£*•

CURATIVE AGENCIES. 285
ieeling of the mental states and bodily condition of an
absent friend. If I lay my hand upon the region of
Firmness, Self-esteem, etc., I a give feeling of strength.
By an opposite influence, I produce depression and
pain. I have known persons to be thrown into convul
sions by the simple feeling of the spheres of those
about them. The presence of a person of a more
congenial sphere, or in another state of feeling, would
restore them.
We may not be able fully to understand these things,
but we must accept them as phenomena, and account
for them, and make use of them as fust as we can.
There is no useless fact in the view of a true philoso
pher.
Having treated generally
of the nature and causes
of disease, I shall next treat of preventive and curative
agencies in general terms, and then of special forms of
disease, their nature, causes, and treatment.
CHAPTER XIX.
CURATIVE AGENCIES.
" Pkevention is better than cure," says our proverb.
Even the ratio in which it is better is sometimes set
forth ; and we are told that " an ounce of prevention is
worth a pound
of cure." Our doctors either find that
prevention is in no demand, or that it is too cheap to
afford them any profit ; for they do not deal in the article