Human Physiology. 399 



of the patient unites with that of physician and friends 

 cures take place which seem miraculous. And the common 

 impression is a true one, that dying people, whose recovery is 

 impossible, are held in life by the earnest wishes of their 

 friends who cannot let them go. The dying feel this, beg to 

 be allowed to go, and finally turn away from the love that 

 holds them uselessly to life. 



I have spoken of light as a condition of health, and its ab- 

 sence as an evident cause of disease. It follows, of course, 

 that it must be an important means of cure. Every invalid 

 should have the clear, free light of open day. Curtained rooms 

 for the sick are a great mistake. Even where light is painful 

 to the eyes, and irritating to the brain, it is better to give local 

 protection, than to shut up the patient in darkness. In most 

 cases, the more a patient can be out under the free sky the 

 better. In the late wars the wounded recovered far better in 

 light and airy tents than in any buildings used for hospitals. In 

 the East the sick are brought out of the hospitals and laid in 

 the sun. Apollo was the god of medicine in the Greek mytho- 

 logy. The sun pours out upon all the planets the forces of 

 life, and health, and cure, and the direct rays of the sun upon 

 the naked body are undoubtedly beneficial in many diseases. 

 The skin of the face and hands, the parts % exposed to air and 

 light, is evidently more healthy than that of the rest of the 

 body. As thick, dark clothing, dark rooms, and the shady 

 sides of narrow streets produce scrofula, and the conditions 

 which favour the mortality of miasmatic diseases, the free light 

 of the sun must be a remedy for such diseased conditions. 



And higher than sun and stars, source of their wondrous 

 powers, the God of light and life can give us strength and 

 health. " And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the 

 Lord shall raise him up." Miracles of healing marvellous 

 cures beyond the power of medical science to produce or ex- 

 plain if less frequent now than in some periods of the past 



