Editorial July 3, 1909 Issue

"CONSISTENCY, THOU ART A JEWEL."

Archibald McLellan

Some of the statements about Christian Scientists which are to be found in newspapers of the sensational school, would be entitled to a place in the "funny column" were it not that they deal with serious subjects. A case in point is the newspaper account of the passing away of a man who, according to the head-lines, "Tried Their Treatment After Doctor Had Given Him Up."

After giving the name and address of the physician who as long ago as last February pronounced the case incurable, the statement is made that the patient then turned to Christian Science. According to a member of his family, the patient was temporarily benefited by the treatment, but the reporter naively concludes his story thus: "The police of the — station have made no arrests."

Just why the police should arrest any one is somewhat puzzling to the ordinary reader. If the case was incurable, as diagnosed by the physician, certainly the Christian Scientist was not to blame for the patient's death; and if it was not incurable (the only ground upon which the Scientist could be held at fault), then the physician was mistaken in his diagnosis and was also to blame. Perhaps it was the expectation of the reporter that both the physician and the Christian Scientist would be arrested, because the latter could not be blamed unless the former was guilty of having made a wrong diagnosis.

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