Thought for the Day Doubt - One

Tap O Noth and Strathbogie.

Thought for the day - Number 1

In 1769, Dr William Buchan published the book Domestic Medicine, a book in which he recommended cures to people who didn’t have the advice of a physician. The book did well – 80,000 copies were printed in English. It appeared in several other European languages. The Empress of Russia enjoyed the book so much that she sent Buchan a gold medal – a great honour to the Scotsman.

Buchan was an honourable man, and he gave good advice on diet and exercise. But you don’t hear much nowadays about the cures he recommended. He was confident of them but, to tell the truth, there is no evidence that they would do any good to us today.

In Buchan’s time, the eighteenth century, a new day was dawning in medicine and medical science as a result of something that had always been a part of mankind’s makeup – doubt.

In the New Testament, we often read about Jesus’ disciples being doubtful. And if there was one disciple who was particularly doubtful, it was Thomas the Apostle.

It’s not easy for us to live with doubts in our mind, especially if we are doubtful about something that is important to us, and while we wait for things to become clear. But as it is in the world of science, so it is in our personal lives – doubt can be either a hindrance or a help to us depending on how we deal with it.