forms of quackery; but he said, "Why, no, it does a great deal
of good; it cures the patients." I replied that I had no doubt
of that. So does skunk oil and Omega oil; so does the magic
handkerchief which Francis Truth has touched; so does the
magic ring, the electric belt, and the porous plaster. They
all cure, but they all deceive people, in so far as one
supposes that something is going on which is not revealed,
something like imaginary electricity in the ring, something
like the supposed medical activity in the porous plaster. In
another great hospital in this city electricity is used in the
same way. Electricity has medical action of course, in some
cases, but it is used also in a great number of cases where it
is not supposed to have any medical action because it has so
strong a psychical action. When one sees a brass instrument
that looks like a trident approaching one's body, and feels
long crackling sparks shoot out of its prongs against one's
body, it naturally makes a very strong impression upon one's
mind.

How psychological methods may be employed in everyday life was the
subject of an address by Professor Hugo Muensterberg, of Harvard
University, before the Commercial Club of Chicago, December 13, 1908.
The success of these methods in the field of medicine is attested by
the constantly increasing number of cures of nervous and other
affections. "There is no magic fluid," he said, "no mysterious power
afloat; it is just a state of mind. Every one can suggest something to
every one else. It is the idea that is strong enough to overcome the
idea in another mind that produces the effects wondered at. Hypnotism is
only reenforced suggestion. It is a tool which no physician should be
without."

Psychological knowledge, according to the same authority,[58:1] is
gradually leaking into the world of medicine. The power of suggestion,
with its varied methods, is slowly becoming a most important therapeutic
agent in the hands of reputable practitioners. The time has arrived when
medical students, about to enter upon professional life, should be
equipped with a knowledge of scientific psychology. Physicians do not
now deserve sympathy, if they are dumfounded when quacks and pretenders
are successful where their own attempts at curing have failed. It is
evident, however, that reform in this field is at hand, and it may be
admitted th