818 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a patient to have pluck, and a sufficient supply of doggedness to 

 be capable of making a continued effort ; to make up his mind 

 in his saner moments not to yield to the sinking feelings that 

 w ill come over him, to fight against his illness as against an at- 

 tacking enemy, to feel that he is determined to pull through, if 

 only to please his friends, to spite his rivals, to foil his foes, or to 

 accomplish some non-completed task. I remember to have had 

 somewhat similar ideas in my own maladies, and I feel sure they 

 were of much assistance to my recovery. 



Such impulses as these from the organs of thought and will 

 must of necessity have a distinct effect upon the rest of the nerv- 

 ous system, and thus over the heart and other organs, if only 

 through the emotions, and that a beneficial and stimulating 

 effect ; these impulses may therefore make all the difference in 

 tiding over a crisis, and during early convalescence. But of 

 course the influence of the mental state upon disease is unques- 

 tioned. The absence in these races of this important factor, and 

 the presence of the stagnating fatalism above mentioned, are, I 

 feel sure, the causes of many a death. 



One of my first cases, and it taught me a great lesson, was 

 that of a stalwart East African who complained of feeling ill ; on 

 examination nothing could be found amiss but slight febrile 

 symptoms and a small patch of pleuritic friction. To my sur- 

 prise, the poor negro began by saying he was going to die ; he 

 went to his bunk, and next day I found him much the same, 

 except that the heart's action was rather enfeebled, though no 

 physical signs of cardiac disease could be detected. He was, how- 

 ever, utterly uninterested in his condition, and only took food 

 under compulsion. In the evening he suddenly expired, more as 

 it seemed for I was unfortunately unable to make a post-mortem 

 investigation from what I might call inertia than from his actual 

 disease. Later experience told me that had I bullied the man, 

 and given him brandy with my own hand, and stirred him out of 

 his apathy, I might have saved his life. But it was often noticed 

 among us that if, on becoming ill, these men predict that they are 

 sick unto death, they will, if left to themselves, simply go and lie 

 down and quietly die, refusing all assistance. 



Confirmation of this view is found in the following words of 

 Hume Nisbet, when speaking of similar races : 



" When hope ceases to glow in their breasts, or a superstitious 

 omen tells them that they are to die it may be the word of the 

 magician, or the bone pointed at them, as among the Queensland- 

 ers, or the lizard running over them, as with the Maori, or the 

 utter weariness of life taking possession, as with the Sidi-boys 

 they can lie down and give up life as easily and methodically as 

 they fall asleep. 



