The Sunday Oregonian., June 28, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 10, Image 54

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THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND. JUNE 28, 1908.
4 mm.
1 1
IK
il a
i 'TrHBR goin" to do on the
jbf Fourth?' inquired the Head
Bellboy of the St. Reckless.
"I think probably I'll stick around."
said the Hotel Clerk. "Along about the
time of evening when the sky rockets
begin to soar majestically aloft, taking
with them countless glowing sparks and
somebody's eyebrows I'm liable to be
tailed upon to go up to Filllngham's and
sit up with the remains."
"Is this friend of yours dead, yet?'
asked the Head Rellboy. letting a sympa
thetic note creep Into his voice.
"Not yet." said the Hotel Clerk, "but
we have hopes. After reading a de
scription of. some of the clever ideas In
fireworks that have been thought up by
v the expert's in hi?h explosives since this
time laMt year I am convinced that it
will devolve upon the close friends of
the family to spend the twilight hour
reassembling dear eld Arthur. There
may be a trifling delay in bringing In
some of Filliugham from outlying dis
tricts, hut by midnight If nil goes well
we ought to h:ivc practically all of him
under one roof."
D'ye look for him to be Mowed up?"
Faid the Head Bellboy.
"Well, it s according to precedent. He
always has ben." said the Hotel Clerk.
"Fill'ngham is very strong for the proper
observance of Independence Hay. He's
been that way from a child. He's a
prominent member of that large class
of our population who've made the
Fourth of July nn overflow meeting from
the First of April.
"His father before him put him on the
right track. His father eventually left
th? vicinity rather hurriedly one Fourth
of July morning accompanied by an old
anvil that, he was using for the firing of
a few s:i lutes, so you might say it runs
in the family. In the primitive day when
Fillingham as a young boy was getting
all of these patriotic Impulses burned Into
Mm the had of the family did not en
joy the opportunity that is now vouch
safed even the most humble of parents to
purclias a toy pistol that will shoot
a chunk of tetanus as big as a wasp
nest into his tender offspring as far up
as the second, joint. But they had the
equally reliable tomato can full of loose
gunpowder which you stooped down with
a cigar in your mouth to find out why
it didn't go off and found out two days
l.'iicr. whn you came to, that It did, and
1; provided an excellent substitute, al
t'..oi:gh naturally Its average didn't run
as high as the toy pistol's has. I don't
think Fillingham was more than 10 years
old the time he ,1'ame in with his face
full of now blue freckles and two of his
fingers wrapped up in a piece of news
paper. After that he kept right on. He
parted from a thumb or some such small
matter nearly every Fourth, but his de
votion never faltered. The last time I
saw him one hand looked like a curry
comb and the oilier like a pair of grass
shears, but he's still competent to light
a match if somebody else holds the box
for him wiiile he scratches it, and so
that's why I say we have hopes."
"It ought to he a great day, all right,"
said the Head Bellboy. "I bet there
ain't no other country could pull off a
irlnbration like we have' on the Fourth."
HEALING POWER THROUGH PRAYER
Summary of Emanuel Church Movement's Newest Teaching in Psychotherapy.
THE first week of the unique Sum
mer school at Emanuel Church has
demonstrated the wide spread interest
in- the Psychotherapy movement. Not
only has the attendance been entirely
satisfactory in point of numbers, but
the whole atmosphere of the school has
been that of conservative and well
poised interest in ' the subjects pre
sented. The lectures have been held in
the chapel, and the adjoining, dwelling
house which has been presented to the
church has furnished a delightful sort
of a clubhouse for the use of the mem
bers of the school. The chapel and the
house are connected by what Dr. Wor
cester calls the "hole in the wall," or in
other words, a door has been cut
throup,li between the two. There the
guests have found writing rooms, hooks
and magazines, and a place for rest and
social conference. After each lecture
There has been an open discussion
where em ire freedom of expression of
opinion has prevailed wil"h the happiest
resu 1 ts.
Dr. McComb has sailed for Europe.
His first lecture given on the evening
of the opening of the school was a
sketch of the history and general prin
ciples of psychotherapy. As to its his
tory, he announced it to be no new dis
covery, but pointed to the ancient union
of the functions of priest and physician,
to Egypt and the temples of Aescula
pius. He cited Dill's "Roman Society,"
with its graphic description of the tem
ples wherein the patient was caused to
fall asleep and who upon awakening
believed a god had touched him. He
pointed to Elijah and Isaiah, and to
David witli his soothing and healing
harp. He told of Vespasian, who healed
a blind man by touching his eyes with
spittle. Thus psychotherapy and sug
gestion were shown to have been prac
ticed in very ancient times. Coming
down to the Middle Ages. Francis of
Assisi and Bernard of Clairvaux were
named as among those to be ranked in
the same order. The dominating role
that suggestion plays in New Thought
and in Christian Science was then
touched upon. Mesmerism was, how
ever, declared to be the origin of psy
chotherapy, as we now understand it.
"Vet Mesnier was an ardent student of
the mediaeval mystics and caught his
inspiration from them. Mesmer's spec
tacular methods and startling vogue
called forth that investigation and re
port in which Frank. m credited his
works to the eifect wrought upon the
imagination of his patients. The more
modern exponents of psychotherapy
were then considered, and among them
Baird and Rernheiin and Dr. Haek Tuke
with his "illustrations of the influence
of mind upon body." Dr. McComb also
spoke of Dr. (Juimhy, who Is supposed
to have -furnit-hed Mrs. Eddy with the
gpairr part of her material, and of his.
therapeutic work. He told about Dr.
Osgood, of Boston, who visted Nancy
jmj saw the work of Bernhelm. ami re
ferred to the. more recent work of Dr.
Morton Prince and Dr. Coriat.
The Emmanuel movement confines it
self principally to the treatment of
functional nervous disorders and does
not undertake the treatment of organic
disease. Dr. McComb accordingly gave
an outline of some of these nervous
disorders, anions them, neuraesthenia
or ner vous prostration, hysteria, hypo
chondria, psyehosthenia in which the
element of morbid doubt is present, in
somnia and drug addictions. He then
asked: "Why should the church take
up these subjects?" giving the reasons
for its so doing:, under the following
heads:
Fiitit These functional disorders are
associated with personality, which in
"You're right there." said the Hotel
Clerk. '"There isn't. They couldn't stand
it. No other country has a population
that increases fast enough to stand the
drain that would be put upon it by a
truly American Fourth. This year I
look to see a celebration that will cramp
every blind asylum and every- retreat
for the hopelessly maimed in town. We
did pretty well last year, considering the
weather and everything. There never had
been so large a sals for those gun-cotton
firecrackers that go off in such a manner
as to take most of the forearm with
them and cause the Invalid in the next
block who's suffering from a weak heart
to expire with a loud gasp. From all
sections there came a tremendous demand
for the kind of Roman candles that will
cause a barn roof to burst into flames
almost instantly. The manufacturers of
artificial limbs and the fanciers who
make a specialty of supplying the trade
with dogs skilled in the leading of the
blind, reported that they were rushed
with orders clear into the middle ef Au
gust. So I feel safe in saying that we
celebrated the day in a way that must
have been gratifying in the extreme to
the spirits of Thomas Jefferson and John
Adams, not to mention Benedict Arnold,
who. . unless he's changed his politics
since last heard from, would naturally be
pleased to see our annual losses from
this source greater than they were at the
battle of Saratoga.
"But this year we ought to beat last
year's showing and not really exert our
selves. There's a new pin wheel that Is
guaranteed to garner every eyelash with
in a radius of many yards and leave the
admiring throng looking like a collection
of those little John D.. or Mexican hair
less dogrs. Nearly everybody in town will
have the correct Chihuahua expression
that day. Theyvtell me there's an Im
proved brand of whistling . bomb which
may be depended upon to search out the
steeple of a frame church if there's one
in the ward As for the mental giant
who gives his 10-year-old son Egbert a
Harringdon & Richards revolver and a
box of .32-ealiber cartridges with whlch
to amuse his little sister Agnes, he was
never more numerous or active. Then we
are certain of the comical wag who can
send every green and red ball of his
Roman candle into the dormitory window
of the Home for Nervous Incurables, and
I feel every confidence in the promise that
we will have with us Somebody's Darling,
who believes the proper way to shoot
the large red cracker is to hold it be
tween the forefinger and thumb of the
right hand, debonnairly the same as a
cigar. True he was destroyed several
thousand times last year, but they grow
at least three acts of that variety every
year, like guinea pigs. This is a wise
provision of nature which keeps the "breed
from running out.
"We undoubtedly have the proper notion
of the way to observe a great national
holiday, Hops. Everybody says so, except
a few fussy persons who hate a little
pleasant noise and don't like to find the
sidewalk in front of the house cluttered
up with shoulder blades and the ear
drums of strangers and beauty spots and
thumb nails and one thing and another,
when they start down town on the
volves character, and the church should
deal with questions of character.
Second The limitations of medical
science.
Third Unity should be established
between the work of the clergy and the
work of the medical profession.
In the ensuing discussten Dr. McComb
brought out the influence of Berkeley
and his philosophy upon Dr. Quimby
and referred especially to Dr. Mum
ford's pamphlet on the moral effect of
hypnotic suggestion In surgical opera
tions. Some remarkable instances were
cited of the overcoming of the fears of
patients about to be operated upon.
The subject of Dr. MeComb's second
lecture was. the subconscious mind
and suggestion. The old watchword
was he said, no consciousness, no
mind, and he cited Reld, who de
clared a . person to be a monad,
not divisible into parts. This theory
is now considered exploded and
it is held that consciousness ,is only
one manifestation of mind. Janet holds
subconsciousness to be pathological in
its nature, but Dr. McComb agrees
with James, Myers, Coriat and the
others who consider the subconscious
to be a normal and highly influential
factor In personality. Subconscious
ness is defined to be the dissociation
of consciousness; in other words, as
something split off from the conscious
stream of thought or life. Frederick
"W. Myers says that the Idea of a
threshold of consciousness is familiar
and explains subllmal as all that
takes place below the ordinary field of
consciousness. He believes that be
low the threshold or beyond the mar
gin of the conscious life is a continu
ous subconscious life. He speaks of
the subllmal self, that part of self
which Is commonly sublimal, as the
larger self. But, Dr. McComb said,
we are here concerned with the heal
ing implications Involved in subcon
sciousness. He holds that hypnotic
suggestion lias great power as acting
upon the subconscious mind and thus
affecting the central nervous system.
The subconscious mind Is most amen
able to suggestion. Suggestion may
be administered, first, when a patient
is in a subconscious state; this Is
called hypnotic suggestion.
Hypnotism he defines to be a state
of mind allied to absent - mlndedness,
brought on . by suggestion and in
volving loss of memory and height
ened suggestibility. This hypnotic
suggestion Is, however, limited in its
sphere and not 'x universal panacea.
Hysteria yields readily to It and a case
was cited where hysterical stigmata
had yielded to hypnotic, suggestion.
Chronic alcoholism we may confident
ly expect can be cured by hypnotism
and hypnotic suggestion where the
patient is himself anxious for a cure.
Dr. Bramwell writes that of "fi cases,
64 were either cured or much im
proved. Dr. McComb stated that the
experience of the Emmanuel clinic
with such cases confirmed this per
centage. He holds hypnotic sugges
tion to be a distinctly valuable thera
peutic agent. He detailed the methods
of Inducing the hypnotic state, quiet,
fixed sensation, etc. In this hypnotic
state tbe suggestion is made that the
pain is gone or going, or that the pa
tient will have a loathing for alcohol.
One hospital physician in "Germany
has trained his attendants by hypnotic
suggestion so that they were able to
sleep through all ordinary noises but
awoke upon any attempt of the pa
tient to get out of bed. The darjgers
from hypnotism were declared to have
been much exaggerated and Dr. Bern
helm -was quoted as saying that no sin
gle Instance had been proved of the
morning of the" fifth. We allow our law
giving bodies some latitude but they
dassent go too far. It's all right for
Congress to take the canteen away from
the soldier and force him to attend
clandestine stewedeo teas at the Ruther
ford B. Hays Soft Drink Emporium,
with a black bottle in connection, down at
the edge of the reservation. It's all right
for a general assembly to compel a
Southern gentleman to travel over Into
Tennessee to drink the mint Julip he
made in Georgia, or to put through a
statute in South Dakota that will permit
a nonresident husband to get a divorce
from his wife because she's got bad
teeth. But no fiolish mischief maker of
a Legislator dare lay an impious finger
on the great National festival that has
done so much for the memorial wreath
and allied industries; if he did we'd tear
him limb from limb.
"And that's where we've got it all over
all other countries as you just now
observed, Hops. Look at the French.
They unveiled a bust the other day at
their Pantheon which, I take it. is where
they design the red pants worn by their
soldiery, and a prominent editor who'd
always contended that Captain Dreifus
commission of a crime by reason of
hypnotic suggestion. A group of neu
rologists who have hypnotized prob
ably oO.OOO people, testify to the ab
sence of injurious results.
A second division was made, namely,
suggestion in the hypnoldal state, or
state of abstraction. This Is induced
by the patient s listening to a continu
ous sound in a darkened room.
Then followed a description of the usual
method practiced at Emmanuel, viz.:
Waking Suggestion. In this connection
Dr. McComb detailed the method pursued
by him in the case of a patient he was re
quested to visit in Brooklyn, N. Y. This
patient was suffering from nervous weak
ness, or neurasthenia. Dr. McComb had
but one hour for his visit. Whils driving
to the house with the physician he famil
iarized himself with the patient's history.
Arriving he talked with her and encour
aged her to tell of her troubles. Then he
explained to her the nature of her trouble
and assured her she was curable. He
asked her to relax herself physically and
mentally. He then made short, definite
suggestions that she should have poise,
peace, and inward power that God was
on the side of health and strength. These
and similar suggestions he repeated again
and again, and then asked the patient to
repeat them to herself. This she did. He
then wrote down the suggestions that she
might go on with the process of auto-suggestion.
Dubois he referred to as per
haps the greatest authority on waking
suggestion. So make your suggestions,
said Dr. McComb. that they will become
powerful auto-suggestions. The Yoggis,
or holy men or India. Induced a self-hypnotism.
Auto-suggestions are best made
in a dreamy, revery-like. or somnolent
state. They should he good, constructive
ideas which will drive out or neutralize
bad suggestions. Auto-suggestion should
be regular and constant. It is especially
valuable in re-educating the will, the
thought and the emotions, and In remov
ing inhibitions caused by fear or ner
vousness. In answer to questions Dr. McComb
mentioned the case of a man who came
to the Emmanuel clinic last December,
who bad orunk for 40 years and has not
drunk since. The patient had stated that
the difference between this and his pre
vious efforts at reform was that hereto
fore he had abstained for certain periods
only with a struggle, but that now he
had no desire for drink. In response to a
question as to where valuable sugges
tions could be found Dr. McComb said
that Henry Wood's book furnished ideal
suggestions, if the reader would be care
ful not to accept his philosophy. Dr. Mc
Comb also told of a little girl who.
through extreme nervous dread was un
able to recite her lessons or pass her ex
aminations. By a process of suggestion
this difficulty was entirely removed.
The third lecture was devoted to other
curative agencies than suggestion. Among
these were explanations, and encourage
ment. You must get to know the patient,
his personal and lamlly history. You
must, by hook or by crook, gain the con
fidence of your patient. Then follows ex
planation. The patient wants to know
what the real trouble is. Dubois says: "I
do not uesitate to give a little course in
nervous pathology or psychology." Then
the patient must be persuaded to sum
mon his will-power, and must be given
counter-suggestions to meet the bad ones.
Tact, insight and delicacy must be used
by the operator.
Charcot calls hysteria' a moral disease.
All nervous diseases are. in a manner,
moral diseases, involving loss of will, etc!
Here comes in the power of a strong per
sonality over a weak one, or over a strong
personality that has fallen from Its
throne.
Another method of treatment is what is
called psycho-analysis the laying bare
i-j
should have gone into the retail clothing
business at the outset, shot the Captain
in the wrist with a putty ball and then
went over anri cried all over the bosom
the episodes which have brought about
the dissociation. There may be such a
concealing of an emotion and of its cause
that there will ensue what is called
strangulated emotion. Experimental ab
straction is sometimes employed; the pa
tient is made to listen to a very constant
sound in a darkened room. Obsessions
of fear are frequently caused through an
association of ideas which once detected
by the operator may lead to a successful
reasoning of the patient out of his fear.
Interesting cases of this sort were cited
with details.
Rest and work were then considered as
curative agencies. The growing emphasis
Is on work. Work restores the sense of
social life, brings the patient into contact
with others who are working. The work
must express the man's best qualities. It
must Impart a sense of success. He must
feel that he Is really accomplishing some
thing worth while. The concentration of
attention is a va.uable factor, and the use
of the feet and hands Is an outlet for
nerve energy. In Berlin there is a clinic
where everyone works no matter how
sick. Through work the currents of
healthy life take hold again.
Psychical Re-education Is still another
curative agency. Constant suggestions
affect the plastic nervous system. Partic
ular groups of thought can be trained
until they dominate the mind. Thereby
dominant groups" of undesirable thought
can be driven out.
Motor-Re-education is another phase of
the subject. Locomotor Ataxia can be im
mensely relieved. It was further pointed
out that a patient may learn consciously
movements that, before disease, had been
unconscious, and that may again become
unconscious.
In cases of mental worry and unrest
the problem is how to find a healthy out
let for nervous energy going to waste.
Tell the patient not only not to worry but
to work, and point out the work. In cases
of pathological doubt the patient must be
shown that it is better to make a wrong
decision than to allow the mind to become
disordered by panicky Indecision. Tell
him it is better to break a bone than to
lose his mind, better to make mistakes
than to break down and have to go to an
institution.
In cases of insomnia, auto-suggestion
may be used, the patient saying over,
many times a day, "I will sleep."
The attention and the will may be re
educated. Deep breathing, clay model
ling, the cold bath, the study of a foreign
language, were referred to as helpful
agancies. Activity, In other words. Is
needed: an activity In which the sufferer
can express his best qualities.
Another division Is the Re-edueatlon -of
Emotion. No tonic is so uplifting as joy.
which sets Into action every constructive
faculty of the body. Love, joy, and peace
are the essentials. When a good emotion
is stirred it must be translated Into ac
tion. The .t,n of pity should be fol
lowed by altruistic or charitable acts.
Emotions can be cultivated by adopting
the corresponding attitude. Whistling,
to keep up one s courage. Is. as Professor
James says, no mere figure of speech. We
should go through the outward attitudes
of those emotions whicn we prefer to cul
tivate. Moral and religious re-education was
next considered, and it was pointed out
that by this means the nervous system
may be Indirectly Influenced and con
strained. The fourth and most Interesting lecture
in Dr. McComb's valuable series was
upon the Influence of religion on mental
and physical health. Religion is, he said,
not the possession of the few, but of :he"
many. It is not imported, but sinks Its
roots deep into the soil. Religion has
been likened to a pillar of fire, advancing
before and leading man on. It is at
once intellectual, emotional and volitional.
By it we seek to bring ourselves Into
harmonious relations with the Supreme.
This is a quality that belongs to a nor
mally developed nature. By closing this
avenue of harmonious relation with the
of the clean shirt which the Captain's
brother Mike Dreifus was wearing at
the time, and there was great activity
on the part of the local authority known
Supreme, man does himself a positive In
Jury. There is a solidarity of brain and
mind. Of the- reaction of the body upon
the spirit we know fearfully much; of
the influence of the spirit over the flesh
we know something. The spirit can be
made regnant over the body. Professor
James has pointed out the importance of
the recognition of the influence of reli
gion upon the bodily condition. The
Emmanuel Movement stands for the
union of modern psychology, modern
medicine and New Testament Chris
tianity. Psychical states arj important
Influences upon health. Health and holi
ness are words having the same root. A
broken nervous system and vitiated blood
are likely to bring a vision of the devil
rather than a vision of God. Conscious
ness of God Is essential to our normal
life and health. If the place that should
be filled by this consciousness of God is
vacant, it will be filled by all sorts of
fears and obsessions. Even Dubois says
that, for safety, a man must have a re
ligion, or at least a philosophy.
The chance of recovering Is greater in
nervous cases where there Is religious
faith. Such a faith lends to harmony
and peace. Tell me what a man's nervous
system Is and I will tell you what the
man is. Nervous diseases are diseases of
character. Faith as a psychological at
titude, or mental process, has healing
power. Faith enters into all modern psy
chotherapy. Faith is as necessary in a
psychological clinic as at Lourdes. The
processes of the body are controlled by
the great nervous centers. All the vital
chemistries of the body are carried on
by the sympathetic nervous system. Fear
and obseselons disorganize this normal
and healthy action. Faith enables these
actions to be carried on quietly and
harmoniously. Even superstitious faith
may work physical good. Trust in God
soothes the wild emotions, removes disso
ciation, and restores Jarred and Jangled
nerves to harmony. Hope shines out once
more. Buddhism, with Its Nirvana, deals
with negation. Christianity seeks for not
less, but a more abundant life. Prayer
establishes harmontous relations with the
supreme. Hyslop. of the Bethlehem
Royal Hospital at London, gives the
first therapeutic value to simple prayer.
Prayer opens the nature to the mightiest
Influence. It Is the inter-communion of
man and God. What if prayer Itself be
a law of the universe. All admit the in
fluence of prayer on character, but all
do not recognize that prayer. In affect
ing character, affects the nervous system
and the whole organism. We have been
taught to ask for whatever we desire.
Enthusiastic desire leads to a sense of
well-being and to character. Forces of
order and strength come to the rescue.
The faculty by which we hold com
munion with God Is Implicated with some
nervous sufferers. A clergyman recently
came to me. said Dr. McComb, who was
about to resign his charge. He had come
to feel a sense of the unreality of prayer.
It was a case of neurasthenia, and I told
him he would be doing a grievous wrong
to give up his work. With certain nerv
ous Invalids there may be a tension even
in the act of prayer. Such a patient
should be taught to exercise passive pray
er; he should learn relaxation. There
must be a surrender, a passivity, so that
spiritual force may enter In and take
possession. This involves the element
of mysticism, which must be restored in
the work of the church. In such cases
there should be a kind of religious re
training. The men of the Roman Cath
olic church, with no special psychological
training, have been born psychologists.
Fenelon's letters are a remarkable exam
ple In point. With nervous sufferers God
is sometimes regarded as a hard task
master, and the soul is lost in the wan
derings of its morbid feelings.
Modern psychology says .hat there is a
tendency in nature to help and to repair.
The physician cures by evoking and
strengthening this vital power. One physi
cian said: "We amuse our patients and
nature helps them." The patient must be
taught not only that God Is his Father.
?
as John Darm, and something like our
John Doe. only he brings home the goods
oftener. and they arrested several hun
dred citizens for conspuelng and abasslng
and then they went home and called that
a celebration. And there are the Chinese.
The Chinese gave the world gunpowder
but didn't keep any for their own use.
The Chinese idea of a holiday is to sit
on an ancestor's grave in a pink silk
nightshirt cut short, and eat rice purWing
made according to the recipe handed down
by Confucius. The Japanese will march
down to the county courthouse and
give a few banzals for the Emperor
and then go home to their cozy resir
dences built out of paper napkins and
fishpoles and drink tea and witness
dancing by their famous geyser girls
and think they're enjoying themselves.
Foolish barbarians, they call that a
celebration, when there's nothing
about It to suggest the real thing no
bystander blown Into delicatessen, no
cheerful aroma of Iodoform gauze and
black dress goods pervading the at-v
mosphere; nobody picking his birth
mark off the ceiling with a nail file,
nobody getting used to the feeling of
a camel's hair eyebrow or learning to
button his collar with one hand. 'Not
even an ambulance call or a Carnegie
library on fire, by gum.
"Even in our own rural 'neighbor
hoods they don't seem to be able to
throw Into the Fourth as much-eclat
as we manifest here in the teeming
city. In the deep woods the best way
they know of ushering in the day is
to fire off a brass cannon loaded with
back numbers of the home paper and
the index fingers of the firing party.
This lasts until they run out of
fingers, or sample copiee. or both.
Along about 10 o'clock, when the per
fumery of arnica is beginning to
spread freely and Dr. Watts' buggy
horse has fallen from over-exertion,
everybody goes out to Perkins' Grove,
which is so-called because it's a tree
less expanse, with a few new-born
saplings around the edges, and the
thermometer climbs up to 98 and then
stops and spits on its hands and takes
a deep breath and climbs some more,
or else there's a cloudburst with two
inches of rainfall in less than 20 min
utes and the Forks of Elkhorn W. J.
Bryan Silver Cornet Band executes a
selection of popular airs. After the ex
ecution, which is a very lingering one.
the County Judge mounts a platform
alongside' of a white water pitcher in
a profound state of perspiration and
reads the Declaration of Independence
in a loud, sonorous tone to an audi
ence consisting of his wife, his law
partner and one member of the band
who has to stay awake to keep the
doodle bugs out of his slide trombone.
Then they have a picnic dinner, ac
companied by many caterpillars and a
great profusion of- ear wigs, and the
young folks repair to the bosky cLell
back of the pesthouse to partake of
the wild turnip and crown their chosen
queen with fair garlands of the uoison
but that all men are his brothers. This
takes the neurasthenic beyond himself.
He no more spins on his own axis: is no
more self-centered. The hypochondriac
centers his imagination on his viscera.
Unselfish religious work, devotion to
others, is a great help in such cases. The
patient finds his larger self. Even Dubois
acknowledges the therapeutic value of
religion, while Weir Mitchell and our own
Dr. Putnam have emphasized the impor
tance of the idealistic and religious ideas
in the cure of nervous troubles. Failure
to recognize this has been the weakness
of modern psychotherapy. Natural science
does not necessarily lead to broad views
of ethics or of life. The scientiflcally
trained theologian has an advantage over
the scientifically trained doctor. Theology
emphasizes free-will and looks at the free
dom of the Individual. It considers him
as capable of reconstructing his life on a
new mental and moral basis. These in
fluences are heai.ng and uplifting Influ
ences. The patient can be directed to God
and to his forgiveness: can be taught to
break with his past, to make a "stepping
stone of his dead self." He must catch
the Idea of spiritual existence in order
to live.
Every prayer is a suggestion, although
every suggestion is not a prayer. Dr.
McComb stated that business men who
had become nervous invalids had confided
to him that the root of all Ihelr misery
was that they .iad deliberately Ignored
religion and prayer. Prayer is the direct
turning of the mind to God in whom we
are.
In answer to questions from members
of the school Dr. McComb went on to say
THE USES OF SEAWEED
New York Son.
SEAWEED has gone out of fashion
a good deal of late years. This
applies to it not merely as an article
for decorating village parlors, but as
candidate for more useful careers.
Seaweed ashes were once used for
making alkali to be employed in soap
and glass-making, and It was actually
the chief source of the supply of iodine.
Other seaweeds were so mucilaginous
that they-were made into artificial horn
and shell.
Eelgrass. which is a variety of sea
weed, was used for stuffing mattresses,
and even for sheathing houses. Otiier
kinds were, and to some extent still
are. used as food for human beings as
well as for cattle. Irish or carragen
moss is employed in making Jellies.
Dulse Is by no means scorned as an
article of diet by the poor people on
the coasts of Ireland and Scotland.
Sometimes it is eaten raw, sometimes
roasted or with vinegar.
It is a standby with the Icelanders,
who store It in casks and eat it with
fish. In the Winter, when forage Is
scarce, deer go down the rocks at low
tide and get a meal off the seaweed.
Tangle Is a variety with so woody a
stem that when It .is dry some of the
country folk abroad use It for knife
handles. They stick the blade in when
the seaweed is soft. As it dries and
shrinks It holds the metal fast.
But most of these uses have ceas'd
to exist. Other means of producing the
same results have been discovered,
which do it cheaper and better. When
it took 20 tons of seaweed to produce
eight pounds of iodine, there certainly
was a chance to improve on the method.
Of late years, the chief use to which
seaweed has been put In this country Is
as a fertilizer, and in this direction the
Department of Agriculture has mad
some Interesting Investigations. As
seaweed taken directly from the rocks
contains about 80 per cent of water,
and as It Is most valuable for fertiliz
ing when it is only partially dried, it is
S. COBB.
Ke
SITS ON TOE GRAVED
or -his ANCESTORS
ivy. In the evening on the . public
square there is a programme of fire
works and casualties, and oh! say, you
can see by the rocket's red glare that
one of Hen Rogers' thumbs is still
there. Also that Constable Wash
Spence got too close to the set piece
of George Washington just befoie they
unset it. and now lias a complexion
combining the red, yellow, green, and
purple, like an Italian's family wash
ing. "But in the city we throw a little
more variety into it. Nobody reads
the Declaration of Independence in
public places, because if he did the
police would arrest him for preaching
the doctrine of anarchy or some of
the vested rights would run over him
in an automobile. Hut we unfurl Old
Glory and tne medicated bandage to
the flaunting breeze. The doorstep Is
draped with drainage tubes and bunt
ing. Upon every hand we see the red,
white and blue ami the absorbent cot
ton. To and fro go the gallant fire
men on their way to extinguish a
small boy or a tenement fire, and when
night has fallen the lockjaw germ
sings to the evening stars and the
tired ambulance surgeon locks up his
tool kit and calls it a day."
"r'll bet you it'll be .1 glorious
Fourth, just the same," said the Head
Bellboy.
"It wilj if we live through it," said
the Hotel Clerk. "There's one thing
about the Fourth that I always look
forward to with great pleasure."
"Wofs that?" asked the Head Bell
boy. "The fifth." said the Hotel Clerk.
that this movement is going to restore the
pastoral relation In a new way. The min
ister will not be asked so much to teas as
to sickrooms. He will not be called in
simply to bury men after the doctor Is
through with them, ne will come into
the sickroom to bring hope and strength
and help. Suppose every minister was
clothed with therapeutic power as well
as with prophetic power. Perhaps the
one Is as possible as the other. For suc
cessful therapeutic work of course the min
ister must have a certain aptitude to
start with. He must nave sympathy, tact
and Intuition. Christ has a message not
only to normal but to abnormal humanity.
Dr. McComb stated that physicians were
constantly writing to him inquiring about
the best books on the subject of psycho
therapy. A clergyman slated from the
floor that In his home town he had lent
Dubois' book to a physician who there
after was heartily willing to co-operate
with him. Certain difficulties and dan
gers that Hie clergyman may meet with
in the sickroom were also pointed out by
members from the floor. One gave an
instance of being called to see a lady
where the physicians had diagnosed con
sumption and stated that the patient could
only live a short time. The natural im
pulse of the clergyman was to acquaint
the patient with this fact and to adminis
ter spiritual preparation for the change.
He was. however, restrained from doing
this and it proved that the physicians
were mistaken in their diagnosis, and the
patient is now living and well. The.
speaker thought that had lie followed his
impulse and given her a hopeless view
of her case she would probably not now
be living. Boston Transcript.
clear that It is useful for that purpose
only along the coast. But it has been
carried 8 or 10 miles inland and still
used effectually.
It is a particularly good fertilizer for
such crops as potatoes and clover,
which require plenty of potash. It is
said that there is no place in New Eng
land where red clover grows so well
as near Rye Beach, where the soil has
been fertilized with seaweed ever since
the country was settled. In that lo
cality it perpetuates Itself and grows
on the same land year after year with
out reseeding.
A Toast to the "Also Sinn.
From "Today and Other poems."
Ye have drunk. O my friends, to the vtrtors.
Ye have toasted the valiant and stronp;
To the great of the earth ye have drunk In
your mirth.
To the wise ye have lifted your song.
Tr Is well they are worthy, my brothers..
As amrht that the firmament spans.
But I pledge you a health to the other
A health to the "also rans."
To the men who went down In the struggle.
To the runners who finished unplared.
To the weak and the young, the unknown,
the unsung.
The depraved, the oppressed, the dis
Kraeed. Y are blooded, dei eloppct. or:ipeteri :
They were bred without Mamma, rlavs:
'Tfs to them, the surpassed, the defeated.
1 bow as 1 drain my glaFs.
Who are ye that nhould dare to reject
them ?
ro you knew- what the hnudicapt
welched?
Did ye suffer the pain, run the rare, stand
the strain.
That ye scoff at the pace that they
made?
It ma be that they ran overweighted.
It may he they were left at the poat
Far or near, 'tis to them, the IK-fatc-d.
I bow as I drink my toast.
They have lost, they ore 111. they are weary;
Ye have won. ye are well, ye a;-e strong
By the drops that they hied, by the tears
that they shed. -
By your mirth, by your wine, by your
Bona;.
By all that has e'er helped to sweeten
Your lives, by your hopes, by vour plans.
I pledge you the health of the beaten.
The health of the also raus."
Francis Lyman Windolnh
11