Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1896 — The Mind in Disease. [ARTICLE]

The Mind in Disease.

The story is going the rounds of the papers of a young woman who fancied she had swallowed a frog in water that she had been drinking, and was rapidly sinking, all efforts of physicians and others having failed to afford her any relief. Finally it occurred to some one that at least she might be deluded into health, and a tiny frog was caught and put into a tube with which they were attempting lavation of the stomach. When the frog was throwrn out of the tube the girl expressed the greatest relief, and said she hoped they were satisfied that all of her complaints had a reasonable foundation. From that moment she began to improve, and was in a short time completely restored to health. This may seem like an extremely foolish affair, but it is only one instance in many in which the mind has had a most marvelous effect on the physical condition. Strong men have died from the results of imagined injuries. No one doubts that persons have been frightened to death, and it is time that ridicule of and unbelief in statements of this sort came to an end. The influence of mind upon matter is a subject that calls for the closest investigation and the profoundest study. There is no question whatever that mental agitation and irritation aggravate, if they do not actually cause, disease. Delicate people and invalids should be carefully watched if they are to recover and retain their health. Many a child droops and dies because it feels that it is unappreciated or neglected. Many who survive merely drag out a miserable existence, instead of being full- of joy, hope, energy, promise and pleasure, and making of themselves bright and shining lights iii the world.