284 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



to Science the germs are as real as the man, and 

 the digestion of a man by a germ is quite as real 

 as the digestion of a man by a cannibal. But 

 Christian Science asserts that the germ is imaginary, 

 and that fever, and no doubt the rise in the ther- 

 mometer, are imaginary, and that the disease has 

 no real existence. Again, Science says that the 

 burning of a man's hand is just as real as the burn- 

 ing of King Alfred's cakes, or the frying of bacon ; 

 while Christian Science declares that the burn and 

 pain are only imaginary. Yet, again. Science 

 declares that poison acts, just as food acts, by means 

 of molecular and chemical affinities, and that the 

 narcotic action of opium is just as real as the 

 nourishing action of red herrings ; while Christian 

 Science asserts that poisons do not poison ; and I 

 believe that a novel by a well-known novelist (may 

 he be forgiven !) represents that a Christian Scientist 

 swallows a fatal dose of poison without bad effect. 

 Truth is known by its consiliences and consist- 

 encies, and such views as these of Christian Science 

 which we have noted obviously lead to a multitude 

 of contradictions before they proceed two feet. If 

 the fracture of a bone is merely imaginary, why 

 not try the skull of a Christian Scientist beneath a 

 steam-hammer ? If germs are only imaginary, why 

 not inject a few pyogenic organisms into Mrs 

 Eddy's jugular vein ? If germs are only imaginary, 



