151 



OEDINARY MEETING.* 



Alexander Mc Arthur, Esq., J.P., D.L., V.P., in the 



Chair. 



The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the 

 following Elections were announced : — 



Members : — His Excellency Sir Thomas F. Buxton, Bart., K.C.M.G., 

 Governor of South Australia, Adelaide ; Percy M. Van^Epps, Esq., 

 United States. 



Associates : — Captain Henry Hall, London ; Alex. Henwood Teague, 

 Esq., F.L.S., Cornwall. 



The following paper was then read by the author : — 



ON SOME RELATIONS OF MIND AND BODY. By 

 A. T. Schofield, Esq., M.D., &c. 



THE subject on which I venture to offer a few remarks is 

 not only one of great interest in itself, but it has the 

 special character of being a subject of real practical value in the 

 rational treatment of disease. Indeed, tlie whole science of 

 mental therapeutics is founded on an inteUigent understanding 

 of the relations of the mental and the physical in man. 



There can be no doubt in the minds of thoughtful men as 

 to the fact of the great therapeutical influence the mind has 

 on the body. But though some monographs may have been 

 written from time to time on this subject — and it is incident- 

 ally touched upon in various works on the brain and mind — 

 its practical application is of the most fortuitous and casual 

 nature. It is difficult to understand why such a powerful 

 means of cure is so systematically neglected, and even 

 ignored, by the profession. I suppose it is because mental 

 therapeutics have been practically for so long the real modus 

 operandi of the vast army of charlatans, that the whole 

 subject has accpiired such a bad name that most men fear 

 for their reputation if they touch it. Indeed, it is only 

 because I have been taught practically so much of its real 

 value, and feel so strongly that its continued neglect is no 

 small blot on the present system of medicine, that I shall call 

 attention to the wide powers the mind has over the body in 

 relation to disease. Mj remarks will therefore fall naturally 

 imder two heads: the first being directed to what we should 



* 7th of 31st Session. 



