5 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ate constipation. The most powerful medicines in exceptionally large 

 doses failed to produce more than the most meager effects, until at last 

 her condition became alarming. At this juncture they put her under 

 my direct professional care. But nothing that I could do seemed 

 to have the slightest effect on her in ameliorating her condition. As 

 she lived in my family, I had every opportunity to observe her, and 

 after a while my attention was attracted to the fact that, in making my 

 inquiries as to how she felt, she never seemed to know anything about 

 it. In fact, she would deny having any sensations of any kind what- 

 ever. I would sometimes see her, while in the family circle, put her 

 hand to her back or to some other part of her body, acting as if she 

 had a sharp pain there. But, even when I made immediate inquiries, 

 she would invariably deny that she had felt any pain whatever. At 

 length circumstances supervened which made me positive that condi- 

 tions existed which, in any ordinary person, would cause the sensation 

 of pain. But she denied any such sensation. At last, after three 

 months of fruitless effort to relieve her, I made up my mind that this 

 was a case the reverse of the more common result of civilized exist- 

 ence. Her mind, instead of being too firmly centered on some organ or 

 function, was too much withdrawn from the ordinary phenomena con- 

 nected with existence. In a word, she was suffering from not perceiv- 

 ing, and thus not knowing and heeding, the natural monitions. Having 

 come to a correct diagnosis of the case, I explained very carefully all 

 the facts, and gave her minute directions calculated to assist her in 

 fixing and keeping her attention upon her bodily functions till tbey 

 should respond to the mental stimulus thus restored to them. The re- 

 sult was that, within two days, by the mere change of sentiment re- 

 garding a certain function, that function, which during not less than fif- 

 teen years had been wellnigh suspended, was immediately stimulated to 

 full activity. I impressed her mind with the belief that certain results 

 would happen by following the directions which I gave her for the pur- 

 pose. This was eleven years ago, and this lady told me only a few 

 months ago that she has remained in perfect health, so far as the func- 

 tion in question is concerned, during the whole time. 



Heretofore I have adduced such cases only as were clearly uncom- 

 plicated with organic disease, and generally where there had been some 

 exciting cause to determine the special location of the mental inter- 

 ference. 



When I say "exciting cause," I mean, of course, some circumstance 

 or event which is calculated to fix the attention and make a mental im- 

 pression. But, in the majority of instances, no such " exciting cause " 

 is traceable. It generally simply happens that the subject finds him- 

 self with certain abridgments or apparent exaltations of the pur- 

 turbed function, without being able to trace the event which deter- 

 mined the character and location of the mental influence. It is highly 

 probable that in most cases there have been circumstances which have 





