Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-11-24
TRAVELLING FOR HEALTH
Counsel for Those Making Plans for the
Winter.
The Effect of Faith ia Mere Change
of Climate and
Scene.


From the London Times.
AT this season Of the wear the consulting
rooms of many London physicians are
thronged with patients anxious for a YER
dict upon the question whether. and if So
when, they must leave home and friends
TO winter abroad To the regular hahitue
of Cannes or Mentone. or Egypt or Madeira
blessed with leisure and means, and abe
to devote himself Tor herself entirely TO
the pursuit OF health, the verdict causes
lew qudims. They enjoy" weak heath
but not weak as to prevent them from
mixing in the society and partsking Of the
ainuSsInents OF those among wnom they
lnd themselves. They dislike the gloom OF
an tnSlSn winter. they Are glad OF ar eN-
cuse tor winterlng in GUNNER clmes and
they probably VIII go whether or not The
DOCTOR orders them 10 do so. The physician,
Tor his part, who knows his patient takes
IN the situation and shapes his advice &C
cordlng-y. He would not be so cruel - to
dlsappoint person VINO wants to 40, has
the time and money to so, and obviously
means TO go. He can say with good corr
science that 1t will be SAFER to be out Of
England during the foSs OF November the
snow and ice OF January, or the east winds
of March, and the patient, as he enjoys life
In sunshine and warmth, has the satisfac-
ton of feeling that he is there under doc
tor orders, and not for his or her own
pleasure. But the physician has 10 pre-
scribe TO very different cases from these.
NJ pIiStlleT IN the UUCh as MS Eye runs ntFN
ously along tho faces OF the jurymeu tlu il
rests upon the grave, impressive cCuute-
nance of the judge awaits the .erdict with
greater anxiety than many patient in a
London consulting room. The girl whose
wasting form and hectic flush tell THEN tale
only too PANTY the young professional
man whose career may he blighted az the
start, II he must turn back now that his
hand is on the plough: the Clergyman. or
Clerk upon modest salary, who knows
that if he is laid upon the shelf Others may
starve-these walt with trembling anxiety
the physicians verdict. VIII il he a SON
tence of banishment-of transportation for
a term or for life? Will Il rarly hove or
will ii be a sentence Of death?
The days OF faith healing are Supposed to
be past, or at least out Of Joint with mod
ern civilization. But there is a good deal of
it left. 1t is at the bottom OF most of the
good that is done by widely advertised
patent medicines or by cunning and plaus-
BILE quacks. Most people. indeed have faith
in some particular doctor or in some par
ticuar Locality. which faith Is more or less
independent of the scientific skill of the one
or the healing properties Of the other. They
will do what their favorlte medical man
tells them, or go where he bids them with
the dociity of sheep. They will leave. OF
allow others TO leave, the comforts of home
and the cheering company of friends for
the discomfort of long and toilsome jour
ney in cold and stormy weather, and the
solitude and depression among strangers.
1t may be necessary: sometimes, no doubt.
1t is. If life Is to be prolonged But how
many cases there are in which, had Il not
been for this blind faith IN change OF scene
and in travel to which the enfeebled frame
is now unequal, the inevitable end might
have come gently and rainlessly in the Did
familiar home, surrounded by loving faces.
The English cemeteries at Mentone and
similar health resorts with their record Of
young lives cut off untilnely in a foreign
land. are a sad and suggestive sight. For
how many of those who lie there was II
useless to have come? For how many was
the journey across the hearing channel.
and along the wind-sTept. snow-coYeTod
plains of France, before they could reach
the land of the olive ami the vine, only the
beginning of the end! Their faith in its
healing possibilities may have been jus;i-
fled a last resort. but in too many cases
ii was foredoomed to disappointment. So.
too we may venture to suppose, will be
the faith of those who nut their trust in
that latest craze of organized faith healing
that is known as Christian SCientism. Tits
imposture is said to have attracted large
numbers of more or less educated people
across the Atlantic, ami, as appears from
the inquest on Mr.. Harold Frederic, is nor
without its votaries here. But ii shows
that no amount Of civilization can shut ont
superstition.
The faith in mere change OF country and
of scene, which will soon be sending 70
many of our countrymen and countrywo-
men, like the swallows. to warmer cliries,
has, no doubt, much to justify IL. For the
weak constitutions that arr always on the
verge of breaking down there is undoubt-
eddy less risk in the constant sunshine and
baimy air of southern EuroOe than in ths
severe and changeable climate of our own
islands. and 1t often happens that threat
ened breakdown is averted, and an imp li-e1
constitution re-estahlishad. by a winter or
two spent abroad. The remedy is always
Pleasant one, if il does not too seriously
interrupt the business of life. More doubt
full are the chances, and more doubtful
sometimes the wisdom, of such a remedy
when undertaken, as 1t too often is, only
in the last stage of lingering and wasting
disease. The long journey, with its ineV1-
table discomforts. not infrequently neutral
ICES all the good that the change of climate
can do: and 1t seems a sad thing to leave
home and friends only to die. There are
places, 1t might be supposed. in the south
and west of England to which such patients
might resort with almost equal benefit. ana
certainly less fatigue, and without gong
far away from home and friends. But
fashion in such matters is powerful. both
with medical men and their clients. and
faith is apt to follow the lead of fasH.on.
Nor. it must be confessed, is there quite the
same satisfaction I'm the journey, however
easy and comfortable, between London and
Bournemouth, or Torquay. or PcnZance. as
in that which. starting from London on a
cold and wintry morning. and passing
through the miseries Of a rough channel
passage in the afternoon ard the discom-
forts of an overcrowded French express
during the night, enables the traveller IN the
early morning light to look out upon the
rushing Rhone and the gray towers of
Roman and Papal Avignon. till at last his
eve rests on oliVe-clad stones and :he blue
waters OF the sunlit Mediterranean. TO
those who have tasted that delightful
change, faith in fits healing powers. and In