Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1902-01-23


the highest concept of God as
Father, Preserver, Savior.
II assert that the medical force
of Christian Science appeals as
strongly to the common under
standing, common sense of men,
as does the curative quality of any
drug. In asking your attention to
this feature of Christian Science,
I only ask that you will try it by
the same rule, apply to it the same
test that in all the past have been
and today are invoked to deter
mine the merits of material medi-
cine. 1t is clear to my mind that
if the therapeutic virtue of Chris
tian Science is measured by it's
works, it's fruits, it's cures if de-
termined by precisely the same
rule applied to the use of the
medicine of men, you will find
that it meets all the requirements
demanding incidentally the
value of drugs, and furnishes
every reason, every possible rea-
son, for your accepting the medi-
cinal force of Christian Science as
a preserver of health and as a de-
stroyer of disease, that the medi-
cal profession has at any time as
serted for reliance upon material
remedies. 1t is an uncontroverted
proposition that the use of mate
rial medicine from the beginning
has been, and now is, based who'll
ly upon experiment with dumb
animals when opportunity offers,
and with men when seeming ne
cessity requires; and yet it is ap-
parent that from such expert
ments you can only learn the re-
suit of the use of drugs and never
the primal cause of the result. By
close observation and most persis-
tent search you will not be able to
discover why any specified drug
has a specific effect any more than
by searching you can ascertain
why you breathe, or see, or hear,
mystery that the genius of the
world has not been able to solve.
| certainly hazard nothing in say
ing that there is not a physician
living who can tell you why any
drug has it's reputed effect; and
with much investigation | have
not been able to learn that any
writer upon material medicine
from the Egyptians to our own
time ever has attempted to solve
the mystery of the action of medi-
cine, to state the reason why, etc.
and doubtless for the simple rea-
son that the comprehension of the
cause of the action of medicine is
not to the human understanding
attainable. l assert that the ag-
gregate medical learning of the
world cannot inform you why
arsenic or strychnine in given
quantity acts as a tonic, and in an
infnitesimally increased quantity
becomes a remorseless poison; or
why given quantity of opium will
lull you to sleep, and little more
sweep you to death. All the doc
tors know, or can know, respecting
the active properties of therapeutic
force of the remedies they give is
what they have learned or may
learn from experiment.
"No one will deny that the en-
tire practice of the administration
of drugs is based solely upon OBJ
servation of actual tests, and is
wholly dependent upon the theory
that remedy effective in a large
majority of cases involving SINH
lar conditions, is a safe remedy to
administer in that class of cases ;
that is, if upon trial, actual test,
covering, perhaps, thousand of
cases of named disease, the case
being similar i'll early manifesto
tions, condition of pulse, respira-
ton, digestion, secretions, etc. it
is found that a given drug pro-
duces a favorable result in go, 70
or 80 per cent. of the cases tested,
then, by the consensus of medical
men the world over, it becomes q
rule, a law of material medicine,
that the given drug is safe one
to prescribe in all cases coming
within the scope of the experiment
made; and the result of such test
is absolutely the limit of the
physicians knowledge upon the
question of the choice of medicine
to be used. l have stated the rule
by which the value of each drug
is tested, and l beg you to under
stand that | am not complaining
of the rule. that find no fault
with the modus employed by the
doctors in reaching their ultimate
standard of judgement respecting
the choice of the remedies they
use; in fact, it might be freely
conceded that none better coulC
or can, be suggested, and for this