Sir H. Holland remarks,[35] that "the effect upon the circulation
of a part from the consciousness suddenly directed and fixed
upon it, is often obvious and immediate." Professor Laycock,
who has particularly attended to phenomena of this nature,[36]
insists that "when the attention is directed to any portion
of the body, innervation and circulation are excited locally,
and the functional activity of that portion developed."
[33] In England, Sir H. Holland was, I believe, the first to consider
the influence of mental attention on various parts of the body, in his
`Medical Notes and Reflections,' 1839 p. 64. This essay, much enlarged,
was reprinted by Sir H. Holland in his `Chapters on Mental Physiology,'
1858, p. 79, from which work I always quote. At nearly the same time,
as well as subsequently, Prof. Laycock discussed the same subject:
see `Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,' 1839, July, pp. 17-22. Also
his `Treatise on the Nervous Diseases of Women,' 1840, p. 110; and `Mind
and Brain,' vol. ii. 1860, p. 327. Dr. Carpenter's views on mesmerism
have a nearly similar bearing. The great physiologist Muller treated
(`Elements of Physiology,' Eng.
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