THE KI NG' S BUS I NES S however, namely, th a t if the fear of contraction of th a t te rrib le disease is removed, or rendered negligible, th rough discovery of a certain safe, and speedy cure therefore, the m ajority of the hum an race will quickly receive “m ark s” of a v ariety of shapes, not only on th e ir foreheads and rig h t hands, but over a much broader area of th eir bodies th a n is indicated in Revelation 13:16. To the newly-fledged doctor of medi cine, who goes fo rth to practice in the full streng th of his mysteriously worded and brigh tly be-ribboned diplo ma, nothing is more discouraging th an his early discovery th a t th e re are so many bodily infirm ities for which he can do absolutely nothing in the way of satisfactory relief. I am well aware th a t it is not cus tomary for doctors to adm it th is fact. And such a statem en t when made, is always denied w ith more or less (gen erally more) vehemence by some who are high in au th o rity in the medical fratern ity . But the fact rem ains th a t, in spite of “mechano-” , “ electro-” , and hot air “ th erap ies,” and various “-opa- thies,” the patien t w ith any one of do zens of different and universally dis trib u ted physical disorders which I could name, m ight as well have lived away back in th e unenlightened days of Noah, as in th is age of scientific medicine, so far as any hope of cure, or teven of com fortable existence, is concerned. When the field of legitim ate medical activity is viewed in its to tality , it is evident th a t th e heroes and m arty rs of medicine have won, afte r, thousands of years of effort, bu t a few isolated, and these totally barren, victories. Along many lines of previous effort, even the vaguest hope of u ltim ate victory has now been extinguished. The field of nervous and m ental diseases, especially, presents a most appalling spectacle to th e medical philosopher. Christ’s dis ciples were powerless in th e presence
614 fers a strik ing and impressive illu stra tion of th e way in which medicine is even now being tu rn ed from its primal beneficent intention. No one, unless he has investigated th e subject, has any idea of the am ount of suffering and death caused to th e world by venereal diseases. This “ black plague”' is much more dangerous to the hum an race th a n the so-called “white plague,” opposition to which is all the fashion ju st now, And so every genito-urinary investigator is searching for some serum , or other therapeu tic agent, which will not only cure, bu t also prevent th e contraction of, one or more of th e th ree dread ven ereal diseases. P rom a medical stand point surely, and from a so-called phil anthropic standpoint possibly, th is is a most laudable undertaking. But, given th e discovery of cheap therap eu tic agents which shall rend er the p ath of sexual iniquity free from all danger of bodily corruption, and hum an society will dissolve in its own iniquity in an incredibly sho rt time. Even now, E h r lich w ith his new p reparation, for th e present known as “ 606,” claims to be able to cure syphilis by means of one hypoderm ic injection of th e drug. If his claims prove tru e, th e sociological developments resu lting therefrom , will p resen t a field for sober, b u t short-lived, study. Should th is p articu lar new th erap eu tic agent prove n o t to be so beneficent in its effects as is hoped, nevertheless, th e resu lts obtained th u s far, indicate th e possibility of th e discovery of a more effective ag en t in th e n ear future. Should E hrlich accomplish th e discov ery of his long sought remedy, after exactly sixty additional laboratory ex perim ents, and should he announce his final remedy as “ number 666,” it is possible th a t some en thu siastic in ter p rete r of th e figurative school would thereby seek to identify th e German professor w ith the predicted A ntichrist (Rev. 1 3 :1 8 ). This much is certain,
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