Article January 8, 1903 Issue

The Spread of Disease

Alfred Farlow

Boston Times

Unwise and unscrupulous advertising of disease symptoms is conceded by most people to be harmful, yet very little is said against such practice, and few consider to what extent disease becomes prevalent because of much talk about it. When we consider the robust health of our ancestors in the days when less was known of disease, we are obliged to admit that with the increase of material knowledge has come an increase of diseases. Many types and symptoms of disease exist to-day which were not known in earlier days. It might be well to study the cause of this condition.

It is claimed that physicians are better able to cope with certain forms of disease than in former years. It is said that they deal more effectually with contagious disease. This may be true, since fear is a great factor in the production of disease, and especially infectious and contagious diseases. It is probably easier for the kind, assuring physician to heal acute sickness than to overcome chronic troubles. This can be accounted for on the basis that all causation is mental, that disease originates in the mind of the patient before it is manifested in the body. Though a patient may not be conscious of any fear of a specific disease, his belief in the general uncertainty of health and the laws of contagion place him in a position where he has a standing invitation to all sorts of trouble. He should dwell in the consciousness of the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, and thereby close the door against the intrusion of disorder. It is reasonable, therefore, to conclude that much ado about disease and trouble tends to keep the mind filled with prospective calamity, and not only fosters unrest but makes the individual a more easy prey to disease and trouble. Even accidents and catastrophes more readily reach the fearful than those who are calm and composed. Sensational stories about casualties, vivid pictures of disease, in its varied symptoms, are not healthful for the same reason that the study, of immoral pictures is not conductive to spirituality. They tend to debase one's ideals. We should keep in mind the picture of God's child, protected, sheltered and sustained by the divine Omnipotence and Omnipresence, if we would be free from fear and anxiety and governed by the unerring and unfailing Intelligence. Thus we would conform to the requirements set forth in the Scriptural text. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." And the Psalmist's declaration. "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation: there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."

There is in the Scriptures no promise of safety and rest in the study of material things, in the contemplation of evils, discords, imperfections, and diseases. This is the promise, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee." Many an individual after the careful study of a specific disease has concluded with a well-developed case of that disease. Many a one after the careful study of symptoms in a medical advertisement has laid a foundation from which he has developed the very symptoms and diseases which have been so vividly portrayed to him. How often a retrospection of one's troubles has brought about their renewal. How often the mere telling of a by-gone toothache has produced a return of the pain. In the writings of news reports and in the recounting of thrilling adventures, startling developments, dangerous experiences, horrible diseases, the temptation always is to indulge in a vivid portrayal if not an exaggeration. We may assume that all speakers and writers desire to present a fair and honest statement of facts, but unless they are restrained by a knowledge of the harm which is produced by evil tongue and pen pictures, they are likely to yield to the temptation of exaggeration and thereby effect unnecessary evil.

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The Spread of Disease

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