The Topeka state journal., 1897-10-12
WIN A VICTORY.
Leading Doctors of the City
Admit Openly
One of the Principal Tenets OF
Christian Science.
THE MIND WILL RULE
The Body in Great Many
Cases of Sickness.
Doctors Show a Great Interest
in the New Light

After listening to a paper on Psychic
Healing and discussions pro and con
on the question of hypnOtism in the
treatment of diseases, DR.. J. c. McCIin-
took, one of the best known surgeons
in the state, stood up before the To-
peka Academy of Medicine and Surgery
last night and told the members that
they were hopelessly houndering, and
that they knew practically nothing
about the question they were discuss
ing.
I refused to enter into the discus
siOn,'' said DR.. McClintock because to
do so, [ considered a waste of time
The question is discussed and re-dis
cussed at society meetings and abSO-
Iutely no progress is made. You admit
the same things today that were ad-
mitted 80 years ago, no more or no less.
You don't admit today that Aunt Lu-
cInda or any other OF these SO-called
healers can accomplish what they pre-
tend to accomplish. and you didn't ad-
nit it 90 years ago. You are hOpeleSSly
fOundering because you know little
about this matter. The quacks get re-
suits in their treatments that you can't
get, but you will not investigate it be
cause you are prejudiced against it.
Some day some scientific organization
Will investigate this matter, and tell
you how these things are done. You will
never do it yourselves, because you are
handicapped by your knowledge"
satisfaction, DR.. McClintOck sat down.
There was a silence of several min
utes in the room, and then DR.. J. E
Minney, the dean of the Kansas Medi-
cal college, stood up.
1t has been remarked here this ev-
ening," said he, that probably never
in history of the academy has such in
terest been manifested in the discus
sion Of a paper. I'll tell you why we
are Interested We don't know what we
are talking about. That's the reason
That ended the discussion. The mem
bers present apparently accepted DR..
Minney's theory, and shortly afterward
the academy adjourned
The paper on Psychic Healing" was
read by DR.. B. D. Eastman, late super
intendent of the state insane asylum.
In it he said:
Every physician appreciates the i'm
mense influence which the mind has
over the body without subscribing to
the absurd vagaries Of falsely sO-Called
mental science or christian science. We
all know and admit the different char.
acteristics of different persons. One
throws a gloom over his associates, an
other scatters smiles and laughter
wherever he goes The one in the sick
room is long faced and depressing; the
other is buoyant and lnSplriting. The
one physician is not a success. he has
disheartening effect upon patients; an
other whose facial expression of itself
dOeth good like a medicine, and whose
CHEEKY presence and conversation lifts
his patient out of the slough of deSpOnd
and pulls him up on the dry land of
cOnvalescence is the successful beloved
physician.
Every physician uses psychic heal
ing to a certain extent when he en-
cOurages his patient and his patients
friends, when he imparts cheerfulness
and hOpefulness, when his presence in
the sick room and the home is a ben
isOn. Although this much is admitted
by every one, the question arises, does
the regular physician and his patients
a. a crb
psychic healing? No, they do not. But
psychic healing is more intangible and
evasive and less readily subjected to
rules and demOnstrat ton than even the
impOndera BILE agents described in our
treatises on materia medica-
''As astute physician expressed it,
the public demand that their medicine
be mixed with a certain amount of
humbug, and the honest practitioner is
not infrequently at a disadvantage in
competition with his less scrupulous
competitor. There is an inherent weak
ness in human nature, or a [ least in the
nature of a great many humans, which
leads to confidence in the curative eff
fectS of occult. mysterious agencies and
powers, especially at the hands of ig
nOrant or brazen effrOntery. This weak
ness can not be successfully combatted
by a logical argument or scientific dem
OnStratiOn. It must be fed on hOcuS-
pOcus, confidence, faith, normal Sug-
gestion, pretense, placebOes and such
similar food as it can assimilate.
THE conclusions to which consider
alton of this subject lead are as fol-
lows:
Il One mind can and often does ex-
ert a subtle ineXplicable influence over
another normal mind.
% The physician by an encouraging,
hopeful buOyant attitude toward his
patient, many furnish such a mental
stimulus as will turn the tidal forces
of life toward physical restoration.
50. It is the bOurden duty of the
physician to make all possible use of
such mental stimulation.
a Charlatans of various grades OfsO-
cial and intellectual standing do act
ualIy perform psychic cures, many of
which are permanent
. There is a field for the exercise
of psychic healing by the regular prac-
titioner which he should sedulousIy cuI-
tivate
Although the regular practitioner
may successfully make use of psychic
healing in all classes of cases. the char
latans will always distance him in the
frequency and marveIOusness of their
physicians real knowledge of anatomy,
physiology and pathology will handicap
him in this free for all race. The
charlatan. .unincumbered by any knOwI7
edge of or reverence for nature or sci
ence educated only in arrogant eff
emplifies the old adage that fools rush
where angels fear to tread Fearing
nothing of failure because he knows
nothing of natural limitations, he hes
itates not to use his panacea and to
promise recovery in every case. That
he counts so many cures and pseudo
cures, is because his vOtarieS are al
ready in a condition of something like
self imposed hypnOtism.'
In discussing the paper after DR.