The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-04-27

| To the Editor of The Bridgeport Farmer:
 papers of Monday the 18th that pr.
 F. H. Packard in an address before the Harvard Medical College said that
 numbers of individuals probably l tai makeup" are totally upset mem ' tally through their efforts to undestand and practice Christian Science and other unscientific things.
 I am glad the gentleman qualifie9 his remarks by the term s'and other the effects of Christian ssience for l many years, during which time have l come in contact with. many persons have been entirely healed by Christian Science and who are well and happy today, but in all that time have not known of a single instance where 1t could be said that the derangennent of the individual had been produced or precipitated by Christian Science, as is intirnated by pr. Packard, have not been faithful to Christian Science, but have mixed it up with other and
 -unsetentifie" things Knowing the ence and the danger of those mental methods of treatment which are more or less hypnotic and more or less de- pendent upon human will. I have un- bounded confidence in Christian Sci ence as remedy for insanity, al-i though would not De willing to youeh mixture Of mental theories. I have heard it said, though I never have tried it. that mixed drinks make folks drunk, and I have learned by observation that mixed metaphysics, especially a mixture of the bad with the good, confuses the mind of the stu dent. I am also glad that pr. Pack ard qualified his statement concern ing the cases which have come under his observation by the phrase prob ably naturally of somewhat unstable mental makeup" It is decidedly un- fair to credit the growing denentia of for years to Christian Science. simply because in their extremity some of them have turned to Christian Science and in their insane moments have talked about it. It is not unusual for an insane person to talk on the new est or latest thing that possesses his mind
 One might make too hard work of anything but it is not the problem over which he wrestles nor is -it nec- essar1ly the wrestling. It is the need less worry of the student which bur dens him. A patient Of a Christian Scientist is usually instructed how to rapid recovery from his strained men tai condition.
 dare say that if pr. Packard had a patient who grew worse under his treatment, he would be Ioath to say that his treatment had caused it. There are thousands of insane persons who have grown worse and many of them precipitately'' worse under med fcaI treatment. To be consistent Dr. 9dckaTd SnOuIQ aJIflDuI0 Sucn 1nSan- fty to medical treatment in order to show the comparative value of Christ ian Science. There is no more evil dence to prove that insane folks who have experimented with Christian Sci ence have been made insane thereby than there is. to prove that the grow care has been precipitated by medicine. One is not Justified in drawing such improbable conclusions simply because he may be prejudiced.
 Two persons are reported in the morning press to have committed sui eide. If perchance copy of Science and Health had been found in the room of either of these persons. or if either of them had previously had any dealing whatever with Christian Sci theory, the case would f1ave been open to the charge that the person had been driven to suicide by Christian Science. There are thousands upon thousands of persons in the insane asylums who Fever heard of Christian Science. One tributing their insanity to the partie- ular philosophy, religion. or medical theory, which they had attempted to understand. It is quite true that per sons worry themselves into insanity over hard problems. but it is also true that the world in general is constantly It is not the proposition which injures them, but the worry which they per init to accompany their striyings. It is quite evident that the understanding that God is Love. which furnishes the basis for every idea of Christian Sci ence. could never worry anyone into insanity. Otherwise it would become the duty of Christendorn to immediate ly remove the Bible from the hands of all persons of unstable mental n:ake-up.'' In any event it may be said that there are thousands of per- sons in this country who bear testi- Inony to the divine influence of this Science as a wholesome mental inf1u- ence.
 Yours sincerely,
 ALFRED HARLOW.
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