Primitive psycho-therapy and quackery.

277 Pages·2016·4.99 MB·English

PKIMITIVE PSYCHO-THEKAPY
AND QUACKERY
BY
ROBERT MEANS LAWRENCE, M.D.
"
AUTHOR OF THE MAGIC OF THE HOBSE-SHOE," ETC.
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
(tbe fltars'iDe press Cambriboe
leio
O
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
48646.1.
ASTON, LENOX »N0
TILDE N FOUNDATIONS.
R 1910 U
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY ROBERT MEANS UWUNCI
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Publishes October iqia
They have observed but little, who have not remarked how much
Imagination contributes to give success to the curative power of
a medicine.
Vicesimus Knox, D.D.
Winter Evenings, i, p. 154.
The mind has the same command over the body, as the master
over the slave.
Abistotle.
I
s

PREFACE
Certain historic modes of healing, including the use
of medical amulets and charms, which have been regarded
from early times as magical remedies, belong properly to
the domain of Psychical Medicine. For the therapeutic
virtues of medical amulets are not inherent in these ob
jects, but are due to the influence exerted by them upon
the imaginative faculties of the individuals who employ
them. They afford powerful suggestions of healing. In
this volume the writer has sought to emphasize the fact
that the efficiency of many primitivetherapeutic methods,
and the success of charlatanry, are to be attributed to
mental influence. The use of spells and incantations, the
practice of laying-on of hands, the cult of relics, mes
merism, andmetallo-therapy, have been important factors
in the evolution of modern mental healing. The method
of their operation, a mystery for ages, is revealed by the
word suggestion. Thus may be traced some of the steps
in the development of psycho-therapy. One ruling force,
viii PREFACE
namely, the power of the imagination, has always been
the potent therapeutic agent, whether in the word of
command, in medical scripts, or in the methods of quack
ery.
R. M. L.
177 Bay State Road, Boston, Mass.
May 20, 1910.
CONTENTS
I. Medical Amulets . (. 3
II. Talismans 19 •
III. Phylacteries
24 ■
IV. The Power of Words 30 .
...
V. The Curative Influence of the Imagination 53 .
VL The Royal Touch 73
VII. The Blue-Glass Mania 93 .
VIIL The Temples of Esculapius 97
IX. Styptic Charms 105
X Healing-Spells in Ancient Times Ill
XI. Medicinal Runic Inscriptions 135 ,
XII. Metallo-Therapy 139 .
XIII. Animal Magnetism 143 ,
XIV. Ancient Medical Prescriptions 155 >
XV. Remedial Virtues ascribed to Relics 165
XVI. The Healing Influence of Music 172
XVII. The Healing Influence of Music (continued) . . . 185
XVIII. Quacks and Quackery 201
XIX. Quacks and Quackery (continued) 223,
x CONTENTS
Appendix : Some Noted Irregular Practitioners :
Paracelsus 243
Heinrich Cornelius Aorippa von Nettesheim . . . 249
Jerome Cardan 251
Giuseppe Balsamo 253
Valentine Greatrakes 255
Johann Baptist van Helmont 260
Robert Fludd 2C3
Michel de Notredame 265
Lilly
William 268-
Johann Joseph Gassner 271
Index 273
PRIMITIVE
PSYCHO-THERAPY AND QUACKERY