A course of practical psychic instruction.

  • Psychic Research Co.
Date:
1901,
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A course of practical psychic instruction. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    because there is no longer an active brain to interpret the sen- sation. This explanation is both correct and incorrect. It would be more exact to say that it is partially correct. By putting the cortex into a condition of insensibility the operator has merely distracted the attention of the patient from the seat of the pain, and has therefore relieved the patient of the ob- trusive help which the brain would have sought to give if its attention had been centered upon the pain. Hypnotism thus re- lieves the patient of the unnecessary pain which the attention creates. But inasmuch as the shock of an operation may be felt during hypnosis, unattended by any unpleasant sensation of pain, we must recognize the presence of another vital and powerful force acting in obedience to the will of the operator, and the best interests of the subject. This Force is Vital Magnetism, the Force which governs sensation when it is called into action by harmoniz- ing the nervous system of the individual, and strengthening the nerves to repel sensation. The patient who is surcharged with Vital Magnetism is indifferent to pain, and even if the cerebrum is active, he is unconscious of suffering. The Superiority of Magnetic Healing.—Hence, the im- mense advantage on purely physical grounds of the Magnetic treatment over the hypnotic form. The Magnetic Healer intro- duces into the system of his patient by contact of hands with nerve centers, an access of energy which brings the vital resist- ance of the patient up to the point at which disharmony or pain is overcome and subdued. He does this with the full knowl- edge and understanding of the patient. He does not throw the patient upon his own resources, leaving him to subdue pain by his own force, though we have seen that in some hypnotic ex- periments this is effective. He takes from the Nervous Energy which is m himself to give to the patient, and thus it comes about that after magnetic treatments patients feel for many hours the benefit of this additional strength.
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