ing to become
externalized--as Professor James tells us--and the externalization
generally has to do with the body, for the mind has come to center
all its hopes of happiness and pleasure in the body, and to base its
sense of life upon it. The body, being a mental concept formed of
false thought, passes away, from sheer lack of a definite principle
upon which to rest. Therefore the sense of life embodied in it passes
away with it. You know, the ancients had some idea of the cause of
disease when they attributed it to demons, for demons at least are
mental influences. But then, after that, men began to believe that
disease was sent by God, either to punish them for their evil deeds,
or to discipline and train them for paradise. Funny, isn't it? Think
of regarding pain and suffering as divine agents! I don't wonder
people die, do you? Humboldt, you know, said: 'The time will come
when it will be considered a disgrace for a man to be sick, when the
world will look upon it as a misdemeanor, the result of some
vicious thinking.' Many people seem to think that thought affects
only the brain; but the fact is that _we think all over_!"

"But look here," put in the doctor. "Here's a question I intended to
ask Hitt the other night. He said the five physical senses did not
testify truly. Well now, if, as you say, the eyes do not testify to
disease, then they can't testify to cures either, eh?" He sat back
with an air of triumph.

"Quite correct," replied Carmen. "The physical senses testify only to
belief. In the case of sickness, they testify to false belief. In the
case of a cure, they testify to a changed belief, to a belief of
recovered health, that is all. It is all on the basis of human belief,
you see."

"Eh? But--nerves feel--"

"Nerves, Doctor, like all matter, are externalizations of human
thought. Can the externalization of thought talk back to thought? No.
You are still on the basis of mere human belief."

At that moment the doctor leaned over and tapped upon the window to
attract the attention of some one in the street. Carmen looked out and
caught sight of a tall, angular man dressed in clerical garb. The man
bowed pleasantly to the doctor, and cast an inquiring glance at the
girl, then passed on.

"A priest?" inquired Carmen.

"Yes, Tetham," said the doctor.

"Oh, is that the man who maintains the lobby here at the Capital for
his Church? I've heard about him. He--well, it is his business to see
that mem