MIRACULOUS HEALING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2286, 4 May 1886, Page 2

MIRACULOUS HEALING.

Tho death of an ex-patient of Milner Stephen from cancer, of which .terrible complaint she was declared by the socalled healer to h cured, was reported in the paperß the other day, and furnishes 8 suggestive commentary on tho value- of cures performed by Mr Stephen. >'Ejtfi k . 'ex-barrister, who is- said to have thrown up a fine practice tol go into :the hoajSig. business, visited Auckland two orflpee years ago. but he left us without materially adding to his reputation. A'numbqr ,of. people, it is true, profossed.to experience great relief from his treatment, and two or three'(includinsf,the lady who has just died of cancer) were reported oured. But in very many cases he was altogether unsuccessful. Indeed, there wore not a ■ few people who. did not hesitato to denounce him as a fraud, and to hint that the only miracle he accomplished was that of extracting, silver and. cold from the pockets'of pedphr who could not ~or would .not 'part'-to the regular practitioner. But this',l take it was a mistakon jdea. __ 'I believe Milner Stephen to bo'an ethusjast who is firmly, perauaded of his own power to banish pain and disease. He is probably • a little'mad upon the subject, that is all, As for his motives being mercenary ones, that seems absurd in the face of the fact that he threw up a lucrative practice as a lawyer to travel the world in the far more uncertain capacity of " healer." .. Milner. Stephen and his doings have) been recalled to my mind by reading in a Home paper of the experiements of .SB number of French physicians, gentleman (men of the highest staJffig in their profession) have been working on the imagination of a number of people with the most extraordinary results. 'Theirmethod,' it seems, 'was to mesmerise the patient, then tell him such things were true, which in point of fact were not true. v But the; mesmerized patient believed the statement, and in ' every oasetiie result heexpected followed, In several instances blisters were produced on the subject's body, by simply binding a piece Of paper upon tho spot. The incsmerized«Bubject was told a blister had ; been applied, and tho effect came to time in due course. In one instance, several . attendant physicians each placed a. gummed postage Btamp upon a woman's shoulders in such a place that they could not be meddled with by herself. She was told she had been blistered. Then Bha • wasshutin a room especially prepared for her, and every precaution to taken so that there could be neither mistake nnr deception. In tho morning the sceptical oiicb among the doctors could hardly believe their own eyes when they found under each postage stamp a well defined blister. Photograph's of the woman's shoulders, just as they wero we're taken. A notaryjvas called, and each doctor made an oath to the statement of|fe above facts and signed his name. the photographs, with tho statement, , were sealed up and forwarded to the Society of Biology. From time to time, sensational accounts have been published of how the stigmata' or nail markß of the Saviour upon the Cross have appeared upon the bodies of various persons, mostly young girls of nervous temperament.,. Theao marks havo been regarded by many people as miraculous, but tho French physicians before referred to have succeeded ' in producing the nail marks upon tho porsons of sensitive patients by first bringing them under mesmeric control and then telling them such marks ' would appear, and at their command blood actually flowed froni tho spots,, the experiment being attonded with great pain to tho patient, What will not the inatlon do? Tho experiments of these. French doctors appear to mo to throw con. siderable light on the' faith 1 qures,' mind' curesj magnetic cures or by whatever name you choose to call them, practised by Milner Stephen and other idifij/ known healers. The secret of.Buccessip\ pears to. lie in working on the imagination / of tho patient. If you can only get the person operated upon to believe-implicitly that you can euro him, cured he will be—or very greatly relieved, at all events. But want of faith means failure. The mind rules the body. That feet no one, will deny. Tell a man that ho is looking very ill. Tell a sick person that he is 'lookingmuch better' and you. will do him more good than all his; medicine is likely to effect. These are well ascertained " facts and serve to further" illustrate the astonishing power of the imagination, Perhaps when this ' miraculous! healing business is lifted out of the realm of quackery and receives the attention to which it iB undoubtedly entitled at the hands of medical men we shall hear moro of the' mind, cure.'—The Observer and Free Lance, ' :'

(To the Editor.) Sir.—Many of our Waiiarapa friends, when visiting Wellington with the intention of purchasing at Te Aro House here, have been puzzled by the close proximity of another draper's, shop, to know which was which, To prevent mistakes wo have had the words "Te Aro painted in black letters on whito grourJJF on each of our door-steps. If they; will only look fur these, errors and lossjnay be prevented. Yours, Ac., James Smith. . feAro'Hwise.