Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1908-03-18
wAIHALLA, s. O.:
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1s, 1908.
soIENoE OF MENTAL HEARING.
Remarkable Results Have Been At
tanned by Means of Suggestion.
(Cincinnati Enquirer J

i' For many years, beginning with
what was known as magnetic heal
ing in France, there has been grow
ing perception and belief that GER
tain disorders and, diseases OF nerv-
ous origin are best dealt with by
processes and methods from which
drugs are omitted. and which, sup
posedly at first to be of q mysterious
nature, have been found to be purely
psychical There has been great
deal of cropping and stumbling In the
dark before reaching this conclusion,
and the results attained have been
attributed to various causes. Some
have designated them as miracles,
others as faith cures, others as the
effect Of magnetism, or hypnotism,
and still others to the power of sug-
gestion or auto-suggestion.
k 1t is comparatively recently that
the subject has been Investigated sci
ent,finally and rational theories based
son observed facts put forward, AL
though the close connection between
sthe mind and the body had long been
known, and the power of mental
states to affect bodily functios recog-
nized, the medical profession having
always dealt with disease wholly by
medicaments, and being unduly con-
servatiye, failed for a long time to
recognize the value of mental thera-
tpeutics and to make 1t as they should
have done part of medical science,
contributing to the art of healing.
Had thy done so at the outset, faith
cure ,.mind cure, Eddyism and Dowie-
ism would never have been heard Of,
as separate cults, for the ground they
occupied would have been covered.
Everything they have accomplished
of value Is traceable to mental sug-
gestion.
Recently this fact, as we'll as that
powerful adjunct that suggestion may
be made to the physician, has been
recognized and the doctors are using
It generally. A London paper re-
lates the following incident, illus
trating the power of suggestion:
"a remarkable incident happened
recently at a London dental hospital.
A young woman went there to have
five teeth extracted. The anesthetic
decided upon by the dental surgeon
was ethyl chloride, and this was adj
ministered by the usual form of APP
paratus. An India rubber cap is
placed over the patients mouth and
nostrils and connected with 1t Is a
bag into which sealed capsule of
ethyl chloride is introduced. BY tho
turning of screw from the outside
the capsule is broken and the anes-
thetic liberated. The screw was
turned, the patient went off gradu-
ally into the usual condition of in
sensibility, five teeth were extracted.
and the patient awakened without
feeling any part of the operation.
The whole case appeared perfectly
normal. Only when the young wo-
man had left the room and the ap-
paratus was being made ready for
another patient, was 1t discovered
that the capsule Of ethyl chloride had
by some mischance not been broken
at all. The whole condition Of in
sensibility had been brought about
by the self-hypnotism Of the patient.
The idea that an anesthetic was be-
/. ing administered was so strong in
her mind that she had passed into
insensibility entirely by hypnotic
suggestion"
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