Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery

Greek words that may not display correctly in all browsers are transliterated in the text using popups like this: βιβλος . Position your mouse over the line to see the transliteration. This text uses symbols that may not be visible in all browsers. If you see a box where a character should be, hover your mouse over the box for a description of the symbol. Additionally, if you click on the symbols on page 156 or in the table on page 161, you will see an image of the symbol. Click on the page number to see an image of the page. A few typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text. PRIMITIVE PSYCHO-THERAPY AND QUACKERY BY ROBERT MEANS LAWRENCE, M.D. AUTHOR OF "THE MAGIC OF THE HORSE-SHOE," ETC. BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge 1910 COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY ROBERT MEANS LAWRENCE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Published October 1910 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. Aristotle. 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 objects, 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 primitive therapeutic 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, mesmerism, and metallo-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, 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 quackery. R. M. L.…