216 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the statistics, as unfortunately it seems extremely difficult to persuade 

 the disciples of Mrs. Eddy to lend themselves to investigations of 

 this sort. 



We can even go a step further with the utmost confidence, and 

 say that simple concentration of the attention upon a given part will 

 increase the blood supply. This is capable of experimental verification, 

 for very many people can cause the backs of their hands to redden 

 perceptibly by fixing the attention upon one spot for some time, with- 

 out the thought of desiring a flush, though that idea usually hastens 

 the process. 



This furnishes us a key to some obstinate chronic diseases, where 

 there is no destruction of the tissue, but where an unwholesome condi- 

 tion has resulted from an oversupply of blood caused by undue fixation 

 of the attention upon the part, a permanent blush, so to speak. As the 

 health of the body depends upon the preservation of a normal blood 

 supply, modified by the demands made by the activities of the different 

 organs, we see that an organ constantly oversupplied becomes diseased, 

 like a man who habitually overeats, while this oversupply must be 

 taken from the share of some other portion, which consequently starves. 

 If this is so, it is evident that a cure will follow when the unwhole- 

 some attention is discontinued. This shows why the Christian Scien- 

 tists say "Deny error. If your 'mortal mind' has a claim that an 

 organ is diseased, stop thinking about it. Hold the thought that it 

 is completely well, that you are perfect" This whole line of thought 

 is well conceived, and tends toward mental poise and bodily well-being, 

 for those who are able to believe the tenets. 



Having secured some clear ideas about the physiological reasons 

 for some of the Christian Science methods, we are ready for the more 

 difficult aspect of the subject, that of nervous disorders. Every practis- 

 ing physician is confronted with a class of cases in which there does 

 not seem to be an adequate cause for the symptoms, and which are 

 roughly classified under the head of hysterical affections. They include 

 paralysis of various organs, stiffness of the limbs, pain and swelling in 

 the joints, pain in the head and spine, perversions of sensation, over- 

 irritability of various functions, and a host of Protean symptoms. The 

 sufferers suffer actual pain, and often very serious inconvenience, but 

 the most careful medical treatment seems unsuccessful. The limits 

 of this article will not permit a discussion of this subject, but it 

 suffices to say that to all intents and purposes the maladies are real, 

 even though they exist only in the imagination. They seem akin to 

 " fixed ideas," and " pain habits," as well as to that phenomenon called 

 the "balky will" frequently met with in childhood, where a child 

 refuses to obey, and then holds the idea so firmly that it is physically 

 and mentally impossible for him to yield. We have all seen it in balky 



