New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-12

Weird Effects of Imagination in
Cases of Disease.

A remarkable case of death caused by imagination
VIZ. recorded recently. says The London Express.
Young girl al Cincinnati, depressed through i'll
health drank what she supposed to be bottle or
oarbolic acie and begged to be taken to a doctor.
Despite all medical efforts. however. she Iaploly
sank and died. A post-mortem examination showed
no traces POISON. and the bottle Of caroohc acid
was found untouched while the bottle from whch
she had drunk the contents was proved to nave
contained only perfectly harmless mixture.
Fancy XII and fancy can cure" Is provero
which. whether in thai form in the saying OF
the North Country. "Conceit kill and concet
can cure is quoted far and wide wherever the
English language Is spoken and it has funda-
mental foundation in truth which brings it into
contrast with many other proverbs.
Fancy can KILL" More than that fancy. con
ceit.' inagination-call it what you will-has Killed
strong, healthy men. and where 1t has not killed
them il has given them disease Of an unnstakable
kind or has produced effects through the action
Of drugs exactly opposite to those which the drugs
ordinarily induce.
How fancy kill. how it actually destroyed
life, was demonstrated by the physicians Of Mont
peliier at the time when they in the habit of
having delivered TO them every year two criminals
whom they vivisected in accordance with the
tom which had been handed down them from
Rome. One day they determined to see what effect
the expectation Of death would have on
man who wa perfectly healthy.
They therefore took such 4 subject and told him
that they would kill him in the easiest way by
opening his veins in warm water. They got a bath
of warm water. into which they put his feet Next
they blndfolded him and pricked his feet with the
point of q lancet. but without drawing blood. Then
they began talking TO each other as If the man was
bleeding 10 death. In a little while they removed
the bandage from his eyes. The man was dead.
killed by fancying that he bleeding TO death.
Only year ago there young artillery
cZuit at Douai who perfectly healthy man.
but who labored under the belief that If he had
bath he would die. His comrades laughed at him,
and to demonstrate how absurd his belief they
str off and into he hat
When they took him out OF the water he was dead.
IT might be urged that he suffering from some
organic disease and the shock of the water killed
him 4 post-mortem examination was however,
held, and disease was discovered.
How fancy which IS, after all, only another
disease which will ultimately cause death was most
quoted
In a certain prison there was case of smallpox
which the a1thories Would pTo6abiy nd It d M
cult to explain. such facts always do get known to
sound. healthy man. showing symptoms of weak
prisoner suffering from smallpox had died. The
statement was ina ccurate for there had never been
smallpox case IN thar cell at all In day or two
the man comPlaineo Of being i'll. In few days
a matter OF TACT he had smallpox; He said he was
convinced he was going to die He did de-kilIed
By .fa fancy Si-1--0A "fii'h ne acquired merely
IN striking contrast with his case was that of
another prisoner. He was put into the cell in
which the original smallpox patient had died He
ever had the disease in il Although the room must
nv he ogTa warming T NTH The germs thTown of
before the second prisoner did not get smallpox
or anything else. and remained perfectly healthy
during al the time ne kept there and after
II is no doubt because they never fancy" they
nave 2 disease that doctors the whole preserve
because their patients never trouble their heads
IS to What was the last case the doctor has come
IRON that they, too, fall to catch disease It is
fact well known 10 every who has any ex-
custom to-day the students often used to leave the
wares ana 90 Gown to see fever cases in the room
snd go back to work in the wards without carrying
lion than that o. washing their hands
OF the other hand. Il Is equally well known that
student suffers. acute.y rom the disease about
%En 5he professor Of medicine happens to be
Pens 70 De Tffading Indeed there are many women
such a way al once get every one of the symptoms
Il. has been said that fancy can pervert the
99deiEsFy acton OF drugs and SO produce unlocked
doctor Her youth belonged to the time before q the
ms2v of f6a ans smq she + was therefore ignorant Of
OF To-Day are thoroughly well acquainted. She was
sleep the doctor ordered her come opium pills but
1- ioL leL heT the reason for which he them
Inc woman knew nothing Of opium and Indaed
she did not read the prescription. which was ma de-
II was mpressed Upon FER WAY t az III the dsPensar
tEo pills at bedtime. The. only pills with which
sne was acquainted were the ordinary ambitious
e ss1 which are to be had at two for penny at
svery chemists She took the two opium pills and
altn9ugh by every law OF therapeutics the action
o. the opium is exactly opposite to that Of anti
us. tiIe woman was so convinced IN her
mind that tire action Of all pills the same that
me opium pills produced powerful an effort as
II theV had been Of the ambitious variety hut
without making her sleep N
MIN IN another occasion the house surgeon at hos
nothing more-to a hundred different patiants
Good heavens'' he said when the last one had
swallowed the draught I have made mistake
have given you all strong ernetic'' Within a
Jew minutes eighty Of the hundred became vio-
lenty sick. merely the result of fancy Wv
Jaunulce is disease which IS supDosed n Ia
produced by certain Disturbances vet Sir Samuel
NlAs mas recorded one case which was clearly due
70 lne efecJs Of mental emotion potent Influence
over fancy This is also q potent cause Of tho
dyspepsia from which so many barristers suffer al
me beginning OF the assiZes which they have 10
appear as II IS of a similar complaint in MANY
other professions and calli1gs '
Much has heen written and more has been +aIl,e5
~ late about cancer. the primary cause and origin
or winch are being sought by il would be dificI1It
10 say how many scientific men scattered tbrnI1gb
out the length and breadth Of the world Few
people would believe that fancy the Influence
OF The mind. could produce it, yet Sir George Paget
once wrote, IN many cases have reason for be-