The Healer's "Gift"

Thousands of Hollanders were ready to swear that Simon W. J. Schaasberg, whose shingle proclaimed him a "psychometrist-homeopath," had cured them of every complaint in the book, from stuffy noses and hemorrhoids to pneumonia and cancer. For years, the sick had packed the tiny front room of Shaasberg's house in Maastricht. The street was sometimes blocked by cars and chartered buses that brought patients from afar. No less remarkable than his popularity were Shaasberg's methods.

No doctor, Schaasberg never bothered to examine his patients. They did not even have to tell him what ailed them. From each he borrowed some personal knickknack, such as a ring or a penknife, held it in his hand, and went into a kind of trance. Soon he began to writhe in sympathetic pain. If his "gift" told him that the patient had been having headaches, Schaasberg frowned and clasped his head.

If the gift said "T.B.," Schaasberg gave a hacking cough.

Relying on his gift for guidance, Schaas-berg prescribed simple remedies, such as an herbal tea from the local chemist's, or what he calls "harmless drops." Even the Latin names for the prescriptions "just came" to him, he claimed. If the patient could not get to Maastricht, but sent a letter with a photograph or a ring enclosed, Schaasberg was willing to treat him by mail.

For these shenanigans, Schaasberg was convicted of practicing medicine without a license. When he appealed, his lawyer argued that the law was inadequate: it should recognize a "gift" like Schaasberg's. Most of his witnesses proved friendly (though two were still too sick to testify), but they gave the lie to his claim that he asked no fees: actually, he charged 65-c- for most visits.

Last week the appeals court upheld the conviction and tapped Schaasberg's wrist with a $53 fine. But it looked as though the medical profession and the courts had not heard the last of Schaasberg. "We're fighting for a principle," quacked he. "If we help patients, why should we be kept from doing so?''

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