Over the centuries killer diseases have been eradicated, and science is working on cures for illnesses which do not affect a huge number of people but wreck the lives of sufferers. There have been several ‘Eureka’ moments, but I would bet that the new treatment for losing weight will have a greater effect than finding what caused cholera. I see the publicity as dangerous, latest publicist Serena Williams. ‘Doses’ were selling for £300 on the black market. The possibility of gain is so enormous that chemists who have the formula will be tempted to sell it, and clever geeks in China will be working hard to trace the formula, copy it, and it will be on the web. It is stressed that it must be used under medical supervision, but the desire to lose weight is such that people will take chances and look for a ‘quick fix’.

I picked up a book on ‘Healing Saints in Normandy; and, intrigued, was reading it in the Doctor’s waiting room, he, too, was intrigued as we were planning a talk on medical history together. Despite his high level training, frequent university updates, he was aware of non-medical phenomena believed in by people in whom religion and legend have a very strong background.

These ‘healing saints’, 103 cited  (many of whom had never been heard of and certainly not sanctified by any Pope) claimed being able to heal things like rickets, whooping cough and worm infestation. The cynic in me is uppermost seeing the number who claimed to cure digestive problems, given the French love of food and hypochondriacal tendencies. At places which have become, shrines, the most famous being Lourdes, statues are erected, and gratitude is offered in the form of votive offerings, satin hearts, and messages of thanks. In Syracuuse, Italy, the virgin was said to weep on Good Friday. An amazing church has been built in the shape of a tear-drop. It has become famous for ‘healing’ people with mobility problems; all round the crypt are a vast range of sticks, walking frames and prostheses.  Lourdes ‘claims’ thousands of cures, but there are only 62 cases of people whose recovery has no medical explanation whatsoever. 

One place I could only describe as infamous. This was a very famous Ashram in Pondicherry, India. Thousands of people went there, at vast expense, to sit at the feet of the ‘guru’ to ‘find themselves’. (He had in fact, fled the ex British Raj, being a follower of Ghandi and sought refuge in Pondicherry, at that time French). We were working with Catholic nuns with abandoned children. They were very tactful, but said that many of the people (mostly women) needed professional treatment for mental health problems.

My greatest shock was on a radio programme, in France. We introduced ourselves, my neighbour was an exorcist! I thought of  horror movies, but they can be called in to pray over very disturbed people. I thought of the awful history of the ‘Witches of Salem’ and how dangerously gullible people are. Any charlatan stories here? 

The Gardener

A Moodscope member