Mental Healing In The Renaissance
What is exemplified in medieval medicine in this matter remains true
during the Renaissance. In the fifteenth century Petrus Pomponatius,
well known as a thinker and writer on borderland subjects related to
medicine, came to the conclusion that men might very well be cured of
certain ailments by influence from the minds of others, and that
such treatment, undertaken by physicians appropriately endowed,
produced wonderful effects. He said:
Some men are specially endowed with eminently curative faculties;
the effects produced by their touch are wonderful: but even touch is
not always necessary; their glances, their mere intention of doing
good are efficient for the restoration of health. The results,
however, are due to natural causes.