Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science by Martin Gardner

Author:Martin Gardner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2012-10-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

Medical Cults

IN NO OTHER field have pseudo-scientists flourished as prominently as in the field of medicine. It is not hard to understand why. In the first place, a medical quack—if he presents an impressive façade—can usually make a great deal of money. In the second place, if he is sincere, or partly sincere, the healing successes he is almost sure to achieve will greatly bolster his delusions. In some cases, of course, the doctor is an out-and-out charlatan. In other cases he is as sincere as was Piazzi Smyth about the Great Pyramid. In still other cases, there is that baffling mixture of sincerity and skullduggery which so often is found within a crackpot’s brain.

There are two great secrets of the quack’s success. One is the fact that many human ills, including some of the severest, will run their course and vanish without treatment of any sort. Suppose, for example, Mrs. Smith is unable to get rid of an annoying cold. She decides to try a new doctor she has heard about, whose methods are unorthodox, but who has been strongly recommended. The doctor proves to be a distinguished-looking man who talks with great authority about his work. Diplomas from several medical schools are on the wall, and he is apt to have a number of letters after his name. (Mrs. Smith doesn’t know that these degrees were given by small schools no longer in existence, some of which the doctor himself may have founded.)

Mrs. Smith decides she has nothing to lose. In addition, she is lonely and enjoys talking to doctors about her troubles. So she takes off her shoes and stockings and lets the doctor shine infra-red light on her feet for ten minutes. It costs only five dollars, but of course she has to return for two or three additional treatments. After a week or so her cold has vanished. Incredible as it may seem, Mrs. Smith is now firmly persuaded that the infra-red light is responsible for the cure. She becomes one of the doctor’s loyal boosters. Before the year is over, he has milked several hundred dollars from her bank account.

Charles Fort summed it all up succinctly. “Eclipses occur, and savages are frightened. The medicine men wave wands—the sun is cured—they did it.” Half the successes of medical quacks are exactly of this sort.

The other half are due to the fact that many of life’s ills are wholly or in part psychosomatic. If a patient with such complaints has faith in a doctor, regardless of how bizarre the doctor’s methods may be, he often will be miraculously cured. And, of course, the larger the following the doctor has, the more the patient’s faith is augmented. Moreover, if dozens of Mrs. Smith’s friends are chattering about infra-red healing, the stronger will be her desire to become part of this trend—an initiate who can talk about her experiences with the new type of treatment. When everyone is seeing flying saucers, you naturally would like to see one yourself.

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