The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-05-06
FOSSILISM.
One Ofthe Visiting Doctors Pre-
sumes to Ridicule Hypnotism,
Now Used in All the FirstclaSs
Hospitals in Europe,
In AN ESSAY HE READS
Before the Kansas Medical So
ciety in Session Here.
Other Matters Also Discussed
by the Society.
In AN ESSAY HE READS

| tan Scientists, hypnotistS, magnetic
healers and faith doctors at their 32d
| annual session in Representative hall
Thursday afternoon.
Anecdotes were related illustrating
the ignorance of representatives of
these different branches, and compli-
mentary adjectives were used with a
generosity that must have caused the
ears of the opponents of healing are
along lines other than those taught in
medical colleges, to Jingle and burn.
The cause of it all was paper read
by DR.. H. NJ. Ochiltree of Haddam, on
Faith Healing and It's Congeners."
When he concluded, the society took up
the subject, and spent 80 minutes in a
lively discussion OF faith healers and
their methods, DR.. Ochiltree, in his pa
per, said:
There exists today a worldwide be-
lief in mysterious cures of different
kinds. We have faith healers who
operate under the guiSe of So-called re-
fgiOn, viz: the MOrmonS, SpiritualistS
and Christian Scientists. We have heal
ing shrines and grottoes to which pill
grimages are made. We have the mes
meric healerS, the magnetic healers and
the VOodoO doctors of Africa. These all
practice different methods to accom-
plish cures. The MOrmons practice lay
ing on of hands, and anOint with oil;
the Spiritualist goes off in a trance,
pretended mOStly) comforts his face,
gives his body jerk and a twist, and
will invent some kind of a disease and
treatment Tor his ignorant 0upe. When
hysterical pilgrims arrive at shrines and
grOttOeS, all they have to do to be l@al-
ed is to apply the bone of some saint
Cor sinner) to the part affected, and i'm
mediate cure results.
In this mental parade of healers, per-
init me to call your attention to the
twin wonders-the hypnotizers and
magnetiZers-the only genuine and orig
inal, caught in the wilds of the mesmeric
swamp in France over 100 years ago and
kept sleek and fat ever since on credul-
ity and superstition. They heal all
manner of diseases by the electrifying
glance of the eye, or by the magnetic
touch of the hand. About the middle of
this procession you will find Aunt Luz
cinda and Uncle Eb, 'kullud folks who
charm away and voodoo disease in a
fashion that satisfies the most ignorant
votary of superstition. At the rear of
this procession comes the great What
Is tip 1t is kept continually blanketed
with the craziest of notions; it is fed on
demonstration; it has cheek that
causes the prince of rogues to turn
green with envy. It's name is Christian
Science, or delusion personified, and
when asked to say something, it will
mechanically repeat: I am an illusion,
a phantasmagoria, mere Pigment of
the mind
And what are the qualifications of
these different heaIers? One essential
qualification is long hair; another one is
ignorance. These two, together with
blind, fanatical belief, however created,
in power to heal, constitute the equip
ment of the best faith healers. From
the first dawning of this delusion, down
to the present time, not one advance
step has been made. Educational quail
if1cations never have been, and never
will be, required of this shallow class.
1t is true that a few well informed in
dividuals are found among its votarieS,
but their educational advantages be-
stow no greater power to heal than is
INxr ffeT- To
In explanation of the cures often eff
fected by the healers, DR.. Ochiltree said:
Admitting the fact that faith doc
tors occasionally cure certain hysterica1
complaints, and we will cOncede no
other point, what is the philosophy of
the cure? Mind cure has, as a basis in
the law of nature, the dynamic force
of 'auto-suggestion,' that is, the cure
entirely depends on the favorable i'm
preston made upon the patient by the
suggestion. Auto-suggestion is the Pro-
methean fire that teammates the hys-
terical member, and to it's energizing
influence alone can be attributed fav-
Orable results. The pretenSe of mystery
in all kinds of faith cure is either hon
est ignorance or consummate Quackery.
All of the phenomena of mind cures of
the past, however accomplished, can
be, and have been, again and again par
alleled by the influence of normal sug-
gestion.'
At the opening of the session of the
society, the presidents annual address
was delivered by DR.. G. A. Mcclure of
this city. After referring to matters To-
cal to the society, DR.. Mcguire LAUNCHED
out in an advocacy of the establishment
of national health bureau, the secre-
tary of such bureau to be member
of the national cabinet. In this con-
nection he said:
when this war, now beginning, shall
have become a matter of history and
the medical department shall have
demonstrated again it's abilities in the
prevention of sickness, as well as in the
treatment of the sick and wounded,
then 1 believe we will be fully warrant
ed in demanding that public health be
dignified by a cabinet portfolio. For
certainly, if it is proper for our govern
ment to keep US informed of how best
to secure the means to live with, it is
equally proper that a living having
been secured, we should be kept inform
ed of how best to live to retain our
health"
Continuing, DR.. Mcclure said:
''It is the universal cry of a portion of
the misinformed public, led by a part of
the public press, that the allopaths, So
called, are seeking the enactment of
laws to create a trust in the practice
of medicine. A more misleading I'M
truth was never stated In the first
place. we practitioners of medicine and
surgery, repudiate the term allopath.
1t is a misnomer, created by a circum-
scribed creed, in order that they might
assume a distinguishing title.
Our profession and practice is neith-
er bound by nor recognizes any creed,
ism or pathy. Our belief and platform
are so broad and universal that We glad
" accent and use everything that is
GOOD and effective, and it is utterly i'm
material to us what the form, size, or
method of a remedial agent may be, so
long as it is founded on common sense
and accompIishes the desired result"