Article April 6, 1912 Issue

In a recent issue a paragraph from the New York Times...

Alfred Farlow

Los Angeles (Cal.) Graphic

In a recent issue a paragraph from the New York Times is published, commenting upon the recent conduct of our President in the modification of an order regulating the practice of medicine in the Panama Canal Zone. The Times declares that this order "came from men who in a few years have changed Panama from a pesthole ... to one with a death rate far below that of many of our own cities." It is well to call attention to the fact that this excellent result was accomplished while Christian Scientists were permitted to practise in the Zone, and it is therefore palpably evident that the practice of Christian Science there had not interfered with the health of the community; and having some knowledge of the good results of Christian Science practice in that locality, we do not hesitate to say that Christian Science has contributed largely toward the commendable condition which exists there. For these reasons, there was no necessity for the issuance of an order restricting individual privilege, and far from "overruling a good order" the President manifested his wisdom and fair-mindedness when he declined to assume the stupendous responsibility of establishing state medicine in the Zone.

You say, "The ills which Christian Scientists relieve are mostly mental, and in effecting cures of this kind they have often succeeded where the best licensed physicians have failed." Where shall we draw the line and say, Thus far and no farther? Who is able to say when we have crossed over from what is termed a "mental" disease to an "organic" disease? Christian Scientists of many years' experience testify that they have succeeded quite as well in the curing of so-called "organic" diseases as they have in the curing of those diseases which are recognized as "purely mental," and this gives evidence that "all disease is mental at bottom," as an eminent physician puts it. Every one will admit that fear is a large factor in malignant contagious diseases, and the influence of Christian Science in a community subject to such diseases cannot be overestimated, since the realization of the ever-presence and omnipotence of divine Love which it produces minimizes or destroys fear in all circumstances.

Sanitary methods are strictly in keeping with the belief and practice of Christian Scientists, though they differ from others in their understanding of the nature of disease and its proper remedy. That they understand the real nature of disease, notwithstanding that they make no pretensions at being able to diagnose from a physiological point of view, evidences this fact.

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