HYPNOTISM IN DISEASE AND CRIME. 765 



This distinction throws light on the therapeutics of diseases pro- 

 duced by means of the imagination, or suggested diseases. 



"When one of these victims to hypochondria, anaemic and emaciated, 

 who are usually called malades hnaginaires, has recourse to medicine, 

 on the plea of suffering pain or some other subjective disturbance, he 

 is usually told that it is of no importance, that he is rather fanciful 

 and should think less about his health, and some anodyne is carelessly 

 prescribed. The patient, who is really suffering from the pain he has 

 suggested to himself, feels convinced that his malady is not known, 

 and that nothing can be done for him. The idea that his complaint is 

 incurable becomes intense in proportion to his high opinion of his phy- 

 sician's skill, and thus the patient, who was suffering from the chronic 

 affection suggested by his imagination, often goes away incurable. 



Those who undertake miraculous cures act very differently. They 

 do not deny the existence of the disease, but they assert that it may 

 be cured by supernatural power. They act by means of suggestion, 

 and by gradually inculcating the idea that the disease is curable, until 

 the subject accepts it. The cure is sometimes effected by the sugges- 

 tion, and when it is said to be by saving faitb, the expression used is 

 rigorously scientific. These miracles should no longer be denied, but 

 we should understand their genesis and learn to imitate them. 



When a believer associates the Deity with his idea of cure, he is 

 accustomed to expect it to be sudden and complete, as the result of a 

 definite religious manifestation ; and this, in fact, often occurs. AYe 

 had a well-known instance at the Salpetri^re, when a woman of the 

 name of Etcheverry was, after her devotions in the month of May, 

 suddenly cured of a hemiplegia and contracture, by which she had 

 been affected for seven years. Only a slight weakness of the side re- 

 mained, which disappeared in a few days, and which could be explained 

 by the prolonged inaction of the muscles. This may be termed an 

 experimental miracle, since the physicians had prepared for it before- 

 hand, having for a long time previously suggested to the subject that 

 she would be cured when a certain religious ceremony took place, and 

 it is a miracle which explains the numerous cures by the laying-on of 

 hands w^hich are recorded in the Bible. If we do not go further back 

 than the last century, suggestion explains the cures by Greatrakes, the 

 exorcisms by Gassuer, Mesmer's successes, and the miracles performed 

 at the tomb of the deacon Paris in the cemetery of Saint Medard ; and 

 in our day, in the famous caves on the slopes of the Pyrenees. 



The resources of the physician, who does not profess to be a thau- 

 maturgist, are more scanty. When he is consulted by a patient whose 

 disease has a psychical origin, he is unable, unless in some exceptional 

 circumstances, to inspire confidence in remedies which are not more or 

 less gradual, but, whatever they are, he must prescribe with firmness 

 and authority. It is a well-known fact that the hydropathic treatment 

 of some forms of hysteria has afforded more speedy results than other 



