222 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



comes a menace to the community, since quarantine and disinfection 

 are prohibited by the mental healers, as tending to confirm the patient 

 in the " claim " that he is ill. 



While the exact method of the action of drugs is uncertain, and 

 many are probably inert, if not harmful, we are positive that certain 

 ones, like quinine, mercury, opium, digitalis and others produce cer- 

 tain definite conditions which can be relied upon to assist the patient. 

 Some of them kill the germs, just as boiling destroys the microbes of 

 typhoid fever in water; others, like quinine, render the human body 

 an unfavorable culture medium and discourage the " bugs " ; others 

 directly stimulate the action of the organs. 



Even the more advanced mental healers admit that, at present at 

 least, they are unable to treat with success surgical cases, which should 

 at once be examined by a regular surgeon. The former err, however, 

 in refusing to use antiseptics when prescribed, as they are rarely able 

 to practise aseptic methods. 



In addition to drugs, modern medicine is making great use of 

 serums of various kinds, and antitoxin has rendered diphtheria, once 

 a household terror, a relatively non-fatal malady. Further advances 

 are being made daily along these lines, and great discoveries may be 

 expected from the investigations of Metchnikoff into immunity and 

 ferments. 



Mental healing also errs in not employing to the full diet, fresh 

 air, exercise and the other hygienic systems, which are rapidly growing 

 to be our chief reliance in the control of illness. 



It is a source of wonder to those who are following the subject that 

 the usually acute leaders of mental healing do not profit by the experi- 

 ence of the Fathers at Lourdes. The latter have every patient ex- 

 amined by physicians, trained in the regular schools, before mental 

 healing is attempted. This gives an opportunity to eliminate the 

 dangerous or contagious maladies, while at the same time furnishing 

 proof of cure and establishing the nature of the disease. It would 

 seem possible to arrange this so as not to undermine the faith of the 

 sufferer, as the process at Lourdes seems to meet with the approval of 

 the Fathers. 



The great weakness of the schools of mental therapeutics seems 

 to be faulty diagnosis. In fact, there is apparently no attempt at diag- 

 nosis, and all patients are treated in the same general way. Thus 

 time and strength are wasted on cases which are, from their very nature, 

 hopeless from the start, and in which mental methods are absolutely 

 criminal, on account of the danger and suffering of the patient and 

 the probability of propagating disease in the community. It is not 

 too much to say that no case should be treated mentally until it has 

 been examined by a graduate of a reputable medical school, and pro- 



