THE ELECTRICAL MACHINE.
Two years after this, an aged man, a distant relation, came to reside in
my father's family for a short time, and brought with him a small
electrical machine. He was a person of some intelligence, had travelled
much, and had been an officer in the army of the American Revolution. On
the whole, he was just such a man as would be likely to become a
favorite with children. He was, moreover, fully imbued with the
expectation of being able to cure diseases by means of electricity;
which in our neighborhood, at the least, was quite a novel, not to say a
heterodox idea.
Curiosity alone had no small share of influence in bringing my mind to
the study of electricity; but a general desire to understand the subject
was greatly strengthened by the hope of being able to apply this
wonderful agent in the cure of disease. One of the most interesting
phases of Christianity is that the love and practice of healing the
bodily maladies of mankind are almost always seen in the foreground of
the New Testament representations of our Saviour's doings; and it is no
wonder that a youth who reverences his Bible, and has a little
benevolence, should entertain feelings like those above mentioned.
The owner of the machine had brought with him a book on the subject of
curing by electricity. It was a volume of several hundred pages, and was
written by T. Gale, of Northern New York. It had in it much that was
mere theory, in a highly bombastic style; but it also professed to give
with accuracy the details of many remarkable cures, in various forms and
stages, of several difficult diseases; and some of these details I knew
to be realities. One or two cases at or near Ballston Springs were
those of persons of whom I had some knowledge; and one of them was a
relative. This last circumstance, no doubt, had great influence on my
mind.
As I had in those days some leisure for reading, and possessed very few
books, I read--and not only read but studied--Dr. Gale's work from
beginning to end. It is scarcely too much to say, that I read it till I
knew it almost "by heart;" and my heart assented to it. I believed a new
dispensation was at hand to bless the world of mankind; and what
benevolence I had, began to be directed in this particular channel. I do
not mean to say, that at twelve years of age I began to be a physician,
for I do not now recollect that either our aged friend or myself ever
had a patient during the whole year he remained with us.
Eight or ten subsequent years at the plough and hoe, and the absence of
book, electrical machine, and owner, did much towards obliterating the
impressions on this subject I had received. Still, I have no doubt that
the affair as a whole had a tendency to lead my thoughts towards the
study and practice of medicine, and even to inspire confidence in
electricity as a curative agent. In other and fewer words, it was, as I
believe, a part of my medical education.