That is the head of the axe. The blade of the axe is the suggestion made to the patient that the mental or moral twist has been or is being corrected and the ailment is consequently passing. And it is the blade that cuts.

The second method is "Spiritualism." The practice of Spiritualism grew immensely following the Civil War, perhaps this was due to the immense loss of life throughout our nation. Scarcely a life was left unscathed by the Battles of Gettysburg, Antietam and countless others.

The head of this axe is composed of the spirits of the departed who exercise their power for the relief of the ailment either directly or through the medium. Blade of the axe --- they have exercised this power or are now exercising it and the disease is going, is gone, and health has succeeded.

Third, we remark "Mesmerism." The Indian Vedists call this "Pranic Healing," and use it probably more than any other method. They operate by "Distant Pranic Healing" a great deal and with splendid results. That is, of course, the counterpart of "absent treatment" as we know it in this country.

In the Far East this energy is known as "Chee" or "Key" while in the West it is called "life energy," or by some as "ether." Many within Theosophy and the "New Thought" sects, call it "Animal Magnetism."

Mesmerism is also known as "Magnetic Healing." There are groups throughout the world publishing magazines and meeting together to share this method. The subject of "Animal Magnetism." is hotly debated between the "Eddyists." and the various members and groups of the "New Thought" movement.

Its axe-head is the theory that a cosmic fluid pervades the universe in general and the human body in particular, which may be projected by the healer into the body of the diseased person, lifting him on the tide of this vital fluid above the jagged rocks of disease.

The axe-blade is the suggestion that the fluid has been duly projected, the tide of vital fluid has risen and that the disease with its symptoms is gone or rapidly going.

There is a gentleman of my acquaintance who was cured of inflammatory rheumatism in four 'days with four of these treatments eight years ago after three physicians said he could not get well, and he has never had the slightest return of the disease. And yet the operator was a rough, swearing, drinking fellow, who laid no claim to either ethical or religious excellence.

It is wise to remember that there are an abundance of such healers with as many peculiarities, but all are grateful for healing regardless of its source. Are we not?

THE fourth method of psychic healing we mention is promoted by "Christian Science," or more properly, "Eddyism."

The head of the axe here is their philosophy that matter is unreal, that only mind exists. The phrases of the Eddyists run on without head or tail and remind one of a bushel of beans thrown into a bag. It does not matter where one begins or quits or in which direction one goes, the sense, is just the same --- a nonsense of negativism, followed by an affirmation that only God is real. This axe-head is not new, much as many of our friends would persuade us that it is.

The Eddyists seize upon an ancient teaching that all is an illusion, which in times gone has been labeled a "Christian Heresy," but in fact is simply is a perennial philosophy which has taken root and born fruit throughout the world in an excess of cultures.