E25071

     “’The Revolution in Neurosurgery,’ Curing Mental Disease Without Physical Surgery on the Brain” from the February 26, 1949, issue of Chūnichi Shinbun. Academic paper from the United States to all universities
     “….According to a letter received from an authority in the field of neurosurgery in the United States, Professor Earnest Spiegel of Temple University, treatment to cure involuntary spasms caused by mental illnesses, epilepsy, and physical neurological disabilities devised by Dr. Egas Moniz, Professor at the University of Lisbon and winner of a Nobel Prize this year which has been widely used by Drs. Walter Freeman and James Watts in the U.S. and the accomplishment of the great post-war development of lobotomy techniques led by Dr. Makoto Saito of Japan so that diseases that cause involuntary movement such as chorea having been cured immediately upon treatment have shown miraculous clinical results, but revolutionary research by Dr. Speigel that make this treatment more simple and effective has shown results.
     Dr. Clarke of the United Kingdom had succeeded in applying a stereotactic apparatus for use with monkeys and cats. Electrodes were inserted into the visual colliculus of the dorsal medial nucleus of the brain, and without having to dissect any of the brain white matter, the same results were obtained, and so were reported 42 clinical examples of patients such as the following.
     In a case of mental illness, very satisfying results were obtained in a case where electrical shock therapy had been conducted for seventeen years with no effect. In a case in the terminal stages of cancer where a patient needed several shots of morphine daily to bear the pain, the patient was cured with this treatment. Seizures from epilepsy were stopped or their effects lessened. Because this treatment amounts to only inserting an electrode into the brain to stimulate the electrical cells, death does not result. In addition, more accurate measures of brain waves than those obtained when measuring from outside the brain have been obtained, so it is anticipated that even more diseases will be identified, reported Dr. Speigel, for which Dr. Saito happily said, ‘Dr. Speigel is an old friend with whom I performed research for eleven years from 1920 at the University of Vienna. Dr. Speigel’s research is revolutionary, of global significance. I will be reporting these results to the Japanese medical world as soon as possible.’”
     On the surface, this discovery is epoch making and the good news it brings to humanity is wonderful, but from our perspective, this kind of discovery produces only temporary results, does not eliminate the cause of the disease, and is not able to completely cure these diseases, particularly diseases of the brain such as epilepsy and mental illnesses, and it is quite regretful that the discovery is so off the mark.
     As we always explain, epilepsy and mental diseases are conditions of the spirit, and there are no results unless the condition is resolved spiritually. To explain this point in simple terms, it is the same as if a mischievous child who does wrong things were tied up. Indeed, bad things can temporarily be prevented from happening, but on the other hand, human beings cannot get on with their lives, so the situation is quite troubling.
     As always, medical science continues its efforts to progress based on its attachment to physical, mechanical means. While the sentiment is to be lauded, as its methods do not get to the essence of healing, the situation is vexatious. Humanity is not to be saved unless it is awakened to this fallacy.
     Oh, how to awaken all to the fallacies of medical science. This is the great question for the twentieth century.

“Reiteki ni wa Mukaiketsu—“Nōgeka Ryōhō” ni Tsuite—Nijū Seiki no Gobyū” originally appeared on the second page of Kyūsei, Issue 49, February 11, 1950. Although no translations are known to exist, “Reiteki ni wa Mukaiketsu—“Nōgeka Ryōhō” ni Tsuite—Nijū Seiki no Gobyū” was reprinted in the anthology Igaku Kankei Goronbun Shū (Collected Essays on Medical Science), page 141, that did enjoy a limited circulation. Igaku Kankei Goronbun Shū contains no publication data, but internal evidence suggests that its editing stopped several months preceding Meishu-sama’s Ascension. Furthermore, since the book lacks publication data, whether the volume had Meishu-sama’s imprimatur or not is unknown, so details concerning this volume are probably impossible to research.