Chapter VII - Physiology
Pangs caused by the press
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ing names to diseases and by printing long descriptions
ing names to diseases and by printing long descriptions
which mirror images of disease distinctly in thought. A
new name for an ailment affects people like a
Parisian name for a novel garment. Every one
hastens to get it. A minutely described dis-
ease costs many a man his earthly days of comfort. What
a price for human knowledge! But the price does not ex-
ceed the original cost. God said of the tree of knowledge,
which bears the fruit of sin, disease, and death, "In the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
Higher standard for mortals
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The less that is said of physical structure and laws, and
The less that is said of physical structure and laws, and
the more that is thought and said about moral
and spiritual law, the higher will be the stand-
ard of living and the farther mortals will be re-
moved from imbecility or disease.
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We should master fear, instead of cultivating it. It
We should master fear, instead of cultivating it. It
was the ignorance of our forefathers in the departments
of knowledge now broadcast in the earth, that made them
hardier than our trained physiologists, more honest than
our sleek politicians.
Diet and dyspepsia
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We are told that the simple food our forefathers ate
We are told that the simple food our forefathers ate
helped to make them healthy, but that is a mistake.
Their diet would not cure dyspepsia at this
period. With rules of health in the head
and the most digestible food in the stomach, there would
still be dyspeptics. Many of the effeminate constitutions
of our time will never grow robust until individual opin-
ions improve and mortal belief loses some portion of its
error.
Harm done by physicians
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The doctor's mind reaches that of his patient. The
The doctor's mind reaches that of his patient. The
doctor should suppress his fear of disease, else his belief
in its reality and fatality will harm his patients even more
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than his calomel and morphine, for the higher stratum of
than his calomel and morphine, for the higher stratum of
mortal mind has in belief more power to harm man than
the substratum, matter. A patient hears the
doctor's verdict as a criminal hears his death‑
sentence. The patient may seem calm under it, but he is
not. His fortitude may sustain him, but his fear, which
has already developed the disease that is gaining the
mastery, is increased by the physician's words.
Disease depicted
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The materialistic doctor, though humane, is an art-
The materialistic doctor, though humane, is an art-
ist who outlines his thought relative to disease, and then
fills in his delineations with sketches from text-
books. It is better to prevent disease from
forming in mortal mind afterwards to appear on the
body; but to do this requires attention. The thought of
disease is formed before one sees a doctor and before
the doctor undertakes to dispel it by a counter-irritant,
– perhaps by a blister, by the application of caustic or
croton oil, or by a surgical operation. Again, giving an-
other direction to faith, the physician prescribes drugs,
until the elasticity of mortal thought haply causes a
vigorous reaction upon itself, and reproduces a picture
of healthy and harmonious formations.
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A patient's belief is more or less moulded and formed
A patient's belief is more or less moulded and formed
by his doctor's belief in the case, even though the doctor
says nothing to support his theory. His thoughts and his
patient's commingle, and the stronger thoughts rule the
weaker. Hence the importance that doctors be Christian
Scientists.
Mind over matter
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Because the muscles of the blacksmith's arm are
Because the muscles of the blacksmith's arm are
strongly developed, it does not follow that
exercise has produced this result or that a
less used arm must be weak. If matter were the cause