764 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a hypnotized subject, keeping them in their place with some strips of 

 diachylon and a compress ; at the same time he suggested to the sub- 

 ject that he had applied a blister. The subject was watched, and 

 when twenty hours had elapsed the dressing, which had remained un- 

 touched, was removed. The epidermis to which it had been applied 

 was thickened and dead and of a yellowish-white color, and this region 

 of the skin was puffy and surrounded by an intensely red zone. 



It was in 18G9 that Russell Reynolds first noted the existence of 

 motor and sensory disturbances, developed under the influence of an 

 idea. The motor disturbance sometimes consists in spasms, in ataxic 

 or incoordinatcd movements, and more frequently in paralysis which 

 affects the upper limbs. Erb gives to these symptoms the name of 

 imaginative paraplegia. 



The type of this paraplegia is afforded by Reynolds's first observa- 

 tion, which concerned a young woman who was affected by paraplegia 

 under the following circumstances : She lived alone with her father, 

 who had undergone a reverse of fortune, and who became paralytic in 

 consequence of protracted anxiety. She supported the household by 

 giving lessons, which involved long walks about the town. Influenced 

 by the fatigue caused by so much walking, it occurred to her that she 

 might herself become paralyzed, and that their situation would then 

 be terrible. Haunted by this idea, she felt a growing weakness in her 

 limbs, and after a while was quite unable to walk. The pathology of 

 the affection was understood by Reynolds, who prescribed a purely 

 moral treatment. He finally convinced his patient that she was able 

 to walk, and in fact she resumed the practice. 



Diseases haA'^e been termed imaginary, or diseases caused by the 

 imagination, and this confusion of terms has confirmed the confusion 

 of ideas. We have, however, just shown, especially by means of the 

 facts which relate to paralysis by suggestion, that diseases caused 

 by the imagination — that is, produced by a fixed idea — are real dis- 

 eases, and, at any rate in some cases, display undisputed objective 

 symptoms. 



Since the existence of real diseases, produced by means of the im- 

 agination, is proved, it is thereby proved that imaginary diseases do 

 not and can not exist ; by this we mean purely fictitious diseases, since 

 as soon as the subject has accepted the fixed idea that he is affected by 

 any functional disturbance, such a disturbance is in some degree devel- 

 oped. It should be added that these diseases, produced by means of 

 the imagination, are not merely influenced by a local disturbance ; the 

 subject who allows himself to be dominated by this idea of disease 

 must be peculiarly excitable and open to suggestion ; he must be en- 

 dowed with a condition of congenital psychical weakness which is fre- 

 quently found in conjunction with more or less strongly marked neuro- 

 pathic manifestations, or with physical malformations. As Las^gue 

 observed, not every one who pleases can be hypochondriac. 



