The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-03-17
BRUTUM FULMEN.
The Latest Illustration of the Harm
less ThunderbOIt.

To the Editor OF the indianapolis Journal:
That is Latin. brutum fulmen is. and as
an editor is not supposed to know Latin
let me explain. 1t means a thunderbolt
that never hits anybody or anything. and
in order to impress upon you its fgura-
tive meaning let me tell you a story, Once
upon a time in the long ago there sud-
denly appeared among the well-known
stars an unusually bright star, and 1t
grew brighter night after night until 1t
shot out a cluster of brilliant rays which
caused the ignorant people of that period
to call IT the blazing star, at first. but
when these rays all took one direction. as
Stunning the appearance of an appendage, it
was called a comet with a tail 10 1t. The
strange phenomenon spread terror through
out the land. and many were the specu-
lations concerning it; where did it come
from, and what did it mean, anyway Evil
IDENTIFY, it meant no good, and the general
opinion was that if that fiery tail should
swoop down upon the earth there would
be serious trouble, and that seemed to
be the most probable outcome of the
strange affair. To avert this the pious
people of the period appealed to the Pope
to issue an edict ~fOrbidding such a calam-
ity. and the Pope did; but. to the con-
sternation of all, the blazing star blazed
for a season brighter than ever, then
turned it's tail the other way and backed
out of sight as rapidly as it had come.
and 1t was soon gone forever. Now. that
papal edict against the comet is called a
brutum fulmen, a thunderbolt. that hit
nothing, for the comet went right along
as if there had been nothing of the kind.
We may laugh at the Pope as much as
we please. but the brutum fulmen is not
wholly unknown in our day, the lat
est being the illumination of our late
Legislature against a rapidly growing re-
ligious sect known as Christian Scientists.
instigated thereto by the amalgamated fra
ternity of doctors of every school on earth
and OF no school at all, who agree i'm moth
ing in the world but that Christian Science
should be i~ncontinently throttled. and for
no other reason than that one of its re-
ligious . tenets is the discarding Of drugs
in the healing of the sick. As the men,
bers of that church are men and women
of good health, as well as unblemished
morals. 1t is plain that If it grows much
more the whole fraternity of doctors will
be put on short allowance, and they have
1 tGilcu " bnt lulHllfldllOn as ldSIllY as i'm
perial Caesar called on his friend Cassius
to save him from sinking when he got
into deeper water than he relished. They,
the doctors, did not conspicuously call for
illumination against things spiritual. Ieav-
ing that for their allies. the preachers, at
least one Of whom in Indianapolis fire.
| quently goes out of his way to hit Chris
tian Science a whack, though a score or
more of his membership rejoice in quite
as distinct evidence OF physical healing
through 1t as they ever did in spiritual
strengthening under his preaching. or the
preaching of any other person: and they
are not idiots or imbeciles either: but, as
the doctors thunderbolt could not be ef-
fective without ercroaching upon the time.
honored usages of the traditions OF the
Catholic Church. they have made It a
felony for. priests to continue TO admin.
: lister some Of the rites Of that church