Laurus

by Eugene Vodolazkin

For joint pain, he rubbed the black oil petroleum on bothersome places. Patients felt better from Arseny’s touch. When all was said and done, it did not matter to them what oil Arseny rubbed in. It was important to them that it was Arseny himself who did it because when they rubbed on the petroleum themselves, the curative effect seemed considerably weaker. They did not, however, deny the positive effect of the petroleum. Arseny was content after trying out remedies previously unavailable to him. It cannot be said he completely lost faith in them, if only because he had faith in Christofer. Arseny, though, took into consideration the fact that even Christofer formed opinions of many medicines without personal experience. This enabled him to subject them to testing and reach his own opinions. Over all, Arseny felt ever more strongly about his long-time supposition that, when all is said and done, medicines are of secondary significance. The primary role belongs to the physician and his doctoring power.