Jas. 30, 18&5.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



87 



more marked, ami she was trant^lcrred to tlio care 

 of Dr. !Mills, the well-known neurologist. Five or 

 six weeks previously she had had pleuropneumonia, and 

 after that paralysis attacked the arms. This was cured, 

 but the disease manifested itself in the legs and feet. 

 Besides this there was a numb feeling in the lower part of 

 the body, and twitching on tlie right side of tlie face, 

 similar to that seen in St. Vitus' dance. 



Dr. Cohen applied a Charcot magnet in front of t!ie ear. 

 To his amazement the spasms on the side of the face touched 

 by the magnet were greatly lessened in frequency and 

 <?.\tent. It was evident that the cure was the result of 

 imagination. After that she was attacked with eye troubles. 

 At tirst there was no defect other than headache, after the 

 prolonged use of the eyes, and some shortsightedness, but 

 at length the right eye became, apparently', entirely blind, 

 and muscular spasms of the most violent character disturbed 

 not only the eye, but the face and neck. She was sent to 

 the Eye Hospital, and treated by Dr. Hansell. After 

 several e.vaminations, the Charcot magnet that hud proved 

 ->o etKcacious in the hand- of Dr. Cohen was api)lied to the 

 defective vision, and with the most astonishing result. 

 After many applications, it occurred to Dr. Harlan that it 

 would be a good idea to try the etlect of unmagnetized iron 

 of the same form and appearance as the maguet. A 

 wooden "magnet " was ]irocured, with iron tips, to give the 

 metallic impression to the skin. It was placed in the 

 drawer where the original Charcot instrument had been 

 kept, and the patieut was thoroughly ignorant of its 

 character. Btfore it was applied it was noted that the 

 pupil of the right eye was widely dilated, as in disease, and 

 was perfectly rigid when exposed to a bright light. There 

 was twitching of the muscles of the right side of the face. 



The application of the wooden magnet had a wonderful 

 eflFect Shortly after the painted wood was applied with 

 much seriousness to her head, the twitching of the muscles 

 stopped, and the face assumed its normal appearance. 

 Gradually the pupil of the right eye became of the same 

 size as the other, and freely responsive to light. The 

 wooden magnet had triumphed. 



Dr. Cohen a short time ago had a case where the 

 wooden magnet proved its efHcacy. A patieijt of his fell 

 down, and thought she dislocated her elbow-joint. She 

 was treated for that by a practitioner called iu the emer- 

 gency, and he discharged her with a stifl' arm, which he 

 said he was unable to straighten. Dr. Coben examined 

 the arm, and found no dislocation at all. He asked her 

 to report at the surgical department of the Polyclinic for 

 verification of his opinion. She called, and Dr. Steiubach 

 noted extreme spasm of the biceps, the tendons being like 

 whip-cords. Dr. Cohen applied a wooden magnet, and the 

 spasm relaxed at once. — Scientific American. 



Ts^EWTOX v.rms DESCAETES.* 



AN OBATIOX IS DEFEXCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHV. 



(Spoken in the Theatre at Oxford, July 7, 1693, by Mr. Addison.) 

 Done from the Latin Ori'jinal. 



HOW long. Gentlemen of the University, shall we 

 .slavishly tread in the Steps of the Ancients, and be 

 afraid of being wiser than our Ancestors? How long shall 

 ■we religiously worship the triflings of Antiquity as some do 

 old "Wives Stories "? It is indeed shameful, when we survey 



* This oration will interest many who have noticed the references 

 to the system of Descartes, in Fontenelle's lively dialogue en " Other 

 ■Worlds than Ours." 



the great Ornanicut of the present Age,* to transfer our 

 Applauses to the Ancients, and to take pains to search into 

 Ages past for Persons fit for Panogyrick. 



The ancient Philo.sophy has had more allowed than it 

 could reasonably pretend to ; how often has Sheldon's 

 Theatre rung with Kncomia on the Stagyrito, who, greater 

 than his own Alexander, has long, un-oppo.sed, triiuiiphed 

 in our School-Desk.", and had the whole World for his 

 Pupils. Atkngth rose Carte^ius, a happier Cenius, who 

 has bravely asserted the Truth agiinst tlu^ united Force of 

 all Opposers, and has brought on the Stage a new Method 

 of Philosophizing. But shall we stigmatize with the Name 

 of Novelty that Pliilos; phy, which, tho' but lately revived, 

 is more ancient than the IVripatctic, and as old as tho 

 Matter from whence it is derived. A great Man indeed 

 He was, and the only one we envy France.! He solved 

 the Difliculties of the Universe, almost as well as if ho had 

 been its Architect. He destroyed those Orbs of glass, 

 which tho Whims of Antiquity had fixed above, brought to 

 light that Troop of Forms till then unknown, and has 

 almost extinguished the Element of Fire ; nay he with so 

 much clearness traced out the whole Mass of Matter, as to 

 leave no occult Quality untouched. This Philosopher 

 scorned to be .any longer bounded within the Strcights and 

 Cliry&talline Wall of an Aristotelic World ; no, his Delight 

 is to search the ilegions above, to discover new Suns, and 

 new Worlds, which lay hid among the Stars ; his Satisfac- 

 tion is to view that large Kingdom of Air amidst the 

 unfixed Stars, and Lands that jiass the Milky Way, and 

 more accurately measure this vast Machine, a Machine fit 

 for Mankind to Philosophize on, and worthy of the Deity, 

 that first framed it. 



Here we have not only new Heavens opened to us, but 

 we look down on our Earth ; this Philosophy aDTords us 

 several Kinds of Animals ; where, by the Help of Micro- 

 scopes, our Eyes are so far assisted, that we may discern 

 the Productions of the smallest Creatuies, while we con- 

 sider with a curious Eye the animated Particles of Matter, 

 and behold with Astonishment, the reptile Mountains of 

 living Atoms. Thus are our Eyes become more penetrating 

 by modern Helps, and even that work which Nature boasts 

 for her Master-Piece, is rendered more correct and finished. 

 We no longer pay a blind Veneration to that barbarous 

 Peripatetic .Jingle, those Scholastic Terms of Art, once held 

 as Oracles, but consult the Delicates of our own Senses, 

 and by late inv-ented Engines force Nature herself to dis- 

 cover plainly her most valued Secrets, her most hidden 

 Eecesses. 



By the Help of Instruments like these, that Air, with 

 which bountiful Nature has indulged us, we as often as we 

 plea.se, by the Force of Art, abridge other Animals of, and 

 keep them in our Pneumatick Pumps, from its common 

 Benefit : What a Pleasure is it to see the fruitless Heavings 

 of the Lights, to exhaust their Lives, and by a most artful 

 Sort of Theft rob them of their Breath ? From this nothing 

 is safe, nothing so long lived, which gradually does not 

 languish, and fall dead without a Wound. A divine Piece 

 of Art this, and worthy its Author, j; who in the Conduct 

 of his Life, and the Force of his Arguments, has so nobly 

 honoured our Nation, and the new Philosophy ; one who 

 for this Reason too deserves never to want the Benefit of 

 his own Air, or that he, who has so often deprived other 

 Animals of their Life, should ever breathe out his own. 



On no such Grounds, as these has Aristotle built his 

 Philosophy, who from his own Brain furnished out all his 

 Rules of Arts and Sciences, and left nothing untouched on, 

 nothing unregarded but Truth. If therefore he precipitated 



* Xewton. 



\ Dcs Ca:tes. 



Ua\le. 



