Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1909-02-01

VOW that the healing influence
IN Of faith and suggestion Is more
generally understood and ap.
preciated than was ever the
case before scientists are asking them
selves If the traditional belief of man.
kind In the curative power ot prayer
may not. after all. be justified by the
facts Of human experience. Man,
have already answered this question
with an emphatic affirmative.
Professor James, the famous psychol.
Ogist, declares unreservedly that If any
medical fact can be considered to stand
firm 1t Is that In certain environments
prayer may contribute to recovery and
should be encouraged as therapeutic
measure. DR.. Richard G. Cabot ex-
presses the same view and adds that
every man who prays sincerely will
thereby open to himself powers which
he might otherwise never be able to
draw upon.
DR.. Thomas Hyslop the head of a
great asylum for the insane, in an ad-
dress delivered before the British Med
ical association stated that in all his
experience he had not found Il better
cure for insomnia than prayer. which.
in his opinion, was unsurpassed as Il
pacifier Of the mind and nerves and as
a producer Of that mental passiviy so
essential to the conquest Of sleepless-
ness. Other medical men similarly
testify that in cases Of severe Illness
when mental calm and confidence are
absolutely Indispensable to recovery
the best prescription they can offer is
earnest, fervent prayer.
Some writer's urge the habitual prac-
tice Of prayer rs means of keeping
the bodily organism In perfect health.
The explanation Of this. as given by
Drs. Worcester and McComb, who are
scientists as we'll as clergymen. is that
the calm and purified spirit attained
by prayer reacts on the nervous organ
ization, restoring its tone and rhythm.
1t is also matter of record that innu
merable recoveries have been effected
by prayer.
Thus the findings of science bear out
the teachings Of religion and afford
impressive evidence to the dynamic.
creative virtues of prayer-that is Of
course. Of prayer in the true and
worthy sense, not the kind of prayer
Of which Jonathan Edwards wrote.
Resolved, Never to count that Il pray
err, nor to let that pass as prayer,
nor that as petition Of prayer.
which is so made that l cannot hope
that God will answer it.
Insanity In America.
The establishment of chair Of pSy
chopathology ut Tufts Medical college
testifies to the growing appreciation of
American physicians in the mental
factor in medicine. Psychopathology.
translated into everyday English
means the scientific study of the
nervous diseases and their treatment
by methods that are primarily psyche
logical rather than physiological.
According to the statistics of the
census bureau, our insane asylums had
a population Of only 40. 492 in the year
1880. BY 1890 their population had
increased to 74,O2S, and in 1903, when
the latest enumeration Was made. the
asylums Of the country held 15O,151 in
mates. Thus there has practically
been doubling Of the asylum popula
ton every ten years. and the increase
has been far In excess of the increase
in the total population Of the country.
From 1880 to 1890 while the total pop
ulation increased by about % per cent
| <hD I'd Nv
per cent and from 1890 to 1908 by
more than 100 per cent as against an
increase Of less than 30 per cent in the
total population.
OF course, these ratios do not afford
an exact measure for the increase in
insanity. Formerly the asylum pop
ulation was largely confined to acute
cases. which is by no means the fact
today, since the relatives and friends
Of the insane. having lost much of the
old time prejudice against asylums.
send the afflicted to institutions in
stead Of keeping them secluded at
home. Moreover, the more humane
methods Of treatment now in vogue re-
suit In the insane living longer.
A Hint to GrumbIsrs.
You may learn to consume your own
smoke. The atmosphere is darkened
by the murmurings and whimperings
of men and women over the nonessen-
tials, the trifles that are inevitably in
cident to the hurly burly Of the days
routine. Things cannot always 60 your
way. Learn to accept In silence the
minor aggravations. cultivate the gift
of taciturnity and consume your own
smoke with an extra draft Of hard
work, so that those about you may not
be annoyed with the dust and SCOT Of
your complaints.-William Osler.
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