University of Virginia Library

Effects of etherization

Etherization will apparently cause the body to dis- appear. Before the thoughts are fully at rest, the limbs will vanish from consciousness. Indeed, the whole frame will sink from sight along with surrounding objects, leaving the pain standing forth as distinctly as a mountain-peak, as if it were a separate

bodily member. At last the agony also vanishes. This process shows the pain to be in the mind, for the inflam- mation is not suppressed; and the belief of pain will presently return, unless the mental image occasioning the pain be removed by recognizing the truth of being.