Show sigf Sf gf l i ry va vhf 1 u self education through the medium gf specially J 5 prepared articles by prominent instructors i avi sv i interesting j features 0 by thomas palmer M D 00 G e 0 X imagination as a cause and cure of disease have so far recognized the part which imagination plays as an factor among patients that they have given to diseases of imaginative origin a distinct name imagined or fancied disease la known as and there are doubt less many conditions treated as real which should come under this class must not be confused with malingering which is a purely voluntary feigning of disease for in the former there Is certainly a very real disease element which forces the belief in the malady upon the patient if the condition complained of Is not genuine Is certainly a functional disease of the brain there has always been a great deal of humor in the anecdotes of medical reading over their first texts on medicine and developing the symptoms of the diseases of which they read this is not the invention of the wit but is experienced by many a sen dr gabier prominent follower ot the pasteur method ol 01 inoculation for rabies elble young man this tendency is the means by which patent medicine vend ers hook prey they issue family doctor books outlining the symptoms of serious diseases do you suffer from a sense of weariness they ask do you awaken with an unpleasant taste in your mouth do your feet and hands go to sleep are your eyes over puffy in the morning have you been guilty of any moral in discretions in past years yes yes the victim cries then ho reads it so the course lies toward the madhouse an early death diseased mind your only salvation lies in Quac kems quaker price abent 3 Bent in sealed wrapper it may ecca trite to introduce this instance in detail but it Is one of the most striking examples of abo effect of imagination the one who reads the advertisement realizes that be has had these symptoms evary man has and be concludes that ho has that disease lie Is entirely convinced of it and buys a bottle of the patent medicine seeing aa months go by that the results are not so black as predicted bo does not lose faith in the patent medicine almanac but acquires great faith in the nostrum and writes a testimonial with all sincerity telling of his wonderful cure that this is not exaggerated more than buo ouo honest patent medicine maker can testify it Is well known among physicians that a clean wound made by the sur knife does not cause pain lasting after the operation athla Is shown from the fact that many patients rendered unconscious by accidents which make imputations amputations necessary are unconscious of the fact that the operation baa taken place after consciousness ness however as as they what has happened they often complain of intense pain hero Is where imagination has the upper hand the use of a hypodermic injection of plain water under abo pretext of its being morphine will often cause immediate relief hero is an example of a lit which imagination cures just where real disease begins and imagination anda Is a very difficult matter to determine and ono which calls into play all of the tact and ingenuity of tho physician for a hint at imagination as the foundation of abo patients ailment Is always resented there are cases however known as chronic beginning with bamo bomo real disease of a chronic nature at last a cure may bo effected but the patient has become an invalid by habit and continues to feel so long after every trace of disease baa disappeared he feels every pain of which he is accustomed to complain asa truly as though it really existed for such a condition imagination is the eurist and beat remedy and wise is the doctor who n cases treats the mind rather than the body these fare tho cases upon the various faith thrive and faith cure Is tho proper therapy oases ore reported of tb oso who r have long been crippled aclus carried to a man like dowle lie laying on his hand orders tho patient to nud walk with the result of immediate cure these arc the ones who have at ono time been really crippled and have recovered but have gone through life imagining that they were still helpless it Is the faith in the alleged power of the charlatan which prompts tho effort which discloses the fact that power Is regained imagination as a cure of disease has necessarily been considered in a way in another chapter but imagination Is used outside the ranks of the fakiri fakirs it Is a potent clement in the treatment of regular physicians it Is the power of imagination which produces results with those inert medicinal pre para eions known as placebos ebos A successful I 1 country doctor told me that be had three kinds of placebo tablets pink white and blue all simply made of sugar of milk and utterly inert iio had been giving a patient the white tablets until tho patient complained that the given was not strong enough expressing hla disapproval of such powerful drugs the physician produced a and gave it with a great deal of ceremony the result was immediate and gratifying in the extreme although as I 1 have said tho white and blue tablets were equally inert thero arc a great many cases coming under tho doctors care in which he would prefer to give no medicine at all cither because there la no disease justifying it or because the disease is self limiting and tends to spontaneous cure it is a fact generally recognized that in moat cases drugs must be given to act upon the imagination of the patient and for this purpose it makes practically no difference what it Is so long as it docs no harm some tune ago in a surgical clinic I 1 saw a demonstration of abo power of imagination which was interesting A woman bad been placed upon the table preparatory to an operation without anaesthesia the operator instructed ted her to compose herself it will be over in a moment ho said with this be drew his finger nail over the location for incision the woman uttered a scream and was fairly convulsed with pain she could not bo convinced that tho incision bad not been made until she was permitted to see tho spot she had suffered all tho pain of the operation when nothing had been done to causo the slightest discomfort this same patient had appi fed for operation to have a needle removed from her thigh in which it biad been accidentally lodged somo weeks before and which she claimed caused her great inconvenience A blight skin incision was made by the operator and immediately up the was not found and yet the recovery was complete so it may be seen that there is a great deal in the idea of mind overcoming matter it Is evidenced every day in general practice the physician who has tho entire confidence of tho patient is to accomplish more than abo man in whom the patient docs not have so much faith and the great specialist who is credited with abo accomplishment of wonders is capable of doing as much by the mental impression he makes upon the patient as by his drugs the real indications for tho uso of electricity are exceedingly email the real cures which can be accomplished by it are few and yet in those cases in which imagination la an clement there Is nothing so potent the very fact that there is always a degree of mystery about the workings of electricity the fact that wa have never learned exactly what it is adds to its curative power when acting upon the mind it may bo safely said that nil of those conditions which can be caused by emotions or abnormal mental ac pleasure borrow worry or surprise may also bo caused by the action of tho imagination and influences which will act upon and produce these same emotions arc the best means of cure upon good authority wo hear of como great surprise or joy opening the Past eurs method of inoculation for rabies byca of the blind of como alarm or fear giving strength to crippled limbs to amit emotion ending a apparently hopeless disease qan it be that such emotions have alio brain cells into action again or mut we accept it ns the mental impetus which overcomes the imaginative disease the conditions which anre products of imagination or mental wandering and which ar increasing with the high mental strain of civilization must be met by mental suggestion which la abo direction of tho imagination into channels which anro northal rather than pathological 1902 by lewis D sampson |