The Mind's Dominion Over the Body [pp. 328-332]

THE LADIES' REPOSITORr.
physical man-is sometimes curative, but oftener
destructive of the life-principle. Medical writers assure us that instances are not wanting of
gout, asthma, epileptic fits, etc., of an exceedingly obstinate character, being speedily cured
by a sudden appeal to the patient's fears. Not
long since a medical acquaintance, wishing to
try an experiment, said to a young lad who had
just accidentally swallowed a penny, "Ah, my
son, I am afraid it is all day with you, now."
The alarm which immediately seized upon the
boy, operated like a powerful cathartic, and very
soon the lost penny was forthcoming. Generally, however, fear predisposes to disease. The
learned Dr. Moore, in his admirable treatise on
the physical aspects of the immortality of the
soul, very truly and profoundly observes:
"Many terrible nervous diseases are but the
natural disturbance of a bad conscience. Such
a course of conduct before God and man as secures approval of heart, will often cure such
diseases without the aid of a physician. The
cordial of daily duty, properly fulfilled, is the
proper remedy. How often have we seen the
haggard hypochondriac, both in hut and mansion, cured of all his anomalous maladies by a
true view of religion, and by the activity which
springs from it! The terrors which haunted his
darkened spirit have been dissipated by the true
light of heaven; his shaken nerves have been
tranquilized, and the peace of faith has brought
new brightness to his eye; a pleasant buoyancy
has lifted his heart, and a resistless. impulse of
good-will has diffused a healthful vigor through
every fiber and every feature. So powerful, indeed, is the habit of man's faith on his person,
that sagacious physicians can often correctly infer the religious state and persuasion from the
patient's appearance."
Terror is still more influential on the body.
Under its mortal spell the blood leaves the extremities, the countenance becomes livid, the
brain excited, the large arteries distended; the
heart swells, the eyes start, the muscles become
rigid or convulsed, and faintness, and perhaps
sudden death ensues. A letter, if you please,
or a newspaper is brought by the postman to a
man who takes, reads it, trembles, groans, drops
down dead. Why? No physical weapon has
touched him, no bolt from heaven has scathed
him. What has thus suddenly wrought this
fatal result? It is purely a mental cause.
Fear, or terror, or disappointment, as the case
may be, has dealt the fatal blow. A case is on
record of a woman who had her gown bitten by
a dog; she immediately fancied that she had
the hydrophobia, and soon after actually died
of symptoms so like canine madness that skill
ful physicians could not detect the difference.
An individual once, on being accosted by half
a dozen medical students. and being informed
by them that he looked very ill, went directly
home and had a fit of sickness. Men have
been known to fall dead, shot with nothing but
blank cartridges. A criminal is said to have
died once from the sheer force of imagination
and terror, in consequence of the dripping of
warm water from his arm, which he was led to
suppose, in his blindfolded condition, to be his
own life-blood gradually running away from him.
Tradition also informs us that, many years ago,
a company of college students, intent upon mischief and fun at whatever expense, seized the university warden, hurried him to an extemporized
but fantastic court-room, rushed him through a
mock trial, and then, informing him that he
had been found guilty of the high misdemeanor
with which he had been charged, bade him prepare at once to die. Pretending that hle understood perfectly well the joke they were attempting to practice upon him, he told them, though
with bated breath and tremulous tones, that he
thought they had carried the matter about far
enough. They solemnly assured him, however,
that there was really no joke about it, as he
would very soon have reason to know. Thereupon, while one of their number, wielding a
gleaming broad-sword in his hands, made his
appearance, others proceeded directly to bind
and blindfold him. His head was laid upon the
block; the fatal word of command was given.
The executioner's blow descended upon his
neck-not the blow of the glittering steel, but
of a wet towel. It might as well, however,
have been really the stroke of the headman's
ax. The hilarious burst of laughter which followed this last scene of this murderous farce,
was checked in mid-valley by the discovery that
the victim of their wild sport was motionless,
senseless, dead! There is probably no motion
naturally so shattering in its effect upon the
physical system as extreme fear. Under the
stress of this sensation the physical frame is
shaken like a reed in the wind. To be literally
"frightened to death" is, as every one who has
ever experienced the paralyzing effects of terror
or dread can testify, very far from being an
impossibility.
Perhaps the most stimulating passion that
ever agitates the human breast is anger. This
usually rouses the heart, produces a glow all
over the body, especially in the face, causes
the eye to glare, strengthens the voice, and
greatly increases the muscular power. Sometimes, indeed, such is the rush of blood to the
heart the latter organ, temporarily, partially
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