Science Nonplussed at Lourdes

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 23, 8 June 1905, Page 29

Science Nonplussed at Lourdes

Several montns ago— or, to be precise, on September 8, 11J04 — there appeared in an important Austrian journal, the ' Vaterland ' of Vienna, an article (says the ' A\e Maria ') which attracted more than cursory notice in the medical and religious circles of two or three European countries. The prominence of its autihor, Dr. Ivan Sustersic, member of the Austrian Reichsrath, and the intrinsic interest attaching to its subject-matter, assured the article's reproduction in a number of French and German papers ; and we were not without hopes of seeing at least some extracts from it reprinted in one or two American periodicals. As the article deals with a notable cure effected at Lourdes, it will not be thought inappropriate if we furnish our readers with the details of a case which has once more demonstrated that Science, boastful as she is in many quarters, finds herself at the Pyrenean Grotto brought to a standstill, completely nonplussed. The Austrian legislator's paper bears the heading, ' The Lupus of Met/- and the Lourdes Board of Medical Verifications ' ; and its opening sentences are : ' The cure at Lourdes on September 5, 1903, of Mrs. Theresa Rouchel, who rdsides at No. 3 Vigjne-Saint-Avold street, Met 7, was a decidedly sensational one,; among other results, it brought about a declaration as to its genuineness by the Metz Medical Association. Following this action of the Mcs'sinc doctors, a number of anti-reli-gious journals published bitter arid severe criticisms of the Lourdes Board of Medical Verifications. On the occasion of a ten days' visit recently made to Lourdes, I had an opportunity of securing a well-ordered and Documentary Account of this ca c o at the Board of Verifications. The nresident, Dr. Boissarie, was Mnd enough to give me, in substance, the explanations which follow, with express Dermission to publish them ; should I deem it advisable or worth while.' According to Dr. Boissarie, then, Mrs Rouchel had been suffering for a number of years from a lupus on the face. In the right cheek there was a hole, of about a finger's diameter, through which a lead-pencil could easily be passed. Whenever she wished to drink it became necessary to fill up this cauty with lint, in older to pre\ent The spilling of t>he liquid through the opening. Besides this, tihere was also a perforation of trie palate. On Seitemher 5, 190,-i, during the proces-ion of the Blfssrd Sacrament at Lourdes, these two holes closed up and cicatii'cd completely, in a tew moments. Now, it is absolutely ini'xissiLle to c\"l«iin on natural grounds the instantaneous closing of these two suppurating \\ ()' IT'S 'Flo i f.t lent vi.is presence.; by her physician, Dr. Ernst, to the consideration ot tVe AM/ Medical Associate n Di . Knist saw Mis Rcnu lvi pist before and just after her pilgiimage to T.oun'cs. Before her departure he certified as to the existence of the iv.o holes. The palate, he declared, had brcn peiforatcd for four years, die right cheek for three years. During this period the appearance of the patient nad become pitiable ; the nose and the upper lip weie drav. n im and distorted, and were co\cred with a fetid pus, which also infected" . the interior of the morth Such was tho strjte in which Dr Ernst saw Mrs. Rouchel when sue s^t out for Lourdes. The infirmarians who frequently daring the tfay renewed the dressings on the patient's face testified that, up to September 5, l'lfH, no iciianire took ] lace in her condition- the two heirs were there, as was also t're suppuration. The n irse who bathed Mrv Roiuhel in the piscina on September 5 it •■elf. had seen the two gaping cauties From the one in the cheek pus wns running freely Before the procession, another nur<=c who bound up the patient's face obsened the same conditions Immediately after the procession it was found that the two holes were Completely Ofloscd uo. On the following day, in the presence of five or six physicians who were with him at the Board. Dr. Boissaiie satisfied himself that the wounds of the cheek and i the nalate were entirely cicatrized. These verifications, effected in the course of a few hours, suffice to establish tho instantaneousness of the cure. Two Metz doctors, Ernst md Mi Her— the laHer a Jew and a specialist on si in disease —admitted that all these results were most evtraordinarv and difficult to explain. An'l now comes a specimen of the uprightness, the impartial demotion to truth, of some of our contemporary scientist.--,— a s-ncrimen that recalls the ' honor bright* argumentative ethics of the late Colonel Tngersoll. As has been plated. Dr. Ernst presented Mrs. Rouchel, cured, to the Metz Medical Association. They examined

her and — acknowledged the cure ? Not at all ! In the proces verbal drawn up and signed by the physicians present, it was declared that : '1. The patient was not cured, as there was still a redne&s on the cheek. 2. The improvement noticed could be explained by natural factors.' As will readily be seen, the Metz doctors did not in this declaration meet tihe main issue at all ; they simply dodged it. They were dumb about the wounds, the perforations ; these were Sropped out of sight entirely. They spoke of nothing but the lupus, of which they still found traces ; declared that it was not cured, and that a relapse might occur. The Lourdes Physician does not purpose allowing the quibbling of the Metz Association to cloud the issue. ' The one prominent fact which must not be lost sight of,' he says, ' is this : Mrs. Roaichel was cured on September 5, 1903, in a few moments, of two deep wounds, which, one during four, the other during three, years had constantly been increasing in size despite all medical treatment ; aoid which even under the most favorable possible conditions would, naturally, ha\e required at least a month to become closed up. The lay reader will, we presume, appreciate Dr. Boissarie's point— namely, that, even if the lupus itself were not radically and completely cured, the instantaneous healing of the holes in cheek and palate still remained unexplained and inexplicable by scientific process. Moreover, as the president of the Lourdes Board observed to Dr. Sustersic, if the Metz physicians took upon themselves the responsibility of affirming that the ludus was not cured, it was incumbent upon them to furnish proof of that fact, either by instituting a search for bacilli. or by inoculating animals, or by waiting a certain period in 'order to point out a relapse. 'If these doctors believe,' he continued, ' that a natural explanation is available for the instantaneous change eft'eeteld on September 5, 1903, then I, in my turn, challenge them in the interests of science, to furnish that explanation, which, despite all the public demands made for it up to the present time, has not been forthcoming. After a full year, all the results are flatly contradictory of the opinion of the Metz doctors. As long as Mrs. Roirchel li\es, we shall not fail to present her to our colleagues every year.' Ilaung quoted Dr. Roissarie at considerable length, the ' Vaterland ' writer ne\t gives the text of the certificate signed by Dr Ernst, the attendant physician of Mrs. Rouchel, and dated December 22, 1903 Of this document, the last sentence will suffice for our purpose It runs • 'It is impossible to explain naturally the change efiected in so short a time.' The Original Certificate is to be found among the archUes of) the Board of Verifications at Lourdes. *

1 I conclude,' writes Dr. Sustersic, ' with an observation. During my ten days' sojourn at Lourdes, I had— thanks to the graciousness of the Bishop of Tarbes, Monsignor Sc/hoepfer, and of tne doctors of the Board of Verifications, of their venerated president, Dr. Boissarie, in particular— l had, I say, the opportunity of following very closely the work of the Hoard. I availed myself freely of the facilities put within my reach, and spent rruany hours daily in the doctors' session rooms. As it was just tihe perioS of important pilgrimages, and' particularly of the great National French Pilgrimage, I could observe the Medical Board in its most intense activity. I can tesxify to the conscientious loyalty of its members, and to the absolute objectivity of their work, vouched for in any case by the publicity (unlimited for metmbers of the profession) with which they labor ; since every physician who presents himselfl, whatever be his opinions, his religion, or his nationality, is admitted not only as a spectator, but even as collaborator, and authorised like his colleagues on the Board to question and examine. Let us add that,, since the publication of Dr. Sustersic's article, Mrs. Rouchel has been to Lourdes again, and the genuineness of her cure has been corroborated by the examiination which she underwent at the Board of Verifications. Dr. Boissarie took occasion of her presence to publish tan account of her original cure, to comment on the discussion to which it gave rise in the German press in 1903, and to inxite once! more the sapient scientists of Metz to bring forward the explanation which they rashly and falsely assertea could be given of the instantaneous healing of two deep wounds. The only congruous attitude for Science to assume at the Grotto of Lourdes is one of reverent humility. Face to face with wonders which, according to its accepted formulas, are incapable of being accomplished, it should at lease have the honesty to admit its incompetency to exrlain practical concrete facts. One tiling is undeniable : until it can satisfactorily explain such facts as the cure discussed in the foregoing paragTaphs, it forfeits, in the opinion of every sane reasoner, all right to sroff at the credulity of the Latin races and the Catholic belief in miracles.