The Irish standard., 1890-12-20
SEAL or The CONFESSIONAL.
A Strong Argument In Its Favor From
Medical Point of View By
Catholic Physician.
A VERY INTERESTING LETTER.
The Philosophy Involved In Medical
Oarstahng Holds Good of the
Confessional.


Confessional.
The Liverpool Catholic Times pub
sishes an open letter from a Catholic
medical man to Mr.. Beerbohm Tree,
who is playing in The Village Priest" !"
a play which has excited great deal Of
comment in London. The letter is
headed 1.-The Seal of the Confessional, y
and is here reproduced: A church
without a confessional is like a hospital
without doctors. Allow me to explain
why. The doctors are the preservers
and executors OF all that vast store OF
medical knowledge which mas come
down to us, ever increasing, from be:
fore the days Of Hlppocrates. The
medical text books used in. and the Ice
tures delivered ac. our medical schools
are the resultant Of numberless Obser-
yations and condolences repOsed in
countless doctors from the earliest
times. Observation is strengthened and
corrected by confidence and truthful re-
DIV to wise and necessary questions.
That there must be confidence and full
rational disclosure is evident from the
way In which disease is caused and
complicated by error, or family history.
sr suspicious circumstances, That
medical men may dish0norably abuse
this confidence to their own advantage.
0s the injury of their patient is, Of
course, possible with free agents, bat
no valid reason against the business and
general necessity OF the whole medical
profession. 1t would be as reasonable
70 take away remedies because they can
10 used to DESTROY life. The medical
profession has its own preservatlve
etiquette. and provides against dishon.
erable conduct by rules, regulations,
oaths and laws made and enacted in tho
various medical societies, colleagues
and universities. and in the general
medical council OF this realm. The fact
then stands that the patient must truth
fully state his case for his own personal
benefit. That case becomes part Of the
sum of the DOCTORS experience from
which many other patients derive bene-
lit. It passes into the hands Of the pro
Session at large through discussions,
aectures, journals and textbooks, where
At is thoroughly sifted, and 1t found
worthy of permanent record, Is pre-
served for the benefit of suffering hui
manity.
The philosophy involved in medical
caretaklng holds good but in far
higher degree of the system of the con-
fessional. Casuistrv, or the science OF
solving the right and wrong OF given
cases, has been decried and written
down until the name has come to signify
ingenious fine spun sophistry. But lGok
at the question BROADLY. Where would
medicine be without the science OF
medical diagnosis, which enables the
physician todetermine and discriminate
between diseases resembling each other,
&asulsiry is diagnosis applied to Sin and
crime, and ia as necessary for the con-
fessor as medical DIAGNOSIS is for the
physician. Sin and crime are every
where. In their grosser forms they un-
dermine society and cause loss. injury,
disease and death. Sir Thomas CraW-
ford. X. G. B., M, D.. when addressing
the sanitary congress-. recently held at
Brighton. pointed out that "the viola
tion OF the moral law In such matters
as temperance and chastity stood prom
inently forward as fruitful source OF
disease" All these violations cause
frighttul complications which crop up
in the most unexpected places, not nn-
frequently involving the innocent. The
lesser habits ct moral wrong dong all
lead to states OF mind which often end
In serious crime, and little sins have
farreaching consequences. Surely all
this needs studying. These conse
4luences are only discerned with special
knowledge and experience. As an In
stance I NAV point ont that TO give
false age in the census return or on 9
certificate Of death looks very small;
but is 1t SOP The return OF living ages
has considerable effect, on the calculas- cal
ton OF insurance life tables; and the t
record Of AVERAGE death from disease
affects medical opinion. Here both
money and life are involved, yet further
evils might be traced to these small lies
Can it then be wroag to study sin and
CRIME in order % understand them as
4 means TO properly combat them2 It ls
plain that such 8 course Of study is per-5
fectlE legitimate, vet how can II be M
properly pursued unless sin and crime
are discussed and sYstematized !? This
sean only be pro operly done throug'l such such
1 = M stem - d con iessl lonal For long