Electrotherapy
The great development of pseudo-science in medicine remained for the
era following the scientific investigation of electricity. With the
discovery of the Leyden jar and its startling spark, a new and
marvelous healing agent seemed to be at hand. It is quite amusing to
read the accounts of the influence of the spark of the Leyden jar on
the well and on the ailing. In my "Catholic Churchmen in Science"
(Dolphin Press, Ph
Winckler of Leipzig said that the first time he tried the jar, he
found great convulsions by it in his body; it put his blood into
great agitation; he was afraid of an ardent fever, and was obliged
to use refrigerating medicines. He felt a heaviness in his head as
if a stone lay upon it. Twice it gave him a bleeding at the nose.
After the second shock his wife could scarcely walk, and, though a
week later, her curiosity stronger than her fears, she tried it once
more, it caused her to bleed at the nose after taking it only once.
Many men were terrified by it, and even serious professors describe
entirely imaginary symptoms. The jar was taken around Europe for
exhibition purposes, and did more to awaken popular interest than
all the publications of the learned with regard to electricity, in
all the preceding centuries.
The extent to which the curative power of electric sparks from the
Leyden jar was supposed to go is best appreciated from a list of the
affections that one distinguished electro-therapeutist claimed could
be not only benefited, but absolutely cured by its employment. It
included pulmonic fever, under which title practically all the more or
less acute diseases of the chest were included, and some at least of
the sub acute; dropsy, by which was meant every effusion into the
abdominal cavity no matter what its cause; dysentery, under which was
included at that time not only the specific dysenteries but many of
the summer complaints and some typhoid fevers; diarrhea, including all
the intestinal diseases not already grouped under dysentery; putrid
and bilious fever, under which category were assembled the worst cases
of typhoid; typhus fever, and all the other continued fevers, and
any febrile condition reasonably severe for which no other term could
be used; epidemic diseases, pest, anthrax, small-pox, cancer, gravel,
diseases of the bladder and of the brain and spinal cord. The Leyden
jar had no real effect on any of these affections, but doubtless the
mental effect of this new remedy was quite sufficient to be of
distinct therapeutic value in the milder forms of many of them.
With Galvani's discovery of the twitching of the muscles of the frog
there came a new impetus to the exploitation of electricity in
medicine. Many felt that now it was beyond doubt that electrical
energy bore some definite relation to vital energy--that one might be
made to replace the other if indeed they were not more or less the
same thing. This led to many applications of electricity in medicine.
Students of physiology were convinced that they were getting close to
the solution of the mystery of life, and their persuasion was readily
carried over to the people of the time, so that electricity literally
worked wonders on them.
When the various electrical machines were invented and their use
popularized, pseudo-science proceeded to exploit them, and succeeded,
because the mechanical shock of the electric current proved a
suggestive therapeutic stimulant. Gordon in the eighteenth century
made the first practical frictional electrical machine, and soon some
men were observing wonderful effects with it, though the charge was so
small that it could actually accomplish little. Just after the
invention of the voltaic pile in 1800 it came to be used in medicine
with wonderful results. We are prone to think that electrotherapy is
modern, but when electrical machines were quite crude, current
strength small and potential low, old-time electro-therapeutists were
recording their wonderful results and were getting just as marvelous
effects as are reported now by enthusiasts. Considerable
electro-medical literature existed a century ago when next to nothing
was known of electricity. When, later, high potency currents came in
and the Wimshurst and other powerful machines were invented, there was
revealed at each novel invention a new horizon in electro-therapy and
wondrous cures were reported. These continue to occur in the practice
of a few favored individuals, though the general profession secures
only some ordinary mechanico-muscular effects, which demand much time
for real good to be accomplished and have nothing at all of the
marvelous about them.
The power of the pseudo-scientific aspect of electricity to influence
patients, far from being lost in our time, has rather been increased.
Our newspapers make their readers eminently suggestible because they
constantly furnish suggestions, and nothing so strengthens a function
of any kind as exercise of it. All sorts of electrical contrivances
and apparatuses are advertised to cure various pains and aches. Many
of them actually seem to relieve long-standing discomfort, though it
is not through any electrical power that they do so, but entirely
through their influence on the patient's mind. A museum of the
electrical contrivances of various kinds for which absurdly high
prices are paid at the present time and which people recommend to
others because of having been benefited by them would be interesting.
There are belts of many kinds, and rings, and medallions, and plates
to be worn on the back and on the chest, and curiously shaped poles or
"polar plates" resembling various organs, and pendants and armlets and
anklets and insoles of many, many kinds, usually going in pairs,
one made in zinc and the other in copper, and worth exactly as much as
the weight of copper and zinc in them, yet curing chronic ailments by
suggestion, or at least bringing relief from many pains and aches
complained of.
More
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Amulets Talismans Charms
Amulets, talismans, charms--these words are commonly used with something of the same significance, and for our purpose all three may be treated in common. Prophylactic Objects.--From the earliest ages men have worn amulets, that is, objects oft... Angina Pectoris
The two forms of this affection, known commonly as true and false angina, are characterized by pain or anguish in the precordial region with reflected pains in other portions of the body. It used to be said that whenever the precordial pain was ac... Animal Hypnotism
The hypnotization of animals shows that only a very low grade intelligence is needed for the production of this state. The famous experiment of Father Kircher with the hen, which any one may repeat at any time, is a good illustration. The fascinatio... Appetite
Two classes of patients come to the physician complaining of lack of appetite. The first and more important class consists of those who are eating too little, who are consequently under weight, and who must be made to eat more. The other class con... Arabian Mental Medicine
The Arabian physicians who succeeded to the traditions of Greek medicine preserved also those relating to psychotherapy. Rhazes, the first of the great Arabian physicians, has a number of aphorisms that show his interest in and recognition of the va... Arthritis Deformans
Arthritis deformans has unfortunately been called by several names besides the descriptive term which, in the present state of our knowledge, is the most suitable for it. We do not know its cause. We do not well understand even the predisposing fa... Astrology
Astrology is the typical example of pseudo-science in medicine. The stars, and particularly the planets and the moon, were supposed to have great influence on human destiny, human health, and human constitutions. Astrology was an organized body of k... Attention
Even more important, perhaps, than any other of the functions attributed to the neuroglia cells, is the role they may play in enabling the individual to concentrate attention on a particular subject, or at least to use a particular portion of his b... Bradycardia
Bradycardia, or persistent slow pulse, is much rarer than the persistent rapid pulse discussed at the beginning of the chapter on tachycardia. Cases are, indeed, sufficiently rare to be medical curiosities. Prof. Clifford Allbutt has called attent... Brain Cells And Mental Operations
While the theories of neuronic action we have discussed do not represent absolute knowledge, they are at least suggestive and helpful in psychotherapy. Whenever there are disturbances of mental operations, patients are likely to become very solici... Cardiac Neuroses
If, as all the authorities recognize, the attitude of mind toward organic heart disease is extremely important and when favorable is a most helpful therapeutic factor, it is easy to understand that in neurotic conditions of the heart this is of ev... Cardiac Palpitation And Gastro-intestinal Disturbance
Morgagni, whom Virchow greeted as the Father of Modern Pathology, made a careful study of the pulse and especially of its irregularities. He had learned from the most careful pathological studies that marked intermission and even more decided irre... Cerebral Apoplexy
Cerebral apoplexy is an extremely serious organic disease that seems surely to be an affection for which psychotherapeutics can mean little or nothing. When an artery has burst in the brain and blood is either actually flowing out or has flowed ou... Character As A Therapeutic Asset
Recent interest in tuberculosis has taught us that the best possible asset for a tuberculous patient is character. Resistive vitality in the physical order and character in the moral order seem to be co-ordinate factors. If a man will not give in in... Chorea
This twitching affection, so familiar that it need not be described particularly, is sometimes classed as a pure neurosis, sometimes as a nervous disease with perhaps some organic basis and sometimes is placed among the ailments related to rheumat... Chronic Arthritis Deformans
The third type of arthritis deformans is the chronic slow running type which involves many joints before the process is complete. One form of this, commonly seen in old men, called osteoarthritis, is often confined to the hip joint, and often produc... Coccygodynia
Coccygodynia, or, as it is sometimes called, coccydynia, is a painful affection of the coccyx or bony end of the spinal column. It usually results from trauma, as a fall on the buttocks on an icy pavement, or particularly a fall in coming down stair... Constipation
To judge by the frequency of advertisements for laxatives of various kinds, constipation must be an extremely common affection. At least one out of every three city dwellers suffers, it is said, from constipation. Proper regard for the taking of f... Coughs And Colds
Cough under most conditions is so completely a natural reflex due to irritation from material which demands expectoration that to talk of the application of psychotherapeutics to its treatment would seem almost an abuse of words. This is true if w... Dangers Of Hypnotism
There are many and various opinions of the dangers of hypnotism. Some of those who have given it a fair trial have insisted on its dangers. Some of those who have had very large experience have declared emphatically that there is no danger at all. O... Definite Dreads
Besides these rather vague dreads, however, there are certain special disquietudes peculiar to individuals, even more groundless, if possible, than the generic apprehension just spoken of and that have been dignified in recent years by the name of p... Deterrent Therapeutics
In the history of therapy a peculiar phase was the use of all sorts of materials, intensely repugnant to human nature and deterrent to all the finer feelings, but which, nevertheless, proved curative of many ills. We know now that there was absolute... Diabetes
Diabetes is an affection of metabolism definitely recognized as due to serious organic changes, though existing in several forms. We are not as yet absolutely sure whether there may not be quite different organic diseases in the various forms. Of ... Diagnosis And Prognosis In Heart Disease
The more carefully heart disease, and particularly individual patients affected by various heart lesions, have been studied in recent years the more it has come to be appreciated that the most important element in the treatment of organic heart di... Differential Diagnosis
For the differential diagnosis of psycho-neuroses from definite organic conditions, the most important element is the patient's previous history and a knowledge of the condition of the nervous system. Where this is known the diagnosis is comparati... Disorders Of Memory
Many patients suffering from various nervous symptoms insist that they are losing their memory or that it is becoming notably deficient in some ways. If they are a little on in years they are sure that their memory is not as good as it used to be ... Distant Mental Influence
There is a very general impression that it is possible, at least under certain circumstances, for one human mind to influence another at a distance without any of the ordinary known means of communication. Many people have had the experience of thin... Diversion Of Mind Hobbies
There are two classes for whom diversion is of the utmost value. The first are over-occupied with themselves; and the second group are so occupied with some one interest in life, or with one narrow set of interests, that it becomes an obsession, n... Doubting
In recent years the attention of physicians has been called to the fact that many people are made profoundly miserable by an unconquerable tendency to doubt about nearly everything that has happened to them, or is happening, or is about to happen.... Dreads
In any discussion of the influence of mind over body, favorable and unfavorable, too much emphasis cannot be placed on the hold that dreads have over a great many people and how much they mean, not alone for the mental state, but also for the phys... Dreads Of Men Of Genius
The insane are particularly prone to suffer from dreads, so that some people argue from their dreads to the thought of insanity. It is quite a mistake, however, to think of dreads as necessarily connected with insanity in any way. They are irratio... Dreams
Dreams, that is, thoughts and illusions and mental phenomena of various kinds that occur during sleep, have always been interesting to the psychologist, and have usually been related to physicians by patients either because they were thought to ha... Drug Addictions
Much of what has been said with regard to alcoholism finds ready application to the treatment of drug addictions. At the very beginning it must be realized that there is no specific remedy that will enable the patient to overcome his craving for a... Dust Asthma Seasonal Catarrh Hay Fever
Grouped under the term "hay fever" there are probably as many different affections as there are under the term "chronic rheumatism." There are people who, in the springtime, as soon as the weather gets warm, suffer from what is popularly called h... Dysmenorrhea
Practically every woman of menstrual age has more or less discomfort during menstruation. In most cases this does not rise beyond a heavy depressed feeling shortly before menstruation begins, followed by a sense of weight and discomfort in the ba... Dyspnea Cat And Horse Asthma
There is a class of cases of difficulty of breathing allied to asthma and often called by that name, the study of which throws light on the origin and the relief of neurotic asthma. These cases are usually accompanied by such a sense of oppression... Electrotherapy
The great development of pseudo-science in medicine remained for the era following the scientific investigation of electricity. With the discovery of the Leyden jar and its startling spark, a new and marvelous healing agent seemed to be at hand. It ... Epilepsy And Pseudo-epilepsy
EPILEPSY With regard to the major neuroses generally, very much more therapeutic benefit can be secured than in any other way that we know by reassuring the patient's mind, by careful regulation of his life and by such modifications of his oc... Exercise
In recent years a great change has come over the popular mind regarding exercise, especially in the open air. It is well to emphasize at the very beginning the subject of too much exercise, because there is no doubt in the minds of many who study th... Faith Cures
The series of phenomena that may be grouped under the term "faith cures" represent the oldest, the most frequent, universal, and constantly recurring examples of the influence of the mind over the body for the healing of ills. Whenever men have beli... First Physician
The first physician of whom we have any record was I-em-Hetep, who lived in the reign of King Tcsher of the third dynasty of Egypt, probably before 4000 B. C. Among his titles, besides that of Master of Secrets, was Bringer of Peace. He was looked u... Foot Troubles
The more physicians see of affections of the feet and of painful conditions of the legs due to foot troubles the more they realize that the human faculty of the erect position becomes the source of many discomforts unless care is taken of the musc... Former Methods Of Hypnotization
All the methods of hypnotizing, then, are directed to securing this state of concentration of the patient's mind. The hypnotic state is brought about in different ways by different operators, and even the same operator must employ quite different me... Forms Of Neurotic Simulation
Every possible painful condition is simulated by these psycho-neurotic conditions. They occur probably with more frequency in the abdomen than elsewhere; they may be thought to be colicky in nature and, as a rule, some accumulation of gas will be ... General Principles Of Psychotherapy
In formal, deliberate psychotherapeutics the first and most important principle is the treatment of the individual patient, and not of his disease. It is much more important to know the kind of an individual who has pneumonia, as a rule, than to b... Genuine Remedies And Suggestive Exaggeration
The story of the suggestive use of drugs shows us many suggestions employed even by distinguished physicians, men whose work is eminently rational and has lived long after their time. In fact, very few, even of the most distinguished physicians, hav... Graves Disease
Graves' disease, sometimes called Basedow's disease, though the Irish physician has a right to the name by priority, is often called exophthalmic goitre, because this term is descriptive of the two most marked symptoms. It must not be forgotten, h... Great Physicians In Psychotherapy
"The real physician is the one who cures: the observation which does not touch the art of healing is not that of a physician, it is that of a naturalist." Psychotherapy is as old as the history of medicine and may be traced to the earliest ag... Grief
Grieving would seem at first glance to be one of the conditions for which the physician, especially if the etymology of the name of his profession be taken strictly, should not be called upon to minister, nor his remedies be expected to relieve. Gri... Habit
Few people realize how powerful a factor for physical, as well as moral, good and evil is habit. The old expression that habit is second nature is amply illustrated in the most familiar experiences. The child, unable at the beginning to make any b... Hallucinations
Hallucinations Differentiated from Illusions and Delusions.--Hallucinations are vivid impressions on the consciousness which appeal to their subject as strongly as if they were really the result of sensory impressions, though those who experience ... Headache
In spite of the improvement in the general health of the community, due to more hygienic living, more healthy food and better ventilation, headache, instead of decreasing, has increased to a great degree. Any number of headache cures are advertise... Heberden's Nodes
The most familiar form is named Heberden's nodes, from the great English physician who first made a special study of it. The affection is characterized by an enlargement of the sides of the distal phalanges with small, hard nodules, "little hard kno... Herbal Medicine
What is thus exemplified in astronomy and astrology can be found in the story of every other science. After the knowledge of the stars, the next organized branch of information that might deserve the name of science related to plants. This, too, was... Hypnotism
Hypnotism is popularly supposed to be a mysterious psychological process by which susceptible subjects are brought under the influence of a person possessing some marvelous power over others' minds and wills. According to this supposition, during th... Illusions
A physician who wishes to use psychotherapy effectively should know something about physiological psychology, or analytical or experimental psychology, as it is variously called, because of the help that he will derive from it in understanding man... Impressive Personality
As a matter of fact, it is easy to comprehend, even from the comparatively scanty details that we have of habits and methods of the great physicians, that their effect upon their patients was always largely a matter of impressive personality. Any on... Indigestion And Unfavorable States Of Mind
Indigestion is the characteristic disease of our time. There are few men or women over thirty who have not suffered from it. The working classes are spared the most, but with the frequent suggestions in the newspapers and the introspection which h... Influence Of Mind On Body
The power of mind over body for the relief of symptoms has been recognized, not only by physicians, but by the generality of men at all times. Every one has had experiences of aches, or actual pains, or discomfort quite annoying while one is alone... Influence Of Mind On Food Digestion
With the progress of biological chemistry, digestion came to be considered a purely chemical process. Now we realize that even more important than the chemical factors of digestion is the individual liking for particular kinds of food, and the men... Influence Of The Personality In Therapeutics
Though it has seldom been fully realized and has probably never been appreciated as in our time, one of the most important factors in therapeutics, in every period of the history of medicine, has been the personal influence of the physician. Therape... Insomnia
To the minds of many people insomnia is one of the most serious ills to which human nature is heir. Most of this quite false impression is due to the sensational cultivation of dreads with regard to insomnia by newspapers and in general conversati... Labor
Suggestion in Labor.--When the subjects are normal, expectancy has much to do with the severity of labor pains. In recent years so much fuss has been made and so much said and written about woman's burden and travail in the pains of childbirth, th... Light And Psychotherapy
Just as electricity has always been therapeutically abused by those who have taken advantage of the suggestive influence of its marvelous energy, so each new discovery in light has been the source of pseudo-scientific applications to medicine. When ... Locomotor Ataxia
How much can be done for organic nervous disease by attention to the individual patient and by favorable suggestion is illustrated in locomotor ataxia. This is, of course, an absolutely incurable disease. We know definitely that certain tracts of ... Lumbago And Sciatica
Any affection involving discomfort, pain, ache, or disability of the large muscles in the lumbar regions is likely to be called lumbago, not only by patients but by physicians. Any condition that makes it painful to use the upper part of the lower... Manners And Disposition
Habit can modify nature so much as to make what is practically another man. We all know how the dancing master can transform a country gawk into a refined, courteous society man (not gentleman, for that is something else) of graceful carriage and ev... Maternal Impressions
"Maternal impression" is accepted as a specific designation to signify the real or supposed influence of emotion and especially serious trouble, which may affect the mother's mind during pregnancy and be transferred to the child in utero, with the... Mathematical Medicine
When mathematics developed, applications of that science were made to physiology and to medicine. Under the influence of Borelli, the school of Iatro-Mathematical medicine developed and it flourished long after him. Foster, in his "History of Physio... Medieval Mind-healing
During the Middle Ages faith was one of the things most frequently appealed to, and even the physicians made use of religious belief to secure a favorable attitude of the patient's mind toward the remedies. One of the men who particularly realized t... Memory
It is evident that some of the physical mechanisms that are employed for the lower grade mental processes at least can be explained on the neuroglia theory. Memory we share to a great extent with the animals, and for this the physical processes can ... Menorrhagia
While the influence of the mind in producing painful menstruation and a much diminished menstrual flow is well recognized, the connection between the mind and an increased menstrual flow is not so generally appreciated. Usually profuse menstruatio...