In the celebrated correspondence between KANT and HUFELAND there is almost a proof that incipient gout can be cured by will or determination.

But if a merely temporary or partial cure can _really_ be obtained, or a cessation from suffering, if the ill be really _curable_ at all, it is but reasonable to assume that by continuing the remedy or system, the relief will or must correspond to the degree of "faith" in the patient.

And this would infallibly be the case if the sufferer _had_ the will.

But unfortunately the very people who are most frequently relieved are those of the impulsive imaginative kind, who "soon take hold and soon let go," or who are merely attracted by a sense of wonder which soon loses its charm, and so they react.
Therefore if we cannot only awaken the Will, but also keep it alive, it is very possible that we may not only effect great and thorough cures of diseases, but also induce whatever state of mind we please.
This may be effected by the action of the minds or wills of others on our own, which influence can be gradually transferred from the operator to the patient himself, as when in teaching a boy to swim the master holds the pupil up until the latter finds that he is unconsciously moving by his own exertion.
What the fickle and "nervous" patients of any kind need is to have the idea kept before their minds continuously.

They generally rush into a novelty without Forethought.