Ellen G. White and Her Critics

Chapter 4—Medical Facts Concerning Certain Nervous Maladies
Were Mrs. White’s Visions due to Nervous Disorders?—Part III

With Mrs. White’s case history before us let us turn directly to the charge presented at the beginning of chapter 2. It is restated here: EGWC 62.1

Mrs. White’s so-called visions were simply the result of nervous disorders. She suffered a blow on the head from a stone thrown at her at the age of nine that affected her nervous system. Medical works in the sections entitled “Hysteria,” “Epilepsy,” and “Schizophrenia,” describe her case exactly. Physicians who knew her well also thus described her. EGWC 62.2

The charge requires an answer to two questions: EGWC 62.3

1. Do medical works “describe her case exactly”? EGWC 62.4

2. How valid is the testimony of “physicians who knew her well” and diagnosed her as a mental case? EGWC 62.5

In this and the next chapter we shall seek to answer these questions. EGWC 62.6

First, what are the current medical facts regarding epilepsy, hysteria, and schizophrenia that a psychiatrist would have in his mind as he studied the case history of an individual. We shall set forth the principal facts that are strictly relevant to the charges before us. Let us start with epilepsy. EGWC 62.7