WJiat *7cn-cs May Do Brown- Sf guard. 



83 



:uilnials after the de.sfruetrin of certain 

 parts of the nervous system. F.U- Instance, the 

 destruction of a CTOat part of thn .spinal cord in cats, 

 allows cbe development of the lower limbs. There ( s an 

 atrophy or wasting la size or girth of tlio limi>, but tiio 

 development iu length takes place. (2.) The second 

 point 18 that the nervous system lias, however, a great 

 usefulness in improving nutrition. (3.) And thirdly; it 

 has a groat power in disturbing nutrition, especially 

 under certain influences, prominent among which is the 

 application of e>>ld to the slcin. I may say hero that the 

 great danger cornea from the fact that we do uot expose 

 ourselves suthYiently to cold. If wo accustomed our skin 

 to the influence of cold, then wo should be iu very much 

 less danger of having any of the morbid influences that 

 cold acting ou the skin can produce. 



I now approach a i>road subject, about which, unfortu- 

 nately, I shall uot have time to say as much as I should 

 like. In fact, it would take a large number of lectures 

 to develop it completely. It is the power of the mind 

 over the body through nervous force. That power of 

 the mind over the body is much greater than most of 

 you imagine. Indeed, I do not think that any one among 

 you, however exalted may be his or her idea ot the 

 strength and variety of their power, has an adequate 

 conception of its magnitude within the bounds which I 

 will mention. You all know what inesmerizers have 

 tried to establish. You all know what persons believing 

 in animal magnetism profess and declare. You have 

 heard of what is called the "od force;" and you have 

 heard of a peculiar process which originated, iu New- 

 England, and which we know under the name of Per- 

 tin's Tractors. All these views that I have mentioned 

 have a ground in nature, and I may say there is hardly 

 any folly in mankind of any Importance that has not 

 some ground, some degree of truth. 



THE POWER OF IMAGINATION. 



But thoueh there may be some ground for it, there 

 may not be enough to establish the truth of a certain 

 Tiew. The ground here is simply that the power of 

 imagination ou the body is immense, and that what is 

 done by persons iu a state of what is called mesmerism, 

 or in any of the instances I have mentioned, which is 

 apparently due to those odd forces this time it has two 

 dees [laughter], is due to the imagination of the person 

 under these influences. John Hunter long ago having to 

 deal with a mesmerizer, showed very clearly what 

 occurs in these cases. He said that he had observed of 

 himself that by thinking of any part of the body ha 

 could very soon produce a< sensation there, and if he 

 thought of a certain kind of sensation that 

 kind of sensation was produced. Having been 

 urged strongly to go to a inepinerizer's, he 

 teils us tnat he was very reluctant, to do so 

 because he was troubled with that serious aflection 

 known as angina pectoris and feared for his health. 

 Finally he made up his mind to go, and determined to 

 call some sensation from a part remote from that on 

 which the mesmerizer was trying to fix his mind; so 

 that when the mesmerizer was trying to act on his hand, 

 saying, " Don't you feel this or that sensation when this 

 instrument is put in your hands 1" Hunter at that time 

 waa trying to give himself the gout in the big toe. 

 (Laughter.] Hunter unfortunately knew by experience 

 what the gout was, for he was careless of his health, 

 and had that complaint in other and worse parts than 

 the big toe. But this time he thought he would divert 

 it to that member, and succeeded In doing it so 

 well that all the attempts of the mesmerizer 

 to produce a sensation in the fingers failed. 



Hunter had the tr;:e view aln ;:t tliN, when 

 he attributed it lo the. ini:igiii;i! ion. Ani'llnr man of 

 immense g -iimn, although at limes, acc.inling to my 

 notion, he was earned a'.vay by hallucinations and lllu- 

 slons from a disorder ia his mind; ;hai in n, Swou'-n- 

 borg, had 1 also a very clear view of what J.>,ni Hunter 

 has expressed. lie lived before Hunter, and therefore 

 preceded him in this view, and lie, expre-sod it in his 

 usual way, somewhat mystically but v: ry forcibly, for 

 he said that the brain had the power of conveying 

 various sensations in it of other things to any part of 

 the nervous system. And this is what imagination may 

 do. But the real discoverer of this influence, tue man 

 who has established on most solid grounds the agency 

 of the imagination in this mailer is Thomas Braid of 

 Manchester, the real introducer of hypnotism, although 

 some three or four Americans had h;;d a good deal of 

 his i nought mixed up wlch notions more or less incorrect. 

 Tne influence of the mind ou sensations especially is 

 exceedingly great. Prof. Bennett of Edinburgh related 

 the case ot a butcher who was once trying to hang 

 apiece of meat ou a hook. He found sudden) y that he has 

 suspended himself to the hook instead of the meat. His 

 agony of pain, when ho discovered it, was terrible, but 

 an examination showed that the hook had only >assed 

 through, tiis sleeve and had hardly touched his skin. 

 [Laughter.] The exalcatiou of the senses that we see, 

 especially iu mesmerized persons, inuy go to a most 

 wonderful extent. Indeed, the power of the sense of 

 hearing especially is such that it would be dangerous, if 

 you wanted to reach the truth about mesmerism, to 

 talk iu a room adjoining the one in which was the mes- 

 merized person, about that which the mesmerized per- 

 son was to find. Tue inesmeriZ3J parson would have a 

 good chance of hearing what you say. All the senses 

 indeed arc exceedingly delicate then. 



KNOWLEDGE OF TIME WHILE UNCONSCIOUS. 



Still there is another thing than an increase of the 

 senses. Prof. Luycock of Edinburgh has insisted on a 

 point of great importance. It you put a watch on the 

 back part of the ho-ad of a mesmerizad persou I have 

 uot seen it, but it seems well attested that person will 

 know what time it is exactly to the minute, although 

 some hours may have elapsed since the person had the 

 opportunity to consult the time. In that case Prof. Luy- 

 cock suggests that we all know that duiiu.tr sleep we 

 have a power of judging of time. There is no doiiht that 

 there is such a power of knowing the time, so much so 

 that some people can wako themselves up within a 

 minute of a fixed time. So it is quite easy to admit that 

 the mesmerized person knew the time by that power, 

 whatever it is. Tnerefore, thu power of knowing the 

 time did not come from the fact that the watc i was 

 there; or that the hands of the watch were seen by the 

 hair or the sltin, or the bones, '*, was that there 

 was a knowledge within of the real time. Tne way to 

 ascertain if the person sees would be to put tilers a watcii 

 which gives the wrong tims. 



1 could give a good many facts to show that even in 

 health, in persons of imagination, a tit-eat deal of pain 

 can be produced when there is no organic cause ior it. 

 I could show also that lack of sensation may be pro- 

 duced to such au extent by the imagination that pam. 

 may scarcely be felt, as in the case of the Couvul- 

 siouaires of St. Medard. These men and women were 

 trampled under foot in the most violent manner, and 

 never showed the least sensibility under pain. They 

 had come to imagine that they could bear aluiott any- 

 thing, and did do it. There is a story of one of these 

 poor Sisters of Charity who was struck and beaten all 



