April 28, 1901, M.D., professor of Gynecology in the Chicago Homœopathic Medical College, published in the Chicago Tribune an interesting and thoughtful article under the heading, "Effect on Sick of Unfavorable Thought Atmospheres," which is well worthy of serious perusal and study by thinking people, especially in view of the recent events resulting from the assassination of President McKinley. It will be observed that Dr. Leavitt's paper was written several months previous to that sad occurrence.
Dr. Leavitt says:—
"That some deleterious influence is experienced by patients suffering from disease, when there is widespread anxiety concerning their welfare, has impressed itself on my conviction. When a man or woman of prominence falls ill the fact is heralded from one end of the country to the other; suspicions of the innocuous nature of the attack are encouraged; meaningless incidents are misinterpreted; rumors of recent deterioration of health preceding the acute attack are spread; and public expectation of a fatal outcome is perseveringly whetted. This is the public history of a case. The private history embraces a primary period of slight physical disturbance, giving occasion for no alarm, succeeded gradually by deepening symptoms which appallingly often ultimate in death. Such an experience appears to be one of the penalties of eminence. President Garfield was wounded by the bullet of the assassin Guiteau and the greatest turbulence ensued throughout the land; all were profoundly shocked and grave fears were entertained even by the most hopeful. For days and weeks frequent bulletins were issued by the surgical attendants, setting forth the most hopeful features of the case; but these were more than counterbalanced by press and individual opinions which were uniformly adverse. We know full well the outcome. He had a serious wound, but it had no business to be fatal in a robust constitution like his, and in all probability would have had a favorable termination in one toward whom there had not been turned so great a tide of unwholesome thought. Roscoe Conkling suffered a suppurative inflammation of the middle ear, such as the ordinary medical practitioner often encounters, but it could not be persuaded to proceed in the ordinary way. Hardly had the symptoms of disease set in before grave fears were expressed and the course of the case soon assumed a perverse aspect.
