Quackery and How to Avoid It by J. E. Froom

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jan 8, 1914

Quackery and How to Avoid It

By J. E. Froom

J. E. FROOM, M. D.

We do not fully appreciate the blessings intrusted to this people in the various phases of Bible truth which we have espoused. Take, for instance, the tithing system, with its equal and universal distribution of burdens, adapted as it is to the feeblest beginnings, and perfectly meeting the needs of every degree of growth and expansion. The Bible system of finance, with its attendant spiritual blessings, is a delight to its adherents and a marvel to onlookers. Another illustration is the system of Christian education, with its benefits resulting in absolute proportion to the extent that we engage in it, throwing about our youth many and greatly needed safeguards. And there is the publishing and colporteur work, by which this denomination does a larger volume of aggressive missionary work than any other church in existence. Then one of our most conspicuous blessings is embraced in the system of healthful living. Our observance of the simple laws of health is bearing fruit in the greatly improved rising generation. It would offer a most interesting field for calculation to estimate the amount of debility, sickness, suffering, and expense which we as a denomination escape by dressing simply; by appreciating the importance of physiological exercise, ventilation, wholesome diet, and the care of the skin; by excluding the use of coffee, tea, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, patent medicines, and questionable amusements. Perhaps we ourselves can hardly believe the total amount of cash saved annually by this people as the direct result of our adopting the better ways of living taught by the Seventh-day Adventists. Certainly these things have an important bearing on the constant and ever-increasing contributions which we willingly make toward evangelistic work. It is a fact of no small significance that this small and not wealthy denomination, without any special or undue effort, contributed over $2,700,000 cash during the last year for evangelistic and missionary work. While these facts are very encouraging, we are sure that the benefits will aggregate far more as we more generally and intelligently adopt the plan of simple living.

We are not likely to overestimate the importance of healthful living; the danger is rather that its fundamentals will be overlooked because of their being inexpensive and simple.

The medical profession has made wonderful strides in gaining a knowledge of the structure of the human body, the chemistry of foods, the subject of nutrition, and the causes of disease, both bacterial and functional; the exact information concerning the blood, its circulation, and the means by which the white blood cells combat disease; the pathological changes made in the organs and tissues by disease; the recognition of various germs, their mode of attack, and the characteristic diseases produced by different germs; the exhaustive and exact methods of diagnosis; and the wonderful achievements of modern surgery,—all this information tends to make medicine an exact science. The practice of medicine as it is now carried on lessens the superstitious regard for physicians, and gives more protection from the false and conceited claims of quacks. The medical profession demands diagnostic ability of its members, and surely the laity who pay for medical services have a right to expect a fair degree of skill to discover what ails a patient before a self-asserted healer begins to treat a sick person and to demand pay for his services.

It is certainly not proceeding intelligently to decide that a person has kidney trouble merely because he has a pain in his back, or appendicitis because he has a pain in his front, or bladder trouble because the urine is irritating. It is necessary and entirely possible to decide whether the trouble is with the bladder or with the kidneys; and if the latter, to know which kidney is diseased, or whether both of them are involved. With all the ability that physicians may acquire by study and by experience, intelligent patients go to them realizing their limitations. But what shall we conclude of persons who have one cure for every ailment? And by the way, that is one test by which you may tell a quack. Be afraid of a person who claims to cure all diseases, from cancer to corns. Look out for your pocketbook and for your life when you talk with one who undertakes to treat all sick persons alike. It does not make any difference what the remedy is, whether it is fasting and work, or feeding and rest, or sweats, herbs, some Chinese medicine, or a secret recipe for a salve, or whether he treats by absent treatment or by reading Mrs. Eddy's book to you.

Your health is more under your own control than it is under the control of any doctor in the world. You should eat well-prepared and properly combined wholesome food at regular hours; drink plenty of good water; dress healthfully; have good ventilation; practice deep breathing; get plenty of sunshine; exercise and bathe regularly; practice temperance (i. e., real, intelligent moderation in your work and in your private life as well as in eating and drinking); and maintain unlimited confidence in God's love and care for you and yours. These simple and inexpensive rules and practices should be carried out intelligently. They will do more to keep you in health than barrels of drugs. And if through inheritance, accident, or abuses you have caused injury to any of your organs or disturbed their function, surgical or remedial help from a physician may be necessary to start you on the road to health. Then the use of natural means which God has placed within our reach will prove to be the most permanent aids in restoring you to the best degree of health that it is possible for you to secure. Take hold of these things hopefully, and ask God's blessing on your use of them.

If you have an ailment which will not yield to your efforts nor the efforts of an intelligent physician, I consider it your privilege to follow the instruction in the fifth chapter of James, and ask God to glorify his name by doing for you what you and human skill cannot do. But some one asks, Why not ask God in the first place to heal the sick?—Because if God should heal us promptly every time we asked it, most of us would become careless in regard to the relation of cause and effect to the law of sowing

and reaping. The Scripture says that “by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.” Many times I think that pain and sickness help us to think straight and to have more respect for God's laws.

Some may ask why I practice medicine when I hold such views. In the first place, caring for the sick affords a splendid chance to direct the minds of individuals to Christ as one tries to relieve their suffering. It affords splendid opportunity to educate persons concerning God's laws, and to dissipate superstition by showing them how to cooperate with God in maintaining a pure quality of blood and by using natural agencies to increase the elimination of waste matter from the blood and to improve the circulation. Do not be afraid to lend your influence in this way. God's blessing will attend your efforts, and “in watering others, your own souls will be watered.”