James J. Walsh
of New York, believe in the miracles of Lourdes.(24) Only a few weeks
ago, the Bishop of London followed with great success, it is said, the
practice of St. James. It does not really concern us much--as Oriental
views of disease and its cure have had very little influence on
the evolution of scientific medicine--except in illustration of the
persistence of an attitude towards disease always widely prevalent,
and, indeed, increasing. Nor can we say that the medicine of our great
colleague, St. Luke, the Beloved Physician, whose praise is in the
Gospels, differs so fundamentally from that of the other writings of the
New Testament that we can claim for it a scientific quality. The stories
of the miracles have technical terms and are in a language adorned
by medical phraseology, but the mental attitude towards disease
is certainly not that of a follower of Hippocrates, nor even of a
scientifically trained contemporary of Dioscorides.(25)
(24) Psychotherapy, New York, 1919, p. 79, "I am convinced
that miracles happen there. There is more than natural power
manifest."
(25) See Luke the Physician, by Harnack, English ed., 1907,
and W. K. Hobart, The Medical Language of St.
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