An essay on the influence of the imagination and passions in the production and cure of diseases / by Arthur Jacob, M.D. ... to which is added, a translation of a memoir by Dr. C. Pfeufer ... on the cures performed by the operations of the Prince de Hohenlohe.

  • Jacob, Arthur, 1790-1874.
Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the influence of the imagination and passions in the production and cure of diseases / by Arthur Jacob, M.D. ... to which is added, a translation of a memoir by Dr. C. Pfeufer ... on the cures performed by the operations of the Prince de Hohenlohe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    prayer is uttered, and the prince, with a confident and cheering voice announces his cure, assists him with his own hand to rise, and encourages him to exertion. The exertion is made, the ice is broken, and a cure of longer or shorter continuance is ac- complished. A most important feature in this trans- action is, the actual bodily exertion made use of by the patient at the urgent solicitation of the prince, as well as the assistance rendered to the weak and tottering invalid by the support of the operator's own hand. With respect to the cases of Miss Lalor and Mrs. Stuart it may be said that they were not subjected to these excitements produced by the personal exertions of the prince, the effect in their cases must be ascribed therefore to the im- pression produced by the consideration that a fo- reign prince, an ecclesiastic of high rank, a man celebrated for his piety, was then employed in offering up prayers for their recovery. The ce- lebration of the religious ceremony of the mass, the fervent prayers offered up by their friends and relatives, and their own hopes and anticipations, must surely be allowed to be capable of producing a very powerful excitement of the imagination, and an impression fully equal to any other. To me it affords a satisfactory explanation of their cures, which I am happy to find are more perma- nent than those recorded by Dr. Pfeufer: They afford, in my opinion, a valuable illustration of