Evening star., 1909-05-23

early church of Rome. From the eleventh
to the eighteenth century, monarchs of
England and France used it to cure king s
evil" scrofula. Charles II applied 1t
to 100000 patients in twenty-five years. and
Queen Anne used it in healing DR.. Samuel
Johnson. But when the lafty were caught
using 1t, even In much later times. they
were hanged for their trouble and brand
ed as witches. 1t always has been and
still is based upon a very simple psy-
chologic law. A suggestion takes effect
upon the mind in the line of least resist
ance. Every doubt and fear stored up In
a mind increases its resistance. Tell a
child that the moon is made of green
cheese and If he has no previous informa-
ton on the moon he will believe you, just
in proportion as he has faith In you.
Admiral Robley Evans years ago lost
the power of moving his right thumb.
For two years he has been unable to
freely wriggle the great toe or his left
foot. For some time he has been walk
ing with crutches. Lately he heard of
real estate dealer who is famed for his
power Of relieving his friends of their
ailments by touching the affected part
and repeating a few words unknown TO
the patient. 1t was suggested to Admiral
Evans that this man could benefit him.
Testimonials of people who mad been
admiral faith. Otherwise the experiment
would have been failure. AS it was the
man touched the admiral. much as
Queen Anne touched Samuel johnson.
and as a result the admiral walked OF
without his crutches and was able to
wiggle his right thumb and left big toe.
One of the high officials OF the govern
ment of Washington has this power OF
suggestion. which he uses In talking on
warts"
John Murphy. a sufferer from chronic
rheumatism hobbled into the Jewish Hos
pital. Brooklyn, few weeks ago.
physician skilled in hypnotic suggestion
made few passes and put Murphy TO
sleep. Then the hypnotist suggested to
the sleeping man that he could move his
arms and legs in any position without
pain. and this the cripple did. to the
astonishment of all present And when
the man was awakened he walked about
the room relieved Of his torments of pain
Thus we have two kinds of cases. Ad-
miral Evans was not hypnotiZed, but
this man was, yet both were affected by
suggestion. In such cases hypnotism is
employed to produce sleep for the pur-
pose merely OF gaining fixation or con-
centration of attention. This sleep elimi-
mates the fears and doubts of the patient
and places his mind in the state of least
resistance. But as in Admiral Evans
case the suggestion can be obeyed with
out hypnotsm. the concentration of the
attention having been gained in some
other way.
How he frequently puts insomnia pa
tients to sleep by simply giving them a
teaspoonful or two of salt and water.
which they believe to be some powerful
soporific. was confided to me recently by
a physician Of good standing In fact. I
know intimately of bad case of insom-
mia which was cured in this way: The
nurse was given a box of capsules care
fully numbered, one to be given the pa-
tient each night. No. l contained a max
imum dose of choral. which made the
patient dull the next day. Nevertheless
the sight of the box and the taste of an
other capsule each succeeding evening
now gave powerful suggestion of sleep
After the first night the percentage of
chloral In each capsule was lessened and
cornstarch added. and after thus taper
ing down" the choral was completely
eliminated in few evenings. the patient
sleeping like a babe for several weeks on
capsules of pure cornstarch. AT length.