The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-07-12

| measure to DE cdTcIuIlV dfId SCithti1
ic ally applied in suitable cases My
experience has been that of the TN
conscious rather than the deliberate
faith healer. Phenomena, even Nhdt
could be called miraculous, cures are
not Very uncommon. Like others, l
have had cases. any one OF which. un-
der suitable conditions, coulc have
been worthy of shrine or made the
germ of pilgrimage"
DIR. Os1er speaks Of cures that might
be called modern miracles. 9ddIn1
without any special skill IN these
cases or special methods. our results
at the Johns Hopkins Hospital were
most gratifying. Faith in St.
Hopkins, as We used to call nina. ~
atmosphere of optimism, and cheerful
nurses. worked just the same sort OF
cures as did Aesculapius at E~pldaurus,
and / really believe that had we had
a hand at that arch-neuraSthenlc OF
ancient history, Aelius Aristides, we
could have made q more rapid cure
than did Apollo and his son, who took
IT years at the job"
DR.. OsIer outlines the four plans Of
healing by faith outside the profess
sion-the sect in England called the
peculiar People, the healing by the
Christian Church. Christian Science
and the Emmanuel Church. move
ment.
punishment Fits the Crime
he tpiIS o1 1iItl!tclQdI lis 81
ing on and says: "MOGernis1n, the
elimination Of the spirit of the
Renaissance, has CHANGED the funda-
| mental aspects of humanity, and the
new wine in the old bottles has had
the usual effect. A great gulf has
opened between pastor and flock, and
the shepherdless sheep at large upon
the mountains have been at the mercy
of anyone who could pipe new tunes.
One result of this intellectual and
spiritual unrest is Of great practical
interest to US as physicians, and OF
still greater interest to all students
of psychology. \ new cult has arisen.
attractive and aggressive, unlike, IN
many ways, anything hitherto seen
1t was only natural (and the punish
ment fits the crin1e) that such a cult
should come from the United States,
the country which possesses Il larger
mum Der of separate Sects than any
other in the world. That the ounde
should be q WO1nan profoundly lgno-
rant of theology and of science, with
out, indeed, a single bond beWteen the
professors of the one or the practice
of the other was in itself a favOring
element. A disciple OF an American
spiritualist. Mrs. Eddy. had one
strong conviction-the paramount
Importance of the things of the spirit
Never before in a history surCharged
with examples of credulity has SO
mCnstrously puerile a belief been ex-
plotted. To deny the existence of dis
ease, to deny the reality of pain. to
disregard all physical measures of re
lief, to sweep away in a spiritual
ecStacy the accumulated wisdom Of
centuries in a return to Oriental m-s-
ticism-these, indeed, expressed a re-
volt from the materialis1n of the lat
ter half of the nineteenth Gentry at
once weird. perhaps not unexpected.
and to a student of human nature,
s,,-+ ~ Iit on,,i~ nr~ oon-n+ b,+
smile to think that this has happened
at the very time when the Goddess Of
Reason was priding herself on the
b~rilliancy of the compIishments of
her devotees. It is, indeed. a salu-
tary lesson in humanity. and serves to
remind US that our deliciously cre1u-
lous human nature is still plastic and
receptive.
Among Hopefu Signs.
"To some a sign of d~ecadence, to
me the growth of Christian Science
and Of M~ormOnism, are among the
hopeful indications that We are in the
childhood of the race. Only in the
weller of a new world, untrammcled
by a past, and by regard for author
ity, among q keen people too much
absorbed in business to work out COR
themselves any mental salvation,
could such a chaotic mass of rubbish
have had any measures of successful
acceptance. And as | said the pun
lshfnent hts the CRIME. For genera
tons the people of the United States
have INDUCED in an orgie Of drug
ging. Between polypharrnacy in the
profession, and quack medicines, the
American body has become saturated
ad nauseam, and here, indeed, wa a
boon ever greater than homeopathy.
No wonder the American spirit, IN
quiet in a drus-soaked body. rose
With i~Y at a new Evangel. In every
country -Sere were dyspeptics arJ
Inconsistencies in sufficient numbers
to demonstrate the efficacy Of the
new gospel. But the real secret Of
the growth Of Christian Science does
not lie in the refusal of physical
measures of relief or the efficacy of
prayer, but in offering to people z
way of life, a new Epicureanisn
which promises to free the soul tand
body from fear, care and unrest;
and its real lever is the optimism
rrhinL Discounts tho urnr-inr nf tho