Dr. H. H. Goddard,
of Clark University, whose thesis on "the Effects of
Mind on Body as evidenced by Faith Cures"
is published in the American Journal of Psychology for 1899 (vol. x.). This critic,
after a wide study of the facts, concludes that the cures by mind-cure exist, but are in no respect
different from those now officially recognized in medicine as cures by suggestion; and the end of his essay
contains an interesting physiological speculation as to the way in which the
suggestive ideas may work (p. 67 of the reprint)[1]. As
regards the general phenomenon of mental
cure itself, Dr. Goddard writes:
"In spite of the severe
criticism we have made of reports of cure, there still remains a vast amount of
material, showing a powerful influence of the mind in disease. Many cases are
of diseases that have been diagnosed and treated by the best physicians of the
country, or which prominent hospitals have tried their hand at curing, but
without success. People of culture and education have been treated by this
method with satisfactory results. Diseases of long standing have been
ameliorated, and even cured. . . . We have traced the mental element through
primitive medicine and folk-medicine of to-day, patent medicine, and witchcraft
We are convinced that it is impossible to account for the existence of these
practices, if they did not cure disease, and that if they cured disease, it
must have been the mental element that was effective. The same argument applies
to those modern schools of mental therapeutics -- Divine Healing and Christian
Science. It is hardly conceivable that the large body of intelligent people who
comprise the body known distinctively as Mental Scientists should continue to
exist if the whole thing were a delusion. It is not a thing of a day; it is not
confined to a few; it is not local. It is true that many failures are recorded,
but that only adds to the argument. There must be many and striking successes
to counterbalance the failures, otherwise the failures would have ended the
delusion. . . . Christian Science, Divine Healing, or Mental Science do not,
and never can in the very nature of things, cure all diseases; nevertheless,
the practical applications of the general principles of the broadest mental
science will tend to prevent disease. . . . We do find sufficient evidence to
convince us that the proper reform in mental attitude would relieve many a
sufferer of ills that the ordinary physician cannot touch; would even delay the
approach of death to many a victim beyond the power of absolute cure, and the
faithful adherence to a truer philosophy of life will keep many a man well, and
give the doctor time to devote to alleviating ills that are unpreventable"
(pp. 33, 34 of reprint).
The effects of mind on body as
evidenced by faith cures.
Goddard, Henry H.
The American Journal of
Psychology, Vol 10(3), Apr 1899, 431-502
[1}James,
William . The Varieties of Religious Experience
Henry Herbert Goddard ( 1866 – 1957) was a prominent American psychologist and eugenicist in
the early 20th century. He is known especially for his 1912 work The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity
of Feeble-Mindedness, which he himself came to regard as deeply flawed, and
for being the first to translate the
Binet intelligence test into English in 1908 and distributing
an estimated 22,000 copies of the translated test across the United States; he
also introduced the term "moron" into the
field.
He was
the leading advocate for the use of intelligence testing in societal
institutions including hospitals, schools, the legal system and the military.
He played a major role in the emerging field of clinical psychology, in 1911
helped to write the first U.S. law requiring that blind, deaf and mentally
retarded children be provided special education within public school systems,
and in 1914 became the first American psychologist to testify in court that
subnormal intelligence should limit the criminal responsibility of defendants.
Goddard was born
in East Vassalboro, Maine, the fifth and youngest child – and only son – of
farmer Henry Clay Goddard and his wife Sarah Winslow Goddard, who were devout
Quakers. His father was gored by a bull when the younger Goddard was a small
child, and eventually lost his farm and had to work as a farmhand; he died of
his lingering injuries when the boy was nine. The younger Goddard went to live
with his married sister for a brief time, but in 1877 was enrolled at the Oak
Grove Seminary, a boarding school in Vassalboro. During this period, Sarah
Goddard began a new career as a traveling Quaker preacher; she married
missionary Jehu Newlin in 1884, and the couple regularly traveled throughout
the United States and Europe. In 1878, Henry
Goddard became a student at the Friends School in Providence, Rhode Island.
During his youth he began an enduring friendship with Rufus
Jones, who would go on to co-found (in 1917) the American
Friends Service Committee, which received the 1947 Nobel Peace Prize.
Goddard entered
Haverford College in 1883, earning his master's degree in mathematics in 1889..
He received an offer of a temporary position at USC, teaching Latin, history
and botany. He also served as co-coach (with Frank Suffel) of the first USC football team
in 1888, with the team winning both of its games against a local athletic club.
In 1896 he enrolled at Clark University, intending to study only briefly, but
he remained three years and received his doctorate in psychology in 1899. He
then taught at the State Normal School in West Chester, Pennsylvania until
1906.
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