A Nlneteenth-Century Case and Its Conclusion

In an early nineteenth-century book titled The Great Physician, by W. E. Boardman, M.D., a startling case of instantaneous healing of a bone fracture was reported. Several believers in faith-healing have quoted and requoted it, at times enhancing the story somewhat. It is said to have originated with “Dr. Reed, a physician of Philadelphia,” the father of the boy in question. The account goes like this:The children were jumping off from a bench, and my little son fell and broke both bones of his arm below the elbow. My brother, who is a professor of surgery in the college at Chicago, was here on a visit. I asked him to set and dress the arm. He did so; put it in splints, bandages, and in a sling. The dear child was very patient, and went about without a murmur all that day. The next morning he came to me and said: “Dear papa, please take off these things.” “Oh no, my son, you will have to wear these five or six weeks before it will be well.” “Why, papa, it is well.” “Oh no, my dear child, that is impossible!” “Why, papa, you believe in prayer, don’t you?” “You know I do, my son.” “Well, last night when I went to bed, it hurt me very bad, and I asked Jesus to make it well.” I did not like to say a word to chill his faith. A happy thought came. I said, “My dear child, your uncle put the things on, and if they are taken off he must do it.” Away he went to his uncle, who told him he would have to go as he was six or seven weeks, and must be very patient; and when the little fellow told him that Jesus had made him well, he said, “Pooh! pooh! nonsense!” and sent him away. The next morning the poor boy came to me and pleaded with so much sincerity and confidence, that I more than half believed, and went to my brother and said: “Had you not better undo his arm and let him see for himself?” ... My brother yielded, took off the bandages and the splints, and exclaimed, “It is well, absolutely well!” and hastened to the door to keep from fainting.

That seems like a very convincing story. (I will ignore the unlikelihood of such a silly, story-book conversation taking place between the father and the child, and the very expected reaction of the terrible, skeptical doctor as he tried to cover his embarrassment at witnessing a genuine miracle that he was convinced could not have taken place.) In spite of the well-known fact that children’s bones mend quickly, we cannot accept such a rationalization in this case. We may ask: Did such a doctor exist in Philadelphia and did his son have such an accident? The answers are yes and yes. But when J. H. Lloyd, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, looked into this very famous and much-touted claim in 1886, he published in the Medical Record journal the following, which he received in response to an inquiry: Dear Sir The case you cite, when robbed of all its sensational surroundings, is as follows: The child was a spoiled youngster who would have his own way; and when he had a green stick fracture of the forearm, and, after having had it bandaged for several days, concluded he would much prefer to go without a splint, to please the spoiled child the splint was removed, and the arm carefully adjusted in a sling. As a matter of course, the bone soon united, as is customary in children, and being only partially broken, of course all the sooner. This is the miracle. Some nurse or crank or religious enthusiast, ignorant of matters physiological and histological, evidently started the story, and unfortunately my name—for I am the party—is being circulated in circles of faith-curites, and is given the sort of notoriety I do not crave.   Very respectfully yours,   Carl H. Reed

So a letter from the grown-up child, now a physician himself, puts the matter in a different light altogether. It is seldom that we have the advantage of such serendipitous evidence, available to us only because someone cared enough to investigate the matter and report the results.