Article October 21, 1905 Issue

Should Doctors be Named as Sole Guardians of the Public?

Alfred Farlow

Boston Times

The proposition as to whether or not the sole guardianship of the public health should be placed in the hands of the M.D.'s is important, and involves a great many questions of detail. If medicine had proved itself an absolute cure for all the ills of the flesh, it might be looked upon as a necessity, and its disregard might be considered a neglect; but, as a matter of fact, thousands die daily under the care of reputable physicians, and no school of medicine has proved itself sufficiently successful to justify the condemnation of others. Christian Science, for example has healed hundreds who had formerly failed to recover under medical treatment, and it is safe to assume that there are millions who are in need of the same sort of rescue, and any law prohibiting the practice of Christian Science would, therefore, be a detriment to the public good and would result in the death of many thousands whom we may logically conclude could be saved through its ministry.

Again, Christian Science has not only been efficacious in healing those chronic cases which medicine has failed to reach, but it has proved itself to be a more efficacious method of curing acute troubles, not only in the treatment of adults but of children also, than any other known system.

It is needless to say that the prohibition of the acceptance of a fee is only another expression of the endeavor to prohibit the practice of Christian Science altogether. If the practice of Christian Science is wrong, withholding a fee would not make it right; on the other hand, if the practice is right, the acceptance of a monetary return does not make it wrong. The advisability of permitting the practice of Christian Science does not depend upon the question of accepting a fee therefor, and there could be no other possible motive for preventing the acceptance of a fee than the curtailment of the practice itself.

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