claimed was the root of all her trouble. It had been "doctored," to use her
term, by all the physicians in the city and, it was alleged, came after she
had been lifting a paralyzed old lady in the house across the way. Despite
all treatment this pain had not disappeared and the various diagnoses
made--strain, liver trouble, nervous ache had not sufficed to console the
patient or to relieve her. There was no local tenderness, no pain upon
movement, but merely a steady ache. No physical basis whatever for this
trouble could be found. Her medicine for the relief of it was discontinued,
and so, too, were certain medicines she had been obtaining for sleep.

Upon each visit the husband and wife had been informed by the physician that
he did not believe the trouble was organic in its nature, that he believed
it depended upon some ideas that the patient had, and that, furthermore, it
was the result of some mental irritation, compared for the purpose of fixing
the point to a festering sore and which, if removed, would permanently
eliminate the liability of such seizures. The patient and her husband were
informed that the physician intended to delve to the bottom of this trouble
and, by deferring investigation as to its exact nature until the symptoms
had practically disappeared, a way was cleared to obtain their complete
confidence, and at the same time to overcome any unwillingness to accept a
psychical explanation for such palpable physical ills. This latter point is
of importance in dealing with uneducated persons. For the most part, they
are intensely practical and materialistic, and a mere idea does not seem to
them to account for paralysis although, of course, such skepticism is
usually accompanied by superstitious credulity along other lines. Moreover,
by establishing himself as a sort of miracle worker (for so the cure was
regarded), it would be understood that curiosity was not the basis for the
investigation into the domestic life of the patient and her husband, but
that a desire to do more good inspired it.