The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1917-06-18
A LIE CTURE ON
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
Continued from page two

body, with its many forms of sick
ness and error, seems to need mos
immediate attention,-first, becaus,
1t has such vast number of sick
nesses to which 1t lays claims: ant
second, because the history of ma
terial means for the alienation O.
these troubles shows them to have
been almost complete failure.
say almost complete failure, be
cause the latest remedy and the lat
est method. the ones that have re-
placed last years remedy and last
years method, have not as yet beer
proven useless; but the history oil
the past hundreds of years will re.
peat itself, and next years material
means will replace what will then
be this years failures.
Some years ago new and suppos-
eddy wonderful remedy was advocat-
ed for the treatment of pneumonia
and the medical journals were full
Of the records of the almost instan-
taneous cures which had come about
through it's use. AS practising ply
!, stefan prescribed this remedy at the
} first opportunity that presented it.
self, but with no result. / have since
come to see that the remedy worked
just SO long as it had some enthusi-
astic optimists believing in it's eff
cacy, but failed to work as soon as
it became generally used by a gen.
orally pessimistic profession; a pro-
fession grown pessimistic through it's
continual history Of drug failure.
This drug, in spite Of the marvellous
cures accredited to it for several
years, has long since gone the way
of dismal failure of those that pre-
coded it.
Another famous remedy that came
into almost immediatee prominence
within the last year or two, and
which has been lauded as an abso-
lutte specific for certain disorders, is
now being condemned by some Of its
former supporters as doing no good
and much damage. 1t has been re-
markable both for the claims made
for its efficiency and the charges
made for its administration. 1t was
a brilliant success so long as people
believed in its efficacy, but it Is now
fast becoming dull failure.
Surgical and other material forms
of treatment are in. this same pro-
cess of change. 1t has only been a
very few years since soaring of parts
OF the body with the red-hot iron
was advocated as good treatment,
though we would condemn this now
as barbarious, and the day will sure
ly come, and Is not far distant, when
the wholesale removal of the tonsils
and the injection of the many kinds
of animal serums will be considered
quite as barbarous; for just so long
as we cling to materiality, todays
apparent success Will be tomorrow's
failure.
Vaccination has remained in po-
sition of supposed efficacy for
longer period than anything OF which
know. We can most of us remem-
Der when to be able to show a good
scar meant a lifetime of protection.
But the years of its supposed useful
ness are constantly shortening, until
now it is maintained that it only pro-
tects for a few years, with an ever
increasing coterie within the ranks
of the medical profession maintain
ing that it does not protect at all.
Again and again in toxic conditions
and in immunity from contagion, the
Christian Scientist Is proving that
spiritual understanding gives the pro-
lection of which Jesus spoke when
he said of those who believe, IF
they drink any deadly thing, it shall
not hurt them |
Medical and surgical methods are
changing with such rapidly that
among the profession the idea of
yearly examinations has at times
been agitated, the thought being that
if it could be shown that physician |
was not conversant with the very lat
est method, he should not be allowed
to practise, though this is admit
ting that what was good practice a
few years ago is not good practice
today.
am not criticizing the DOCTOR
he does the best he can with the poor
weapons which have been given him,
i am sympathizing with him, be-
cause just when he thinks he has
it, he finds he has not.
In practising medicine I soon
found that there was certain men
tai element in every case, and as 1t
was obvious that this element could
not be reached by any material
means, l began to try to estimate
Just how large factor it was in
every case that came to me. At first,
I thought some cases were quite
Agely physical, and others quite
largely mental, but as time went on
and through practice my observation
Of the mental side Of the question
became more keen, saw that many
types of sickness were wholly men
tai, and finally came to see that they
were all entirely SO.
This did not mean that | was a
Christian Scientist when ] had ar
rived at this point from 1t!
decided that since had to deal with
so large a mental question, which
the medical profession either wholly
or almost wholly ignored, ! would
study mental healing from every
from which it had been
presented. with the idea that would
find in all literature on the subject
the presentation of the same pTin-
ciple, and so would have broader
view of the question than any single
writer, and with this knowledge