Article November 26, 1910 Issue

On reading the account of the coroner's inquest at Urmston,...

E. M. Ramsay—Edinburgh, Scot.

Scotsman

On reading the account of the coroner's inquest at Urmston, I feel sure that a great many others besides myself will feel indignant at the way in which the coroner and jury behaved. To the ordinary Scot there seems no reason why any inquiry should have been held at all. A sane, intelligent man, in the prime of life, suffering from tuberculosis of the knee-joint, was informed by his doctor that his only hope lay in the amputation of his leg; he declined to have the operation, and tried Christian Science treatment, which proved unsuccessful. At the inquest the doctor contented himself with saying that if the leg had been amputated the man might have had a chance of life.

It was made plain at the inquest that the patient had known about Christian Science for years, that it was he himself who asked for the assistance of the Christian Science practitioner, and that he took all responsibility upon himself. What more was there to be said? No excuse whatever can be made for the way the practitioner was treated under examination, nor for the way in which his faith in God was derided. The whole affair was a disgraceful attack upon the religion of a body of Christians who are making a humble and sincere attempt to keep the commands of the Saviour.

In conclusion, let me quote from a friend of my own, a resident of this very town of Edinburgh: "I have been operated on over ten times for what the surgeon told me was a tubercular affection of my arms, legs, and ribs; but it was not until I came in contact with Christian Science that I was cured, and the disease thoroughly eradicated from my system."

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