Edit: Answered! Big thanks! I'm done working on this thesis so this thread can be closed.
A man has a heart attack (set in the 1920's) and his neighbor who used to be a doctor treats him with some unnamed chemicals, while chit-chatting about a theory, with great success in a "marvelously short while".
Yes, that is H.P. Lovecraft's Cool Air.
I am trying to determine whether the doctor's unlikely chemical mixture was more likely than I would think, or if his discussion with the patient about his mind-over-body theories was what really relieved the heart attack.
Is it likely that a doctor who no longer practices but keeps unnamed preservative chemicals at his home for his own use, would even have the right things? Would it be likely to help very much, if even mixed correctly? (Remember this is set in 1920's).
On the other hand, in this story the doctor's theory about mind being stronger than the body is true. He tells the patient during this time that the "will and consciousness are stronger than organic life itself." It is proven true because the doctor himself died 18 years ago, yet he lives even though his organs apparently no longer function. The scene vaguely describes the doctor making the medicine, while his words to the patient are expressed many times as having an extremely soothing effect, ect.
My thesis is that the doctor's theory works in this story, and that sheer force of will towers over all other physical intervention. So is this example with the patient worth mentioning, or is it too plausible that the chemicals did all the work, and I'd only be shooting myself in the foot?
A man has a heart attack (set in the 1920's) and his neighbor who used to be a doctor treats him with some unnamed chemicals, while chit-chatting about a theory, with great success in a "marvelously short while".
Yes, that is H.P. Lovecraft's Cool Air.
I am trying to determine whether the doctor's unlikely chemical mixture was more likely than I would think, or if his discussion with the patient about his mind-over-body theories was what really relieved the heart attack.
Is it likely that a doctor who no longer practices but keeps unnamed preservative chemicals at his home for his own use, would even have the right things? Would it be likely to help very much, if even mixed correctly? (Remember this is set in 1920's).
On the other hand, in this story the doctor's theory about mind being stronger than the body is true. He tells the patient during this time that the "will and consciousness are stronger than organic life itself." It is proven true because the doctor himself died 18 years ago, yet he lives even though his organs apparently no longer function. The scene vaguely describes the doctor making the medicine, while his words to the patient are expressed many times as having an extremely soothing effect, ect.
My thesis is that the doctor's theory works in this story, and that sheer force of will towers over all other physical intervention. So is this example with the patient worth mentioning, or is it too plausible that the chemicals did all the work, and I'd only be shooting myself in the foot?
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