The Effect of Fear.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 92, 22 April 1904, Page 3

The Effect of Fear.

In tho course of an t®lc 1 1" teresting article in the Otago Uaily Tiroes, on "The Influence the Mind on Health," Kcv. F. Stubbs says The first revolution of the power of the;mind to artect the body came to me when I wan <yui to a child. 1 was on one occasion troubled with a severe attack of hiccough, when my sister joined inc, and seeing ni.v discomfort said, "What have you been kloinjg l ? Fiat .her is so angry, etc.. etc. •••! 'don't la#>w that t have been doing anything," replied I, in fear and amazement. " Well, you'll catch it when you get home." Ar.d then she burst, out laughing, and called my attention to the fact that hiccough had entirely ceased, and explained tile ruse she had adopted. I don't think I can have been more than six or seven at the time. b ! ut I never forgot this experience of the power of a mental state over a bodily. On another occasion I was suffering from a decayed tooth. Thrt

pain became so excruciating that at lost I could bear it no longer, and rushed off to tho dentist. Hut when I reached the dentist's door and stood hesitating between the suffering I had been experiencing and the suflering I feared at the dentist's hands, I suddenly realised that the aching had ceased, and went, back to my lodgings (for the time being at all events) completely cured. Twice this has happened in my own experience, ami on mentioning if lo others I found that such an experience was by no means uncommon. A friend of mine in iiirniingluim, bearing a well-known ntime, fold me of a case he knew i'n that district, in which a man crippled by rheumatism was slowly 'lrofoWing along the road when he heard loud shouts Whind, and, turning round, saw an infuriated bull tearing down (lie road towards him. Instantly realising that there wlas no possiMlify of escape with his crutches, he, in hisi terror,'threw the crutches down, ran to a gate which was conveniently

near, leapt over it, ami escaped ; ami from that time he was able lo v/alk without assistance. The above cases illustrate the benifieent uses of fear. tfri the other hand, there can be no douibt that fear of ton causes bodily ailments. Everyone k'nows how anxiety will cause indigestion. An old fellowstudent of mine always had diarrhoea when a, preaching appointment was -given him. He, of course, grew more continent as years rolled | on. but for a long time nervous anxiety with regard to the Sunday's : work'had this curious, but not, i 'believe, uncommon effect. A bit of bad news received at t ! he dinnertable has been known to cause a , man to vomit. Fear will dry the throat to such an extent that dry food cannot be eaten, and advantage, has been taken of this in India, where it is used as a test for the detection of murder. The suspected man is 'brought forward aud given a handful of dry rice to sv.,all f ow. Jf he swalfcuvs it lie is regm'dud as innocent ; if Ik? is unable to swallow it he is guilty, in sea-sickness probably the mental factor has as much influence us the physical. I remember, a case that occurred in London many years ago. A gentleman who was a bad sailor got on board a boat at Jvomion Bridge oi\ night, bound for one of the east coast ports*. ik* immediatel.v went below and was sick all night l'rom the. fancied motion of the vessel. In the morning he found that the boat had been 'detained by the fog, and 'had never left the wharf it was noticed that when j the King suffered l from appendicitis the number of patients who thought they were sulVering from the disease immediately increased. Fear, and the thought of disease, are sufficient to cause 'disease, provided the germ be present. This is seen very strikingly in epidemics. Im the old fable, when the plague is remonstrated with for killing 40,000 when it said it was onlv going to kill 10,000, it replies, "1 killed JO,000 ; fear killed' the rest."

It is sure! that an oxiU'J'iment was on re made, l>y ptTmiss'ion of the antluirit'ies. in Kussila,, ill t:h»i iiilvri'sl' of science, upon two criminals midor st'iiti'nco of death. Oik- was put to sleep in ii room in wlviith a \vo~ u.tui inul ilitsl the night, bei'mc i..' A.siutic cholera. Jle was, however, left in iginoi-ance oi Hie fuel, ami received 110 harm. The other was made lo sleep in a room tluit hail been unoccupied for months, ami was falsely told that the corpse of u victim of cholera had only just been removed. His terror was so great that it creatwl live disease he .feared ; he developed the symptoms, and in a few hours died in great agony. In tile same way the reading of quack advertisements tends to produce disease in some constitutions.

The -above cases show (he potencx of menial depression, the result of fear and anxiety, in causing disease. Anything, therefore, that tends (<■ make Ihe iniwl cheerful and confident tends powerfully to prevenl disease, ami, if disease- has already commenced, to cure it. Religions faith and hope will do this ; so will cheerful society ; a bright ami joyous atmosphere ; removal from scenes that occasion anxmiy and depression. Hence the benefit (hat often accrues from a holiday. It 'is not. perhaps, that the air is purer, or the scenury more beautiful, or the sanitary conditions' more perfect ; but the common cares of lii'e are leit, behind, (lit) mind regains i(s buoyancy ami \jgour, and (lie bodily depression passes away. The cures a:t hydropathics awl health resorts are largely mvntni. Hence, too, one of the, a - dvantages of calling in a physician. The 'drugs ho prescribes may do as much barm as good, but the confidence and hopeluhiess a good doctor inspires confer immediate benefit and powertully aid restoration. The visits of a wise clergyman may produce timrli the same effect. Let those who have charge of the sick admit, only cheerful visitors. There are some whose faces alone, are ■enough to weaken and depress : there are others, and all clergymen should be such, who are so bright and cherry (hat a visit from them acts as a tonic. li'\ou want to Keep well avoid as far as possible (alas ! it is not wholly possible) occasions and topics that worry and digress, and cultivate , cheerful thoughts and hopeful views ,ol things. To allow the mind lo | give way t.o anxious foreboding is I to invite disease.