UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY G 000 005 586 3 NERVOUS DISEASES MAGNETIC THERAPEUTICS, JAMES EDWIN BEIGGS, M.D NEW YOKK CITY, N. Y. NEW YORK: GEO. W. WHEAT, PRINTER, 109 NASSAU STREET. 1881. Copyrighted, 1881, By James E. Briggs. M. D. IDfA 4-00 NERVOUS DISEASES. To define Nervous Diseases critically, is as perplex- ing as to explain insanity itself. It is hard to find the proper starting-point and to fix the limit, on one side of which is the nervous complaint, and on the other almost everything else. There is a period in almost everyone's history, when a rigid judgment would set him down as not altogether in his right mind. Se?7ie/ insanavimus omnes. In pathological conditions, the tone of the nervous system is impaired ; and the ques- tion is at once brought home to the philosophical prac- titioner, who cannot content himself with a superficial diagnosis, whether the complaint, in whatever form, is not substantially and originally nervous. The disorders of the nervous system comprise not 4 NERVOUS DISEASES. only the most formidable which the physician encoun- ters, but their nature and origin are the most perplexing to ascertain. Their pathology and their etiolog}', to speak more technically, are still among the moot points which writers and practitioners discuss, and have not yet properly determined. We have, so far, a variety of theories, or perhaps I should say conjectures ; but they often tend to puzzle, rather than to facilitate enquiry, from their absolute contradiction of each other. We are, perhaps, approximating truth ; but dogma still reigns ascendant. The argument of brow-beating and peremptory assertion is the main dependence of those who aspire to magisterial authority in Psychologi- cal Medicme. I will give a cursory glance at the complaints usually characterized as nervous, before making further enquiry into their causes. It cannot be expected or even de- sired that I should write a book on the subject, but it is proper that prominent and particular symptoms should be adduced for the convenience and benefit of non-professional readers. The principal nervous disorders are insanity, soften- ing of the brain, hardening of the brain, meningitis, NERVOUS DISEASES. 5 ataxia, tetanus, hydrophobia, epilepsy, catalepsy, hys- teria, chorea, paralysis, neuralgia. I must be excused from extending the list further, or making an exhaustive review of those which I have mentioned. A few of them will suffice ; and when I am not thorough, I must refer those to the text-books and periodicals, who wish to know more. The modern school of psychologists regard insanity as morbid action of the brain. Prof W. A. Hammond, late . Surgeon-General, propounds the following hy- pothesis, as covering the whole ground psychologically as well as pathologically : "By mind we understand a force developed by nervous action, and especially by the action of the brain. The modifications which this force, in its cerebral relations undergoes outside of the limits of health, as regards excess, deficiency or variation of quality, are embraced under the term insanity. * * The mind is a compound force evolved by the brain ; and its elements are perception, intellect, emotion and will." It is not to be imagined for a moment that this fa- mous reasoner would consider, even with common courtesy, any questioning of his postulates. We dogs may bark, but we may hope nothing from the oracle. 6 NERVOL'S DISEASES. Those who profess to hold similar views will hardly be more tolerant of those who differ from them. This is the common attitude even of very many professed Lih- erals at the present time. Nevertheless, the psychology of Professor H. is easily carried to the redudio ad absurdum. If the mind is merely the product of nervous, and especially of brain action, it can be only matter temporarily advanced to the power of self-consciousness. All its acts and man- ifestations are then substantially automatic, physical, and, I may justly add, mechanical. Spirituality itself could be but refined brain-action; and morality, an im- proved physiology — nothing more. Love and reason, virtue, truth and justice, intuition of the sense of honor, all that goes to make up a high-toned man — are thus set forth as so many evolutions from the brain and ner- vous system. Hatred and insanity, vice, error and in- justice have a like source, and for all that we need see, are of equal merit and normality. Mental science, as propounded by Dr. Hammond and those who reason like him, is but psychology without soul. I have no disposition to overlook the magnificent re- sults from the labors of scientists in physiology and pathology. They have done rare service in the way of NERVOUS DISEASES. 7 unearthing knowledge of the physical machinery by means of which we live and act, of its disorders, and methods by which they may be greatly alleviated. We depend upon these men to unfold to us what we can otherwise scarcely hope to know. When, however, we endeavor to explore the phenom- ena and causes of mental aberration and commoner nervous disorder, we must be permitted to avail our- selves of the aid of a higher and more comprehensive philosophy. We will pay all due respect to atoms and molecules, conscious of their immense importance in this great universe. We will venerate, also, the law which determines their motion. We simply believe that they do not evolve that law ; that it is the outcome of a princi- ple greater than they. I accept, most cordially, the generalization of that great savant, as well as poet, Goethe : " All members develop themselves according to eternal laws, And the rarest form mysteriously preserves the primitive type. P'orm, thcFefore, determines the animal's way of life, And in turn, the way of life powerfully reacts upon all form. Thus, t/ie 07'dcrly groivtii of form is seen io hold, \\\v\q. yielding to cJiange from externally-acting causes." Sir William Hamilton explains the mind as follows : ''What we are conscious of is constructed out of what 8 NERVOUS DISEASES. we are not conscious of. " Hseckel is a little plainer : "The forms of organism and of their organs result en- tirely from their life. '' Dr. Blandford, Lecturer on Psychological Medicine at St. George's Hospital, London, candidly acknowl- edges insanity to be "a mystery not yet unraveled." He goes on with emphasis to remark : "Its inscrutable appearance without assignable cause in a man hitherto sane, and its no less inscrutable departure, are things which we must confess are not yet explicable by human knowledge.'' It is very superficial science that has only relations with human phenomena. Religious men are justified somewhat in their hostility to its pretensions of superi- ority, when its exponents confine themselves so sensibly to effects, and resolutely set aside causes. He is only a sciolist, who can recognize the existence of motion, animation, sensibility and understanding, and refuses to acknowledge or even consider the vital elements that superpose all these, and themselves constitute the real being. We therefore cannot consider spirit as a form of mat- ter, nor mind as a mere evolution from the brain and nervous system. The spiritual nature and origin of NERVOUS DISEASES. 9 human life must be the starting-point. Man is con- scious, in a sense that no animal is, that there is a line of demarkation between himself and his circumstances ; that his soul permeates and presides over all the nerves, organs and" sinews of his body. It causes the muscles to expand and contract, the eyes to open and shut, the the blood to circulate ; it feels and thinks as of itself Suppose, eventually, that something goes wrong in its relations. The nerves first perceive the fact, and the will, presiding at the seat of sensibility, makes the en- deavor to correct the disturbance. If this is done promptly, all goes on well ; if not, there is disease — a state of non-ease. In this operation, we notice that the nervous system is first impressed by the fact and con- dition ; the membranes, fibres and other parts follow in its lead. Insanity is the most conspicuous form of this abnor- mal condition. It is therefore an appropriate type of the various mental disturbances. They may all be recognized more or less distinctly from their analogous manifestations. It is evidendy a mental disorder, but is always associated with functional and other aberra- tions. Hysteria, when we take its peculiar phenomena into lO NERVOUS DISEASES. consideration, will be perceived to have a remarkable likeness to insanity. It is a morbid condition resulting from the action of a disordered mind upon a suscepti- ble or debilitated nervous system. The person is easily excited; weeping or laughing without apparent cause ; sometimes wrought up to fury by -injudicious treatment, or depressed to almost utter hopelessness, easily jealous, or influenced in any way. Emotional disturbances, inability to a steady exercise of the will, and illusions of fancy, are more or less characteristic of this disorder. The moral sense is impaired ; the pa- tient is eager for sympathy, and will resort to number- less artifices to obtain it. Spasm, tetanus, paralysis, and even coma may occur, and are often counterfeited ; chorea and epilepsy are not uncommon. Bedridden persons are commonly hysterical. The special senses are deranged ; specters are seen, voices heard, peculiar odors and tastes detected for which there is no obvious cause. The skin is preter- naturally sensitive, and pains are experienced simulat- ing those of other disorders. All the internal organs are morbidly affected. Sexual passion is acute almost to incapacity for self-control, or it may be almost totally suppressed. It has been usual, and very properly, to NERVOUS DISEASES. II attribute the disorder to disappointment in love, or to ill sexual habits. As the name itself purports, it has been considered as essentially a complaint peculiar to women, and corresponding to hypochondriasis in men. If this was correct, the remedy would suggest itself at once, and the execration of the poet Tennyson fully warranted : " Cursed be the social lies that warp us from the living truth ; Cursed be the social wants that sin against the strength of youth; Cursed be the sickly forms that err from honest Nature's rule." Hysteria, however, is not altogether a complaint pe- culiar to women. Pope, Swift and Cowper seem to have been subject to it. Later writers ascribe to this disorder the peculiar seizures and the visions of Mohammed. Children of both sexes are made hysterical by being worried beyond their strength to endure. In this condition they are often punished for ill conduct. ]Many persons exhibit hysterical symp- toms when exhausted or harassed to an inordinate de- gree. I admit that disappointment in love produces a shock to the entire structure, deranging the nervous system and the various functions. So will other griefs. The disorder is occasioned by the action of the mind upon the body through the sympathetic s}stem. The 12 NERVOUS DISEASES. pffwer of the ivill is fast weakened. This may be from disease, mental fatigue, or other depressing causes. Many persons exhibit hysterical symptoms when ex- hausted or overcome by disheartening news. Those who are disappointed in ambition, and those especially liv- ing without any, are very liable to attack. It originates from blight, or mental shock, or disorder paralyzing the functions, more or less, of the sympathetic nervous sys- tem. Women are perhaps more subject to it, from being restricted in a great degree to a single pursuit, that of getting a husband, however poor a stick he may be. They are largely debarred from higher ambitions and nobler employments, and consequently have little object in life. The patients suffering from this complaint are not difficult of cure. Give them hope, something to be ambitious about, any motive strong enough to call out their energy ; awaken their self-respect, and they will rise up whole. The devils that infest them will depart, leaving them "clothed and in their right mind." Epilepsy is a disorder far more insidious and unman- ageable. The name implies a seizure, as though a ma- lignant potency had taken possession of the patient. Hippokrates and other ancient writers designated it the NERVOUS DISEASES. I 3 Sacred Disease, and the Jews, dcemonisaiion ; both ex- pressions meaning a disorder produced by spiritual be- ings. Sometimes, indeed, the patient will exhibit pre- ternatural perceptive faculties. Samuel Warren de- scribed an example in Blackwood's Magazine, some forty-five years ago, where the senses had become so preternaturally acute, that the patient perceived and accurately described the preparation of a corpse for burial as it was going on in an adjoining room. In this instance the patient had been addicted to ex- cess in eating and drinking. Returning to his room from an entertainment, he beheld a specter, and fell to the floor in a fit which lasted for hours, and was suc- ceeded by violent suicidal mania. There is seldom any lesion observable in this complaint, and what is found is a result of the disease. It is clearly a func- tional disorder, as such things are understood. I know not why it should not be regarded as psychical. It generally begins by depressing emotions, and is aggra- vated by any cause affecting the spirits. Sudden alarms, great or slight, appear to occasion the first ap- pearance. It has been attributed to sexual excess, and as children are more commonly seized, masturbation is made the scapegoat. It may be questioned, however, 14 NERVOUS DISEASES. whether the parents or ancestors did not create the sus- ceptibility by their improprieties. ETIOLOGY. A prolonged strain of the nervous system, whether mental or physical, with too little rest and unsuitable nourishment will impair the vital force and thin the blood. The sensibility will be morbidly axalted and the nerve-force consequently lost. The mind will ex- hibit the impairment by weakness and vacillation of the will, lack of decision, emotions generally of an un- healthy and depressing character ; there will be feeble and irregular action of the muscles, and easily-disturbed circulation of the blood. This condition is neurasthenia. It may also be hereditar}^ or congenital. Some are bom, live and die neurasthenic; having from the beginning a weak, tricky nervous system. But more commonly it occurs from prolonged over-exertion, a load of care or distress, loss of sleep or excessive waste of the tissues of the body. It may be a disease by itself, or an element in diseased conditions. It is as an able writer, Prof J. S. Jewell, remarks, "Put the undertone in the picture, in a vast number of cases of ' heart-disease," ' brain-disease," even NERVOUS DISEASES. I 5 'softening' of the brain, of hysteria, epilepsy, melan- choHa, neuralgias, paresis, mental weakness, feeble cir- culation, insomnia, etc. It prevails in all periods of life, and in both sexes. " It is becoming more common among people sedentary in habit, intellectual in activ- ity, and so engaged as to augment the sensibilities at the expense of the nervous force. Without further detail, we will endeavor to account for these abnormal manifestations. I am convinced that they do not pertain primarily to the cerebro-spinal system. That part of the body is a focus of vitality only in a qualified sense. The real "nerve-centres," as it is fashionable to call them, from which disorder proceeds, belong to the sympathetic system. All life is transmitted from that to the other parts of the body. The innumerable ganglia, frequently so small as to be almost undistinguishable, contain and diffuse the po- tency by which the body lives and is preserved in the condition of health. They are vital focuses ; they reg- ister all the changes and conditions. They have con- stant and instantaneous connection and communication with each other, and again with the cerebro-spinal sys- tem and the thinking consciousness. They never sleep, never dream ; hut/cW and inform the sensorium I 6 NERVOUS DISEASES. of everything. They are the recording angels that keep record of "all deeds done in the body." They contain the 7iiiclei of those semi-intellectual and ever-present in- tuitions called instincts ; they watch and note every event and every need of the physical economy. The nerves 0/ sensation which seem to do this are little else than telegraphic wires that carry messages, but do not originate them. The ganglia of the sympathetic sys- tem are the sources of energy, and both nourish and sustain the body. Nervous disorders, it is therefore apparent, must be referred, primarily, to this ganglionic system. The phenomena, it may be, are more palpably indicated by the brain and spinal cord ; but, I apprehend that the solar plexus and its ganglia will furnish the master-key to open the chamber of mysteries. The semilunar, the cardiac and cervical ganglia, are lords over the house of life. The whole psychical nature is in close contiguity to this department of the nervous organism. The heart is controlled by the emotions ; anxiety will retard its pulsations, and thereby create dyspepsia, bron- chitis, pains in the back and vertigo. A sudden shock, especially if painful, will arrest its action, injure NERVOUS DISEASES. 1 7 the valves, and even destroy life. The passions all affect its motion for good or ill. The arterial system is correspondingly influenced. The capillary vessels are congested by sudden emo- tions, as in blushing, or the reverse, as in pallor. The erectile tissues are distended and rendered turgid. Al- though the blood absorbs aerial, contagious and other poisons, the sympathetic system receives the impression first, and then transmits it to the other parts of the or- ganism. The glands, if not constituted primarily of material from this system, are nevertheless under its direct influ- ence. We observe this in the saliva, which is copious, suppressed, or vitiated, according to the mental condi- tions. The poison of snakes is largelv made so by rage ; even the saliva of an animal excited by passion, as in the period of oestruation, is analogously affected. The mammary gland is controlled by emotions. IMilk will be secreted more copiously, or restricted in quan- tity, or rendered unwholesome and even poisonous. Women under the influence of strong feeling, or an in- fluence tending to increase the local tendency of the circulation, although they were never pregnant, and exen males, have also had the secretion. The invasion of the 1 8 NERVOUS DISEASES. glands by scirrhus is probably due to a considerable de- gree from moral or mental inquietudes : and terror has been known to resolve the tumor in an incredibly brief time. The liver never fails to keep time with the mind. The gloomy and despondent are prone to become bili- ous, and even to have jaundice outright. The kidneys are equally sensitive. If the sympathetic nerve is dis- ordered, diabetes is sure to ensue ; and it is lawful to infer that any analogous impairment of its functions will have a similar result. Depressing emotions will cause the evolution of oxalic acid in the urine : and in great mental distress, uric acid and its salts will be ' pro- duced. Violent grief has produced nephritis. Over- tasking of the mind and cerebral system, will, on the other hand, cause phosphatic elimination by the kid- neys. Patients suttering from hysteria or mental anxi- ety, are characterized by a copious secretion of '•' nei-v- ous urine. '" If the mental conditions are changed, these phenomena cease. The stomach is affected by emotions : the secretion of gastric juice is increased, arrested, or its digestive powers gready interfered with by agreeable or unpleas- ant news. The spleen has long been noted as the NERVOUS DISEASES. ly seat of hypochondriasis. The bowels are disturbed, made loose, and even become dysenteric or choleraic by the influence of fear and other passions. In mel- ancholic insanity they are constipated. So notorious were these peculiarities, that in ancient time the domi- nant passion was characterized by the action or dis- turbance of this peculiar viscus. The heart, liver, veins and even the spleen, lungs and bowels were indicated as the seat of sensibility, emotion, passion and the af- fections generally. Hardly ever, before Galen, does any special idea of cerebral action appear to have been entertained, except among certain of the philosophers. The sexual system is notoriously the seat of excite- ment and depression from psychical and mental influ- ences. It is under the special control of the sympa- thetic nerves, and influenced by the solar plexus. Much of the peculiar sensibility experienced in this part of the body is directly referable to the mind and imagination ; the manifestations are controlled by the impulse given in this manner. But the mind and will, however intense, have little power over the sexual functions, except through the medium of the sympa- thetic nervous system. The emodons are superior. The complaints known -a.^ female are produced by 20 NERVOUS DISEASES. impairment of the functions of these nerves. They are more or less emotional. The unborn child is con- trolled in disposition, marked, deformed, and some- times mutilated, or even destroyed, by influences of this character. The caprices and whims of pregnant wo- men—indeed of all women — and men likewise, for all that, have a direct relation to causes of the same gen- eral character. In short, all functions not directly under the control of the will, pertain to the sympathetic system. Under this head are the processes of nutrition, circulation, se- credon, and what is denominated "chemical change:"' The will is powerless in those matters ; but emotion can do its worst in deranging or even destroying them. Pathologists have characterized certain nervous disor- ders as originating in the cerebrum, others in the spinal system, others in both, etc. But, so far as these parts are concerned, the lesions and disturbances must be chiefly regarded as effects. Emotion, acting on an ex- hausted nervous system, will produce chorea, epilepsy, apoplexy, hysteria and insanity. There may be de- rangement of function, irregular distribution of blood, degeneration of tissue ; l)ut it is fair to suppose that contraction of the vessels caused these phenomena : NERVOUS DISEASES. 21 and, in turn, that the contraction itself was effected by a strong emotional impulse acting through the vaso-mo- tor nerves which supply the blood-vessels. It is a mis- take to imagine that all the nerves and ganglia of the encephalon are cerebro-spinal. There are, also, those of the sympathetic system ; and, doubtless, many dis- turbances are produced there from emotional influen- ces, and result in disorders which may have been too hastily classified as of the cerebro-spinal axis. That nervous affections precede other physical ills, appears conclusive. The physician should consider this fact in his diagnosis. Whatever medical agency is employed should be selected with reference to its influ- ence on the nervous system. Paracelsus aimed in ex- actly the right direction when he adopted opium as his panacea — his laudaimm, or praiseworthy medicine. What is called animal magneiisin is a soother of the nerves, and therefore invaluable for that reason. It is no imaginary agency, the product of charlatans, but belongs to a superior science. It has been known longer than history. Its power over the faculties of the body at large, and especially over the brain and nervous system, is immense ; and it is therefore capa- ble of application to prevent and remove suffering, and 2 2 NERVOUS DISEASES. to cure disease, far beyond the means hitherto pursued by the art of medicine. Dr. William B. Carpenter, whom nobody will accuse of credulity, declares, that when employed with skill, "it will take rank as one of the most potent methods of treatment which the physician has at his command." Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson is equally emphatic : "We have," says he, "no certain knowledge of the limit of mesmerism as a curative agent, nor of the conditions which should exclude cases from this treatment. In functional disorders of the nervous system it is es- pecially indicated ; and as a number of diseases,. even seemingly organic, spring from this root, it appears that it has a large field of application here. Hysteria, epi- lepsy, catalepsy, and those other maladies in which the visceral motions predominate over the rhythmical or rational motions of the lungs, come very worthily under its benefits." Dr. John Elliottson has collected a summary of cures under his observation, from which the following names of disorders have been taken : Neuralgia, hysteria, epi- lepsy, chorea, delirium, insanity, spinal disease, rheu- matism, disease of the kidneys, inflammation of the bladder, enlarged glands, quinsy, chlorosis, uterine dis- NERVOUS DISEASES. 2^ ease, dropsy, erysipelas, abscess, palsy, lumbar abscess, ophthalmia, amaurosis, deafness, asthma. Sir J. D. Brandis, physician to the King of Sweden, declares "it efficacious in cachexias of the vegetative organism, such as scrofula, rachitis, etc." Dr. Brown-Sequard, eulogizing it in painless surgery, regrets that surgeons were in a hurry, and so gave up magnetism, and employed the dangerous aucesthetics — ether, chloroform, etc. A similar " hurry " leads phy- sicians to employ drugs, the effects of which are often detrimental. Besides, it is fashionable, as yet, to treat the subject with contempt. Scientists often sneer at what they do not, and care not to, understand. When employed with ordinaiy means, the cure is speedier and pleasanter than without it, and the recovery from debil- ity is greatly accelerated. I think it has been satisfactorily demonstrated that disease is the effect of the disturbances of the sympa- thetic nervous system, and that this system is the agency by which life is imparted over the body. The cerebro- spinal axis is only superposed. It is the agent of the mind, and if the mind is to be considered as evolved by it, this is the case only because it has been involved or enwombed in it. The moving faculty is superior to 24 NERVOUS DISEASES. the organism, and is born only because begotten. It employs the bram and nervous system for its own pur- poses, and in its mature condition can and does exist without them, as a ripened fruit exists in all its perfec- tion independent of the stalk on which it grew. ]\Ien- tal or emotional disturbance, malarial or contagious poisons, etc., disorder the sympathetic system and pro- duce disease, nervous and every other kind. Remedial agents which soothe the irritability, modify the nervous and sanguineous circulation, and through them the other functions, should be depended upon in all treat- ment. Among them sunshine, pure air, water, exer- cise, magnetism and moral discipline are foremost. I do not reject others, for we are not yet skillful as we ought to be, nor are patients intelligent enough to per- mit what does not appear tangible to them. But as the physician approximates the ideal of his vocation, all will be changed. He will no more be sand-blind, and use a hand-lamp to guide him, but forswear his ped- antrv to become a votarv at the altar of real science. NERVOUS DISEASES. MAGNETIC THERAPEUTICS; A DEFENSE AND EXPLANATION OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM AS APPLIED IN TREATING OF THE SICK. Magnetism as a healing agent is opening the way, for the sick seek relief first, and the touch that soothes and heals is welcomed and the health it brings helps to drive all devils away. Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, Not light them for ourselves; for if our virtues Did not go forth of us, 't were all alike As if we had them not. We are not called to prove and demonstrate that such an agency actually exists, as the one so long known as Animal Magnetism. It has afforded its 26 NERVOUS DISEASES. own evidence ; and he who is candid and intelHgent has httle difificulty in arriving at conviction. For such only, do we care to write. We have neither time, pa- tience or energy, to waste outside. Whatever of doubt and uncertainty exists in regard to this agent, hangs equally heavy about every remedy employed. " Many things are uncertain in this world," says Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, " and among them the effect of a large proportion of the remedies pre- scribed by physicians."" It is not rious that the same medicine will exhibit ditferent phenomena in the hands of different prescribers, or administered to different pa- tients. Indeed, so manifold are these variations, as also the diversity of creed among physicians, that it is more than a question whether there exists an art more uncertain than the Medical. 7'he more learned in the calling are generally the most skeptical. It is partly because they have not yet attained the true starting- point for observation ; and partly because the secret of the potency of remedial agents has not been pene- trated. Van Helmont, who is credited with having created a new epoch in Medicine, set about his explorations in a method truly philosophical. He turned out of the NERVOUS DISEASES. 2/ beaten track, and sought to ascertain the sources and the outcome of the very Hfe itself. He perceived that there existed in all bodies a general cause, a special activity which their Creator had impressed upon them, and through which each acted upon the other. Hence, he, writing in a devout spirit, thus declared: "Ma- terial nature draws her forms through constant magnet- ism from above, and implores for them the favor of heaven ; and as heaven, in like manner, draws some- thing mvisible below, there is established a free and mutual intercourse, and the whole is contai?ied in an indi- vidual." This magnetism has in it nothing contrary to common sense, except in the minds of persons who ridicule everything which the\' do not understand, and affect to despise what they have not the facility to pos- sess. Such learn what they know, as the brute animals do, only adding such reasoning and combining facul- ties as they, by virtue of their humanity, chance to pos- sess. It is not sound logic to attribute things to the imagination, as though that was proof that they were unsubstantial nonentities. The imagination of a moth- er will rule the development of her child, as we have numerous examples. A faculty having that power, is 28 NERVOUS DISEASES. an entity of the most energetic character, and real in the most emphatic sense of the word. Reasoning from this beginning, and sustaining his views by his own observations and those of others, Van Helmont declared that many plants used as medicines, acquire an extraordinar}- power from the minc^ of the person manipulating them. The same thing is true in regard to minerals ; there are per- sons who will convert a common needle into a mag- netic one. The drugs employed by physicians, there- fore, in many instances, have their principal virtues due to the imagination, or perhaps the faith, of the prescriber or patient ; while, in other cases, the drugs are themselves magnets or magnetized substances. It is therefore the physician, rather than the medi- cine, that should be looked to and depended upon for the healing virtue. The medical knowledge which is now taught is insufficient for the purposes of the healing art. It consists too much in uncertain conjectures and pride of opinion; while it, to a great degree, overlooks the means which exist on every hand, and especially the instinct common alike to human be- ings and animals, which impels them to seek that which is needful and to shun the unwholesome. Our NERVOUS DISEASES. 29* doctrine, on the contrary, is founded on a genuine and unquestionable experience, from which, as from an in- exhaustible fountain, there flows an unceasing current of most vital truths. That Medical knowledge is taking a new departure is palpable on every hand. Even those physicians who have settled down into the chaotic mire of atheism and materialism are vociferous in their proclamations about the advances of Science. " While they do not quite know what they are saying, and their auditors and ad- mirers do not well understand the sense of it, the fact is patent, nevertheless, that humanity is entering upon a new era, in which the former dogmatisms and half- knowing will pass away. We have no occasion, there- fore, for unfriendly dispute with anybody. It is enough for us to know the truth and walk in it, without wan- dering from the path to engage in controversy with the Savants of the Twilight. The art of curing disease by the agency known as ?*Iagnetism is very old — -perhaps the oldest method that was ever employed. It is the first that instinctively suggests itself to the friend of the sufferer, to the moth- er, the wife, or the sympathizing neighbor. It was em- ployed in the temples of /Esculapius, both in Greece 30 NERVOUS DISEASES. and Asia Minor, long before the Christian era. The fact is recorded in the Papyri of Egypt, which have been lately deciphered and translated, that Ramases XII. convened his College of Sacred Scribes and Doctors of Arcane Science, to designate for him "a man of intel- ligent heart and skillful with his fingers,'' to be sent to Batana, in Asia, as a physician to the daughter of its king. The tragedian, yEschylus, has also recorded a like mat- ter : -'There, in Egypt, he with gentle hand, soothed her to rest." It was no marvelous occurrence among the learned men of that distant age : for the magnetic manipulations may be seen there, at this day, delineated on the walls of the ancient temples. To cure with the touch was regarded as the divine gift and faculty; and the temples had their hospital chambers for the service of the sick. In fact, they called the art Sorcery, when it was exercised by those who did not belong to the con- secrated number of the priest-physicians, and who had not taken their Hippocratic oath. It has since become fashionable to denounce everything which a pagan knew of higher science, and even to punish those who were expert in it. Owing to that bigotry the employment of magnetism in healing was proscribed and finally for- gotten. NERVOUS DISEASES. 3 I It is necessary, however, to understand this matter aright. There exists a great faciiUy of blundering that should not always be exercised, and we do not wish to encourage it. When we say Magnelism, we do not mean ??iussage, rubbing, kneading or shampooing. The artifi- ces of Kinesipathy or Movement Cure are all excellent, and a world of good has been done by their means ; but they are hardly to be regarded as magnetic agen- cies. We are content to praise them, and then to leave them, as a thing apart from our subject. It is not exactly what is called electricity. We must remember, however, that the electric phenomena which have been evolved and displayed, upon which learned books and papers have been written, about which so many interesting facts have been made known, and which have been in some degree utilized, as in the mat- ter of telegraphs, telephones, illumination, metal-plat- ing and the like, are but matters which belong to the outer portals of electrical science. The real verity has not yet been revealed ; much that has been inferred and taught is apocryphal. It is the manifestation of a force under peculiar conditions ; but what that force really is has not been ascertained. It comes and goes, at least it seems to do so ; it is as a spirit going whither it will, 32 NERVOUS DISEASES. but actually little known, and what is known about it, little understood. The endeavor has been made to solve certain psychical displays by imputing them to it ; but the explanation is no more than an unrevealed apoca- lypse. This much has been observed, that where a cer- tain individual had exhibited "physical phenomena," among which were the ringing of bells, the moving of bodies and the throwing of them about, somnambul- ism, and even rappings, the whole were arrested by simply placing the person on an insulated bed, the posts resting upon glass. Individuals with whom we are familiar give off sparks now and then from the head and other parts of the person, and experience a sensation in the arms and hands of fullness and engorgement of the nerves and bowels, which may be removed by proper manipula- tions. We have been in the habit of regarding such conditions as electrical. It is not our purpose, however, to give them any critical defining or other explanation ; but only mention the matter as having been mistakenly regarded as a magnetic phenomenon. It is foreign to our purpose to treat of topics extraneous to the one under consideration. That one person can intluence another in the way NERVOUS DISEASES. '^'^ commonly denominated Diagneiic, is a fact now very generally known. It no longer compromises a per- son's reputation for good sense and intelligence to ad- mit this. Even Dr. Holmes, who has a place in the highest scientific circle in this country, has actually ventured to hint that there was "a special magnetic power to which certain temperaments were impressible, though there was no explaining it."' A wiser and greater than Dr. Holmes has both explained it, and demonstrated it beyond successful disputing of the fact. ''A whole multitude sought to touch him ; for there went virtue out of him and healed them all. * * And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, came behind him and touched the border of his garment : and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said : ' Who touched me V When all denied, Peter said : ' Master, the mul- titude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou : Who touched me V And Jesus said : 'Somebody hath touched me ; for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.'" This "virtue,"' or dynamic potency, is an actual entity, an endowment of our physical life, and capable, 54 NERVOUS DISEASES. when rightly employed, of assuaging bodily pain and re- moving disease. It is not a boon which only a few en- joy, but a general property of living beings. Animals possess it, and even emit it under certain conditions. Hence, it is properly named vital or anivial rather than human magnetism. There are auras or emanations from brutes, which sustain the physical energies, nour- ish the body and impart health, in a manner similar and in strict analogy to those which pass unconsciously from human beings. The florid countenance, which is a characteristic of butchers, is due to this cause. They are constandy imbibing the effluvia from the fresh blood of the animals which they slaughter. These impart to them a subtile nourishment which adds im- mensely to their vigor and vivacity. Others, who fol- low callings that assure similar advantages, are bene- fited accordingly. The dairymen in the country, the sheep-farmers, and the grooms engaged about stables, derive likewise a wholesome influence from the animals about which they are employed. This mysterious aura, which every living animal diffuses, adds to the vital energy of those by whom it is absorbed. The story of King David and Abishag, the Shuna- mite girl, has been repeatedly cited. It is a very sim- NERVOUS DISEASES. 35 pie, and in no sense a "strange story." We find numerous examples of the like all around us. Par- ents and elderly persons are often eager to make bed- mates of children, and derive material benefit by so doing. Invalids often artfully secure healthy persons to share their apartments, because of the peculiar heal- ing virtue which is received from them. The celebrated Madame Hauffe, the " Seeress of Prevorst," subsisted for a long time in this mysterious manner. Her life hung in the body as by a solitary thread. She was chained to existence as by a single nerve. She depended upon the organic strength of other persons, which she received chiefly through the eyes and ends of her fingers. Others felt that she took strength from them. Weakly persons felt themselves weakened when near her. Physicians have recuperated patients by placing upon their bodies the skins, intestines or other parts of ani- mals that had been just slaughtered. The Roman Empress Poppsea used to bathe in asses' milk, freshly drawn from tiie udders, in order to prolong her youth- fulness. In France, under the old regime, when neither kings nor nobles respected the lives or personal rights of the people, it was affirmed that certain lords, ex- 56 NERVOUS DISEASES. hausted and benumbed from exposure or debility, would cause the bodies of peasants, their property, to be cut open while living, so that they might be warmed and invigorated from the animal heat. A few years before the Revolution, the passions of the populace were exasperated by the stor}^ which had been circulated, that the royal princes, aftenvard Louis XVI 1 1, and Charles X., had caused young children to be kidnapped from their parents for the purpose of bathing in their blood, in order to regain the vigor which had been wasted by debauchery. It was an old notion that for magnetism to be suc- cessfully applied, the patient must be put to sleep. This is a great mistake. It has been the cause of great wasting of time and energy. All that is required is to be brought into a susceptible condition. The sleep is useful therefore only in so far as this is oc- casioned. The attention of the physician duly fixed upon the patient, and particularly upon the region of the body which requires treatment, is the principal thing required. The patient will become conscious of of a particular sensation, better known than described : often an aura or cool breeze resembling that of epi- lepsy, or else a peculiar sense of warmth, or a prickling NERVOUS DISEASES. 37 feeling, or perhaps a slight numbness. This peculiar sensation will be more or less vivid as the patient is more or less sensitive. In this condition the will of the physician, or his simplest suggestion, has become a spiritual force, acting in harmony with the mind and will of the patient to the end of influencing beneficially the unwholesome states of the body. Every disorder which will admit of a cure will give way to this agency. There is not the reasonable shadow of a doubt in the matter. The simple suggestion of the magnetic phy- sician, even when made in silence, without audible voice, will increase or diminish the action of the heart, change the breathing, affect the functional movements of the stomach, liver, spleen, kidneys, and intestinal canal. The blood will be sensibly modified in charac- ter, both chemically and physiologically. The breath will have a different flavor and odor. The perspira- tory glands will experience an augmentation of their activity, and the whole skin become more efficient. The vital action of any organ of the body can be con- trolled ; any part may be rendered insensible to pain ; the nerves quieted ; and, in brief, the specific effects of a medicine may be produced, without the always evil and objectionable morbid accompaniments. ^8 NERVOUS DISEASES. By following up this treatment, a complete revolu- tion will be made in the functional action of the body, and the organism itself will undergo a beneficial and permanent change. The effects which are produced by the magnetic power and other operations, will be carried over into the normal state, and so hold good as a condition of regained health. The faculty of magnetising exists in all persons ; but all do not posses it in the same degree. There are many reasons for this diversity. One is the superiority of individuals over others in moral and physical quali- ties. In the former respect, there is required confi- dence in one's own powder to accomplish the desired result, energy of will, facility in concentrating the at- tention and holding it thus fixed, kindness of feeling, patience, calmness of mind, and entire devotion to the matter in hand. The person who is deficient in these particulars will hardly become a good magnetic physi- cian. The physical qualifications are essential. Good health is one of the very first of these. There is be- sides a peculiar power, different from that which lifts burdens or moves heavy objects. Its existence and a the degree of energy possessed in this respect, are only NERVOUS DISEASES. 39 known by trial. It will be perceived at once that some persons have magnetic power superior to what is possessed by others. Indeed, this virtue is so great in some, that they have to moderate it. The direct action ceases when the physician suspends the energy of his will in that direction ; but the peculiar communication once established, the virtue will be transferred to the patient by the receptive condition which has been in- duced. Confidence in the efficaciousness of magnetism is of very great importance; nevertheless it is not ab- solutely necessary. The office of magnetic treatment, it will be per- ceived, is to arouse and set in action the vital force. It can do no more. Persons who have taken much medicine are less benefited therefore than those who have been less unfortunate. Nevertheless, this is no reason why medical treatment and magnetism may not be employed together. The administering of remedies is greatly favored by the auxiliary and their efficiency assured. Magnetism quiets nervous movements and convulsions, relieves pain, removes coma and deter- mination to the head, and so puts the patient in a con- dition to use remedies to advantage, which perhaps it had been impossible before to administer 40 NERVOUS DISEASES, Magnetism often assuages a fever and moderates the paroxysms ; it puts a stop to delirium, diminishes the excitement of the nervous system, and, at the same time, imparts or increases strength. It quickens the circulation of the blood and augments the vital activity. Nevertheless, it requires great care and discretion in such cases ; and therefore a very' judicious physician is required. In local inflammation it is a sovereign ap- plication. In certain inflammatory disorders, which are active in the more important of the viscera, wonders have been performed. It has cured pleurisies, when the pain was excruciating and haemoptysis had begun. Inflammation of the stomach and bowels, cholera mor- bus, and other ailments closely related to it, disappear as though they had been charmed away. There are examples of the cure of dropsy. For indurated and enlarged glands, it is all-important. Ulcers and scrof- ulous diseases, which have exhausted the resources of medicine, have been healed by magnetism. Epilepsy affords the most convincing proofs of the power of this agent. The violence and frequency of the attacks have been diminished, and many patients have been cured outright. Paralysis is benefited in like manner : the lame walk, the blind see, and the benumbed recover NERVOUS DISEASES. 41 sensibility. Rheumatism is one of the diseases most certain to be relieved. Pains caused by a stoppage of perspiration are almost always cured. Neuralgia dis- appears as by magic. We may go through the cate- gory, and will be able to give similar testimony. JMag- netism is nature's curative ; and, in one form or an- other, will remove diseases amenable to treatment, and benefit others which are not. 42 NERVOUS DISEASES. MAGNETISM SCIENTIFICALLY AND SUCCESSFULLY APPLIED. BY B. L. CETLINSKI, I\I. D. That there is a healing power acting independently of the materia medica, and as efficacious in its sphere as any remedial agent known to science, is now a well- established fact with all those who are willing to wit- ness its operations at the bedside of the sick. It acts in broad daylight, and is not disturbed in the least by the scrutinizing eyes of the scientific physicians. This heal- ing power is generally known by the title of "zoo," or animal magnetism. A more pompous title is given to it by some fanciful writers, in the newly coined ex- pressions "psychic force," "psychomany," "psychophy- sic,"' in connection with some wild theories concerning the nature and modus operandi o{ \\\?i\. mysterious power. The naked fact is, that there are men and w^omen who NERVOUS DISEASES. 43 can cure diseases by simply putting themselves in con- tact with the sick person, and expressing their will to effect a cure. The expression takes various shapes and forms, according to the idiosyncratic habit of the healer. This marvelous healing power has been known for ages ; but, while by the ancients it was considered as a special favor accorded by Deity as a reward of great holiness, or as a sign of high social position (as kings and priests), it is demonstrated in our day as being a simple attribute of some peculiar organizations, entire- ly irrespective of holiness or social position. The in- quiry into the nature and character of this power, and the conditions indispensable to its manifestations, is perfectly legitimate ; but the various theories pro- pounded until now appear to be a wonderful tissue of hasty conclusions, drawn partly from imperfect experi- ments made and suggestions thrown out by various scientific men concerning the nature and modus ope- randi of the medicinal virtue of drugs in general, and partly from inadequate observations made of phenom- ena of different kinds, and unequally considered, as the late Professor Czermack has it. It is this unscien- tific process of combining heterogeneous elements into 44 NERVOUS DISEASES. a theorem that has opened wide fields to charlatanism, which fills the papers with certificates testifying to ephemeral cures of imaginary complaints, to the de- light of the credulous. I do not intend to enter now into a proper analysis of the various phenomena exhib- ited by this power, and suggestions they may off"er for a plausible theor}-; but as I had of late the opportunity to experience the effect of this mysterious power upon myself, produced by one of our most genuine prac- titioners, I cannot resist the impulse to submit a few thoughts concerning the main characteristic feature of this wonderful gift, with a few hints elucidating the floating schemes for its explanation. (i.) One of Zoroaster's doctrines with regard to med- icine is, that as a sequel of the alliance of Ormazd, or supreme being, with the Ferver, or spirit of everything, every fractional part of a medicinal substance contains the whole of the medicine or its spirit. (2.) Paracelsus, but especially Hahnemann, by his strictly scientifically-conducted experiments, with re- gard to ascertaining the physiological relation which must exist between a remedial agent and the human organism, was led step by step to the conclusion that the power of rnedicine is a pure dynamical or a kind NERVOUS DISKASES. 45. of spiritual power, and that said power is develop- ed in an inverse ratio of the complexity of the bulk, so that the medicinal virtue of a drug acts freer and more powerfully through the vehicle of the smallest fractional part of the drug. This is, as Dr. Veit justly remarked, {Hygir. V. 443) Zoroaster scientifically applied. (3.) But G. H. Von Schubert, in his history of the soul, stardng with the belief that an unseen world of forces forms the complement of the visible world, and that the first manifest themselves when the visible forces fail to do so, by reason of exhausdon or lack of power, advances the bold assertion with regard to med- icine, that by the homoeopathic attenuation the hidden soul of the medicine is made to appear, wdiich fact, in dead matter, is equal to die phenomena of animal mag- netism. Von Schubert finally asserts that the homoeo- pathist acts by means of a psychical agent following the psychical forces of the body, and through them on the gross materiality of the organism, (4.) Dr. S. Lutze, a devoted disciple of Hahnemann, a man who evidendy possessed the gift of healing in a very high degree, catching the idea, proclaimed openly a monopoly for his own homoeopathic preparations of drugs, on the ground that he communicates his extra- 46 NERVOUS DISEASES. ordinary healing or magnetic power to his drugs dur- ing the process of attenuation, and there were thou- ands of patients under his treatment who swore by him and his magnetic-force-globules. (5.) This is not enough ; some of the most learned physicians who adopted Hahnemann's therapeutics, (Dr. Rumel and Surgeon Tietz) starting again from a pure scientific impulse, arrived by experiments and speculations, aided by microscopy, at the conclusion that the medicinal virtue of drugs was either identical with or analogous to electricity and magnetism, and follow consequently the same law of expansion centri- fugally as in electricity. (6.) There remains but one step in advance to make, and we arrive at the conclusion that a medicinal virtue can be transferred from a medicinal to a non-medicinal substance, and this step is really taken by the erudite Dr. Rau from Giessen and others. (7.) But to complete the picture, I must not forget an anonymous writer in the Alg. H. Zeitg. 27, 265, who advances his opinion, supported by microscopical ex- periments, that a violent disintegration of a medicinal substance produces a lively molecular movement which he calls " vivification '' of the drug, and believes that the NERVOUS DISEASES. 47 secret of the homoeopathic attenuation consists in this, that Ufe is made to act upon life. This again is a revival of an old maxim of the Essaian concerning the medici- nal virtue of fresh animal blood, that "■ li/e gives li/e." Here, I think, we have all the elements of that chaos which surrounds that marvelous remedial agency not known to the materia medica. It is certainly premature, in the present state of our physiological and psycholog- ical knowledge, to undertake any useful speculation concerning the nature and modus operandi of the heal- ing power, in question. I have not seen, in the meth- ods employed in magnetic treatment, any thing corres- ponding with the use of electro-magnetism or faradisa- tion. I will now give a short account of my own experi- ence. In the early Winter of 1874, w^iile I was attending to some business in New York City, I suddenly felt a shooting, itching pain, starting somewhere in the supra- scapular nerve, extending rapidly to all the connected muscles covering the shoulder-blade anteriorly and posteriorly, rendering me unable to proceed in my walks, and soon the pectoris-major became involved. Having no medicine about me, and being obliged to remain in the city the whole day and be on the move, I visited Doctor James Edwin Briggs, in the hope of 48 NERVOUS DISEASES. obtaining prompt relief.* Finding him in his ofifice, I told him, moaningly, what had happened to me, not giving him my diagnosis, but called my sufTering rheu- matism, from cold, pain in arms and back, &c. I found him a gentleman of much suavity, and of a very sympathetic nature. He disclaims any pretensions to *Perhaps a word will be permitted, by way of explanation, of Dr. Cetlinski's allusions, and will not be regarded as egotistical or unprofessional. Dr. Briggs was educated as a pharmacist, but studied medicine after coming to manhood. He passed through the regular course' of medical study like other physi- cians, besides a thorough training in boyhood and early man- hood in pharmacy and pharmaceutical chemistry. The faculty of applying animal magnetism as an auxiliary to the healing art was inherited from his mother. His brothers and sisters exhi- bit the like power ; but with this very natural and very unfortu- nate accompaniment, that they experience ill effects in conse- quence of exercising it, which Dr. Briggs does not. It is not every person who can apply magnetism with benefit to others, that is able to escape this penalty. It seems as though to "lay bands unwisely upon another," would render the individual "a partaker of others' sins" and infirmities, by some occult law. Having taken a full course of instruction in medicine, as just stated, Dr. Briggs opened an ofifice in Troy, N. Y., in 1865, employing magnetism, sometimes alone, and at other times combining it with regular medical treatment. He has pur- sued these methods till the present time, and with gratifying success. Since 1872 he has been a resident practitioner in the City of New York. NERVOUS DISEASES. 49 working miracles, but believes he has the vocation of healing the sick, and feels always happy in relieving the sufferings of his fellow-beings. His previous occupa- tion has been that of a druggist, chemist, and then a practitioner. Although my slight personal acquaintance with him impressed me much in his favor, I am not the one to be easily psychologized by any one, and less so by him, v/ho is inferior to me in physical strength, stature and self-will. Briefly : I stepped into his sanctum, sat down, and allowed him to operate on me, watching closely his manipulations. I was much surprised to see that the first contact of his hand with my body was at the very spot where the pain started from, although I did not give him any details of my sensations, nor did I tell him any topical indications. He put his hand imme- diately on the right spot, pressing gently on it for a while, then manipulating upon the whole area involved in such a manner as if his hands were directed by a knowledge of the most interior workings in the painful muscles. Very soon I felt a glow in the brachial plexus, and a kind of commotion therein, which alarmed me at first ; but I soon became aware that the motion took so NERVOUS DISEASES. a well-defined direction, and in a few minutes more I felt an affluence of fresh blood in the capillaries and in the painful region, and felt immediately refreshed all over, as if after a genuine Russian bath in my own country. Thinking I was through, I was about to get up, when the doctor commanded me to rest, for he had some more work to perform. Immediately he put his hand on the region at my left kidney, saying, "You need here some fresh vitality !" This surprised me in the utmost, as, in fact, there is a ver}' weak spot in my organism, for which I treat myself occasionally, but never thought of it at that time. A few manipulations of his upon the said region made me conscious of an increase of tenacity in that organ, and I was soon al- lowed to rise. Resting a little while, chatting and re- cruiting, I left the Doctor's office, completely restored to my normal condition, went through my day's work in the city, and have had no occasion smce to resort to my medicine case for myself Now what was it in Dr. Briggs" operations, in my own case, that relieved me, in half an hour, of a severe acute attack, as described above ? There was not a shadow of resemblance in his manipulation to the operations of Faradization or elec- NERVOUS DISEASES. 5 1 tricity according to science. Then, again, does electrici- ty, magnetism — even zoo-magnetism — make a diagno- sis based on the knowledge of morbid physiology .'' Is it psychic force — if it is anything of the nature oi force — scientifically understood } does it reason, make diagno- sis .-^ All we know is that Dr. Briggs can cure diseases when he wills to do it. It is a God-given gift, of which he makes a noble use. God bless him ! I do not think to act contrary to our medical code of ethics, if I say to all who are suffering and do not find relief in the knowledge of their doctor, call on Dr. Briggs, and get cured. This gift seems to be able to act not only inde- pendently of the ?}iakna medica, but in many cases, also, independentl}- of surgery. I mean surgery as used by non-Hahnemannian practitioners, in and out of season. 52 NERVOUS DISEASES. MAGNETISM. BY GILES B. STEBBINS, A. M. The external acts of man, his power to strike hard, to run or row, or chop wood, to handle tools, etc., are tolerably well understood, for they are tangible to the daily observation of the senses. His mental pow- ers are somewhat well known also from the books he writes and the inventions he has devised, but there are subtile and interior powers of his of which little indeed is known ; and such knowledge, deepest and highest and most far reaching, would seem to come last in the order of human development. True we have had even from the remote past of India and the European Middle Ages some gleams of light, — occult research, intuitive statement and wonderful incident, yet little that is systematic or satisfactory. We NERVOUS DISEASES. 53 are coming to the verge of a new era, and so are learn- ing more in regard to the real constitution of man. Magnetism, the existence of a subtile and emanating aura, the invisible influence that reaches out, whether we will or no, and that goes with new force and swift directness, if we will and direct it, is a new study com- paratively, new, that is, so far as any plan or system is concerned, any effort to look at it as rational, to utilize it for human good. Magnetism has also opened the way as a healing agency ; for the sick seek relief first, and the touch that soothes and heals is welcomed, and the health which it brings helps to drive all unhealthful influ- ences away. Almost seventy years ago, M. Deleuze, an eminent French scientist, wrote a Critical History of MagJieiism^ the result of twenty-nine years of careful research car- ried on with the fidelity and care that marked all the acts of one of the best of men. His biographer tells us how he shows that ' ' Its effects have been attested by thousands of witnesses" of all grades "who have not been afraid to brave ridicule in obeying conscience and doing duty to humanity , . while among its ad- versaries not a man can be found who has examined 54 NERVOUS DISEASES. the subject in the only proper way, by experimenting for himself with the most scrupulous attention, and in exact accordance with the prescribed directions."' He concludes after his thirty years' study : " Mag- netism presents phenomena which may enlighten us upon our physical organizations, and upon the facul- ties of our soul. It is an action in human beings re- sembling attraction in inanimate matter. This action hath its laws. Let physicians, physiologists and meta- physicians unite to study them, and they will soon make a science whose application will add much to the various branches of knowledge which are destined to strengthen the ties that bind men together, and dimin- ish the ills to which they are exposed." At a later date (1826) he wrt)te "Practical Instruction in Animal Magnetism," a work remarkably clear and simple in style, yet wisely practical. A few extracts give idea of its utility. "When the magnetizer acts upon the patient, they are said to be in coinmiinication {rapport.) That is to say, we mean by the word communication, a peculiar and induced condition, which causes the magnetizer to ex- ert an influence on the patient, there being between them a communication of the vital principle. NERVOUS DISEASES. 5.5 "The perfectness and benefit of this depends upon the moral and physical condition of the persons. Ex- perienced magnetizers know in themselves when this takes place. . . The fingers ought to be a little separated, and slightly bent, so that their ends be di- rected toward the person magnetized. . . Where any one has a local pain it is natural to carry the mag- netic action to the suffering part. It is not by passing the hands over the arms that we undertake to cure the sciatica ; or by the hands on the stomach that we can ease a pa'n on the knee. The magnetic fluid, when motion is given it, draws along with it the blood, the humors and the cause of the complaint. If one has a pain in the shoulder, and the magnetizer makes passes from the shoulder to the end of the fingers, the pain will descend with the hand ; it stops sometimes at the elbow, or at the wrist, and goes off by the hands, in which a slight perspiration is perceived ; before it is wholly dissipated, a pain is sometimes felt in the lower part of the bowels. It seems to chase away and bear off with it whatever disturbs the equilibrium, and its action ceases when the equilibrium is restored. "The following rule, with some exceptions, seems to be established : 56 NERVOUS DISEASES. ' ' Accumulate and concentrate the magnetic fluid on the suffering point ; then draw off the pain toward the extremities. For example : for a pain in the shoulder, hold your hand on it some minutes ; then descend, and having quitted the ends of the fingers, re-com- mence patiently the same process." These are but a few of the many directions and sug- gestions of this eminent and careful man. Leaving the great Frenchman, we give an extract from a dis- tinguished author {Harbhiger 0/ Health, pp. 87). Mr. A. J. Davis says : "There is a very common superstition among pop- ular medical men, of the aniedeluvian school, that the phenomena of magnetism (or mesmerism) are the con- comitants of hysterical states of the nervous system. But there is, here and there, a broad-hearted and knowledge-loving physician, who is capable of put- ting a rational question with an honest incredulity A loss of vital action is nothing but a loss o^ balance be- tween inherent forces, which are positive and negative, or magnetic and electrical. Yet we do not hold that currents generated by the metallic or mineral battery can ever be made to act as a substitute, because the principles of life are as much more fine than atmos- NERVOUS DISEASES. 57 pheric electricity as the latter is more delicate than the water of our lakes." Therefore we recommend the judicious use of hu- man magnetism in nearly all cases of disease. As the eminent M. De Puysegur said : "You must have an active will to do good, a firm faith in your power, and an active confidence in employing it." JMagnetism is a useful, an invigorating, and a sublime agent for energy and health. It is the all pervading j>'/;z/»t7/-^ which con- nects us with the absolute condition and sufferings of our fellow men. Owing to the delicacy and sublime uses of this power it is susceptible of remarkable mi's- applications, much to the annoyance, perhaps injury, of both operator and subject. These practical directions and excellent suggestions may help to awaken thought on an important subject. Magnetism is to be one of the great remedial powers and agencies. Medical men must adopt it, and will. I JSTDEX. Animal Magnetism. Views of Brown-Sequard 23 " Dr. Cetlinski 42 " Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes 33 Auras of Animals 34 Brandis, Sir J. D., on Efficacy of Magnetism 23 Biographical Sketch 48 Briggs, James E., on Magnetic Therapeutics 25 Successful Treatment of a Patient 47 Brown-Sequard on Animal Magnetism and Painless SurgerV... 23 Carpenter, Dr. William B., his Praise of Magnetism 22 Cetlinski, Dr. B. L., on Magnetism. Scientifically and Successfully. Applied 42 Treated by Dr. Briggs 47 Cures by Magnetism 22 Davis, A. J., Explication of Vital Magnetism 56 Deleuze, M., Critical History of Magnetism 53 Diseases, to be Treated with Advantage 22-40 Egypt, Magnetism in 30 Electricity 31 Elliottson, Dr. John, on Cukes isy Magnet. sm 22 INDEX. 59 Emotions, Influence in Disease i8 Epilepsy 12 Etiology of Nervous Diseases 14 Goethe, his Generalization of Organic Life 7 Hamilton, Sir William, on Mind 7 Hammond, Dr. W. A., Hypothesis of Mind 5 Hauffe, Mme., Seeress of Prevorst 35 Holmes, Dr. Oliver Wendell, on Magnetic Power 33 Uncertainty of Remedies 26 Hysteria 9 Imagination, Influence of 27 Insanity 9 LuTZE, on Magnetic Fokce-Globules 46 Magnetic Therapeutics 25 Magnetism Explained 25 Hypothesis of Van Hclmont 26 Rules for Applying 55 Successful in Diseases 22-40 Theory of Dr. Briggs 25 " Deleuze 53 " Giles B. Stebbins 52 " J. J. G. Wilkinson 22 Massage not Magnetism 31 Nervous Diseases. By J. E. Briggs, M. D 3 Etiology of 14 Neurasthenia 14 New Departure in Medical Science 29 Paracelsus on Medicinal Virtue 44 Priests the Ancient Magnetisers 43 Psychical Agents 45 PuvsEGUR ON Mode of Applying Magnetism 57 6b INDEX. Remedies Uncertain 26 Rules for Applying Magnetism 55 Seeress of Prevorst 35 Sexual System. 19 Stebbins, G. B., on Magnetism 52 Sympathetic Nervous System 15 Uncertainty of Remedies 26 Van Helmont, his Hypothesis 26 Von Schubert on Psychical Agents .^5 Wilkinson, Dr. J. J. Garth, on Magnetism 22 Zoroaster on Medicine 44 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. '2 WKS FROM REO«PT 1 1 1993 NQN-RENEWABLE 2 WKS FROM REOfePT '- 1 1 1993 NON-RENEWABLE 2 WKS FROM REOBPT 'JAN 1 1 1993 MQblrKENEWABLE