IN our text-book we are told "how mortal mind seems to induce disease by certain fears and false conclusions, and how divine Mind can cure by opposite thoughts." (Science and Health, p. 417.)
The strange phenomena of self-mesmerism induced involuntarily by unconsciously yielding to fear has many times been witnessed by the writer of this article. Some years ago, at a time when the fear of hydrophobia was very active in a certain town, a woman was bitten by an angry cat. The fangs pierced the woman's sleeve and punctured the skin above the elbow. The arm was bathed in salt water several times during the afternoon and evening, and at bed-time was normal in size and color, only the small breaks in the skin showing as results of the bite. Early the next morning this woman aroused the family by telling them she knew she was going to have hydrophobia, that she had been in great pain all night, her arm was greatly swollen and discolored; and that as soon as the family physician came to her office she should go to her to confirm her belief. In the mean time the family must prepare for the worst, all measures must be taken so that she could be cared for without danger to the rest of the household.
Everything was done to soothe and comfort her, but she would not allow any one to touch her arm, which she had wrapped in cloths saturated with extract of witch hazel, the popular household remedy at the time. The person who had bathed the arm in salt water was asked to accompany her to the doctor's. By the time the doctor's office was reached the wounded woman was so hysterical her companion was obliged to tell the story. The doctor examined the arm, then looked up puzzled. "This arm is swollen and bruised as if it had been roughly clasped," said she, "but there is no mark of teeth; what does it mean?" The girl who had bathed the bitten arm looked at the arm exposed and exclaimed, "Why, that is not the arm that was bitten! It is the other one!" In silence the other arm was bared, and on it appeared plainly though faintly, the marks of the cat's fangs, already healing.
