Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-11-25
DR.. TYING AND THE LoURDEs PIE
EOMENA

| lOus cures performed at Iourues, III france.
He is reported as saying that mo one
"dare attempt to deny that a multitude
tof cures took place there. The lame
"leaped, the deaf heard, the blind saw
1t will never do in this generation to
"deny these authenticated facts" The
Doctor argued from what he had seen at
Lourdes that the Roman Catholic Church
6 is wise above all other societies of be-
levers, and he intimated that he was,
in his feeble way, striving to attain to
the same results. This is a very inter
esting subject, but it has been greatly
obscured by the unscientifc manner in
which it has been too generally dealt with.
Those who do not believe in the possibility
of miracles have usually thought it both
necessary and sufficient to impeach the
authenticity of all relations whatever con-
earning cures alleged to have resulted
mysteriouslY. As there exists mass
of evidence in regard to such &C.
currences, capable of substantiating
any other kind of proposition as
the reality of the phenomena is in
fact too clear to be nationally denied
this blind incredulity has only encour-
aged as blind credulity. Science does
not deal with phenomena in this way.
The first step is to ascertain that they ac-
tuaIly occur. That established, it pro-
ceeds to seek natural explanation of
them In the case of what are called
miraculous cures that natural explanation
has fortunately been reached, and when it
is stated it will be seen that while it
iustiies DIR. Tying in insisting upon the
genuineness of the Lourdes cures, it does
not justify him in ascribing them to any
supernatural powers on the part of the
Church under whose auspices they have
occurred. The truth is that this is ques-
ton of mental physiology, and particu-
larly of the influence of the mind
upon the body. DIR. Carpenter observes
in this connection, "That the confident
expectation of cure is the most potent
means of bringing it about, doing that
(which no medical treatment can accom-
"plish, may be affirmed as the generalized
result of experience of the most varied
''kind, extending through long series of
lagos" Elsewhere he says, In all
cages, the possession of mems minds
by dominant ideas has been most CON-
"plete, when those ideas have been reli-
Z" gious alterations. And hence it is only
{" to be expe sted that the effects of such
"tpossession' should exert an unusually
powerful influence on the organic func-
tions." Now we have in these sentences
the clue to the so-called miraculous cures
of Lourdes, and to all those apparently
mysterious cures which have been SO fire.
quently brought about, not under the
stimulus of religious excitement, but by
strong faith in multitude of imaginary
influences The cures of Valentine Great
rakes, the SO. called miracles of the Able
Paris, the phenomena induced by Prince
Hohenlohe, by the Zouave Jacob, by
Perkins Metallic Tractors, by DR.. Yer
non, by great number of layers on of
hands, and &c spiritual" and 90 magnetic"
healers, are all alike explained by the
influence of expectant attention.
To quote DR.. Carpenter again: 1.-THE
tvolitional direction of the conscious
"ness to part, Independently of emo.
81 tional excitement, suffices to call forth
sensations in it, which seem to depend
upon change in its circulation and if
this state is kept up automatically by
SO the attraction of the attention, the
q change may become source of modif-
cation, not only in the functional action,
''but in the nutrition of the part" The
circumstance that no religious system ap-
pealing strongly to the emotions has been
without its miracles of this kind, may be
cited in support of the facts we have ad-
vanced. The entire similarity between
the cures effected under the pretense of
magnetism, or spiritual influence, or cleo
tricity, and those effected ostensibly under
supernatural religious influences, still fur
Their veriies the explanation which Science
furnishes. In all these cases there
is the same expectant attention, the same
dominant ideas, the same "faith, as it is
called, in the genuineness of the influences
which are put forward in explanation of
the phenomena. The mistake of the
skeptics has arisen from their ignorance
of the extent and nature of the influence
which may be exerted by the mind over
the body. They have therefore refused all
credit to genuine phenomena, whereas
they should have accepted the genuineness
of the phenomena, and traced them to
their real source. DR.. Tying is quite right
In his premises, but he draws wrong con-
| illusions from them. No doubt cures have
been effected at Lourdes, but not as
claimed by the Roman Catholic Church.
No doubt also scrofulous diseases have been
cured by the royal touch, but not
because, as used to be asserted, a
ulNlue eluuenCe MeHb 10TH from Tue
hands of kings. The child who
charms away wart is an illustration
of the wonderful influence of expectant
attention upon the body, and the natural
laws which explain the disappearance of
the wart equally account for the so.called
miracles of Lourdes and other places. DR..
Tying has fallen into error through failure
to study mental physiology. Acknowledge
of the laws Of existence is necessary to
the understanding Of many problems, and
this among the rest. The cures of Lourdes
are no doubt in some instances real, but it
does not follow that they are miraculous,
and indeed it seems to us that the employ
ment OF that term is of itself confession
of mental confusion sufficient to disqualify
those who use it for approaching the value
and significance OF the facts which are be-
fore them.
SAN FRANCISCO IS A MANUFACTURING