Omaha daily bee., 1908-12-13
RESULTS OF EMANUEL CLINICS
A Medical Warning Against Dsssers
which Best the Church
Movement.

Religion and medicine have always been
twin servants Of man. and formerly all
physicians we're priests, but that was when
causes were supposed to exist in
every case Of sickness. The studies Of the
early physicians revealed So many physical
causes az m~alfunction that there was \
natural split between the two professions
and the separation eliminated In those re-
marksble deniais Of the existence Of the
spiritual when the nineteenth century wave
OF materlalism swept over the scientific
world. The pendulum has begun its re-
turn swing, and in every part Of the
world there are reports OF a disposition
to class certain nervous diseases in the
realm Of the spiritual, though 70 does seem
that the only reason for the movement
is the fact that we have not yet discovered
the material causes. The Hew movement
then, though doing some good, is liable
to do harm. and u certainly bshOOves the
medical profession to go slow and warn
against extremism. About two years g
a clergyman very foolishiy proclaimed pos
session OF an unused divine power 20 cure
all diseases. and that all ordained priests
had received the same power from Christ
through apostolic succession. American
Medicine commented upon this absurdity
at the time. and tho remarks were I'M
fortunately taken to be a condemnation
OF the more rational movement inaugu-
rated by Rev. DR.. Flwood Worcester OF
Emmanuel church in Boston.
The latest church medical movement
differs from all past ones in that ply
sicians are associated with It to make the
diagnoses and treat patients needing med
ical or surgical care. The only cases ac-
cepted for psychic. or spiritual treatment
are those which are declared to be purely
functional enuroses and p~sychoses. Here
in lies the danger and also an assumption
which may be wrong. The list Of, func-
tional diseases, once quite large, Is always
diminishing, for we are constantly finding
organic changes formerly overlooked.
Sometimes the symptoms are reflected to a.
healthy organ, and even habits remain
ing after the cause Is removed, may de-
pend upon nerve changes, which will be
discovered in the future. It is not con-
ceivable that a perfect organism works
imperfectly under normal stimuli. Hence
neurasthenia and psychastenia are now
generally recognized as due to abnormali-
ties in the protoplasm Of the nerve cells.
often congenital though sometimes a mere
matter Of excessive expenditure or defec-
tive nutrition, or both. Hypothesis are like
balloons, and IL not anchored to the solid
material Of disease they drift away. The
cure Of neurasthenia and the relief OF its
SYMPTOMS are two vastly different matters.
These cases constitute the great majority
of the cures" OF Christian science, though
many, beipg congenital detectives, are
wholly incurable. There has been a relief
of symptoms or even a transfer to some
other form, and though life has temporarily
been made much more worth living, the
question Is being asked as to whether the
ultimate results of the stimulating psychic
treatment will not make the last state
worse than the first and whether some OF
those who need rest and food are not made
worse. 1t is claimed that the spiritual
treatment is soothing, but there is nothing
to equal the tremendous mental stimulus
of seeking aid from what has such a mys-
tic atmosphere. Yet it is quite possible
that such shocks, as In hysteria, serve 70
start a new functioning which in its turn
leads to better nutrition and restores
health.
The longevity OF Inconsistencies is well
known. and 1t is often said that the disease
prolongs life, though by that Is meant
that the miserable sufferers, being unable
TO exert themselves, Civ up the Ilsht
Iessan the strains and avoid the myriad
adversities which carry off the more ro'
bust. In war time the weddings live long
est because only soldiers are liable to buile'
Uounds. Both Christian Science and the
| Emmanuel movement deal with a very
small nercentage OF invallds, and thest
would live long anyway. For such reasons
the results of the Emmanuel clinic are
being keenly studied With the forlorn hop'
that Worcester has found a means o
bringing permanent relief to a large mum
her OF cases which generally wander from
doctor to doctor through q long complain
ing life.
TIL danger Of a little knowledge is tn
fault OF Worcester's book, Religion ant
Medicine" for it contains errors of fac
and Inference, is interlarded with baseles
assumptions. refers to theories discarded
thirty to fifty years ego, and mixes tn
spiritual element with purely material mat
tiers. His former work on the Book o
! Genesis was so safe and sane that Il wa
hoIed he would apply his great menta
power to the New Testament stories o
miraculous healing. but the only outcom
Is an attempt to fit modern diagnoses t
cases which physicians cannot even recog
nize as having existed. There is a curiou
parallel between the alleged cures az Lour
des or in a Christian Science church, wit
those In the Mediterranean basin, recorde
some fifty to eighty years after the events
from the traditions Of illiterate eredulou
peasants. 1t is also amazing that on
should reject the idea of demoniac posses
sion and accept the rost. The only thin
do with these stories of cures is to trea