Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-13
EST-PHYSICIAN IS HELD
NO LONGER PRACTICABLE
Dr.. John R. Oliver Sees Too
Many Irrelevant Phases
for Mastery.
Has Had Wide Experience in
Both Ministry and
Healing.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
While the modern church must un-
derstand the problems of abnormal psy-
chology, the medieval combination of
the priest-physician no longer Is prac-
ticable.
Such is the opinion Of Rev. Dr. John
r. Oliver, Episcopal clergyman, distin-
guished Baltimore physician and pro-
feSsor at Johns Hopkins University,
whose novel, based on the interrelations
between the doctor and the clergyman,
now heads the list of "best-sellers" and
has given new impetus to the move
ment in several churches to combine
the functions of ministry and healing.
DR.. Oliver has been explaining his po-
sition at the annual Summer conference
of the College of Preachers at Wash
ington Cathedral, drawing literally on
his own experience as chief medical Of
f1cer Of the Maryland Supreme Court,
where he has been able to bring about
more understanding treatment of
criminals, based on knowledge of the
physical and mental basis of their acts.
The novel. Victim and Victor" Is drawn
largely from this same experience, al
though DR.. Oliver insists that the char
acters of the medical teacher and the
deposed Episcopal clergyman are en-
tirely imaginary.
The clergyman, DR.. Oliver said, con-
tinually encounters in his parish cases
Of mental illness which are RESPONSE
BILE for abnormal behavior. Often he is
the first to come into contact with such
persons and might be able to save them
from running their own lives or COM
hitting atrocious crimes IL he had a
rudimentary knowledge of pSychiatry.
Otherwise he Is helpless, and the parish
L. Id 49, - H..
falls afoul Of the law or ends in hos
pital for the insane.
Practical Difficulties Great.
But the practical difficulties Of COM
bining the two professions are too great,
DR.. oliver said, although he himself has
partially accomplished this. Both, he
pointed out, are specialties requiring
years of study and both demand the
mastery OF great deal OF material
which would be irrelevant for the COM
bined character.
"It is true" Dr. Oliver said, that the
prieSt-phySician fiourished In the Mid
die Ages when the greatest occulist Of
his time became Pope John the twenty
first and the greatest physician in
England was also canon Of oxford.
The same was true in Colonial days
when the clergyman sometimes was
lowed some other vocation during the
week He may have been the local
doctor, lawyer or school master. But I
could see no point In forcing the
clergyman of today to master the great
mass of anatomy and physiology neces-
sary to the practice of medicine when
all he requires could be obtained much
easier"
He himself, DR.. Oliver said, resigned
his orders when he took up medicine
and had no further connection with
the ministry for more than 20 years.
Then he came back at the request OF
Bishop Murray of the Maryland Diocese
and for the past few years has held q
unique position at one OF the Baltimore
churches where he hears confessions In
an informal manner and deals with In
dividual cases both as q clergyman and
physician. At the same time he has
private practice. "A doctor wouldn't
have many patients II he kept prying
into their religious affairs" DR.. Oliver
said.
But in my court practice" he said,
"I know of at least six atrocious muir
ders in the last few years which might
have been prevented II the murderers
had been detected In time and their
mental condition diagnosed. Their
to do this. Often I can tell more about
the reasons for a persons abnormal
behavior from a physical examination
than from a psychiatric diagnosis"
Bored by Liquor.
The priest-physician does not believe
modern youth Is going to the bad, al
though he admits that some OF the gin
drinking of students under his charge
disgust him. He has no solution for the
prohibition problem, although. ne says,
"you can't live in Baltimore and believe
in prohibition. I used TO IKE 10 go 10
medical banquetS. Now they are very
boresome affairs with everybody SEEM
ingly interested in how to get good
liquor. Take my friend Menken. He
used to be one of the most charming
fellows to talk with knew. Now when
ever meet him all he wants to talk
about Is where he can get liquor. l
tell him frankly the subject pores me.
More important than knowledge OF
mental disease Is the right attitude OF
mind toward It," DR.. Oliver told the
clergymen yesterday. "A mental all
ment Is no different in fundamental
character from a bad cold or any other |
physical ailment. The patient must not
be hidden away from his family and
friends and the trouble sheltereo ana
isolated from treatment. II mental pa
tients are put under treatment prompt
ly they may be relieved, but otherwise
they 60 from bad to worse.
1.-The clergy today" he continued, |
"are coming into contact with the men,
tai problems of their people. Men and
women who are in mental difficulty will
naturally seek out their priests and
pastors. They will want to talk over
with them the troubles from which they
are suffering. In such cases there are
two questions which the priest must try
to answer for himSelf-is a given per-
ceptible mental disease dangerous and
Is 1t permanent? Some are dangerous
to society, some to the patients them
selves and some are merely temporary
depressions from which the patient re-
covers by merely going on living.
1T should be understood that mental
troubles are real. 1t Is no use to say to
a patient, Come, snap out of it. The
patient can't snap out Of 1t. The things
an the mind are the most real things
In the world Where symptoms of such
afniction appear the imortant thing Is
to get the sufferer to psychiatric clinic.
Nobody Is absolutely normal. It
would be terrible II every man were
Ike every other man. But because q
man Is different he need not feel that