1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



419 



such trips as this, and have found them, where 

 properly managed, very enjoyable. I could not 

 but share the boys" enihiisiasni; for it brought 

 vividly to my mind the time when I, although 

 only 18 years of age, felt that I could not stand 

 it any longer without seeing a little something 

 of this great world of ours in which we live. 



When [ wrote up the electric gasoline-launch 

 on pages 143 and 144, I planned to give you a 

 picture of some of the Florida rivers with one 

 of these pleasure-boats on it. Here it is. 



A young man on the cars gave me the photo. 

 He owns the larger of the two boats, and makes 

 it his business to carry tourists. 



ELECTROPOISE, ETC. 



MORE ABOUT THE ELECTROPOISE. 



Mr. R()ot:—l have been very much interested in 

 your expose of humbusrs and swindles, particularly 

 that of ELeefcropoise. You say, " If it does perform 

 cures It is exactly in line witli the idea that a horse- 

 shoe nailed over a door wards off disease." My idea 

 about the matter is, that a great many people have 

 been really benefited by Electropoise, but exactly 

 on Ihe same principle that people are benefited by 

 faith cure. Christian science, the waters of Lourdes, 

 the relics of saints, the laying'-on of hands, etc. If 

 people, when ihey employ these remedies, thorougii- 

 ly believe that they will be beneficial, then, as a re- 

 sult of that belief, they will be benefited. 



The imagiuatiiiu has a very powerful influence 

 over the functions of the human body. You say 

 that a brass button, with a wire attached, would be 

 just as efflcai'ious as the Electropoise apparatus. 

 That is undoubtedly true, provided the person us- 

 ing- it thoroughly believed in it. 



Covelo, Cal., Apr. 25. Thos. B. Henley. 



[Friend H., if I am correct you do not mean 

 to reflect on a proper, right, and reasonable 

 faith in God. I have closely inquired into the 

 matter of faith cure, Christian science, etc., not 

 only around my own home, but in Florida and 

 California, and 1 have watched the records 

 from other places. While there are some re- 

 markable cases of recovery that we can not ac- 

 count for, there are also other instances of 

 where both limb and ii/e have been sacriticed 

 because friends refuse to call in their family 

 physican or a competent surgeon. Yes, there 

 have been several cases of arrest of the parties 

 because they neglected the usual and recogniz- 

 ed means of saving life, and I think it was 

 right and proper that people should be arrest- 

 ed under the circumstances. Notwithstanding, 

 I have great faith, and with good reason, in 

 constantly seeking God's guidance and wi-dom 

 in directing us what to do with these bodies of 

 ours to escape sickness and death as far as 

 possible. This Electropoise business will be 

 the means, no doubt, of arousing people to the 

 fact of how much imagination may do in the 

 way of cures. But the guilty parties should 

 be arrested in their swindling, all the same. 

 Jesus said, " The Son of man indeed goeth as it 

 is written of him; but woe to that man by 

 whom the vSon of man is betrayed I Good were 

 it for that man if he had never been born." 

 Again, '• God maketh the wrath of man to 

 praise him," it is true; but this by no means 

 makes it right that they be allowed to go on in 

 their wrath. — A. I. R.] 



Inclosed you will find some clipping-s from Tlie 

 BihJiial Ri <-i)r<l6)\ of Raleigh, a Baptist paper. Is 

 this Electroiioise the same as you have reference to 

 in your paper? If so, please send me some extra 

 copies of Gleanings, also extra slips of the item of 

 Prof. H. W. Wiley. I also know of a Baptist minis- 

 ter in my own county who sells the Electropoise, 

 and I know of two people in my own town, whom 

 he sold to, with no benefit — price $'2,jJ>i); but I don't 

 know whether it is the same. If thej' are swindlers. 



which I believe they are, I am with you to help 

 break it up. S. D. Matthews. 



Hamilton. N. C, Apr. 29. 



[Yes, friend M., the circulars you send are 

 from the very same Electropoise people we have 

 been exposing. These people have all along 

 based their claims on the simple fact that 

 everybody who used their machine was either 

 cured or made better. But here we are told of 

 two customers receiving no benefit. The only 

 wonder is, tiiat anybody should receive any 

 benefit or even think he had. But another 

 appalling fact stands forth. A minister of the 

 gospel has used his sacred calling to induce 

 people, perhaps the members of his own church, 

 to buy his wares; and these wares, instead of 

 being legitimate trade and honest merchandise, 

 are a terrible fraud and swindle — .*25.00 for that 

 which should not cost 3.5 cents, and the whole 

 thing a piece of hypocrisy and quackery at that. 

 Religious papers have been shirking responsi- 

 bility, and here is a part of the result. Friend 

 M., show this to these poor friends who have 

 been victimized, and advise them to demand 

 their money back. It is a very clear case of 

 fraud; and either the minister or the Electro- 

 poise company will hand it over very quick — 

 probably. If they do not, tell them (the two 

 victims) to make a plain statement in their own 

 handwriting, and forward these statements to 

 me.— A. I. R.J 



The following from the editor of that bright 

 new little journal. The Mdrket Oardeii, it seems 

 to me, throws a little light on this matter of 

 '"testimonials:" 



Mr. Root:— Y OUT stand on the Electropoise ques- 

 tion seems to me to be worthy of no censure. I am 

 inclined to believe your correspondent on the ques- 

 tion in the last number of Gleanings has failed to 

 understand human nature or correctly interpret 

 her eccentricities. There are many people in the 

 world who only need to find faiih in something' to 

 find in it a panacea for their ills, the majority of 

 which are imaginary. I am a strong believer in 

 faith cure to the extent that, if people would only 

 have more faith in tliemselves, they would have 

 more curt'S than in all the patent or quack remedies 

 under the sun. Suggestion alone is a powerful 

 remedy; and having- realized tliis, the cure-all 

 people throw something- in with it and reap enor- 

 mous profits from the credulity of human nature. 

 People buy the remedy, and sincerely believe they 

 are getting wed from diseases tliey never had, and 

 hasten to make all sorts of testimonials, or sign 

 those made up for them by the wise proprietors of 

 the new medical fad. ' F. VV. Leavitt. 



Minneapolis, Minn.- 



To Keep Yourself Posted on all 

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