Tokology : $b A book for every womanStockham, Alice B. (Alice Bunker)
Science
Tokology : $b A book for every woman
Stockham, Alice B. (Alice Bunker)
Women -- Health and hygiene
When a student at Olivet College, Michigan, I heard Professor Hosford
lecture upon “Health and Disease.” He asserted that sickness could be
induced by working upon the imagination or belief.
In support of this statement he related a case of a dose of flour,
supposed to be ipecac, producing the ordinary results of that drug.
Four of the fun-loving students determined to test this assertion.
In one of their rambles they saw a teamster on his way to procure
lumber at a place some miles distant. They resolved to experiment upon
him. Awaiting his return, they stationed themselves at considerable
distances and accosted him in a friendly manner. Each of them, however,
added to his cordial greeting words of dismay at seeing him look so ill.
To the first he stoutly denied any indisposition, but to the second
admitted slight indigestion; the third found him looking miserable and
suffering from colic. He was persuaded to stop walking beside his team
and ride on the lumber. The fourth easily induced him to resign the
reins, while the teamster, really ill at last, rode home reclining upon
his load, unable for the rest of the day to leave his home.
A curious experiment was tried by noted surgeons upon a condemned
criminal. He was made to believe that he was to be bled to death.
Stretched upon a table, bound and blindfolded, he awaited the
operation. The surgeon, with a sharp instrument, pricked his flesh to
simulate the opening of an artery. At once a small fountain, from which
water at blood-heat flowed, was opened over the supposed incision; the
water flowing freely at first, gradually became less and less copious.
The surgeons and attendants spoke among themselves of his failing
powers, of his pallor, of his loss of heat and pulse-beats. They
questioned him meanwhile as to these symptoms, which questioning he
answered in full faith that his life-blood was indeed passing from him.
He grew fainter and more faint, gasped for breath, and finally expired.
If a well person can be made to believe he is ill, yes, and really to
die of his affection, as in the case above noted, and also as is often
noticed in an epidemic, may not a sick person be led to believe he is
well? Sometimes a _silent suggestion_ of friend or physician to this
end is more potent than the spoken word. In the former case the thought
of the patient unconsciously seconds the thought of the friend, while
in the latter, argument and discussion rouse an opposing force.
A pregnant woman, by _ignoring_ her ailments, by abstracting from them
her thoughts, by occupying her mind entirely, can bring about wonderful
results in overcoming undesired conditions. In following the teachings
of _Tokology_, care must be taken that the mind is not directed to
watching for and fostering morbid symptoms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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