Article August 22, 1908 Issue

In Dr. Richard C. Cabot's dissertation on Christian Science...

Alfred Farlow

Boston Post

In Dr. Richard C. Cabot's dissertation on Christian Science and its cures, which appeared in McClure's Magazine, he declares: "For if it is true, as stated on page 120 of Science and Health, that 'health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the subject of health,' of course the material senses cannot be trusted when they testify that cancer, consumption, broken bones, or locomotor ataxia have been cured by Christian Science." In reply to this statement we would say that the evidence of the material senses, in respect to disease, yields under Christian Science treatment to a higher, better, more spiritual sense of being; consequently the patient does not need to ask the material senses to testify to or confirm the fact of the healing.

Dr. Cabot declares that he has "studied one hundred cases of Christian Science cures recorded in recent volumes of The Christian Science Journal," and that, "putting together this evidence and comparing it with" his "own experience regarding the accuracy of his own patients' statements about their own diseases," his "conclusions are, first, that most Christian Science cures are probably genuine; but, second, that they are not the cures of organic diseases."

Incidentally he declares that "functional diseases are no more imaginary than an ungovernable temper or a balky horse is imaginary. They are often the source of acute and long-continued suffering; indeed, I believe that there is no class of diseases that gives rise to so much keen suffering." Thus the doctor pays tribute to Christian Science by generously conceding that it heals "real" diseases and destroys an immense amount of suffering. So far, so good. Proceeding, the doctor declares, "The sharpness of this distinction between organic and functional troubles is somewhat blurred," and "organic disease is oftentimes produced by functional disease" and "such organic disease is often cured by Christian Science."

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