Cristy, Animal Magnetism. 211 



sent these facts simply as an ordinary individual in private life, 

 with no desire to avail myself of any advantage either in notor- 

 iety or in cash. 



When a boy of 14 to 16 I was often called by my mother to 

 come and put my hands on her head because she was suffering 

 from neuralgia. I knew nothing of the'reason at first, except 

 that somehow mother forgot her suffering, and soon went to 

 sleep, awakening free from pain. It was my habit to leave her 

 as soon as she fell asleep, and return to my work or play. My 

 next older sister was subject to severe sick-headaches and would 

 also beg me to rub her head. A few minutes, not to exceed 

 ten, would entirely relieve her, but I would receive the sick 

 headache myself and be violently sick, and, whereas, my nat- 

 ural condition is constipated, and a sick headache never visited 

 me otherwise, I would be driven at once to stool after taking her 

 headache, and a free movement at once relieved me of all dis- 

 tress. Such sympathetic results never followed the treatment 

 of any other person than this sister. But with such an experi- 

 ence it was not an attractive occupation for me, though my de- 

 votion to that particular sister led me again and again to afford 

 relief when she was suffering, and this practice extended over a 

 period of at least eight years, until I left home. As my father 

 had possessed the same ability to soothe or remove pain, and I 

 was at first called on only in his absence, the possession and ex- 

 ercise of this gift excited no remark in the family. It was a 

 purely private matter, and so far as I thought u about it at all 

 it was not regarded as an extraordinary gift, but as simply my 

 private affair as an individual, possessing the same, and only the 

 same, powers as my fellows. 



Nor has my subsequent knowledge or observation changed 

 the idea, as multitudes of my acquaintance appear to be able 

 to exert the same power that is so common in my experience. 



It was a very common thing for a sore throat, or slight 

 cough, or headache, to disappear under a few moments applica- 

 tion of my hand. 



The first experience that seemed to me remarkable, and to 

 open my understanding to the possible expenditure of this 

 power to serious disease, was in Nov., 1883, at Conway, Mass., 

 where I was pastor of the Congregational church. My three 

 children were attacked by what the physician called "capillary 

 bronchitis." 



The babe of eight months, died suddenly, and in such a 

 manner as to give my wife a nervous shock which caused us to 



