Mind as a cause and cure of disease presented from a medical, scientific and religious point of view

Preface

The object of this work is to show, from the testimony of medical and scientific men, tin* marvellous power of the mind over the body. Its contents prove conclusively that, generally speaking, wrong or inharmonious mental states aiv a very prolific cause of di and

produce a deleterious effect on all the functions of the body; whereas, on the other hand, right or harmonious mental conditions are equally potent to heal, and 1 a beneficial effect instead. Therefore, t<» ] i a

wrong, or inharmonious, to a right, or uious, si

of consciousness must result in a cure, and that such is the case is capable of demonstration by dy.

Hence, to be well one should carefully avoid all wrong states of thought and feeling and establish right < in their stead; nor can real or permanent healing be obtained in any other way.

This book w 7 ill not be copyrighted, and whoever so desires is at liberty to use, in any way. the material, either as a whole or in part.

ELI BEEKS.

Chicago, February, 1914.

CONTEXTS

Chapter I page

The Relation of the Mind to Disorders of SensaA

The Power of Mind —

In Producing and Modifying □

In Causing Pain 17

Ghapui ii

The Relation of the \

Mind as a Cause of Disease —

Of the Voluntary Muscles

Of the Involuntary Muscles 40

PTD III

The Relation of the Mind to I of th» <»

Funetions

Deleterious Effects of the Mind —

On the Secretions and K - 52

On the Blood Gl

On the Process of Nutrition 71

Diseases Resulting Therefrom

CHAPTER IV

l\hpathy or Thought-Tra i

Experiments Carried On —

By Various Individuals 85

By the London Society for Psychical Research 91

Explanation and Practical Value 109

Contents

Chapter V page

The Principles of Mental or Psychic Healing

Healing as Related —

CHAPTER I The Relation of the Mind to Disorders of NATION

To what extent sensation is physical and to what extent it is mental is a matter regarding which there is a great diversity of view. Dugal Stewart, the distinguished Scotch metaphysician, quotes Thomas Melville as saying: "No man can demonstrate that the objects of sense exist without him ; we are conscious of nothing but our own sensations; however, by the uniformity, regularity, consistency and steadiness of the impression, we are lead to believe that they have a real and durable cause without us; and we observe not any thing which contradicts this opinion" (36:414).*

According to the old classification there were five so-called senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling. From the standpoint of a later and more ex classification the last, that of feeling, is resolved into several separate senses or aspects of sensation, viz., touch, weight, temperature and so forth (see 12:215-24). Similar additions have been made to other senses. Hence it is said that "The normal man or woman has not only five senses, but at least a dozen. M

Sensation is experienced through certain organs, which serve as so many media or avenues of communication between the soul on the one hand and all the activities going on in the seeming, or generally acknowledged, external world on the other. Therefore experience in this realm must be determined or limited by the nature

* In the references the number before the colon is to the list of works given at the end of this book and the number (or numbers) after it is to the page (or pages) of the work from which the quotation or extract has been taken.

2 Mi)id as a Cause and Cure of Disease

or condition of the organs themselves. Such being the case, it follows of necessity that, unless persons are born with the organs of sensation in exactly the same state or condition, they are not born in the same relationship to the phenomena in the outer world. Moreover, that they are not so born is very evident. Romberg observes : "There are many persons whose hearing generally is good, but whose power of hearing high notes is very limited. The range of hearing differs in different individuals" (29: vol. 1, 244). Likewise Prof. Dolbear, in his very interesting work on Matter, Ether, and Motion, says that the ear of an ordinary individual is able to take in vibrations or impulses varying all the way from twenty or thirty up to twenty-five thousand or so per second, while there are persons who have the sense of hearing so acute as to be able to take in as many as fifty or sixty thousand vibrations per second (see 13:262-3). But if one person can perceive only from twenty or thirty up to twenty or thirty thousand vibrations per second, while another individual can take in from twenty or thirty up to forty or sixty thousand in the same time, it follows logically that one of these persons is living in a world of sound twice as large as the other and must continue to do so as long as the organs of hearing of each remain in the same condition. And w r hat is true of hearing is true to a greater or less extent of every organ of sensation. Hence we are driven to the conclusion that the experiences of one individual in the realm of sensation are not necessarily a reliable criterion by which to determine those of another.

Furthermore, not only do we find that people are born with the organs of sensation in a more or less imperfect condition, but, not unfrequently, in such a condition as to render them practically valueless. For instance, they are born blind or they are born deaf. According to the testimony of able physiologists, if a person has never had the use of a particular organ of sensation, then that person can n< ide to fully

comprehend any of those experiences which come through that particular channel. That is to say, a person born blind can never be made to accurately understand what you mean by color; a person born deaf, what you mean by harmony or distinction in sound. In this case, however, it usually happens that one or more of the other organs becomes more highly developed. For example, if persons have been born blind or otherwise deprived of sight, then they are likely to have a very remarkable sense of touch. It is said of Saunderson, who was a Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, England, and who was blind from the time he was two years old, that, by the use of this sense, he could "distinguish genuine medals from imitations" with greater accuracy "than many connoisseurs in full possession of their sensi (11 : 706). Van Norden in his work, 1 F tor,

relates the case of a person in Switzerland born blind who could do the most exquisite work in carving, even to the carving of the form and I I of the human

face (see 45:135). Likewise Dr. "William B. Carpenter, the distinguished writer on physiology, speaks of persons who, although blind, could "distinguish the colours of surfaces which were similar in other respects," and says that they were probably able to do this because their sense of touch was so acute as to enable them to distinguish the difference in "the position and arrangement of the particles composing the surface," whereby there arises the absorption of some rays and the reflection of others, inasmuch as, in course of time, they had learned to associate this change of formation with certain colors (11:707).

Still again, it sometimes happens that the sense of Bmell is affected in a similar manner. For instance, it is said that James Mitchell, "who was blind, deaf, and dumb, from his birth," could distinguish not only members of the family to which he belonged but others by this sense. Humboldt, too, records that the Peruvian Indians could in this way tell in the "middle of the night' ' the nationality to which a person belonged (11:717). Physicians testify that prisoners have an odor peculiar to the criminal class and certain facts go to show that there is a power in mental states to give a peculiar chemical quality to all the substances of the body. Then, inasmuch as no two persons are alike mentally they can not be alike physically. Moreover, there is reason to suppose that these effects of the mind upon the body extend also to the clothing that we wear and to everything that we touch. Otherwise how would it be possible for a dog to follow his master by the smell of his footsteps ? And why should it seem more strange that a person should be able to distinguish another by the sense of smell than by that of sight; for, according to the teaching of eminent physiologists, every sensation ultimately resolves itself down to one, namely, that of touch or feeling? (See 12: 217-18.)

With regard to the improving of the organs of sensation, Unzer observes: "Frequent use has no slight effect in changing and perfecting the animal functions. By use alone the perception becomes more acute, for the musician perceives the least discord, and is annoyed by that which a person not a musician never notices" (18:444). The question naturally arises, Along with this greater development of sensation, does there take place a corresponding change in the physical organism — that is to say, in the substance of the organ through which the particular sensation is experienced? We should expect so and, if this be true, then just as it is possible to develop the muscles of the body by the expenditure of energy through this particular channel, so is it also possible to develop the organs of sensation in the same manner and, by this process, to greatly en-

Disorders of 5

largo and perfect the relation which the soul to all the phenomena of the outer world

Not unfrequently, however, partial or complete lo some phase of sensation arises from a very distur 1 mental state. Sir Astley ^Cooper tells of a little girl ten years old who one evening went into a dark room to get a knife, when one of her playmates, just in fun, sprang out from behind a door to startle her. So severe \ the fright that she became stone deaf and " three months after this had happened . . . continued in this deplorable state" (6:172-3). Says Dr. Dalby: "I li known the hearing in apparently healthy subjects to be almost completely lost on the win i death

of a near relative; on several occasions, immediately upon the receipt of news of a painful nature; in the case of women, upon the bight produced by a cry of fire or an alarm of burglars in tl : at the witnessing

of the terrible sight of a man cutting his throat; once on the receipt of great good fortune which had not been anticipated. On each of these occasions the hearing power of the patient was ah ly good up to

the time of the catastrophe, and immediately afterwards the deafness was intense, so that the change in all probability was almost instantaneous'' (6:173).* These effects of disturbed states of consciousness pertain not only to hearing but also to the other aspects of sensation.

1, The Power of Mind to Produce and Modify Sensation

We now proceed to a discussion of the power there is in the mind to produce every conceivable variety of sensation. More than half a century ago John Hunter, "who," according to Dr. Tuke, "might have been as

* In some instances where I have quoted from authors I have, as here, given my reference to the same passage in the work of another person, instead of to the original production from which it was derived.

great a metaphysician as he was a physiologist, ' ' made the concise but significant statement, l€ I am confident that I can fix my attention to any part until I have a sensation in that part 91 (lrvol. 1, 124). Likewise, Dr. Tuke himself, commenting on experiences of this sort, remarks: "If twenty persons direct their attention to their little fingers for five or ten minutes, the result will be something like this: A few will be unconscious of any sensation in this member; some will experience decided sensation — aching, pain (dysesthesia), throbbing (hyperesthesia), etc.; and the majority will feel a slight sense of weight (aesthesia) and tingling (paresthesia). This simple experiment raises several questions, as, Might sensations always be felt in the part from the changes which are constantly going forward in the tissues, but are unobserved except when the attention is directed to them? Or, does the act of Attention excite increased vascularity of the sensory ganglia and cause subjective sensations? Or, lastly, do the sympathetic centres become excited, and the vasomotor nerves influenced, so as to cause temporary vascular changes in the finger which involve sensation? The first supposition does not seem probable, except to a very slight extent. If correct, we should always feel some sensation in the finger when consciousness is directed towards it. We think both the remaining suppositions have weight. Probably the feeling experienced is partially subjective; but we believe there is a real effect produced upon the finger if Thought is sufficiently long directed to it, and that these vascular changes are felt in the form of throbbing, weight, etc. Other changes are more likely to be subjective.

"Mr. Braid tells us in his little book on Hypnotism that he requested four gentlemen, in good health, and from forty to fifty-six years of age, to lay their arms on a table with the palms of their hands upwards. Each was to look at the palm of his hand for a few minutes with fixed attention, and watch the result. Entire silence was enjoined. VThat happened? In about five minutes, the first, one of the present members of the Royal Academy, stated that he felt a sensation of g> cold in the hand ; another, who is a very talented author, said that for some time he thought nothing was g< to happen, but at last a A / sensation took

place from the palm of the hand, as if electric sparks were being drawn from it; the third gentleman, lately mayor of a large borough, said that he felt a very uncomfortable sensation of heat come over his hand; the fourth, secretary to an important association, had become rigidly cataleptic, his arm being firmly fixed to the table/

"It would be difficult to determine in these inst; by what train of thought I tTerent results came to

pass; whether each imagined thai BUCh and such effects would be produced by the process, or whether an accidental condition of the hand at the moment cau certain very slight suggestions, which were intend by the Attention directed to them. Probably the former ; but one thing is certain, that had Mr. Braid suggested other effects, instead of preserving silence, the character of the sensations would have been greatly modified" (6:56-8).

To show the potent effect of I on on sensation,

we quote the following passage from the same author: "Mr. Braid, in investigating the alleged discoveries of Reichenbach in regard to the Od force, found that in nearly all cases, even when the person had not been hypnotized, drawing a magnet or other object slowly from the wrist to the point of the fingers produced various effects. Among these were 'a change of temperature, tingling, creeping, pricking/ while, when he reversed the motion, ' it was generally followed by a change of symptoms from the altered current of ideas then suggested. Moreover, if any idea of what might be expected existed in the mind previously, or was suggested orally during the process, it was generally very speedily realized. The above patients being now requested to look aside, or a screen having been interposed so as to prevent their seeing what was being done, if they were requested to describe their sensations during the repetition of the processes, similar phenomena were stated to be realized when there was nothing whatever done beyond watching them, and noting their responses' " (6:64-5).

Likewise the following from the same writer is no less instructive: "Mr. Braid gives the case of a lady, above fifty-six, who had, when young, been a somnambulist, but in perfect health and wide awake when the experiment was tried. Having been placed in a dark closet, and desired to look at the poles of a powerful horse-shoe magnet, and describe what she saw, she i declared, after looking a considerable time, that she saw nothing.' However, after Mr. Braid told her to look attentively, and she would see fire come out of it, she speedily saw sparks, and presently it seemed to her to burst forth as if she had witnessed an artificial representation of the volcano of Mount Vesuvius at some public gardens. Mr. Braid then closed down the lid of the trunk which contained the magnet, but still the same appearances were described as visible. 'By putting leading questions, and asking her to describe what she saw from another part of the closet (where there was nothing but bare walls), she went on describing various shades of most brilliant coruscations and flame, according to the leading questions I had put for the purpose of changing the fundamental ideas. On repeating the experiments, similar results were repeatedly realized by this patient. On taking this lady into the same closet after the magnet had been removed to another part of the house, she still perceived the same visible appearances of light and flame, when there was nothing but the bare walls to produce them; and two weeks after the magnet was removed, when she went into the closet by herself, the mere association of i<: was sufficient to cause her to realize a visible representation of the same light and flame.' The force of this illustration would remain exactly the same if it should be proved that a light, only visible to 'sensitives/ does proceed from magnets'' (6:74-5).

Referring to this experiment, Dr. Carpenter remarks: 1 'Other 'subjects' taken by Mr. Braid into his dark closet, and unable to see anything in the first instance, when told to look steadily at a certain point (though there was no magnet there), and assured that they would see flame and light of various colours issuing from it, very soon declared that they saw them; and in some of them, 'individuals of a highly concentrative and imaginative turn of mind/ the same sensations could be called up in open daylight (30:161-2). . . .

"It is obvious that, if the principle be once admitted that real Sensations are producible fry Mmtal stc this principle furnishes the key to the explanation of a large number of those 'spiritualistic' experiences, in which objects are affirmed to be actually seen and felt, that only exist in the imagination of the ' subjects' of them" (30:164-5).

In all probability, as Pr. Carpenter asserts, a "large number" of such "experiences" are capable of "explanation" on this basis, but not necessarily all; for, if so, might not this power of the mind to produce sensations, for a similar reason, be construed to prove the nonreality of sensations of any kind being produced by forces or agencies acting upon us from without?

Dr. Tuke, speaking of the mind under the aspects of intellect and emotion, affirms that it "may excite ordinary sensation (sesthesia) which in addition, may be either excessive (hyperesthesia), or diminished (anaesthesia), while it may also induce perverted sensation

(paresthesia), which when painful, constitutes dysesthesia" (6: 56, 154). That this very sweeping assertion is correct there is abundant evidence to prove. Says Sir Benjamin Brodie: "A gentleman of my acquaintance, of a very sensitive and imaginative turn of mind, informed me that not infrequently when he had his thoughts intensely fixed for a considerable time, on an absent or imaginary object, he had at last seen it projected on the opposite wall, though only for a brief space of time, with all the brightness and distinctness of reality" (6:71).

That such an experience would be possible, is very evident. For instance, Sir Isaac Newton in a letter to Locke, informs us that he was once engaged in carrying on an experiment which consisted in looking at the reflection of the sun in a mirror and then directing his gaze to a dark portion of the room till the spectrum vanished. On one occasion, having done this three times, he thought he would see what the effect would be if, when the impression had almost faded away, he intently fixed his mind or attention upon it. The result was that the spectrum returned with all the vividness of reality. He proceeds to state that " after this I found that so often as I went into the dark and intended my mind upon them (the light and colors) as when a man looks earnestly to see anything which is difficult to be seen, I could make the phantasm return without looking any more upon the sun, and the oftener I made it return, the more easily I could make it return again." At length, says he, I was obliged to confine myself in a dark room for several days "to divert my Imagination from the sun; for if I thought upon him I presently saw his picture though I was in the dark. ' ' In this way and by directing his attention to other things he succeeded in a few days of ridding himself of this nuisance. But the most remarkable circumstance connected with his experiment was this — that, whereas he had only

Diiordi r$ of 1 1

looked at the reflection in the mirror with his right "my Fancy," to use his own language, "began to make an impression on my left eye as well as upon my ri<_' (6:70).

Commenting on this incident, , .says Dr. Take,

"that here the powerful direction of Thought or tion produced the Ban* . or a point

in the corresponding optic p as that

of the sun itself upon the rig] 71).

In an article in the Forinigh I ruary,

1872, Mr. G. II. Lew. s. in speaking of diaries Dirk says that he once told him that he \v ; he

put into the mouths of his <li« , s at first

he remarks, "not a little puzzled to account for the fact that he could hear language BO Utterly unlike the language of real feeling, and nol be awi ousness; hut the surprise vanished when 1 thought of tlie phenomena of hallucination" (0:77-8).

This peculiar effect of the mind in producing sight and hearing applies equally well to every kind of B

ion as is evident from numerous examples. An cellent illustration of the effect of the mind or imagination not only upon sight and hearing, hut also feeling iis well, is found in the following amusing incident related by Dr. Braid: "Two captains of merchant arrived in port at the same time, and went to take up their quarters in their usual lodgings. They were informed by the landlady of the house, however, that she was very sorry that she could not accommodate them on that occasion, as the only bedroom which she could have appropriated for their use was occupied by the corpse of a gentleman just deceased. Being most anxious to remain in their accustomed lodgings, almost on any terms, rather than go elsewhere, they offered to sleep in the room wherein the dead body was laid out. To this the landlady readily gave her assent, considering it better, so far as she was concerned, to have three such customers in her room than only one, and he a dead one. Having repaired to bed, one of the gentlemen, who was a very great wag, began a conversation with the other, by asking him if he had ever before slept in a room with a corpse in it, to which he replied 'No.' 1 Then, ' said the other, * are you aware of the remarkable circumstance that always, in such cases, after midnight, the room gets filled with canaries, which fly about and sing in the most beautful manner?' His companion expressed his surprise at this. But no sooner said than realized ; for, the candle having been put out, presently there was a burst of music, as if the room really was full of canaries, which were not only heard, but at length the horrified novice in the chamber of death avowed that he both saw and felt the birds flying in all directions and plunging against him. In a short time he became so excited that, without taking time to do his toilet, he rushed down stairs in his nightdress, assuring the astonished household of the fact, and insisting that the room really was quite full of birds, as he could testify from the evidence of his senses, for he had not only heard them, but also seen and felt them flapping their icings against him" (6:171-2).

On this amusing occurrence Dr. Tuke remarks as follows: "The captain had some excuse for saying he heard them, although not for seeing or feeling them, for his companion had really imitated the note of the canary by blowing through a reed dipped in water" (6:172).

The following on the sense of smell, related by Prof. Bennett, is especially suggestive: "A clergyman told me, that some time ago suspicions were entertained in his parish of a woman, who was supposed to have poisoned her newly-born infant. The coffin was exhumed, and the procurator-fiscal who attended with the medical men to examine the body, declared that he already perceived the odour of decomposition, which made

Disorders of on 13

him feel faint, and in consequence, he withdrew. But, on opening the coffin, it was found to be empty, and it afterwards ascertained that no child had been born, and consequently no murder committed" (3:15.)

As regards the sense of taste Dr. Tuk. "So

with the sense of I »ur ton;.'

a Frenchman, k I cannot taste my dinner. 1 The cow sation distracted his Attention, and would not al] him to dwell upon his viands with to which a

gourmand i With imaginative people, the food

eaten or the fluid drank 8

according to the fancy. Misled by station,

grumbler finds the meat t; r i- ah

nable. I have known a gentleman hopelessly fanciful, send out the ci table I »ur,

and found it BWeet when | brought in what

was supposed tO I e, hut was Q01 ; i Supply" (6: 80).

When the api as in the following ably due to an ab-

normal mental state <>r condition which has become ] manenl : "A the

name of Bulimia, in which the patient i- d with

an inordinate appetite, which nothing can s and

which his will seems powerless to resist. One individual whose ease i- recorded in the Transactions of the Royal Society, would eat an ordinary leg of veal at a single meal, adding to it a store of sow-thistles, and other wild vegetables. Another would devour raw. and even living, cats, rats, and dogs, the entrails of animals, and candles, to the extent of fourteen pounds daily" (28: vol. I, 102).

The effect of a mental state on the sensation of cold is strikingly illustrated in the following example from The Psychic Treatment of Nervous Disorders, by Prof. Dubois: "One of my friends went into the barber's in winter, and put his chilled feet on one of those ornamental brass rests with which everyone is familiar. Inimediately lie felt a gentle warmth steal over his feet, and said to himself: 'Now, that is a practical idea; you can put your feet up and get them warmed at the same tune!' He could not believe his senses when the absence of all heating apparatus was proved to him" (31:111).

The following incident, related by Erasmus Darwin, is even more remarkable: "A young farmer in Warwickshire, finding his. hedges broken and the sticks carried away during a frosty season, determined to watch for the thief. He lay many cold hours under a haystack, and at length an old woman, like a witch in a play, approached, and began to pull up the hedge; he waited till she had tied up her bundle of sticks, and was carrying them off, that he might convict her of the theft, and then springing from his concealment he seized his prey with violent threats. After some altercation, in which her load was left upon the ground, she kneeled upon the bundle of sticks, and raising her arms to heaven beneath the bright moon, then at the full, spoke to the farmer, already shivering with cold, 'Heaven grant that tlxoxi never may est know again the blessing to be warm/ He complained of cold all the next day, and wore an upper coat, and in a few days another, and in a fortnight took to his bed, always saying nothing made him warm; he covered himself with very many blankets, and had a sieve over his face as he lay; and from this one insane idea he kept his bed above twenty years, for fear of the cold air, till at length he died" (6:165). On this strange event Dr. Tuke comments as follows: "Although the exposure to the cold of a frosty night had, no doubt, considerable influence in causing a chill in the first instance, the power of Fear in sustaining the morbid and purely subjective sensation of cold afterwards, cannot be denied" (6:165).

Similar effects can take place in a somnambulistic con* dition. Unzer says: "A somnambulist once fancied in winter, that, as he was walking by the side of a ri he saw a child fall in and drown. The bitter cold did not restrain him from saving it. He threw himself out of bed in the posture and with the movements of a person swimming, and when he had laboured diligently, he seized the bed-clothes with one hand, thinking it was the child, while with the other he attempted to swim to the imaginary shore. Then he laid his burden down, shivered with cold, his teeth chattering, as if he had come out of an ice-cold river. II e said that he was stiff with cold, and asked for a glass of brandy. The dreamer had not really felt the ice-cold river, nor had repressed perspiration irritated the nerves of the muscles. The whole mental action of his foreseeing of both, manifested itself only by shivering and chattering of the teeth" (18:122-3).