Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1917-02-16
THE CARFAX CURSE
The altar cloth ?"

ucCA DlOA6ht lutO EAuSldHu Dy EuNdTu
| the Confessor. and reputediy of great
sanctity, The priors are supposed 60
have taken it away with them. 1t was
never found. But now, you see. IL the
prophecy has been fulfilled since 1916,
what hope has Arthur"
What do the doctors say is the
matter with him."
/ Sir John threw up his hands with
gesture of helplessness. The doc
torsl" he repeated. 'Why-they know
They know that the hereditary curse
I has descended upon the boy. Six
months ago he was taken sick with a
wasting disease. There is nothing or
ganically wrong with him; he is just
wasting away. Day by day he grows
weaker, and his death seems now to
be matter Of few weeks only. And
| the tragic thing is that he knows; he
knows that he must die: and his only
, pleasure is in sitting before the dis
/ mantled altar in the old ruined chapel
and dosing there. He has been affict-
! ed with somnambulism since child
| hood and whenever his attendant
misses him from his bed he knows
where he will be found; before the al
tar, fast asleep, and talking to him
self"
The automobile swung off the high
road and into the grounds of stately
park. through whose vistas OF leafy
. trees could be seen herds of fallow
deer, peacefully browsing. The road
swung to the right between two rows
OF ancient elms. and now we could
see the square stone towers of Carfax,
with the dismantled, ruined stone
chapel upon knoll little to the
right of it. The chauffeur and butler
were waiting at the door the former
took the machine to the garage.
while the latter respectfully received
our baggage.
How is Mr. Arthur" asked Sir
John
He seems TO DE better today. sir, .
the butler answered. He was reading
in the chapel while ago. Here he
comes now. sir"
A tall slim. gracefully built young
fellow was coming slowly across the
lawn and, seeing us. he stopped shyly.
His father called him.
Come here, Arthur" he said Doc
tor Imamnuel. this is my son about
whom we were speaking" He intro
duced the boy to me also. How do
you feel today?' he asked. anxiously
Better. father" said the boy in an
odd. emotionless tone. AS he walked
slowly into the house his father looked
after him and then turned wistfully to
us.
He knows" ne said And he
doesn't seem to care That is the trag
edy OF it. They all go like that / re-
member my poor brother Walter-he
died in the same way And yet the
doctors can md nothing wrong with
him"
Suppose examine him at once
and let you know the exact co2dition."
said Emmanuel cheerfully II we
cant beat the curse together. with all
! the resources of modern science. Il
shall be greatly surprised. What
( treatment is he receiving"
The usual thing. Tonics, beef ex-
/ tracts, iron; the physicians have Ia
ken his blood count and call 1t PERM
cious anemia. But they don't say how
! ii arose. And there is nothing organ
ically wrong" The poor fellow seemed
TO cling to that one hope.
There is a new solution OF arsenic
! which is used very successfully for
that" said Emmanuel Then again
there is hypnotism. don't know
which is better. Perhaps we will try
both"
I "Hypnotism." exclaimed Sir John.
/ lis that the secret of your cures?"
1T is not exactly a secret" an
swered the doctor. 1T is in very com
mon use among physicians today and
based upon known laws and not en-
pirical,"
You mean that you can hypnotise
him into thinking that he is well?''
Yes. But any other fool could do
that-only it wouldn't make him we'll
No, sir. the principle is simply this;
The greater portion of the body func-
tons automatically. that is to say
without the consciousness of the
brain. The stomach digests whether
We ask Il 10 or not. the heart beats,
the liver secretes, and SO on. Now
take the spleen, which seems to be
behaving badly in your sons ease. We
cant make our spleens come to or'er
no But under hypnotism We can
get deeper: We can get down to the
consciousness Of these half independ-
ent organs and tell them to be good.
And then, sometimes under hypnotism
we find ourselves on very interesting
trails which | cannot persuade other
physicians to follow up. We ind other
personalities at work. lost memories
iourishing like fungus growth under
smooth MOSES and grasses-it is all
very interesting. and some day the
p..k