Hysteria constitutes a peculiar group of diseases which belong to that class of nervous ailments that are included among functional affections; they are oftener amenable to faith or mind cures than to drugs. A great number of diseases of women belong to this class and these poor deluded creatures never had anything real or serious the matter with them, until they went to some doctor who began to apply irritating drugs to their delicate organs, which made them ever afterwards habitues of doctors’ offices. Functional diseases have a wide range. As their name implies, they are characterized by a disturbance of the function of an organ or system, without any visible alteration of its tissue or texture; there are no pathological or histological changes, which the most careful microscopic examination can detect. They constitute a scapegoat for our ignorance; it appears to be in the majority of instances a disturbance between the psychic or spiritual forces as they operate on the tissues. The normal and harmonious relations between the mind and the body or any particular organ are disarranged. Such are the hysterical convulsions or spasms which we see in women who have suffered great mental strain, especially grief, and often it is due to pure “cussedness,” or unbridled passion. In men there is also a hysteria; it was formerly believed that this peculiar nervous derangement was confined to women only, hence the name, but this was an error. I was once called to attend a physician of more than average ability, who located in this city for the purpose of enlarging his field of labor and usefulness; from where he came he had been very successful. His reputation as a surgeon was enviable and deservedly so, but here, in this city, among strangers and strange customs, he was a failure. This preyed on his mind so that he became despondent and gloomy. He failed in flesh and strength. I found him in his room convulsively sobbing, which shortly turned into a paroxysm of laughter. I prevailed upon him to return to his former residence among his friends and admirers, which he did, and he told me afterwards that from the moment he struck his “old stamping-ground” he felt stronger and better, and shortly recovered his former mirth and healthfulness. Girls show this abnormal nervous function in different ways. I have known a case where a sensitive girl accidentally saw another girl in an epileptic fit; the contortions became so real and fixed in her mind, or imagination, that they were transmuted into motions or epileptic fits. I tried remedies but without any beneficial results. The parents afterwards went the rounds of the “fits doctors,” but with the same negative results. A Christian scientist or faith healer cured her, by cultivating or strengthening her will power.