_Proceedings_, S.P.R., vol. xi.
pp. 235-308.

[41] Professor Henry Sidgwick, as we know, was Professor of Moral
Philosophy in Cambridge, and his works on _Ethics_ and _Political
Economy_ are considered standard in all countries.

[42] This is the argument put forward by, e.g., Carl Snyder, in his _New
Conceptions in Science_, pp. 306-7.

[43] See my article in _The Monist_ (July-September 1913, pp. 445-58),
"Earlier Theories of Gravity."--H. C.

[44] Especially Dr. Ochorowicz, in his excellent work, _Mental
Suggestion_, to which I am indebted for several of the ideas which
follow.

CHAPTER IX

THE USES AND ABUSES OF MIND-CURE

Within the past few years the country has been flooded by a host of
books, pamphlets, and periodicals dealing with "psychotherapy" and
mind-cure in general. In some ways it would be impossible to exaggerate
the good which this has done. It has cheered-up many desponding souls;
it has brightened many a life; it has stimulated activities and lines of
thought which otherwise would have remained dormant; it has added real
zest to life and made it worth living. Undoubtedly, too, real cures have
been effected by means of these modern mental methods, and any one who
denies this must surely be ignorant of the vast amount of steadily
accumulating evidence in their favour. The many advantages of the system
are doubtless pointed out with acuteness and insisted upon with vigour
in the books which defend it, and need not be re-stated here. And yet,
while I acknowledge all this; while I am forced to admit the many
wonderful cures and much mental relief on account of these newer methods
of healing, I still believe that a vast amount of harm is also brought
about by the incautious application of the doctrines taught; by
over-enthusiasm for the ideals which are ever before us, luring us on
and on. In the present chapter, therefore, I propose to show in what
these pitfalls consist; to illustrate some of the errors into which
over-enthusiastic "mental-curists" are apt to fall.

First of all, however, a confession of faith! For a number of years I
believed as implicitly as it was possible for any one to believe in the
great power of mind to cure disease. I read nearly every book of
importance that had been published on this theme--including Mrs. Eddy's
books, all the standard works on hypnotism, mind-cure, faith-cure, new
thought, etc. I was deeply imbued with the truths they contained. I
became gr