The Communistic Societies of the United States: From Personal Visit and ObservationNordhoff, Charles
History
The Communistic Societies of the United States: From Personal Visit and Observation
Nordhoff, Charles
Collective settlements -- United States
"He talks a great deal about his symptoms. If he would talk on the side
of faith, I think he would be a well man right off. He is as well as any
body when he _is_ well, and there is no reason why he should not be
well all the time. He is a very valuable member of the community, and I
don't like to see him lie on his back so much.
"M.--I have thought that his knowledge of physiology, as he uses it, is
really a hindrance to him: he knows too much about his case.
"C.--I thought I had the heart disease when I was about nineteen years
of age. My heart would beat so when I went up stairs that I had to sit
down at the top. I remember that I said to my aunt one day I was sure
that I had got that disease, because my heart had such times of beating.
'O la!' she answered,' I guess you would not live long if it did not
beat.'
"N. [probably Mr. Noyes]--I have good reason to believe that a great
many diseases which doctors pronounce incurable are so so far as their
powers are concerned, and yet can be cured by exorcism. Doctors do not
believe in possession by the devil, and of course have no means of
curing diseases of that nature. They accordingly pronounce some diseases
incurable. Yet these diseases are not incurable by persons who
understand the nature of them, and that they are spiritual obsessions. I
do not care what the doctors say about L.'s back. It is very likely
incurable so far as they know, and yet it may be very easily curable to
any body who knows about the doctrine of the possession of the devil.
There is a range of science beyond the routine of the doctors which we
must take into the account in all this dealing with disease. Just look
at the case of Harriet Hall, and see what incurable diseases she had.
Two doctors certified that she ought to be dead twenty years ago, and
here she is alive and waiting on her father. Those doctors are dead, and
she is trotting around.
"E.--I have been associated a good deal with L. in business and now in
this sickness. I have studied his case some. His attitude toward disease
is very much like his attitude in business. When he has been well and
able to do his best, he has been in the past an autocrat in our
businesses. If he said a thing would not go, or would go, his dictum was
always accepted. He has a good deal of pride in having what he predicts
turn out to be true. I have sometimes thought that he was willing to
have things break down in order to demonstrate his infallibility as an
oracle. He shows the same trait in regard to disease. If he has a
symptom, and makes up his mind that he is going to have a certain
disease, he notifies his friends of it, and seems bound to have his
prophecy come true any way.
"N.--He would rather have a good chill, I suppose, than have his
prediction prove false.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account