fied almost exhaustively everything that nature
can do. We know, for instance, for certain, that in certain kinds
of temperaments body and mind are in far greater sympathy than in
others; and that if, in such a temperament as this, the mind can
be fully persuaded that such and such a thing is going to
happen--a thing within the range of natural possibility, of
course--it will happen, merely through the action of the mind
upon the body."

"Give me an instance."

"Well" (he hesitated again) . . . "well, I'm not a physician, and
cannot define accurately; but there are certain nervous
diseases--hysterical simulation, nervous affections such as St.
Vitus' dance--as well, of course, as purely mental diseases, such
as certain kinds of insanity---"

"Oh, those," said the other contemptuously.

"Wait a minute. These, I say, given the right temperament and
receptiveness to suggestion, can be cured _instantaneously_."

"Instantaneously?"

"Certainly--given those conditions. Then there are certain other
diseases, very closely related to the nervous system, in which
there have been changes of tissue, not only in the brain, but in
the organs or the limbs. And these, too, can be cured by mere
natural suggestion; but--and this is the point--not
instantaneously. In cases of this kind, cured in this way, there
is always needed a period, I won't say as long as, but
proportionate to, the period during which the disease had been
developing and advancing. I forget the exact proportions now, but
I think, so far as I remember, that at least two-thirds of the
time is required for recovery by suggestion as was occupied by
the growth of the disease. Take _lupus_. That certainly belongs to
the class I'm speaking of. Well, lupus has been cured in mental
laboratories, but never instantaneously or anything like
instantaneously."

"Go on, father."

"Finally, there are those physical states that have practically
nothing to do directly with the nervous system at all. Take a
broken leg. Of course the cure of a broken leg is affected by
the state of the nervous system, since it depends upon the
amount of vital energy, the state of the blood, and so on. But
there are distinct processes of change of tissue that are bound
to take a certain fixed period. You may--as has been proved over
and over again in the mental laboratories--hasten and direct the
action of the nervous energy, so that a man under hypnotic
suggestion will improve more rapidly