SCIENCE AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 283 



What exactly Mrs Eddy means it is impossible to 

 discover, since most of her statements mean noth- 

 ing, and since those which mean anything are self- 

 contradictory. Still, the fundamental article of her 

 creed — the article which is the fulcrum of her in- 

 fluence — seems to be, that there can be no disease 

 and no pain because God is good, and that there- 

 fore disease and pain are due to the sinful imagina- 

 tion of the sufferers or of mankind. The reasoning 

 is, of course, logically, philosophically, and ethically 

 unsound, and probably Mrs Eddy and her neurotic 

 worshippers do not know the difficulties of the 

 terms they use so glibly ; but still it may be inter- 

 esting to glance at the broad relationship of this 

 pseudo-creed to the creed of science. 



Science says that disease is due to certain struc- 

 tural or functional abnormalities caused by material 

 agencies. When a man breaks his leg. Science says 

 that the incident is of the same nature as the break- 

 ing of any other bone, e.g, breaking of a bone of 

 beef by a butcher, or the breaking of a child's leg 

 by a surgeon to straighten the bone. Christian 

 Science, on the other hand, professes to believe that 

 the fracture of a man's leg is not real — that in 

 fact the bone is not broken, and cannot be broken, 

 because God is good. Again, Science says that 

 typhoid fever is due to tiny germs whose vital 

 chemistry disturbs the vital chemistry of man ; and 



