nothing would seem to be more simple or efficient. I have tried it for many years. Dr. Parry, of Bath, England, called the attention of the medical world many years ago to the practical value of compression of the carotids for the relief of violent headache, epilepsy, hysteria, and other disorders.

Much of the effect attributed to compression of the vessels of the neck is now found to be due to the pressure of the vagus or pneumogastric nerve. This, as we have before shown, is one of the most important and widely distributed of the cranial nerves. The pulsations of the carotid artery are the best guide in finding it, as it is in immediate proximity to it, so that when the finger is placed on the artery it involves the nerve in the pressure. The slightest pressure upon the brain, when a portion of the cranium has been removed, causes insensibility. The compression of a nerve diminishes the sensitiveness and lessens the vital action of the part or parts to which it is distributed. The vagus

nerve sends branches to the heart, the lungs, the stomach, and other internal organs, and is both a nerve of sense and motion. Compression of this nerve can be made to affect the action of the heart, and arrest palpitation. In all cases where you wish to diminish the action of the heart, you can do it in this way far better and more safely than by the administration of veratrum. You can affect also the action of the diaphragm and lungs, and change the respiration. These are two important points in the treatment of inflammatory dis

eases.

For the relief of nausea and vomiting, and an oversensitiveness of the gastric membranes, it has been found, by experience, that a better effect is produced by applying the fingers further down on each side where

the carotid and nerve pass under the clavicle. This is an efficient remedy for sickness at the stomach and the incipient stages of cholera morbus. My experiments with it for ten years have confirmed me in the opinion of its reliability and certainty. Dr. Augustus Weller, of Geneva, in an article republished in the "Bowdoin Scientific Review," states that he has, by compression of the vagus nerve, relieved himself, on several occasions, of sea-sickness, to which distressing malady he is a martyr. It will be found a more reliable process of relief than the newly recommended chloral hydrate. We have here a remedy of great value, and one applicable to a large range of diseases.

The pneumogastric nerve descends from the medulla oblongata, where it has its origin near the part termed by Fleurens the "nœud vital," the vital knot, the most vital part of the cerebral organism, the slightest puncture here being instantly fatal. Near its origin there exists a ganglion, and lower down there is another ganglionic enlargement. Near this, it gives off the superior laryngeal nerve. In sore throat, laryngitis, and even bronchitis, compression of this part of the vagus nerve affords relief. Perhaps we have here a remedy for croup and diphtheria. But I have never tried it in these lastmentioned disorders.

Dr. Weller speaks of the efficiency of vagal pressure in allaying nervous excitement and inducing sleep. He says: "It is particularly efficacious in cases where one pervading idea of an annoying nature occupies the mind, which cannot be dispelled, but is rather intensified, by any attempt to dispel it. Under such conditions the influence of vagal compression is most heroic. Even if sleep is not induced, if once we produce a sense of faintness, by vagal pressure, it seems to act as a sponge

passed over writing on a slate, either removing this one ideal state, or bringing the intensified idea on a level with the others. I have repeatedly verified this effect on myself and other persons, by comparing the state of mind before and after vagal compression."

It seems to be a law, that pressure upon a nerve, by sundering the communication between the parts to which it ramifies and the sensorium, lessens the sensibility of those parts, and diminishes their vital action. Knowing when these effects are desirable in an organ, it will be easy to decide when to employ it. Pressure upon the branch of the trifacial nerve, which is distributed to the teeth and jaws, will relieve toothache. It produces temporarily, and in a less degree, the same effect as dividing the nerve. In cases of maniacal excitement, I have a strong conviction that vagal pressure, which must of necessity include compression of the carotid artery, which supplies blood to the brain, would often be productive of the happiest results. It at least deserves a trial. Where there is in such patients an excess of blood in the brain, which is uniformly the case, vagal pressure will undoubtedly produce a quieting influence, much sooner than bromide of potassium and canabis indica, which, when given together, are found to be the best internal remedy. The things recommended in this chapter are to be used only as auxiliaries in the psychopathic treatment. Under the direction of skill and intelligence they will be found efficient remedies. There is much to be learned, which the medical science of the world does not and cannot teach, regarding the nature of disease, and the best method of controlling and regulating the organic forces of the human organism.

HOW WE LEARN.

"Great truths are dearly bought. The common truth,

Such as men give and take from day to day, Comes in the common walk of easy life,

Blown by the careless wind across our way.

"Bought in the market, at the current price,

Bred of the smile, the jest, perchance the bowl; It tells no tales of daring or of worth,

Nor pierces even the surface of a soul.

"Great truths are greatly won; not found by chance,
Nor wafted on the breath of summer dream;
But grasped in the great struggle of the soul,
Hard-buffeting with adverse wind and stream.

"Not in the general mart, 'mid corn and wine;
Not in the merchandise of gold and gems;
Not in the world's gay hall of midnight mirth;
Not 'mid the blaze of regal diadems;

"But in the day of conflict, fear and grief,

When the strong hand of God, put forth in might, Ploughs up the subsoil of the stagnant heart,

And brings the imprisoned truth-seed to the light.

"Wrung from the troubled spirit, in hard hours Of weakness, solitude, perchance of pain,

Truth springs, like harvest from the well-ploughed field, And the soul feels it has not wept in vain."

CHAPTER XXIV.

MENTAL MEDICINE, OR THE SANATIVE VALUE OF THE PSYCHIC FORCE.

Supreme Influence of the Mind - The Fundamental Maxim of Christ-Faith and its Influence· Secret of Success in the Psychopathic Treatment· Force of Suggestion — Apollonius of Tyana — Philosophy of the New Testament Miracles — The Medical System of Jesus- Dr. Quimby How to Remove the Underlying Cause of Disease—- The New Psychic Force — Its Sanative Value - Quotation from Dr. Nichols — Appropriation of New Discoveries· · Human Progress - The New and Old.

HE interior organism, which we call the mind or spirit, is the controlling element in our complex being, and the living, moving force of the body. The importance of the condition and influence of the inward man has been almost overlooked and ignored in all ages by the practitioners of the healing art. Jesus, the Christ, is the only physician who has ever given, theoretically and practically, due prominence to the spiritual side of human nature in the cure of disease. I know of no other who has done this, in the annals of mankind and the history of medicine. He aimed to restore first the disordered mind to health and harmony, and then through this the outward body. His fundamental maxim was, that a man is saved by faith, soul, spirit and body. The oft-repeated formula, "Be it unto thee according to thy faith," is the key to his whole system of cure, and expresses an important law of our