
quiet alarming crises and to check t6e
most alarming manifestations Of disease
in persons who were ignorant Of the use
of such thermometer.
Very has said, do you wish to perform
miracles? Appeal to the Imagination ne
is beyond question the faith Of the pa.
tlent which Is the greatest factor in his
cure. Hope is often quite superior as a.
remedy 70 any compounded by the most
skilful druggist, and it is a great mis-
fortune that some inventive genius has
not discovered a method Of administering
nope in pills and potions What a mis-
fortune that medicine today takes pleas
ure in belittling the powerful influence
or cheerful mentality upon the progress
and issue of disease. To distract the at
tention Of the patient from himself and
AWAKEN IN him Joy is to sork en-
ergeticaly towards a cure.
True 1t Is, not every one who has the
means when treating a patient rendered
melancholy by the loss of money TO write
such a prescription as that credited to
BouVeard. prescription which read:
Good for 10000 at my bankers.''
But the patient should at least, in de-
fault of a medical friend, have a con-
scientious physician who is not ignor-
ant of the Internal consequences of thu
ruin Of all hope. For this reason the
widespread dissemination of the germ
theory of disease has had a most disas-
trous effect upon nervous people causing
them to see infection and contagion on
every hand. These needless alarms have
a deplora!ble influence upon the individual
and the public. The consumptlve, for
example, is looked upon today as pest.fer-
Gus and his death is FASTENED by the
despair of isolation. Deprived of affec-
Tomato and tender care, which should
surround him in his family. despite the
possibility Of contagion; cruelty despoiled
Of that animal consolation, less illusory
perhaps than all remedies the poor out
cast forfeits even the benefits of hope,
which may be poetic, but none the less
realistic. His already shortened term OF
existence Is stin further abbreviated by
the brutality of doctrine of close quar-
antine and absolute isolation.
Leon Noel