Excerpt from Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 1899, Vol. 6
He thought that both classes of cures, however, were attributable to the same causes, and concluded by expressing the opinion that "religion may not claim as a special miracle the healings which are constantly effected by other means."
Mr. Myers remarked that there was a considerable literature in America on the subject of "Faith-healing," but the diagnoses of cases and the details given were mostly so loose and inadequate as to be utterly worthless for scientific purposes. He urged that any member of the S.P.R. who knew of such cases, whether American or English, should send the details to him for investigation by medical experts.
Professor Barrett said that he had seen the subject of the case at Chicago described by Mr. Pearsall Smith, and heard from him that he did not now regard his cure as in any way supernatural. He himself had seen cases of "faith-healing," but none that he considered altogether satisfactory, viz., none in which the necessary medical examination before and after the alleged cure had been conducted by the same medical man.
The Rev. R. F. Clarke, S.J., maintained that none of the cases quoted by Mr. Pearsall Smith would have been claimed as miracles at Lourdes except that of the boy at Chicago. At Lourdes, certificates are required from the doctors before and after the alleged cures, which then are not counted as miracles until 12 months have passed without a relapse occurring. He gave the case of a stone-cutter whose eyesight had been entirely destroyed by a small piece of stone having entered the eye. He was cured instantly after washing it with some Lourdes water. Another man, who, according to the medical certificate, had had the bones of his leg broken into several pieces by the trunk of a tree falling on it, was cured instantly at Lourdes. He did not deny that there were many failures - the proportion of successes being only about two or three per cent. Neither did he deny that a certain number of the cures - e.g., of paralysis, hysteria, etc. - might be accounted for by ordinary means. Such cures were not called miracles at Lourdes, but "graces" or "material favours." There were, however, some cases of the healing of organic lesions that were absolutely incurable, or would take many months to be cured, by ordinary means. No one was so careful not to admit the occurrence of miracles as the authorities of the Catholic Church. At Lourdes, the shrine was not recognised by the Bishop for a long time. A few cures took place in the crowd, where excitement might be supposed to play a part, but the greater number occurred in the bath, in the presence of two or three witnesses only, where there could be no excitement.
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