December 10, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



827 



disorder." Of all parts of the body sub- 

 ject to lesions the spine is of fundamental 

 importance, and "it is only in occasional 

 cases of disease that no treatment is given 

 to it." Treatment consists chiefly in cor- 

 recting the structural perversion by ma- 

 nipulation with the hands and thus remov- 

 ing the pressure on the functionally 

 disordered organs or on nerves or blood 

 vessels supplying them. The osteopath 

 serenely, with a single stroke of the hand, 

 waves away the facts of scientific pathol- 

 ogy. Says the prophet : 



I have concluded, after twenty-five years' close 

 observation and experimenting, that there is no 

 such disease as fever, tlux, diphtheria, typhus, 

 typhoid, lung-fever or any other fever classed 

 under the common head of fever. Rheumatism, 

 sciatica, gout, colic, liver disease, nettle-rash or 

 croup, on to the end of the list of diseases, do 

 not exist as diseases. All these, separate and com- 

 bined, are only effects. The cause can be found, 

 and does exist, in the limited and excited action 

 of the nerves only, which control the fluids of 

 parts or the whole of the body. 



The cause of all diseases is "a partial or 

 complete failure of the nerves to properly 

 conduct the fluids of life." One can with 

 difficulty suppress a feeling of admiration 

 for the audacity with which time-honored 

 scientific facts and principles are thus put 

 aside. Osteopathy undoubtedly effects 

 cures, but so does the medicine man of the 

 savage tribe. 



The founder of Christian Science pref- 

 aces her remarkable book with the words of 

 Hamlet: "There is nothing either good or 

 bad, but thinking makes it so." She does 

 not seem to have been aware that these 

 words were spoken at a time when Hamlet 

 was strongly suspected of being out of his 

 head, and when his actions and utterances 

 seemed to justify such a suspicion. If 

 osteopathy is presumptively assertive, 

 Chi-istian Science is no less so. Its founder 

 avers : 



The cause of all so-called disease is mental, a 

 mortal fear, ... a fear that mind is helpless to 

 defend the life of man and incompetent to con- 

 trol it. 



The cure of all disease is equally simple : 



Through immortal Mind or Truth, we can de- 

 stroy all ills which proceed from mortal mind. 

 . . . We can not obey both physiology and Spirit, 

 for one absolutely destroys the other, and one or 

 the other must be supreme in the affections. . . . 

 Fevers are errors of various types. The quickened 

 pulse, coated tongue, febrile heat, dry skin, pain 

 in the head and limbs, are pictures drawn on the 

 body by a mortal mind. . . . Destroy fear and you 

 end fever. 



Of hay fever it is said : 



It is profane to fancy that the perfume of clover 

 and the breath of new-mown hay can cause gland- 

 ular inflammation, sneezing and nasal pangs. 



Thei'e is no "ancestral dyspepsia": 



If a random thought, calling itself dyspepsia, 

 had tried to tyrannize over our forefathers, it 

 would have been routed by their independence and 

 industry. 



The Christian Science disciple asks this 

 question : 



Should all cases of organic disease be treated 

 by a regular practitioner and the Christian Scien- 

 tist try truth only in cases of hysteria, hypochon- 

 dria and hallucination? 



The answer is not ambiguous: 



One disease is no more real than another. . . . 

 Decided types of acute disease are quite as ready 

 to yield to Truth as the less distinct and chronic 

 form of disease. Truth handles the most malig- 

 nant contagion with perfect assurance. 



Philosophers have pointed out the crudi- 

 ties, contradictions and confusion of 

 thought in the metaphj'sics of Christian 

 Science. It is interesting to look over the 

 long list of achievements of which it boasts, 

 for they include, among others, the cures 

 of cancer, fibroid tumor, astigmatism, epi- 

 lepsy, tuberculosis, rickets, hernia, valvu- 

 lar disease of the heart, measles, asthma, 

 Bright's disease, dropsy, croup, tonsilitis 

 and a bad temper. Moreover, it is claimed 



