What Nerves May Do Brown- Stquard. 



85 



this admission and t^ic fncfs I have mentioned before, 

 \ve have all tlie elements, I think, for au oxplauatioii of 

 what has bcousaid about the fakirs. 



I find, unfortunately, that the timo presses so that I 

 Blmll lie obliged to pass over a good many 1'acts and 

 coitic to thu miracles of La Sale tie and to the miracles 

 accomplished at the tomb of rather Matthew, and also 

 what has been said of a great many other instances of 

 recovery from illness. I cannot but believe that there is 

 no need of appealing to any other power tliau what we 

 know of imagination for the explanation of what takes 

 place in those miracles. They are very curious, but 

 Lardly more curious than what we see when, we know 

 without doubt that imagination is the cause of such a 

 change. Tao cure of any illness which does not consist 

 In any disorganization of the tissues can often be ac- 

 complished -when the person thinks that it can be done. 

 If we physicians, who treat patients every day, had the 

 v power to make them believe that they are to be cured, 

 we ceriamly -would obtain Jess fees than we 

 do, and I must say that the best of 

 us would rejoice at it. There is no 

 doubt at all that if we could give to patients the idea 

 that they are to be cured they would often be cured, 

 especially if we could name a time for it, which is a 

 great element in success. I have succeeded in this way 

 sometimes, and I may say that I succeed more now than 

 formerly, because I have myself the faith that I can in 

 giving faith obtain a cure. I wish, indeed, that phy- 

 sicians who are younger men than inpself, and who will 

 Lave more time to study this question than I have, 

 would take it up, especially in those cases in which 

 there is a functional nervous affection only to deal with, 

 as it is particularly, though not only, in those cases that 

 a cure can be obtained. Indeed a cure may thus be ob- 

 tained in certain organic affections ; even in dropsy it 

 may lead to a cure. You know that it will stop pam ; 

 that going to a dentist is often quite enough to make a 

 toothache disappear. | Laughter.! I have seen patients 

 come to me with a terrible neuralgia, who dreaded the 

 operation I was about to perform, and, just, at the time 

 I was to undertake it, ceased to sutler. [Laughter. | 



LIMITS OF NERVE FORCE LAWS OF HEALTH. 



I think I have shown that the power of nerve force is 

 exceedingly various; that nerve force can be trans- 

 formed into chemical force, into motion, into electricity, 

 into heat, into light, and so on. But what are the limits 

 of the action of nerve force 1 I may say that the limits 

 of the action of nerve force, except after it has been 

 transformed into other forces, are our own body. Those 

 persons who think that by an imagination, or by an act 

 of will, or by the action of a vnestnerizer, we can send in 

 any part of our body an influence that can modify it, 

 those persons make a great mistake if thev think that 

 this can take place by forces distinct from nerve force 

 in the subject in which the action takes place. If we 

 divide a nerve going to a part, never mind how much we 

 may imagine that we can move the muscles to which it 

 goes; never mind where we go to be the object of a 

 muscle, we shall not have the least action in the muscles 

 to which that nerve went. That nerve is absolutely* 

 outside of our control. Nerve force cannot be 

 propagated to parts that are not in connection 

 with the nervous centres. This fact is a death blow to 

 the view that there are other forces acting in us than 

 mere nerve force. To continue the illustration of this 

 fact : If the spinal cord, which establishes communica- 

 tion between the brain and the various parts of the 

 body, is divided, the parts of the body that aro below 



that section are separated absolutely from any act of 

 will, any act of imagination, any act coming from emo- 

 tion, in facr, from anything that comes from tlie brain 

 There is, I repeat, no force in our system other than, 

 mere nerve force for the transmissions that may come 

 from the brain, ns the seat of the imagination, the sea.0 

 of emotion and the seat of the will. 



I shall now add but a few words on the production and 

 expenditure of nerve force. Nerve force is produced as 

 you know through blood. It is a chemical force whioli 

 is transformed there into nerve force. Tliis nerve force 

 accumulates in the various ortrans of the nervous system 

 in which it is formed during rest. But if re.-t is pro- 

 longed, then it ceases to be produced. Alteration takea 

 place iu the part which is not put to work. Oil the other 

 hand, action which is so essential to the production ol 

 nerve force, if prolonged will exhaust force also, but 

 produce a state distinct from that of rest. Rest will 

 produce a lack of blood, while over-action may produce 

 congestion. The great thin^, therefore, is to have sutli- 

 cient but not excessive action. 



There is another law which ia that we should not 

 exercise alone one, two, or three of the great parts ol 

 the nervous system; since thus we draw blood to those 

 parts only, and the other parts of the body suffer. In 

 the due exercise of all our organs lies the principal 

 rules of hygiene. This view, you know, comes from a 

 physician. It is not in agreement with what the poet 

 Churchill wrote : 



" The surest road to health, say what yon will, 

 Is never to suppose we shall be ill. 

 Most of those evils we poor mortals know, 

 From doctora and imagination flow." 



Unfortunately Churchill died a victim to this view 

 that doctors were murderers. He died of a fever at the 

 age of 34, and that because he had been too carelesa 

 about calling in a doctor to help him. But it is certainly 

 true that the gieat rule of health ia-not to lay imagina- 

 tion aside, and this is why 1 have quoted these verses. 

 Imagination, ou the contrary, is to be appealed to far 

 more than we do, and this is one of the great conclusions 

 that I hope young physicians will keep iu mind. 



To conclude with these great rules of hygiene, I should 

 say that we should not spend more than our means 

 allow us. Many commit this fault. As before said, we 

 should make au equal use of all our organs, and of the 

 various parts of th nervous system. Those who employ 

 the brain suffer a great deal from inattention to tins law. 



Lastly, there should bo regularity as regards the time of 

 meals, the time and amount of action, the time and 

 amount of sleep regularity in everything. It is very 

 difficult indeed to obtain it. But, there is in our nature 

 more power than we know, and if we conform ourselvea 

 to the law of habit things will soon go ou without our 

 meddling with them, and we come to be perfectly reg- 

 ular, although we perhaps had naturally a tendency not 

 to be. 



In conclusion, I have to thank the audience that has 

 listened to me so patiently through these long and dis- 

 connected lectures. I Loud applause.] 



ERRATA. 



Page 14. col. 1, line 18: for ' d iys," rei3 years. 



Page 33, col. 2, lines 10, 11: for " li:iJ the power of convefire 

 various sensations in it of otijer things," read is purtraijed in the 'nerves 

 and that they carry willi them its animus. 



Page 33, col. 2, line lit: for ' Thomas" read James. 



Page, 34, col. 1, line GO: for " both astringents," rea I and an asfrtn- 

 gcnt substance. 



Page 34, col. 1, line G6: for " Dn Cros," read Durand <!e Gros. 



Page 34, col. '2, line IU: for " recall," read Ituve heard stuttd. 



