The Washington herald., 1908-02-09
Lecture by Bishop Oliver C. Sabin Before the
Evangelical Christian Science Church,
Sunday, February 2, 1908.


upon one patient with satisfactory results
viii have no effect upon other. when the
symptoms are precisely the same"
DR.. Coyissart. at Paris. when lecturing
10 his students said; 4 wish TO impress
upon you that the practice of medicine is
nothing but succession of experiments
and one person is just as liable to have
a success as another. There is no such
thing as science in the practice of medi-
cine. and no one knows IL better than the
regular practitioner. Why throw OBJ
stacles in the way of any one with Ordl-
nary intelligence in the use of what IS
called domestic remedies l have used
them. and been successful In giving relief
as I have with drugs. Medicine is a col
lection of uncertain prescriptions. the re-
suit of which, taken collectively, is far
more fatal than useful TO mankind. Wa
ter air, and cleanliness are the chief ar
guments in my pharmacopOeia.'
DIR. Talmage. +. r. c., of London, said
1T cannot be denied that the present
system Of medicine is a burning repToach
10 its professors. How rarely do our
medicines do gOOdi How often do we
make our patients really worse, I fear
lessly assert that in most cases the suf-
feTeT would be safer without physician
than with one. / have seen enough of the
malpractice Of my professional brethren
the regulars so called-tO warrant the
strong language I employ
Prof. A. II. Stevens, of New York Col
lege of Physicians and Surgeons, said:
THE older physicians grow, and the more
attention they give 10 the subject or
materia medlca, the more skeptical they
become of the virtues of medicine and
the more they are disposed to trust TO the
power of nature"
Sees a Wrong standard.
Now, mark you. / am not reading these
statements from doctors for the purpose
Of discrediting the doctors That is not
Isf4 So 70 81, no
the standard which the Episcopal Church
has set up, that you have first TO obtain
statement from a physician OF what
ails the patient before the mind healers
are permitted to treat. that is the object
You VIII see this plainly before 1 get
through with this lecture
Dr. James Johnson. editor Surgical Re
view, said: Il declare as my COnsCien-
tious conviction. founded on long expert
ence and reflection, that If there was not
a single physician. surgeon, midwife.
druggist chemist or drug on the face Of
the earth there would be less sickness
than prevails now"
DR.. CogsWell. of Boston, said 1T is my
firm belief that the prevailing mode Of
practice IS productive Of vastly more evil
than good. and il IL were absolutely abol-
lsled mankind would be infinitely better
of
A'i. ran Enl0- ~ lldL 40 At4StIE " l4b
call themselves reasonable do in the midst
of one hundred doctors with one hundred
different medicines, each Affirming his
own as good and all the rest bad2 Do they
reject them all? No. They usually sWal-
low them all. and generally die
Dr. Marshall Hail, r. r. S, said.
Thousands are annually slaughtered in
the quiet sickTOOm by the attending ply
slciau; and il IS attributed to Providence.
How often we ind that idea given out
In connection with our practice. / SUD
pose that In our practice We might aver
age perhaps one death in 80 cases who
came 20 us for treatment 1 see by
statistical statement that was published
ll the News Letter, Of a report from
New York authority. that of 1856 persons
treated only hfty-elght died. or one IN
about -51 Every one OF the patients who
are under the treatment OF mental theTa-
peuticS, or divine healing, and die, they are
Killed by the operator, mark you, ~ the
eyes of the world; and whenever they die
under the hand or the physician the LORD
takes them. i remember q case in Omaha
that came right under my eye. An old
lady had what was termed sciatlC rheU-
maJism, and suffered great pain. A ply
sician was called and injected morphine
to alleviate her suferings. This produced
constipation. He then. TO relieve this, ad-
miuIstered a very strong physlc, which
afforded temporary relief The pain re-
turning. he then administered another
dose of morphine which proved fatal.
one of the oldest physicians in Omaha
was called in consultation and informed
the doctor that he had killed his patient.
The man was honest, the doctor was
honest, but he did not know DO you
want such authority as that TO say
whether YOU shall ask God TO heal YOU
or not: That Is the question
Professor Davis said: The vital ef-
fects Of medicine are very little under
stood. IL is a term used 10 cover igno-
rance
DR.. Abernathv. Of London. England.
of medical men of late, but upon my
life, diseases have increased in proper
ton"
Disease of Recent Origin.
Take thes9 men that have gray hairs
sitting before me. that lived back yOnder.
thirty, forty, or fifty years ago, and 1
ask them, did you ever hear Of a case Of
appendicitis? The first case ! ever heard
of was from a friend of mine in Wash
ington. 1 am not going 10 mention his
name. He went 10 one of the leadLu.
surgeons in Washington and was exam
ined. He told him that he had this dis
ease that they call appendicitis. He came
up to my office and was telling me all
about it. He did not know when ne
would have to be operated on, but before
luis ne n dS bAIcEdLtu on ltse year al
IrrWdId and died. This is the first time
] ever heard of IT, That is within twenty
years. The new names, the mystery,
the closed mouth Why, ii is a brag
among physicians of some schools, I win
not say all. 10 be silent, say nothing
You keep your mouth shut and they can't
ind out that you do not know. I have
heard il hundreds of zines Keep a
closed mouth" I have had doctors bTag
to me that they never prophesied that
a man would get well until he was out of
danger. Mark you, II is the system, Il is
not the men that We criticise
Dr. r. NJ Davis, of Chicago said. Il
nave practlced medicine IN ths city FOR
thirty years. and 1 state TO you that
have no confidence in it, No man can
tell when he gives drug whether il viii
bring relief to the sufferer OF hasten his
death. l regret that I have DraCticed
medicine, when nine times out Of ten
our mlscalled remedies are absolutely in
furious 10 our patients suffering from dis
eases of whose real character and real
cause We are absolutely ignorant You
cannot sec the chemical changes in the
ACIDS OF the system and every one knows
that that is absolutely necessary to de-
termlne the effect Of the drugs"
/ knew DR.. Davis very well He was
one of the most eminent lecturers on
medicine In the city Of Chicago, an able
man, of national reputation.
You can't see the chemical changes
-NoW' marx you tne effect OF the drugs.
II you can't See the acids in the system
YOU do not know what drugs to give.
You can't tell. 1t is naturally an i'm
possible book to read. That is my argu-
ment; and yet the Episcopal Church sets
up the rule that we must have a state
ment from these men, whom the ablest
among them say they can't tell the dis
ease. Yet the mental healer must be Civ !
en- a certificate before they are permitted
TO pray for the healing. They do not
pray. God and Jesus Christ are eliminat- |
ed, but they give what they call mental /
therapeutics, which is a weak form of
hypnOtsm.
DT George NJ. Sternberg. the Surgeon |
General of the United States, in the
American Journal Of Medical Science for |
July, 1852, page n, gave the world the |
somewhat startling result OF his experi- /
ence in blood poison, with which he had /
been occupying his time to fit himself /
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