“Well, first,” began the old priest slowly, “in the last fifty years we’ve classified almost exhaustively everything that nature can do.  We know, for instance, for certain, that in certain kinds of temperaments body and mind are in far greater sympathy than in others; and that if, in such a temperament as this, the mind can be fully persuaded that such and such a thing is going to happen—­a thing within the range of natural possibility, of course—­it will happen, merely through the action of the mind upon the body.”

“Give me an instance.”

“Well” (he hesitated again) . . . “well, I’m not a physician, and cannot define accurately; but there are certain nervous diseases—­hysterical simulation, nervous affections such as St. Vitus’ dance—­as well, of course, as purely mental diseases, such as certain kinds of insanity—–­”

“Oh, those,” said the other contemptuously.

“Wait a minute.  These, I say, given the right temperament and receptiveness to suggestion, can be cured instantaneously.”

“Instantaneously?”

“Certainly—­given those conditions.  Then there are certain other diseases, very closely related to the nervous system, in which there have been changes of tissue, not only in the brain, but in the organs or the limbs.  And these, too, can be cured by mere natural suggestion; but—­and this is the point—­not instantaneously.  In cases of this kind, cured in this way, there is always needed a period, I won’t say as long as, but proportionate to, the period during which the disease had been developing and advancing.  I forget the exact proportions now, but I think, so far as I remember, that at least two-thirds of the time is required for recovery by suggestion as was occupied by the growth of the disease.  Take lupus.  That certainly belongs to the class I’m speaking of.  Well, lupus has been cured in mental laboratories, but never instantaneously or anything like instantaneously.”

“Go on, father.”

“Finally, there are those physical states that have practically nothing to do directly with the nervous system at all.  Take a broken leg.  Of course the cure of a broken leg is affected by the state of the nervous system, since it depends upon the amount of vital energy, the state of the blood, and so on.  But there are distinct processes of change of tissue that are bound to take a certain fixed period.  You may—­as has been proved over and over again in the mental laboratories—­hasten and direct the action of the nervous energy, so that a man under hypnotic suggestion will improve more rapidly than a man who is not.  But no amount of suggestion can possibly effect a cure instantaneously.  Tuberculosis is another such thing; certain diseases of the heart—–­”

“I see.  Go on.”