St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-24
SCIENTIST AND DOCTOR.

that the physician is a more aggressive
ravolutionist than his learned associate
in the work of overthrow. and that he
is indeed the protagonist whose in
tluencs is incalculable in the propa-
ganda of religious subversion to the
dicta of the learned medical profession.
A man may be told by science that he
is made, soul and body. of kind OF
blubber found in nettles and other Or
ganisms called protoplasm. and then
rhythmic thrills arose; and then there
was light. And spirit of energy was
developed and formed the plastic cell
whence arose the primordlal germ
which became protogine, and it some
how shaped eoZoOn-then was the dawn
of life--the man hearing this puZZling
genesis is, of course, little surprised,
but it is all so remote from him that it
is matter of Indifference. now that he
is here. He does not altogether like to
close with such a troublesome genealogy,
If it is matter of preference, and when
it is continued to jelly fish. and the
evolution of simians, his sense of
superiority is incurably hurt when he
learns how accidentat it all was. Just
because one siuian lost his tail and be-
came man, and thus ev olved the sur
yival of the fittest of all animals. AS il
a genuine. consistent lord of creation
could believe that such disparaging
origin could ever be brought home to
him.
Here is the difficulty with science in
regard to converts. The human family
according to its teaching had such a.
Shiny origin. and its subsequent rise in
the world was SO absurdly accidental
that it leaves self-reSpect at zero, while
there is nothing promised hereafter that
is going to undo the humiliation of the
slime. and the simian accident. Really
it is discreditable beginning of any
respectable family, and the hopeless
dreariness of all when the molecular
organism finally vanishes into primitive
atoms is at least consistent end.
Hence the scientists are always going to
be close corporation of molecules.
without a soul unless the rhythmic thrills
and the light can comfort them, when
the fewness of converts, and the even
level of glacial intellectually among
the apostles has too chill monotonY.
Their minds may yearn to replace Bibli-
cal superstition with the lore of proto-
plasm, and the irrefutable testimony of
rocks and natures varied assortment
of gospels for such doctrines; but they
cannot in ages OF teaching in lectures
and in books create anything like the
recent commotion and the swift-acting
conviction caused by DR.. Forbes. pro-
lessor of chemistry. in the Rochester n.
" Central Presbyterian church, of that
city. whereof he is member.
The doctor may be heterodox, but he
isinfiexibly hygienic from crown to heel,
and the communion cup has been given
to him for scientific Investigation.
This audacious!y radical physician
denounced the time-honored usage of
the COMMUNICATE taking sip of wine
and passing the cup to his neighbor as
mot only offensive, but also criminally
dangerous" and that decency and the
general health called for change. The
governing board Of the church was
mostly inclined to regard the statement
as professional zealot's exaggerated
theory-without foundation in reality
and thereupon Or. Forbes asked that
one of the cups with the wine left in it
be given to him for analysis and exam
ination.
Among the 800 communicate of the
church, there was a very pronounced.
opposition TO sanctioning the scientific
sacrilege, but it was finally permitted,
and the doctor, with an associate chem
ist, examined the wine. The report as
sures us that the doctor himself was
surprisedw the result OF his scrutiny,
for. at his appearance before the board
with the report. he startled his listeners
by announcing: I'VE have found in the
communion cup the undeveloped germs
of twenty-five diseases, ranging from
typhoid fever down to humps. 1 now
leave 1t in your hands to Judge whether
you will change your form of COM
munion. or continue in the old way,
knowing the dangerous risks" An an.
mated and acrimonious discussion en-.
sued. but the twenty-five specimens
downed orthodoxy. Four hundred small
cups were bought. and the communion
wine is now handed around in them on
trays, ly one person drinking FROM
each cup. Other churches and congre-
cations are following the example of the
Central Presbyterian church, and in
the first flush OF professional triumph,
DR.. Forbes is elated at the change.
All these inn ovations must be regard
ed with the eyes of modern progress.
At first the having of complete kit
chen arrangement in churches for So
cables and other entertainments. as
we'll as rooms set apart for festal pur-
poses. seemed very queer to conserva-
tive believers, but it is now such mat
ter Of course that no one gives it a
thought. And, doubtless, the passing
around of those individual communion
cups on trays will lose that air of
spiritual bodega it may possibly have to
the skeptic and the scoffer. and become
an impregnable notwithstanding Gus
tom in all enlightened churches.
For the rest. when the philanthropic
eXaltation of DR.: Forbes wears down to
the human level of business, he may
have misgivings that his candor has
might have been more advantageous,
personally, to have twenty-five patients
putting money in his purse than those
twenty-five worthless germs rich in OPP
portunities that he wasted for the airy
nothing Of professional triumph.
Even a French poet in the fullness Of
his afflatus could exclaim:
10 gloire, donnez moi du painl''
But glory seldom furnishes much
bread unless there is canny tether of
good sense holding it down to the main
thing.
The time may arrive when the doctor
must be omniscient in causes before
he deals with effects, and that might
leave margin 10 throw physic to the
dogs, when there is a chance to use it
and charge it to human beings.
The notion that doctors should inves-
| tigate the remotest occasion of sickness