Chapter VIII - Healing the Sick
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ence of being to appreciate it, and they must detect the
ence of being to appreciate it, and they must detect the
wicked mal-practice to appreciate that; therefore the
true verdict is not yet given, and Truth can wait, for
it is used to waiting. Will should be impotent except
in 'good will to man,' and this involves open action
and upright conduct; science is not a blind Samson,
shorn of his strength."
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The silent argument used in his own behalf, as he
The silent argument used in his own behalf, as he
manipulates the head, the mal-practitioner would blush
to make audibly. Suppose he has a juror for a patient,
and establishes the mesmeric connection between them,
he can influence more than law or evidence, the verdict
of that honest juror. If a bargain is to ratify, or a
purpose to accomplish for himself, or his reputation at
stake, he looks out for an opportunity to manipulate
the head of some party concerned, and controls their
actions or conclusions to suit the occasion and meet his
desires. Friendship is not too sacred for his depreda-
tions; the friends of many years he separates, covering
all recognition of his villainy and raising himself in the
esteem of those very individuals to whom he has done
irreparable injury.
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Our rebuke to a false student elicited his revenge,
Our rebuke to a false student elicited his revenge,
and through this we discovered the mal-practice we
expose. We have seen manipulating the head form a
habit more pernicious than opium-eating, in which the
treatment must be continued, or the patient go back
to a worse condition than the first.
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It is more difficult to heal the sick, subject to this
It is more difficult to heal the sick, subject to this
mal-practice, than under treatment of drugs; and yet
the patients are strangely attached to their doctor.
We have started patients at once out of disease on the
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road to recovery, on whom this mal-practitioner has
road to recovery, on whom this mal-practitioner has
produced a relapse.
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Scientific treatment fills the mind with Truth that
Scientific treatment fills the mind with Truth that
heals the sick; but the mal-practitioner impregnates it
with error that produces new disease; rubbing the
head, he keeps his cases constantly on hand, because
of the struggle between the little Truth he brings to
bear on the case, and the error he introduces. To have
barely sufficient right to make the wrong plausible, is
more fatal to science than the unmasked error. No
enthusiasm or praise is as zealous or fullsome as this
mal-practitioner can elicit, while nothing is more relent-
less and unyielding than the prejudice he can arouse;
but mesmerism governs them both, and enables the
doctor to gain his point in sin, but not in science.
Surely "the fool hath said in his heart, no God." Man-
ipulating the head, even to a thinness that would reveal
the brains, can never heal the sick in science. This
mental mal-practice is a shameless waste of time and
opportunity, an abuse of ignorance or good nature in-
consistent with science, the economy of Soul and the
harmony of man. This secret trespassor on human rights
manipulates the head to carry out, on a small scale, a sort
of popery that takes away voluntary action instead of
encouraging the science of self-control, and sets himself
up for a doctor who is a base quack. For intermeddling
with what should be the independent functions of soci-
ety, the mal-practitioner gets his fee, but the involuntary
agents of his schemes get bad pay for their services.
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Conservatism or dishonesty, either in the statement
Conservatism or dishonesty, either in the statement
or demonstration of science, is clearly impossible; where
Principle is concerned there is no secret; explanation