THE MODERN MIRACLE
It has been said that the medical practice of the future will have to
provide for the interference in ordinary therapeutic methods of an
_x_-factor, which is amenable to hypnotic suggestion and to
auto-suggestion, but which on rare occasions assumes a more positive and
extraordinary form, and acts spontaneously. Indeed, we may have to admit
the possibility of an extraneous healing power acting independently of
medical skill and contrary to all recognized therapeutic agents,
medicinal or clinical.
An instance of this is to be seen in what is called the Modern Miracle.
A miracle, it should be understood, is not supernatural. We have no
reason for prescribing limits to Nature’s powers. A miracle is simply an
abnormal manifestation of those powers, and hence something to be
wondered at. The case in point is that of Miss Dorothy Kerin, who on the
night of Sunday, the 18th February, 1912, being bedridden with advanced
tuberculosis, concomitant disease of the kidneys, and finally suffering
from loss of sight and speech, together with some signs of aphasia, was
suddenly and miraculously cured entirely of all ailments, and when
medically examined was pronounced to be absolutely free from tubercle
bacillus, or any other form of morbid disease, and to be in complete
possession of all her faculties and normal bodily functions. The
evidence is unassailable and the facts beyond dispute. We have to
arrange our thought and modify our therapy to accommodate these facts.
Dorothy Kerin was born on the 28th November, 1890, in London, her father
being Irish. She received an ordinary middle-class education in a
private school, and would have gone on the stage, where her sister,
Norah Kerin, has achieved considerable success, but for the break in her
health.
At the time of her wonderful recovery she had not stood up for five
years, and latterly had suffered from partial loss of memory, sight,
hearing and speech. Yet she was always bright and cheerful, and her
invariable sweetness of disposition, her patience and gentleness,
endeared her to all her friends and relatives, and made her greatly
beloved by those who came in contact with her. She was one of those who
“suffered all things gladly,” and was by nature of a religious
disposition. The following account of her recovery is extracted from the
_Daily Mirror_ report of the 19th February—
“Dorothy Kerin is convinced that her remarkable recovery of apparent
health is literally ‘a miracle.’
“Her account of the angelic vision, which on Sunday night restored her
sight, hearing and strength and left her painless, happy and ‘feeling
better than I ever felt in my life before,’ may be ascribed to hysteria
by sceptics, but, whatever the cause, the facts of her recovery are
beyond dispute.
“Dr. Frederick Norman, of Brixton, her physician, is, of course,
deterred by professional etiquette from public discussion of her case.
“‘But it is no secret that my husband was incredulous,’ said Mrs. Norman
to the _Daily Mirror_ yesterday, ‘when he was informed that Dorothy was
“quite well.”’
“‘He did not consider on Saturday that she could possibly remain alive
more than a day or two. The girl had been in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital,
St. Peter’s Home for Incurables at Kilburn, and other institutions, but
was sent home finally as a hopeless case two years ago.
“‘She has not stood up for five years, and latterly was blind and deaf
and utterly weak, taking only occasional doses of brandy and other
stimulants.’
“Dr. Norman has been compelled to safeguard his patient. No fewer than
sixty people saw her yesterday, but such a reception has now been
stopped. A perfectly healthy girl could not stand the constant
excitement of receiving visitors eager to interrogate her. Three days
ago, it must be remembered, she was in an advanced stage of consumption.
“For breakfast yesterday Miss Kerin ate wheat-meal porridge, bacon and
tomatoes, and drank two cups of coffee. A beefsteak was cooked for her
lunch.
“‘I slept last night more soundly than I ever remember doing,’ Miss
Kerin told the _Daily Mirror_ yesterday. She read the Ten Commandments
printed on the base of a minute toy magnifying glass with perfect ease.
Another doctor who was present said he could not read such tiny print.
“‘A fortnight ago,’ said her mother, ‘Dolly could not call things by
their proper names, and often did not know us. Bread was “soft, white
stuff,” fish was “white stuff with needles in it,” nut-milk chocolate
she asked for as “lumpy sweet.”
“‘Now she can bath herself and is not an invalid at all. Often during
her long illness her temperature went up to 105.’
“Miss Kerin shakes hands firmly, and her palm has a touch that is quite
normal. Scores of doctors have already sought permission to see her. The
history of her case is well known to the profession.
“The Rev. A. J. Waldron, vicar of the adjoining parish of St. Matthew’s,
Brixton, visited her yesterday and is making arrangements to have her
moved at once to a nursing home, where she can have privacy and quiet,
with country air.
“Miss Kerin has no hectic flush, and declared yesterday that she did not
feel a bit tired. But there is little doubt she requires careful
supervision to prevent any relapse.”
I am informed by her brother, Mr. G. Kerin, that during her illness, and
especially during the later stages, when her normal faculties showed
signs of decline, that Miss Kerin developed some super-normal powers.
She was able, for instance, to give an accurate account of incidents
happening in connection with her brother while at a distance from home.
The greatest care had to be observed by those in the house when speaking
of her, as she could always hear what was said in another room, although
she appeared deaf to those who spoke aloud in her presence. There is, in
fact, evidence that she developed the telesthesic sense during the later
stages of her illness, but also that she lost this faculty just before
her recovery.
Dr. Forbes Winslow was of opinion that the cure was due to
auto-suggestion. It appears to me a singular conclusion. One can
understand neurasthenia, paralysis and other nervous disorders being
amenable to auto-suggestion, and in fact these are the cases which most
readily respond to such action. But that a young girl whose mind is
perfectly resigned to what she believes to be a mortal disease, and even
suffering gladly the inscrutable ordinances of a beneficent Providence,
should after five years of such suffering suddenly auto-suggest that
there is no organic disease in her body and that she was never better in
her life, seems to me to invest the term “auto-suggestion” with a
meaning and significance it has never yet held. We have to remember that
here there is the certified presence of a virulent organic disease with
concomitant functional disorders. Can Dr. Winslow advance other
instances of voluntary auto-suggestion which have instantly cured morbid
diseases? Yet we are asked to believe that the girl auto-suggested an
angelic presence, a voice that spoke to her, hands that touched her, and
the surpassing miracle of instant destruction in her body of all disease
germs, the restoration of all functional powers and the entire clearing
of the system of effete tissues. Then why did she not do so five years
earlier, before her forces had been undermined by a wasting disease, and
when the will-to-be was stronger in her than it can possibly have been
at the last hour? We shall soon be asked to believe that Miss Kerin
auto-suggested the disease itself. Another instance of your scientific
mind, which lacks the humility necessary to say: “I do not know,” and
plunges into the most absurd speculations to explain what it does not
understand. The mental attitude of that atheist who bowed his head and
wept in the presence of the Unknown commands our instant respect and
approval, but this foolish theorizing by reputable men of science is
only pitiable. And theories in regard to this particular case are not
lacking, for we have in turn hypnotic suggestion (the hypnotizer being
unnamed because non-existent), collective mental therapeutic action,
answer to prayer, and spirit-healing.
As to collective mental therapy, the same objection is raised as in the
case of auto-suggestion. If operative at all in a case of organic
disease, it would be more readily efficacious in the early stages, when
supported by a reasonable expectancy, than at the last, when all hope
had been abandoned. It is true that for some five years prayer had been
consistently made on behalf of the patient, and we have certainly no
means of proving that this sustained effort was not instrumental in the
recovery. But we do know that no mention was made of it by the angelic
visitor. The Presence did not say: “We have heard the prayers of the
people,” or that it came in answer to prayer. The theory of
spirit-healing is by far the most reasonable explanation. It accounts
for the facts without, however, explaining the means by which the cure
was effected.
That it is a perfect instance of organic metabolism everybody must
admit. Exactly similar cases are difficult to find, and in effect Dr.
Ash, who undertook the study of the case after the cure had been
performed, is thereby able to give us a most interesting account of what
he regards as a unique medical experience. The Lourdes miracles are, as
far as I know, all of a nervous character. They pertain to cases where
functional disorders arise from nervous corrosion without lesion. Even
where there is lesion there may come a time when nervous contact is
complete and an instantaneous cure is possible. But in the present case
we have deep-seated organic disease of a chronic nature, the existence
of morbid tissue and whole tracts of the lungs ruined by the action of
noxious germs. So far as our experience goes it would seem that the term
“miraculous intervention” fits this case as well as any other that can
be offered, and certainly better than many that have been applied to it.
It is an old and well-worn term, of a sort to vex the scoffer, but when
it comes to a matter of sticking on labels to cover our ignorance of
methods, we can at least count upon the willing aid of modern science.
For a categorical statement of this case by an independent medical
observer I refer the reader to _Faith and Suggestion_, by Dr. E. L. Ash,
and to the précis of that book by the editor of the _Occult Review_,
July 1912.