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Illustrations of the Influence of the Mind upon the Body in Health and Disease, with Especial Reference to the Imagination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2018

Extract

A few weeks∗ ago a gentleman informed the public, through the newspapers, that he had been cured of rheumatism by the fright he had experienced in a railway accident. The remarks which the circumstance has elicited lead me to think that the whole subject of the influence of the mind upon the body deserves more serious and systematic consideration than it has received. It is now some time since I endeavoured to formularise the generally admitted facts of physiology and psychology so far as they bear on this question, and to collect from the sources at my command all authenticated facts illustrative of this influence. Dissatisfied with my work, I laid my cases aside. Judging, however, from the remarks above-mentioned that, imperfect as they are, they may be of some service, I conclude to forward my observations to the Journal of the Association. I must apologise to the reader for treating the subject in so elementary and aphoristic a manner; but I trust the advantage of this method will be apparent as I proceed.

Type
Part I.—Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1870 

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