The Elbert County tribune., 1915-02-12
copyright. 1914 by A S. Gray)
WONDERS OF DUcTLEss GLANDS.


1t is well known that very often a
medicine or other remedy. OF itself alb
solutely without effect, produces a
very marked improvement or perhaps
even totally corrects all sorts of nerv-
Gus and functional disorders of the hu-
man body, il only the patient is con-
vinced beforehand that the remedy
will be effective and that he will be
cured" thereby.
History, both ancient and modern,
running even down to this present
day. bears witness to many hundreds
OF authentic instances of such cases,
and also it records wave after wave of
belief in miracle working remedies
and practices that have from time to
time swept through the habitable globe
curing" the multitudes of their Ills.
The uncultured mind has no concep-
ton of the quantitative relations of
cause and effect. but the disciplined
mind knows that there must be an
adequate cause behind every phenom-
enon and it is ever striving for a
comprehensive grasp on laws and
principles; and civilization consists OF
the cumulative light of such knowl-
edge.
1t is quite generally known that a
motion of the hand. or glance of the
eye. will throw a certain type of weak
and credulous patient into a fit; and
pill made of bread. il taken with suf-
ficient faith, will operate a cure as
well, or even better, than all the drugs
in the pharmacopeia. Such cases are
generally assumed to be Mysteries"
But we are beginning to understand
that there must be always an adequate
cause behind such manifestations; 1t
cannot be the result of imaginations;
1t cannot be the result of the super
natural, and modern psychologists and
psychologists step by step are unravel-
ing the tangled lines and solving the
puzzles. They are proving these hap
penings to be neither freaks of the i'm
agination nor the work of either be-
nign or malignant Supernatural" pow
ers, but rather due to an interaction.
the perfectly natural results of ade-
quate stimuli normally active within
every human body. and amenable to
personal development. and to individ-
ual control, proving thereby that in a
very large measure every man makes
his own disease.
In Van der Mye's account of the
siege of Breda, in 1925, 1t is stated
that the prince of Orange cured all
his soldiers who were dying of the
scurvy by a philanthropic piece of
quackery which he played upon them
with the knowledge of the physicians.
when all other means had failed: THE
garrison being afflicted with the sour
Wy. the prince of Orange sent the ply
sicians two or three small Walls con-
tanning a decoction Of chamomile,
wormwood and camphor, telling them
to pretend that it was medicine OF
the greatest value and EXTREMIST rar.
ity, which had been procured with
very much danger and difficulty from
the East, and SO strong, that two OF
three drops would impart a healing
virtue to a gallon of water. The sol
diers had faith in their commander
they took the medicine with cheerful
faces and grew well rapidly"
Obviously these sturdy Netherland
er campaigners of that day, possessed
of the stamina necessary to enable
them to defy and withstand the at
tacks of the most powerful and brutal
OF monarchs. could not Justly be
classed as weaklings, neurasthenics OIL
Mysteries. And 1t is useless to deny
or to attempt to brush aside such
facts as being unbelievable fables, be
cause everywhere about us we have
evidence of similar happenings, taking
place today. But we will have to gram
that the soldiers were superstitious.
Belief in unmeaning words and In
inadequate remedies implies the ABB
sence of those ideas of causation thai
raise the cultured man above the saw
age; consequently II we claim to be Q
| part of civilization we must strive tc
understand the principles involved IL
these amazing reactions in order thai
we may use them intelligently for the
| advancement of our individual health
and that we may efficiently cooperate
with our fellow men for the better
ment of the race.
Next to the folly of declaring thai
these things cannot be. and the folly
of receiving blindly everything we
hear is the folly of refusing TO accept
to master and eagerly to grasp ant
nse the results of modern investiga
ton, especially when they are clearly
steps in the course of nature and mari
but another stage on the evolutionary
| road.
Few minds possess talent for alb
stract thinking. but such ability is no
necessary because all minds are capa
BILE of acquiring knowledge If onl,
they remain open and are willing t.
be shown. Everybody can see an oh
iect when it is placed before him an,
all can observe objects In relation
II they willard our scientists ar,
slowly and Systematically working ou