An essay on the influence of the imagination and passions in the production and cure of diseases / by Arthur Jacob, M.D. ... to which is added, a translation of a memoir by Dr. C. Pfeufer ... on the cures performed by the operations of the Prince de Hohenlohe.

  • Jacob, Arthur, 1790-1874.
Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the influence of the imagination and passions in the production and cure of diseases / by Arthur Jacob, M.D. ... to which is added, a translation of a memoir by Dr. C. Pfeufer ... on the cures performed by the operations of the Prince de Hohenlohe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    monial of tlie appllcatioiij and it is kept continually on the stretch while it watches for the expected result. Here then is a well marked local disease, a morbid growth of the cuticle, removed by a^ mental impression. The instance is a strong one, and the inference can only be set aside by a de- nial of the fact altogether. Pills of bread have been administered with effect, either for the re- moval of imaginary complaints, or to quiet the mind of the patient until the best of all physi- cians, nature, had operated a cure. The story has often been told of the patient who, from sim- plicity, swallowed the paper on which his pre- scription was written, and experienced the effects he expected; the fact, however, rests on good authority. A professor of mathematics at Pisa, Ranier Gerbi, published a memoir to show, that a dozen of a certain insect, whose name I forget^ if bruised between the finger and tliumb, would endow the person with the power of curing the tooth-ach for twelve months. Out of 6'29, he says, he cured 401 j this is circumstantial at least. Amulets, if they possess any power, must derive it from the influence of the imagination, unless indeed they contain some active remedy, as ar- senic, or corrosive sublimate, as is sometimes the case: they generally are mere toys, a small bag containing powder of dried toads, spiders, and such things. Tlie Cossack relies on the image of St. Nicholas j the Mahometan on a part of the