Page:Quackery Unmasked.djvu/279

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CLERICAL INFLUENCE.
275

of medicine, and sometimes whole communities are seen to follow the ipse dixit of such a leader, and to go over almost en masse to some absurd humbug, of the true nature of which they really know nothing. Such men appear to think that a complete revolution is soon to take place in medical matters, and they expect to lead the van to victory. But this unholy enterprise can never be accomplished. Although individuals and communities may thus be led astray for a time, yet the delusion will at length pass away and cast the mantle of shame upon its mistaken advocates; reason will some day return, and truth will be restored. When clergymen exchange the surplice for a medical toga, or attempt to wear both at the same time, they dishonor both professions. Such men are unstable, and often unreliable in everything—they mistake their calling, and instead of endeavoring to persuade men to repair to the great Physician to be healed of moral ills, they direct them to Thomson or Hahnemann for the relief of bodily infirmities; instead of leading men to the fountain of living waters to be cleansed of moral pollutions, they direct them