Chapter VI - Science, Theology, Medicine
Source of contagion
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error in any form, and certainly we should not be error's
error in any form, and certainly we should not be error's
advocate.
Disease arises, like other mental conditions, from as-
sociation. Since it is a law of mortal mind that certain
diseases should be regarded as contagious, this law ob-
tains credit through association, – calling up the fear that
creates the image of disease and its consequent manifes-
tation in the body.
Imaginary cholera
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This fact in metaphysics is illustrated by the following
This fact in metaphysics is illustrated by the following
incident: A man was made to believe that he occupied a
bed where a cholera patient had died. Imme-
diately the symptoms of this disease appeared,
and the man died. The fact was, that he had not caught
the cholera by material contact, because no cholera patient
had been in that bed.
Children's ailments
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If a child is exposed to contagion or infection, the
If a child is exposed to contagion or infection, the
mother is frightened and says, "My child will be sick."
The law of mortal mind and her own fears gov-
ern her child more than the child's mind gov-
erns itself, and they produce the very results which might
have been prevented through the opposite understanding.
Then it is believed that exposure to the contagion wrought
the mischief.
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That mother is not a Christian Scientist, and her affec-
That mother is not a Christian Scientist, and her affec-
tions need better guidance, who says to her child: "You
look sick," "You look tired," "You need rest," or "You
need medicine."
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Such a mother runs to her little one, who thinks she has
Such a mother runs to her little one, who thinks she has
hurt her face by falling on the carpet, and says, moaning
more childishly than her child, "Mamma knows you are
hurt." The better and more successful method for any
mother to adopt is to say: "Oh, never mind! You're not
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hurt, so don't think you are." Presently the child forgets
hurt, so don't think you are." Presently the child forgets
all about the accident, and is at play.
Drug-power mental
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When the sick recover by the use of drugs, it is the law
When the sick recover by the use of drugs, it is the law
of a general belief, culminating in individual faith, which
heals; and according to this faith will the effect
be. Even when you take away the individual
confidence in the drug, you have not yet divorced the drug
from the general faith. The chemist, the botanist, the
druggist, the doctor, and the nurse equip the medicine
with their faith, and the beliefs which are in the majority
rule. When the general belief endorses the inanimate
drug as doing this or that, individual dissent or faith, un-
less it rests on Science, is but a belief held by a minority,
and such a belief is governed by the majority.
Belief in physics
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The universal belief in physics weighs against the high
The universal belief in physics weighs against the high
and mighty truths of Christian metaphysics. This errone-
ous general belief, which sustains medicine and
produces all medical results, works against
Christian Science; and the percentage of power on the
side of this Science must mightily outweigh the power of
popular belief in order to heal a single case of disease. The
human mind acts more powerfully to offset the discords
of matter and the ills of flesh, in proportion as it puts less
weight into the material or fleshly scale and more weight
into the spiritual scale. Homoeopathy diminishes the
drug, but the potency of the medicine increases as the
drug disappears.
Nature of drugs
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Vegetarianism, homoeopathy, and hydropathy have
Vegetarianism, homoeopathy, and hydropathy have
diminished drugging; but if drugs are an antidote to
disease, why lessen the antidote? If drugs
are good things, is it safe to say that the
less in quantity you have of them the better? If drugs