A MIND DISEASED 63 



wise promise relief — a conviction that correspondingly adds to the 

 peculiar kind of dejection and endangering, which, in turn, develops 

 into a chronicity that may evade every attempt at remedy, later on. 



From what we have discovered as to the origin and development 

 and character of mental invalidism, then, it must again be readily 

 recognized that it does not help this sort of individual much, if any 

 better, simply or most elaborately to have said to him, even by the best 

 qualified, " Oh, brace up ; be a man ! " or anything else of like senten- 

 tious order ; except, perhaps, as a " starter," when it is often undoubt- 

 edly invaluable, as is also the temporary good influence of many another 

 similar command, or prayer, or treatment. In respect of this acknowl- 

 edged initial good, however, it must always be remembered that the 

 sufferer from a mind diseased does not, can not, thrive for very long on 

 any sort of " starter " alone, even when it is given with best intention 

 and high emphasis, and by those otherwise skillful; indeed, it fre- 

 quently appears that the very effort to " brace up " or otherwise yield to 

 the dominating spirit serves not to secure anything like the promised 

 relief, but simply more firmly than ever to glue attention to the 

 insistent distress, and to contribute immeasurably to its vividness and 

 persistency. Nor does the heartiest promise of " better times " in the 

 future often do much more; for in such cases the sufferer himself sees 

 altogether too clearly how near to pretense or fabrication such a promise 

 probably is, to be able even deceptively to draw comfort or strength or 

 other kind of remedy from it. The fact is, this species of even most 

 authoritative remedial platitudes do not so often touch the real " spot " 

 as is supposed ; and usually for the simple reason that the real " spot " 

 is not even suspected by either the remedialist or the sufferer; while 

 the reaction from ever so shrewd remedial adventuring, when it seems to 

 promise the impossible or proves to be fallacious in the end, almost 

 always contributes to a measurable increase of the original distress, or 

 else to the development of some new form — " the slings and arrows of 

 outrageous fortune " having been thus but refurbished and resharpened, 

 rather than effectually blunted and broken, by the insufficiency of 

 remedies and promises, which, being not properly supplemented by 

 others appropriate to the subsequent needs, soon lose even their initial 

 value. 



Practically, it is also found in many cases, that it is just a similar 

 kind of wrong management on the part of even those who have hereto- 

 fore been the most intelligently and skillfully concerned, which has led 

 sufferers from mental invalidism to respond so very frequently, and 

 often so very satisfyingly to themselves, for a time, at any rate, to the 

 offerings and importunities of " irregular " practitioners, and of irregu- 

 lar sects of almost every description. The " mind diseased," not getting 

 expected, and perhaps promised, light through "instruments of pre- 



