The Washington herald., 1907-01-06

Boston, Jan. with the everyday med
icaI or surgical diagnosis as it's starting
point. its a. b, c. and all consideration
Of financial returns. direct or Indirect
disregarded entirely. Emmanuel Church
is re-educating the reason. With the most
eminent nerve specialists in the city as
advisers and assistants. says the Boston
Herald the class for the psyehicaI cure
Of nervous diseases" which meets every
Wednesday night in the church on New
bury street. IS going along smoothly. is
well attended by both young and old.
with women predominating. and shows
every sign of having in IT principles a.
sound as those on which was based the
class FOR the study OF tuberculosis, d class
which has been the parent Of e score OF
other bodies OF the same kind
The Rev. Elwood Worcester, rector OF
the church. and his colleague, the Rev
Samuel McComb. are the active heads OF
this new movement for the treatment OF
the mentally and physically i'll. and there
is behind the wnoie scheme a disinterest-
"a body of phi!anthropists Of the most
practical kind Both are doctors Of di-
vinity and both are ardent students OF
psychology.
The church is inculcating in the mem
bers Of the class the philosophy Of altru-
ism. or, in the language Of the street, is
saying 10 them all: Forget it and
Cheer up. and don't have a crouch on
yourself" The books call The underlying
principle Of the founders and instructors
Of the class, 'Auto-suggestion," which
in the language OF the street again is
Tell yourself that there's nothing the
matter with you
The church Is not trying TO make its
principles clear TO all its pupils There
is no such word as try in the Emman-
uel Church category. once the treatment
is well begun. Il is DO it; you can if
you think you can" II is the old classic
phrase, "P0ssunt quia videntur posse. %
and the members Of any high school grad
Uating class can translate that into They
are able because they think they are so. %
Scientific Faith Plus Religion.
II is the doctrine Of self-confdence, Of
faith, Of scientific faith, plus the consola-
tion Of religion, plus the solace and com
forting Of men who know what they are
talking about. and who are doing things
every day Of their lives The terms Of
the books, Psycho-therapeuucs." ply
sioIogical psychology" psychological
"psychotherapy," 'suggesti-
bIity," and all the rest boil down 10 the
old adags of Know thyself."
There is no absent treatment, there Is
no aping Of the methods OF any religious
cult or medical school in existence. The
Emmanuel idea has not yet been given
even name. The church is too busy 70
think Of Technology.
Dr. Worcester is not sailing on a new
tack Some time ago he ast0nished sew
ersI persons by making up his class for
the study Of tuberculosis. There is no
question now as to the success of that
scheme He is not unversed in psycholOg-
ical physiology and in the many strange
Ills which seem invariably 10 follow in
the wake of civilization, especially civ
.lization such as that Of the United States
az the present time
For several years Dr- Worcester was
Of philosophy and psychology at
Lehigh. and for several years he was the
pupil OF one Of the most renowned psy-
biologists in the world. Prof William
WUndt- Since he left the laboratory and
the classroom he has kept up his inter
est in problems OF the kind that his
church has now ahead Of il, and IS well
IN touch with the scientific advance gen
orally in the field Of neurology
His class ia tuberculosis gave him a
practical training such as il is difficult
for anybody but "A clergyman 10 get, and
Il. by any possibility. the present expert
mont in his rrea-rF-ars of -ar---.re dis
eases should fail. it would be hard 60
convince many persons that the idea had
not been given the best possible trial
lie. his colleague. and his advisers know
what is depending on their Efforts. and
the only regret they have now is that a
system Of practical philanthropy, such rs
IS actually in progress at Emmanuel.
should have received so much public at
.ention and been the subject OF misrepre-
Many Mental Troubles.
Physicians-four. incidentally. have Of
fees directly across the street from En-
MANUEL Church-have constant evidence in
he course Of their general practice Of the
need Of such a scheme as that Of En-
manuel Church. 1t has been stated that
N the out-patlent department of the
General Hospital where
persons come to be treated without be
ng kept at the hospital. 20 per cent of all
,omers have mental troubles The pro-
portion is even larger in the practice of
.ome physicians
MeIancholia, alcoholism, opium and CO.
'aine habits, fancied grievances. nervous
insomnia, worry. family trou-
lies, business perpleXities, inability TO
yet any fun out OF life. selfshneSs. en-
arged egOtism. and a score Of other all |
nents have become alaTmingly frequent
mong Americans. They are not con-
med TO the rich. say-Dr Worcester and
Dr. NcComb They are found among all