such intention is far from the original purpose of our government, in which all are "free and equal before the law." It seems justifiable, therefore, to put the case on its merits. What is the service worth? What is the value of a life? What is the value of health to the victim of a chronic disease? It has been stated that there are at least one million Christian Scientists and an equal number of radical philosophers who are adherents of the New Metaphysics. Now, if these people deliberately choose to live and die in their conviction of immortality, as a monument to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, they have a voice in legislation, and those who know and appreciate the service rendered by the mental methods of healing are the ones who are best capable of determining upon the compensation. It is only the testimony of actual experience that establishes the claim of the mental practitioner and gives undeniable recognition to his professional services.

I recall two instances when specialists in materia medica were summoned from the metropolis to a city in New York State for consultation with physicians, in the cases of two chronic invalids pronounced incurable. The specialists were obliged to leave a lucrative practise for not more than twentyfour hours. They came, saw the patients, confirmed the judgment of the family physician that there was "no hope of recovery," that "all had been done that could be done," and in each case, to the surprise of the family, the specialist presented a bill of one thousand dollars.

Now, let us ask the question: What constituted the value of these services? It was not that they saved or even prolonged the life of the patients. In both cases they pronounced the edict of death, and removed all hope. Did they charge for their time and attention and neglect of other patients? Then we must infer that the income from their practise was at least a thousand dollars a day. Since the family had the satisfaction of knowing that all had been done that could be

done, although it was impossible, according to the light of materia medica, to save the life of the patient, it is evident that the specialist charged for the authority of his word. Now a rival claim is presented, which declares that while there is life there is hope that there are no incurable diseases; and this claim is being repeatedly demonstrated by the actual success of mental practitioners in "demonstrating over" disease, especially in a crisis. In a case of life and death, one appears who speaks with authority, not the word of death but of Life. Shall we deny at least an equal valuation upon the services of such a one when he has at length established, through equally successful practise, the Divine Authority of his Word? The end to be accomplished by the law is not the intimidation of any reliable practitioner, but the health and well-being of the community; and if this can be accomplished through the recognition and protection of mental therapeutics, no legal technicalities or short-sighted legislation can long prevail in any State contrary to its own best interests.

To return to the writer in "Law Notes," he makes a fair statement in saying that "the proper purpose of the statutes seems to be accomplished if those who profess to cure or treat diseases according to a particular system are thoroughly instructed in the methods recommended and adopted by that system;" and "one who applies to a Christian Scientist for treatment knows what he is going to receive. He does not expect medicines or surgical operations. being imposed upon in this sense.”

He runs no risk of

Another case quoted is Wheeler v. Sawyer (Me., 1888), 15 Atl. Rep. 67. The plaintiff was a Christian Scientist and brought action to recover compensation for medical services rendered by him. The question of "compensation" is here clearly determined in favor of the mental practitioner. The court held him entitled to recover, saying: "We are not required here to investigate 'Christian Science.' The defendant's intestate chose that treatment and received it, and prom

ised to pay for it.

There is nothing unlawful or immoral in such a contract. Its wisdom or folly is for the parties, not the court, to determine." The Maine law having required a certificate of good moral character from the municipal officers of the town where the practitioner resided, and this having been previously obtained, all the conditions of the law were satisfied.

The Daily Eagle, of Wichita, Kansas, states the following:

"Christian Science scored a sweeping victory over the medical fraternity in the Oklahoma legislature, after a sharp, decisive round in the council, where McElrath's house bill, regulating the practise of medicine, came up for consideration. The bill, as it passed the house, was sweeping in its provisions, and prohibited any one from administering treatment save graduates of medical colleges, approved by the Territorial Board of Health. In the council committee of the whole, Senator Gandy offered an amendment excepting Christian Scientists from the provisions of this bill, the author of the amendment taking the broad ground that the legislature had no right to legislate against the religious belief of any citizen. The doctors in the council, Senators Winkler and Magness, opposed the amendment, as did also Senators Biddison and Thacker. Their opposition was futile, though, against the solid majority favoring the amendment. Not only was the amendment adopted, but the entire bill was laid

on the table."

The exception thus made by the Oklahoma legislature in favor of "Christian Science," on the ground of religious belief, fails to recognize an equally large class of mental practitioners who give successful treatments and whose practise is also founded upon the principles and laws of metaphysics, but irrespective of any one religious book or form of worship, for the reason that they recognize all religions as proceeding from a metaphysical source. While pursuing their practise in the unemotional light of scientific knowledge, they are nevertheless a distinctive and important factor of the New Metaphysics. Instead of using the term "Christian Science," the Oklahoma legislature need not have committed itself to any sectarian favoritism had it decided the case upon the actual merits of "mental therapeutics"-a term comprehensive enough to include all the factions of mental practise in its relation to

healing, and by no means antagonistic to "the medical fraternity."

A case in New York State raised the question whether parents could be held liable to the law when placing their children under the treatment of a Christian Scientist, instead of a regular practitioner. If the Church had retained the efficacy of prayer for the sick with a view to actual recovery, or if the anointing of the sick had continued to be used as a means of restoring to health instead of its almost exclusive use as a last rite to the dying, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit would not now be regarded with suspicion, especially in the case of children. It is evident that the Puritan spirit has still a great work to accomplish when we consider that it was necessary to go back to the decision of an English judge in the case of a sect known as the "Peculiar People." In "Reg. v. Cook, decided by Darling, J.," it appeared that the defendants, a father and mother who were indicted for manslaughter of their infant daughter, belonged to this sect, and that, under the doctrines of this body, a physician was not to be called in in case of sickness. When one of the "Peculiar People" became ill an elder prayed over the patient and anointed him with oil. In the instance of the defendant's little daughter, this treatment proved ineffective in a case of whooping cough, and the child died. Darling, J., in charging the jury, said: "It is the duty of parents to provide medical aid for their children. A child does not know anything about the tenets of the 'Peculiar People.' While the child is of tender years and cannot choose for itself, the law protects it. If the defendants neglect a duty which the law imposes upon them--the duty of calling in medical aid for the child—and death is thereby caused or accelerated, they are guilty of the charge made against them." The judge fails to recognize the fact that neither could the child know anything about the methods of materia medica; but, of the two, prayer is more natural to the child than medicine.

Another case of a Christian Scientist who lost a patient in Mount Vernon recalled the smoldering feud of the medical fraternity and their repeatedly unsuccessful attempts to suppress Christian Science before the Albany legislature. The law is not concerned with the conflict of schools, but with the protection of society; and a case of this kind must be judged on the basis of individual rights. The combined influence of established schools acting upon a prejudiced coroner cannot be allowed to swallow up the rights of the individual and overshadow the germs of progressive development, which are the real elements of individual and national growth. In the necessary legislation against "quacks and charlatans" it must be remembered that such frauds are likewise contingents of materia medica, and by no means peculiar to the schools of mental practise. The New Metaphysics is dealing less with effects but searching for causes in the antagonistic and oppressive conditions of society. It regards these conditions as indicating the birth of a new era-the era of individual freedom, characterized by coöperation rather than the bitter competition which has been the occasion for much of the suffering, sorrow, disappointment, worry, anxiety, fear, and other mental conditions that lead eventually to disease and premature deathnay, even to murder and suicide.

It is recognized, perhaps for the first time in history, that man is the arbiter of his own destiny; and we are able to perceive as never before that our boasted institutions, our hospitals, jails, reformatories, insane asylums, our innumerable specialists for every part of the human body and the body politic, nay, even our dispensing charities, are not the pride of our nation, as we have so long fondly supposed; but the very necessity for their existence and rapid increase is a positive disgrace, and causes them to be regarded as monuments of some fundamental error or neglect. Were it not for the steamy, unselfish, and wise provisional safeguard of society in the form of the various schools of mental therapeutics, the case would be well