SCIENCE AND » CHRISTIAN SCIENCE."" 803 



Lithuania, visiting Rome at the time of the Reformation, received 

 from the pope a box of precious relics. After he reached home 

 the relics were used by the monks for the cure of a demoniac, who 

 had held out against every kind of exorcism. The success was 

 instantaneous and complete. But the prince observed a knowing 

 smile on the face of the young man who had been keeper of the 

 relics, and upon inquiry learned to his disgust that the genuine 

 relics had been lost on the journey, and their place had been sup- 

 plied with bones of cats and dogs picked up by the road. This lot 

 of rubbish it was that had performed the miracle. Any one who 

 believed that the touch of Queen Victoria's hand could cure him 

 of scrofula (king's evil) would be unanimously declared out of 

 his tnind ; yet it was the general belief in England for seven hun- 

 dred years, from the reign of Edward the Confessor to that of 

 Queen Anne, that the touch of the royal hand could heal this dis- 

 ease. Historians and physicians of the time testify to the usual 

 success of the operation. Every one has read of the noisy antics 

 employed by the medicine-men among the Indians, and by the 

 fetich-doctors and voodoos among the negroes, for driving diseases 

 out of their patients. Explorers and missionaries report that sur- 

 prising cures often follow such treatment. No Christian Scientist 

 would acknowledge fellowship with these ignorant impostors, and 

 yet the voodoos cure disease without material means like the dis- 

 ciples of Mrs. Eddy. 



I do not wish to be understood as giving full credit to all the 

 reports of cures by any of these agencies. Doubtless in many in- 

 stances the recovery is spontaneous ; it is effected by the healing 

 power of nature, and in spite of the treatment rather than by 

 means of it. The patients would have got well as soon or sooner 

 if nothing had been done for them. Moreover, in many cases 

 reported by persons with little medical knowledge, the disease was 

 not as serious, and hence the cure was not as wonderful, as is 

 represented. Still, there remains enough evidence to show that in 

 each one of the above ways real disease has been thrown off by 

 aid of mental influence. 



Furthermore, disease has been cured, with no theory of treat- 

 ment whatever, by an accidental impression made on the mind. Mr. 

 Barrows tells the following : The wife of a wealthy Pennsylvania 

 farmer had been bedridden for many years, and unable to rise or 

 walk without help. A Baptist minister visited the family, and 

 the host showed him about his thrifty farm, in which he evidently 

 took an honest pride. " Your farm seems to be one of the best in 

 this section," observed the guest. " Yes, it is, sir," answered the 

 host, with a beaming face ; " and, what is more, it's all paid for." 

 Similar comments on the barns, stock, etc., brought forth assur- 

 ances that they, too, were " all paid for." Dinner-time came, and 



