792 Dynamic Theory. 



This cure, the reality of which was established by an examination by a 



civil court, was set down by the faithful as nothing less than a miracle. 



The beneficial effects of many patent medicines, and of other appli- 

 ances and modes of treatment, such as "touching" by the king for scrof- 

 ula, carrying a buckeye in the pocket for piles, or a potato for rheuma- 

 tism, depend upon the same principle. About the end of the last century, 

 Dr. Elisha Perkins, of Connecticut, invented the " metallic tractors," 

 which consisted of a couple of rods of different metals, the points of 

 which were drawn over the affected parts. It was thought they pro- 

 duced some sort of galvanic effect, and at an} T rate they appeared to ef- 

 fect cures, of which hundreds of thousands of cases were reported, chiefly 

 of pains and local inflammations. It was found, however, that wooden 

 points painted to resemble the metallic ones answered the same purpose, 

 and that, therefore, the cures were performed through the brain and not 

 by galvanism. As soon as that idea became prevalent the cures ceased, 

 and the bubble exploded. 



The many disastrous failures of the faith-cure and Christian science 

 people, show that there is a limit to the influence of the cerebrum upon 

 the secretions, which cannot be ignored with impunity. Among the is- 

 landers of the Pacific, the chief restraint from any conduct which they 

 regard as criminal, immoral or even improper, is in their dread of the 

 tabu or tapu. This means the jurisdiction, guardianship or ban, of 

 some supernatural agency. Thus, a chief may put a tabu on a certain 

 fishing ground, which prohibits any one from fishing there. A man may 

 put a tabu on his yam patch or cocoa grove, which prohibits poaching. 

 The habits of life to minute particulars are prescribed by hereditary 

 tabu. It is, in fact, fashion crystallized into superstition. The penalties 

 for broken tabu are supernaturally inflicted diseases. If one eats tabu 

 fish, he is wasted by a slow disease ; if he eats tabu cocoanuts or bread- 

 fruit, he is acutely sick next day, and in two da}^s he will die unless 

 cured by an application of the leaves of the tree from which the fruit was 

 stolen. This obviously involves confession of the crime, and operates 

 as a detective device. Of course the penalties are purely self-inflicted 

 and arise from such control over the vegetative viscera as is possessed by 

 the organs of the internal senses. Let the victim be convinced that he 

 has incurred such and such penalty, and it is exceedingly apt to occur 

 just that way. A story is related by Dr. Campbell, of a certain New 

 Zealand girl who was foolishly told that a yam she had eaten was tabu. 

 She was taken sick at once and died in two days. Trial by ordeal, as 

 practiced among the ancients, of which modern duelling is a survival, 

 was founded upon the same principle. One who felt himself in the right 

 and supported by supernatural assistance, was nerved to extraordinary 

 force and endurance, while one who knew himself in the wrong was in 



