ondition of their patients, and, also, probably for purposes of self
glorification. In other cases, however, it is probable that these healers
had merely stumbled across the fact that certain things said in a certain
way tended to work cures; or that certain physical objects seemed to have
therapeutic virtue. They did not realize that the whole healing virtue of
their systems depended upon the strong idea in their own minds, coupled
with the strong faith and confidence in the mind of the patient. And so
the work went on.

In some of the oldest records of the human race, the scriptures of the
various peoples, we find that "laying on of hands" was the favorite method
employed by the holy men and priests, and other performing healing work.
From the first there seems to have been an almost instinctive recognition
on the part of man of the fact that there is a healing power in the touch
of the hand. Even ignorant and savage mothers instinctively apply their
hands to the hurt bodies of their children--a custom that has its
counterpart in civilized races, by the way. The child is taught to expect
physical relief from the application of the mother's hands, and its mind
at once pictures relief. Not only is the mental picture created, but the
desire and confidence is established in the minds of both persons. The
same thing is true of all "laying on of hands," and thus are the
principles of all psychic influence brought into play. But this is not all
there is to it. In the first place, there is an actual transference of
prana from the body of the healer to that of the patient, which serves to
energize and revitalize the cells and centres of the body of the latter.
In the second place, there is the effect upon the astral body of the
patient, which tends to materialize better physical conditions. In the
third place, there is that combination and union of the minds of the two
persons, which gives extra force and power to psychic influence. Is it any
wonder that cures take place under these circumstances?

In the modern revival of the almost lost art and science of psychic
healing among the general public, there has been unusual stress laid upon
the feature of "absent healing," in which the patient and the healer are
not in each other's presence. To many this has seemed actually miraculous,
and as a positive proof of divine interposition. But a little thought will
show the student that such cures are not unknown in the pages of history