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 LOU&DES

390

UV&DES

nuni, AuHtria, Hungiiry, Spain, Portugal, Italy, fulatudy: "Onreadingit, unprejudiced minds cannot

England, Ireland, Canada, linizii, Bolivia, otc. The but be convinced that the tacts stated are authentic." bisbopa lead the way. At the end of the year of the Their Cause, — There cxiBta no natural cause capable

^ftietli annivcnsarv, 201.1 jirclates, includJne .'ilii of proiiucing the cures witnessed at Lourdee which dia-

archbishopB, 10 priniatps, 19 patriarchs, 60 cardinal, penBeanunbittssed mind from tracing them back to the

had made the pilgrimaKe to Lourdca. But more jmrticularagencyotGod. ThoBewhorefuBedtobeiievr

remarkable still than the crowd of pilgrima la the in a miraculous intervention Bought at first the Hr~

I of wonderful occurrences which take place under the protection of the celebrated sauc- tuary. Passing over upiritual cures, which more often than not escape huniau oli- eervance, we shall confine ourselves to bodily <liseascs. The writer of this article has recorded every recoverj', whether partial or complete, and in the firat half- century oF the shrine's existence hs has counted 3962. Notwithstanding very careful statis- tics which give the

titic interpretation of

the chemical compo- dtton of the water of the Crotto. But it was then declared by an eminent chem- ist officially ap- pointed tu make the analysis, and his stateiuent has since been corn ihora ted, that the H-alcr eon- tains no curative properties of a nat- ural chancier. Then the incredulous snid, perhaps it ope rotes through ils temper- ature, or the results obtained at I^ourdes may be accounted for "by the bathing in i of the patients who have re- cold water. However, every one knows thnt hydro- covered, the (late of the cure, the name of the disease, therapy is practised elsewhere thnn iit Lourdes, and and generally that of the physician who had charge of that it docs not work the miracle of curing every the case, there are inevitably doubtful or mistaken kind of disease, from cancers to troubles which bring cases, attributable, as arule,totheexcitedfancyof the on blindness. Besides, many ailing ones are cured afflicted one and which time soon dispels. But it is without ever bathing in the basins of the Grotto; only right to note: first, that these unavoidable errors this deciiles the question. Therefore, those who deny re^ud only secondary oases which have not like the eupematuraJ intervention attribute the wonderful

others been the object of special " ' ' ->--•-• -i—

studv; it must also be noted that the Dumber of such cases is equalled and exceeded by actual cures which are not put on record. The afflicted who nave reco\-erod are not obliged to present themselves, and half of thenl do not presenttfiemselves, at the Btiieait dea Constatations M(di- ooles at Lourdes, anil it is frorn this bureau's official reports that the list of cures is druwn up.

The eEtiniale that about 4000 cures have lx>en obtained at Lounlea within the first fifty ycan< of the pikrima)^ is tmdoubtcdiy eonsid- OTSDly leas than the actual numlier, Tbe uurea u des Constatations stands oear the shrine, and there arc re- corded anil checked the certificates ofmalaities.and also the certifimtes of cure; it is ftec to all ph>'siciHua, whatever their nationality or re- ligious belief. Consci'iuentlv, on an aversKe, from two to three liuiidred plrveicians annually visit this niar-

veUous clinic. As to the nature of BuujiDmrEflonBiHonx, the diseases which are cured, ncr- ^"""' "'"lourb" VOUB disorders so frequently men- tionnl, do not fumisli even the fourteenth part of eua

the whole; 27H have lieen counted, nut of a total of the ,, ,^_._ _. .

3962. The present writer has publislied the number gressively, while the complete cures of Lourdes ' "" B of each disease or infirmity, among them stantaneous. Therefore curative suggesti

results seen at Lourdes to two otbei causes. The first is suggestion. To this we answer unhesitatingly that suggestion is radically power- less to furnish the hoped-for ex- t I lunation. Omitting ner\'ous or unctional diseases, wnce they are in the minority among those regis- tered as cured at the Medical Office of the Grotto, and the tact we are now establishing does not require them to lie taken into account,' we may confine our attention to organic diseases. Can suggestion be nued efficaciously in diseases of this nature? The most learned and daring of the suggest iouists of the present day, Bemheim, a Jew, head of the famous school of Naniy , the mote advanced rival of the Ecole de la Salpitriire, answers in the nepti\-e in twenty passages of the Look in which tie has re- oonled the result of his observa- tions: "Hypnotisme, Suggestion, Psychothcrapic" (Paris, 190.1,2nd eiiition). Studj-ing this work, we find also that in the very cases where suggestion has a chance of ■tain functional diseases, it requires operation of time, it cures slowly and pro-

tubercuiosis. tumours, sores, cancers, deafness, blind- explanation,

nees, etc. The "Annales des Sciences Physiques", Lourdes: ti

a sceptical review who.se ehict editor is Doctor Ch. is infinitely Itiehet, l*rotessor at the Mediciil I'aeultv of Paris, said There

io till, rmlisi- ,.|-:■ Ic.ilk;irticlf, a|..-..,>c« .if (lij., I:iilli- mme ilti

the CI

It i!

ns the lost resource of having re

1 ItiW and of saying, for instance, " How