MR MILNER STEPHEN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LIX, Issue 6875, 13 March 1883, Page 5

MR MILNER STEPHEN.

TO THB EDITOtt. £sia.—l wish to give an emphatic denial to Mr Milner Stephen's statement that he had sucoeediid in caring my daughter of deafness. Mr Stephen treated her four times without producing any improvement in her hearing, Mr Stephen talks about gratitude as if my child hud been treated gratuitously, but, Sir, I paid two guineas, and I think there is no room for gratitude. Berides, I have spent a great deal of time, which is money to me, and cot nothing in return. With reference to the letter written to Mr Stephen by Mr Hoddinott, I may say that the latter is a perfect stranger to me, and hie statement about whst passed between a certain doctor and myself is not correct. The facts sra thesn :~Mr Hoddicott came into my shop to atk where sotse one lived. While he wae there the doCor called to ask if my little girl he»rd any better. I told hint she wag no better, but just as she wae before treatment, and that I thought Mr Stephen's healing was all a perfect humbug, This wan all that passed between the doctor and myself. No mention was made of money, and tho doctor did not urge me to go and expose Mr Stephen. That gentleman stigmatise* me a* being ungrateful, but I can assure him that had he done any real good to my child or anyone else I should not have been wanting in gratitude. I must say, however, that in no ease that han come under mj notice, and there have been a good many, has he succeeded in effecting a cure.—l am, Sec., J. JONES, Tinsmith, Cashel street East.

I TO THE BDITOB.

Sib,—l have a " bunion," which is " the plague of my life." A bunion is an enlargement of tho joint between the great toe and the foot. I have severe pains in this joint it times, and I am very anxious for relief. The disease is curable, but the exigencies of medical practices will not permit me to undergo die necessary treatment. This is a grand chance for Mr Stephen. I will place myself under his care, and give him twenty guineas for the cure. Our preient Governor said the other day, quoting from the lata Lord Beaeonifield, that something was a mere " flea bite." ffor, to a man who thinks nothing of adding five inches to the length of a thigh bone, providing muscles, vessels, and nerves off-hand, the curing of a bunion will he, in the elegant language of Sir William Jervois, a mere " flea bite." Should Mr Stephen coosider a bunion beneath his notice, I am, unfortunately, is a position to introduce to him a very near relative, who is more grievously afflicted. I have a son who is partially paralysed. If cure were possible this lad would not be a sufferer to-day. I beg Mr Stephen to cure this youth, and I will make over to him (Mr Stephen), for his sole use and benefit, one thousand pounds' worth of unencumbered freehold property. I will also give him a certificate as strongly worded «s Mr Stephen can possibly desire, and I will pay for its insertion in all the leading newspapers in the Australian Colonies ; and a certificate from me will be worth all he has in his certificatebook, as I am an old settler, and a wellknown medical practitioner. The testimony of a medical man will, in the estimation of the public," overweigh a whole theatre of others."—l am, Ac., S. A. PATSIOX Ohriitchuroh, March 12,1883.

TO THE KDITOB.

Sis, —As one who has taken a gnat interest in the treatment by Mr Milner Stephen of person* Buffering from blindness, lameness, deafneis, and all other ills the flesh is taidto be heir to, I write to suggest that any persons who have weened any benefit from the " laying on of Mr Stephen's hands" should, through yoor columns, make it known to the public what benefit they have actually receiTed. I hare been present at both Mr Stephen's exhibitions of his healing power, ana must say I have been Tery much duappointed. On the first occasion I saw a little girl (whose name I believe to be Jones) who was stated to be both deaf and dumb, and who Mr Stephen stated he had caused to both hear and speak. I have since learnt that the girl in question is now in no better condition than when she went to Mr Stephen, being still deaf and dumb. Another ease was that of a young woman Buffering from violent pains in the face and head, caused by neuralgia. She was also treated by Mr Stephen, and stated on the platform that the pain had entirely gone. In conversation with her a few hours afterwards, she informed me that she had not received the slightest benefit, as the pain had again returned, although at the time of treatment she had act nail j received great benefit. I also saw ex-Sergeant M'Guire, late of the Police Force, treated for paralysis, who at the time of his treatment no conbt received great benefit, but I again saw him last Saturday week on the platform of the Music 11*11, and he did not appear to be in any better health. Thia was the opinion I heard expreaaed by many persona present. I could mention many other cases m which I have been informed, after making enquiries, that in the majority of ca«es in which Mr Stephen has treated patient*, the relief has only been of a temporary nature. As one hears to many contradictory report* as to Mr Stephen's power to heal, I think, as I have already suggested, that any who have received actual benefit should come forward and make the same known, both in fairness to Mr (Stephen and the public.—l am, &c, GHOBQB MLKAN.

" Some deemed them wondrons wise, And some believed item mad." BEATTLE's " Minstrel."

TO THK EDITOR. Sib,—At the present time much doubt a dailj expressed as to the possibility of any person having "special power to cure" disease, and opinions are freely offered as to the probabilities of such power being supernal infernal, magnetic, mesmeric, sympathetic, spiritualistic, or imaginative, and crowds still run after specialists and mediums. And why not? The wonderful influence of the imagination in the cure of disease is undoubted, to say nothing off diseased imagination. Unfortunately the poor man is the only sufferer. Uhe " three card " trick is a bad game, and may lodge the owner of the cards in the Police Station, but to trade on the delusions of the populace as a curing medium is not il'egal j nor are church baiiar*. Your readers should go to the library, and look up "Memoirs of Extrajrdicary Popular Delusions and tha Mudnois of Crowds," by Charles Mackay, LL>.l\ If the book is not thero it should be. Years ago Paracelsus boasted of being able to transplant diseases from the human frame into the earth by moans of the magnet. M. de Puytcßur magnetised a tree "net a leaf of which but communicated health." Our travelling friends leave us with empty pockets and full hospitals. Not ono has had tre grace to magnetise a tree in tbo people's park, and no one stops to "clean the backs of our eyes" or charm away tumours with " drop?." Bailly in 1784 wrote—"Magnetismhas tot beea tltogetacr unavail ng to the pbilofophy which condemns it j it is an additional fact "to record among the errors of the human mind, and a great experiment on the strength of tl.a imagination," Many phenomena are daily occurring to surprise us. There i», however, nothing surprising in aay person who has an aotfve desire to do gooJ; a firm belief in the nower of magnetism, and an entire confidence &.employing it, meeting with some measure of success, the junoaut of success aapenuing upon the rtate of mind of those behaving m and willing to receive magnetic fluids. It is, however, moßt wonderful how soon fools and their money are parted." Quit furor, o oives .'—l am. &0., SPBOTATOB,