POPULAR SCIENTIFIC BELIEFS. 



Number One. Animal Magnetism. 



There is a large number of beliefs which prevail to a great 

 extent among the public but which for various reasons have no 

 status among the recognized canons of science. In some cases 

 these beliefs are easily explicable as the perpetuation of medi- 

 eval superstitions or ecclesiastic dogma, in other cases there ex- 

 ists a real basis which is simply wrongly interpreted. Many of 

 the most general and groundless beliefs are derived from hasty 

 inductions upon inadequate observation. Thus it would seem 

 that generations of experience would decide upon the venom- 

 ous nature of a common reptile or insect but the invariable tes- 

 timony of farmers, hunters and woodsmen makes the bite of the 

 common " spreading adder " or " blowing viper " instantly fa- 

 tal, while in reality it is as harmless as a toad. 



The " babe of the earth " in New Mexico, which awakens 

 terror among all classes alike, is a harmless burrowing cricket, 

 whose pale color and "bald" head give it a fanciful human 

 likeness. 



Nowhere does credulity run to such extremes as in ques- 

 tions of disease and medication. The mediaeval alliance be- 

 tween medicine and necromancy has left us a curious inheritance 

 of unconscious beliefs which supply the basis for the quack and 

 the self-deceived "healer." What has largely perpetuated the 

 tendency to seek specifics and the " laying on of hands " is the 

 large modicum of truth which, because lying within the domain 

 of the quack, has been denied or ignored by that which calls 

 itself regular practice. The revelations of scientific hypnotism 

 serve to illustrate in a way the fact that unsuspected powers are 

 at the disposal of the charlatan which have been willfully repu- 

 diated by the profession of medicine. 



