‘Supposing it to be possible to cure a man of indigestion by thought,’ this is a statement which no one would wish to dispute. But I expect Mr. Dearmer would be surprised to hear that the analogy of the excitation of the vaso-dilator centre, which causes blushing, can be applied to only a few varieties of indigestion. Roughly, the commonest causes of indigestion might be said to be: (_a_) anæmia, or an insufficient supply of blood to the mucous membrane of the stomach; (_b_) an imperfect secretion of hydrochloric acid and the digestive fluids owing to structural defects in the glands of the stomach, usually a hereditary condition; (_c_) a dilated organ; (_d_) some pathological condition of the accessory large glands, e.g. liver and pancreas; (_e_) dyspepsia, owing to faulty balance of the nervous system. Any one of these five is fairly common, but only in the last is there a shred of evidence for supposing that suggestion or any other factor which would cause the higher, and through them the lower, nervous centres to show a healthy activity, would bring about amelioration or a cure, while there is much evidence against any supposition of the kind. Mr. Dearmer elsewhere lays it down that healing by excitation of the ‘undermind’ is only possible where the case is ‘curable.’ If, he says in effect, the case is incurable, then anything like spiritual or faith healing or suggestion will fail to bring about a cure [will the faith-healers kindly take note of this admission?], _but so will any other more material means_. To this one may be permitted to reply: (i) In many acute infections, e.g. scarlet fever, typhoid fever, cholera, where complete recovery may be expected if (_a_) the infection is not too virulent, (_b_) the resisting power of the tissues is vigorous and unimpaired, suggestion in any form--hope, the desire to live, the unexpected arrival of a much-loved friend, &c.--will most certainly assist the patient to battle with the disease. But these factors will always operate without the elaboration of a psychotherapeutic philosophy, and really I do not like the idea of encouraging the adoption of a solemn form of prayer, unction, and the laying on of hands, when all the evidence to hand points to this ‘treatment’ having in acute infections just as much value as (but no more than) the realisation on the part of the patient that, if he dies at that particular time, his business will be left in an unsatisfactory condition and perhaps in incompetent hands. (ii) In the case of what are usually termed chronic ‘organic’ conditions, honours are no longer even. Let us take four crucial examples. (_a_) Malignant tumours.