i 7 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



In 1456 " the practice of medicine was still, to some extent, in the 

 hands of the clergy." That ecclesiastics exercised authority over 

 medical practice in the time of Henry VIII, is shown by a statute 

 of his third year, which reads : 



" It is enacted that no person in London, or seven miles thereof, shall 

 practice as a physician or surgeon without examination and license of the 

 Bishop of London, or of the Dean of Paul's, duly assisted by the faculty ; 

 or beyond these limits, without license from the bishop of the diocese, or 

 his vicar- general, similarly assisted." 



And it is alleged that down to the early part of our own century 

 there remained with the Archbishop of Canterbury a latent power 

 of granting medical diplomas. So that the separation between 

 " soul-curer and body-curer," which goes on as savage peoples 

 develop into civilized nations, has but very gradually completed 

 itself even throughout Christian Europe. 



This continuity of belief and of usage is even still shown in 

 the surviving interpretations of certain diseases by the Church 

 and its adherents ; and it is even still traceable in certain modes 

 of medical treatment and certain popular convictions connected 

 with them. 



In the minds of multitudinous living people there exists the 

 notion that epidemics are results of divine displeasure ; and no 

 less in the verdict " Died by the visitation of God," than in the 

 vague idea that recovery from, or fatal issue of, a disease, is in 

 part supernaturally determined, do we see that the ancient theory 

 lingers. Moreover, there is a predetermination to preserve it. 

 When, some years ago, it was proposed to divide hospital patients 

 into two groups, for one of which prayers were to be offered and 

 for the other not, the proposal was resented with indignation. 

 There was a resolution to maintain the faith in the curative effect 

 of prayer, whether it was or was not justified by the facts ; to 

 which end it was felt desirable not to bring it face to face with 

 the facts. 



Again, down to the present day epilepsy is regarded by many 

 as due to the possession by a devil ; and the prayer-book contains 

 a form of exorcism to be gone through by a priest to cure mala- 

 dies supernaturally caused. Belief in the demoniacal origin of 

 some diseases is indeed a belief necessarily accepted by consistent 

 members of the Christian Church ; since it is the belief taught to 

 them in the New Testament a belief, moreover, which survives 

 the so-called highest culture. When, for example, we see a late 

 Prime Minister, deeply imbued with the university spirit, pub- 

 licly defending the story that certain expelled devils entered into 

 swine, we are clearly shown that the theory of the demoniacal 

 origin of some disorders is quite consistent with the current 



