The physical side of this research was aided by hints from homœopathy,
sustaining my final conclusion that mortal belief, instead of the drug,
governed the action of material medicine.
I wandered through the dim mazes of materia medica, till I was weary of
"scientific guessing," as it has been well called. I sought knowledge from
the different schools,—allopathy, homœopathy, hydropathy, electricity,
and from various humbugs,—but without receiving satisfaction.
I found, in the two hundred and sixty-two remedies enumerated by Jahr, one
pervading secret; namely, that the less material medicine we have, and the
more Mind, the better the work is done; a fact which seems to prove the
Principle of Mind-healing. One drop of the thirtieth attenuation of Natrum
muriaticum, in a tumbler-full of water, and one teaspoonful of the water
mixed with the faith of ages, would cure patients not affected by a larger
dose. The drug disappears in the higher attenuations of homœopathy, and
matter is thereby rarefied to its fatal essence, mortal mind; but immortal
Mind, the curative Principle, remains, and is found to be even more active.
The mental virtues of the material methods of medicine, when understood,
were insufficient to satisfy my doubts as to the honesty or utility of
using a material curative. I must know more of the unmixed, unerring
source, in order to gain the Science of Mind, the All-in-all of Spirit, in
which matter is obsolete. Nothing less could solve the mental problem. If I
sought an answer from the medical schools, the reply was dark and
contradictory. Neither ancient nor modern philosophy could clear the
clouds, or give me one distinct statement of the spiritual Science of
Mind-healing. Human reason was not equal to it.
I claim for healing scientifically the following advantages: First: It
does away with all material medicines, and recognizes the antidote for all
sickness, as well as sin, in the immortal Mind; and mortal mind as the
source of all the ills which befall mortals. Second: It is more effectual
than drugs, and cures when they fail, or only relieve; thus proving the
superiority of metaphysics over physics. Third: A person healed by
Christian Science is not only healed of his disease, but he is advanced
morally and spiritually. The mortal body being but the objective state of
the mortal mind, this mind must be renovated to improve the body.
