MENTAL HEALING.

Lyttelton Times, Volume C, Issue 11623, 5 July 1898, Page 6

MENTAL HEALING.

' TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—ln your issue of July 2, “ Amateur ” expresses his'unbelief in the above science, and asks for a clearer example of the benefits resulting from the practice of thismethod of healing. The case referred to by your correspondent, “ Kiwi,” and to which “Amateur ” takes exception, was surely one which could not be rejected by an unprejudiced mind ; but he asks for proof in which cases have been cured by mental ■ healing when the ordinary means have failed. Here is one. A friend of mine became very ill. The doctor in charge, .after consultation with a fellow practitioner, practically gave up all hope. When the symptoms became alarming he was a&ked his opinion of the mental healing process, and very emphatically declared that if the patient could be Atasod- by tbr proposed method he tvoulcT

throw up the practice of his profession immediately. As there seemed to be little chance of recovery, the friends of the patient, acting on their own motion, resolved to give the new method a trial. This was done, witii the result that the patient immediately began to mend, passed through the convalescent stage without any relapses, and is now in perfect health. The doctor, however, is still practising his profession. I could quote other cases, if necessary, which have come under my notice, equally convincing, but your space prevents. As you yourself know, I am quite a disinterested party in this matter, so that “ Amateur ” may save himself the trouble, of insinuating to the contrary, as he did when replying to “Kiwi’s” letter. Ido not expect that “ Amateur ” will be convinced. TVom the tone of his letter I should imagine this to be almost impossible; but he should remember that there are more things m heaven and earth than are dreamt of m his philosophy.-! am, etc.,- . COL( j NIA L.

. - TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —“Amateur” is hard to satisfy. He insists that I am seeking “a cheap advertisement,” though ho does not say for whom or for what. I certainly wish to advertise a truth nob generally accepted, and an art unacknowledged by those usually regarded as exponents of science. Otherwise I have, directly or indirectly, no interest to serve, and, as you are aware, my business is far removed from the profession of mental healing.” “ Amateur ” appears to have some knowledge-of ’this .art himself, and, if that be so, instead of cavilling, he ought surely to back up my effort to bring home.to the public the great reality of “ mental healing,” and the boon to mankind that a common adoption of it would confer. He refuses to accept the Oamaru case as in any way extraordinary, and says of me: “ Had he selected a case which he could prove to have been cured by the above process, after being given up by the profession as incurable, or even cited one in which some common, yet dangerous; disease had been cured in a fraction of the time required by other methods,” it “would have enabled him to score heavier.” if the straightening and restoration'to health of a youth, hvith his spine' so badly curved that he had a pronounced hunchback, and was obliged ,to walk with his hands on his knees, by no other than mental methods, does not appeal to “ Amateur ” as “ extraordinary,”, he either has such confidence in mental treatment that he is already convinced of what I wish to establish, or he is so utterly sceptical that I should doubt his being any better satisfied by the citing of such cases as he calls for. . Or is his grievance that he thinks I am claiming credit for one “mental healer ” above another?. It is the recognition of truth and of the art of mental healing that I care .about, arid not the interests of individual healers. I can, tell “ Amateur” of plenty of cures of the kind winch he thinks would “score heavier,” and all of them performed by a different healer to the one who was concerned in the Oamaru case. . All of them can be verified if necessary;- but m proving them it may, perhaps, be" impossible to avoid disclosing the name of the healer.', However, no one shall have an advertisement 7 unnecessarily. Three or four such cases mav suffice for the present; (1) A man, very far gone in consumption,- pronounced just before the treatment by a doctor to be nearly dead, was examined, by the same doctor after six weeks’ treatment twice daily, and certified to as having n)o sign of disease left. (2) Another man, with consumption, having had severe hemorrhage and being very weak, was treated for nine weeks once a day. He also was examined by a doctor, who diagnosed the case before treatment, and, at its conclusion, certified that the disease had gone. In this case I was referred to the doctor, who confirmed the facts. (3) A woman confined to a couch for eighteen months with tubercular, disease in the leg. She was a complete cripple, and had been attended by two doctors, who gave her no hope of recovery. This case I watched for some months, and! learnt;the history of the woman’s illness from lhe clergyman of the parish, who tells mb. the- cure nas been, maintained, though it is,-six or weight months since the treatment ended,' and the; woman now walks a great (leal. When I saw' her first her leg was bound up in surgical instruments (4) A woman with tubercular disease of the spine, and regarded by the doctors as an absolutely hopeless case, is under treatment at the present time. She was almost a skeleton, but has made wonderful progress ini a few weeks, and has put on a great deal of flesh,, and a complete recovery is expected. The doctors attending her are fairly tonished. Cases of cancer, and other serious diseases could also be quoted, and such cases could be multiplied almost indefinitely. Anyone inclined to test them, in a serious spirit of search after truth, can be supplied with particulars necessary for the investigation, lam, etc., KIWI.