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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Nature Cure
+by Henry Lindlahr
+
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+Title: Nature Cure
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+Author: Henry Lindlahr
+
+Release Date: July, 2003  [Etext #4273]
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+[This file was first posted on December 27, 2001]
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Nature Cure
+by Henry Lindlahr
+******This file should be named 4273.txt or 4273.zip******
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+Submitted by Steve Solomon <ssolomon@soilandhealth.org>
+
+Nature Cure
+
+Philosophy & Practice Based on the Unity of Disease & Cure
+
+
+
+Henry Lindlahr, M.D.
+
+
+
+"Ho, ye who suffer! Know ye suffer from vowselves. None else
+compels--no other holds ye that ye live or die. "~--Siddartha~
+
+
+TO THE PROGRESSIVE PHYSICIANS OF THE AGE
+
+
+There are two principal methods of treating disease. One is the
+combative, the other the preventive. The trend of modern medical
+research and practice in our great colleges and endowed research
+institutes is almost entirely along combative lines, while the
+individual, progressive physician learns to work more and more along
+preventive lines. The slogan of modern medical science is, "Kill the
+germ and cure the disease." The usual procedure is to wait until
+acute or chronic diseases have fully developed, and then, if
+possible, to subdue them by means of drugs, surgical operations, and
+by means of the morbid products of disease, in the form of serums,
+antitoxins, vaccines, etc. The combative method fights disease with
+disease, poison with poison, and germs with germs and germ products.
+In the language of the Good Book, it is "Beelzebub against the
+Devil."
+
+The preventive method does not wait until diseases have fully
+developed and gained the ascendancy in the body, but concentrates
+its best endeavors on preventing, by hygienic living and by natural
+methods of treatment, the development of diseases. By these it
+endeavors to put the human body in such a normal, healthy condition
+that it is practically proof against infection or contagion by
+disease taints and miasms, and against the inroads of germs,
+bacteria and parasites.
+
+The question is, which method is the most practical, the most
+successful and most popular? Which will stand the test of "the
+survival of the fittest" in the great struggle for existence?
+
+The medical profession has good reason to be alarmed by the inroads
+made in its work by irregular, unorthodox systems, schools and cults
+of treating human ailments; but instead of raging at the audacious
+presumption of these interlopers, would it not be better to inquire
+if there is not some reason for the astonishing spread and
+popularity of these therapeutic innovations?
+
+Their success undoubtedly is based on the fact that they concentrate
+their best efforts on preventive instead of combative methods of
+treating disease. People are beginning to realize that it is cheaper
+and more advantageous to prevent disease than to cure it. To create
+and maintain continuous, buoyant good health means greater
+efficiency for mental and physical work; greater capacity for the
+true enjoyment of life, and the best insurance against failure and
+poverty. Therefore, he who builds health is of greater value to
+humanity than he who allows people to drift into disease through
+ignorance of Nature's laws, and then attempts to cure them by
+doubtful and uncertain combative methods.
+
+It is said that in China the physician is hired and paid by the
+year; that he receives a certain stipend as long as the members of
+the family are in good health, but that the salary is suspended as
+long as one of his charges is ill. If some similar method of
+engaging and paying for medical services were in vogue in this
+country the trend of medical research and practice would soon
+undergo a radical change.
+
+The diet expert, the hydropath, the physical culturist, the adjuster
+of the spine, the mental healer, and Christian scientist, do not pay
+much attention to the pathological conditions or to the symptoms of
+disease. They regulate the diet and habits of living on a natural
+basis, promote elimination, teach correct breathing and wholesome
+exercise, correct the mechanical lesions of the spine, establish the
+right mental and emotional attitude and, in so far as they succeed
+in doing this, they build health and diminish the possibility of
+disease. The successful doctor of the future will have to fall in
+line with the procession and do more teaching than prescribing.
+
+I realize that many of the statements and claims made in this volume
+will seem radical and irrational to my colleagues of the regular
+school of medicine. They win say that most of my teachings are
+contrary to the firmly established theories of medical science. All
+I ask, of them is not to judge too hastily; to observe, to think and
+to test, and I am certain that they will find verified in actual
+experience many of the teachings of the Nature Cure Philosophy.
+Medical science has had to abandon innumerable theories and
+practices which at one time were as firmly established as some of
+the pet theories of today.
+
+By none of the statements made in this book do I mean to deny the
+necessity of combative methods under certain circumstances. What I
+wish to emphasize is that the regular school of medicine is spending
+too much of its effort along combative lines and not enough along
+preventive. It would be foolish to deny the necessity of surgery in
+traumatism, and in abnormal conditions which require mechanical
+means of adjustment or treatment.
+
+Such necessity, for instance, will exist in certain obstetrical
+cases, as long as women have not learned, or are not willing to live
+in such a way as to make surgical intervention unnecessary in
+child-birth. The same is true with regard to the treatment of germ
+diseases. As long as people persist in violating the laws of their
+being, and thereby making their bodies prolific breeding grounds for
+disease taints, germs and parasites which are bound to provoke
+inflammatory, feverish processes (Nature's cleansing and healing
+efforts), combative measures will have to be resorted to by the
+physician, and precautionary measures against infection will have to
+be observed, but these should be in harmony with Nature's endeavors,
+not contrary and suppressive; they should tend to conserve and not
+to destroy.
+
+Natural dietetics, fasting, hydropathy, osteopathy, chiropractic,
+and mental therapeutics, are combative as well as preventive, but if
+properly applied they do not in any way injure the organism or
+interfere with Nature's intent and Nature's methods. This cannot be
+said for much of the surgical and medical treatment of the old
+school of medicine. We criticize and condemn only those methods
+which are suppressive and destructive instead of curative.
+
+In many instances already the warnings and teachings of Nature Cure
+Philosophy have been verified, and had to be heeded and accepted by
+medical science. The exponents of Nature Cure protested against the
+barbarous practice of withholding water from patients burning in
+fever heat, and against the exclusion of fresh air from the sickroom
+by order of the doctor. The cold water and no drug treatment of
+typhoid fever, the water treatment for other acute diseases, as well
+as the open air treatment for tuberculosis, were forced upon the
+medical profession by the Nature Cure people. For more than half a
+century the latter have been curing all inflammaory, feverish
+diseases, from simple colds to scarlet fever, diphtheria,
+cerebro-spinal meningitis, smallpox, appendicitis, etc., etc., by
+hydropathy, fasting, and other natural methods, without resorting at
+all to the use of poisonous drugs, antitoxins and surgical
+operations.
+
+For many years before the terrible after-effects of X-Ray treatment,
+of extirpation of the ovaries, the womb, and of other vital organs,
+became so patent that the physicians of the regular school could not
+ignore them any longer, Nature Cure physicians had strongly warned
+against these unnatural practices, and called attention to their
+destructive after-effects.
+
+As far back as ten years ago, when the X-Rays were in high favor for
+the treatment of cancer, lupus, and other diseases, I warned against
+the use of these rays, claiming that their vibratory velocity was
+too high and powerful, and therefore destructive to the tissues of
+the human body. Since the failure of the X-Rays and the discovery of
+Radio-activity, the rays and emanations of radium and other
+radio-active substances are widely advertised and exploited as
+therapeutic agents, but these rays also are far beyond the vibratory
+ranges of the physical body in velocity and power. Therefore, it
+remains to be seen whether their injurious by and after-effects do
+not out-weigh in the long run their beneficial effects.
+
+The destructive action of these high power rays, as well as of
+inorganic minerals, is very slow and insidious, manifesting only in
+the course of many years. This new field of therapeutics, therefore,
+has not yet passed the stage of dangerous experimentation.
+
+Inorganic minerals prove injurious and destructive to the tissues of
+the human body because they are too slow in vibratory velocity, and
+too coarse in molecular structure.
+
+It is the intent and purpose of this volume to warn against the
+exploitation of destructive combative methods to the neglect of
+preventive constructive and conservative methods. If these teachings
+contribute something toward this end they will fulfil their mission.
+
+The Author
+
+Chicago, Nov., 1913.
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+It was the following letter from Mr. William Louden to the editor of
+~"Health Culture"~ which prompted the author to issue the ~"Nature
+Cure Magazine"~ (published from November, 1907, to October, 1909).
+In the series of books of which this is the first volume, he will
+endeavor to collect and systematize all his former writings in the~
+"Nature Cure Magazine," "Health Culture," "Life and Action,"~ the
+~"Naturopath,"~ the ~"Volksrath,"~ and other publications, and to
+amplify these by new material obtained through further research and
+wider experience.
+
+Mr. Albert Turner,
+
+Editor of ~"Health Culture."~
+
+DEAR SIR--I write to ask what you consider the best book or pamphlet
+to put into the hands of people generally, in regard to the
+preservation of health. I know ther e are a number of very excellent
+publications, but as a rule they deal with certain details or phases
+of the question, and do not begin with the great underlying
+principles in such a way as to attract and hold the attention of the
+masses. One advocates one plan, and another an entirely different,
+and sometimes a directly opposite plan--such as uncooked vs.
+thoroughly cooked food; a strictly vegetarian diet, and mental
+culture in place of attention to either, etc. Such a state of
+affairs makes it confusing to average people and gets them to
+believe that health reformers are all at sea, and what is good for
+one is not good for another, or, in common language, "what is one
+man's meat is another's poison."
+
+Now, I know it is natural, and doubtless best, that there should be
+a difference of opinion on any question, but at the same time, if
+any movement is to be crowned with great success, there should be
+some underlying principles upon which all should agree, and these
+should be pressed to the forefront, so as to attract and hold the
+attention of the people, in place of the divergent details upon
+which they disagree. If these fundamental laws and principles are
+thoroughly studied and well defined, it may be found that they would
+explain the discrepancies between the different theories, and that
+under certain conditions, one plan is best, and that under different
+conditions another plan is more applicable, etc. The pushing of
+these fundamental principles to the front would also tend to correct
+errors into which the different theorists have fallen, and would
+certainly tend to make the different theories more homogeneous and
+more easily understood by people in general, than at present.
+
+In my opinion, the general fundamental principles of life and health
+are what people need to understand more than anything else. Without
+this, most of the details will be meaningless or at least confusing
+dogmas. I don't mean by these fundamental principles the details of
+anatomy, or, for that matter, the details of anything else, but the
+general rules governing life and death, so that people may know
+which way they, are tending, and may understand the many illusions
+with which life and death, as well as all else in nature are beset.
+
+Yours truly,
+
+WILLIAM LOUDEN
+
+Louden Mfg. Co.,
+
+Fairfield, Iowa.
+
+
+
+The present volume and others of the "Nature Cure Series" which are
+to follow are an attempt to answer Mr. Louden's inquiry and to
+formulate and elucidate the fundamental laws of health, disease and
+cure for which he and many others have been vainly seeking. Who
+among you at some time or another, has not thought and felt like Mr.
+Louden and in doubt and perplexity voiced Pilate's query,
+
+What Is Truth?
+
+The exact information and rational method of teaching which Mr.
+Louden is seeking, has heretofore been wanting in health-culture
+literature.
+
+Many, indeed, stand ready and willing to show the way to physical,
+mental and moral perfection. Hundreds, yes, thousands, of different
+cults, isms, teachers, books and periodicals treat of these
+subjects, but their teachings are so manifold, so contradictory and
+confusing, that one becomes bewildered amid the ever increasing
+testimony. As is often the case in the study of complicated
+subjects, the more one reads and the more one hears, the less one
+knows. I believe that no one has described more strikingly this
+state of general perplexity than Mr. Louden in his excellent letter.
+
+Nevertheless, these simple fundamental laws and principles really
+exist. They must exist, because everything in Nature, including the
+processes of health, of disease and cure, of birth, of life and
+death, are subject to law and order.
+
+Allopathy, or Old School Medical Science, admits that it does not
+know these fundamental principles; that it reasons, not from
+underlying causes, but from external symptoms and personal
+experiences. It is, therefore, self-confessedly full of doubts,
+errors and confusion; in short, empirical--and necessarily, a
+failure.
+
+Many teachers of Nature Cure, Hygiene and Health cults have stumbled
+accidentally upon some of the natural laws and true methods of
+healing, but have failed to grasp and to formulate the broad
+underlying principles. For this reason they are often partly right
+and partly wrong and very apt to overdo certain methods to the
+neglect of others just as effective and essential, or even more so.
+
+I shall endeavor in these volumes to formulate and elucidate some of
+the fundamental laws and principles underlying the phenomena of life
+and death, health, disease and cure, and shall try to ascertain in
+the light of these laws how much of truth and how much of error, how
+much of usefulness and how much of harmfulness there may be
+contained in the various theories and systems of living and of
+healing.
+
+Nature Owe an Exact Science
+
+One of the reasons why Nature Cure is not more popular with the
+medical profession and the public is that it is too simple. The
+average mind is more impressed by the involved and mysterious than
+by the simple and common-sense.
+
+However, it remains a fact that "exact science" reduces complexity
+and confusion to simplicity and clearness. Science becomes exact
+science only when the underlying laws which correlate and unify its
+scattered facts and theories have been discovered.
+
+These simple laws rightly understood and applied will do for medical
+science what the law of gravitation has done for physics and
+astronomy, and what the laws of chemical affinity have done for
+chemistry, they will place medical science in the ranks of exact
+sciences. The understanding and proper application of these truths
+will explain every fact and phenomenon in the processes of health,
+disease and cure, and will enable the student to reason from simple,
+natural laws and principles to their logical effects. The "Regular"
+school of medicine, so far, has endeavored to build a medical
+science on the observation of "effects" and "experiences," but
+since one fundamental law of nature may produce a million seemingly
+differing effects it becomes self-evident that it is utterly
+impossible to found an exact science on such uncertain and
+conflicting evidence.
+
+The primary laws and principles once understood, it becomes easy to
+reason from and to explain through them, the various phenomena which
+they produce. Herein lie the merit and achievement of the Nature
+Cure philosophy.
+
+THE UPAS TREE OF DISEASE
+
+EVIL IS NOT AN ACCIDENT, NOT AN ARBITRARY PUNISHMENT, NOT ALWAYS AN
+"ERROR OF MORTAL MIND." IT IS THE NATURAL AND INEVITABLE RESULT OF
+VIOLATIONS OF NATURE'S LAWS. IT IS INSTRUCTIVE AND CORRECTIVE IN
+PURPOSE, AND WILL REMAIN WITH US ONLY AS LONG AS WE NEED ITS
+SALUTARY LESSONS.
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+
+What ~Is~ Nature Cure?
+
+
+It is vastly more than a system of curing aches and pains; it is a
+complete revolution in the art and science of living. It is the
+practical realization and application of all that is good in natural
+science, philosophy and religion. Like many another world-wide
+revolution and reformation, it had its inception in Germany, the
+land of thinkers and philosophers.
+
+About seventy years ago this greatest and most beneficent of
+reformation movements was inaugurated by Priessnitz in Grafenberg, a
+small village in the Silesian mountains. The originator of Nature
+Cure was a simple farmer, but he had a natural genius for the art of
+healing.
+
+His pharmacopeia consisted not in poisonous pills and potions but in
+plenty of exercise, fresh mountain air, water treatments in the
+cool, sparkling brooks, and simple, wholesome country fare,
+consisting largely of black bread, vegetables, and milk fresh from
+cows fed on nutritious mountain grasses.
+
+The results accomplished by these simple means were wonderful.
+Before he died, a large sanitarium, filled with patients from all
+over the world and from all stations of life, had grown up around
+his forest home.
+
+Among those who made the pilgrimage to Grafenberg to become patients
+and students of this genial healer, the simple-minded
+farmer-physician, were wealthy merchants, princes and doctors from
+all parts of the world.
+
+Rapidly the idea of drugless healing spread over Germany and over
+the civilized world. In the Fatherland, Hahn the apothecary, Kuhne
+the weaver, Rikli the manufacturer, Father Kneipp the priest,
+Lahmann the doctor, and Turnvater Jahn, the founder of physical
+culture, became enthusiastic pupils and followers of Priessnitz.
+
+Each one of these men enlarged and enriched some special field of
+the great realm of natural healing. Some elaborated the water cure
+and natural dietetics, others invented various systems of
+manipulative treatment, earth, air and light cures, magnetic
+healing, mental therapeutics, curative gymnastics, etc., etc. Von
+Peckzely added the Diagnosis from the Eye, which reveals not only
+the innermost secrets of the human organism, but also Nature's ways
+and means of cure, and the changes for better or for worse
+continually occurring in the body.
+
+In this country, Dr. Trall of New York, Dr. Jackson of Danville, Dr.
+Kellogg of Battle Creek, and others caught the infection and crossed
+the ocean to become students of Priessnitz. The achievements of
+these men in their respective fields of endeavor will stand as
+enduring monuments to the eternal truths revealed by the genius of
+Nature Cure.
+
+Quimby, the itinerant spiritualist and healer, became successful and
+renowned by the application of the natural methods of cure. At first
+his favorite methods were water, massage, magnetic and mental
+treatment. Gradually he concentrated his efforts on metaphysical
+methods of cure, and before he died, he evolved a complete system of
+magnetic and mental therapeutics.
+
+Quimby's teachings and methods were adopted by Mrs. Eddy, his most
+enthusiastic pupil, and by her elaborated into Christian Science,
+the latest and most successful of modern mental-healing cults.
+
+Dr. Still of Kirksville, Missouri, made a valuable addition to
+natural methods of treatment by the invention of Osteopathy, a
+system of scientific manipulation of the bony structures, nerves and
+nerve centers, muscles and ligaments. A later development of
+manipulative science is Chiropractic, originated by Dr. Palmer of
+Davenport, Iowa. Thus the simple pioneers of German Nature Cure,
+every one of them gifted by Nature with the instinct and genius of
+the true healer, who is born, not made, laid the foundation for the
+worldwide modern healthculture movement.
+
+They were not blinded or confused by the conflicting theories of
+books and authorities, or by the action of a thousand different
+drugs on a legion of different symptoms, but applied common-sense
+reasoning to the solution of the problems of health, disease and
+cure.
+
+They went for inspiration to field and forest rather than to the
+murky atmosphere of the dissecting and vivisection rooms. They
+studied the whole and not only the parts, causes as well as effects
+and symptoms. Realizing that man had lost his natural instinct and
+strayed far from Nature's ways, they studied and imitated the
+natural habits of the animal creation rather than the confusing
+doctrines of the schools.
+
+Thus they proclaimed the "return to Nature" and the "new gospel of
+health," which are destined to free humanity from the destructive
+influences of alcoholism, red meat overeating, the dope and tobacco
+habit, and of drug poisoning, vaccination, surgical mutilation,
+vivisection and a thousand other abuses practiced in the name of
+science.
+
+When parents learn how to create children in accord with natural
+law, how to mold their bodies and their characters into harmony and
+beauty before the new life sees the light of day, when they learn to
+rear their offspring in health of body and purity of mind in harmony
+with the laws of their being, then we shall have true types of
+beautiful manhood and womanhood, then children will no longer be a
+curse and a burden to themselves and to those who bring them into
+the world or to society at large.
+
+These thoughts are not the mere dreams of a visionary. When we see
+the wonderful changes wrought in a human being by a few months or
+years of rational living and treatment, it seems not impossible or
+improbable that these ideals may be realized within a few
+generations.
+
+Children thus born and reared in harmony with the law will be the
+future masters of the earth. They will need neither gold nor
+influence to win in the race of life--their innate powers of body and
+soul will make them victors over every circumstance. The offspring
+of alcoholism, drug poisoning and sexual perversity will cut but
+sorry figures in comparison with the manhood and womanhood of a true
+and noble aristocracy of health.
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+
+Catechism of Nature Cure
+
+
+The philosophy of Nature Cure is based on sciences dealing with
+newly discovered or rediscovered natural laws and principles, and
+with their application to the phenomena of life and death, health,
+disease and cure.
+
+Every new science embodying new modes of thought requires exact
+modes of expression and new definitions of already well-known words
+and phrases.
+
+Therefore, we have endeavored to define, as precisely as possible,
+certain words and phrases which convey meanings and ideas peculiar
+to the teachings of Nature Cure.
+
+The student of Nature Cure and kindred subjects will do well to
+study these definitions and formulated principles closely, as they
+contain the pith and marrow of our philosophy and greatly facilitate
+its understanding.
+
+(1) What Is Nature Cure?
+
+Nature Cure is a system of building the entire being in harmony with
+the constructive principle in Nature on the physical, mental, moral
+and spiritual planes of being.
+
+(2) What Is the Constructive Principle in Nature?
+
+The constructive principle in Nature is that principle which builds
+up, improves and repairs, which always makes for the perfect type,
+whose activity in Nature is designated as evolutionary and
+constructive and which is opposed to the destructive principle in
+Nature
+
+(3) What Is the Destructive Principle in Nature?
+
+The destructive principle in Nature is that principle which
+disintegrates and destroys existing forms and types, and whose
+activity in Nature is designated as devolutionary and destructive.
+
+(4) What Is Normal or Natural?
+
+That is normal or natural which is in harmonic relation with the
+life purposes of the individual and the constructive principle in
+Nature.
+
+(5) What Is Health?
+
+Health is normal and harmonious vibration of the elements and forces
+composing the human entity on the physical, mental, moral and
+spiritual planes of being, in conformity with the constructive
+principle of Nature applied to individual life.
+
+(6) What Is Disease?
+
+Disease is abnormal or inharmonious vibration of the elements and
+forces composing the human entity on one or more planes of being, in
+conformity with the destructive principle of Nature applied to
+individual life.
+
+(7) What Is the Primary Cause of Disease?
+
+The primary cause of disease, barring accidental or surgical injury
+to the human organism and surroundings hostile to human life, is
+violation of Nature's Laws.
+
+(8) What Is the Effect of Violation of Nature's Laws on the Physical
+Human Organism?
+
+The effect of violation of Nature's Laws on the physical human
+organism are:
+
+Lowered vitality. Abnormal composition of blood and lymph.
+Accumulation of waste matter, morbid materials and poisons.
+
+These conditions are identical with disease, because they tend to
+lower, hinder or inhibit normal function (harmonious vibration) and
+because they engender and promote destruction of living tissues.
+
+(9) What Is Acute Disease?
+
+What is commonly called acute disease is in reality the result of
+Nature's efforts to eliminate from the organism waste matter,
+foreign matter and poisons, and to repair injury to living tissues.
+In other words, every so-called acute disease is the result of a
+cleansing and healing effort of Nature. The real disease is lowered
+vitality, abnormal composition of the vital fluids (blood and lymph)
+and the resulting accumulation of waste materials and poisons.
+
+(10) What Is Chronic Disease?
+
+Chronic disease is a condition of the organism in which lowered
+vibration (lowered vitality), due to the accumulation of waste
+matter and poisons, with the consequent destruction of vital parts
+and organs, has progressed to such an extent that Nature's
+constructive and healing forces are no longer able to react against
+the disease conditions by acute corrective efforts (healing crises).
+Chronic disease is a condition of the organismin which the morbid
+encumbrances have gained the ascendancy and prevent acute reaction
+(healing crises) on the part of the constructive forces of Nature.
+Chronic disease is the inability of the organism to react by acute
+efforts or healing crises against constitutional disease conditions.
+
+(11) What Is a Healing Crisis?
+
+A healing crisis is an acute reaction, resulting from the ascendancy
+of Nature's healing forces over disease conditions. Its tendency is
+toward recovery, and it is, therefore, in conformity with Nature's
+constructive principle.
+
+(12) Are All Acute Reactions Healing Crises?
+
+No, there are healing crises and disease crises.
+
+(13) What Is a Disease Crisis?
+
+A disease crisis is an acute reaction resulting from the ascendancy
+of disease conditions over the healing forces of the organism. Its
+tendency is toward fatal termination, and it is, therefore, in
+conformity with Nature's destructive principle
+
+(14) What Is Cure?
+
+Cure is the readjustment of the human organism from abnormal to
+normal conditions and functions.
+
+(15) What Methods of Cure Are in Conformity with the Constructive
+Principle in Nature?
+
+Those methods which:
+
+Establish normal surroundings and natural habits of life in accord
+with Nature's Laws. Economize vital force. Build up the blood on a
+natural basis, that is, supply the blood with its natural
+constituents in right proportions. Promote the elimination of waste
+matter and poisons without in any way injuring the human body.
+Arouse the individual in the highest possible degree to the
+consciousness of personal accountability and the necessity of
+intelligent personal effort and self-help.
+
+(16) Are Medicines in Conformity with the Constructive Principle in
+Nature?
+
+Medicines are in conformity with the constructive principle in
+Nature insofar as they, in themselves, are not injurious and
+destructive to the human organism and insofar as they act as tissue
+foods and promote the neutralization and elimination of morbid
+matter and poisons.
+
+(17) Are Poisonous Drugs and Promiscuous Surgical Operations in
+Conformity with the Constructive Principle in Nature?
+
+Poisonous drugs and promiscuous operations are not usually in
+conformity with the constructive principle in Nature, because:
+
+They suppress acute diseases or reactions (crises), the cleaning and
+healing efforts of Nature. They are in themselves harmful and
+destructive to human life. Such treatment fosters the belief that
+drugs and surgical operations can be substituted for obedience to
+Nature's Laws and for personal effort and self-help.
+
+(18) Is Metaphysical Healing in Conformity with the Constructive
+Principle in Nature?
+
+Metaphysical systems of healing are in conformity with the
+constructive principle in Nature insofar as:
+
+They do not interfere with or suppress Nature's healing efforts.
+They awaken hope and confidence (therapeutic faith) and increase the
+inflow of vital force into the organism.
+
+They are not in conformity with the constructive principle in Nature
+in so far as:
+
+They fail to assist Nature's healing efforts. They ignore, obscure
+and deny the laws of Nature and defy the dictates of reason and
+common sense. They substitute, in the treatment of disease, a blind,
+dogmatic belief in the wonder-working power of metaphysical formulas
+and prayer for intelligent cooperation with Nature's constructive
+forces for personal effort and self-help. They weaken the
+consciousness of personal responsibility.
+
+(19) Is Nature Cure in Conformity with the Constructive Principle in
+Nature?
+
+Nature Cure is in conformity with the constructive principle in
+Nature because:
+
+It teaches that the primary cause of weakness and disease is
+disobedience to the laws of Nature. It arouses the individual to the
+study of natural laws and demonstrates the necessity of strict
+compliance with these laws. It strengthens the consciousness of
+personal responsibility of the individual for his own status of
+health and for the hereditary conditions, traits and tendencies of
+his off-spring. It encourages personal effort and self-help. It
+adapts surroundings and habits of life to natural laws. It assists
+Nature's cleansing and healing efforts by simple natural means and
+methods of treatment which are in no wise harmful or destructive to
+health and life, and which are within the reach of everyone.
+
+(20) What Are the Natural Methods of Living and of Treatment?
+
+Return to Nature by the regulation of eating, drinking, breathing,
+bathing, dressing, working, resting, thinking, the moral life,
+sexual and social activities, etc., on a normal and natural basis.
+Elementary remedies, such as water, air, light, earth cures,
+magnetism, electricity, etc. Chemical remedies, such as scientific
+food selection and combination, specific nutritional augmentation
+with natural food concentrates, homeopathic medicines, simple herb
+extracts and the vitochemical remedies. Mechanical remedies, such as
+corrective gymnastics, massage, magnetic treatment, chiropractic or
+osteopathic manipulation and, when indicated, surgery. Mental and
+spiritual remedies, such as scientific relaxation, normal
+suggestion, constructive thought, the prayer of faith, etc.
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+
+What Is Life?
+
+
+In our study of the cause and character of disease we must endeavor
+to begin at the beginning, and that is with LIFE itself, for the
+processes of health, disease and cure are manifestations of that
+which we call life, vitality, life elements, etc.
+
+While endeavoring to fathom the mystery of life we soon realize,
+however, that we are dealing with an ultimate which no human mind is
+capable of solving or explaining. We can study and understand life
+only in its manifestations, not in its origin and real essence.
+
+There are two prevalent, but widely differing, conceptions of the
+nature of life or vital force: the material and the vital.
+
+The former looks upon life or vital force with all its physical,
+mental and psychical phenomena as manifestations of the electric,
+magnetic and chemical activities of the physical-material elements
+composing the human organism. From this viewpoint, life is a sort of
+spontaneous combustion, or, as one scientist expressed it, a
+succession of fermentations.
+
+This materialistic conception of life, however, has already become
+obsolete among the more advanced biologists as a result of the
+wonderful discoveries of modern science, which are fast bridging the
+chasm between the material and the spiritual realms of being.
+
+But medical science, as taught in the regular schools, is still
+dominated by the old, crude, mechanical conception of vital force
+and this, as we shall see, accounts for some of its gravest errors
+of theory and of practice.
+
+The vital conception of life, on the other hand, regards it as the
+primary force of all forces, coming from the great central source of
+all power.
+
+This force, which permeates, heats and animates the entire created
+universe, is the expression of the divine will, the "logos," the
+"word" of the great creative intelligence. It is this divine energy
+which sets in motion the whirls in the ether, the electric
+corpuscles and ions that make up the different atoms and elements of
+matter.
+
+These corpuscles and ions are positive and negative forms of
+electricity. Electricity is a form of energy. It is intelligent
+energy; otherwise it could not move with that same wonderful
+precision in the electrons of the atoms as in the suns and planets
+of the sidereal universe.
+
+This intelligent energy can have but one source: the will and the
+intelligence of the Creator; as Swedenborg expresses it, "the great
+central sun of the universe."
+
+If this supreme intelligence should withdraw its energy, the
+electrical charges (forms of energy) and with it the atoms,
+elements, and the entire material universe would disappear in the
+flash of a moment.
+
+From this it appears that crude matter, instead of being the source
+of life and of all its complicated mental and spiritual phenomena
+(which assumption, on the face of it, is absurd), is only an
+expression of the Life Force, itself a manifestation of the great
+creative intelligence which some call God, others Nature, the
+Oversoul, Brahma, Prana, etc., each one according to his best
+understanding.
+
+It is this supreme power and intelligence, acting in and through
+every atom, molecule and cell in the human body, which is the true
+healer, the vis medicatrix nature, which always endeavors to
+repair, to heal and to restore the perfect type. All that the
+physician can do is to remove obstructions and to establish normal
+conditions within and around the patient, so that the healer within
+can do his work to the best advantage.
+
+Here the Christian Scientist will say: "That is exactly what we
+claim. All is God, all is mind! There is no matter! Our attitude
+toward disease is based on these facts."
+
+Well, what of it, Brother Scientist? Suppose, in the final analysis,
+matter is nothing but vibration, an expression of Divine Mind and
+Will. That, for all practical purposes, does not justify me to deny
+and to ignore its reality. Because I have an "all-mind" body, is it
+advisable for me to place myself in the way of an "all-mind"
+locomotive moving at the rate of sixty miles an hour?
+
+The question is not what matter is in the final analysis, but how
+matter affects us. We have to take it and treat it as we find it. We
+must be as obedient to the laws of matter as to those of the higher
+planes of being.
+
+Life Is Vibratory
+
+In the final analysis, all things in Nature, from a fleeti g thought
+or emotion to the hardest piece of diamond or platinum, are modes of
+motion or vibration. A few years ago physical science assumed that
+an atom was the smallest imaginable part of a given element of
+matter; that although infinitesimally small, it still represented
+solid matter. Now, in the light of better evidence, we have good
+reason to believe that there is no such thing as solid matter: that
+every atom is made up of charges of negative and positive
+electricity acting in and upon an omnipresent ether; that the
+difference between an atom of iron and of hydrogen or any other
+element consists solely in the number of electrical charges or
+corpuscles it contains, and on the velocity with which these vibrate
+around one another.
+
+Thus the atom, which was thought to be the ultimate particle of
+solid matter, is found to be a little universe in itself in which
+corpuscles of electricity rotate or vibrate around one another like
+the suns and planets in the sidereal universe. This explains what we
+mean when we say life and matter are vibratory.
+
+As early as 1863 John Newlands discovered that when he arranged the
+elements of matter in the order of their atomic weight, they
+displayed the same relationship to one another as do the tones in
+the musical scale. Thus modern chemistry demonstrates the verity of
+the music of the spheres--another visionary concept of ancient
+mysticism. The individual atoms in themselves, as well as all the
+atoms of matter in their relationship to one another, are
+constructed and arranged in exact correspondence with the laws of
+harmony. Therefore the entire sidereal universe is built on the laws
+of music.
+
+That which is orderly, lawful, good, beautiful, natural, healthy,
+vibrates in unison with the harmonics of this great "Diapason of
+Nature"; in other words, it is in alignment with the constructive
+principle in Nature.
+
+That which is disorderly, abnormal, ugly, unnatural, unhealthy,
+vibrates in discord with Nature's harmonics. It is in alignment with
+the destructive principle in Nature.
+
+What we call "Inanimate Nature" is beautiful and orderly because it
+plays in tune with the score of the Symphony of Life. Man alone can
+play out of tune. This is his privilege, if he so chooses, by virtue
+of his freedom of choice and action.
+
+We can now better understand the definitions of health and of
+disease, given in Chapter Two, "Catechism of Nature Cure" as
+follows:
+
+"Health is normal and harmonious vibration of the elements and
+forces composing the human entity on the physical, mental, moral and
+spiritual planes of being, in conformity with the constructive
+principle of Nature applied to individual life."
+
+"Disease is abnormal or inharmonious vibration of the elements and
+forces composing the human entity on one or more planes of being, in
+conformity with the destructive principle of Nature applied to
+individual life."
+
+The question naturally arising here is, "Normal or abnormal
+vibration with what?" The answer is that the vibratory conditions of
+the organism must be in harmony with Nature's established harmonic
+relations in the physical, mental, moral, spiritual and psychical
+realms of human life and action.
+
+What Is an Established Harmonic Relation?
+
+Let us see whether we cannot make this clear by a simile. If a watch
+is in good condition, in harmonious vibration, its movement is so
+adjusted that it coincides exactly, in point of time, with the
+rotations of our earth around its axis. The established, regular
+movement of the earth forms the basis of the established harmonic
+relationship between the vibrations of a normal, healthy timepiece
+and the revolutions of our planet. The watch has to vibrate in
+unison with the harmonics of the planetary universe in order to be
+normal, or in harmony.
+
+In like manner, everything that is normal, natural, healthy, good,
+beautiful must vibrate in unison with its correlated harmonics in
+Nature.
+
+Obedience the Only Salvation
+
+Orthodox medical science attributes disease largely to accidental
+causes: to chance infection by disease taints, germs or parasites;
+to drafts, chills, wet feet, etc.
+
+The religiously inclined frequently attribute disease and other
+tribulations to the arbitrary rulings of an inscrutable Providence.
+
+Christian Scientists tell us that sin, suffering, disease and all
+other kinds of evil are only errors of mortal mind, or the products
+of diseased imagination (though this in itself admits the existence
+of something abnormal or diseased).
+
+Nature Cure philosophy presents a rational concept of evil, its
+cause and purpose, namely: that it is brought on by violation of
+Nature's Laws; that it is corrective in its purpose; that it can be
+overcome only by compliance with the law. There is no suffering,
+disease or evil of any kind anywhere unless the law has been
+transgressed somewhere by someone.
+
+These transgressions of the law may be due to ignorance, to
+indifference or to wilfulness and viciousness. The effects will
+always be commensurate with the causes.
+
+The science of natural living and healing shows clearly that what we
+call disease is primarily Nature's effort to eliminate morbid matter
+and to restore the normal functions of the body; that the processes
+of disease are just as orderly in their way as everything else in
+Nature; that we must not check or suppress them, but cooperate with
+them. Thus we learn, slowly and laboriously, the all-important
+lesson that "obedience to the law" is the only means of prevention
+of disease, and the only cure.
+
+The Fundamental Law of Cure, the Law of Action and Reaction, and the
+Law of Crises, as revealed by the Nature Cure philosophy, impress
+upon us the truth that there is nothing accidental or arbitrary in
+the processes of health, disease and cure; that every changing
+condition is either in harmony or in discord with the laws of our
+being; that only by complete surrender and obedience to the law can
+we attain and maintain perfect physical health.
+
+Self-Control, the Master's Key
+
+Thus Nature Cure brings home to us constantly and forcibly the
+inexorable facts of natural law and the necessity of compliance with
+the law. Herein lies its great educational value to the individual
+and to the race. The man who has learned to master his habits and
+his appetites so as to conform to Nature's Laws on the physical
+plane, and who has thereby regained his bodily health, realizes that
+personal effort and self-control are the Master's Key to all further
+development on the mental and spiritual planes of being as well;
+that self-mastery and unremitting and unselfish personal effort are
+the only means of self-completion, of individual and social
+salvation.
+
+The naturist who has regained health and strength through obedience
+to the laws of his being, enjoys a measure of self-content, gladness
+of soul and enthusiasm which cannot be explained by the mere
+possession of physical health. These highest and purest attainments
+of the human soul are not the results of mere physical well-being,
+but of the peace and harmony which come only from obedience to the
+law. Such is the peace which passeth understanding.
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+
+The Unity of Disease and Treatment
+
+
+There exists a close resemblance between the mechanism and the
+functions of a watch and of the human body. Their well-being is
+subject to similar underlying laws and principles. Both a watch and
+a human body may function abnormally as a result of accidental
+injury or unfavorable external conditions, such as extreme heat or
+cold, etc. However, in our present study of the causes of disease we
+shall not consider accidental injury and hostile environment, but
+confine ourselves to causes arising within the organism itself.
+
+The watch may cease to vibrate in accord with the harmonics of our
+planetary universe for several reasons. It may lose time or stand
+still because (1) the wound spring has spent its force, or (2) its
+parts are not made up of the right constituents, or (3) foreign
+matter clogs or corrodes its mechanism.
+
+Similarly, there exist three primary causes of disease and of
+premature death of the physical body. These are:
+
+Lowered vitality. Abnormal composition of blood and lymph.
+Accumulation of morbid matter and poisons.
+
+In the ultimate, disease and everything else that we designate as
+evil are the result of transgressions of natural laws in thinking,
+breathing, eating, dressing, working, resting, as well as in moral,
+sexual and social conduct.
+
+In Tables I and II, I have endeavored to present in concise and
+comprehensive form the primary and the secondary causes or
+manifestations of disease and the corresponding natural methods of
+treatment.
+
+TABLE I
+
+~THE UNITY OF DISEASE AND TREATMENT~
+
+Barring trauma (injury), advancing age and surroundings uncongenial
+to human life, all causes of disease may be classified as given
+below.
+
+Violations of Nature's Laws in thinking, breathing, eating,
+drinking, dressing, working, resting and in moral, sexual and social
+conduct result in the following:
+
+Primary and Secondary Causes of Disease
+
+Primary Causes
+
+Lowered vitality due to overwork, nightwork, excesses,
+overstimulation, poisonous drugs and ill-advised surgical
+operations. Abnormal composition of blood and lymph due to the
+improper selection and combination of food, and especially the lack
+of organic mineral salts and other essential nutritional elements.
+Accumulation of waste matter, morbid matter and poisons due to the
+first two causes, as well as to faulty diet, overeating, the use of
+alcoholic and narcotic stimulants, drugs [both street and
+prescription], vaccines, accidental poisoning and, last but not
+least, to the suppression of acute diseases (Nature's cleansing and
+healing efforts) by poisonous drugs and surgical operations.
+
+Secondary Causes
+
+Hereditary and constitutional taints of sycosis, scrofula, psora,
+syphilis; mercurianism, cinchonism, iodism and many other forms of
+chronic poisoning. Fevers, inflammations, skin eruptions, chronic
+sinus discharges, ulcers, abscesses, germs, bacteria, parasites,
+etc. Mechanical subluxations, distortions and displacements of bony
+structures, muscles and ligaments; weakening and loss of reason,
+will, and self-control resulting in negative, sensitive and
+subjective conditions which open the way to nervous prostration,
+control by other personalities (hypnotic influence, obsession,
+possession); the different forms of insanity, epilepsy, petit mal,
+etc.
+
+Table II
+
+~THE UNITY OF DISEASE AND TREATMENT~
+
+In correspondence with the three primary causes of disease, Nature
+Cure recognizes the following:
+
+Natural Methods of Treatment
+
+1. Return to Nature, or the establishment of normal habits and
+surroundings, which necessitates:
+
+Extension of consciousness by popular general and individual
+education. The constant exercise of reason, will and self-control. A
+return to natural habits of life in thinking, breathing, eating,
+dressing, working, resting and in moral, sexual and social conduct.
+Correction of mechanical defects and injuries by means of massage,
+chiropractic or osteopathy, surgery and other mechanical methods of
+treatment.
+
+2. Economy of Vital Force, which necessitates:
+
+Prevention of waste of vital force by the stoppage of all leaks.
+Scientific relaxation, proper rest and sleep. Proper food selection,
+magnetic treatment, etc. The right mental attitude.
+
+3. Elimination, which necessitates:
+
+Scientific selection and combination of food and drink. Judicious
+fasting. Hydrotherapy (water cure). Light and air baths, friction.
+Chiropratic or osteopathy, massage, and other manipulative
+treatment. Correct breathing, curative gymnastics. Such medicinal
+remedies as will build up the blood on a normal basis and supply the
+system with the all-important mineral salts in organic form.
+
+In the following chapters I shall endeavor to show that all the
+different forms, phases and phenomena of disease arising within the
+human organism, provided they are not caused by accident or external
+conditions unfavorable to the existence of human life, can be
+attributed to one or more of three primary causes (as outlined in
+Tables I and II). When we succeed in proving that all disease
+originates from a few simple causes, it will not seem so strange and
+improbable that all disease can be cured by a few simple, natural
+methods of living and of treatment. If Nature Cure can accomplish
+this, it establishes its right to be classed with the exact
+sciences.
+
+The Three Primary Causes of Disease
+
+We shall now consider the three primary causes of disease one by
+one.
+
+Lowered Vitality
+
+There is a well-defined limit to the running of a watch. When the
+wound spring has spent its force, the mechanism stops.
+
+So also the living forms of vegetable, animal and human life seem to
+be wound by Nature to run a certain length of time, in accordance
+with the laws governing their growth and development. Even the
+healthiest of animals living in the most congenial surroundings in
+the freedom of Nature do not much exceed their allotted span of
+life, nor do they fall much below it. As a rule, the longer the
+period between birth and maturity, the longer the life of the
+animal.
+
+All the different families of mammalia, when living in freedom, live
+closely up to the life period allotted to them by Nature. Man is the
+only exception. It is claimed that according to the laws of
+longevity his average length of life should be considerably over one
+hundred years, while according to life insurance statistics, the
+average is at present [1913] thirty-seven years. This shows an
+immense discrepancy between the possible and the actual longevity of
+man.
+
+Even this brief span of life means little else than weakness,
+physical and mental suffering and degeneracy for the majority of
+mankind. Visiting physicians of the public schools in our large
+cities report that seventy-five percent of all school children show
+defective health in some way. Diagnosis from the Eye proves that the
+remaining twenty-five percent are also more or less affected by
+hereditary and acquired disease conditions. Christian Science says,
+"There is no disease." Nature's records in the iris of the eye say
+there is no perfect health.
+
+These established facts of greatly impaired longevity and universal
+abnormality of the human race would of themselves indicate that
+there is something radically wrong somewhere in the life habits of
+man, and that there is ample reason for the great health-reform
+movement which was started about the middle of the last century by
+the pioneers of Nature Cure in Germany, and which has since swept,
+under many different forms and guises, all portions of the civilized
+world.
+
+When people in general grow better acquainted with the laws
+underlying prenatal and postnatal child culture, natural living and
+the natural treatment of diseases, human beings will approach much
+more closely the normal in health, strength, beauty and longevity.
+Then will arise a true aristocracy, not of morbid, venous blue
+blood, but pulsating with the rich red blood of health.
+
+However, to reach this ideal of perfect physical, mental and moral
+health, succeeding generations will have to adhere to the natural
+ways of living and of treating their ailments. It cannot be attained
+by the present generation. The enthusiasts who claim that they can,
+by their particular methods, achieve perfect health and live the
+full term of human life, are destined to disappointment. We are so
+handicapped by the mistakes of the past that the best which most of
+us adults can do is to patch up, to attain a reasonable measure of
+health and to approach somewhat nearer Nature's full allotment of
+life.
+
+Wild animals living in freedom retain their full vigor unimpaired
+almost to the end of life. Hunters report that among the great herds
+of buffalo, elk and deer, the oldest bucks are the rulers and
+maintain their sovereignty over the younger males of the herd solely
+by reason of their superior strength and prowess. Premature old age,
+among human beings, as indicated by the early decay of physical and
+mental powers, is brought on solely by their violation of Nature's
+Laws in almost all the ordinary habits of life.
+
+Health Positive--Disease Negative
+
+The freer the inflow of life force into the organism, the greater
+the vitality, the more there is of strength, of positive resisting
+and recuperating power.
+
+In the book~ Harmonics of Evolution~ we are told that at the very
+foundation of the manifestation of life lies the principle of
+polarity, which expresses itself in the duality and unity of
+positive and negative affinity. The swaying to and fro of the
+positive and the negative, the desire to balance incomplete
+polarity, constitutes the very ebb and flow of life.
+
+Disease is disturbed polarity. Exaggerated positive or negative
+conditions, whether physical, mental, moral or spiritual, tend to
+disease on the respective planes of being. Foods, medicines,
+suggestion and all the other different methods of therapeutic
+treatment exert on the individual subjected to them either a
+positive or a negative influence. It is, therefore, of the greatest
+importance that the physician and every one who wishes to live and
+work in harmony with Nature's Laws should understand this
+all-important question of magnetic polarity.
+
+Lowered vitality means lowered, slower and coarser vibration, and
+this results in lowered resistance to the accumulation of morbid
+matter, poisons, disease taints, germs and parasites. This is what
+we designate ordinarily as the negative condition.
+
+Let us see whether we can explain this more fully by a homely but
+practical illustration: A great many of my readers have probably
+seen in operation in the summer amusement parks the "human
+roulette." This contrivance consists of a large wheel,
+board-covered, somewhat raised in the center, and sloping towards
+the circumference. The wheel rotates horizontally, evenly with the
+floor or ground. The merrymakers pay their nickels for the privilege
+of throwing themselves flat down on the wheel and attempting to
+cling to it while it rotates with increasing swiftness. While the
+wheel moves slowly, it is easy enough to cling to it; but the faster
+it revolves, the more strongly the centrifugal force tends to throw
+off the human flies who try to stick to it.
+
+The increasing repelling power of the accelerated motion of the
+wheel may serve as an illustration of that which we call vigorous
+vibration, good vitality, natural immunity or recuperative power.
+This is the positive condition.
+
+The more intense the action of the life force, the more rapid and
+vigorous are the vibratory activities of the atoms and molecules in
+the cells, and of the cells in the organs and tissues of the body.
+The more rapid and vigorous this vibratory activity, the more
+powerful is the repulsion and expulsion of morbid matter, poisons
+and germs of disease which try to encumber or destroy the organism.
+
+Health and Disease Resident in the Cell
+
+We must not forget that health or disease, in the final analysis, is
+resident in the cell. Though a minute, microscopic organism, the
+cell is an independent living being, which is born, grows, eats,
+drinks, throws off waste matter, multiplies, ages and dies, just
+like man, the large cell. If the individual cell is well, man, the
+complex cell, is well also, and vice versa. From this it is apparent
+that in all our considerations of the processes of health, disease
+and cure, we have to deal primarily with the individual cell.
+
+The vibratory activity of the cell may be lowered through the
+decline of vitality brought about in a natural way by advancing age,
+or in an artificial way through wrong habits of living, wrong
+thinking and feeling, overwork, unnatural stimulation and excesses
+of various kinds.
+
+On the other hand, the inflow of vital force into the cells may be
+obstructed and their vibratory activity lowered by the accumulation
+of waste and morbid matter in the tissues, blood vessels and nerve
+channels of the body. Such clogging will interfere with the inflow
+of life force and with the free and harmonious vibration of the
+cells and organs of the body as surely as dust in a watch will
+interfere with the normal action and vibration of its wheels and
+balances.
+
+From this it is evident that negative conditions may be brought
+about not only by hyperrefinement of the physical organism, but also
+by clogging it with waste and morbid matter which interfere with the
+inflow and distribution of the vital force. It also becomes apparent
+that in such cases the Nature Cure methods of eliminative treatment,
+such as pure food diet, hydrotherapy, massage, chiropractic,
+osteopathy, etc., are valuable means of removing these obstructions
+and promoting the inflow and free circulation of the positive
+electric and magnetic life currents
+
+Abnormal Composition of Blood and Lymph
+
+As one of the primary causes of disease, we cited abnormal
+composition of blood and lymph. The human organism is made up of a
+certain number of elements in well-defined proportions. Chem-istry
+has discovered, so far, about seventeen of these elements in
+appreciable quantities and has ascertained their functions in the
+economy of the body. These seventeen elements must be present in the
+right proportions in order to insure normal texture, structure and
+functioning of the component parts and organs of the body.
+
+The cells and organs receive their nourishment from the blood and
+lymph currents. Therefore, these must contain all the elements
+needed by the organism in the right proportions, and this, of
+course, depends upon the character and the combination of the food
+supply.
+
+Every disease arising in the human organism from internal causes is
+accompanied by a deficiency in blood and tissues of certain
+important mineral elements [organic salts]. Undoubtedly, the
+majority of these diseases are caused by an unbalanced diet, or by
+food and drink poisoning. Wrong food combinations, on the one hand,
+create an overabundance of waste and morbid matter in the system
+and, on the other hand, fail to supply the positive mineral elements
+or organic salts on which depends the elimination of waste and
+systemic poisons from the body.
+
+The great problem of natural dietetics and of natural medical
+treatment is, therefore, how to restore and maintain the positivity
+of the blood and of the organism as a whole through providing in
+food, drink and medicine an abundant supply of the positive mineral
+salts in organic form.
+
+Accumulation of Morbid Matter and Poisons
+
+This is the third of the primary causes of disease. We have learned
+how lowered vitality and the abnormal composition of thevital fluids
+favor the retention of systemic poisons in the body. If, in addition
+to this, food and drink contain too much of the waste-producing
+carbohydrates, hydrocarbons and proteins, and not enough of the
+eliminating positive mineral salts then waste and morbid materials
+are bound to accumulate in the system and this results in the
+clogging of the tissues with acid precipitates and earthy deposits.
+
+Such accumulation of waste and morbid matter in blood and tissues
+creates the great majority of all diseases arising within the human
+organism. This will be explained fully in the following chapters
+which deal with the causation of acute and chronic disease.
+
+More harmful and dangerous, and more difficult to eliminate than the
+different kinds of systemic poisons, that is, those which have
+originated within the body, are the drug poisons, especially when
+they are administered in the inorganic mineral form. Health is
+dependent upon an abundant supply of life force, upon the
+unobstructed, normal circulation of the vital fluids and upon
+perfect oxygenation and combustion. Anything that interferes with
+these essentials causes disease; anything that promotes them
+establishes health. Nothing so interferes with the inflow of the
+life force, with free and normal circulation of blood and lymph and
+with the oxygenation and combustion of food materials and systemic
+waste as the accumulation of morbid matter and poisons in the
+tissues of the body.
+
+This I have endeavored to explain more fully in connection with
+lowered vitality. Let us now see how disease and health are affected
+by mental and emotional conditions.
+
+Mental and Emotional Influences
+
+Our mental and emotional conditions exert a most powerful influence
+upon the inflow and distribution of vital force. The author of The
+Great Work [~The Great Work: The Constructive Principle of Nature in
+Individual Life, ~by John Emmett Richardson {1853-1935},
+Indio-American Book Company, Chicago, IL. 1907.] has described most
+graphically in the chapter on Self-Control how fear, worry, anxiety
+and all kindred emotions create in the system conditions similar to
+those of freezing; how these destructive vibrations congeal the
+tissues, clog the channels of life and paralyze the vital functions.
+He shows how the emotional conditions of impatience, irritability,
+anger, etc., have a heating, corroding effect upon the tissues of
+the body.
+
+In like manner, all other destructive emotional vibrations ob-struct
+the inflow and normal distribution of the life forces in and through
+the organism, while on the other hand the constructive emotions of
+faith, hope, cheerfulness, happiness and love exert a relaxing,
+harmonizing influence upon the tissues, blood vessels and nerve
+channels of the body, thus opening wide the floodgates of the life
+forces, and raising the discords of weakness, disease and discontent
+to the harmonics of buoyant health and happiness.
+
+Let us see just how mind controls matter and how it affects the
+changing conditions of the physical body. Life manifests through
+vibration. It acts on the mass by acting through its minutest
+par-ticles. Changes in the physical body are wrought by vibratory
+changes in atoms, molecules and cells. Health is satisfied polarity,
+that is, the balancing of the positive and negative elements in
+harmonious vibration. Anything that interferes with the free,
+vigor-ous and harmonious vibration of the minute parts and particles
+composing the human organism tends to disturb polarity and natural
+affinity, thus causing discord or disease.
+
+When we fully realize these facts we shall not stand so much in awe
+of our physical bodies. In the past we have been thinking of the
+body as a solid and imponderable mass difficult to control and to
+change. This conception left us in a condition of utter helplessness
+and hopelessness in the presence of weakness and disease.
+
+We now think of the body as composed of minute corpuscles rotating
+around one another within the atom at relatively immense distances.
+We know that in similar manner the atoms vibrate in the molecule,
+the molecules in the cell, the cells in the organ and the organs in
+the body; the whole capable of being changed by a change in the
+vibrations of its particles.
+
+Thus the erstwhile solid physical mass appears plastic and fluidic,
+readily swayed and changed by the vibratory harmonies or discords of
+thoughts and emotions as well as by foods, medicines and therapeutic
+treatment.
+
+Under the old conception the mind fell readily under the control of
+the body and became the abject slave of its physical conditions,
+swayed by fear and apprehension under every sensation of physical
+weakness, discomfort or pain. The servants lorded it with a high
+hand over the master of the house, and the result was chaos. Under
+the new conception, control is placed where it belongs. It is
+assumed by the real master of the house, the Soul-Man, and the
+servants, the physical members of the body, remain obedient to his
+bidding.
+
+This is the new man, the ideal progeny of a new and higher
+philosophy. Understanding the structure of the body, the laws of its
+being and the operation of the life elements within it, the superman
+retains perfect poise and confidence under the most trying
+circumstances. Animated by an abounding faith in the supremacy of
+the healing forces within him and sustained by the power of his
+sovereign will, he governs his body as perfectly as the artist
+controls his violin and attunes its vibrations to Nature's harmonies
+of health and happiness.
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+
+The Unity of Acute Diseases
+
+
+In the last chapter I endeavored to explain the three primary causes
+of disease, namely: (1) Lowered Vitality, (2) Abnormal Composition
+of Blood and Lymph, (3) Accumulation of Waste, Morbid Matter, and
+Poisons in the System.
+
+We shall now consider some of the secondary manifestations resulting
+from these primary causes. Consulting the table on page 18 (Chapter
+2, internet version), we find mentioned as the first one of the
+secondary causes or manifestations of disease, "Hereditary and
+Constitutional Taints."
+
+On first impression, it might be thought that heredity is a primary
+cause of disease; but on further consideration it becomes apparent
+that it is an effect and not a primary cause. If the parents possess
+good vitality and pure, normal blood and tissues, and if they apply
+in the prenatal and postnatal treatment of the child the necessary
+insight and foresight, there cannot be disease heredity. In order to
+create abnormal hereditary tendencies, the parents, or earlier
+ancestors, must have ignorantly or wantonly violated Nature's Laws,
+such violation resulting in lowered vitality and in deterioration of
+blood and tissues.
+
+The female and male germinal cells unite and form the primitive
+reproductive cell--the prototype of marriage. The human body with
+its millions of cells and cell colonies is developed by the
+multiplication, with gradual differentiation, of the reproductive
+cell. Its abnormalities of structure, of cell materials and of
+functional tendencies are reproduced just as surely as its normal
+constituents. Herein lies the simple explanation of heredity which
+is proved to be an actual fact, not only by common experience and
+scientific observation but also in a more definite way by Nature's
+records in the iris of the eye.
+
+The iris of the newborn child reveals in its diagnostic details not
+only, in a general way, hereditary taints, lowered resistance, and
+deterioration of vital fluids, but frequently special weakness and
+deterioration in those organs which were weak or diseased in the
+parents. Under the conventional (unnatural) management of the
+infant, these hereditary tendencies to weakness and disease and
+their corresponding signs in the iris become more and more
+pronounced, proceeding through the various stages of incumbrance
+from acute, infantile diseases through chronic catarrhal conditions
+to the final destructive stages.
+
+In the face of the well-established facts of disease heredity we
+have, however, this consolation: If the child be treated in
+accordance with the teachings of Nature Cure philosophy, the
+abnormal hereditary encumbrances and tendencies can be overcome and
+eliminated within a few years. If we place the infant organism under
+the right conditions of living and of treatment, in harmony with the
+laws of its being, the Life Principle within will approach ever
+nearer to the establishment of the perfect type. Hundreds of "Nature
+Cure" babies all over this country are living proofs of this
+gladsome message to all those who have assumed or intend to assume
+the responsibilities of parenthood.
+
+Natural Immunity
+
+Under Division II of "Secondary Causes or Manifestations of Disease"
+we find mentioned germs, bacteria, parasites, inflammations, fevers,
+skin eruptions, chronic sinus discharges, ulcers, etc.
+
+Modern medical science is built up upon the germ theory of disease
+and treatment. Since the microscope has revealed the presence and
+seemingly entirely pernicious activity of certain microorganisms in
+connection with certain diseases, it has been assumed that bacteria
+are the direct, primary causes of most diseases. Therefore, the
+slogan now is: "Kill the bacteria (by poisonous antiseptics, serums
+and antitoxins) and you will cure the disease."
+
+The Nature Cure philosophy takes a different view of the problem.
+Germs cannot be the cause of disease, because disease germs are also
+found in healthy bodies. The real cause must be something else. We
+claim that it is the waste and morbid matter in the system which
+afford the microorganisms of disease the opportunity to breed and
+multiply.
+
+We regard microorganisms as secondary manifestations of disease, and
+maintain that bacteria and parasites live, thrive and multiply to
+the danger point in a weakened and diseased organism only. If it
+were not so, the human family would be extinct within a few months'
+time.
+
+The fear instilled by the bacterial theory of disease is frequently
+more destructive than the microorganisms themselves. We have had
+under observation and treatment a number of insane patients whose
+peculiar delusion or monomania was an exaggerated fear of germs, a
+genuine bacteriophobia.
+
+Keep yourself clean and vigorous from within, and you cannot be
+affected by disease taints and germs from without.
+
+Bacteria are practically omnipresent. We absorb them in food and
+drink, we inhale them in the air we breathe. Our bodies are
+literally alive with them. The last stages of the digestive
+processes depend upon the activity of millions of bacteria in the
+intestinal tract.
+
+The proper thing to do, therefore, is not to try and kill the germs,
+but to remove the morbid matter and disease taints in which they
+live.
+
+Instead of concentrating its energies upon killing the germs, whose
+presence we cannot escape, Nature Cure endeavors to in-vigorate the
+system, to build up blood and lymph on a normal basis and to purify
+the tissues of their morbid encumbrances in such a way as to
+establish natural immunity to destructive germ activity. Everything
+that tends to accomplish this without injuring the system by
+poisonous drugs or surgical operations is good Nature Cure
+treatment.
+
+To adopt the germ-killing process without purifying and invigorating
+the organism would be like trying to keep a house free from fungi
+and vermin by sprinkling it daily with carbolic acid and other germ
+killers, instead of keeping it pure and sweet by flooding it with
+fresh air and sunshine and applying freely and vigorously broom,
+brush and plenty of soap and water. Instead of purifying it, the
+antiseptics and germ killers would only add to the filth in the
+house.
+
+All bacteriologists are unanimous in declaring that the various
+disease germs are found not only in the bodies of the sick, but also
+in seemingly healthy persons.
+
+A celebrated French bacteriologist reports that in the mouth of a
+healthy infant, two months old, he found almost all the disease
+germs known to medical science. Only lately, a celebrated physician,
+appointed by the French government to investigate the causes of
+tuberculosis, declared before a meeting of the International
+Tuberculosis Congress in Rome that he found the bacilli of
+tuberculosis in ninety-five percent of all the school children he
+had examined.
+
+Dr. Osler, one of the greatest living medical authorities, mentions
+repeatedly in his works that the bacilli of diphtheria, pneumonia
+and of many other virulent diseases are found in the bodies of
+healthy persons.
+
+The inability of bacteria, by themselves, to create diseases is
+further confirmed by the well-known facts of natural immunity to
+specific infection or contagion. All mankind is more or less
+affected by hereditary and acquired disease taints, morbid
+encumbrances and drug poisoning, resulting from age-long violation
+of Nature's Laws and from the suppression of acute diseases; but
+even under the almost universal present conditions of lowered
+vitality, morbid heredity and physical and mental degeneration it is
+found that under identical conditions of exposure to drafts or
+infection, a certain percentage of individuals only will take the
+cold or catch the disease. The fact of natural immunity is
+constantly confirmed by common experience as well as in the clinics
+and laboratories of our medical schools and research institutes. Of
+a specific number of mice or rabbits inoculated with particles of
+cancer, only a small percentage develops the malignant growth and
+succumbs to its ravages.
+
+The development of infectious and contagious diseases necessitates a
+certain predisposition, or, as medical science calls it, "disease
+diathesis." This predisposition to infection and contagion consists
+in the primary causes of disease, which we have designated as
+lowered vitality, abnormal composition of blood and lymph, and the
+accumulation of waste, morbid matter and poisons in the system.
+
+Bacteria: Secondary, Not Primary,
+
+Manifestations of Disease
+
+In a previous chapter we learned how lowered vitality weakens the
+resistance of the system to the attacks and inroads of disease germs
+and poisons. The growth and multiplication of microorganisms depend
+furthermore upon a congenial, morbid soil. Just as the ordinary
+yeast germ multiplies in a sugar solution only, so the various
+microorganisms of disease thrive and multiply to the danger point
+only in their own peculiar and congenial kind of morbid matter.
+Thus, the typhoid fever bacillus thrives in a certain kind of effete
+matter which accumulates in the intestines; the pneumonia bacilli
+flourish best in the catarrhal secretions of the lungs, and
+meningitis bacilli in the diseased meninges of the brain and spinal
+cord.
+
+Dr. Pettenkofer, a celebrated physician and professor of the
+University of Vienna, also arrived at the conclusion that bacteria,
+by themselves, cannot create disease, and for years he defended his
+opinion from the lecture platform and in his writings against the
+practically solid phalanx of the medical profession. One day he
+backed his theory by a practical test. While instructing his class
+in the bacteriological laboratory of the university, he picked up a
+glass which contained millions of live cholera germs and swallowed
+its contents before the eyes of the students. The seemingly
+dangerous experiment was followed only by a slight nausea. Lately I
+have heard repeatedly of persons in this country who subjected
+themselves in similar manner to infection, inoculation and contagion
+with the most virulent kinds of bacteria and disease taints without
+developing the corresponding diseases.
+
+A few years ago Dr. Rodermund, a physician in the State of
+Wisconsin, created a sensation all over this country when he smeared
+his body with the exudate of smallpox sores in order to demonstrate
+to his medical colleagues that a healthy body could not be infected
+with the disease. He was arrested and quarantined in jail, but not
+before he had come in contact with many people. Neither he nor
+anyone else exposed by him developed smallpox.
+
+During the ten years that I have been connected with sanitarium
+work, my workers and myself, in giving the various forms of
+manipulative treatment, have handled intimately thousands of cases
+of infectious and contagious diseases, and I do not remember a
+single instance where any one of us was in the least affected by
+such contact. Ordinary cleanliness, good vitality, clean blood and
+tissues, the organs of elimination in good, active condition and,
+last but not least, a positive, fearless attitude of mind will
+practically establish natural immunity to the inroads and ravages of
+bacteria and disease taints. If infection takes place, the organism
+reacts to it through inflammatory processes, and by means of these
+endeavors to overcome and eliminate microorganisms and poisons from
+the system.
+
+In this connection it is of interest to learn that the danger to
+life from bites and stings of poisonous reptiles and insects has
+been greatly exaggerated. According to popular opinion, anyone
+bitten by a rattlesnake, gila monster or tarantula is doomed to die,
+while as a matter of fact the statistics show that only from two to
+seven per-cent succumb to the effects of the wounds inflicted by the
+bites of poisonous reptiles.
+
+In this, as in many other instances, popular opinion should rather
+be called "popular superstition."
+
+In the open discussions following my public lectures, I am often
+asked: "What is the right thing to do in case of snakebite? Would
+you not give plenty of whiskey to save the victim's life?"
+
+It is my belief that of the seven percent who die after being bitten
+by rattlesnakes or other poisonous snakes, a goodly proportion give
+up the ghost because of the effects of the enormous doses of strong
+whiskey that are poured into them under the mistaken idea that the
+whiskey is an efficient antidote to the snake poison.
+
+People do not know that the death rate from snakebite is so very
+low, and therefore they attribute the recoveries to the whiskey,
+just as recoveries from other diseases under medical or metaphysical
+treatment are attributed to the virtues of the particular medicine
+or method of treatment instead of to the real healer, the~ vis
+medicatrix nature,~ the healing power of Nature, which in
+ninety-three cases in a hundred eliminates the rattlesnake venom
+without injury to the organism.
+
+To recapitulate: Just as yeast cells are not only the cause but also
+the product of sugar fermentation, so disease germs are not only a
+cause (secondary) but also a product of morbid fermentation in the
+system. Furthermore, just as yeast germs live on and decompose
+sugar, so disease germs live on and decompose morbid matter and
+systemic poisons.
+
+In a way, therefore, microorganisms are just as much the product as
+the cause of disease and act as scavengers or eliminators of morbid
+matter. In order to hold in check the destructive activity of
+bacteria and to prevent their multiplication beyond the danger
+point, Nature resorts to inflammation and manufactures her own
+antitoxins.
+
+On the other hand, whatever tends to build up the blood on a natural
+basis, to promote elimination of morbid matter and thereby to limit
+the activity of destructive microorganisms without injuring the body
+or depressing its vital functions, is good Nature Cure practice. The
+first consideration, therefore, in the treatment of inflammation
+must be to not interfere with its natural course.
+
+By the various statements and claims made in this chapter, I do not
+wish to convey the idea that I am opposed to scrupulous cleanliness
+or surgical asepsis. Far from it! These are dictates of common
+sense. But I do affirm that the danger from germ and other
+infectious diseases lies just as much or more so in internal filth
+as in external uncleanliness. Cleanliness and asepsis must go hand
+in hand with the purification of the inner man in order to insure
+natural immunity.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+
+The Laws of Cure
+
+
+This brings us to the consideration of acute inflammatory and
+feverish diseases. From what has been said, it follows that
+inflammation and fever are not primary, but secondary,
+manifestations of disease. There cannot arise any form of
+inflammatory disease in the system unless there is present some
+enemy to health which Nature is endeavoring to overcome and get rid
+of. On this fact in Nature is based what I claim to be the
+fundamental Law of Cure.
+
+"Give me fever and I can cure every disease." Thus Hippocrates the
+Father of Medicine, expressed the fundamental Law of Cure over two
+thousand years ago. I have expressed this law in the following
+sentence: "Every acute disease is the result of a cleansing and
+healing effort of Nature."
+
+This law, when thoroughly understood and applied to the treatment of
+diseases, will in time do for medical science what the discovery of
+other natural laws has done for physics, astronomy, chemistry and
+other exact sciences. It will transform the medical empiricism and
+confusion of the past and present into an exact science by
+demonstrating the unity of disease and treatment.
+
+Applying the law in a general way, it means that all acute diseases,
+from a simple cold to measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, smallpox,
+pneumonia, etc., represent Nature's efforts to repair injury or to
+remove from the system some kind of morbid matter, virus, poison or
+microorganism dangerous to health and life. In other words, acute
+diseases cannot develop in a perfectly normal, healthy body living
+under conditions favorable to human life. The question may be asked:
+"If acute diseases represent Nature's healing efforts, why is it
+that people die from them?" The answer to this is: the vitality may
+be too low, the injury or morbid encumbrance too great or the
+treatment may be inadequate or harmful, so that Nature loses the
+fight; still, the acute disease represents an effort of Nature to
+overcome the enemies to health and life and to reestablish normal,
+healthy conditions.
+
+It is a curious fact that this fundamental principle of Nature Cure
+and Law of Nature has been acknowledged and verified by medical
+science. The most advanced works on pathology admit the constructive
+and beneficial character of inflammation. However, when it comes to
+the treatment of acute diseases, physicians seem to forget entirely
+this basic principle of pathology, and treat inflammation and fever
+as though they were, in themselves, inimical and destructive to
+health and life.
+
+From this inconsistency in theory and practice arise all the errors
+of allopathic medical treatment. Failure to understand this
+fundamental Law of Cure accounts for all the confusion on the part
+of the exponents of the different schools of healing sciences, and
+for the greater part of human suffering.
+
+The Nature Cure philosophy never loses sight of the fundamental Law
+of Cure. While allopathy regards acute disease conditions as in
+themselves harmful and hostile to health and life, as something to
+be cured (we should say suppressed) by drug or knife, the Nature
+Cure school regards these forcible housecleanings as beneficial and
+necessary, so long, at least, as people will continue to disregard
+Nature's Laws. While, through its simple, natural methods of
+treatment, Nature Cure easily modifies the course of inflammatory
+and feverish processes and keeps them within safe limits, it never
+checks or suppresses these acute reactions by poisonous drugs,
+serums, antiseptics, surgical operations, suggestion or any other
+suppressive treatment.
+
+Skin eruptions, boils, ulcers, catarrhs, diarrheas, and all other
+forms of inflammatory febrile disease conditions are indications
+that there is something hostile to life and health in the organism
+which Nature is trying to remove or overcome by these so-called
+"acute" diseases. What, then, can be gained by suppressing them with
+poisonous drugs and surgical operations? Such practice does not
+allow Nature to carry on her work of cleansing and repair and to
+attain her ends. The morbid matter which she endeavored to eliminate
+by acute reactions is thrown back into the system. Worse than that,
+drug poisons are added to disease poisons. Is it any wonder that
+fatal complications arise, or that the acute condition is changed to
+chronic disease?
+
+Why Does the Greater Part of Allopathic Materia
+
+Medica Consist of Virulent Poisons?
+
+The statements made in the preceding pages are a severe indictment
+of regular medical science, but they point out the difference in the
+basic principles of the "Old School" of healing and those of the
+Nature Cure philosophy.
+
+The fundamental Law of Cure quoted in this chapter explains why
+allopathic medical science is in error, not in a few things only,
+but in most things. The foundation, the orthodox conception of
+disease being wrong, it follows that everything which is built
+thereon must be wrong also.
+
+No matter how learned a man may be, if he begins a problem in
+arithmetic with the proposition 2x2=5, he never will arrive at a
+correct solution if he continue to figure into all eternity. Neither
+can allopathy solve the problem of disease and cure as long as its
+fundamental conception of disease is based on error.
+
+The fundamental law of cure explains also why the great majority of
+allopathic prescriptions contain virulent poisons in some form or
+another and why surgical operations are in high favor with the
+disciples of the regular school.
+
+The answer of allopathy to the question, "Why do you give poisons?"
+usually is, "Our materia medica contains poisons because drug poison
+kills and eliminates disease poison." We, however, claim that drug
+poisons merely serve to paralyze vital force, whereby the deceptive
+results of allopathic treatment are obtained.
+
+The following will explain this more fully. We have learned that
+so-called acute diseases are Nature's cleansing and healing efforts.
+All acute reactions represent increased activity of vital force,
+resulting in feverish and inflammatory conditions, accompanied by
+pain, redness, swelling, high temperature, rapid pulse, catarrhal
+discharges, skin eruptions, boils, ulcers, etc.
+
+Allopathy regards these violent activities of vital force as
+detrimental and harmful in themselves. Anything which will inhibit
+the action of vital force will, in allopathic parlance, cure (?)
+acute diseases. As a matter of fact, nothing more effectively
+paralyzes vital force and impairs the vital organs than poisonous
+drugs and the surgeon's knife. These, therefore, must necessarily
+constitute the favorite means of cure (?) of the regular school of
+medicine.
+
+This school mistakes effect for cause. It fails to see that the
+local inflammation arising within the organism is not the disease,
+but merely marks the locality and the method through which Nature is
+trying her best to discharge the morbid encumbrances; that the acute
+reaction is local, but that its causes or feeders are always
+constitutional and must be treated constitutionally. When, under the
+influence of rational, natural treatment, the poisonous irritants
+are eliminated from blood and tissues, the local symptoms take care
+of themselves; it does not matter whether they manifest as pimple or
+cancer, as a simple cold or as consumption.
+
+The Law of Dual Effect
+
+Everywhere in Nature rules the great Law of Action and Reaction. All
+life sways back and forth between giving and receiving, between
+action and reaction. The very breath of life mysteriously comes and
+goes in rhythmical flow. So also heaves and falls in ebb and tide
+the bosom of Mother Earth.
+
+In some of its aspects, this law is called the Law of Compensation,
+or the Law of Dual Effect. On its action depends the preservation of
+energy.
+
+The Great Master expressed the ethical application of this law when
+he said:
+
+"Give, and it shall be given unto you. . . . For with the same
+measure that ye mete it shall be measured to you again."--Luke 6:38.
+
+In the realms of physical nature, giving and receiving, action and
+reaction balance each other mechanically and automatically. What we
+gain in power we lose in speed or volume, and vice versa. This makes
+it possible for the mechanic, the scientist and the astronomer to
+predict with mathematical precision for ages in advance the results
+of certain activities in Nature.
+
+The great Law of Dual Effect forms the foundation of the healing
+sciences. It is related to and governs every phenomenon of health,
+disease and cure. When I formulated the fundamental Law of Cure in
+the words, "Every acute disease is the result of a healing effort of
+Nature," this was but another expression of the great Law of Action
+and Reaction. What we commonly call crisis, acute reaction or acute
+disease is in reality Nature's attempt to establish health.
+
+Applied to the physical activity of the body, the Law of
+Com-pensation may be expressed as follows: "Every agent affecting
+the human organism produces two effects: a first, apparent,
+temporary effect, and a second, lasting effect. The secondary,
+lasting effect is always contrary to the primary, transient effect."
+
+For instance: The first and temporary effect of cold water applied
+to the skin consists in sending the blood to the interior; but in
+order to compensate for the local depletion, Nature responds by
+sending greater quantities of blood back to the surface, resulting
+in increased warmth and better surface circulation.
+
+The first effect of a hot bath is to draw the blood to the surface;
+but the secondary effect sends the blood back to the interior,
+leaving the surface bloodless and chilled.
+
+Stimulants, as we shall see later on, produce their deceptive
+effects by burning up the reserve stores of vital energy in the
+organism. This is inevitably followed by weakness and exhaustion in
+exact proportion to the previous excitation.
+
+The primary effect of relaxation and sleep is weakness, numbness and
+death-like stupor; the secondary effect, however, is an increase of
+vitality.
+
+The Law of Dual Effect governs all drug action. The first,
+temporary, violent effect of poisonous drugs, when given in
+physiological doses, is usually due to Nature's efforts to overcome
+and eliminate these substances. The secondary, lasting effect is due
+to the retention of the drug poisons in the system and their action
+on the organism.
+
+In theory and practice, allopathy considers the first effect only
+and ignores the lasting aftereffects of drugs and surgical
+operations. It administers remedies whose first effect is contrary
+to the disease condition. Therefore, in accordance with the Law of
+Action and Reaction, the secondary, lasting effect of such remedies
+must be similar to or like the disease condition.
+
+Common, everyday experience should teach us that this is so, for
+laxatives and cathartics always tend to produce chronic
+constipation.
+
+The secondary effect of stimulants and tonics of any kind is
+increased weakness, and their continued use often results in
+complete exhaustion and paralysis of mental and physical powers.
+
+Headache powders, pain killers, opiates, sedatives and hypnotics may
+paralyze brain and nerves into temporary insensibility; but, if due
+to constitutional causes, the pain, nervousness and insomnia will
+always return with redoubled force. If taken habitually, these
+agents invariably tend to create heart disease and paralysis, and
+ultimately develop the patient into a dope fiend.
+
+Cold and catarrh cures (?), such as quinine, coal-tar products,
+etc., suppress Nature's efforts to eliminate waste and morbid matter
+through the mucous linings of the respiratory tract, and drive the
+disease matter back into the lungs, thus breeding pneumonia, chronic
+catarrhs, asthma and consumption.
+
+Mercury, iodine and all other alteratives, by suppression of
+external elimination, create internal chronic diseases of the most
+dreadful types, such as locomotor ataxy, paresis, etc.
+
+So the recital might be continued all through orthodox materia
+medica. Each drug breeds new disease symptoms which are in their
+turn cured (?) by other poisons, until the insane asylum or merciful
+death rings down the curtain on the tragedy of a ruined life.
+
+The teaching and practice of homeopathy, as explained in Chapter
+Twenty-Six, is fully in harmony with the Law of Action and Reaction.
+Acting upon the basic principle of homeopathy: ~Similia similibus
+curantur,~ or like cures like, it administers remedies whose first,
+temporary effect is similar to the disease conditions. In accordance
+with the Law of Dual Effect, then, the secondary effect of these
+remedies must be contrary to the disease conditions, that is,
+curative.
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+
+Suppression Versus Elimination
+
+
+My claim that the conventional treatment of acute diseases is
+suppressive and not curative will probably be denied by my medical
+colleagues. They will maintain that their methods also are
+calculated to eliminate morbid matter and disease germs from the
+system.
+
+But what are the facts in actual practice? Is it not true that
+preparations of mercury, lead, zinc and other powerful poisons are
+constantly used to suppress skin eruptions, boils, abscesses, etc.,
+instead of allowing Nature to rid the system through these skin
+diseases of scrofulous, venereal and psoric taints?
+
+Some time ago Dr. Wiley, the former Government Chemist, published
+the ingredients of a number of popular remedies for colds, coughs
+and catarrh. Every one of them contained some powerful opiate or
+astringent. These poisonous drugs relieve the cough and the
+catarrhal conditions by paralyzing the eliminative activity of the
+membranous linings of the nasal passages, the bronchi and lungs, the
+digestive and genitourinary organs; but in doing so, they throw back
+into the system the morbid matter which Nature is trying to get rid
+of, and add drug poisons to disease poisons.
+
+Equally harmful is suppression by means of the surgeon's knife. It
+may be a quicker and apparently more effective process to remove the
+inflamed appendix or the diseased tonsils than to cure them by
+building up the blood and inducing elimination of systemic poisons
+by natural methods. But operative treatment is not eliminative. It
+does not remove from the system the original cause of the
+inflammation or deterioration of tissues and organs, but it does
+remove the outlet which Nature had established for the escape of
+morbid materials.
+
+These morbid encumbrances, forcibly retained in the body, weaken and
+destroy other parts and organs, or affect the general health of the
+patient.
+
+My own observations during nearly fifteen years of practical
+experience, confirmed by many other conscientious observers among
+Nature Cure practitioners as well as physicians of other schools and
+of allopathy itself, prove positively that the average length of
+life after a major operation, performed on important, vital parts
+and organs, is less than ten years, and that after such an operation
+the general health of the patient is in the great majority of cases
+not as good as before.
+
+In the following paragraphs are mentioned some very common instances
+of suppression and some of their usual chronic aftereffects
+(sequelae).
+
+Diarrhea is suppressed with laudanum and other opiates, which
+paralyze the peristaltic action of the bowels and, if repeated, soon
+produce chronic constipation. Gonorrheal discharges and syphilitic
+ulcers are checked and suppressed by local injections, cauterization
+and by prescriptions containing mercury, iodine and other poisonous
+alternatives which effectually prevent Nature's efforts to eliminate
+the venereal poisons from the system.
+
+Gonorrheal discharges and syphilitic ulcers are checked and
+supressed by local injections, cauterizatin, and by prescriptions
+containing mercury, iodine, and other poisonous alternatives which
+effectually prevent Nature's efforts to elminate the venereal
+poisons from the system.
+
+All feverish diseases are more or less interfered with or suppressed
+by antiseptics, antipyretics, serums and antitoxins. The best books
+on ~Materia Medica~ and the professors in the colleges teach that
+these remedies lower the fever because they are "protoplasmic
+poisons"; because they paralyze the red and white blood corpuscles,
+benumb heart action and respiration, and depress all vital
+functions.
+
+Nervousness, sleeplessness and pain are suppressed by sedatives,
+opiates and hypnotics. Every one of the drugs used for such purposes
+is a powerful poison which paralyzes brain and nerve action, in that
+way interfering with Nature's healing efforts and frequently
+preventing the consummation of beneficial healing crises.
+
+Epileptic attacks and other forms of convulsions are suppressed, but
+never cured, by bromides which benumb and paralyze the brain and
+nerve centers. All that these sedatives accomplish is to produce in
+the course of time idiocy and the different forms of paralysis and
+premature senility.
+
+However, is he not considered the best doctor who can most promptly
+produce these and many similar deceptive results through artificial
+inhibition or stimulation by means of the most virulent poisons
+found on earth?
+
+Dandruff and falling hair are caused by the elimination of systemic
+poisons through the scalp. The thing to do, therefore, is not to
+suppress this elimination and thereby cause the accumulation of
+poisons in the brain, but to stop the manufacture of poison in the
+body and to promote its removal through the natural channels.
+
+Dandruff cures and hair tonics contain glycerine, poisonous
+antiseptics and stimulants which are absorbed by scalp and brain,
+causing dizziness, headaches, loss of memory, neurasthenia,
+deaf-ness, weakness of sight, etc.
+
+Head lice and similar parasites peculiar to other parts of the body
+live on scrofulous and psoriotic taints. When these are consumed,
+the lice depart as they came, no one knows whence or whither.
+
+This is confirmed by the fact that these noxious pests do not remain
+with all people who have been exposed to them, but only with those
+whose internal or external filth conditions furnish the parasites
+with the means of subsistence.
+
+In a number of instances we have seen "healing crises" take the form
+of lice. At that time the patients were living in the most clean
+surroundings, taking different forms of water treatment every day
+and infection was practically impossible.
+
+These people invariably recalled that they had been infested with
+parasites at some previous time, and that strong antiseptics,
+mercurial salves, or other means of suppression had been applied.
+
+We prescribe for the removal of lice only cold water and the comb.
+Even antiseptic soaps should be avoided.
+
+The Results of Suppression of Children's Diseases
+
+Sycotic eruptions on the heads and bodies of infants, also called
+milk scurf, if suppressed by salves, cream, unsalted butter or
+merely by warm bathing, are often followed by chorea (St. Vitus'
+dance), epilepsy, a scrofulous constitution and in later life by
+tuberculosis.
+
+Measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, spinal meningitis and other
+febrile diseases of childhood, if properly treated by natural
+methods, are curative or at least corrective in their effects on the
+system, and represent well-defined, orderly natural processes for
+the elimination of inherited or acquired disease taints, drug
+poisons, etc. But if arrested or suppressed before they have run
+their natural course, before Nature has had time to reestablish
+normal conditions, then the abnormal condition becomes fixed and
+permanent (chronic).
+
+In addition to this, the poisons and serums employed to arrest the
+disease process very often affect vital parts and organs
+permanently, causing the gradual deterioration of cells and tissues,
+and paving the way for tuberculosis, chronic affection of the
+kidneys, cancer, etc., in later years.
+
+These self-evident facts, which can be verified by any unprejudiced
+observer, account for the "mysterious sequelae" of drug-and
+serum-treated acute diseases, which never occur where natural
+methods of healing have been correctly employed. Some of these
+chronic aftereffects are deafness, blindness, heart and kidney
+diseases, nervous affections, idiocy, infantile paralysis, etc.
+
+These are merely a few ordinary examples of the results of
+suppression. They could be multiplied a hundred fold, yet medical
+science assures us that the causes of cancer and other malignant
+diseases are unknown.
+
+Good Nature Cure Doctrine from an Allopathic Authority
+
+The following utterances of the late Dr. Nicholas Senin strongly
+confirm our claims as to the nature and cure of disease. Coming from
+the lips of a celebrated surgeon and physician, these statements
+should carry some weight with those who, being unable to reason for
+themselves, worship at the feet of "authority." The quotations
+referred to are taken from the report of an interview granted by the
+doctor to Chicago newspaper representatives on his return from his
+trip around the world.
+
+[Chicago American, August 5th, 1906.]
+
+GERMS PLANTED BY TIGHT LACING
+
+Over-Feeding and Over-Dressing Given as Causes of Cancer
+
+"Dr. Nicholas Senn brought back from Africa, from whence he returned
+to Chicago yesterday, confirmations of his belief that cancer is a
+'civilized' disease.
+
+"Dr. Senn spent from $2,000 to $3,000 worth of time--at the cash
+value per hour of his time on his first day at home for four months,
+telling a half dozen newspaper men more than all the world, except
+himself and a score of specialists like him, know about the fearful
+disease. He summed up his own learning in the statement that the
+disease is still incurable except by the knife in its incipient
+stages and that the best preventive is clean, plain living.
+
+"His investigations of the natives of Africa served to strengthen
+his conviction that cancer is a product of civilization, 'like
+apoplexy and scores of other exotic ailments,' Dr. Senn said. He
+could not find or hear of a case of cancer among the 'Hamites,' as
+he termed them. And from the fact that he found the disease, to be
+an unknown one to the Esquimaux of Greenland, he is assured that
+climate has nothing whatever to do with it. Climate did not cause
+it, and climate will not cure it."
+
+Cancer Caused by Over-Living
+
+"'The nearer the human race approaches the animals in habits and
+particularly in the matter of diet and dress, the freer it is from
+cancer,' he said. 'Cancer comes from over-feeding and over-living.
+
+"'Drinking, gourmandizing, unnatural habits of women, like lacing,
+all those things help to plant the seeds of cancer in the child.
+
+"'And as we have not learned to cure it the best thing to do is to
+prevent it when we can. If children were brought up in simplicity by
+natural mothers; then, if care should be taken to prevent
+hypernutrition, there would be much less danger from cancer. Cancer
+itself is an over-fed thing--tissue that never matures, for if I
+could mature the cells I could cure the disease. The thing for
+people to do who fear they may have inherited it, is to live
+simply--there are many cases among people with a tendency to obesity
+to one among those of a scanty habit of living--and particularly to
+remove all sources of irritation, like bad teeth, tobacco, and
+clothes that chafe.'"
+
+Studies African Race
+
+"Besides his hobby, as he calls it, Dr. Senn studied the African
+generally in his voyage along the East Coast of that continent.
+
+"'It was a fine trip,' he said, 'with so many things to learn.
+Ethnologically I am certain Africans are of common stock. The negro
+is a negro wherever you find him. From Kaffir to Bushman and pygmy
+they are all Hamites.
+
+"'They are mostly a fine people physically, lean and tall, except
+the dwarfs. There is little tendency toward obesity; they have no
+apoplexy, no distended veins as we have in civilization. Hence their
+freedom from cancer. They live naturally, and are vegetarians
+mostly, while the Northern Esquimaux are meat-eaters, but both races
+eat naturally to sustain life, hence their immunity from that
+disease. It is where eating is made an art that cancer is most
+prevalent.
+
+"'They are free from many other diseases that pester us also.
+Tuberculosis is hardly known, and only along the coast, where it has
+been taken by the whites. The real curse of the coast country is
+malaria. It is bad all up and down the East shore. I kept away from
+it myself by taking five grains of quinine and the juice of a lemon
+once a day on an empty stomach. That is a good remedy for malaria,
+for in all my running around I have never had it."
+
+(Editor's Note.--Dr. Senn died January 2, 1908. The papers stated
+after his death, that the doctor had never been well since the
+return from his long voyage, that his heart and nervous system had
+been seriously affected by the altitudes of the Andes and of other
+mountains. We wonder whether the "high altitudes" or the "five
+grains of quinine daily" were to blame for the celebrated
+physician's heart disease and death.)
+
+Suppression, the Cause of Chronic Diseases
+
+Dr. Senn was right. If men and women lived more naturally, the
+majority of diseases would disappear.
+
+The primary cause of disease is violation of Nature's Laws.
+"Civilization" has largely stood for artificiality of life and for
+unnatural habits. A higher civilization, yet to come, will combine
+the most exquisite culture of heart and mind with true simplicity
+and naturalness of living. Excessive meat eating, strong spices and
+condiments, alcohol, coffee, tea, overwork, night work, fear, worry,
+sensuality, corsets, high heels, foul air, improper breathing, lack
+of exercise, loveless marriages, race suicide, all of these and many
+other evils of hypercivlization have contributed their share in
+creating the universal degeneracy of civilized nations commented
+upon by Dr. Senn.
+
+When the unnatural habits of life alluded to have lowered the
+vitality and favored the accumulation of waste matter and poisons to
+such an extent that the sluggish bowels, kidneys, skin and the other
+organs of elimination are unable to keep a clean house, Nature has
+to resort to other, more radical means of purification or we should
+choke in our own impurities. These forcible housecleanings of Nature
+are colds, catarrh, skin eruptions, diarrheas, boils, ulcers,
+abnormal perspiration, hemorrhages and many other forms of
+inflammatory febrile diseases.
+
+Sulphur and mercury may drive back the skin eruptions, antipyretics
+and antiseptics may suppress fever and catarrh. The patient and the
+doctor may congratulate themselves on a speedy cure; but what is the
+true state of affairs? Nature has been thwarted in her work of
+healing and cleansing. She had to give up the fight against disease
+matter in order to combat the more potent poisons of mercury,
+quinine, iodine, strychnine, etc. The disease matter is still in the
+system, plus the drug poison.
+
+Proof positive of the retention of drug poisons in the organism is
+furnished by the Diagnosis from the Eye. This will be explained more
+fully in another chapter.
+
+When vitality has been sufficiently restored, Nature may make
+another attempt at purification, this time, possibly, in another
+direction; but again her well-meant efforts are defeated. This
+process of suppression is repeated over and over again until blood
+and tissues become so loaded with waste material and poisons that
+the healing forces of the organism can no longer react against them
+by acute diseases. Then results the chronic condition, which in the
+vocabulary of the "Old School" of medicine is only another name for
+incurable disease.
+
+The more skilled the allopathic school becomes in the suppression
+and prevention of acute diseases by drugs, knife, x-rays, serums,
+vaccination virus, etc., the greater will be the increase of chronic
+dyspepsia, nervous prostration, insanity, locomotor ataxy, paresis,
+cancer, secondary and tertiary syphilis, tuberculosis and many other
+so-called incurable diseases. Thus, the standard medical practice is
+self-supporting; the treatment of acute conditions assuring a
+lifelong supply of chronic conditions for the doctor to treat.
+
+Suppression of acute diseases, by drugs and knife, is the
+all-important factor in the creation of malignant diseases which Dr.
+Senn had overlooked in his discourse on the causes of distructive
+ailments. If he had steudied his experiences in foreign lands in the
+light of these explanations he would have found that these scourges
+of mankind exist only in those parts of earth where the drug store
+flourishes.
+
+These statements may seem exaggerated; but allow me to cite a few
+typical cases of suppression and their effects upon the system from
+our daily practice.
+
+Paresis, locomotor ataxy and paralysis agitans are not, as is
+usually assumed, due to secondary and tertiary syphilis, but to the
+mercury administered for the cure of luetic and other diseases. In
+less than six months' time we cure the so-called specific diseases
+by our natural methods, provided they are not suppressed and
+complicated by mercury, iodine or other poisonous drugs. We never
+interfere with the original lesion, but allow Nature to discharge
+the poisons through the channels established for this purpose.
+
+Under this rational treatment, discharge and ulcer act as fontanels
+to the system. Not only the specific poison, but much of hereditary
+and acquired disease matter also are eliminated in the process; and
+after such a cure, blood and tissues of the patient are purer than
+they were before infection.
+
+The foregoing statement has nothing to do with the moral aspects
+involved in acquiring venereal diseases. In this connection we are
+dealing solely with the rational or irrational treatment of the
+infection after it has been contracted. We do not wish to intimate
+that it is advisable to cure the body by killing the soul.
+
+Nevertheless, we must deal with the facts in Nature as we find them.
+Furthermore, a great many persons, especially women and children,
+acquire these diseases innocently. Are we not justified in relieving
+their minds of needless fear and in showing them the way to prevent
+the dreadful sufferings of the secondary and tertiary stages brought
+on by suppressive drug treatment by means of mercury, the iodides,
+"606," etc.?
+
+These poisonous drugs suppress the initial lesion and diffuse the
+disease poison through the system. Nature takes up the work of
+elimination by means of skin eruptions and ulcers in various parts
+of the body, but these also are promptly suppressed with mercurial
+ointments and other alternatives. This process of suppression is
+continued for months and years, until the organism is so thoroughly
+saturated with alterative poisons that vital force can no longer
+react by acute reactions against the original syphilitic poisons.
+This state of vital paralysis is then called a cure.
+
+The medical professor, however, knows better. He instructs the
+students from the lecture platform: "When, after two or three years
+of mercurial treatment, syphilitic symptoms cease to appear, you may
+permit the patient to marry--but never guarantee a cure."
+
+Why not? Because the professor is aware that the offspring of such a
+union are born with hereditary symptoms well known to every
+physician, and because the patient thus cured (?) may turn up in the
+doctor's office at any time thereafter with a hole in his palate,
+ulcers on his body, caries of the bones or with other secondary and
+tertiary symptoms.
+
+Mercury has an especial affinity for the bony structures. It will
+work its way through the vertebrae of the spine and the bones of the
+skull into the nerve matter of the brain and spinal cord, causing
+inflammation, excruciating headaches, nervous symptoms, girdle
+pains, etc. These stages of acute inflammation are followed in a few
+years by sclerosis (hardening) of nerve matter and blood vessels,
+resulting in paresis, locomotor ataxy or paralysis agitans.
+
+Neither is it necessary to contract specific diseases in order to
+fall a victim to these dreadful conditions: mercury, iodine and
+other destructive alternatives are given in a hundred different
+forms for a multitude of other ailments.
+
+A few years ago we had under our care a patient in the last stages
+of locomotor ataxy, who for years had been suffering the tortures of
+the damned. There had never been a taint of specific disease in her
+system, but four different times in her life she had been salivated
+by calomel (a common laxative containing mercury). This dreadful
+poison was given to her in large doses for the cure of liver trouble
+and constipation. She was only fourteen years old when, on account
+of this, she first suffered from acute mercurial poisoning.
+
+Another patient who, after fifteen years of slow and torturous dying
+by inches, succumbed to the same disease, absorbed the mercurial
+poison in his boyhood days while attending a boarding school. He was
+twice salivated by mercurial ointments applied to cure the itch
+(scabies), a disease which was epidemic at times among the boys. He
+likewise never had a syphilitic disease.
+
+A young man, insane at the age of thirty, absorbed the infernal
+poison when four years of age. He had at the time a psoric skin
+eruption, but the family physician suspected syphilitic infection
+from the nurse girl and kept the child under mercury for six months.
+How do we know that the diagnosis of syphilis was false? Because the
+iris of the eye revealed "psora" as the cause of the suspicious
+eruption which reappeared several times later in life, and because
+the servant girl was afterwards absolutely exonerated by competent
+physicians.
+
+Proofs by the Diagnosis from the Eye
+
+We have treated many hundreds of cases of so-called chronic
+neuralgia, neuritis, rheumatism, neurasthenia, epilepsy and idiocy,
+due to the pernicious effects of quinine, iodine, arsenic,
+strychnine, coal-tar products and other virulent poisons taken under
+the guise of medicine.
+
+How do we know that this is so?
+
+Because the Diagnosis from the Eye plainly reveals the presence of
+these poisons in the system. Because the drug signs in the eye are
+accompanied by the symptoms of these poisons in the system. Because
+the record in the eye is confirmed by the history of the patient.
+Because, under natural living and treatment, diseases long ago
+suppressed by drugs or knife reappear as healing crises. Because, in
+these healing crises, drugs indicated by the signs in the iris of
+the eye are frequently eliminated under their own peculiar symptoms.
+Because, to the extent that a drug is eliminated from the system by
+a healing crisis, its sign will disappear from the iris of the eye.
+
+To illustrate:
+
+The Diagnosis from the Eye reveals heavy quinine poisoning in the
+region of the brain. This enables us to say to the patient, without
+questioning him, that he suffers from severe frontal headaches and
+ringing in the ears, that he is very irritahle, and so on through
+the various symptoms of quinine poisoning. The history of the
+patient reveals the fact that he has taken large amounts of quinine
+for colds, la grippe or malaria. Under our methods of natural living
+and treatment, the patient improves; the organism becomes more
+vigorous, and the organs of elimination act more freely; the latent
+poisons are stirred up in their hiding places; healing crises make
+their appearance. The processes of elimination thus inaugurated
+develop various symptoms of acute poisoning. The eliminating crises
+are accompanied by headaches, ringing in the ears, nasal catarrh,
+bone pains, neuritis, strong taste of quinine in the mouth, etc.
+Every healing crisis, if naturally treated, diminishes the signs of
+disease and drug poisons in the eye.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+
+Inflammation
+
+
+From what has already been said on this subject, it will have become
+apparent that inflammatory and feverish diseases are just as
+natural, orderly and lawful as anything else in Nature, that,
+therefore, after they have once started, they must not be checked or
+suppressed by poisonous drugs and surgical operations.
+
+Inflammatory processes can be kept within safe limits, and they must
+be assisted in their constructive tendencies by the natural methods
+of treatment. To check and suppress acute diseases before they have
+run their natural course means to suppress Nature's purifying and
+healing efforts, to court fatal complications and to change the
+acute, constructive reactions into chronic disease conditions.
+
+Those who have followed the preceding chapters will remember that
+their general trend has been to prove one of the fundamental
+principles of Nature Cure philosophy, namely the Unity of Disease
+and Cure.
+
+We claim that all acute diseases are uniform in their causes, their
+purpose, and if conditions are favorable, uniform also in their
+progressive development.
+
+In former chapters I endeavored to prove and to elucidate the unity
+of acute diseases in regard to their causes and their purpose, the
+latter not being destructive, but constructive and beneficial. I
+demonstrated that the microorganisms of disease are not the
+unmitigated nuisance and evil which they are commonly regarded, but
+that, like everything else in Nature, they, too, serve a useful
+purpose. I showed that it depends upon ourselves whether their
+activity is harmful and destructive, or beneficial: upon our manner
+of living and of treating acute reactions.
+
+Let us now trace the unity of acute diseases in regard to their
+general course by a brief examination of the processes of
+inflammation and their progressive development through five
+well-defined stages. We shall base our studies on the most advanced
+works on pathology and bacteriology.
+
+The Story of Inflammation
+
+To me the story of inflammation has been one of the most wonderful
+revelations of the complex activities of the human organism. More
+than anything else it confirms to me the fundamental principles of
+Nature Cure, the fact that Nature is a good healer, not a poor one.
+
+Before inflammation can arise, there must exist an exciting cause in
+the form of some obstruction or of some agent inimical to health and
+life. Such excitants of inflammation may be dead cells, blood clots,
+fragments of bone and other effete matter produced in the system
+itself or they may be foreign bodies such as particles of dust,
+soot, stone, iron or other metals, slivers of wood, etc.; again,
+they may be microorganisms or parasites.
+
+When one or more of these exciting agents of inflammation are
+present in the tissues of the body in sufficient strength to call
+forth the reaction and opposition of the healing forces, the
+microscope will always reveal the following phenomena, slightly
+varying under different conditions:
+
+The blood rushes to the area of irritation. Owing to this increased
+blood pressure, the minute arteries and veins in the immediate
+neighborhood of the excitant dilate and increase in size. The
+distension of the blood vessels stretches and thereby weakens their
+walls. Through these the white blood corpuscles squeeze their mobile
+bodies and work their way through the intervening tissues toward the
+affected area.
+
+In some mysterious way they seem to sense the exact location of the
+danger point and hurry toward it in large numbers like soldiers
+summoned to meet an invading army. This faculty of the white blood
+corpuscles to apprehend the presence and exact location of the enemy
+has been ascribed to chemical attraction and is called ~chemotaxis.~
+
+The army of defense is made up of the white blood corpuscles or
+leukocytes and of connective tissue cells which separate themselves
+from the neighboring tissues. All these wandering cells possess the
+faculty of absorbing and digesting microbes. They contain certain
+proteolytic or protein-splitting ferments, by means of which they
+decompose and digest poisons and hostile microorganisms. On account
+of their activity as germ destroyers, these cells have been called
+germ killers or ~phagocytes~. In their movements and actions these
+valiant little warriors act very much like intelligent beings,
+animated by the qualities of patience, perseverance, courage,
+foresight and self-sacrifice.
+
+The phagocytes absorb morbid matter, poisons or microorganisms by
+enveloping them with their own bodies. It is a hand-to-hand fight,
+and many of the brave little soldiers are destroyed by the poisons
+and bacteria which they attack and swallow. What we call pus is made
+up of the bodies of live and dead phagocytes, disease taints and
+germs, blood serum, broken-down tissues and cells, in short, the
+debris of the battlefield.
+
+We can now understand how the processes just described produce the
+well-known cardinal symptoms of inflammation and fever; the redness,
+heat and swelling due to increased blood pressure, congestion and
+the accumulation of exudates; the pain due to irritation and to
+pressure on the nerves. We can also realize how impaired nutrition
+and the obstruction and destruction in the affected parts and organs
+will interfere with and inhibit functional activity.
+
+The organism has still other ways and means of defending itself. At
+the time of bacterial infection, certain germ-killing substances are
+developed in the blood serum. Science has named these defensive
+proteins ~alexins.~ It has also been found that the phagocyte and
+tissue cells in the neighborhood of the area of irritation produce
+antipoisons or natural antitoxins, which neutralize the bacterial
+poisons and kill the microorganisms of disease.
+
+With the Evil, Nature Provides the Cure
+
+Furthermore, the growth and development of bacteria and parasites is
+inhibited and finally arrested by their own waste products. We have
+an example of this in the yeast germ, which thrives and multiplies
+in the presence of sugar in solution. Living on and digesting the
+sugar, it decomposes the sugar molecules into alcohol and carbonic
+acid. As the alcohol increases during the process of fermentation,
+it gradually arrests the development and activity of the yeast
+cells.
+
+Similar phenomena accompany the activity of disease germs and
+parasites. They produce certain waste products which gradually
+inhibit their own growth and increase. The vaccines, serums and
+antitoxins of medical science are prepared from these bacterial
+excrements and from extracts made of the bodies of bacteria.
+
+In the serum and antitoxin treatment, therefore, the allopathic
+school is imitating Nature's procedure in checking the growth of
+microorganisms, but with this difference: Nature does not suppress
+the growth and multiplication of disease germs until the morbid
+matter on which they subsist has been decomposed and consumed, and
+until the inflammatory processes have run their course through the
+five stages of inflammation; while serums and antitoxins given in
+powerful doses at the different stages of any disease may check and
+suppress germ activity and the processes of inflammation before the
+latter have run their natural course and before the morbid matter
+has been eliminated.
+
+The Five Stages of Inflammation
+
+What has been said in former chapters confirms my claim that all
+acute diseases are uniform in their causes and in their purpose.
+From the foregoing description of inflammation it will have become
+clear that they are also uniform in their pathological development.
+The uniformity of acute inflammatory processes becomes still more
+apparent when we follow them through their five succeeding stages,
+that is: Incubation, Aggravation, Destruction, Abatement and
+Reconstruction, as illustrated in the following diagram:
+
+I. Incubation. The first section of the diagram corresponds to the
+period of Incubation, the time between the exposure to an infectious
+disease and its development. This period may last from a few minutes
+to a few days, weeks, months or even years.
+
+During this stage morbid matter, poisons, microorganisms and other
+excitants of inflammation gather and concentrate in certain parts
+and organs of the body. When they have accumulated to such an extent
+as to interfere with the normal functions or to endanger the health
+and life of the organism, the life forces begin to react to the
+obstruction or threatening danger by means of the inflammatory
+processes before described.
+
+II. Aggravation. During the period of Aggravation the battle between
+the phagocytes and Nature's antitoxins on the one hand, and the
+poisons and microorganisms of disease on the other hand, gradually
+progresses, accompanied by a corresponding increase of fever and
+inflammation, until it reaches its climax, marked by the greatest
+intensity of feverish symptoms.
+
+III. Destruction. This battle between the forces of disease and the
+healing forces is accompanied by the disintegration of tissues due
+to the accumulation of exudates, to pus formation, the development
+of abscesses, boils, fistulas, open sores, etc., and to other morbid
+changes. It involves the destruction of phagocytes, bacteria, blood
+vessels, and tissues just as a battle between contending human
+armies results in loss of life and property.
+
+The stage of Destruction ends in crisis, which may be either fatal
+or beneficial. If the healing forces of the organism are in the
+ascendancy, and if they are supported by right treatment which tends
+to build up the blood, increase the vitality and promote
+elimination, then the poisons and the microorganisms of disease will
+gradually be overcome, absorbed or eliminated and, by degrees, the
+tissues will be cleared of the debris of the battlefield.
+
+IV. Abatement. The absorption and elimination of exudates, pus,
+etc., take place during the period of abatement. It is accompanied
+by a gradual lowering of temperature, pulse rate and the other
+symptoms of fever and inflammation.
+
+V. Resolution or Reconstruction. When the period of Abate-ment has
+run its course and the affected areas have been cleared of the
+morbid accumulations and obstructions, then, during the fifth stage
+of inflammation, the work of rebuilding the injured parts and organs
+begins. More or less destruction has taken place in the cells and
+tissues, the blood vessels and organs of the areas involved. These
+must now be reconstructed, and this last stage of the inflammatory
+process is, therefore, in a way the most important. On the perfect
+regeneration of the injured parts depends the final effect of the
+acute disease upon the organism.
+
+If the inflammation has been allowed to run its course through the
+different stages of acute activity and the final stage of
+Reconstruction, then every acute disease, whatever its name and
+description may be, will prove beneficial to the organism because
+morbid matter, foreign bodies, poisons and microorganisms have been
+eliminated from the system; abnormal and diseased tissues have been
+broken down and built up again to a purer and more normal condition.
+
+As it were, the acute disease has acted upon the organism like a
+thunderstorm on the sultry, vitiated summer air. It has cleared the
+system of impurities and destructive influences, and re-established
+wholesome, normal conditions. Therefore acute diseases, when treated
+in harmony with Nature's intent, always prove beneficial.
+
+If, however, through neglect or wrong treatment, the inflammatory
+processes are not allowed to run their natural course, if they are
+checked or suppressed by poisonous drugs, the ice bag or surgical
+operations, or if the disease conditions in the system are so far in
+the ascendancy that the healing forces cannot react properly, then
+the constructive forces may lose the battle and the disease may take
+a fatal ending or develop into chronic ailments.
+
+Suppression During the First
+
+Two Stages of Inflammation
+
+It may be suggested that suppression during the stages of Incubation
+and Aggravation need not have fatal consequences if followed by
+natural living and eliminative treatment. To this I would reply:
+"Such procedure always involves the danger of concentrating the
+disease poisons in vital parts and organs, thus laying the
+foundation for chronic destructive diseases."
+
+Furthermore, it is not at all necessary to suppress inflammatory
+processes by poisonous drugs and other unnatural means, because we
+can easily and surely control them and keep them from becoming
+dangerous by our natural means of treatment.
+
+I shall now endeavor to prove and to illustrate the foregoing
+theoretical expositions by following the development of various
+diseases through the five stages of inflammation. I shall first take
+up the commonest of all forms of disease, the cold.
+
+Catching a Cold
+
+According to popular opinion, the catching of colds is responsible
+for the greater portion of human ailments. Almost daily I hear from
+patients who come for consultation: All my troubles date back to a
+cold I took at such and such a time, etc. Then I have to explain
+that colds are not taken suddenly and from without but that they
+come from within, that their period of Incubation may have extended
+over months or years, that a clean, healthy body possessed of good
+vitality cannot take cold under the ordinary thermal conditions
+congenial to human life, no matter how sudden the change in
+temperature.
+
+At first glance, this may seem to be contrary to common experience
+as well as to the theory and practice of medical science. But let us
+follow the development of a cold from start to finish. This will
+throw some light on the question as to whether it can be caught, or
+whether it develops slowly within the organism; also whether this
+development or incubation may extend over a long period of time.
+
+Taking cold may be caused by chilling of the surface of the body or
+part of the body. In the chilled portions of the skin the pores
+close, the blood recedes into the interior, and as a result of this
+the elimination of poisonous gases and exudates through these
+portions of the skin is suppressed.
+
+This catching a cold through being exposed to a cold draft, through
+wet clothing, etc., is not necessarily followed by more serious
+consequences. If the system is not too much encumbered with morbid
+matter and if kidneys and intestines are in fairly good working
+order, these organs will take care of the extra amount of waste and
+morbid materials in place of the temporarily inactive skin and
+eliminate them without difficulty. The greater the vitality and the
+more normal the composition of the blood, the better the system will
+react in such an emergency and throw off the morbid matter which
+failed to be eliminated through the skin.
+
+If, however, the organism is already overloaded with waste and
+morbid materials, if the bowels and the kidneys are already weakened
+and atrophied through continued overwork and overstimulation, if, in
+addition to this, the vitality has been lowered through excesses or
+overexertion and the vital fluids are in an abnormal condition, then
+the morbid matter thrown into the circulation by the chilling and
+temporary inactivity of the skin cannot find an outlet through the
+regular channels of elimination and endeavors to escape by way of
+the mucous linings of the nasal passages, the throat, bronchi,
+stomach, bowels and genitourinary organs.
+
+The waste materials and poisonous exudates which are being
+eliminated through these internal membranes cause irritation and
+congestion, and thus produce the well-known symptoms of inflammation
+and catarrhal elimination: sneezing (coryza), cough, expectoration,
+mucous discharges, diarrhea, leucorrhea [vaginal dis-charge], etc.
+In other words, these so-called colds are nothing more or less than
+different forms of vicarious elimination. The membranous linings of
+the internal organs are doing the work for the inactive, sluggish
+and atrophied skin, kidneys and intestines. The greater the
+accumulation of morbid matter in the system, the lower the vitality,
+and the more abnormal the composition of the blood and lymph, the
+greater will be the liability to the catching of colds.
+
+What is to be gained by suppressing the different forms of catarrhal
+elimination with cough and catarrh cures containing opiates,
+astringents, antiseptics, germkillers and antipyretics? Is it not
+obvious that such a procedure interferes with Nature's purifying
+efforts, that it hinders and suppresses the inflammatory processes
+and the accompanying elimination of morbid matter from the system?
+Worst of all, that it adds drug poisons to disease poisons?
+
+Such a course can have but one result, namely the changing of
+Nature's cleansing and healing efforts into chronic disease.
+
+From the foregoing it will have become clear that the cause of a
+cold lies not so much in the cold draft, or the wet feet, as in the
+primary causes of all disease: lowered vitality, deterioration of
+the vital fluids and the accumulation of morbid matter and poisons
+in the system.
+
+The incubation period of the cold may have extended over many years
+or over an entire lifetime.
+
+What, then, is the natural cure for colds? There can be but one
+remedy: increased elimination through the proper channels. This is
+accomplished by judicious dieting and fasting, and through restoring
+the natural activity of the skin, kidneys and bowels by means of wet
+packs, cold sprays and ablutions, sitz baths, massage, chiropractic
+or osteopathic manipulation, homeopathic remedies, exercise, sun and
+air baths and all other methods of natural treatment that save
+vitality, build up the blood on a normal basis and promote
+elimination without injuring the organism.
+
+Suppression During the Third
+
+Stage of Inflammation
+
+Should the inflammatory processes be suppressed during the stage of
+Destruction, the results would be still more serious and
+far-reaching. We have learned that during this stage the affected
+parts and organs are involved in more or less disintegration. They
+are filled with morbid exudates, pus, etc., which interfere with and
+make impossible normal nutrition and functioning. If suppression
+takes place during this stage, it is obvious that the affected areas
+will be left permanently in a condition of destruction.
+
+Here is an illustration from practical life: Suppose necessary
+changes and repairs have to be made in a house. Workmen have torn
+down the partitions, hangings, wallpaper, etc. At this stage of the
+proceedings the owner discharges the workmen and the house is left
+in a condition of chaos. Surely, this would not be rational. It
+would leave the house unfit for habitation. But such a procedure
+would correspond exactly to the suppression of inflammatory diseases
+during the stage of Destruction. This also leaves the affected
+organs permanently in an abnormal, diseased condition.
+
+That accounts for the mysterious sequelae or chronic after-effects
+which so often follow drug-treated acute diseases. I have traced
+numerous cases of chronic affections of the lungs and kidneys, of
+infantile paralysis and of many other chronic ailments to such
+suppression. In the following I shall describe a typical case, which
+came under our care and treatment a few years ago.
+
+Suppression by Means of the Ice Bag
+
+A few years ago several gentlemen of Greek nationality called on me
+with the request that I visit a friend of theirs who had been lying
+sick for about two months in one of our great West Side [Chicago]
+hospitals. On investigation I found that the patient had entered the
+hospital suffering from a mild case of pneumonia. The doctors of the
+institution had ordered ice packs. Rubber sheets filled with ice
+were applied to the chest and other parts of the body. This had been
+done for several weeks until the fever subsided.
+
+As a matter of fact, ice is more suppressive than antifever
+medicines. The continued icy cold applications chill the parts of
+the body to which they are applied, depress the vital functions and
+effectually suppress the inflammatory processes.
+
+The result in this case, as in many similar ones which I had
+occasion to observe during and after the ice-bag treatment, was that
+the inflammation in the lungs had been arrested and suppressed
+during the stage of destruction, when the air cells and tissues were
+filled with exudates, blood serum, pus, live and dead blood cells,
+bacteria, etc., leaving the affected areas of the lungs in a
+consolidated, liver-like condition.
+
+As a consequence of suppression in the case of this Greek patient,
+the pneumonia had been changed from the acute to the subacute and
+chronic stages and the doctors in charge had told his friends that
+he was now suffering from miliary tuberculosis, and would probably
+die within a week or two.
+
+After receiving this discouraging information, the friends of the
+patient came to me and prevailed upon me to take charge of the case.
+He was transferred to our institution, and we began at once to apply
+the natural methods of treatment. Instead of ice packs we used the
+regular cold-water packs, strips of linen wrung out of water of
+ordinary temperature wrapped around the body and covered with
+several layers of flannel bandages.
+
+The wet packs became warm on the body in a few minutes. They relaxed
+the pores and drew the blood into the surface, thus promoting heat
+radiation and the elimination of morbid matter through the skin.
+They did not suppress the fever, but kept it below the danger point.
+
+Under this treatment, accompanied by fasting and judicious
+osteopathic manipulation, the inflammatory and feverish processes
+suppressed by the ice packs soon revived, became once more active
+and aggressive, and were now allowed to run their natural course
+through the stages of destruction, absorption (abatement) and
+reconstruction.
+
+The result of the Nature Cure treatment was that about two months
+after the patient entered our institution, his friends bought him a
+ticket to sunny Greece. He had a good journey, and in the congenial
+climate of his native country made a perfect recovery.
+
+I have observed a number of similar cases suffering from
+consolidation of the lungs and the resulting asthmatic or tubercular
+conditions, which had been doctored into these chronic ailments by
+means of antipyretics and of ice.
+
+Equally dangerous is the ice bag if applied to the inflamed brain or
+the spinal column. Only too often it results either in paralysis or
+in death. In many instances, acute cerebrospinal meningitis is
+changed in this way by drug and serum treatment or by the use of ice
+bags into the chronic, so-called incurable infantile paralysis.
+
+We say so-called incurable because we have treated and cured such
+cases in all stages of development from the acute inflammatory
+meningitis to the chronic paralysis of long standing.
+
+In our treatment of acute diseases we never use ice or icy water for
+packs, compresses, baths or ablutions, but always water of ordinary
+temperature as it comes from the faucet. The water compress or pack
+warms up quickly, and thus brings about a natural reaction within a
+few minutes, while the ice bag or pack continually chills and
+practically freezes the affected parts and organs. This does not
+allow the skin to relax; it prevents a warm reaction, the radiation
+of the body heat and the elimination of morbid matter through the
+skin.
+
+Suppression During the Fourth and
+
+Fifth Stages of Inflammation
+
+Let us see what happens when acute diseases are suppressed during
+the stages of abatement and reconstruction. If the defenders of the
+body, the phagocyte and antitoxins, produced in the tissues and
+organs, gain the victory over the inimical forces which are
+threatening the health and life of the organism, then the symptoms
+of inflammation, swelling, redness, heat, pain and the accelerated
+heart action which accompanies them, gradually subside. The debris
+of the battlefield is carried away through the venous circulation
+which forms the drainage system of the body.
+
+When in this way all morbid materials have been completely
+eliminated, Vital Force, "the physician within," will commence to
+regenerate and reconstruct the injured and destroyed cells and
+tissues.
+
+If, however, these processes of elimination and reconstruction are
+interfered with or interrupted before they are completed, then the
+affected parts and organs will not have a chance to become entirely
+well or strong. They will remain in an abnormal, crippled condition,
+and their functional activity will be seriously handicapped.
+
+The After-effects of Drug-Treated Typhoid Fever
+
+In hundreds of cases I have told patients after a glance into their
+eyes that they were suffering from chronic indigestion,
+malassimi-lation and malnutrition caused by drug-treated typhoid
+fever; and every time the records in the eyes were confirmed by the
+history of the patient.
+
+In such cases the outer rim of the iris shows a wreath of whitish or
+drug-colored circular flakes. I have named this wreath "the typhoid
+rosary." It corresponds to the lymphatic and other absorbent vessels
+in the intestines, and appears in the iris of the eye when these
+structures have been injured or atrophied by drug, ice or surgical
+treatment. Wherever this has been done, the venous and lymphatic
+vessels in the intestines do not absorb the food materials and these
+pass through the digestive tract and out of the body without being
+properly digested and assimilated.
+
+During the destructive stages of typhoid fever, the intestines
+become denuded by the sloughing of their membranous linings. These
+sloughed membranes give the stools of the typhoid fever patient
+their peculiar pea soup appearance. In a similar manner the
+lymphatic, venous and glandular structures which constitute the
+absorbent vessels of the intestines atrophy and slough away.
+
+If the inflammatory processes are allowed to run their normal course
+under natural methods of treatment through the stages of
+Destruction, Absorption and Reconstruction, Nature will rebuild the
+membranous and glandular structures of the intestinal canal
+perfectly, convalescence will be rapid and the patient will enjoy
+better health than before he contracted the disease.
+
+If, however, through injudicious feeding or the administration of
+quinine, mercury, purging salts, opiates or other destructive
+agents, Nature's processes are interfered with, prematurely checked
+and suppressed, then the sloughed membranes and absorbent vessels
+are not reconstructed, and the intestinal tract is left in a denuded
+and atrophied condition.
+
+Such a patient may arise from his bed thinking that he is cured; but
+unless he is afterward treated by natural methods, he will never
+make a full recovery. It will take him, perhaps, months or years to
+die a gradual, miserable death through malassimilation and
+malnutrition, which usually end in some form of wasting disease,
+such as pernicious anemia or tuberculosis. If he does not actually
+die from the effects of the wrongly treated typhoid fever, he will
+be troubled all his life with intestinal indigestion, constipation,
+malassimilation and the accompanying nervous disorders.
+
+A Change for the Better
+
+Speaking of typhoid fever, we are glad to say that for this
+particular form of disease the most advanced medical science has
+adopted the Nature Cure treatment, that is, straight cold water and
+fasting, and no drugs, as it was originated by the pioneers of
+Nature Cure in Germany more than fifty years ago.
+
+This treatment, which medical science has found so eminently
+successful in typhoid fever, would prove equally efficacious in all
+other acute diseases if the regular doctors would only try it. It is
+a strange and curious fact that so far they have never found it
+worth while to do so. All Nature Cure physicians know from their
+daily experience in actual practice that the simple water treatment
+and fasting is sufficient to cure all other forms of acute diseases
+just as easily and effectively as typhoid fever. By this is proved
+the unity of treatment in all acute diseases.
+
+Both in typhoid fever and in tuberculosis, progressive medical men
+have now entirely abandoned the germ-killing method of treatment.
+They have found it absolutely useless and superfluous to hunt for
+drugs and serums to kill the typhoid and tuberculosis bacilli in
+these, the two most destructive diseases afflicting the human
+family. They were forced to admit that the simple remedies of the
+Nature Cure school, cold water and fasting in typhoid fever and the
+fresh-air treatment in tuberculosis, are the only worthwhile methods
+to fight these formidable enemies to health and life.
+
+If they would continue their researches and experiments along these
+natural lines, they would attain infinitely more satisfactory
+results than through their germ-hunting and germ-killing theories
+and practices.
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+
+The Effects of Suppression of Venereal Diseases
+
+
+Another good illustration of suppression may be found in the
+allopathic treatment of venereal diseases. Almost invariably the
+drug treatment suppresses these diseases in the stages of incubation
+and aggravation, thus locking them up in the system. The venereal
+taints and germs, however, are living things which grow and multiply
+until the body has been completely permeated by them. Then they must
+find an outlet somehow and somewhere, and consequently they break
+out in the manifold so-called "secondary" and "tertiary" symptoms.
+
+The drug poisons which are used to "cure" (suppress) these symptoms,
+greatly aggravate the disease. They create conditions in the system
+infinitely worse than the venereal diseases themselves. Thus the
+acute, easily curable stages of these ailments are changed into the
+dreadful and obstinate chronic conditions. It is in this way that
+venereal diseases are made hereditary and transmitted to future
+generations.
+
+In a special article on this subject entitled "Venereal Diseases,"
+published in ~"The Naturopath,"~ January, 1913, I have substantiated
+the following claims:
+
+"Venereal diseases are not necessarily chronic in their progressive
+development. "They are essentially acute and self-limited. But may
+become chronic through neglect or through suppressive drug
+treatment. "The chronic, so-called secondary and tertiary
+manifestations of venereal diseases, such as ulceration of bones and
+fleshy tissue, gummata of the brain, sclerosis of the spinal cord,
+arthritic rheumatism, degeneration and destruction of other vital
+parts and organs of the body, are not so much the result of the
+original gonorrheal or syphilitic infection, as of the destructive
+drug poisons which have been taken to cure or rather to suppress the
+primary lesions and acute inflammatory symptoms. "Venereal diseases
+in the acute inflammatory stages are easily and completely curable
+by natural methods of living and of treatment. "Venereal diseases
+treated and cured by natural methods during the acute inflammatory
+stages are never followed by any chronic after-effects or secondary
+and tertiary manifestations whatsoever. "When venereal diseases have
+reached the secondary and tertiary stages, they are still curable by
+natural methods of living and of treatment, providing there is left
+sufficient vitality to respond to treatment and providing the
+destruction of vital parts and organs has not advanced too far.
+
+"Hundreds of cases of well-developed locomotor ataxy, paresis, and
+other so-called secondary and tertiary diseases of the brain and the
+nervous system, of bony and fleshy tissues, and of vital organs have
+been cured by our natural methods of treatment.
+
+"It is self-evident, however, that the treatment and cure of the
+chronic conditions require more patience and perseverance than the
+cure of acute conditions not tampered with and suppressed by drugs.
+"Venereal diseases treated and cured by natural methods are never
+followed by chronic after-effects. On the other hand, mercury,
+iodine, quinine, and coal-tar poisons produce all the so-called
+secondary and tertiary symptoms of syphilis in people who never in
+their lives were afflicted with venereal diseases, but who have
+taken or absorbed these drug poisons in other ways.
+
+". . . These facts are proven beyond doubt by the Diagnosis from the
+Eye. All, destructive poisons taken in sufficient quantities will in
+time reveal their presence and exact location in the body through
+certain well-defined signs or discolorations in the iris.
+
+"These poisons undermine the structures of the body and deteriorate
+vital parts and organs so slowly and insidiously that the
+superficial observer does not trace and connect cause and effect."
+
+The Wasserman and Noguchi Tests
+
+Medical men may say to the foregoing that the Wasserman and Noguchi
+tests furnish positive proofs of syphilis in the system. These
+chemical tests are supposed to reveal with certainty the presence of
+venereal taints in the body,--at least, the public is left under
+this impression.
+
+I am convinced, however, that in many instances the "positive"
+Wasserman or Noguchi tests are the result of mercurial poison
+instead of syphilitic infection. In a number of cases where these
+tests proved "positive," that is, where, according to the theory of
+allopathic medical science, they indicated a luetic condition of the
+system, the subjects of these tests had never in their lives shown
+any symptoms of syphilis nor, as far as they knew, had they ever
+been exposed to infection, but every one of them showed plainly the
+sign of mercurial poisoning in the iris of the eye, and had taken
+considerable mercury in the form of calomel or of other medicinal
+preparations for diseases not of a luetic nature, or they had been
+"salivated" by coming in contact with the mercurial poison in mines,
+smelters, mirror factories, etc.
+
+This leads me to believe that, sooner or later, medical science will
+have to admit that the Wasserman and Noguchi tests reveal, in many
+instances at least, the effects of mercurial poisoning instead of
+the effects of syphilitic infection. And this would not be
+surprising since it is well known that mercury has very similar
+effects upon the system as syphilis.
+
+It takes the mercurial poison from five to ten and even fifteen
+years before it works its way into the brain and spinal cord, and
+there causes its characteristic degeneration and destruction of
+brain and. nerve tissues which manifest outwardly as locomotor
+ataxy, paralysis agitans, paresis, apoplexy, hemiplegia, epilepsy,
+St. Vitus dance, and the different forms of idiocy and insanity.
+Mercurial poisoning is also in many instances the cause of deafness
+and blindness.
+
+When the symptoms of mercurial destruction begin to show, then they,
+in turn, are suppressed by preparations of iodine, the "606," or
+other "alteratives," and so the merry war goes, on: poison against
+poison, Beelzebub against the Devil, and the poor suffering body has
+to stand it all.
+
+In this way the system is periodically saturated with the most
+virulent poisons on earth, until the undertaker finishes the job.
+And this is miscalled "scientific treatment." There never was
+invented by cruel Indian or fanatical inquisition worse torture than
+this. They mercifully finished the sufferings of their victims
+within a few hours or, at the worst, days; but this torture
+inflicted upon human beings in the name of medical science continues
+for a lifetime. It means dying by inches under the most horrible
+conditions for ten, twenty, thirty years or longer.
+
+In this connection it may be well to quote the testimony of
+Professor E. A. Farrington of Philadelphia, one of the most
+celebrated homeopathic physicians of the nineteenth century. He
+says, in his ~"Clinical Materia Medica,"~ third edition, page 141:
+
+"The various constitutions or dyscrasia underlying chronic and acute
+affections are, indeed, very numerous. As yet, we do not know them
+all. We do know that one of them comes in gonorrhoea, a disease
+which is frightfully common, so that the constitution arising from
+this disease is rapidly on the increase.
+
+"Now I want to tell you why it is so. It is because allopathic
+physicians, and many homeopaths as well, do not properly cure it. I
+do not believe gonorrhoea to be a local disease. If it is not
+properly cured, a constitutional poison which may be transmitted to
+the children is developed. I know, from years of experience and
+observation, that gonorrhoea is a serious difficulty, and one, too,
+that complicates many cases that we have to treat.
+
+"The same is true of syphilis in a modified degree. Gonorrhoea seems
+to attack the nobler tissues, the lungs, the heart, and the nervous
+system, all of which are reached by syphilis only after the lapse of
+years."
+
+The Destructive After-Effects of Mercury
+
+Concerning the destructive after-effects of mercury, of which
+homeopaths have made a most careful study, Professor Farrington
+says, on pages 558-559 of the same volume:
+
+"The more remote symptoms of mercurial poisoning are these: You will
+find that the blood becomes impoverished. The albumin and fibrin of
+that fluid are affected. They are diminished, and you find in their
+place a certain fatty substance, the composition of which I do not
+exactly know. Consequently, as a prominent symptom, the body wastes
+and emaciates. The patient suffers from fever which is rather hectic
+in its character. The periosteum becomes affected, and you then have
+a characteristic group of mercurial pains, bone pains worse in
+changes of the weather, worse in the warmth of the bed, and
+chilliness with or after stool. The skin becomes rather of a
+brownish hue; ulcers form, particularly on the legs; they are
+stubborn and will not heal. The patient is troubled with
+sleeplessness and ebullitions of blood at night; he is hot and
+cannot sleep; he is thrown quickly into a perspiration, which
+perspiration gives him no relief.
+
+"The entire system suffers also, and you have here two series of
+symptoms. At first the patient becomes anxious and restless and
+cannot remain quiet; he changes his position; he moves about from
+place to place; he seems to have a great deal of anxiety about the
+heart, praecordial anguish, as it is termed, particularly at night.
+
+"Then, in another series of symptoms, there are jerkings of the
+limbs, making the patient appear as though he were attacked by St.
+Vitus' dance. Or, you may notice what is more common yet, trembling
+of the hands, this tremor being altogether beyond the control of the
+patient and gradually spreading over the entire body, giving you a
+resemblance to paralysis agitans or shaking palsy.
+
+"Finally, the patient becomes paralyzed, cannot move his limbs, his
+mind becomes lost, and he presents a perfect picture of imbecility.
+He does all sorts of queer things. He sits in the corner with an
+idiotic smile on his face, playing with straws; he is forgetful, he
+cannot remember even the most ordinary events. He becomes
+disgustingly filthy and eats his own excrement. In fact, he is a
+perfect idiot.
+
+"Be careful how you give mercury; it is a treacherous medicine. It
+seems often indicated. You give it and relieve; but your patient is
+worse again in a few weeks and then you give it again with relief.
+By and by, it fails you. Now, if I want to make a permanent cure,
+for instance, in a scrofulous child, I will very seldom give him
+mercury; should I do so, it will be at least only as an intercurrent
+remedy."
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+
+Suppressive Surgical Treatment of Tonsillitis and Enlarged Adenoids
+
+
+The following paragraphs are taken from an article in the ~Nature
+Cure Magazine~ May, 1909, titled "Surgery for Tonsillitis and
+Adenoids." They will throw further interesting light on the
+dangerous consequences of suppressing acute and subacute diseases.
+
+"The tonsils are excreting glands. Nature has created them for the
+elimination of impurities from the body. Acute, subacute and chronic
+tonsillitis accompanied by enlargement and cheesy decay of the
+tonsils means that these glands have been habitually congested with
+morbid matter and poisons, that they have had more work to do than
+they could properly attend to.
+
+"These glandular structures constitute a valuable part of the
+drainage system of the organism. If the blood is poisoned through
+overeating and faulty food combinations, or with scrofulous,
+venereal or psoriatic poisons, the tonsils are called upon, along
+with other organs, to eliminate these morbid taints. Is it any
+wonder that frequently they become inflamed and subject to decay?
+What, however, can be gained by destroying them with iodine or
+extirpating them with the surgeon's scissors or the 'guillotine'?
+
+"Because your servants are weakened by overwork, would you kill
+them? Because the drains in your house are too small to carry off
+the waste, would you blockade or remove them? Still, this is the
+orthodox philosophy of the medical schools applied to the management
+of the human body.
+
+". . . In case of any morbid discharge from the body, wherever it
+be, whether through hemorrhoids, open sores, ulcers or through
+tonsils, scrofulous glands, etc., a fontanelle has been established
+to which and through which systemic poisons make their way. If such
+an outlet be blocked by medical or surgical treatment the stream of
+morbid matter has to seek another escape or else the poisons will
+accumulate somewhere in the body.
+
+"Fortunate is the patient when such an escape can be established,
+because wherever in the system morbid excretions, suppressed by
+medical treatment, concentrate, there will inevitably be found the
+seat of chronic disease.
+
+"After the tonsils have been removed, the morbid matter which they
+were eliminating usually finds the nearest and easiest outlet
+through the adenoid tissues and nasal membranes. These now take up
+the work of 'vicarious' elimination and, in their turn, become
+hyperactive and inflamed.
+
+"Sometimes it happens that the adenoid tissues become affected
+before the tonsils. In that case, also, relief through the surgeon's
+knife is sought and then the process is reversed: after the adenoids
+have been removed, the tonsils develop chronic catarrhal conditions.
+
+"When both tonsils and adenoids have been removed, the nasal
+membranes will, in turn, become congested and swollen. Often the
+mucous elimination increases to an alarming degree, and frequently
+polyps and other growths make their appearance or the turbinated
+bones soften and swell and obstruct the nasal passages, thus again
+making the patient a 'mouth breather.'
+
+"But in vain does Nature protest against local symptomatic
+treatment. Science has nothing to learn from her.
+
+"When the nose takes up the work of vicarious elimination, the same
+mode of treatment is resorted to. The mucous membranes of the nose
+are now swabbed and sprayed with antiseptics and astringents, or
+'burned' by cauterizers, electricity, etc. The polyps are cut out,
+and frequently parts of the turbinated bone and septum as well, in
+order to open the air passages.
+
+"Now, surely, the patient must be cured. But, strange to say, new
+and more serious troubles arise. The posterior nasal passages and
+the throat are now affected by chronic catarrhal conditions and
+there is much annoyance from phlegm and mucous discharges which drop
+into the throat. These catarrhal conditions frequently extend to the
+mucous membranes of stomach and intestines.
+
+"When the drainage system of the nose and the nasopharyngeal
+cavities has been completely destroyed, the impurities must either
+travel upward into the brain or downward into the glandular
+structures of the neck, thence into the bronchi and the tissues of
+the lungs.
+
+"If the trend be upward, to the brain, the patient grows nervous and
+irritable or becomes dull and apathetic. How often is a child
+reprimanded or even punished for laziness and inattention when it
+cannot help itself? In many instances the morbid matter affects
+certain centers in the brain and causes nervous conditions,
+hysteria, St. Vitus' dance, epilepsy, etc. In children the
+impurities frequently find an outlet through the eardrums in the
+form of pus-like discharges. This may frequently avert inflammation
+of the brain, meningitis, imbecility, insanity or infantile
+paralysis.
+
+"If the trend of the suppressed impurities and poisons be downward,
+it often results in the hypertrophy and degeneration of the
+lymphatic glands of the neck. In such cases the suppressive
+treatment, by drugs or knife, is again applied instead of
+eliminative and curative measures. The scrofulous poisons,
+suppressed and driven back from the diseased glands in the neck, now
+find lodgment in the bronchi and lungs, where they accumulate and
+form a luxuriant soil for the growth of the bacilli of pneumonia and
+tuberculosis.
+
+"In other cases, the vocal organs become seriously affected by
+chronic catarrhal conditions, abnormal growths and in later stages
+by tuberculosis. Many a fine voice has been ruined in this way.
+
+"The prevention and the cure of all these ailments lie not in local
+symptomatic treatment and suppression by drugs or knife, but in the
+rational and natural treatment of the body as a whole."
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+
+Cancer
+
+
+Let us see how our theories of the Unity of Disease and Cure apply
+to cancer, the much-dreaded and rapidly increasing disease which is
+considered absolutely incurable by both the laity and the medical
+profession.
+
+Allopathy says that the only possible remedy is "early operation."
+Nevertheless, in the textbooks of medical science and in medical
+schools and colleges it is taught that cancer and all other
+malignant growths "always return after extirpation." In fact, every
+student of medicine is expected to state this in his examination
+papers as part of the definition of malignant tumors.
+
+The great majority of medical practitioners hold, furthermore, that
+cancer is a local disease. This is proved by the fact that they
+apply local, symptomatic treatment.
+
+In reality, however, the disease is constitutional. Therefore, after
+removal of the growth by surgery, the electric needle, x-rays, etc.,
+the cancer or tumor is liable to break out again in the same place
+or in several places.
+
+The surest way to change insignificant, so-called "benign" (not
+fatal to life) fibroid or fatty tumors into malignant cancer or
+sarcoma is to operate upon them. Wens and warts are often made
+malignant by surgical interference or other local irritation.
+
+In my article titled "What We Know About Cancer" in the August,
+1909, issue of the ~Nature Cure Magazine~ I quote from an article by
+Burton J. Hendrick, the cancer expert, published in the July, 1909,
+number of ~McClure's Magazine,~ as follows:
+
+"Clinical observation long ago established the fact that any
+irritating interference with a cancer almost always stimulates its
+growth. In his earliest experiments Dr. Loeb found that, by merely
+drawing a silk thread through a dormant or slowly developing tumor,
+he could transform it into a rapidly growing one. Cutting with a
+knife produced the same effect. This accounts for the commonly
+observed fact that, when extirpated cancers in human beings recur,
+they increase in size much more rapidly than the original growth."
+
+The late Dr. Senn, the great cancer surgeon, admitted these facts in
+an interview given to Chicago press representatives upon his return
+from his trip around the world in 1906. The press clipping reads as
+follows.
+
+"Avoid Beauty Doctors"
+
+"Incidentally, Dr. Senn advises women who worry over their
+disfigurement of moles about their heads and shoulders to have those
+so-called beauty spots removed early in life, but he tells them they
+should not go to beauty doctors to have the operations performed.
+
+"He knows of hundreds of cases, he says, where cancer has resulted
+from the irritation of moles by an electric needle, or by constant
+picking it. 'Have a surgeon cut the mole out,' is his advice, as it
+will hurt little and leave no scar."
+
+To this we answered in our comments on the interview: "If the little
+knife of the beauty doctor causes cancer, what about the big knife
+of the surgeon?"
+
+In point of fact, our office records show that a large percentage of
+malignant growths are the direct result of surgical operations.
+
+Cancer Not a Local, But a Constitutional Disease
+
+For many years I have been teaching in my lectures and writings as
+well as in private advice to patients that cancer is a
+constitutional disease; that it is rooted in every drop of blood in
+the body; that it is caused by the presence of certain disease
+taints or of food and drug poisons in the system; that these poisons
+irritate and stimulate the cells in a certain locality and cause
+their abnormal multiplication or proliferation in the forms of
+benign or malignant tumors.
+
+I also claim that meat eating has much to do with the causation of
+cancer.
+
+Certain discoveries by Dr. H. C. Ross of London, England, confirm my
+claims that cancer is not at all of local and accidental origin, but
+that it is constitutional, and that it may be caused by the gradual
+accumulation in the system of certain poisons which form in decaying
+animal matter.
+
+One day, while experimenting in his laboratory, Dr. Ross brought
+white blood cells or leucocytes into contact with a certain aniline
+dye on the slide of a microscope and noticed that they began at once
+to multiply by cell division (proliferation). This was the first
+time that cell proliferation had been observed by the human eye
+while the cells were separated from their parent organism.
+
+Dr. Ross realized that he had made an important discovery and
+continued his experiments under the microscope in order to find out
+what other substances would cause cell multiplication. He found that
+certain xanthines and albuminoids derived from decaying animal
+matter were the most effective for this purpose and induced more
+rapid cell proliferation than any other substances he was able to
+procure.
+
+Dr. Ross obtained these "alkaloids of putrefaction," as he called
+them, from blood which had been allowed to putrefy in a warm place.
+He found that albuminoids derived from decaying vegetable substances
+did not have the same effect.
+
+His discoveries led him to believe that the alkaloids of
+putrefaction produced in a cut or wound by the decaying of dead
+blood and tissue cells are the cause of the rapid multiplication of
+the neighboring live cells, which gradually fill the wound with new
+tissues.
+
+Thus, for the first time in the history of medicine, a rational
+explanation of Nature's methods for repairing injured tissues has
+been advanced.
+
+Dr. Ross applied his theory still farther to the causation of benign
+and malignant growths, reasoning that the alkaloids of putrefaction
+produced in or attracted to a certain part of the body by some local
+irritation are the cause of the rapid, abnormal multiplication of
+cells in tumor formations.
+
+In benign tumors the abnormal proliferation of cells takes place
+slowly, and they do not tend to immediate and rapid decay and
+deterioration.
+
+In malignant tumors the "wild" cells, created in immense numbers,
+decay almost as rapidly as they are produced because the abnormal
+growths are devoid of normal organization. They have no established,
+regular blood and nerve supply, nor are they provided with adequate
+venous drainage. They are, therefore, cut off from the orderly life
+of the organism and doomed to rapid deterioration.
+
+The processes of decay of these tumor materials liberate large
+quantities of alkaloids of putrefaction, and these, in turn,
+stimulate the normal, healthy cells with which they come in contact
+to rapid, abnormal multiplication.
+
+The malignant growth, therefore, feeds on its own products of decay,
+aside from the systemic poisons and morbid materials already
+contained in the blood and tissues of the body. These morbid
+products permeate the entire system. They are carried by the
+circulation of the blood into all parts of the body. This explains
+why cancer is a constitutional disease, why it is, as I stated it,
+"rooted in every drop of blood."
+
+It also explains why cancer, or rather the disposition to its
+development (diathesis), is hereditary.
+
+If the original cancerous growth is removed by surgical
+intervention, x-rays, the electric needle, cauterization or any
+other form of local treatment, the poisonous materials (alkaloids of
+putrefaction) in the blood will set up other foci of abnormal, wild
+proliferation. Medical science has applied the term metastasis to
+such spreading and reappearing of malignant tumors after
+extirpation.
+
+Dr. Ross' findings throw an interesting light on the relationship
+between cancer and meat eating. Is it not self-evident that in a
+digestive tract filled most of the time with large masses of
+partially digested and decaying animal food enormous quantities of
+alkaloids of putrefaction are created? These are absorbed into the
+circulation, attracted to any point where exists some form of local
+irritation and then stimulate the cells in that locality to abnormal
+proliferation.
+
+"But," it will be said, "meat eating alone does not account for
+cancer, because vegetarians also succumb to the disease." This is
+true. Alkaloids of putrefaction are constantly produced in every
+animal and human body. They form in the excretions of living cells
+and in the decaying protoplasm of dead cells, and if the organs of
+elimination do not function properly, these morbid materials will
+accumulate in the system.
+
+Furthermore, the Diagnosis from the Eye furnishes positive proof
+that Hahnemann's theory of psora is based on truth. I quote from my
+article in the ~Nature Cure Magazine~ August, 1909:
+
+"For a hundred years, Hahnemann's theory of psora has been scouted
+and ridiculed by the allopathic schools and even among homeopaths
+only a few have accepted it. Now we are confronted by the remarkable
+fact that, at this late day, the Diagnosis from the Eye confirms the
+observations and speculations of the great genius of homeopathy.
+
+"After suppression of itchy eruptions, lice, crab lice, etc., spots
+ranging in color from light brown to dark red appear in different
+places in the iris of the eye. These 'itch spots' indicate the
+organs and localities of the body in which the suppressed disease
+taints have concentrated.
+
+"Such suppressions represent not only the scrofulous taints which
+Nature was trying to eliminate by means of eruptions and parasites,
+but, in addition to these, the poisons contained in the bodies of
+the parasites and the drug poisons which were used to suppress or
+kill them.
+
+"It has been found that the bodies of the itch parasites (~Sarcoptes
+scabici ~) contain an exceedingly poisonous substance which the
+homeopaths call 'psorinum'. When these minute animals burrowing in
+and under the skin are killed by poisonous drugs and antiseptics,
+the morbid taints in their bodies are absorbed by the system and
+added to the psoriatic poisons which Nature has been trying to
+eliminate.
+
+"Thus, after suppression of itchy eruptions or parasites, the
+organism is encumbered with three poisons instead of one: (1) the
+hereditary or acquired scrofulous and psoriatic taints which the
+cells of the body were throwing off into the blood stream and which
+the blood was feeding to the parasites on the surface, (2) the
+morbid substance contained in the bodies of the parasites, (3) the
+drug poisons used as suppressants. (Such poisons may lie latent in
+the system for many years before they become active and, in
+combination with other disease taints and with food and drug
+poisons, create the different forms of chronic destructive
+diseases.)
+
+"These facts explain why the itch spots in different areas of the
+iris of the eye so frequently indicate serious chronic, destructive
+disease conditions in the parts and organs of the body corresponding
+to these areas, why; for instance, in asthma and tuberculosis we
+often find itch spots in the region representing the lungs or why in
+cancer of the liver or of the stomach itch spots show in the area of
+stomach or liver.
+
+"That the itch or psoriatic taint is actually at the bottom of the
+cancerous diathesis is attested by the fact that all cancer patients
+whom we have treated and cured, with two exceptions (whose healing
+crisis took the form of furunculosis), broke out with the itch at
+one time or another during the natural treatment. In most of these
+cases the bodies of the patients were inflamed with fiery eruptions
+for days or even weeks at a time.
+
+"Nature Cure allows these healing crises to run their course
+unhindered and unchecked; in fact, we encourage them by air and sun
+baths, cold-water treatment and homeopathic remedies."
+
+What has been said verifies my claim that benign and malignant
+tumors can be cured only by thorough purifying the system of all
+morbid and poisonous taints and by building up the blood to a normal
+basis, that is, by providing it with the proper elements of
+nutrition, especially with the all-important organic salts.
+
+That this is not merely theory, but actual fact has been proved in
+the great cancer institutes in Europe and in this country. The
+scientists in charge of these institutions report that they have
+found a positive cure for cancer in animals. The treatment is as
+follows:
+
+The blood is pumped out of the body of a dog or other animal
+afflicted with cancer and immediately afterwards the blood of a
+healthy animal which has shown immunity to cancer inoculation is
+pumped into the body of the diseased animal. It is reported that in
+nine cases out of ten thus treated the cancerous growths disappear.
+
+This treatment, of course, entails the death of the animal which had
+to give up its life blood to cure the other and therefore this
+method of cure is not adaptable to human beings. Even though an
+individual, with suicidal intent, would be willing to give up his
+life for a stipulated legacy to his relatives, the law would not
+sanction the transaction.
+
+However, we of the Nature Cure school say that it is not necessary
+to pump the diseased blood out of the organism. In the natural
+methods of living and of treatment we possess the means of purifying
+and regenerating that blood while it is in the body. That this is
+possible we have proved in a number of cancer cases.
+
+It is obvious, however, that the earlier the disease is treated by
+the natural methods, that is, before the breaking-down process has
+far advanced, the easier and quicker will be the cure.
+
+In the case of tumors, then, we see again verified the fundamental
+law of Nature Cure: the Unity of Disease and of Treatment. We see
+that the tumor is not of local, but of constitutional, origin, that
+its period of incubation may extend over a lifetime or over several
+generations.
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+
+Women's Suffering
+
+
+Certain ailments peculiar to the female organism have become almost
+universal among civilized races. Probably the majority of surgical
+operations are performed for so-called women's diseases. That women
+suffer untold agonies during menstruation, in childbirth and at the
+climacteric is looked upon as unavoidable and a matter of course.
+
+The fact that the native women of Africa, of the Sandwich Islands,
+the South American bush and our western plains are practically
+exempt from these ailments indicates that the cause of female
+troubles must lie in artificial habits of living and in the
+unnatural treatment of diseases.
+
+Many are beginning to recognize these truths. For them is dawning a
+new era, when knowledge will free Woman from physical suffering as
+it has freed her from other bondage.
+
+Instances like the following are of common occurrence in our free
+clinics for Diagnosis from the Eye:
+
+A lady tells us that she has been suffering for many years from a
+complication of female troubles. Her eyes show a heavy scurf rim,
+indicating an inactive, atrophied skin, poor surface circulation
+and, as a result of this condition, defective elimination through
+the skin and accumulation of waste matter and systemic poisons in
+the system. The areas of stomach and intestines reveal the signs of
+chronic catarrhal affection and atrophy of the membranous linings
+and glandular structures. This, of course, means indigestion,
+fermentation of foods, gas formation, constipation and a multitude
+of resulting disturbances.
+
+The signs in the iris also indicate an atonic, relaxed and prolapsed
+condition of stomach, bowels and other abdominal organs. This is
+likely to cause sagging of the genital organs, relaxation of the
+bands and ligaments which hold them in place and, as a result of
+this relaxation, misplacement of the womb.
+
+We tell the patient of our findings in her eyes and she admits all
+the conditions and symptoms which we describe, but she is not
+satisfied because our diagnosis does not agree with that of the
+great specialists and professors of medicine whom she has consulted.
+Every one of them has told her that all her troubles are due to the
+fact that her uterus is flexed and retroverted, that it presses on
+the rectum (this being the cause of her chronic constipation and of
+the obstructed menstrual flow, the congestion, pain, etc.), and that
+the womb must be placed in its normal position by a surgical
+operation.
+
+In this and many similar cases that have come to us for treatment,
+it was the relaxed and prolapsed condition of the stomach and
+intestines that caused the sinking (prolapsus) of the uterus with
+the attending distressing symptoms. In some instances the womb and
+with it the bladder had fallen so low that they protruded from the
+vagina. In all of these cases, as the patients without exception
+told us, the professors and specialists assured them that surgical
+treatment, shortening of the ligaments, the insertion of pessaries,
+the cutting loose and raising of the womb, etc., were the only
+possible means of curing these ailments.
+
+So we explain to the lady that the relaxed and prolapsed condition
+of the genital organs, the misplacement of the womb, etc., are not
+causes of disease, but only the effects of the weakened and relaxed
+condition of the digestive organs, and that this, in turn, is due to
+indigestion, malnutrition, defective elimination through skin,
+bowels and kidneys; that, therefore, the only possibility of cure
+lies in correcting and overcoming these constitutional conditions
+through an eliminative diet, blood-building remedies and other
+natural methods; that the blood must be built up on a normal basis,
+and that the digestive tract and the other abdominal organs must be
+made more alive and active through hydropathic treatment, massage,
+spinal manipulation, general and special exercises, air and sun
+baths, etc.
+
+In thousands of cases we have thus cured female troubles without
+poisonous drugs or surgical operations, simply by improving the
+digestion, purifying the blood and invigorating the abdominal organs
+in a natural manner.
+
+On the other hand, almost daily we meet with instances of untold
+suffering as the direct consequence of operations, the use of
+pessaries, etc., which only served to weaken the genital organs
+still more and resulted in all sorts of complications,
+inflammations, adhesions, etc., and in many cases in malignant
+tumors.
+
+In this connection I would warn especially against the use of
+pessaries. They are at best only a mechanical contrivance, and do
+not add anything to the improvement of the diseased condition. On
+the other hand, they irritate the abdominal organs by excessive
+pressure, which in many instances produces inflammation of the
+neighboring tissues and abnormal growths.
+
+Suppressing inflammation of the genital organs by poisonous
+antiseptics, sprays, tampons or other local applications only tends
+to aggravate the chronic conditions. Curetting (scraping) the womb
+does not cure the catarrhal affection, but only serves to destroy
+its delicate mucous lining and to suppress catarrhal elimination.
+Holding up the womb by means of a pessary in order to strengthen its
+muscles and ligaments is about as reasonable and effective as to try
+to strengthen a weak arm by carrying it in a sling. Replacing or
+removing misplaced or affected organs by means of surgery does not
+contribute anything toward correcting the causes of these abnormal
+conditions, but in many instances makes a real cure impossible. How
+can an organ be cured after it has been extirpated with the knife?
+
+It is a fact known to every observing physician that from fifty to
+seventy-five percent of all women have some kind of misplacement of
+the genital organs and that only a comparatively small number of
+these suffer from local disturbances, indicating that, in most
+cases, misplacement alone will not create serious trouble.
+
+It is ridiculous to assume that the small, flabby uterus of an
+anemic woman can block the rectum and cause disease, but it is an
+excellent talking point, as effective in bringing victims to the
+operating table as appendicitis with its fairy tales of seeds and
+foreign bodies lodging in the appendix vermiformis.
+
+While studying Nature Cure in Germany, I took special courses in the
+Thure-Brandt Massage. By means of this internal manipulative
+treatment, weakness of ligaments and muscles, displacements,
+adhesions, etc., can be corrected without the use of knife or drugs.
+During my first years in practice, I frequently resorted to the
+internal manual treatment with good results; but I found that in
+most cases it was not at all necessary in order to produce perfect
+cures.
+
+I saw that chiropractic and osteopathic correction of spinal and
+pelvic lesions and consequent removal of irritation and pressure on
+the nerves, the cure of chronic constipation and malnutrition by
+pure food diet and hydrotherapy, the strengthening of the pelvic
+muscles and nerves by means of active and passive movements and
+exercises, were fully sufficient to correct the local symptoms in a
+natural manner. Thousands of cases cured by us by these methods
+attest the truth of our statements; while those who failed to
+understand the simple reasoning of the Nature Cure philosophy or
+lacked will power to withstand the arguments of friends and
+physicians followed the siren call of the operating table and have
+been sorry for it ever since.
+
+In case of operation for misplacement of the womb, it is necessary,
+in order to keep the womb in its new position, to stitch it to the
+frontal abdominal wall. Very frequently it will not stay there,
+breaks loose, and relapses into an abnormal position. Granted that
+it remains fixed, woe to the woman if she becomes pregnant. The womb
+cannot assume the constantly changing positions of pregnancy, and
+the result is either abortion or malformation of the fetus, together
+with great and constant suffering to the woman.
+
+The operation has done nothing to correct unnatural habits of living
+or to purify the system of its scrofulous and psoriatic taints, of
+drug and food poisons. Frequently these gather in the parts that
+have been weakened and irritated by the antiseptics and by the
+surgeon's knife, and set up new inflammations, ulcerations and only
+too often malignant tumors. As a result, one operation follows
+another.
+
+We cannot cut in the genital organs without cutting in the brain.
+The nervous system is a unit, and the brain is directly and
+intimately connected with the complex and highly sensitive nerve
+centers of the genital organs. Mutilation of the genital nerve
+centers, therefore, invariably affects the brain, and thus the
+intellectual and emotional life of a woman. It is almost axiomatic
+that a woman whose uterus or ovaries have been removed or mutilated
+is afterward mentally and emotionally more or less abnormal.
+Nervousness, irritability and only too often nervous prostration and
+insanity are the sequelae of operative treatment.
+
+In medical colleges, among students and professors, these facts are
+freely admitted and discussed, but the prospective patient hears a
+different story. "Cut loose the womb, shorten the ligaments, put it
+into the right position, and everything will be well." This sounds
+plausible and seductive; but everyday experiences expose the
+inadequacy and the destructive aftereffects of local symptomatic
+treatment.
+
+The Climacteric or Change of Life
+
+Under our artificial methods of living, the ~climacteric~ or change
+of life, has become the bugbear of womanhood. It seems to be
+universally assumed that this period in a woman's life must be
+fraught with manifold sufferings and dangers. It is taken as a
+matter of course that during these changes in her organism a woman
+is assailed by the most serious physical, mental, and psychic
+ailments which may endanger her sanity and often her life.
+
+Like rheumatism, neurasthenia, neuralgia and hundreds of other
+medical terms, "change of life" is a convenient phrase to cover the
+doctor's ignorance. No matter what ailments befall a woman during
+the years from forty to fifty, may the causes be ever so obscure,
+the diagnosis is easy. "You are in the climacteric, you are
+suffering from the change of life," says the doctor, and the patient
+is satisfied and resigns herself to the inevitable.
+
+Frequently women come to us for consultation, and after reciting a
+long string of troubles they conclude with the remark: "Of course,
+doctor, I'm in the change, and I know that lots of these things are
+natural at my time of life."
+
+Is it true that all this suffering is natural and inevitable? Among
+the primitive races of the earth suffering incident to the change of
+life is practically unknown. The same is true in a lesser degree of
+the country population of Europe. The causes of it must, therefore,
+be sought in the artificial modes of living peculiar to our
+hypercivilization and in the unnatural methods of treating disease
+as commonly practiced.
+
+Which are the specific causes of the profound disturbances so often
+accompanying the organic changes of the climacteric?
+
+Aside from their other physiological functions, the menses are for
+the woman a monthly cleansing crisis through which Nature eliminates
+from her system considerable amounts of waste and morbid matter
+which, under a natural regime of life, would be discharged by means
+of the organs of depuration, that is, the lungs, skin, kidneys and
+bowels.
+
+The more natural the life and the more normal, as the result of
+this, the woman's physical condition, the shorter and less annoying
+and painful, within certain limits, will be the menstrual periods.
+
+Through unnatural habits of eating, drinking, dressing, breathing
+and through equally unnatural methods of medical treatment, the
+kidneys, skin and bowels have become inactive, benumbed or
+paralyzed. As long as the vicarious monthly purification by means of
+the menses continues, the evil results of the torpid condition of
+the regular organs of depuration do not become so apparent. The
+organism has learned to adapt itself to this mode of elimination.
+
+But when, on account of the organic changes of the climacteric,
+menstruation ceases, then the systemic poisons, which formerly were
+eliminated by means of this monthly purification, accumulate in the
+system and become the source of all manner of trouble. All
+tendencies to physical, mental or psychic disease are greatly
+intensified. The poisonous taints circulating in the blood
+overstimulate or else depress and paralyze the brain and the nervous
+system. As a consequence, mental and psychic disorders are of common
+occurrence; the more so because the waning of the sex functions is
+accompanied by a tendency to negativity and hypersensitiveness.
+
+How Can the Ailments of the Climacteric Be Avoided or Cured?
+
+Is it not self-evident that the easiest way to sidestep the troubles
+incident to this critical period and to reestablish the perfect
+equilibrium of the organism lies in restoring the natural activity
+of the organs of elimination?
+
+This is what Nature Cure accomplishes easily and successfully with
+its natural methods of treatment. Air and sun baths, water
+treatments and massage bring new life and activity to the enervated
+skin. Pure food diet, chiropractic and osteopathic treatment,
+curative gymnastics, homeopathic or herb remedies restore the
+natural tonicity and functioning of the stomach, liver, kidneys and
+intestines. Mental therapeutics, systematically practiced, make
+every cell in the body vibrant with the higher and finer forces of
+the mental and spiritual planes of being.
+
+When the natural equilibrium of the organism is thus restored, there
+is absolutely no occasion for the troubles of the climacteric. We
+have proved this in hundreds of cases. As kidneys, skin and bowels
+begin to function normally and freely, physical and mental
+conditions commence to improve, and one after another the dreaded
+symptoms disappear.
+
+Let us compare with this common sense, natural treatment the
+orthodox medical practice in such cases:
+
+The medical treatment, as usual, is entirely symptomatic. The
+sluggish organs of elimination are prodded by poisonous cathartics,
+laxatives, diaphoretics, cholagogues and tonics, all of which, after
+temporary stimulation, leave the organs in a more weakened and the
+system in a more poisoned condition. If brain and nerves are
+irritated and aching, sedatives and hypnotics are given to stupefy
+them into insensibility. If the heart action is weak and irregular,
+it is whipped up by poisonous stimulants; if too fast, it is checked
+and paralyzed by sedatives and depressants.
+
+Thus, instead of removing the underlying causes, every symptom is
+promptly suppressed. Drug poisons are added to the waste and morbid
+matter which are already clogging the channels of life. And, of
+course, under such unnatural treatment, in many instances things go
+from bad to worse. Flushes, headaches, rheumatic and neuralgic
+pains, melancholia, irritability, mental aberration, partial
+paralysis and a multitude of other symptoms appear and gradually
+increase in severity.
+
+When the family physician has arrived at the end of his wits, the
+surgeon has his innings, and leaves the patient in a still worse
+condition of chronic suffering.
+
+These experiences are so common that the manifold troubles of the
+climacteric are regarded as unavoidable and as a matter of course.
+Here, as in so many other instances, people fail to see that it is
+the treatment which prevents the cure. If the efficiency of common
+sense, natural treatment were more widely known and recognized, how
+much unnecessary suffering could be avoided.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+
+The Treatment of Acute Diseases by Natural Methods
+
+
+In the preceding chapters we have described the results of the
+wrong, that is, suppressive treatment of acute diseases. We shall
+now proceed to describe the simple and uniform methods of natural
+treatment.
+
+If the uniformity of acute diseases be a fact in Nature, then it
+follows that it must be possible to treat all acute diseases by
+uniform methods.
+
+That it is possible to treat all acute diseases most successfully by
+natural methods, which anybody possessed of ordinary intelligence
+can apply, has been demonstrated for more than seventy years by the
+Nature Cure practitioners in Germany, and by myself during the last
+ten years in an extensive practice.
+
+One of the many advantages of natural treatment is that it may be
+applied right from the beginning, as soon as the first symptoms of
+acute febrile conditions manifest themselves. It is not necessary to
+wait for a correct diagnosis of the case.
+
+The regular physician, with his specific treatment for the multitude
+of specific diseases which he recognizes, often has to wait several
+days or even weeks before the real nature of the disease becomes
+clear to him, before he is able to diagnose the case or even to make
+a good guess. The conscientious medical practitioner has to postpone
+actual treatment until the symptoms are well defined. Meanwhile he
+applies expectant treatment as it is called in medical parlance,
+that is, he gives a purgative or a placebo, something or other to
+placate, or to make the patient and his friends believe that
+something is being done.
+
+But during this period of indecision and inaction very often the
+best opportunity for aiding Nature in her healing efforts is lost,
+and the inflammatory processes may reach such virulence that it
+becomes very difficult or even impossible to keep them within
+constructive limits. The bonfire that was to burn up the rubbish on
+the premises may, if not watched and tended, assume such proportions
+that it damages or destroys the house.
+
+It must also be borne in mind that very frequently acute diseases do
+not present the well-defined sets of symptoms which fit into the
+accepted medical conception of certain specific ailments. On the
+contrary, in many instances the symptoms suggest a combination of
+different forms of acute diseases.
+
+If the character of the disease is ill-defined and complicated, how,
+then, is the physician of the "Old School" to select the proper
+specific remedy, Under such circumstances, the diagnosis of the case
+as well as the medical treatment will at best be largely guesswork.
+
+Compare with this unreliable and unsatisfactory treatment the simple
+and scientific, exact and efficient natural methods. The natural
+remedies can be applied from the first, at the slightest
+manifestation of inflammatory and febrile symptoms. No matter what
+the specific nature or trend of the inflammatory process, whether it
+be a simple cold, or whether it take the form of measles, scarlet
+fever, diphtheria, smallpox, appendicitis, etc.--it makes absolutely
+no difference in the mode of treatment. In many instances the
+natural treatment will have broken the virulence of the attack or
+brought about a cure before the regular physician gets good and
+ready to apply his specific treatment.
+
+In the following I shall describe briefly these natural methods for
+the treatment of acute diseases which insure the largest possible
+percentage of recoveries and at the same time do not in any way tax
+the system, cause undesirable aftereffects or lead to the different
+forms of chronic invalidism.
+
+The Natural Remedies
+
+The most important ones of these natural remedies can be had free of
+cost in any home. They are: air, fasting or eliminative diets,
+water, and the right mental attitude.
+
+I am fully convinced that these remedies offered freely by Mother
+Nature are sufficient, if rightly applied, to cure any acute disease
+arising within the organism. If circumstances permit, however, we
+may advantageously add corrective manipulation of the spine,
+massage, magnetic treatment, advanced regenerative modalities (like
+the Magnatherm) and homeopathic, herbal and specific nutritional
+supplementation.
+
+The Fresh-Air Treatment
+
+A plentiful supply of pure fresh air is of vital importance at any
+time. We can live without food for several weeks and without water
+for several days, but we cannot live without air for more than a few
+minutes. Just as a fire in the furnace cannot be kept up without a
+good draft which supplies the necessary amount of oxygen to the
+flame, so the fires of life in the body cannot be maintained without
+an abundance of oxygen in the air we breathe.
+
+This is of vital importance at all times, but especially so in acute
+disease, because here, as we have learned, all the vital processes
+are intensified. The system is working under high pressure. Large
+quantities of waste and morbid materials, the products of
+inflam-mation, have to be oxidized, that is, burned up and
+eliminated from the system.
+
+In this respect the Nature Cure people have brought about one of the
+greatest reforms in medical treatment: the admission of plenty of
+fresh air to the sickroom.
+
+But, strange to say, the importance of this most essential natural
+remedy is as yet not universally recognized by the representatives
+of the regular school of medicine. Time and again I have been called
+to sickrooms where by order of the doctor every window was closed
+and the room filled with pestilential odors, the poisonous
+exhalations of the diseased organism added to the stale air of the
+unventilated and often overheated apartment. And this air starvation
+had been enforced by graduates of our best medical schools and
+colleges. This unnatural and inexcusable crime against the sick is
+committed even at this late day in our great hospitals under the
+direct supervision of physicians who are foremost in their
+profession.
+
+It is not the cold draft that is to be feared in the sickroom. Cool
+air is most agreeable and beneficial to the body burning in fever
+heat. What is to be feared is the reinhalation and reabsorption of
+poisonous emanations from the lungs and skin of the diseased body.
+
+Furthermore, the ventilation of a room can be so regulated as to
+provide a constant and plentiful supply of fresh air without
+expos-ing its occupants to a direct draft. Where there is only one
+window and one door, both may be opened and a sheet or blanket hung
+across the opening of the door, or the single window may be opened
+partly from above and partly from below, which insures the entrance
+of fresh, cold air at the bottom and the expulsion of the heated and
+vitiated air at the top. The patient may be protected by a screen,
+or a board may be placed across the lower part of the window in such
+manner that a direct current of air upon the patient is prevented.
+
+In very cold weather, or if conditions are not favorable to constant
+ventilation of the sickroom, the doors and windows may be opened
+wide for several minutes every few hours, while the patient's body
+and head are well protected. There is absolutely no danger of taking
+cold if these precautions are taken. Under right conditions of room
+temperature, frequent exposure of the patient's nude body to air and
+the sunlight will be found most beneficial and will often induce
+sleep when other means fail.
+
+I would strongly warn against keeping the patient too warm. This is
+especially dangerous in the case of young children, who cannot use
+their own judgment or make their wishes known. I have frequently
+found children in high fever smothered in heavy blankets under the
+mistaken impression on the part of the attendants that they had to
+be kept warm and protected against possible draft. In many instances
+the air under the covers was actually steaming hot. This surely does
+not tend to reduce the burning fever heat in the body of the
+patient.
+
+"Natural Diet" in Acute Diseases
+
+From the appearance of the first suspicious symptoms until the fever
+has abated and there is a hearty, natural hunger, feeding should be
+reduced to a minimum or better still, entirely suspended.
+
+In cases of extreme weakness, and where the acute and subacute
+processes are long drawn out and the patient has become greatly
+emaciated, it is advisable to give such easily digestible foods as
+white of egg, milk, buttermilk and whole grain bread with butter in
+combination with raw and stewed fruits and with vegetable salads
+prepared with lemon juice and olive oil.
+
+The quantity of drinking water should be regulated by the desire of
+the patient, but he should be warned not to take any more than is
+necessary to satisfy his thirst. Large amounts of water taken into
+the system dilute the blood and the other fluids and secretions of
+the organism to an excessive degree, and this tends to increase the
+general weakness and lower the patient's resistance to the disease
+forces.
+
+Water may be made more palatable and at the same time more effective
+for purposes of elimination by the addition of the unsweetened juice
+of acid fruits, such as orange, grapefruit or lemon, about one part
+of juice to three parts of water. Fresh pineapple juice is very good
+except in cases of hyperacidity of the stomach. The fresh,
+unsweetened juice of Concord grapes is also beneficial.
+
+Acid and subacid fruit juices do not contain sufficient carbohydrate
+or protein materials to unduly excite the digestive processes, while
+on the other hand they are very rich in Nature's best medicines, the
+mineral salts in organic form. Sweet grapes and sweetened grape
+juice should not be given to patients suffering from acute, febrile
+diseases because they contain too much sugar, which would have a
+tendency to start the processes of digestion and assimilation, to
+cause morbid fermentation and to raise the temperature and
+accelerate the other disease symptoms.
+
+Fasting
+
+Total abstinence from food during acute febrile conditions is of
+primary importance. In certain diseases which will be mentioned
+later on, especially those involving the digestive tract, fasting
+must be continued for several days after all fever symptoms have
+disappeared.
+
+There is no greater fallacy than that the patient must be sustained
+and his strength kept up by plenty of nourishing food and drink or,
+worse still, by stimulants and tonics. This is altogether wrong in
+itself, and besides, habit and appetite are often mistaken for
+hunger.
+
+A common spectacle witnessed at the bedside of the sick is that of
+well-meaning but misguided relatives and friends forcing food and
+drink on the patient, often by order of the doctor, when his whole
+system rebels against it and the nauseated stomach expels the food
+as soon as taken. Sedatives and tonics are then resorted to in order
+to force the digestive organs into submission.
+
+Aversion to eating during acute diseases, whether they represent
+healing crises or disease crises, is perfectly natural, because the
+entire organism, including the mucous membranes of stomach and
+intestines, is engaged in the work of elimination, not assimilation.
+Nausea, slimy and fetid discharges, constipation alternating with
+diarrhea, etc., indicate that the organs of digestion are throwing
+off disease matter, and that they are not in a condition to take up
+and assimilate food.
+
+Ordinarily, the digestive tract acts like a sponge which absorbs the
+elements of nutrition; but in acute diseases the process is
+reversed, the sponge is being squeezed and gives off large
+quantities of morbid matter. The processes of digestion and
+assimilation are at a standstill. In fact, the entire organism is in
+a condition of prostration, weakness and inactivity. The vital
+energies are concentrated on the cleansing and healing processes.
+Accordingly, there is no demand for food.
+
+This is verified by the fact that a person fasting for a certain
+period, say, four weeks, during the course of a serious acute
+illness, will not lose nearly as much in weight as the same person
+fasting four weeks in days of healthful activity.
+
+It is for the foregoing reasons that nourishment taken during acute
+disease is not properly digested, assimilated and transmuted into healthy
+blood and tissues. Instead, it ferments and decays, filling the
+system with waste matter and noxious gases. interferes seriously
+with the elimination of morbid matter through stomach and intestines
+by forcing these organs to take up the work of digestion and
+assimilation. diverts the vital forces from their combat against the
+disease conditions and draws upon them to remove the worse than
+useless food ballast from the organism.
+
+This explains why taking food during feverish diseases is usually
+followed by a rise in temperature and by aggravation of the other
+disease symptoms. As long as there are signs of inflammatory,
+febrile conditions and no appetite, do not be afraid to withhold
+food entirely, if necessary, for as long as five, six or seven
+weeks. In my practice I have had several patients who did not take
+any food, except water to which acid fruit juices had been added,
+for more than seven weeks, and then made a rapid and complete
+recovery.
+
+In cases of gastritis, appendicitis, peritonitis, dysentery or
+typhoid fever, abstinence from food is absolutely imperative. Not
+even milk should be taken until fever and inflammation have entirely
+subsided, and then a few days should be allowed for the healing and
+restoring of the injured tissues. Many of the serious chronic
+aftereffects of these diseases are due to too early feeding, which
+does not allow the healing forces of Nature time to rebuild sloughed
+membranes and injured organs.
+
+After a prolonged fast, great care must be observed when commencing
+to eat. Very small quantities of light food may safely be taken at
+intervals of a few hours. A good plan, especially after an attack of
+typhoid fever or dysentery, is to break the fast by thoroughly
+masticating one or two tablespoonfuls of popcorn. This gives the
+digestive tract a good scouring and starts the peristaltic action of
+the bowels better than any other food.
+
+The popcorn may advantageously be followed in about two hours with a
+tablespoonful of cooked rice and one or two cooked prunes or a small
+quantity of some other stewed fruit.
+
+For several days or weeks after a fast, according to the severity of
+the acute disease or healing crisis, a diet consisting largely of
+raw fruits, such as oranges, grapefruit, apples, pears, grapes,
+etc., and juicy vegetables, especially lettuce, celery, cabbage
+slaw, watercress, young onions, tomatoes or cucumbers should be
+adhered to. No condiments or dressings should be used with the
+vegetables except lemon juice and olive oil.
+
+Hydropathic Treatment in Acute Diseases
+
+We claim that in acute diseases hydropathic treatment will
+accomplish all the benefcial effects which the "Old School"
+practitioners ascribe to drugs, and that water applications will
+produce the desired results much more efficiently, and without any
+harmful by-effects or aftereffects upon the system.
+
+The principal objects to be attained in the treatment of acute
+inflammatory diseases are:
+
+To relieve the inner congestion and consequent pain in the affected
+parts. To keep the temperature below the danger point by promoting
+heat radiation through the skin. To increase the activity of the
+organs of elimination and thus to facilitate the removal of morbid
+materials from the system. To increase the positive electromagnetic
+energies in the organism. To increase the amount of oxygen and ozone
+in the system and thereby to promote the oxidation and combustion of
+effete matter.
+
+The above-mentioned objects can be attained most effectually by the
+simple cold water treatment. Whatever the acute condition may be,
+whether an ordinary cold or the most serious type of febrile
+disease, the applications described in detail in the following
+pages, used singly, combined or alternately according to individual
+conditions, will always be in order and sufficient to produce the
+best possible results.
+
+Baths and Ablutions
+
+Cooling sprays or, if the patient is too weak to leave the bed, cold
+sponge baths or ablutions, repeated whenever the temperature rises,
+are very effective for keeping the fever below the danger point, for
+relieving the congestion in the interior of the body and for
+stimulating the elimination of systemic poisons through the skin.
+
+However, care must be taken not to lower the temperature too much by
+the excessive coldness or unduly prolonged duration of the
+application. It is possible to suppress inflammatory processes by
+means of cold water or ice bags just as easily as with poisonous
+antiseptics, antifever medicines and surgical operations.
+
+It is sufficient to reduce the temperature to just below the danger
+point. This will allow the inflammatory processes to run their
+natural course through the five progressive stages of inflammation
+and this natural course will then be followed by perfect
+regeneration of the affected parts.
+
+In our sanitarium we use only water of ordinary temperature as it
+flows from the faucet, never under any circumstances ice bags or ice
+water. The application of ice keeps the parts to which it is applied
+in a chilled condition. The circulation cannot react, and the
+inflammatory processes are thus most effectually suppressed.
+
+To recapitulate: Never check or suppress a fever by means of cold
+baths, ablutions, wet packs, etc., but merely lower it below the
+danger point. For instance, if a certain type of fever has a
+tendency to rise to 104 degree F. or more, bring it down to about
+102 degree. If the fever ordinarily runs at a lower temperature, say
+at 102 degree F., do not try to reduce it more than one or two
+degrees.
+
+If the temperature is subnormal, that is, below the normal or
+regular body temperature, the packs should be applied in such a
+manner that a warming effect is produced, that is, less wet cloths
+and more dry covering should be used, and the packs left on the body
+a longer time before they are renewed. More detailed instruction
+will be given in subsequent pages.
+
+Never lose sight of the fact that fever is in itself a healing,
+cleansing process which must not be checked or suppressed.
+
+Hot-Water Applications Are Injurious
+
+Altogether wrong is the application of hot water to seats of
+inflammation as, for instance, the inflamed appendix or ovaries,
+sprains, bruises, etc. Almost in every instance where I am called in
+to attend a case of acute appendicitis or peritonitis, I find hot
+compresses or hot water bottles, by means of which the inflamed
+parts are kept continually in an overheated condition. It is in this
+way that a simple inflammation is nurtured into an abscess and made
+more serious and dangerous.
+
+The hot compress or hot-water bottle draws the blood away from the
+inflamed area to the surface temporarily; but unless the hot
+application is kept up continually, the blood, under the Law of
+Action and Reaction, will recede from the surface into the interior,
+and as a result the inner congestion will become as great as or
+greater than before.
+
+If the hot applications are continued, the applied heat tends to
+maintain and increase the heat in the inflamed parts.
+
+Inflammation means that there is already too much heat in the
+affected part or organ. Common sense, therefore, would dictate
+cooling applications instead of heating ones.
+
+The cold packs and compresses, on the other hand, have a directly
+cooling effect upon the seat of inflammation and in accordance with
+the Law of Action and Reaction their secondary, lasting effect
+consists in drawing the blood from the congested and heated interior
+to the surface, thus relaxing the pores of the skin and promoting
+the radiation of heat and the elimination of impurities.
+
+Both the hot-water applications and the use of ice are, therefore,
+to be absolutely condemned. The only rational and natural treatment
+of inflammatory conditions is that by compresses, packs and
+ablutions, using water of ordinary temperature, as it comes from the
+cold water tap.
+
+By means of the simple cold-water treatment and fasting all fevers
+and inflammations can be reduced in a perfectly natural way within a
+short time without undue strain on the organism.
+
+The Whole-Body Pack
+
+The whole-body pack is most effective if by means of it the patient
+can be brought into a state of copious perspiration. The pack is
+then removed and the patient is given a cold sponge bath.
+
+It will be found that this treatment often produces a second profuse
+sweat which is very beneficial. This aftersweat should also be
+followed by a cold sponge bath.
+
+Such a course of treatment will frequently be sufficient to
+eliminate the morbid matter which has gathered in the system, and
+thus prevent in a perfectly natural manner a threatening disease
+which otherwise might become dangerous to life.
+
+How to Apply the Whole-Body Pack
+
+On a bed or cot spread two or more blankets, according to their
+weight. Over the top blanket spread a linen or cotton sheet which
+has been dipped into cold water and wrung out fairly dry. Let the
+blankets extend about one foot beyond the wet sheet at the head of
+the bed.
+
+Place the patient on the wet sheet so that it comes well up to the
+neck, and wrap the sheet snugly around the body so that it covers
+every part, tucking it in between the arms and sides and between the
+legs. It will be found that the sheet can be adjusted more snugly
+and smoothly if separate strips of wet linen are placed between the
+legs and between the arms and the sides of the body.
+
+The blankets are now folded, one by one, upward over the feet and
+around the body, turned in at the neck and brought across the chest,
+the outer layers being held in place with safety pins.
+
+The patient should stay in this whole-body pack from one-half hour
+to two hours, according to the object to be attained and the
+reaction of the body to the pack. If the pack has been correctly
+applied, the patient will become warm in a few minutes.
+
+The Bed-Sweat Bath
+
+If the patient does not react to the pack, that is, if he remains
+cold, or if, as is sometimes the case in malaria, the fever is
+accompanied by chills or if profuse perspiration is desired, bottles
+filled with hot water or bricks heated in the oven and wrapped in
+flannel should be placed along the sides and to the feet, under the
+outside covering.
+
+This form of application is called the bed-sweat bath. It may be
+used with good results when an incipient cold is to be aborted.
+
+After the pack has been removed, the body should be sponged with
+cold water, as already stated. Use a coarse cloth or Turkish towel
+for this purpose rather than a sponge, as the latter cannot be kept
+perfectly clean. Dry the body quickly but thoroughly, and finish by
+rubbing with the hands.
+
+In the meantime the damp bed clothing should be replaced by dry
+sheets and blankets (a second cot or bed will be found a great
+convenience), and the patient put to bed without delay and well
+covered in order to prevent chilling and also to induce, if
+possible, a copious aftersweat. The patient is then sponged off a
+second time, put into a dry bed, and allowed to rest.
+
+If the patient is too weak to leave his bed, the cold sponge may be
+given on a large rubber sheet or oilcloth covered with an old
+blanket, which should be placed on the bed before the pack is
+applied. After removing the pack, put a blanket over the patient to
+prevent chilling and wash quickly but thoroughly first the limbs,
+then chest and stomach, then the back, drying and covering each part
+as soon as finished. Remove the rubber sheet from the bed and wrap
+the patient in dry, warm blankets, or lift him into another bed.
+
+How to Apply the Short-Body Pack
+
+A wide strip of linen or muslin, wrung out of cold water, is wrapped
+around the patient from under the armpits to the thighs or knees in
+one, two or more layers, covered by one or more layers of dry
+flannel or muslin in such a manner that the wet linen does not
+protrude at any place.
+
+Similar packs may be applied to the throat,* the arms, legs,
+shoulder joints or any other part of the body.
+
+The number of layers of wet linen and dry covering is determined by
+the vitality of the patient, the height of his temperature and the
+particular object of the application, which may be to lower high
+temperature to raise the temperature when subnormal to relieve
+inner congestion to promote elimination.
+
+If the object is to lower high temperature, several layers of wet
+linen should be wrapped around the body and covered loosely by one
+or two layers of the dry wrappings in order to prevent the bed from
+getting wet. The packs must be renewed as soon as they become dry or
+uncomfortably hot.
+
+If the object is to raise subnormal temperature, less wet linen and
+more dry covering must be used, and the packs left on a longer time,
+say from thirty minutes to two hours. If the patient does not react
+to the pack, hot bricks or bottles filled with hot water should be
+placed at the sides and to the feet, as explained in connection with
+the whole-body pack.
+
+If inner congestion is to be relieved, or if the object is to
+promote elimination, less of the wet linen and more dry wrappings
+should be used.
+
+When packs are applied, the bed may be protected by spreading an
+oilcloth over the mattress under the sheet. But in no case should
+oilcloth or rubber sheeting be used for the outer covering of packs.
+This would interfere with some of the main objects of the pack
+treatment, especially with heat radiation. The outer covering should
+be warm but at the same time porous, to allow the escape of heat and
+of poisonous gases from the body.
+
+Local Compresses
+
+In case of local inflammation, as in appendicitis, ovaritis,
+colitis, etc., separate cooling compresses may be slipped under the
+pack and over the seat of inflammation. These local compresses may
+be removed and changed when hot and dry without disturbing the
+larger pack.
+
+In all fevers accompanied by high temperature, it is advisable to
+place an extra cooling compress at the nape of the neck (the region
+of the medulla and the back brain), because here are located the
+brain centers which regulate the inner temperature of the body
+(thermotaxic centers), and the cooling of these brain centers
+produces a cooling effect upon the entire organism.
+
+Enemas
+
+While ordinarily we do not favor the giving of injections or enemas
+unless they are absolutely necessary, we apply them freely in
+feverish diseases in order to remove from the rectum and lower colon
+any accumulations of morbid matter, and thus to prevent their
+reabsorption into the system. In cases of exceptionally stubborn
+constipation, an injection of a few ounces of warm olive oil may be
+given. Allow this to remain in the colon about thirty minutes in
+order to soften the contents of the rectum, and follow with an
+injection of warm water.
+
+Just How the Cold Packs Produce
+
+Their Wonderful Results
+
+(1) How Cold Packs Promote Heat Radiation
+
+Many people are under the impression that the packs reduce the fever
+temperature so quickly because they are put on cold. But this is not
+so, because, unless the reaction be bad, the packs become warm after
+a few minutes' contact with the body.
+
+The prompt reduction of temperature takes place because of increased
+heat radiation. The coldness of the pack may lower the surface
+temperature slightly; but it is the moist warmth forming under the
+pack on the surface of the body that draws the blood from the
+congested interior into the skin, relaxes and opens its minute blood
+vessels and pores, and in that way facilitates the escape of heat
+from the body.
+
+In febrile conditions the pores and capillary blood vessels of the
+skin are tense and contracted. Therefore the heat cannot escape, the
+skin is hot and dry, and the interior of the body remains
+overheated. When the skin relaxes and the patient begins to perspire
+freely, we say the fever is broken.
+
+The moist warmth under the wet pack produces this relaxation of the
+skin in a perfectly natural manner. By means of these simple packs
+followed by cold ablutions, the temperature of the patient can be
+kept at any point desired without the use of poisonous antifever
+medicines, serums and antitoxins which lower the temperature by
+benumbing and paralyzing heart action, respiration, the red and
+white blood corpuscles, and thus generally lowering the vital
+activities of the organism.
+
+(2) How Cold Packs Relieve Inner Congestion
+
+In all inflammatory febrile diseases the blood is congested in the
+inflamed parts and organs. This produces the four cardinal symptoms
+of inflammation: redness, swelling, heat, and pain. [Rubor, tumor,
+colar and dolar.] If the congestion be too great, the pain becomes
+excessive, and the inflammatory processes cannot run their natural
+course to the best advantage. It is therefore of great importance to
+relieve the local blood pressure in the affected parts and this can
+be accomplished most effectively by means of the wet packs.
+
+As before stated, they draw the blood onto the surface of the body
+and in that way relieve inner congestion wherever it may exist,
+whether it be in the brain, as in meningitis, in the lungs, as in
+pneumonia, or in the inflamed appendix.
+
+In several cases where a child was in the most dangerous stage of
+diphtheria, where the membranes in throat and nasal passages were
+already choking the little patient, the wet packs applied to the
+entire body from neck to feet relieved the congestion in the throat
+so quickly that within half an hour after the first application the
+patient breathed easily and soon made a perfect recovery. The
+effectiveness of these simple water applications in reducing
+congestion, heat and pain is little short of marvelous.
+
+(3) How Cold Packs Promote Elimination
+
+By far the largest number of deaths in febrile diseases result from
+the accumulation in the system of poisonous substances, which
+paralyze or destroy vital centers and organs. Therefore it is
+necessary to eliminate the morbid products of inflammation from the
+organism as quickly as possible.
+
+This also is accomplished most effectively and thoroughly by the
+application of wet packs. As they draw the blood into the surface
+and relax the minute blood vessels in the skin, the morbid materials
+in the blood are eliminated through the pores of the skin and
+absorbed by the packs. That this is actually so is verified by the
+yellowish or brownish discoloration of the wet wrappings and by
+their offensive odor.
+
+One of the main causes of constipation in febrile diseases is the
+inner congestion and fever heat. Through the cooling and relaxing
+effect of the packs upon the intestines, this inner fever heat is
+reduced, and a natural movement of the bowels greatly facilitated.
+
+If constipation should persist in spite of the packs and cooling
+compresses, injections of tepid water should be given every day or
+every other day in order to prevent the reabsorption of poisonous
+products from the lower colon. But never give injections of cold
+water with the idea of reducing fever in that way. This is very
+dangerous and may cause fatal collapse.
+
+The Electromagnetic Effect of
+
+Cold Water Applications
+
+One of the most important, but least understood, effects of
+hydropathic treatment is its influence upon the electromagnetic
+energies in the human body. At least, I have never found any
+allusions to this aspect of the cold-water treatment in any books on
+hydrotherapy which have come to my notice.
+
+The sudden application of cold water or cold air to the surface of
+the nude body and the inhalation of cold air into the lungs have the
+effect of increasing the amount of electromagnetic energy in the
+system.
+
+This can be verified by the following experiment: Insert one of the
+plates of an electrometer (sensitive galvanometer) into the stomach
+of a person who has remained for some time in a warm room. Now let
+this person inhale suddenly fresh, cold outside air. At once the
+galvanometer will register a larger amount of electromagnetic
+energy.
+
+The same effect will be produced by the application of a quick, cold
+spray to the warm body.
+
+It is the sudden lowering of temperature on the surface of the body
+or in the lungs and the resulting contrast between the heat within
+and the cold outside, that causes the increased manifestation of
+electromagnetic energy in the system.
+
+This, together with the acceleration of the entire circulation,
+undoubtedly accounts for the tonic effect of cold-water applications
+such as cold packs, ablutions, sprays, sitz baths, barefoot walking,
+etc., and for the wonderfully bracing influence of fresh, cold
+outside air.
+
+The energizing effect of cold air may also explain to a large extent
+the superiority of the races inhabiting the temperate zones over
+those of the warm and torrid southern regions.
+
+To me it seems a very foolish custom to run away from the
+invigorating northern winters to the enervating sameness of southern
+climates. One of the reasons I abandoned, with considerable
+financial sacrifice, a well-established home in a Texas city which
+is the Mecca of health-seekers, was that I did not want to rear my
+children under the enervating influence of that beautiful climate.
+I, for my part, want some cold winter weather every year to stir up
+the lazy blood corpuscles, to set the blood bounding through the
+system and to freeze out the microbes.
+
+In our Nature Cure work we find all the way through that the
+continued application of warmth has a debilitating effect upon the
+organism, and that only by the opposing influences of alternating
+heat and cold can we produce the natural stimulation which awakens
+the dormant vital energies in the body of the chronic.
+
+Increase of Oxygen and Ozone
+
+The liberation of electromagnetic currents through cold-water
+applications has other very important effects upon the system
+besides that of stimulation.
+
+Electricity splits up molecules of water into hydrogen, oxygen and
+ozone. We have an example of this in the thunderstorm. The powerful
+electric discharges which we call lightning separate or split the
+watery vapors in the air into these elements. It is the increase of
+oxygen and ozone in the air that purifies and sweetens the
+atmosphere after the storm.
+
+In acute as well as in chronic disease, large amounts of oxygen and
+ozone are required to burn up the morbid materials and to purify the
+system. Certain combinations of these elements are among the most
+powerful antiseptics and germicides.
+
+Likewise, the electric currents produced by cold packs, ablutions
+and other cold-water applications split up the molecules of water in
+the tissues of the body into their component parts. In this way
+large amounts of oxygen and ozone are liberated, and these elements
+assist to a considerable extent in the oxidation and neutralization
+of waste materials and disease products.
+
+The following experiment proves that sudden changes in temperature
+create electric currents in metals: When two cylinders of dissimilar
+metals are welded together, and one of the metals is suddenly
+chilled or heated, electric currents are produced which will
+continue to flow until both metals are at the same temperature.
+
+Another application of this principle is furnished by the oxydonor.
+If both poles of this little instrument are exposed to the same
+temperature, there is no manifestation of electricity; but if one of
+the poles be attached to the warm body and the other immersed in
+cold water or exposed to cold air, the liberation of electromagnetic
+currents begins at once. These electric currents set free oxygen and
+ozone, which in their turn support the oxidation and neutralization
+of systemic poisons.
+
+According to my experience, however, the cold-water applications are
+more effective in this respect than the oxydonor.
+
+The Importance of Right Mental and
+
+Emotional Attitude in Acute Disease
+
+We have learned that in the processes of inflammation a battle is
+going on between the healing forces of the body, the phagocytes and
+natural antitoxins on the one hand and the disease taints, germs,
+bacilli, etc., on the other hand.
+
+This battle is real in every respect, as real as a combat between
+armies of living soldiers. In this conflict, going on in all acute
+inflammatory diseases, mind plays the same role as the commander of
+an army.
+
+The great general needs courage, equanimity and presence of mind
+most in the stress of battle. So the mind, the commander of the vast
+armies of cells battling in acute disease for the health of the
+body, must have absolute faith in the superiority of Nature's
+healing forces.
+
+If the mind becomes frightened by the inflammatory and febrile
+symptoms and pictures to itself in darkest colors their dreadful
+consequences, these confused and distracted thought vibrations are
+conveyed instantaneously to the millions of little soldiers fighting
+in the affected parts and organs. They also become confused and
+panic-stricken.
+
+The excitement of fear in the mind still more accelerates heart
+action and respiration, intensifies the local congestion and greatly
+increases the morbid accumulations in the system. In the last
+chapters of this volume we shall deal especially with the
+deteriorating influence of fear, anxiety, anger, irritability,
+impatience, etc., and explain how these and all other destructive
+emotions actually poison the secretions of the body.
+
+In acute disease we cannot afford to add to the poisonous elements
+in the organism, because the danger of a fatal ending lies largely
+in the paralysis of vital centers by the morbid and poisonous
+products of inflammation.
+
+Everything depends upon the maintenance of the greatest possible
+inflow of vital force; and there is nothing so weakening as worry
+and anxiety, nothing that impedes the inflow, distribution and
+normal activity of the vital energies like fear. A person overcome
+by sudden fright is actually benumbed and paralyzed, unable to think
+and to act intelligently.
+
+These truths may be expressed in another way. The victory of the
+healing forces in acute disease depends upon an abundant supply of
+the positive electromagnetie energies. In the initial chapters of
+this volume we have learned that health is positive, disease
+negative. The positive mental attitude of faith and equanimity
+creates positive electromagnetic energies in the body, thus infusing
+the battling phagocytes with increased vigor and favoring the
+secretion of the antitoxins and antibodies, while the negative,
+fearful and worrying attitude of mind creates in the system the
+negative conditions of weakness, lowered resistance and actual
+paralysis.
+
+In the paragraphs dealing with the effects of cold-water treatment
+upon the body we learned that the electric currents created in the
+organism split up the molecules of water in the tissues into their
+component elements (hydrogen and oxygen), thus liberating large
+amounts of oxygen and ozone; and that these, in turn, support the
+processes of combustion and oxidation in the system, burn up waste
+and morbid matter, and destroy hostile microorganisms.
+
+However, the electromagnetic forces in the body are not only
+increased and intensified by positive foods, exercise, cold-water
+treatment, air baths, etc., but also by the positive attitude of
+mind and will.
+
+The positive mind and will are to the body what the magneto is to
+the automobile. As the electric sparks from the magneto ignite the
+gas, thus generating the power that drives the machine, so the
+positive vibrations, generated by a confident and determined will,
+create in the body the positive electromagnetic currents which
+incite and stimulate all vital activities.
+
+Common experience teaches us that the concentration of the will on
+the thing to be accomplished greatly heightens and increases all
+physical, mental and moral powers.
+
+Therefore the victory in acute diseases is conditioned by the
+absolute faith, confidence and serenity of mind on the part of the
+patient. The more he exercises these harmonizing and invigorating
+qualities of mind and soul, the more favorable are the conditions
+for the little soldiers who are fighting his battles in the inflamed
+parts and organs. The blood and nerve currents are less impeded and
+disturbed, and flow more normally. The local congestion is relieved,
+and this favors the natural course of the inflammatory processes.
+
+Therefore, instead of being overcome with fear and anxiety, as most
+people are under such circumstances, do not become alarmed, nor
+convey alarm to the millions of little cells battling in the
+inflamed parts. Speak to them like a commander addressing his
+troops: "We understand the laws of disease and cure, we know that
+these inflammatory and febrile symptoms are the result of Nature's
+healing efforts, we have perfect confidence in her wisdom and in the
+efficiency of her healing forces. This fever is merely a good
+house-cleaning, a healing crisis. We are eliminating morbid matter,
+poisons and germs which were endangering health and life.
+
+"We rejoice over the purification and regeneration now taking place
+and benefiting the whole body. Fear not! Attend to your work quietly
+and serenely! Let us open ourselves wide to the inflow of life from
+the source of all life in the innermost parts of our being! The life
+in us is the life of God. We are strengthened and made whole by the
+Divine life and power which animate the universe."
+
+The serenity of your mind, backed by absolute trust in the Law and
+by the power of a strong Will, infuses the cells and tissues with
+new life and vigor, enabling them to turn the acute disease into a
+beneficial, cleansing and healing crisis.
+
+In the following we give a similar formula for treating chronic
+constipation.
+
+Say to the cells in the liver, the pancreas and the intestinal
+tract:
+
+"I am not going to force you any longer with drugs or enemas to do
+your duty. From now on you must work on your own initiative. Your
+secretions will become more abundant. Every day at--o'clock the
+bowels will move freely and easily."
+
+At the appointed time make the effort, whether you are success-ful
+or not, and do not resort to the enema until it becomes an absolute
+necessity. If you combine with the mental and physical effort a
+natural diet, cold sitz baths, massage and osteopathic treatment,
+you will have need of the enema at increasingly longer intervals,
+and soon be able to discard it altogether.
+
+Be careful, however, not to employ your intelligence and your will
+power to suppress acute inflammatory and febrile processes and
+symptoms. This can be accomplished by the power of the will as well
+as by ice bags and poisonous drugs, and its effect would be to turn
+Nature's acute cleansing efforts into chronic disease.
+
+The Importance of Right Mental and Emotional
+
+Attitude on the Part of Friends and Relatives
+
+What has just been said about the patient is true also of his
+friends and relatives. Disease is negative. The sick person is
+exceedingly sensitive to his surroundings. He is easily influenced
+by all depressing, discordant and jarring conditions. He catches the
+expressions of fear and anxiety in the looks, the words, gestures
+and actions of his attendants, relatives and friends and these
+intensify his own depression and gloomy forebodings.
+
+This applies especially to the influence exerted by the mother upon
+her ailing infant. There exists a most intimate sympathetic and
+telepathic connection between mother and child. The child is
+affected not only by the outward expression of the mother's fear and
+anxiety, but likewise by the hidden doubt and despair in the
+mother's mind and soul.
+
+Usually, the first thing that confronts me when I am called to the
+sickbed of a child is the frantic and almost hysterical mental
+condition of the mother, and to begin with, I have to explain to her
+the destructive influence of her behavior. I ask her:
+
+"Would you willingly give some deadly poison to your child?"
+"Certainly not," she says, to which I reply:
+
+"Do you realize that you are doing this very thing? That your fear
+and worry vibrations actually poison and paralyze the vital energies
+in the body of your child and most seriously interfere with Nature's
+healing processes?
+
+"Instead of helping the disease forces to destroy your child, assist
+the healing forces to save it by maintaining an attitude of absolute
+faith, serenity, calmness and cheerfulness. Then your looks, your
+voice, your touch will convey to your child the positive, magnetic
+vibrations of health and of strength. Your very presence will
+radiate healing power."
+
+Then I explain how faith, calmness and cheerfulness on her part will
+soothe and harmonize the discordant disease vibrations in the
+child's body.
+
+Herein lies the modus operandi or working basis of all successful
+mental and metaphysical treatment.
+
+Summary
+
+Natural Methods in the Treatment of Acute Disease
+
+~I. Fresh Air~
+
+A plentiful supply of pure air in the sickroom. Frequent exposure of
+the nude body to air and sun light. Patient must not be kept too
+warm.
+
+~II. Natural Diet~
+
+The minimum amount of light food, chiefly fruit and vegetable
+salads, no condiments. Only enough water to quench thirst,
+preferably mixed with acid fruit juices. In serious acute febrile
+conditions and during healing crises no food whatever. In diseases
+affecting the digestive organs fasting must be prolonged several
+days beyond cessation of febrile symptoms. Great care must be
+observed when breaking fast.
+
+~III. Water Treatment~
+
+Cooling sprays or sponge baths whenever temperature rises. Fever and
+inflammation must not be suppressed by cold-water applications, but
+kept below the danger point. Neither ice nor hot applications should
+be used. Wet packs followed by cold ablutions for elimination of
+systemic poisons. Separate compresses over seat of inflammation,
+also at nape of neck. Kind and duration of pack to be determined by
+condition of patient and object to be attained. Injections of tepid
+water to relieve constipation when necessary.
+
+~IV. Medications~
+
+No poisonous drugs, nor any medicines or applications which may
+check or suppress the feverish, inflammatory processes. Homeopathic
+medicines, herb decoctions and specific nutritional remedies when
+indicated.
+
+~V. Manipulative Treatment~
+
+Osteopathy, massage or magnetic treatment when indicated and
+available.
+
+~VI. Mental Attitude~
+
+Courage, serenity and presence of mind are important factors. Fear
+and anxiety intensify disease conditions, poison the secretions of
+the body and inhibit the action of the healing forces. Do not
+suppress acute inflammatory and feverish processes by the power of
+the will. The right mental and emotional attitude of relatives and
+friends exerts a powerful influence upon the patient.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+
+The True Scope of Medicine
+
+
+Anyone able to read the signs of the times cannot help observing the
+powerful influence which the Nature Cure philosophy is already
+exerting upon the trend of modern medical science. In Germany the
+younger generation of physicians has been forced by public demand to
+adopt the natural methods of treatment and the German government has
+introduced them in the medical departments of its army and navy.
+
+In English-speaking countries, the foremost members of the medical
+profession are beginning to talk straight Nature Cure doctrine, to
+condemn the use of drugs and to endorse unqualifiedly the Nature
+Cure methods of treatment. In proof of this I quote from an article
+by Dr. William Osler in the ~Encyclopedia Americana,~ Vol. X, under
+the title of "Medicine":
+
+Dr. Osler on Medicine
+
+"The new school does not feel itself under obligation to give any
+medicines whatever, while a generation ago not only could few
+physicians have held their practice unless they did, but few would
+have thought it safe or scientific. Of course, there are still many
+cases where the patient or the patient's friends must be humored by
+administering medicine or alleged medicine where it is not really
+needed, and indeed often where the buoyancy of mind which is the
+real curative agent, can only be created by making him wait
+hopefully for the expected action of medicine; and some physicians
+still cannot unlearn their old training. But the change is great.
+The modern treatment of disease relies very greatly on the old
+so-called natural methods, diet and exercise, bathing and
+massage--in other words, giving the natural forces the fullest scope
+by easy and thorough nutrition, increased flow of blood and removal
+of obstructions to the excretory systems or the circulation in the
+tissues.
+
+"One notable example is typhoid fever. At the outset of the
+nineteenth century it was treated with 'remedies' of the extremest
+violence--bleeding and blistering, vomiting and purging, and the
+administration of antimony and mercury, and plenty of other heroic
+remedies. Now the patient is bathed and nursed and carefully tended,
+but rarely given medicine. This is the result partly of the
+remarkable experiments of the Paris and Vienna schools in the action
+of drugs, which have shaken the stoutest faiths; and partly of the
+constant and reproachful object lesson of homeopathy. No regular
+physician would ever admit that the homeopathic preparations,
+'infinitesimals,' could do any good as direct curative agents; and
+yet it was perfectly certain that homeopaths lost no more of their
+patients than others. There was but one conclusion to draw--that
+most drugs had no effect whatever on the diseases for which they
+were administered."
+
+Dr. Osler is probably the greatest medical authority on drugs now
+living. He was formerly professor of materia medica at the Johns
+Hopkins University of Baltimore, U. S., and now holds a
+professorship at Oxford University, England. His books on medical
+practice are in use in probably every university and medical school
+in English-speaking countries. His views on drugs and their real
+value as expressed in this article should be an eye-opener to those
+good people who believe that we of the Nature Cure school are
+altogether too radical, extreme, and somewhat cranky.
+
+However, what Dr. Osler says regarding the "New School" is true only
+of a few advanced members of the medical profession.
+
+On the rank and file, the idea of drugless healing has about the
+same effect as a red rag on a mad bull. There are still very few
+physicians in general practice today who would not lose their bread
+and butter if they attempted to practice drugless healing on their
+patients. Both the profession and the public will need a good deal
+more education along Nature Cure lines before they will see the
+light.
+
+In the second sentence of his article, Dr. Osler admits the efficacy
+of mental therapeutics and therapeutic faith as a "curative agent,"
+and ascribes the good effects of medicine to their stimulating
+influence upon the patient's mind rather than to any beneficial
+action of the drugs themselves.
+
+With regard to the origin of the modern treatment of typhoid fever,
+however, the learned doctor is either misinformed or he
+misrepresents the facts. The credit for the introduction of
+hydropathic treatment of typhoid fever does not belong to the
+"remarkable experiments of the Paris and Vienna schools." These
+schools and the entire medical profession fought this treatment with
+might and main. For thirty years Priessnitz, Bilz, Ruhne, Father
+Kneipp and many other pioneers of Nature Cure were persecuted and
+prosecuted, dragged into the courts and tried on the charges of
+malpractice and manslaughter for using their sane and natural
+methods. Not until Dr. Braun of Berlin wrote an essay on the good
+results obtained by the hydropathic treatment of typhoid fever and
+it had in that way received orthodox baptism and sanction, was it
+adopted by advanced physicians all over the world.
+
+Through the Nature Cure treatment of typhoid fever, the mortality of
+this disease has been reduced from over fifty percent under the old
+drug treatment to less than five percent under the water treatment.
+
+But the average medical practitioner has not yet learned from the
+Nature Cure school, that the same simple fasting and cold water
+which cure typhoid fever so effectively, will just as surely and
+easily cure every other form of acute disease, as, for instance,
+scarlet fever, diphtheria, smallpox, cerebrospinal meningitis,
+appendicitis, etc. Therefore, we claim that there is no necessity
+for the employment of poisonous drugs, serums and antitoxins for
+this purpose.
+
+Referring to the last two sentences of Dr. Osler's article,
+homeopaths have, as a matter of fact, lost less patients than
+allopaths. The effect of homeopathic medicine, moreover, is not
+altogether negative, as Dr. Osler implies. The discovery of the
+minute cell as the basis of the human organism on the one hand and
+of the unlimited divisibility of matter on the other hand explains
+the rationality of the infinitesimal dose. Health and disease are
+resident in the cell; therefore, the homeopath doctors the cell, and
+the size of the dose has to be apportioned to the size of the
+patient.
+
+When Dr. Osler says that most drugs have no effect whatsoever, he
+makes a serious misstatement. While they may not contribute anything
+to the cure of the disease for which they are given, they are often
+very harmful in themselves.
+
+Almost every virulent poison known to man is found in allopathic
+prescriptions. It is now positively proved by the Diagnosis from the
+Eye that these poisons have a tendency to accumulate in the system,
+to concentrate in certain parts and organs for which they have a
+special affinity and then to cause continual irritation and actual
+destruction of tissues. By far the greater part of all chronic
+diseases are created or complicated on the one hand by the
+suppression of acute diseases by means of drug poisons, and on the
+other hand through the destructive effects of the drugs themselves.
+
+Dr. Schwenninger, the medical adviser of Prince Bismarck, and later
+of Richard Wagner, the great composer, has published a book entitled
+~The Doctor.~ This work is the most scathing arraignment and
+condemnation of modern medical practice, especially of poisonous
+drugs and of surgery. Dr. Treves, the body physician of the late
+King Edward of England, is no less outspoken in his denunciation of
+drugging than Drs. Osler and Schwenninger.
+
+Just a few men like these, foremost in the medical profession, who
+have achieved financial and scientific independence, can afford to
+speak so frankly. The great majority of physicians, even though they
+know better, continue in the old ruts so as to be considered ethical
+and orthodox, and in order to hold their practice. It is not the
+medical profession that has brought about this reform in the
+treatment of typhoid fever and other diseases. They have been forced
+into the adoption of the more advanced natural methods through the
+pressure of the Nature Cure movement in Germany and elsewhere.
+
+Dr. Osler's statements, made with due deliberation in a contribution
+to the ~Encyclopedia Americana,~ are certainly a frank declaration
+as to the uselessness of drug treatment, and on the other hand, an
+unqualified endorsement of natural methods of healing.
+
+But it seems to me that Dr. Osler pours out the baby with the bath
+water, as we say in German. That is, I am inclined to think that his
+opinion regarding the ineffectiveness of drugs is entirely too
+radical. There is a legitimate scope for medicinal remedies insofar
+as they build up the blood on a natural basis and serve as tissue
+foods.
+
+Many people who have lost their faith in "Old School" methods of
+treatment have swung around to the other extreme of medical
+nihilism. In fact, Dr. Osler himself stands accused of being a
+medical nihilist.
+
+Many of those who have adopted natural methods of living and of
+treating diseases have acquired an actual horror of the word
+medicine. However, this extreme attitude is not justified.
+
+It also appears that some of the readers of my writings are under
+the impression that we of the Nature Cure school absolutely condemn
+the use of any and all medicines. This, however, is not so.
+
+The Position of "Nature Cure" Regarding Medicinal Remedies
+
+We do condemn the use of drugs insofar as they are poisonous and
+destructive and insofar as they suppress acute diseases or healing
+crises, which are Nature's cleansing and healing efforts; but on the
+other hand we realize that there is a wide field for the helpful
+application of medicinal remedies insofar as they act as foods to
+the tissues of the body and as neutralizers and eliminators of waste
+and morbid materials.
+
+In every form of chronic disease there exists in the system, on the
+one hand, an excess of certain morbid materials, and on the other
+hand, a deficiency of certain mineral constituents, organic salts,
+which are essential to the normal functions of the body.
+
+Thus, in all anemic diseases the blood is lacking in iron, which
+picks up the oxygen in the air cells of the lungs and carries it
+into the tissues, and in sodium, which combines with the carbonic
+acid (coalgas) that is constantly being liberated in the system and
+conveys it to the organs of depuration, especially the lungs and the
+skin. In point of fact, oxygen starvation is due in a much greater
+degree to the deficiency of sodium and the consequential
+accumulation of carbonic acid in the system (carbonic acid
+asphyxiation) than to the lack of iron in the blood, as assumed by
+the regular school of medicine.
+
+Foods or medicinal remedies which will supply this deficiency of
+iron and sodium in the organism will tend to overcome the anemic
+conditions.
+
+The great range of uric acid diseases, such as rheumatism, calculi,
+arteriosclerosis, certain forms of diabetes and albuminuria, are
+due, on the one hand, to the excessive use of acid-producing foods,
+and on the other hand, to a deficiency in the blood of certain
+alkaline mineral elements, especially sodium, magnesium and
+potassium, whose office it is to neutralize and eliminate the acids
+which are created and liberated in the processes of starchy and
+protein digestion.
+
+In another chapter I have explained the origin and progressive
+development of uric-acid diseases. Our volume on Natural Dietetics
+will contain additional proof that practically all diseases are
+caused by, or complicated with, acid conditions in the system.
+
+Any foods or medicines which will provide the system with sufficient
+quantities of the acid-binding, alkaline mineral salts will prove to
+be good medicine for all forms of acid diseases.
+
+The mineral constituents necessary to the vital economy of the
+organism should, however, be supplied in the organic form. This will
+be explained more fully in subsequent pages.
+
+From what I have said, it becomes apparent that it is impossible to
+draw a sharp line of distinction between foods and medicines. All
+foods which serve the above-named purposes are good medicines, and
+all nonpoisonous herb extracts, homeopathic and vitochemical
+remedies that have the same effect upon the system are, for the same
+reason, good foods.
+
+The medical treatment of the Nature Cure school consists largely in
+the proper selection and combination of food materials. This must be
+so. It stands to reason that Nature has provided within the ranges
+of the natural foods all the elements which Man needs in the way of
+food and medicine.
+
+But it is quite possible that, through continued abuse, the
+digestive apparatus has become so weak and so abnormal that it
+cannot function properly, that it cannot absorb and assimilate from
+natural foods a sufficient quantity of the elements which the
+organism needs. In such cases it may be very helpful and indeed
+imperative to take the organic mineral salts in the forms of fruit,
+herb and vegetable juices, extracts or decoctions. Among the best of
+these food remedies are extracts of leafy vegetables such as
+lettuce, spinach, Scotch kale, cabbage, Swiss chard, etc. These
+vegetables are richer than any other foods in the positive mineral
+salts. The extract may be prepared from one or more of these
+vegetables, according to the supply on hand or the tolerance of the
+digestive organs and the taste and preference of the patient. They
+should be ground to a pulp in a vegetable grinder, then pressed out
+in a small fruit press, which can be secured in any department
+store. One or two teacups per day will be sufficient to supply the
+needs of the system for mineral salts. This extract should be
+prepared fresh every day.
+
+Then there are the Kneipp Herb Remedies. Most of these are the
+Hausmittel [home remedies] of the country population of Germany
+which have proved their efficacy since time immemorial. Their
+medicinal value lies in the organic mineral salts which they contain
+in large quantities and in beneficial combinations.
+
+The homeopathic medications, as will be explained at length in
+another chapter, produce their good results because they work in
+harmony with the Laws of Nature.
+
+We never hesitate, therefore, to prescribe for our patients
+homeopathic medicines, herb decoctions and extracts, and the
+vitochemical remedies which assist in the elimination of morbid
+matter from the system and in building up blood and lymph on a
+normal basis, that is, remedies which supply the organism with the
+mineral elements in which it is deficient in the organic, easily
+assimilable form. Herein lies the legitimate scope of medicinal
+remedies.
+
+All medicinal remedies which build up the system on a normal,
+natural basis and increase its fighting power against disease
+without in any way inflicting injury upon the organism are welcome
+to the adherents of the Nature Cure methods of treatment.
+
+On the other hand, we do not use any drugs or medicines which tend
+to hinder, check or suppress Nature's cleansing and regenerating
+processes. We never give anything in the least degree poisonous. We
+avoid all anodynes, hypnotics, sedatives, antipyretics, laxatives,
+cathartics, etc. Judicious fasting, cold-water applications and, if
+necessary, warm-water injections in case of constipation will do
+everything that is claimed for poisonous drugs.
+
+Inorganic Minerals and Mineral Poisons
+
+For many years past, physicians of the different schools of
+medicine, diet experts and food chemists have been divided on the
+question whether or not mineral substances which in the organic form
+enter into the composition of the human body may safely be used in
+foods and medicines in the inorganic form.
+
+The medical profession holds almost unanimously that this is
+permissible and good practice, so that nearly every allopathic
+medical prescription contains some such inorganic substance, or
+worse than that, one or more virulent mineral poisons, as mercury,
+arsenic, phosphorus, etc.
+
+So far, the discussion about the usefulness or harmfulness of
+inorganic minerals as foods and medicines was largely theoretical
+and controversial. Neither party had positive proofs for its
+contentions.
+
+But Nature's records in the iris of the eye settle the question for
+good and for ever. One of the fundamental principles of the science
+of Diagnosis from the Eye is that "nothing shows in the iris by
+abnormal signs or discolorations except that which is abnormal in
+the body or injurious to it." When substances which are uncongenial
+or poisonous to the system accumulate in any part or organ of the
+body in sufficient quantities, they will indicate their presence by
+certain signs and abnormal colors in the corresponding areas of the
+iris.
+
+In this way Nature makes known by her records in the eye what
+substances are injurious to the body, and which are harmless.
+
+Certain mineral elements, such as iron, sodium, potassium, calcium,
+magnesium, phosphorus, sulphur, etc., which are among the important
+constituents of the human body, may be taken in the organic form in
+fruits and vegetables, or in herb extracts and the vitochemical
+remedies, in large amounts, in fact, far beyond the actual needs of
+the body, but they will not show in the iris of the eye, because
+they are easily eliminated from the system.
+
+If, however, the same minerals be taken in the inorganic form in
+considerable quantities, the iris will exhibit certain well-defined
+signs and discolorations in the areas corresponding to those parts
+of the body in which the mineral substances have accumulated.
+
+Obviously, Nature does not intend that these mineral elements should
+enter the organism in the inorganic form, and therefore the organs
+of depuration are not able to neutralize and eliminate them.
+
+Thus, for instance, any amount of iron may be taken in vegetable or
+herb extracts, or in the vitochemical remedies, but this will not be
+seen in the eye. Whatever is taken in excess of the needs of the
+body will be promptly eliminated.
+
+If, however, similar quantities of iron be taken for the same length
+of time in the inorganic, mineral form, the iron will accumulate in
+the tissues of stomach and bowels, and begin to show in the iris in
+the form of a rust brown discoloration in the corresponding areas of
+the digestive organs, directly around the pupil.
+
+In similar manner sodium, which is one of the most important mineral
+elements in the human body, if taken in the inorganic form, will
+show in a heavy, white rim along the outer edge of the iris. Sulphur
+will show in the form of yellowish discolorations in the area of
+stomach and bowels. Iodine in the medicinal, inorganic form,
+prepared from the ash of seaweeds, shows in the iris in well-defined
+bright red spots. Phosphorus appears in whitish streaks and clouds
+in the areas corresponding to the organs in which it has
+accumulated.
+
+An interesting exception to this rule is our common table salt
+(sodium chloride), which is an inorganic mineral combination. So
+far, diagnosticians from the eye have not discovered any sign in the
+iris for it. There seems to be something in its nature that makes it
+akin to organic substances or, like other inorganic minerals and
+their combinations, it would show in the iris.
+
+This might explain why salt is the only inorganic mineral substance
+which is extensively used as food by humanity in general. Also
+animals who, guided by their natural instincts, are the finest
+discriminators in the selection of foods and medicines, do not
+hesitate to take salt freely (salt licks) when they would not touch
+any other inorganic mineral.
+
+Nevertheless, we do not wish to encourage the excessive use of salt,
+either in the cooking of food or at the table. Taken in considerable
+quantities, it is undoubtedly injurious to the tissues of the body.
+
+Before the days of canned goods, scurvy was a common disease among
+mariners and other people who had to subsist for long periods of
+time on salted meats and were deprived of fresh vegetables. The
+disease manifested as a breaking down of the gums and other tissues
+of the body, accompanied by bleeding and much soreness. As soon as
+these people partook of fresh fruits and vegetables, the scurvy
+disappeared.
+
+The minerals contained in these organic salts foods furnished the
+building-stones which imparted tensile strength to the tissues and
+stopped the disintegration of the fleshy structures.
+
+The Nature Cure regimen aims to provide sodium chloride as well as
+the other mineral elements and salts required by the body in organic
+form in foods and medicines.
+
+When the use of inorganic minerals is discontinued and when the
+proper methods of eliminative treatment, dietetic and otherwise, are
+applied, these mineral substances are gradually dislodged and
+carried out of the system. Simultaneously with their elimination
+disappear their signs in the iris and the disease symptoms which
+their presence had created in the organism.
+
+In this connection it is a significant fact that those minerals
+which are congenial to the system, that is, those which in their
+organic form enter into the composition of the body, are much more
+easily eliminated if they have been taken in the inorganic form,
+than those substances which are naturally foreign and poisonous to
+the human organism, such as mercury, arsenic, iodine, the bromides,
+the different coal-tar preparations, etc.
+
+This is proved by the fact that the signs of the minerals which are
+normal constituents of the human body disappear from the iris of the
+eye much more quickly than the signs of those minerals which are
+foreign and naturally poisonous to the system.
+
+The difficulty we experience in eliminating mineral poisons from the
+body would seem to indicate that Nature never intended them to be
+used as foods or medicines. The intestines, kidneys, skin, mucous
+membranes and other organs of depuration are evidently not
+constructed or prepared to cope with inorganic, poisonous substances
+and to eliminate them completely. Accordingly, these poisons show
+the tendency to accumulate in certain parts or organs of the body
+for which they have a special affinity and then to act as irritants
+and destructive corrodents.
+
+The diseases which we find most difficult to cure, even by the most
+radical application of natural methods, are cases of drug-poisoning.
+Substances which are foreign to the human organism, and especially
+the inorganic, mineral poisons, positively destroy tissues and
+organs, and are much harder to eliminate from the system than the
+encumbrances of morbid materials and waste matter produced in the
+body by wrong habits of living only. The obvious reason for this is
+that our organs of elimination are intended and constructed to
+excrete only such waste products as are formed in the organism in
+the processes of metabolism.
+
+Tuberculosis or cancer may be caused in a scrofulous or psoriatic
+constitution by overloading the system with meat, coffee, alcohol or
+tobacco; but as soon as these bad habits are discontinued, and the
+organs of elimination stimulated by natural methods, the
+encumbrances will be eliminated, and the much-dreaded symptoms will
+subside and disappear, often with surprising rapidity.
+
+On the other hand, mercury, arsenic, quinine, strychnine, iodine,
+etc., accumulate in the brain, the spinal cord, and the cells and
+tissues of the vital organs, causing actual destruction and
+disintegration. The tissues thus affected are not easily rebuilt,
+and it is exceedingly difficult to stir up the destructive mineral
+poisons and to eliminate them from the system.
+
+Therefore it is an indisputable fact that many of the most stubborn,
+so-called incurable diseases are drug diseases
+
+The Importance of Natural Diet
+
+While certain medicinal remedies in organic form may be very useful
+in supplying quickly a deficiency of mineral elements in the system,
+we should aim to keep our bodies in a normal, healthy condition by
+proper food selection and combination. A brief description of the
+scientific basis of "Natural Dietetics" will be found in the chapter
+on Diet.
+
+Undoubtedly, Nature has supplied all the elements which the human
+organism needs in abundance and in the right proportions in the
+natural foods, otherwise she would be a very ignorant organizer and
+provider.
+
+We should learn to select and combine food materials in such a
+manner that they supply all the needs of the body in the best
+possible way and thus insure perfect health and strength without the
+use of medicines.
+
+Why should we attempt to cure anemia with inorganic iron,
+hyperacidity of the stomach with baking soda, swollen glands with
+iodine, the itch with sulphur, ricket conditions in infants with
+lime water, etc., when these mineral elements are contained in
+abundance and in live, organic form in fruits and vegetables, herbs
+and in the vitochemical remedies?
+
+Unfortunately, however, a great many individuals, through wrong
+habits of living and of treating their ailments, have ruined their
+digestive organs to such an extent that they are incapable of
+properly assimilating their food and require, at least temporarily,
+stimulative treatment by natural methods and a supply of the
+indispensable organic mineral salts through medicinal food
+preparations.
+
+In such cases the mineral elements must be provided in the most
+easily assimilable form in vegetable extracts (which should be
+prepared fresh every day), and in the vitochemical remedies.
+
+What has been said is sufficient, I believe, to justify the attitude
+of the Nature Cure school toward medicines in general. It explains
+why we avoid the use of inorganic minerals and poisonous substances,
+while on the other hand we find a wide and useful field for
+medicinal remedies in the form of blood and tissue foods.
+
+
+
+Chapter XV
+
+
+Homeopathy
+
+
+When we recommend the use of homeopathic remedies, the medical
+nihilist says: "Don't talk homeopathy to me! I didn't come to you
+for drugs; I have had enough of them."
+
+When we explain that these remedies are so highly refined that they
+cannot possibly do any harm, he becomes still more indignant. "I
+don't need any of your mental therapeutics in homeopathic form," he
+exclaims. "I, too, believe in the power of mind over matter, but I
+have no faith in your sugar of milk pellets; they are poor
+substitutes for the real article. That kind of sugar-coated
+suggestion might work on some people, but it doesn't on me."
+
+When I first entered upon the study of medicine, I, too, did not
+believe in the curative power of homeopathic doses; but experience
+caused me to change my mind. The well-selected remedy administered
+at the right time often works wonders.
+
+True homeopathic medicines in high-potency doses are so highly
+refined and rarefied that they cannot possibly produce harmful
+results or suppress Nature's cleansing and healing efforts; on the
+contrary, if employed according to the Law of Homeopathy: "like
+cures like," they assist in producing acute reactions or healing
+crises, thus aiding Nature in the work of purification and repair.
+
+Homeopathy Works with the Laws of Cure, Not Against Them. ~Similia
+similibus curantur~ (like cures like) translated into practice means
+that a drug capable of producing a certain set of disease symptoms
+in a healthy body, when given in large, physiological doses, will
+relieve or cure a similar set of symptoms in the diseased organism
+if the drug be given in small, homeopathic doses.
+
+For instance, ~belladonna,~ given in large, poisonous doses to a
+healthy person, will cause a peculiar headache with sharp, stabbing
+pains in forehead and temples, high fever, violent delirium,
+dilation of the pupils, dryness and rawness of the throat, scarlet
+redness of the skin and extreme sensitiveness to light, jars and
+noises.
+
+It will be observed that this is a fair picture of a typical case of
+scarlet fever. A homeopathic prescriber, when called to a scarlet
+fever patient exhibiting in a marked degree three or more of the
+above-described symptoms, would give a trituration of belladonna,
+say 6x. In numberless cases the fever has subsided and its symptoms
+have rapidly disappeared under such treatment.
+
+The reader may say: "I do not see any difference between this and
+the allopathic suppression of disease by drugs."
+
+There is a great difference. The allopathic physician may use the
+same remedy, belladonna, in the same case, but he will give from ten
+to twenty drops of tincture of belladonna, repeated every three or
+four hours. These doses are from twenty to forty thousand times
+stronger than the homeopathic 3x or 6x.
+
+Herein lies the difference. The allopathic dose allays the fever
+symptoms by paralyzing the organism as a whole and the different
+vital organs and their functions in particular. This is frankly
+admitted in every allopathic materia medica. But by such dosing
+Nature is forcibly interrupted in her efforts of cleansing and
+healing; the acute reaction is suppressed, but not cured.
+
+If fever is a healing effort of Nature, it may be controlled and
+modified, but must not be suppressed. A minute dose of homeopathic
+belladonna, acting on the innermost cells of the organism which the
+coarser allopathic doses would paralyze, stimulates these cells to
+effort in the right direction. It brings about conditions similar to
+those produced by Nature, and thus assists her; it is cooperation
+instead of counteroperation.
+
+After this brief discussion of the practical application of
+homeopathy, let us now ascertain in how far its laws and theories
+agree with and corroborate the laws and principles of the Nature
+Cure school.
+
+Hahnemann discovered the Law of ~similia similibus curantur
+~accidentally, while investigating the effects of quinine on the
+human organism. Ever since then it has been applied successfully by
+him and his followers in treating human ailments.
+
+However, this law has been used empirically. Neither in the Organon
+nor in any other writings or teachings of Hahnemann and the
+homeopathic school can be found a clear and concise explanation of
+why like cures like. The proof offered has been negative rather than
+positive.
+
+Therefore the allopath says: "You tell me that ~'like cures like,'
+~and that you can prove it at the sickbed; but unless you can give
+me good and valid reasons why it should be so, I cannot and will not
+believe that it is your 'similar' which cures the patient. How do I
+know it is your 'potency'? The patient might recover just as well
+without it."
+
+With the aid of the three laws of cure, I shall endeavor to give the
+reasons and furnish the proofs for our contentions. The laws alluded
+to are: The Law of Cure, the Law of Dual Effect and the Law of
+Crises.
+
+~Similia similibus curantur~ is only another way of stating the
+fundamental Law of Nature Cure: "Every acute disease is the result
+of a cleansing and healing effort of Nature."
+
+If a certain set of disease symptoms are the result of a healing
+effort of Nature, and if I give a remedy which produces the same or
+similar symptoms in the system, am I not aiding Nature in her
+attempt to overcome the abnormal conditions?
+
+In such a case, the indicated homeopathic remedy will not suppress
+the acute reaction, but it will help it along, thus accelerating and
+hastening the curative process.
+
+In the last analysis, disease resides in the cell. The well-being of
+the organism as a whole is dependent upon the health of the
+individual cells of which it is composed. This has been explained
+more fully in connection with the action of stimulants.
+
+In order to cure the man, we must free the cell of its encumbrances.
+Elimination must begin in the cell, not in the organs of depuration.
+Laxatives and cathartics, by irritating the digestive tract, may
+cause a forced evacuation of the contents of the intestinal canal,
+but they do not eliminate the poisons which clog cells and tissues.
+
+In stubborn chronic diseases, when the cells are too weak to throw
+off the latent encumbrances of their own accord, a well-chosen
+homeopathic remedy is often of great service in arousing them to
+acute reaction.
+
+For instance, if the system is heavily encumbered with scrofulous
+taints and if its vitality is lowered to such an extent that the
+individual cell cannot of itself throw off the morbid encumbrances
+by means of a vigorous, acute effort, sulphur, if administered in
+doses sufficiently triturated and refined to affect the minute cells
+composing the organism, will start disease vibrations similar to
+those of acute scrofulosis, and thus give the needed impetus to
+acute eliminative activity on the part of the individual cell.
+
+The acute reaction, once started, may develop into vigorous forms of
+scrofulous elimination, such as skin eruptions, glandular swellings,
+abscesses, catarrhal discharges, etc.
+
+Are High-Potency Doses Effective?
+
+The question now arises: How large or how small must the dose be in
+order to affect the minute cells?
+
+In the administration of medicines, the size of the dose is adjusted
+to the size of the patient. If half a grain of a certain drug is the
+normal dose for an adult, the proper dose of the same drug for a
+small infant, say, less than a year old, may be about one
+twenty-fifth of the adult dose. How small, in proportion, should
+then be the dose given to a cell a billion times as small as the
+infant?
+
+The dose given to an adult would paralyze or perhaps kill an infant.
+In like manner the minute cell would be benumbed and paralyzed by
+the drug suited to the infant's organism.
+
+But this is how allopathy effects its fictitious cures. It
+suppresses inflammatory processes by paralyzing the cells and organs
+and their vital activities.
+
+Homeopathy adapts the smallness of the dose to the smallness of the
+cell which is to be treated. Herein lies the reasonableness of the
+high-potency dose.
+
+The Personal Responsibility of the Cell
+
+The cell resembles Man not only in physical and physiological
+aspects, but also in regard to the moral law.
+
+Elimination must commence in the cell and by virtue of the cell's
+personal effort. Its work cannot be done vicariously by drugs or the
+knife. Large, allopathic doses of medicine may be given with the
+idea of doing the work for the cell by violently stimulating or else
+paralyzing the organism as a whole or certain ones of the vital
+organs; but this is demoralizing and destructive to the cell. The
+powerful doses calculated to affect the body and its organs as a
+whole make superfluous or paralyze the individual efforts of the
+cells and thus intensify the chronic disease conditions in cells and
+tissues.
+
+Alms-giving, prison sentences and capital punishment have a similar
+allopathic effect upon Man, the individual cell of the social body.
+Instead of providing for him the proper environment and the
+opportunity for natural development and for working out his own
+salvation, they take this opportunity away from him and weaken his
+personal effort or make it impossible.
+
+The Efficacy of Small Doses
+
+The late revelations of chemistry, Roentgen rays, x-rays,
+radio-activity of metals, etc., throw an interesting light upon the
+seemingly infinite divisibility of matter. A small particle of a
+given substance may for many years throw off a continuous shower of
+corpuscles without perceptibly diminishing its volume.
+
+For an illustration we may take the odoriferous musk. A few grains
+of this substance will fill a room with its penetrating aroma for
+years. When we smell musk or any other perfume, minute particles of
+it bombard the end filaments of the nerves of smell in the nose.
+Therefore the musk must be casting off such minute particles
+continually without apparent loss of substance.
+
+With the aid of this recent knowledge of the true nature of matter,
+of the minuteness and complexity of the atom, we can now understand
+how the highly triturated and refined (attenuated) homeopathic
+remedy may still retain the dynamic force of the element, as
+Hahnemann has expressed it, and how a remedy so attenuated may still
+be capable of exerting an influence upon the minute cell. Since
+chemistry and physiology have acquainted us with the finer forces of
+Nature, demonstrating that they are mightier than the things we can
+apprehend by weight and measure, the claims of homeopathy do not
+appear so absurd as they did a generation ago.
+
+Undoubtedly, the good effect produced by a well-chosen remedy is
+heightened and strengthened by the mental and magnetic influence of
+the prescriber. The positive faith of the physician in the efficacy
+of the remedy, his sympathy and his indomitable will to assist the
+sufferer affect both the physical substance of the remedy and the
+mind of the patient.
+
+The varying mental and magnetic qualities of prescribers have
+undoubtedly much to do with the varying degrees of efficaciousness
+of the same remedy when administered by different physicians.
+
+The true Hahnemannian homeopath, who believes in his remedies as in
+his God, will concentrate his intellectual and spiritual forces on a
+certain remedy in order to accomplish certain well-defined results.
+The bottle is not allowed to become empty. Whenever the graft runs
+low, it is replenished with distilled water, alcohol, milk sugar, or
+another "vehicle." Every time he takes the medicine bottle into his
+hands, these potent thought forms are projected into it: "You are
+the element sulphur. You produce in the human body a certain set of
+symptoms. You will produce these symptoms in the body of this
+patient."
+
+If there is any virtue at all in magnetic, mental and spiritual
+healing, the homeopathic remedy must be an effective agency for
+transmitting magnetic, mental and psychic healing forces from
+prescriber to patient.
+
+Transmission of these higher and finer forces, whether directly,
+telepathically or by means of some physical agent, such as
+magnetized water, a charm or simile, etc., is the modus operandi in
+all the different forms of ancient and modern magic, white or black.
+It is the active principle in mental healing, Christian Science,
+sympathy healing, voodooism, witchcraft, etc.
+
+Homeopathy and the Law of Dual Effect
+
+I have formulated the Law of Action and Reaction in its application
+to the treatment of diseases as follows:
+
+"Every agent affecting the human organism has two effects: a first,
+apparent, temporary one and a second, lasting one. The second effect
+is directly opposite to the first."
+
+Allopathy, in giving large, physiological doses, takes into
+consideration only the first, apparent effect of the drug, and
+thereby accomplishes in the long run results directly opposite to
+those which it desires to bring about. It produces the very
+conditions it tries to cure. As an example, note the permanent
+effects of laxatives, stimulants and sedatives upon the system. This
+has been explained more fully in Chapter Six.
+
+On the other hand, the homeopathic physician may use the same
+remedies as the allopath, provided they produce symptoms similar to
+those of the disease, but he administers the different drugs in such
+minute doses that their first effect is noticed only as a slight
+"homeopathic aggravation," while their second and lasting effect is
+relied upon to relieve and cure the disease.
+
+In other words, homeopathy produces as the first effect the
+condition like the disease, and counts on the second and lasting
+effect of the drug to bring about a permanent change.
+
+If, in accordance with the Law of Dual Effect as applied to drugs,
+the primary, temporary effect of the homeopathic remedy is equal to
+the disease, it is self-evident that the secondary, lasting effect
+of the remedy must be equal to the cure.
+
+This law has been proved by homeopathy for over a hundred years. An
+experienced homeopathic prescriber would no more doubt it than he
+would doubt the Law of Gravitation.
+
+Homeopathy and the Law of Crises
+
+Therefore, if the remedy be well chosen in accord with the Law of
+~similia similibus curantur,~ the first homeopathic aggravation,
+which corresponds to the crisis of Nature Cure, will be followed by
+speedy and perfect readjustment. Nature has her way, the disorder
+runs its course, and the return to normal conditions will be quicker
+and more perfect than if the homeopathic remedy had not been
+employed or if Nature's healing processes had been forcibly
+interrupted and suppressed by large, poisonous allopathic doses.
+Homeopathy assists Nature in removing the old encumbrances, whereas
+allopathy changes the acute, inflammatory healing effort into
+chronic, destructive disease.
+
+The Economics of Homeopathy
+
+The Law of ~like cures like~ is of great practical importance from
+another point of view, namely, that of economics.
+
+The best engineer is the one who accomplishes the maximum of results
+with the minimum of expenditure of force and with the least
+friction. The same is true of the physician and his remedies.
+
+We have learned that drugs given in the coarse allopathic doses
+attack and affect the organism as a whole. If, for instance, there
+is a catarrhal affection of the serous and mucous membranes of the
+respiratory tract accompanied by fever, the allopath will give
+quinine in large doses to change this condition. He may accomplish
+his aim; but if so, he does it by paralyzing the heart, the
+respiratory centers, the red and white blood corpuscles and the
+excreting cells of the mucous membranes. The body as a whole and
+certain parts in particular are saturated with the drug poison and
+correspondingly weakened. As allopathy itself states it: "Quinine
+reduces fever by depressing the metabolism" (the vital functions).
+
+Homeopathic materia medica teaches that ~Bryonia~ has a special
+affinity for the mucous and serous membranes of the respiratory
+tract and that its symptomatic effects correspond closely to those
+described in the preceding paragraph.
+
+If, in accordance with the Law of ~similia similibus curantur,~ a
+homeopathic dose of Bryonia be given to a patient exhibiting these
+symptoms, the remedy, as has been demonstrated, will assist Nature
+in her work of cure; and in doing this, it will not attack and
+affect the entire organism, but only those serous and mucous tissues
+for which it has a special affinity and which, as in the case of
+this patient, are the most seriously affected.
+
+To state it in another way: the large, allopathic dose paralyzes the
+whole organism in order to produce its fictitious cure. The small,
+homeopathic dose, on the other hand, goes right to the spot where it
+is needed, and by mild and harmless stimulation of the affected
+parts, assists and supports the cells in their acute eliminative
+efforts.
+
+Homeopathic medication, therefore, is not only curative in its
+effects, but also conservative and in the highest degree economic.
+
+Homeopathy, a Complement of Nature Cure
+
+Having proved the accuracy of Hahnemann's Law of ~similia similibus
+curantur,~ and having occasion daily to observe its practical
+results in the treatment of acute and chronic diseases, we should
+not be justified in omitting homeopathy from our system of
+treatment. The attenuated homeopathic doses of certain drugs may be
+of great service in bringing about the acute reactions which we so
+earnestly desire, especially in the treatment of chronic diseases of
+long standing.
+
+I am aware of the fact that in severe and obstinate conditions
+homeopathy is often apparently of no avail. But when the system has
+been purified and strengthened by our natural methods, by a rational
+vegetarian diet, hydrotherapy, chiropractic or osteopathy, massage,
+corrective exercise, air and sun baths, normal suggestion, etc., the
+homeopathic remedies will work with much greater promptitude and
+effectiveness.
+
+It is the combination of all the different healing factors which
+constitutes the perfect system of treatment.
+
+No disease condition, whether apparently hopeless or not, can be
+called incurable unless all these different healing factors,
+properly combined and applied, have been given a thorough trial. It
+is no charlatanic boasting, but the simple truth, when we affirm
+that the different natural methods of treatment, as we of the Nature
+Cure school apply them, can and do cure so-called incurable
+diseases, such as tuberculosis, cancer, locomotor ataxy, epilepsy,
+eczema, neurasthenia, insanity and the worst forms of chronic
+dyspepsia and constipation, always providing that the patient
+possesses sufficient vitality to react to the treatment and that the
+destruction of vital parts and organs has not advanced too far.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+
+The Diphtheria Antitoxin
+
+
+In this country the antitoxin treatment for diplitheria is still in
+high favor, while in Germany, where it originated, many of the best
+medical authorities are abandoning its use on account of its
+doubtful curative results and certain destructive after-effects.
+
+According to the enthusiastic advocates of this treatment among the
+"regular" physicians in this country, the antitoxin is a "certain
+cure" for diphtheria; but how is this claim borne out by actual
+facts?
+
+The Health Bulletins sent regularly to every physician in the City
+of Chicago by the City Health Department show an average of from
+fifteen to twenty deaths every week from diphtheria treated with
+antitoxin.
+
+I do not deny that the antitoxin treatment may have reduced somewhat
+the mortality percentage of this disease, allowing even for the
+great uncertainty of medical statistics. But we of the Nature Cure
+school claim and can prove that the hydropathic treatment of
+diphtheria shows a much lower percentage of mortality than the
+antitoxin treatment.
+
+The crucial point to be considered in this connection is: What are
+the after-effects of the different methods of treatment?
+
+This is a very important matter. I make the following claims:
+that the antitoxin, being itself a most powerful poison, may be and
+often is the direct cause of paralysis, or of death due to
+heart-failure. That diphtheria treated with antitoxin may be and
+often is followed by paralysis, heart-failure, or lifelong
+invalidism of some kind after the patient has apparently recovered
+from the disease. That these undesirable after-effects of diphtheria
+do not occur when the disease is treated by natural methods, but
+that they are the result of the antitoxin treatment and of its
+suppressive effect upon. the disease.
+
+To prove my claims, I submit the following facts: I have in my
+possession clippings from newspapers from different parts of the
+country stating that death had followed the administration of the
+diphtheria antitoxin for prevention or "immunization," that is,
+where the individual had been in good health at the time the
+antitoxin was given.
+
+Several cases of this kind created quite a sensation in Germany
+about fifteen years ago. Dr. Robert Langerhans, superintendent of
+the Moabit Hospital in Berlin, a strong advocate of the antitoxin
+treatment and also of vaccination, had been one of a committee of
+three appointed by the municipal government of the German metropolis
+to investigate the efficiency of the diphtheria antitoxin. As a
+result of his findings, he had recommended its free distribution to
+the poor of the City of Berlin.
+
+Not long thereafter the doctor's cook was suddenly taken ill with
+severe pains in the throat and sent to the hospital. It was thought
+to be a case of diphtheria, and the doctor, to protect his little
+son, one and one-half years old, against possible infection,
+administered an injection of antitoxin. Shortly afterward the child
+developed symptoms of blood-poisoning and died of heart-failure
+within twenty-four hours.
+
+It is customary in Germany to insert a death-notice in one of the
+local newspapers and to invite the friends of the family to the
+funeral. In his announcement in the columns of the "Lokalanzeiger,"
+Dr. Langerhans stated explicitly that his little son had died after
+an injection of diphtheria antitoxin for immunization.
+
+Another similar case is that of Dr. Pistor, a prominent Berlin
+physician, whose little daughter contracted a slight inflammation of
+the throat. The child was given an injection of antitoxin, and this
+was followed by a severe and protracted illness.
+
+Very significant, in this connection, are certain utterances of Dr.
+William Osler in his "Practice of Medicine." He says, on page 150:
+
+" Of the sequelae of diphtheria, paralysis is by far the most
+important. This can be experimentally produced in animals by the
+inoculation of the toxic material produced by the bacilli. [This is
+the active principle in the antitoxin. Author's note] The paralysis
+occurs in a variable proportion of the cases, ranging from 10 to 15
+and even to 20 per cent. It is strictly a sequel of the disease [of
+the disease treated with antitoxin?--Author's note], coming on
+usually in the second or third week of convalescence. . . . It may
+follow very mild cases; indeed, the local lesion may be so trifling
+that the onset of the paralysis alone calls attention to the true
+nature of the disease. . . .
+
+"The disease is a toxic neuritis, due to the absorption of the
+poison. . . .
+
+"Of the local paralysis the most common is that which affects the
+palate. . . . Of other local forms perhaps the most common are
+paralysis of the eye muscles. . . . Heart symptoms are not uncommon.
+. . . Heart-failure and fatal syncope (death) may occur at the
+height of the disease or during convalescence, even as late as the
+sixth or seventh week after apparent recovery."
+
+It appears to me that the mystery of these "sequelae" can easily be
+explained. It is certain that a mere "sore throat," not serious
+enough to be diagnosed as diphtheria, cannot produce paralysis or
+heart-failure; but we know positively that the antitoxin can do it
+and does do it. The cases that Dr. Osler refers to undoubtedly
+received the antitoxin treatment, because it is administered on the
+slightest suspicion of diphtheria, nay, even to perfectly healthy
+persons "for purposes of immunization."
+
+Then is it not most likely that these "mysterious after-effects" are
+caused rather by the highly poisonous antitoxin than by the "sore
+throat?"
+
+In my own practice, I am frequently consulted by chronic patients
+whose troubles date back to diphtheria "cured" by antitoxin. Among
+these I have met with several cases of idiocy and insanity, with
+many cases of partial paralysis, infantile paralysis, and nervous
+disorders of a most serious nature, also with various other forms of
+chronic destructive diseases.
+
+In the iris of the eye, the effect of the antitoxin on the system
+shows as a darkening of the color. In many instances, the formerly
+blue or light-brown iris assumes an ashy-gray or brownish-gray hue.
+
+My secretary who is taking this dictation and who has brown eyes,
+tells me that her mother informed her that up to her tenth year her
+eyes had been of a clear blue. About that time she had several
+attacks of diphtheria and a severe "second" attack of scarlet fever,
+which were treated and "cured" under the care of an allopathic
+physician. She does not remember whether she was given antitoxin,
+but recalls that her throat was painted and her body rubbed with
+oil, and that she had to take a great deal of medicine. Since that
+time her eyes have turned brown. They show plainly the rust-brown
+spots of iodine in the areas of the brain, the throat, and other
+parts of the body.
+
+The effect upon the iris of the eye would be very much the same
+whether the attacks of diphtheria had been suppressed by antitoxin
+or by the old-time drug treatment. A significant fact in this
+connection is that, since Mrs. C. is with us, following natural
+methods of living and under the effects of the treatments which she
+has been taking regularly for several months, her eyes have become
+much lighter and in places the original blue is visible under the
+brown. The nerve rings in the region of the brain, which were very
+marked when she came to us, have become less defined. There is a
+corresponding improvement in her general health, and especially in
+the condition of her nerves.
+
+In regard to my claim that undesirable after-effects do not occur
+under treatment by natural methods, I wish again to call attention
+to the fact that for fifty years the Nature Cure physicians in
+Germany have proved that hydropathic treatment of diphtheria is not
+followed by paralysis, heart-failure, or the different forms of
+chronic, destructive diseases.
+
+This has been confirmed by my own experience in the treatment of
+diphtheria and other serious acute ailments.
+
+A Reply to My Critics
+
+My discussions of the germ-theory of disease and of the vaccine,
+serum, and antitoxin treatment in a series of articles entitled:
+"Harmonies of the Physical" and published in "Life and Action"
+called forth a great deal of adverse criticism from physicians of
+the regular school of medicine. The following paragraphs are
+extracts from a letter sent by one of these critics to the editor of
+the above-named magazine:
+
+" . . . I am convinced that some statements have been published in
+this particular issue [October-Decemher, 1912] which have no proper
+place in this magazine, the earnest champion of the cause of Truth
+and the official organ of expression of the U. S. headquarters of
+the movement which you evidently have at heart."
+
+Dr. E. then refers to certain passages in my article in the
+October-December, 1912, number of "Life and Action," and comments
+upon them by quoting Drs. Osler and Andrews in favor of the
+antitoxin treatment in diphtheria and by giving his own opinion on
+the subject. He concludes his arguments as follows:
+
+"I am a subscriber to this magazine and have also had my sister's
+name put on the mailing list. She has a little boy about two years
+old. Now, suppose she should read that article of Dr. Lindlahr's,
+and as a result, refuse to permit the use of antitoxin, and if the
+boy should get diphtheria, with a fatal issue as a result, I could
+hardly feel gratified over the fact that I had placed that
+reading-matter at her disposal. I fully appreciate the fact that
+such an unhappy result might easily ensue in some one or more of the
+families who read 'Life and Action' and look upon its columns as a
+source of the truly higher light."
+
+Perhaps Dr. E. has not read one of Dr. Osler's latest and strongest
+utterances, his unqualified endorsement of natural methods of
+healing in the Encyclopedia Americana, quoted on page 154 of this
+volume.
+
+Nature Cure in Germany
+
+That it is possible to cure all kinds of serious acute diseases by
+drugless methods of healing, has been proved by the Nature Cure
+practitioners in Germany, nearly all of whom were laymen who had
+never visited a medical school. For over half a century, many
+thousands of them have been practicing the art of healing in all
+parts of Germany. With hydrotherapy and the other natural methods
+they have treated successfully typhoid fever. diphtheria, smallpox,
+appendicitis, cerebro-spinal meningitis and all other acute
+diseases.
+
+It is a significant fact that, in spite of the most strenuous
+opposition and appeal to the law-making powers on the part of the
+regular school of medicine, the lay doctors could not be prevented
+from practicing the natural methods of treatment in law-and
+police-ridden Germany.
+
+On the contrary, during the last few generations there have been
+practicing in Germany at all times an ever increasing number of
+Nature Cure physicians, most of them laymen.
+
+This freedom of Nature Cure practice in Germany is entirely due to
+the success of its methods.
+
+And this success has been demonstrated in spite of all kinds of
+opposition and attempted restriction. While the Nature Cure
+practitioner is permitted to treat those who come to him for relief,
+he does not have the right to cover his mistakes with six feet of
+earth. If one of his patients dies, a doctor of the regular school
+of medicine has to be called in to testify to the fact and issue the
+death-certificate.
+
+Thus the "lay doctors," the "Nature Cure physicians," were and are
+at present constantly exposed to the strictest critical supervision
+by the "regulars," and if the latter can prove that a patient has
+died because the natural methods were inefficient or harmful, the
+lay practitioner can be prosecuted for and convicted of malpractice
+or man-slaughter.
+
+But in point of fact, while a number of these lay physicians were
+brought before the courts, in no instance could the actual
+harmfulness of the methods employed by them be proven. The natural
+methods of treatment became so popular that, as a matter of
+self-preservation, the younger generation of physicians in Germany
+had to fall in line with the Nature Cure idea in their practice.
+
+Since Dr. E. so strongly questions the efficacy of our methods, I
+may be permitted to say something about my own professional
+experience.
+
+Nature Cure in America
+
+During the last ten years, I have treated and cured all kinds of
+serious acute diseases without resorting to allopathic drugs. In a
+very extensive practice, I have not in all these years lost a single
+case of appendicitis (and not one of them was operated upon), of
+typhoid fever, diphtheria, smallpox, scarlet fever, etc., and only
+one case of cerebro-spinal meningitis and of lobar pneumonia. These
+facts may be verified from the records of the Health Department of
+the City of Chicago.
+
+After the foregoing statements, I leave it to my readers to judge
+whether the Nature Cure philosophy is inspired by blind fanaticism
+and based upon ignorance and inexperience, or whether it is
+justified in the light of scientific facts advanced by the Regular
+School of Medicine itself and demonstrated by the wonderful success
+of the Nature Cure movement in Germany, which in its different forms
+has attained world-wide recognition and adoption.
+
+There is a popular saying: "The proof of the pudding is in the
+eating." The following letter will explain itself:
+
+January 20, 1913.
+
+Dear Dr. Lindlahr:--
+
+You may remember that last winter, Mrs. White and I attended your
+Sunday afternoon lectures in the Schiller Building. Those lectures
+were an education--I might better say a revelation and an
+inspiration.
+
+On the 11th of November last, our boy, aged thirteen years, was
+taken ill with diphtheria. I called at your office and asked your
+advice. You replied: "You know what to do--wet packs, no food except
+fruit juices, osteopathic treatment and no antitoxin."
+
+We called an osteopathic physician, who at once sent a specimen from
+the boy's throat to the city laboratory, where it was pronounced
+diphtheria. A physician from the Board of Health came and
+quarantined us and inquired if we had used the antitoxin treatment.
+When Mrs. White replied "No," he said: "I suppose you know that the
+percentage of deaths of those who do not have it is very high." She
+said: "Yes, I know, but we do not intend to use it."
+
+The boy had all the acute symptoms, was drowsy, with headache, and
+on the second day his temperature went to 105 degrees. We applied
+the wet body pack and by night had reduced his temperature to 100
+degrees. With the aid of the osteopathic treatment, which he had
+each night, the boy slept well all through big illness. On the fifth
+day, the membrane spread from his throat to his nose, and his
+temperature rose again; but the wet body packs again reduced it so
+that it was never again over 100 degrees.
+
+The boy was bright, his mind was clear, he was able to read, and
+after the first week was able to play chess with his mother. The
+only unfavorable symptom he had at all was an irregular pulse. He
+took no medicine and no food except fruit juices. We used
+occasionally the warm water enema. On the tenth day he took a little
+lamb broth, but refused it the next day, and again asked for fruit
+juices. It was not until two weeks had passed that his appetite
+returned and he began to eat. He lost flesh, but did not lose
+strength in the same degree--he was able to go to the bathroom each
+day unaided.
+
+On the 21st day, the osteopathic physician sent a specimen to the
+city laboratory which they pronounced "positive," and the city
+physician found it necessary to take as many as four or five
+additional specimens before he pronounced him free from the
+diphtheria germ. The boy was not released from quarantine until five
+weeks had passed.
+
+During all this time his only attendant was his mother and the
+osteopathic physician who came daily. The boy has fully recovered
+and has suffered no bad results that often follow such diseases.
+
+In contrast to this experience of ours, I would like to cite the
+case of a neighbor of ours whose little girl died of the disease
+under the antitoxin treatment. She recovered from the diphtheria,
+but her heart failed and she died suddenly. They had a regular M. D.
+and a trained nurse. Her mother took ill, but recovered. The father
+told me that their drug bill alone amounted to $75.
+
+We want to express to you our gratitude for the knowledge and
+confidence that you have so freely given to us, and you are at
+liberty to make whatever use of this letter that you desire.
+
+Sincerely yours,
+
+HINTON WHITE
+
+1443 Cuyler Ave., Chicago, Ill.
+
+This letter proves that my claims and assertions regarding the
+curability of diphtheria by natural methods are not extravagant or
+untrue. In this case, as in many others, I gave directions for
+treatment verbally and over the telephone without having seen the
+patient personally.
+
+I am convinced, furthermore, that this patient would have made just
+as good a recovery without the osteopathic treatment. I recommended
+the attendance of an osteopathic physician in order to ease the
+burden of responsibility on the part of the parents. If the child
+had died, they would have been blamed by friends and relatives for
+their seeming foolhardiness.
+
+The experience of Mr. White's neighbor is another proof of the fatal
+effect of the antitoxin treatment. The antitoxin "cured" the
+diphtheria, but-the child died!
+
+Once more I repeat: The hydropathic treatment will give equally good
+results in appendicitis, meningitis, scarlet fever, and all other
+forms of acute diseases. If this be a fact, why should not my
+colleagues of the Regular School of Medicine give the hydropathic
+method a fair trial, the more so since in Germany, even among the
+physicians of the Regular School, hydropathy as a remedy is fast
+superseding antitoxin! Is it not worth while when the "mysterious
+sequelae" referred to by Dr. Osler, and the many cases of chronic
+invalidism which he does not connect with the disease or its
+treatment, might thus be avoided?
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII
+
+
+Vaccination
+
+
+The pernicious aftereffects of vaccination upon the system are
+similar to those of the various serum and antitoxin treatments.
+
+Jenner, an English barber and chiropodist, is usually credited with
+the discovery of vaccination. The doubtful honor, however, belongs
+in reality to an old Circassian woman who, according to the
+historian Le Duc, in the year 1672 startled Constantinople with the
+announcement that the Virgin Mary had revealed to her an unfailing
+preventive against the smallpox.
+
+Her specific was inoculation with the genuine smallpox virus. But
+even with her the idea was not an original one, because the
+principle of isopathy (curing a disease with its own disease
+products) was explicitly taught a hundred years before that by
+Paracelsus, the great genius of the Renaissance of learning of the
+Middle Ages. But even he was only voicing the secret teachings of
+ancient folklore, sympathy healing and magic dating back to the
+Druids and Seers of ancient Britain and Germany.
+
+The Circassian seeress cut a cross in the flesh of people and
+inoculated this wound with the smallpox virus. Together with this
+she prescribed prayer, abstinence from meat and fasting for forty
+days.
+
+As at that time smallpox was a terrible and widespread scourge, the
+practice of inoculation was carried all over Europe. At first the
+operation was performed by women and laymen; but when vaccination
+became popular and people were willing to pay for it, the doctors
+began to incorporate it into their regular practice.
+
+Popular superstitions run a very similar course to epidemics. They
+have a period of inception, of virulence and of abatement. As germs
+and bacteria become inactive and die a natural death in their own
+poisonous excreta, so popular superstitions die as a natural result
+of their own falsities and exaggerations.
+
+It soon became evident that inoculation with the virus did not
+prevent smallpox, but, on the contrary, frequently caused it; and
+therefore the practice gradually fell into disuse, only to be
+revived by Jenner about one hundred years later in a modified form.
+He substituted cowpox virus for smallpox virus.
+
+Modern allopathy, in applying the isopathic principle, gives large
+and poisonous doses of virus, lymph, serums and antitoxins, while
+homeopathy, as did ancient mysticism, applies the isopathic remedies
+in highly diluted and triturated doses only.
+
+From England vaccination gradually spread over the civilized world
+and during the nineteenth century the smallpox disease (variola)
+constantly diminished in virulence and frequency until today it has
+become of comparatively rare occurrence.
+
+"Therefore vaccination has exterminated smallpox," say the disciples
+of Jenner.
+
+Is that really so? Is vaccination actually a preventive of smallpox?
+This seems very doubtful when the advocates of vaccination
+themselves do not believe it. "What," I hear them say, "we do not
+believe in our own theory?" Evidently you do not, my friends. If you
+believe that vaccination protects you against smallpox, why are you
+afraid of catching it from those who are not vaccinated? If you are
+thoroughly protected, as you claim to be, how can you catch the
+disease from those who are not protected? Why do you not allow the
+other fellow to have his fill of smallpox and then enjoy a good
+laugh on him? The fact of the matter is you know full well that you
+are not safe, that you can catch the disease just as readily as the
+unprotected.
+
+German statistics are more reliable than those of any other country.
+In the years of 1870-71 smallpox was rampant in the Fatherland. Over
+1,000,000 persons had the disease, and 120,000 died. Ninety-six
+percent of these had been vaccinated and only four percent had not
+been protected. Most of the victims were vaccinated, once at least,
+shortly before they took the disease.
+
+In 1888 Bismarck sent an address to the governments of all the
+German states in which it was admitted that numerous eczematous
+diseases, even those of an epidemic nature, were directly
+attributable to vaccination and that the origin and cure of smallpox
+were still unsolved problems.
+
+In this message to the various legislatures the great statesman
+said: "The hopes placed in the efficacy of the cowpox virus as a
+preventive of smallpox have proved entirely deceptive."
+
+Realizing this to be a fact, most of the German governments have
+modified or entirely relinquished their compulsory vaccination laws.
+
+"But," our opponents insist, "you cannot deny that smallpox has
+greatly diminished since the almost universal adoption of
+vaccination."
+
+Certainly the disease has diminished. But so have diminished and, in
+fact, nearly disappeared the plague, the Black Death, cholera, the
+bubonic plague, yellow fever and numerous other epidemic pests which
+only recently decimated entire nations.
+
+Not one of these epidemics was treated by vaccination. Why, then,
+did they abate and practically disappear?
+
+Not vaccination, but the more universal adoption of soap, bathtubs,
+all kinds of sanitary measures, such as plumbing, drainage,
+ventilation and more hygienic modes of living generally have subdued
+smallpox as well as all other plagues.
+
+Many of us remember how the yellow fever raged in Havanna during the
+Spanish occupancy. Within two months after the energetic Yankees
+took possession and gave the filthy city a good scouring, yellow
+fever had entirely disappeared--without any yellow fever
+vaccination.
+
+The question is now in order why, of all the dreaded plagues of the
+past, smallpox alone survives to this day.
+
+The answer is: on account of vaccination. If scrofulous and
+syphilitic poisons were not artificially kept alive in human blood
+by vaccination, smallpox would by this time be as rare as cholera
+and yellow fever.
+
+Thanks to the oft-repeated compulsory vaccination of every citizen,
+young and old, we as a nation have become saturated with the
+smallpox virus. Is it any wonder that every once in a while this
+latent taint breaks out in acute epidemics?
+
+Undoubtedly, the almost universal systematic contamination and
+degeneration of vital fluids and tissues, not alone with vaccine
+virus, but also with many other filthy serums, antitoxins and drug
+poisons, account in a large measure for the steady increase of
+tuberculosis, cancer, insanity and a multitude of other chronic
+destructive diseases unknown among primitive people that have not
+come in contact with the blessings (?) of vaccination.
+
+By weakening the system's reactionary powers against one disease,
+its reactionary powers against all diseases are weakened. In other
+words, creating in the body a form of chronic smallpox by means of
+vaccination favors the development of all kinds of chronic diseases.
+
+Quit sowing the seed, gentlemen, and you will cease reaping the
+harvest. By the mercurial suppression of syphilis and by means of
+vaccination you are perpetuating smallpox.
+
+What has syphilis to do with smallpox? They are very closely
+related, and similar in appearance, symtomatology and in their
+effects upon the organism.
+
+A German physician, Dr. Cruwell, who studied the subject thoroughly,
+says: "Every vaccination with so-called cowpox virus means
+syphilitic infection. Cowpox is not a disease peculiar to cattle; it
+is always due to syphilitic or smallpox infection from the diseased
+hands of human beings. Cowpox pustules have been found only on the
+udders of milk cows which came in contact with human hands. Cattle
+roaming in pasture and prairie have never been affected by cowpox,
+nor have domesticated steers and oxen. If this disease were a
+disorder peculiar to cattle, both sexes would be equally affected.
+Jenner's cowpox was caused by the diseased hands of the syphilitic
+milkmaid, Sarah Nehnes."
+
+Vaccination of healthy children and adults is often followed by a
+multitude of symptoms which cannot be distinguished from syphilis,
+viz., characteristic ulcers and eczematous eruptions, swellings of
+the axillary and other lymphatic glands, atrophy of the mammary
+glands in the breasts of women and of girls above the age of
+puberty, etc.
+
+This explains the constantly growing demand for "bust foods" and
+"bust developers." A perfectly developed bust has become so rare
+that many hundreds of beauty doctors and of business concerns that
+make a specialty of developing the flat-bosomed realize thousands of
+dollars annually. One firm in this city, and a small concern at
+that, has made from $2,500 to $5,000 a year and has over ten
+thousand names on its constantly increasing list of patrons.
+
+It is reasonable to assume that almost without exception these ten
+thousand women had been vaccinated from one to three times before
+the age of puberty. When this is realized, and the fact that
+vaccination dries up the mammary glands is taken into account, is it
+not time to pause and consider?
+
+The figures of this one small concern represent the report of only
+one out of several hundred such firms doing business in all parts of
+the country.
+
+Some years ago, a disease similar to smallpox broke out among the
+sheep in certain parts of Scotland. As a preventive, the sheep were
+vaccinated. In the course of a few years it was noticed that a great
+many ewes were unable to nourish their lambs. With the
+discontinuance of vaccination this phenomenon disappeared.
+
+Does this help to explain why nowadays over fifty percent of human
+mothers are incapable of nursing their babies?
+
+Looking Forward
+
+At present the trend of allopathic medical science is undoubtedly
+toward the serum, antitoxin and vaccine treatment. Practically all
+medical research tends that way. Every few days we see in the daily
+papers reports of new serums and antitoxins which are claimed to
+cure or create immunity to certain diseases.
+
+Suppose the research and practice of medical science continue along
+these lines and are generally accepted or, as the medical
+associations would have it, forced upon the public by law. What
+would be the result? Before a child reached the years of
+adolescence, it would have had injected into its blood the vaccines,
+serums, and antitoxins of smallpox, hydrophobia, tetanus (lockjaw),
+cerebro-spinal meningitis, typhoid fever, diphtheria, pneumonia,
+scarlet fever, etc.
+
+If allopathy were to have its way, the blood of the adult would be a
+mixture of dozens of filthy bacterial extracts, disease taints and
+destructive drug poisons. The tonsils and adenoids, the appendix
+vermiformis and probably a few other parts of the human anatomy
+would be extirpated in early youth under compulsion of the health
+departments.
+
+What is more rational and sensible: the endeavor to produce immunity
+to disease by making the human body the breeding ground for all
+sorts of antibacteria and antipoisons, or to create natural immunity
+by building up the blood on a normal basis, purifying the body of
+morbid matter and poisons, correcting mechanical lesions and by
+cultivating the right mental attitude? Which one of these methods is
+more likely to be disease-building, which health-building?
+
+Just imagine what human blood will be like in coming generations if
+this artificial contamination with all sorts of disease taints and
+drug poisons is to be forced upon the people!
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII
+
+
+Surgery
+
+
+The discoverers of anesthetics are classed among the greatest
+benefactors of humanity, because it is believed that ether,
+chloroform, cocaine and similar nerve-paralyzing agents have greatly
+lessened the sum of human suffering. I doubt, however, that this is
+true.
+
+Anesthetics have made surgery technically easy and have done away
+with the pain caused directly by the incisions; but on the other
+hand, these marvelous effects of pain-killing drugs have encouraged
+indiscriminate and unnecessary operations to such an extent that at
+least nine-tenths of all the surgical operations performed today are
+uncalled for. In most instances these ill-advised mutilations are
+followed by lifelong weakness and suffering, which far outweigh the
+temporary pains formerly endured when unavoidable operations were
+performed without the use of anesthesia.
+
+We do not wish to be understood as condemning unqualifiedly any and
+all surgical interventions in the treatment of human ailments. An
+operation may occasionally be absolutely necessary as a means of
+saving life. Surgery is also indicated in cases of injury, such as
+wounds or fractured bones, in certain obstetrical complications and
+in other affections of a purely mechanical nature.
+
+In all such cases anesthetics prevent much suffering which cannot be
+avoided in any other way. But anyone who has had an opportunity to
+watch the prolonged misery of the victims of un-called-for
+operations will not doubt that anesthesia has been a two-edged sword
+which has inflicted many more wounds than it has healed.
+
+Many physicians have recognized more or less distinctly the
+uselessness and harmfulness of "Old School" medical treatment.
+Dissatisfied and disgusted with old-fashioned drugging, they turn to
+surgery, convinced that in it they possess an exact scientific
+method of curing ailments. They seem to think that the surest way to
+cure a diseased organ is to remove it with the knife--fine reasoning
+for school boys, but not worthy of men of science.
+
+I, for my part, cannot understand how an organ can be cured after it
+has been extirpated and, preserved in alcohol, adorns the specimen
+cabinet of the surgeon.
+
+Destruction or Cure--Which Is Better?
+
+"But," the surgeon says, "we do not remove organs from the body
+unless they have become useless."
+
+However, this claim is not borne out by actual facts. During the
+past ten years thousands of patients have come under our
+treatment, both in the sanitarium and in the downtown offices, whose
+family physicians had declared that in order to save their lives
+they must submit to the knife without delay. With very few
+exceptions these people were cured by us without using a poisonous
+drug, an antiseptic or a knife.
+
+Several women who, years ago, were confronted with removal of the
+ovaries, are today the joyful mothers of children. Many of our
+former patients, who were treated by "Old School" physicians for
+acute or chronic appendicitis and were strongly urged to have the
+offending organ removed, are today alive and well and still in
+possession of their vermiform appendices. Other patients were
+threatened with operations for kidney, gall and bladder stones;
+fibroid and other tumors; floating kidneys; stomach troubles;
+intestinal and uterine disorders, not to mention the multitude of
+children whose tonsils and adenoids were to have been removed. All
+of these onetime surgical cases have escaped the knife and are doing
+very well indeed with their bodies intact and in possession of the
+full quota of organs given them by Nature.
+
+Is it not better to cure a diseased organ than to remove it? Nature
+Cure proves every day that the better way is at the same time the
+easiest way.
+
+Thousands of men and women operated upon for some local ailment
+which could have been cured easily by natural methods of treatment
+are condemned by these inexcusable mutilations to lifelong
+suffering. Many, if not actually suffering pain, have been
+unnecessarily unsexed and in other ways incapacitated for the normal
+functions and natural enjoyments of life.
+
+Cases of this kind are the most pitiable of all that come under our
+observation. When we learn that a major operation has been performed
+upon a consultant, our barometer of hope drops considerably. We know
+from much experience that the mutilation of the human organism has a
+tendency to lessen the chances of recovery; such patients are nearly
+always lacking in recuperative power.
+
+A body deprived of important parts or organs is forever unbalanced.
+It is like a watch with a spring or a wheel taken out; it may run,
+but never quite right; it is hypersensitive and easily thrown out of
+balance by any adverse influence.
+
+The Human Body Is a Unit
+
+We are realizing more and more that the human body is a homogeneous
+and harmonious whole, and that we cannot injure one part of it
+without damaging other parts and often the entire organism. Cutting
+in the vital organs means cutting in the brain. It affects the
+functions of the nervous system most profoundly.
+
+A physician in Vienna has written a very interesting book in which
+he shows that the inner membranes of the nose are in close
+relationship and sympathy with distant parts and organs of the body.
+He located in the nose one small area which corresponds to the
+lungs. By irritating this area with an electric needle he could
+provoke asthmatic attacks in patients subject to this disease. By
+anesthetizing the same area he could stop immediately severe attacks
+of asthma and of coughing. Another area in the nasal cavity
+corresponds to the genital organs. The doctor proved that by
+electric irritation applied to this area abortions could be
+produced, and that by anesthesia of the same area in the nose,
+uterine hemorrhages could be stopped.
+
+These and many other facts of experience throw a wonderful light
+upon the unity of the human organism. The body resembles a watch.
+You cannot injure one part of it without affecting its entire
+mechanism.
+
+The evil aftereffects of surgical operations do not always manifest
+at once. On the contrary, the surgical treatment is frequently
+followed by a period of seeming improvement. The troublesome local
+symptoms have been removed, and aftereffects of the mutilation have
+not had time to assert themselves. But sooner or later the old
+symptoms return in aggravated form, or a new set of complications
+arises. The patient is made to believe that the first operation was
+a perfect success and that this latest crop of difficulties has
+nothing to do with the former, but is something entirely new. At
+other times he is assured that the first operation did not go deep
+enough, that it failed to reach the seat of the trouble and must be
+done over again.
+
+And so the work of mutilation goes merrily on. The disease poisons
+in the body set up one center of inflammation after another. These
+centers the surgeon promptly removes; but the real disease, the
+venereal, psoriatic or scrofulous taint, the uric or oxalic acid,
+the poisonous alkaloids and ptomaines affecting every cell and every
+drop of blood in the body, these elude the surgeon's knife and
+create new ulcers, abscesses, inflammations, stones, cancers, etc.,
+as fast as the old ones are extirpated.
+
+Those who have studied the previous chapters carefully will readily
+comprehend these facts. They will know that acute and subacute
+conditions represent Nature's cleansing and healing efforts, and
+that local suppression by drug or knife only serves to turn Nature's
+corrective and purifying activities into chronic disease.
+
+The highest art of the true physician is to preserve and to restore,
+not to mutilate or destroy.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX
+
+
+Chronic Diseases
+
+
+The "Old School" of medical science defines acute diseases as those
+which run a brief and more or less violent course and chronic
+diseases as those which run a protracted course and have a tendency
+to recur.
+
+Nature Cure attaches a broader and more significant meaning to these
+terms. This will have become apparent from our discussion of the
+causes, the progressive development and the purpose of acute
+diseases in the preceding pages.
+
+From the Nature Cure viewpoint, the chronic condition is the latent,
+constitutional disease encumbrance, whereas acute disease represents
+Nature's efforts to rectify abnormal conditions, to overcome and
+eliminate hereditary or acquired morbid taints and systemic poisons
+and to reestablish normal structure and functions.
+
+To use an illustration: In a case of permanent or recurrent itchy
+psoriasis, the "Old School" physician would look upon the itchy skin
+eruption as the chronic disease, while we should see in the external
+eczema an attempt of the healing forces of Nature to remove from the
+system the inner, latent hereditary or acquired psora, which
+constitutes the real chronic disease.
+
+It stands to reason that the exterior eruptions should not be
+suppressed by any means whatever, but that the only true and really
+effective method of treatment consists in eliminating from the
+organism the inner, latent psoric taint. After this is accomplished,
+the external "skin disease" will disappear of its own accord.
+
+As another illustration of the radical difference in our respective
+points of view, let us take hemorrhoids (piles). The regular
+physician considers the local hemorrhoidal enlargements in
+themselves the chronic disease, while the Nature Cure practitioner
+looks upon hemorrhoids as Nature's effort to rid the system of
+certain morbid encumbrances and poisons which have accumulated as a
+result of sluggish circulation, chronic constipation, defective
+elimination through kidneys, lungs, and skin and from many other
+causes.
+
+These constitutional abnormalities, which are the real chronic
+disease, have to be treated and corrected. After this has been done,
+the hemorrhoidal enlargements and discharges will take care of
+themselves.
+
+It is, therefore, absolutely irrational, and frequently followed by
+the most serious consequences, to surgically remove the piles or to
+suppress the hemorrhoidal discharges and thereby to drive these
+concentrated poison extracts back into the system.
+
+In a number of cases we have traced paralysis, insanity,
+tuberculosis, cancer and other forms of chronic destructive diseases
+to the forcible suppression of hemorrhoids.
+
+Chronic disease, from the viewpoint of Nature Cure philosophy, means
+that the organism has become permeated with morbid matter and
+poisons to such an extent that it is no longer able to throw off
+these encumbrances by a vigorous, acute eliminative effort. The
+chronic condition, therefore, represents the slow, cold type of
+disease, characterized by feeble, ineffectual efforts to eliminate
+the latent morbid taints and impediments from the system. These
+efforts may take the form of open sores, skin eruptions, catarrhal
+discharges, chronic diarrhea, etc.
+
+If acute diseases are treated in harmony with Nature's laws, they
+will leave the body in a purer, healthier condition. But if the
+treatment is wrong, if under the "Old School" methods fever and
+inflammation (Nature's methods of elimination) are checked and
+suppressed with poisonous drugs, serums and antitoxins or if,
+instead of purifying and invigorating cells and tissues, the
+affected parts and organs are removed with the surgeon's knife,
+Nature is not allowed to get rid of the disease matter, and the
+poisonous taints and morbid encumbrances remain in the organism.
+
+In this way originate the worst forms of chronic diseases which now
+afflict civilized races.
+
+The truth of this assertion is proved by the fact that chronic
+diseases we know are rare among the primitive peoples of the earth,
+such as the early indiginous people of Africa and Australia or the
+Eskimos of the arctic regions. They are not found among people who
+do not use drugs. All the different forms of venereal disease,
+chronic rheumatism, chronic indigestion, etc., are unknown in those
+countries whose inhabitants live in harmony with Nature. The reason
+is that these people have not learned to suppress Nature's acute
+purifying and healing efforts by poisonous drugs and surgical
+operations.
+
+The Cell
+
+Let us now study the actual condition of the cells, tissues and
+organs of the body in chronic disease.
+
+We know that the human body is made up of billions of minute cells
+of living protoplasm. Though these cells are so small that they have
+to be magnified under the microscope several hundred times before we
+can see them, they are independent living beings which are born,
+grow, eat, drink, throw off waste matter, multiply, decline and die
+just like the large conglomerate cell which we call Man.
+
+Each one of these little cells has its own business to attend to,
+whether it be assimilation, elimination, nervous activities and
+functions, etc.
+
+If these little beings are well individually, the man is well. If
+they are starved or ailing, the entire man is similarly affected.
+The whole depends upon the parts. In the human body as well as in a
+nation or a city, the welfare of the entire community depends upon
+the well-being of its individual members.
+
+If governing bodies would realize and apply these truths, and pay
+more attention to providing wholesome surroundings and proper
+conditions of living for their subjects, to an adequate supply of
+pure food and a normal combination of work and rest, instead of
+concentrating their best efforts upon restrictive and punitive
+measures (allopathic treatment), there would be no social problems
+to solve.
+
+It is our duty to provide the most favorable conditions of living
+for the little cells that make up the individual human organism. If
+we do that, there will be no occasion for disease. Natural immunity
+will be the result.
+
+Herein lies the vital difference between the attitude of Nature Cure
+and that of the allopathic school toward disease. The latter spends
+all its efforts in fighting the disease symptoms, while the former
+confines itself to creating health conditions in the habits and
+surroundings of the patient, from the standpoint that the disease
+symptoms will then take care of themselves, that they will disappear
+on account of nonsupport. It is the application of the injunction
+"Resist not Evil" to the treatment of physical disease.
+
+Under the influence of wrong habits of living and the suppressive
+treatment of diseases, all forms of waste and morbid matter (the
+feces of the cells), together with food, drink and drug poisons
+accumulate in the system, affect the cells and obstruct the tiny
+spaces (interstices) between them. These morbid encumbrances impinge
+upon and clog the blood vessels, the nerve channels and the other
+tissues of the body. This is bound to interfere with the normal
+functions of the organism, and in time lead to deterioration and
+organic destruction.
+
+In this connection we wish to call attention to a difference in
+viewpoint between the school of osteopathy and the Nature Cure
+school. Osteopaths and chiropractors attribute disease almost
+entirely to "impingement" (abnormal pressure) upon nerves and blood
+vessels due to dislocations and subluxations of the vertebrae of the
+spine and of other bony structures. They do not take into
+consideration the impingement upon and obstruction of nerve channels
+and blood vessels all through the system caused by local or general
+encumbrances of the organism with waste matter, morbid products, and
+poisons that have accumulated in cells and tissues.
+
+The Life of the Cell
+
+Every individual cell must be supplied with food and with oxygen.
+These it receives from the red arterial blood. The cells must also
+be provided with an outlet for their waste products. This is
+furnished by the venous circulation, which represents the drainage
+system of the body. If this drainage is defective, the effect upon
+the organism is similar to the effect produced upon a house when the
+excretions and discharges of its inhabitants are allowed to remain
+in it.
+
+Furthermore, every cell must be in unobstructed communication with
+the nerve currents of the organism. Most important of all, it must
+be in touch with the sympathetic nervous system through which it
+receives the Life Force which vivifies and controls all involuntary
+functions of the cells and organs in the human body.
+
+Each individual cell must be supplied with nerve fibers which convey
+its sensations and needs to headquarters, the nerve centers in brain
+and spinal cord. Also, each cell must be connected with other nerve
+filaments which carry impulses from the cranial, spinal and
+sympathetic centers to the cell, governing and directing its
+activities.
+
+For instance, if the cell be hungry, thirsty, cold or in pain, it
+telegraphs these sensations to headquarters in the brain or spinal
+cord and from there directions necessary to comply with the needs of
+the cell are sent forth in the form of nerve impulses to the centers
+controlling the circulation, the food and heat supply, the means of
+protection, etc.
+
+This circuit of communication from the cell over the afferent nerves
+to the nerve centers in the brain or spinal cord, and from these
+centers over the efferent nerves back to the cell or to other cells
+is called the reflex arc.
+
+Let us use an illustration: Suppose the fingers come in close
+contact with a hot iron. The cells in the finger tips experience a
+sensation of burning pain. At once this sensation is telegraphed
+over the afferent nerves to the nerve centers in the brain or spinal
+cord. In response to this call of distress the command comes back
+over the efferent nerve filaments: "Withdraw the fingers!" At the
+same time the impulse to withdraw the fingers is sent over the motor
+nerves to the muscles and ligaments which control the movements of
+the hand.
+
+If the means of communication between the different parts of the
+organism are obstructed or cut off entirely, the individual cell is
+bound to deteriorate and to die, just like a person lost in a barren
+wilderness and cut off from his fellowmen must perish.
+
+In warfare it is a well-known fact that if one of the contending
+armies succeeds in cutting off the telegraphic communication of the
+other army with its headquarters, the activities of that other army
+are seriously handicapped. So the waste materials in the system, the
+disease taints, narcotic and alcoholic poisons, etc., obstruct the
+nerve passages, and thus interfere with the functions of the cell by
+cutting off its means of communication.
+
+What has been said will serve to elucidate and emphasize the
+necessity of perfect cleanliness, inside as well as outside of the
+body. It justifies the dictum of Kuhne, the apostle of Nature Cure:
+"Cleanliness is Health." Anything that in any way interferes with or
+obstructs the circulation of vital fluids and nerve currents in the
+system is bound to create the abnormal conditions and functions
+which constitute disease.
+
+When the morbid encumbrances and obstructions in the organism have
+reached the point where they seriously interfere with the
+nourishment, drainage and nerve supply of the cells, the latter
+cannot perform their activities properly, nor can they rid
+themselves of the impediment. They may be compared to people who are
+forced to live in bad, unwholesome surroundings and who cannot do
+their best work under these unfavorable conditions from which they
+cannot escape.
+
+In this way originates chronic disease, which means that the cells
+have become incapable of arousing themselves to acute eliminative
+effort in the form of inflammatory febrile reactions.
+
+In my lectures I sometimes liken the cell thus encumbered with
+morbid matter and poisons to a man buried in a mine under the debris
+of a cave in such a manner that it is impossible for him to free
+himself of the earth and timbers which are pinning him down. In such
+a predicament the man is unable to help himself. His fellow workers
+or his friends must come to his aid and remove the obstructing
+masses until he can assist them and free himself.
+
+This is a good illustration of the condition of the cells of the
+body in chronic disease. They also have become unable to help
+themselves and need assistance until they can once more arouse
+themselves to self-help by means of an acute eliminative effort.
+
+What can we do to help them? We must endeavor in the first place to
+furnish the cells with the right nourishment. We must abstain from
+everything that may be injurious to the body in food and drink, so
+as to relieve the cells of all unnecessary work.
+
+Whatever one may think of vegetarianism as a continuous mode of
+living, a little consideration will make it plain that a rational
+vegetarian diet is the ~sine qua non~ in the cure of chronic
+diseases. It builds up the blood on a normal basis, excludes all
+food and drink poisons and thereby gives the organism an opportunity
+to throw off the old accumulations of waste and morbid materials.
+
+In chronic disease, every drop of blood and every cell of the
+organism is affected. In order to produce a cure, the old tissues
+must be broken down and removed and new tissues built up. The more
+thorough the change in diet, the greater and more rapid will be the
+changes for the better in cells and tissues, especially if only pure
+and eliminating foods are used.
+
+For these reasons it is advisable to omit most red-blooded meat
+while under the natural treatment. All animal flesh contains the
+morbid secretions and other waste products of the animal organism,
+and this means additional work for the cells already overburdened
+with systemic poisons.
+
+Then we must work for elimination. Cold water applied to the surface
+of the body is the most powerful stimulant to the circulation. It
+actually pumps and pushes the blood through the system. One feels
+the blood rushing through the arteries and veins with greater force.
+
+The cold-water treatment makes the skin more alive and active, stirs
+up and accelerates the circulation throughout the system and thus
+promotes the elimination of systemic poisons through the skin.
+
+This stimulating effect of cold water upon the organism has been
+proved by counting the number of red blood corpuscles in a drop of
+blood before and after the application of the cold "blitzguss." They
+were found to have doubled in number. That does not mean that in an
+instant again as many red blood corpuscles had come into existence,
+but it does mean that before the cold "guss" one-half of them were
+dozing lazily in the corners. The cold water stirred them up, forced
+them into the circulation, made them travel and attend to business.
+
+Another powerful means to promote elimination is thorough,
+systematic massage. The kneading, rolling, twisting and clapping
+actually squeezes the stagnant morbid matter and the waste products
+out of the tissues into the circulation, to be carried off through
+the venous drainage and allows the red blood with its nourishment
+and fresh supply of oxygen to flood the cells and organs.
+
+Massage is also very effective as a means of regulating the blood
+supply in the system. In every chronic disease there is obstruction
+or congestion in some part of the organism, causing high blood
+pressure in the interior of the body and insufficient blood supply
+to the external parts, especially the extremities. Massage
+distributes the blood quickly and evenly.
+
+Of great importance is osteopathy. All dislocations, luxations and
+subluxations of bones and ligaments should be corrected by expert
+manipulation. As a matter of fact, hardly a person can be found
+today whose spine is not abnormal in one way or another, just as
+there is hardly a single normal human eye [as far as iridology
+markings are concerned].
+
+Manipulative treatment adjusts the lesions of the spine and other
+bony structures, thus removing abnormal pressure upon the nerves and
+blood vessels and establishing a free and abundant flow of nerve and
+blood currents.
+
+Air and light baths, by stimulating the skin in a natural manner to
+increased activity, also contribute to the attainment of the various
+good results just described.
+
+Next comes physical exercise. Corrective and curative movements
+combined with deep breathing promote the combustion (oxidation) of
+morbid materials and in this way facilitate their elimination from
+the system.
+
+Life itself is dependent upon breathing. The Life Force enters the
+body with every breath we draw. Show me a man with well-developed,
+full-breathing lungs, and I will show you a man with good vitality.
+
+Last but not least among the natural methods of treating the cell in
+chronic disease we mention the right mental and emotional attitude.
+Fear, anxiety and all kindred emotions congeal the nerve matter and
+thereby shut off the supply of nerve force. The cells and tissues
+starve and freeze. On the other hand, the emotions of hope,
+confidence and cheerfulness relax and open blood vessels and nerve
+channels and allow the free and unobstructed inflow and circulation
+of vital energy.
+
+The different methods of natural treatment and their practical
+application in chronic diseases will be discussed in detail in
+subsequent chapters.
+
+When through natural methods of living and of treatment the morbid
+encumbrances have been removed sufficiently to provide and maintain
+normal blood supply, better venous drainage and the unobstructed
+flow of the nerve currents, when lesions of the bony structures have
+been corrected by skilful adjustment, and when, through right mental
+attitude, a free and abundant inflow of Life Force has been
+established, then the cells and tissues of the body become once
+again able to arouse themselves to an acute eliminative effort, and
+the organism is ready for a healing crisis.
+
+
+
+Chapter XX
+
+
+Crises
+
+
+Crisis in the ordinary sense of the word means change, either for
+better or for worse. In its relation to medicine, the term "crisis"
+has been defined as "a decisive change in the disease, resulting
+either in recovery or in death."
+
+We of the Nature Cure school distinguish between healing crises and
+disease crises, according to the character and the tendency of the
+acute reaction. If an acute disease is brought about through the
+accumulation of morbid matter or the invasion of disease germs to
+such an extent that the health or the life of the organism is
+endangered, in other words, if the disease conditions are forcing
+the crises, we speak of disease crises.
+
+But if acute reactions take place in the system because conditions
+have become more normal, because the healing forces have gained the
+ascendancy and forced the acute inflammatory processes, we call them
+healing crises.
+
+Healing crises are simply different forms of elimination by means of
+which Nature endeavors to remove the latent, chronic disease
+encumbrance from the system. The most common forms of these acute
+purifications are colds, catarrhal and hemorrhoidal discharges,
+boils, ulcers, abscesses, open sores, skin eruptions, diarrheas,
+etc.
+
+Healing crises and disease crises may seem very much alike. Patients
+often tell me: "I have had this before. I call it an ordinary boil
+(or cold, or fever)."
+
+That may be true. The former disease crisis and the present healing
+crisis may be similar in their outward manifestations. But they are
+taking place under entirely different conditions.
+
+When the organism is loaded to the danger point with morbid matter,
+it may arouse itself in self-defense to an acute eliminative effort
+in the shape of cold, catarrh, fever, inflammation, skin eruption,
+etc. In these instances, the disease conditions bring about the
+crisis and the organism is on the defensive. These are disease
+crises.
+
+Such unequal struggles between the healing forces and disease
+conditions sometimes end favorably and sometimes unfavorably.
+
+On the other hand, healing crises develop because the healing forces
+are in the ascendancy and take the offensive. They are brought about
+through the natural methods of living and of treatment and always
+result in improved conditions.
+
+A simple allegory may assist me in explaining the difference between
+a healing crisis and a disease crisis:
+
+For years a prizefighter holds the championship because he keeps
+himself in perfect physical condition and before every contest
+spends many weeks in careful training. When he faces his opponent in
+the ring, he has eliminated from his organism as much waste matter
+and superfluous flesh and fat as possible by a strictly regulated
+diet and a great deal of hard exercise. As a consequence, he comes
+off victorious in every contest and easily maintains his
+superiority.
+
+These victories in his career, like healing crises in the organism,
+are the result of training and preparation.
+
+The prizefighter in the one case and Vital Force in the other are on
+the offensive from the beginning of the struggle and have the best
+of the fight from start to finish.
+
+Rendered overconfident by long-continued success, our champion
+gradually permits himself to drift into a weakened physical
+condition. He omits his regular training and indulges in all kinds
+of dissipation.
+
+One day, full of self-conceit and underestimating the strength of
+his challenger, he enters the ring without preparation and is
+ingloriously defeated by a man who, under different circumstances,
+would not be a match for him.
+
+So, in the case of a patient in a disease crisis, fatal termination
+may be due to the excessive accumulation of waste and morbid matter
+in the system, to lowered vitality and to lack of preparation.
+Victory or defeat in acute reactions as well as in the ring depends
+on right living and preparatory training.
+
+In the healing crisis, vitality is the stronger and gains the
+victory in the struggle; in the disease crisis, disease conditions
+have gained the ascendancy and may bring about the defeat of the
+healing forces.
+
+Under conditions favorable to human life, a body of normal
+structure, healthy blood and tissues and good vitality cannot be
+affected by acute disease. Such an organism is practically immune to
+all forms of inflammatory febrile reactions. These always indicate
+that there is something wrong in the system which Nature is trying
+to correct or get rid of.
+
+Healing Crises
+
+In Chapter Two "Catechism of Nature Cure," we defined healing
+crises as follows: "A healing crisis is an acute reaction, resulting
+from the ascendancy of Nature's healing forces over disease
+conditions. Its tendency is toward recovery, and it is, therefore,
+in conformity with Nature's constructive principle." The possibility
+of producing healing crises and thereby curing chronic ailments
+depends upon the following conditions:
+
+The patient must possess sufficient vital energy and powers of
+reaction to respond to the natural treatment and to a change of
+habits. The destruction and disorganization of vital fluids and
+organs must not have advanced too far.
+
+Some patients become frightened at the idea of crises. They exclaim:
+"I came here to get well, not to grow worse."
+
+However, there is no occasion for alarm. Healing crises occur in
+mild form only because, under the influence of natural living and
+treatment, Nature has the best of the fight. The healing forces of
+the organism have gained the ascendancy over the disease conditions.
+
+In fact, Nature never undertakes a healing crisis until the system
+has been prepared for it, until the organism is sufficiently
+purified and strengthened to conduct the acute reaction to a
+favorable termination.
+
+Furthermore, it is well to remember that crises cannot be avoided,
+because it is through fevers and inflammatory processes that Nature
+effects the cure--that she tears down the old to build up the new.
+
+On the other hand, if patients are possessed of exceptionally good
+vitality and if the organs of elimination are in good working order,
+the purification and adjustment of the organism may occasionally
+proceed gradually without the occurrence of marked acute reactions
+or crises.
+
+Healing Crises, When Properly Conducted,
+
+Are Never Fatal to Life
+
+When well assisted by the right, natural methods of living and of
+treatment, healing crises are never dangerous or fatal to life. The
+only danger lies in suppressing these acute reactions by drugs,
+knife, the ice bag or any means whatever.
+
+If acute reactions are suppressed, the constructive healing crisis
+may be changed into a destructive disease crisis. Therefore we
+earnestly warn our patients never to interfere in any way with a
+healing crisis lest the chronic condition (which resulted from the
+suppression of the original disease) become worse than before.
+
+When Nature, with all the force inherent in the human organism, has
+finally worked up to the point of a healing crisis, another defeat
+by a new suppression may be beyond her powers of endurance and
+recuperation. Fatal collapse may then be the result.
+
+Therefore, take heed! If you are not willing to endure the healing
+crises, do not undertake the treatment. When you have conjured up
+the hidden demons of disease, you must have the courage to face and
+subdue them. Nothing good in life comes to us except as we pay the
+price. He who is too cowardly to conquer in a healing crisis may
+perish in a disease crisis.
+
+Drugs Versus Healing Crises
+
+Our explanations of the natural laws of cure and of natural
+therapeutics are often greeted by "Old School" physicians and
+students with remarks like the following:
+
+"You speak as if you had the monopoly of eliminative treatment and
+of the production of crises. With our laxatives, cathartics,
+diuretics, diaphoretics and tonics, we are doing the same thing.
+What is more effectual for stimulating a sluggish liver and
+cleansing the intestinal tract than calomel followed by a dose of
+salts? What will produce more profuse perspiration than pilocarpin;
+or what is a better stimulus to the kidneys than squills or buchu?
+Can we not by means of stimulants and depressants regulate heart
+action to a nicety?
+
+"We accomplish all this in a clean, scientific manner, without
+resorting to unpleasant dieting and to barbarous applications of
+douches, packs and manual treatments. Isn't it more dignified and
+professional to write a Latin prescription? How much better the
+impression on the laity than soaking and rubbing!"
+
+Let us see if these statements are true, if laxation, urination or
+perspiration produced by poisonous drugs are identical in character
+and in effect with the elimination produced by natural living and
+natural methods of treatment through healing crises.
+
+Mercury, in the form of calomel, is one of the best-known
+cholagogues [an agent designed to increase the flow of bile and,
+thereby, stimulate lower bowel action, ~ed.~]. It is the favorite
+laxative and cathartic of allopathy. The prevailing idea is that
+calomel acts on the liver and the intestines; but in reality these
+organs act on the drug.
+
+All laxatives and cathartics are poisons; if it were not so, they
+would not produce their peculiar, drastic effects. Because they are
+poisons, Nature tries to eliminate them from the system as quickly
+and as thoroughly as possible. In order to do this, the excretory
+glands and membranes of the liver and the digestive tract greatly
+increase the amount of their secretions and thereby produce a forced
+evacuation of the intestinal canal.
+
+Thus the system, in the effort to eliminate the mercurial poison,
+expels also the other contents of the intestines. This may effect a
+temporary cleansing of the intestinal tract, but it does not and
+cannot cleanse the individual cells throughout the body of their
+impurities.
+
+The Lasting Effects of Artificial Purging
+
+In accordance with the Law of Action and Reaction, action and
+reaction are equal and opposite; the temporary irritation and
+overstimulation of the sensitive membranes of the digestive organs
+are followed by corresponding weakness and exhaustion, and if this
+procedure be repeated and become habitual, by gradual atrophy and
+paralysis. As atrophy progresses, the dose of the purgative must be
+increased in order to accomplish the desired result and this, in its
+turn, hastens the degenerative changes in the system.
+
+Such enforced, artificial purging may flush the drains and sewers,
+but does not cleanse the chambers of the house. The cells in the
+interior tissues remain encumbered with morbid matter. A genuine and
+truly effective housecleaning must start in the cells and must be
+brought about through the initiative of the vital energies in the
+organism, through healing crises, and not through stimulation by
+means of poisonous irritants.
+
+When, under a natural regimen of living and of treatment, the system
+has been sufficiently purified, adjusted and vivified, the cells
+themselves begin the work of elimination.
+
+This is what takes place: The morbid matter and poisons thrown off
+by the cells and tissues are carried by means of the venous
+circulation to the organs of elimination, the bowels, kidneys, lungs
+and skin, and to the mucous membranes lining the interior tracts,
+such as the nasal passages, the throat and bronchi, the digestive
+and genitourinary canals, etc.
+
+These organs of elimination become overcrowded with the rush of
+morbid matter and the accompanying congestion and irritation cause
+the acute inflammatory processes and feverish symptoms
+characterizing the various forms of colds, catarrhs, skin eruptions,
+diarrheas, boils and other acute forms of elimination, which we call
+healing crises. In other words, what the "Old School" of medicine
+calls the disease, we look upon as the Cure.
+
+Acute elimination brought about in this manner is Nature's method of
+housecleaning. It is a true healing crisis, the result of
+purification and increased activity from within the cell, produced
+by natural means.
+
+Here interposes Friend Allopath: "You claim that you bring about
+your acute reactions by natural means only, and that these are never
+injurious to the organism. What difference does it make if the
+circulation is stimulated and elimination increased by a cold-water
+spray or by digitalis? The cold-water stimulation produces a
+reaction just as digitalis does, and the one must therefore be as
+injurious as the other."
+
+To this we reply: "The stimulating effect on heart and circulation
+produced by digitalis is the first action of a highly poisonous
+drug; the second lasting effect is weakening and paralyzing. On the
+other hand, the first action of a cold-water spray is depressing; it
+sends the blood into the interior of the body and benumbs the
+surface. The sensory nerves at once report this sensation of cold to
+headquarters in the brain, and immediately the command is
+telegraphed to the blood vessels in the interior of the body: 'Send
+blood to the surface!' As a result, the blood is carried to the
+surface, and the skin becomes warm and rosy with the glow of life.
+In this case the stimulation is the second and lasting effect of the
+water treatment, from which there is no further reaction."
+
+Similarly, the stimulation produced by exercise, massage,
+manipulation or the exposure of the nude body to light and air is
+natural stimulation, produced by harmless, natural means. It is
+entirely due to the fact that conditions in the system have been
+made more normal, as explained in other chapters.
+
+Drugs, stimulants and tonics, while they produce an artificial,
+temporary stimulation, do not change the underlying abnormal
+conditions in the organism. Likewise, the flushing of the colon with
+water, the use of laxative herb teas and decoctions or forced
+sweating by means of Turkish or Russian baths, though not as
+dangerous as inorganic minerals and poisonous drugs, cannot be
+classed among the natural means of cure. These agents, which by many
+persons are looked upon as natural treatment, irritate the organs of
+elimination to forced, abnormal activity without at the same time
+arousing the cells in the interior of the body to natural
+elimination.
+
+Dr. H. Lahmann, one of the foremost scientists of the Nature Cure
+movement, made a series of interesting experiments. His chemists
+gathered the natural perspiration of certain patients, produced by
+ordinary exercise in the sunshine. These excretions of the skin were
+evaporated and analyzed, and were found to contain poisons powerful
+enough to kill rabbits.
+
+If profuse sweating was produced in the same patients by the high
+temperature of the hot-air box or the electric-light cabinet, their
+perspiration, when evaporated and analyzed, was found to contain
+only small amounts of toxins. Thus Dr. Lahmann proved that:
+
+Sweating and the elimination of disease matter are two different
+processes. Artificially induced sweating does not eliminate disease
+matter. The organism cannot be forced by irritants and stimulants
+and artificial means, but eliminates morbid matter only in its own
+natural manner and when it is in proper condition to do so.
+
+In a lesser degree, this applies also to fasting. Under certain
+conditions it becomes a necessity; but it may easily be abused and
+overdone.
+
+Do We Never Fail?
+
+Certainly we fail, but our failures are usually due to the fact that
+sick people, as a rule, do not consider Nature Cure except as a last
+resort. The methods and requirements of Nature Cure appear at first
+so unusual and exacting that people seek to evade them so long as
+they have the least faith in the miracle-working power of the poison
+bottle, a metaphysical healer or the surgeon's knife. When health,
+wealth and hope are entirely exhausted, then the chronic sufferer
+grasps at Nature Cure as a drowning man clutches at a straw. But
+even though ninety percent of these cases which come to us are of
+the apparently incurable type, our total failures are few and far
+between.
+
+If there is sufficient vitality in the body to react to natural
+treatment and if the destruction of vital parts and organs has not
+too far advanced, a cure is possible. Often the seemingly hopeless
+cases yield the most readily.
+
+Our success is due to the fact that we do not rely on any one method
+of treatment, but combine in our work everything that is good in the
+different systems of natural healing.
+
+The Law of Crises
+
+Everywhere in nature and in the world of men we find the Law of
+Crises in evidence. This proves it to be a universal law, ruling all
+cosmic relations and activities.
+
+Wars and revolutions are the healing crises in the life of nations.
+Heresies and reformations are the crises of religion. In strikes,
+riots and panics, we recognize the crises of commercial life.
+
+Staid old Mother Earth herself has in the hoary past repeatedly
+changed the configurations of her continents and oceans by great
+cataclysms or geological crises.
+
+When the sultry summer air has become pregnant with poisonous vapors
+and miasmas, atmospheric crises, such as rainstorms, thunder,
+lightning and electric storms, cool and purify the air and charge it
+anew with life-giving ozone. In like manner will healing crises
+purify the disease-laden bodies of men.
+
+Emanuel Swedenborg gives us a wonderful description of the Law of
+Crises in its relationship to the regeneration of the soul. We quote
+from the chapter in which he describes the working of this law,
+entitled, "Regeneration Is Effected by Combats in Temptation."
+
+"They who have not been instructed concerning the regeneration of
+man think that man can be regenerated without temptation. But it is
+to be known that no one is regenerated without temptation; and that
+many temptations succeed, one after another. The reason is that
+regeneration is effected for an end, in order that the life of the
+old man may die, and the new life which is heavenly be insinuated.
+It is evident, therefore, that there must be a conflict [healing
+crisis--~author's note ~]; for the life of the old man resists and
+determines not to be extinguished; and the life of the new man can
+only enter where the life of the old is extinct.
+
+"Whoever thinks from an enlightened rationale, may see and perceive
+from this that a man cannot be regenerated without combat, that is,
+without spiritual temptations; and further, that he is not
+regenerated by one temptation, but by many. For there are very many
+kinds of evil which formed the delight of his former life, that is,
+of the old life. These evils cannot all be subdued at once and
+together; for they cleave tenaciously, since they have been inrooted
+in the parents for many ages back [the scrofula of the
+soul--~author's note~ ] and are therefore innate in man, and are
+confirmed by actual evils from himself from infancy. All these evils
+are diametrically opposite to the celestial good [perfect
+health--~author's note~ ] that is to be insinuated and which is to
+constitute the New Life."
+
+Thus the inspired Seer of the North draws a vivid picture of what we
+call healing crises in their relation to moral regeneration.
+
+We cannot help recognizing the close agreement of physical and
+spiritual crises; this, again, demonstrates the continuity and exact
+correspondence of Natural Law on the different planes of being. [The
+Law of Hermes: ~As above, so below; as in the inner, so in the
+outer; as in the lesser, so in the greater.~]
+
+We of the Nature Cure school know that this great Law of Crises
+dominates the cure of chronic disease. Every case is another
+verification of it; in fact, every decided advance on the road to
+perfect health is marked by acute reactions.
+
+The cure invariably proceeds through the darkness and chaos of the
+crises to the light and beauty of perfect health, periods of marked
+improvement alternating with acute eliminating activity (the
+"spiritual temptations" and "combats" of Swedenborg), until perfect
+regeneration has taken place.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI
+
+
+Periodicity
+
+
+In many forms of acute disease, crises develop with marked
+regularity and in well-defined periodicity. This phenomenon has been
+observed and described by many physicians.
+
+It is not so well known, however, that in the cure of chronic
+diseases also, crises develop in accordance with certain laws of
+periodicity.
+
+Periodicity is governed by the Septimal Law or Law of Sevens, which
+seems to be the basic law governing the vibratory activities of the
+planetary universe.
+
+The harmonics of heat, light, sound, electricity, magnetism and of
+atomic structure and arrangement run in scales of seven.
+
+The Law of Sevens governs the days of the week, the phases of the
+moon and the menstrual periods of the woman. Every observing
+physician is aware of its influence on feverish, nervous and psychic
+diseases.
+
+The Law of Sevens dominates the life of individuals and of nations
+and of everything that lives and has periods of birth, growth,
+fruitage and decline.
+
+Over two thousand years ago Pythagoras and Hippocrates distinctly
+recognized and proclaimed the Law of Crises in its bearing on the
+cure of chronic diseases. They taught that alternating, well-defined
+periods of improvement and of crises were determined and governed by
+the law of periodicity and by the law of numbers (the Septimal Law).
+
+The following quotations are taken from the ~Encyclopedia
+Britannica,~ Vol. XV, p. 800:
+
+"But this artistic completeness was closely connected with 'the
+third cardinal virtue' of Hippocratic medicine--the clear
+recognition of disease as being equally with life a process governed
+by what we should now call natural laws, which could be known by
+observation and which indicated the spontaneous and normal direction
+of recovery, by following which alone could the physician succeed.
+
+"Another Hippocratic doctrine, the influence of which is not even
+yet exhausted, is that of the healing power of Nature. Not that
+Hippocrates taught, as he was afterwards reproached with teaching,
+that Nature is sufficient for the cure of diseases; for he held
+strongly the efficacy of art. But he recognized, at least in acute
+diseases, a natural process which the humours went through--being
+first of all crude, then passing through coction or digestion, and
+finally being expelled by resolution or crisis through one of the
+natural channels of the body. The duty of the physician was to
+foresee these changes, 'to assist or not to hinder them,' so that
+'the sick man might conquer the disease with the help of the
+physician.' The times at which crises were to be expected were
+naturally looked for with anxiety; and it was a cardinal point in
+the Hippocratic system to foretell them with precision. Hippocrates,
+influenced as is thought by the Pythagorean doctrine of numbers,
+taught that they were to be expected on days fixed by certain
+numerical rules, in some cases on odd, in others on even
+numbers--the celebrated doctrine of 'critical days.' It follows from
+what has been said that prognosis, or the art of foretelling the
+course and event of the disease, was a strong point with the
+Hippocratic physicians. In this perhaps they have never been
+excelled. Diagnosis, or recognition of the disease, must have been
+necessarily imperfect, when no scientific nosology, or system of
+disease* existed, and the knowledge of anatomy was quite inadequate
+to allow of a precise determination of the seat of disease; but
+symptoms were no doubt observed and interpreted skilfully. The pulse
+is not spoken of in any of the works now attributed to Hippocrates
+himself, though it is mentioned in other works of the collection."
+
+*The author of this article in the Encyclopedia Britannica does not
+see that it is the modern [then as now] orthodox "scientific
+nosology, or system of disease" which obscures the simplicity and
+precision of the Hippocratic philosophy of disease and cure.
+
+"In the treatment of disease, the Hippocratic school attached great
+importance to diet, the variations necessary in different diseases
+being minutely defined. In chronic cases diet, exercises and
+natural methods were chiefly relied upon."
+
+These wonderful truths, with other wisdom of the ancients, were lost
+in the spiritual darkness of the Middle Ages. Modern medicine looks
+upon these claims and teachings of the Hippocratic School as
+"superstition without any foundation in fact." However, the great
+sages of antiquity, drawing upon a source of ancient wisdom, deeply
+hidden from the self-satisfied scribes and wise men of the schools,
+after all, proclaimed the truth.
+
+Every case of chronic disease properly treated by natural methods
+proves the reality and stability of the Law of Crises. It is
+therefore a standing wonder and surprise to one who knows, that this
+all-important and self-evident law is practically unknown to the
+disciples of the regular schools.
+
+The Law of Sevens
+
+In accordance with the Law of Periodicity, the sixth period in any
+seven periods is marked by reactions, changes, revolutions or
+crises. It is, therefore, looked upon by popular intuition as an
+unlucky period. Friday, the sixth day of the week, is regarded as an
+unlucky day; Friday is hangman's day; according to tradition the
+Master, Jesus, was crucified on Friday.
+
+Counting from the first sixth or Friday period in any given number
+of hours, days, weeks, months, years or groups of years, as the case
+may be, every succeeding seventh period is characterized by crises.
+
+This explains why 13 is considered an unlucky number. It represents
+the second critical or Friday period.
+
+However, there is really no cause for this superstitious fear of
+Friday and the number 13. It is due to a lack of understanding of
+Nature's Laws. By intelligent cooperation with these laws we may
+turn the critical periods in our lives into healing crises and
+beneficial changes.
+
+We should not fear the crises periods of the larger life and the
+changes in our outward circumstances which they may bring any more
+than we should fear crises in the physical body.
+
+A thorough understanding of the nature and purpose of healing crises
+in acute and chronic diseases has taught me the nature and purpose
+of evil in general. It has made me understand more clearly the
+meaning of "Resist not Evil" and of the saying: "We are punished by
+our sins, not for our sins." It has shown me that evil is not a
+punishment or a curse, but a necessary complement of good, that it
+is corrective and educational in its purposes, that it remains with
+us only as long as we need its salutary lessons.
+
+The evil of physical disease is not due to accident or to the
+arbitrary rulings of a capricious Providence, nor is it always
+"error of mortal mind." From the Nature Cure philosophy and its
+practical applications we have learned that, barring accidents and
+conditions or surroundings unfavorable to human life, it is caused
+in every instance by violations of the physical laws of our being.
+So the social, political and industrial evil of the larger life is
+brought about by violations of the law in the respective domains of
+life and action.
+
+So long as transgressions of the physical laws of our being result
+in hereditary and acquired disease encumbrances, we must expect
+reactions which may become either disease crises or healing crises.
+Likewise, so long as ignorance, selfishness and self-indulgence
+continue to create evil in other domains of life, we must expect
+there also the occurrence of crises, of reaction and revolution.
+When knowledge, self-control and altruism become the sole motives of
+action, evil and the crises it necessitates will naturally
+disappear.
+
+Therefore, we should not be afraid of changes and crises periods but
+cooperate with them clear-eyed and strong-willed. Then they will
+result in improvement and further growth.
+
+Life is growth, and growth is change. The only death is stagnation.
+The loss of friends, home or fortune may seem for the time being an
+overwhelming calamity; but if met in the right spirit, such losses
+will prove stepping-stones to greater opportunity and higher
+achievement.
+
+Many of our patients formerly looked upon their diseased condition
+as a great misfortune and an undeserved punishment; but since it
+brought them in contact with the Nature Cure philosophy and showed
+them the necessity of complying with the laws of their being, they
+now look upon the former evil as the greatest blessing in their
+lives, because it taught them how to become the masters of fate
+instead of remaining the plaything of Nature's destructive forces.
+
+Why should we fear even the greatest of all crises, physical death,
+when it, also, is only the gateway to a larger life, greater
+opportunities and more beautiful surroundings? Why should we mourn
+and grieve over the death of friends and relatives, when they have
+only emigrated to another, better country?
+
+Suppose we ourselves had to enter upon the great journey today or
+tomorrow, shouldn't we be glad to meet some of our friends on the
+other side and to be welcomed, advised and guided by them in the new
+surroundings?
+
+Therefore we should not fear, nor endeavor to avoid the crises in
+any and all domains of life and action, but meet them and cooperate
+with them fearlessly and intelligently. They then will always make
+for greater opportunity and higher accomplishment.
+
+The Law of Sevens Applied to Individual Life
+
+Applied to the life of the individual, the Law of Periodicity
+manifests itself as follows:
+
+Human life on the earth plane is divided into periods of seven
+years. The first seven years represent the period of infancy. With
+the next seven, the years of childhood, begins individual
+responsibility, the conscious discernment between right and wrong.
+The third group comprises the years of adolescence; the fourth marks
+the attainment of full growth. Nearly all civilized countries take
+cognizance of this fact by fixing the legal age at twenty-one.
+
+The twenty-eighth year, the beginning of the fifth period, is
+another milestone along the road to development.
+
+The sixth period, beginning at the age of thirty-five and ending at
+forty-two, is marked by reactions, changes and crises. It may,
+therefore, seem an unlucky period; but if we understand the law and
+comply with it, we shall be better and stronger in every way after
+we have passed this period.
+
+During the seventh period, the effects of the sixth or crises period
+continue and adjust themselves. It is a period of reconstruction, of
+recuperation and rest, and thus the best preparation for a new cycle
+of sevens which begins with the fiftieth year.**
+
+**Those who are interested in the Law of Periodicity as applied to
+life in general, will find much valuable information in a book
+entitled ~Periodicity~ by J. R. Buchanan, M.D., published by the
+Kosmos Publishing Co., 2112 Sherman Ave., Evanston, Il.
+
+In this connection it is interesting to note that the Mosaic law
+recognized the law of periodicity and fixed upon Sunday as the first
+day or "birthday" of the week, and upon Saturday (the Sabbath) as
+the last or "rest" day, in which to prepare for another period of
+seven days.
+
+Orthodox science now admits that the normal length of human life
+should be about one hundred and fifty years. This would constitute
+three cycles of forty-nine years each, the first corresponding to
+youth, the second to maturity, and the third to fruition.
+
+The Law of Sevens in Febrile Diseases
+
+If we apply the Laws of Periodicity to the course of acute febrile
+or inflammatory diseases, we find that the sixth day from the
+beginning of the first well-defined symptom marks the first
+Friday-period or the first crisis of the disease, and that every
+seventh day thereafter is also distinguished by aggravations and
+changes, either for better or for worse.
+
+The Law of Sevens in Chronic Diseases
+
+Applied to the cure of chronic diseases under the influence of
+natural methods of living and of treatment, the Laws of Crises and
+of Periodicity manifest as follows:
+
+When a chronic patient, whose chances of cure are good, is placed
+under proper (natural) conditions of living and of treatment he
+will, as a rule, experience five weeks of marked improvement.
+
+The sixth week, if conditions are favorable, usually marks the
+beginning of acute reactions or healing crises. This means that the
+healing forces of the organism have grown strong enough to begin the
+work of acute elimination.
+
+By all sorts of acute reactions, such as skin eruptions, diarrheas,
+feverish, inflammatory and catarrhal conditions, boils, abscesses,
+mucopurulent discharges, etc., Nature now endeavors to remove the
+latent, chronic disease taints from the system.
+
+The character of the healing crises and the time of their occurrence
+in any given case can often be accurately predicted by means of the
+Diagnosis from the Eye (see Chapter XIII), from Nature's records in
+the iris.
+
+But the best of all methods of diagnosis is the cure iself, because
+weak spots and morbid taints in the organism are revealed through
+the healing crises.
+
+The Same Old Aches and Pains
+
+Frequently we hear from a patient in the throes of crises: "These
+are the same old aches and pains that I had before. It is exactly
+the same trouble I have been suffering with for many years. This is
+not a crisis!--I have caught a cold, or I have eaten something which
+does not agree with me."
+
+The patient has forgotten what we taught him regarding the Law of
+Crises. He loses sight of the fact that healing crises are nothing
+more or less than a coming-up-again of old disease conditions, an
+acute manifestation of ailments which had become chronic through
+neglect or suppression.
+
+Of course they are "the same old aches and pains." Nature Cure does
+not create new diseases. Crises mean the stirring up and eliminating
+of hereditary and acquired taints and poisons. Under the right
+methods of treatment, any previous disease condition suppressed by
+drugs or knife or by mental effort may recur as a healing crisis.
+
+They are the same old aches and pains which so often gave trouble in
+the past, but they are now running their course under different
+conditions because the patient is now living in harmony with
+Nature's Laws.
+
+Under the natural regimen, Nature is encouraged and assisted in her
+cleansing and healing efforts. She is allowed in her own wise way to
+tear down the old and build up the new.
+
+The "Old Schools" of healing proclaim Mother Nature a poor healer.
+But we of the Nature Cure school believe that the wisdom which
+created this wonderful, complex mechanism which we call the human
+body knows also how to preserve and to repair it. Every healing
+crisis passed under natural conditions assisted by natural methods
+of treatment leaves the body purified and strengthened and nearer to
+perfect health.
+
+Our critics and opponents frequently ask us how we know that our
+methods are natural and in harmony with Nature's laws.
+
+To this we reply: The timely appearance of healing crises, their
+orderly development and favorable termination constitute the best
+criterion of the correctness and naturalness of the methods of
+treatment employed. The prompt arrival and beneficial results of
+acute reactions are a certain indication that the healing forces of
+the organism are in the ascendancy and that the treatment is in
+conformity with the natural laws of cure and with the constructive
+principle in Nature.
+
+Another question sometimes asked of us is: "Do healing crises
+develop in every chronic disease under natural treatment?" Our
+answer is: If the condition of the patient is not favorable to a
+cure, that is, if the vitality is too low and the destruction of
+vital parts too far advanced, the healing crises may be
+proportionately delayed or may not occur at all. In such cases the
+disease symptoms will increase in severity and complexity and become
+more destructive instead of more constructive, until the final fatal
+crisis. The end may come quickly, or the patient may decline
+gradually toward the fatal termination.
+
+Again, patients ask us: "Through how many crises shall I have to
+pass?" We tell them: Just as many as you need; no more, no less. So
+long as there is anything wrong in the system, crises will come and
+go; but each crisis, if successfully passed, is another milestone on
+the road to perfect health.
+
+It is intensely interesting to observe how orderly and intelligently
+Nature proceeds in her work of healing and repair. One problem after
+another is taken up and adjusted.
+
+First of all, the digestive organs are put into better condition,
+because further progress depends upon proper assimilation and
+elimination. The bowels must act freely and naturally before any
+permanent improvement can take place. A treatment which fails to
+accomplish this first preliminary improvement will surely fail to
+produce more important results.
+
+In this connection it is a significant fact that nearly all our
+patients, when they come under our care, are suffering from very
+stubborn constipation in spite of (or possibly on account of)
+lifelong drugging. Neither medicines nor operations had given them
+anything but temporary relief and the trouble had grown worse
+instead of better.
+
+If the "Old School" methods of treatment were not successful in
+relieving simple constipation, what else can they be expected to
+cure, since the overcoming of constipation is evidently the primary
+necessity for any other improvement?
+
+A system of treatment which cannot accomplish this cannot accomplish
+anything else. It is strange, therefore, that a school of medicine
+which has not succeeded, with all its vaunted knowledge and wisdom,
+to cure simple constipation, flatly denies that natural methods can
+cure cancer, epilepsy, locomotor ataxy and other so-called incurable
+diseases.
+
+Our Greatest Difficulty
+
+The greatest difficulty in our work lies in conducting our patients
+safely through the stormy crises periods. The first, preliminary
+improvement is often so marked that the patient believes himself
+already cured. He will say: "Doctor, I am feeling fine! There is
+nothing the matter with me any more! I cannot understand why I
+shouldn't go home and continue the natural regimen there!"
+
+This feeling of mental elation and physical well-being is usually
+the sign that the first general improvement has progressed far
+enough to prepare the system for a healing crisis. Therefore my
+answer to the overconfident patient may be something like this:
+"Remember what I told you. The first improvement is not the cure, it
+is only the preparation for the real fight. Look out! In a few days
+you may whistle another tune."
+
+And sure enough, usually within a few days after such a conversation
+the patient is down in the slough of despond. His digestive organs
+are in a wretched condition. He is nauseated, his tongue is coated,
+he is suffering from headache and from a multitude of other symptoms
+according to his individual condition. In fact, many of the old
+aches and pains which he thought already cured come up again with
+renewed force.
+
+Healing crises, representing radical changes in the system, are
+always accompanied by physical and mental weakness, because every
+bit of vitality is drawn upon in these reconstructive processes. The
+entire organism is shaken up to its very foundation; deep-seated,
+chronic disease taints are being stirred up throughout the system.
+
+The eliminative processes of the healing crises are often
+accompanied by great mental depression and a feeling of strong
+revulsion to the natural regimen and everything connected with it.
+
+The patient thinks that, after all, Nature Cure is not for him, that
+he is growing worse instead of better. In proportion to the severity
+of the changes going on within him, he becomes disheartened and
+despondent. Often he exhibits all the mental and emotional symptoms
+of homesickness. In these critical days it requires all our powers
+of persuasion to keep the depressed and discouraged patient from
+giving up the fight and from taking something to relieve his
+distress. He insists that "something must be done for him," and
+cannot understand how he will ever get out of his "awful condition"
+without some good strong medicine.
+
+If our patients were not continually and thoroughly instructed
+regarding the Laws of Crises and of Periodicity and if we did not
+strongly advise and encourage them to persevere with the treatment,
+few of them would hold out during these critical periods.
+
+This explains why so many people fail to be cured and it also
+explains why natural living and self-treatment often do not meet
+with the desired results if carried on without the instruction and
+guidance of a competent, experienced Nature Cure physician.
+
+So long as the improvement continues, everything is lovely and hope
+soars high. But when the inevitable crises arrive, the sufferer
+believes that, after all, he made a mistake in taking up the natural
+regimen, especially so when friends and relatives do their best to
+destroy his confidence in the natural methods of cure by ridicule
+and dire prophesies of failure.
+
+Frightened and discouraged, the patient returns to the "flesh-pots
+of Egypt" and to the good old pills and potions and ever afterwards
+he tells his friends that "he tried Nature Cure and the vegetarian
+diet, but it was no good."
+
+Mother Nature remains a "book sealed with seven seals" to those who
+mistrust, despise and counteract her, who rely on man-made wisdom
+and the ever-changing theories and dogmas of the schools.
+
+But on the other hand, every crisis conducted to a successful
+termination in accordance with Nature's laws becomes an inspiration
+to him who follows her guidance and assists her with intelligent
+effort and loving care.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII
+
+
+What About The "Chronic"? It Takes So Long
+
+
+"Yes, Nature Cure is all right, but it takes so long." Now and then
+we hear this or a similar remark. Our answer is: "No, it does not
+take long. It is the swiftest cure in existence."
+
+The trouble is that, as a rule, we have to deal with none but the
+most advanced cases of so-called incurable diseases. People go to
+the Nature Cure physician only after all other methods of treatment
+have been tried and found of no avail.
+
+As long as there remains a particle of faith in the medicine bottle,
+the knife or the metaphysical formula of the mind healer, people
+prefer these easy methods, which require no effort on their part, to
+the Nature Cure treatment, which necessitates personal exertion,
+self-control, the changing or giving up of cherished habits. This,
+however, is what most of us evade as long as we can. "Exercise, the
+cold blitzguss, no red meat, no coffee?--I'd rather die!"
+
+Afraid of Cold Water
+
+The most-dreaded terror on the threshold seems to be cold water.
+Undoubtedly, it has kept away thousands from Nature Cure and thereby
+from the only possible cure for their chronic ailments. If we could
+achieve equally good results without our heroic methods of
+treatment, the sidewalks leading to our institution would be crowded
+with people clamoring for admission.
+
+After all, this foolish fear is entirely groundless. Cold water is
+no more to be dreaded than the bogey man. It is one of our
+fundamental principles of treatment never to do anything that is
+painful to the patient. We always "temper the wind to the shorn
+lamb," the coldness of the water and the force of the manipulations
+to the sensitiveness and endurance of the subject. Beginning with
+mild, alternately warm and cool sprays, which are pleasant and
+agreeable to everyone, we gradually increase the force and lower the
+temperature until the patient is so inured to cold water that the
+blitzguss becomes a delightful and pleasurable sensation, a positive
+luxury.
+
+It is amusing to watch the gradual change in the attitude of our
+patients toward the cold-water treatment. In some instances we have
+had to spend hours in earnest persuasion before we could induce a
+particularly sensitive person to try the first mild spray. A few
+weeks later if, perchance, something interfered with the cold water
+applications, the patient would indignantly refuse to take the other
+treatment if there was to be no cold water.
+
+There is certainly no finer tonic than cold water, no more
+exhilarating sensation than that produced by the artistic
+application of alternating douches and the blitz.
+
+The real cause of this cold-water scare, we believe, is to be found
+in the boasting of the veterans. When, with protruding chest and
+chin in air, they brag to the newcomers or to their friends about
+their heroism and the coolness with which they allow the cold-water
+hose to be turned on them, the listener shudders and exclaims: "This
+cold water may be all right for you, but it would never do for me."
+
+No doubt, it is this bravado of the initiated that keeps many a
+novice from the first plunge into the mysteries of Nature Cure. If
+these timid ones only knew what they miss!
+
+Business Versus Cure
+
+From a business point of view it would, perhaps, be better to omit
+the cold water altogether. It would certainly be much less trouble;
+but then, the rugged honesty of Father Kneipp, the champion of the
+cold-water treatment branch of German Nature Cure, has descended
+upon his followers and compels them to tell the whole truth and
+nothing but the truth, to make use of everything that is likely to
+be of benefit to the patient and to effect a real and lasting cure.
+
+Our friends, the osteopaths, have only a pitying smile for our
+arduous labors. They ask: "Why fool with cold water and drive
+patients away, when pleasant manipulations bring the business?" If
+we query in return: "Do your pleasant manipulations cure obstinate
+chronic ailments?" They answer: "We do not expect to cure them. The
+effort involves too much labor and spoils the reputation of our
+work. Not one in a hundred chronics has the patience and
+perseverance to be cured. Besides, if a patient comes too long to
+the office for treatment he drives others away."
+
+Some of the most successful osteopaths in this city make it a rule
+not to treat a patient longer than six weeks or two months.
+
+In a number of cases this may be sufficient to produce marked
+primary improvement, but it is not enough to launch the patient into
+a healing crisis and, therefore, does not produce a real cure
+because it does not remove the underlying causes of the disease. If,
+after a while, the latent chronic condition again manifests in
+external symptoms, the patient returns for another course of
+treatment; he was "cured" so quickly before and thinks he will be
+helped again.
+
+In justice to the osteopaths it must be said that we are not
+referring to those chronic diseases which are directly caused by
+lesions of the spine or other bony structures. If such dislocations
+or subluxations be the sole cause of the trouble, their correction
+by manipulative treatment may produce a cure within a few weeks.
+
+But notwithstanding the teachings of orthodox osteopathy, the
+majority of chronic ailments have their origin in other causes. In
+most cases, the existing spinal lesions are themselves the result of
+other primary disease conditions which must be removed before the
+bony lesions will remain corrected.
+
+The mode of treatment depends upon the object that is to be
+accomplished. If it is to make the patient feel better with the
+least possible expenditure of time, money, personal effort and
+self-control on his part, and the least amount of exertion on the
+part of the physician or healer, then osteopathic manipulations or
+meta-physical formulas may be in order. But if the object is to cure
+actually and permanently a deep-seated chronic disease, all the
+methods of the natural treatment, intelligently combined and adapted
+to the individual case, will be required in order to accomplish
+results.
+
+Pull the Roots
+
+Cutting off their heads does not kill the weeds. The first sign of
+improvement in the treatment of a chronic disease does not mean a
+cure.
+
+Diagnosis from the Eye, borne out by everyday practical experience,
+reveals the fact that symptomatic manifestations of disease are due
+to underlying constitutional causes; that the chronic symptoms are
+Nature's feeble and ineffectual efforts to eliminate from the system
+scrofulous, psoric or syphilitic taints and the disease products
+resulting from food and drug poisoning, or to overcome the
+destructive effects of surgical mutilations.
+
+An abatement of symptoms is, therefore, not always the sign of a
+real and permanent cure. The latter depends entirely on the
+elimination of the hereditary and acquired constitutional taints and
+poisons.
+
+When, under the influence of natural living and methods of
+treatment, the body of the chronic becomes sufficiently purified and
+strengthened, a period of marked improvement may set in. All disease
+symptoms gradually abate, the patient gains in strength, both
+physically and mentally, and he feels as though there was nothing
+the matter with him any more.
+
+But the eyes tell a different story. They show that the underlying
+constitutional taints have not been fully eliminated--the weeds have
+not been pulled up by the roots.
+
+This can be accomplished only by healing crises, by Nature's
+cleansing and healing activities in the form of inflammatory and
+feverish processes; anything short of this is merely preliminary
+improvement, "training for the fight," but not the cure.
+
+When you order a suit of clothes from your tailor, you do not take
+it away from him half-finished; if you do, you will have an
+unsatisfactory garment.
+
+No more should you interfere with your cure after the first signs of
+improvement. Continue until you have thoroughly eliminated from your
+system the hidden constitutional taints and the drug poisons which
+have been the cause of your troubles. After that you can paddle your
+own canoe; right living and right thinking will then be sufficient
+to maintain perfect health and strength, physically, mentally and
+morally.
+
+Is the Chronic Patient to Be Left to His Fate
+
+Because Allopathy Says He Is Incurable?
+
+Frequently we have been severely criticised by our friends, our
+coworkers or our patients for accepting certain seemingly hopeless
+chronic cases. They exclaim:
+
+"You know this man has locomotor ataxy and that woman is an
+epileptic: you certainly do not expect to cure them," or, "Doctor,
+don't you think it injures the institution to have that
+dreadful-looking person around? He is nothing but skin and bones and
+surely cannot live much longer."
+
+Sometimes open criticism and covert insinuation intimate that our
+reasons for taking in incurables are mercenary.
+
+If we should dismiss today those of our patients who, from the
+orthodox and popular point of view, are considered incurable, there
+would not remain ten out of a hundred; and yet our total failures
+are few and far between. Many such seemingly hopeless cases have
+come for treatment month after month, in several instances for a
+year or more, apparently without any marked advance; yet today they
+are in the best of health.
+
+Yes, it is hard work and frequently thankless work to deal with
+these patients. It would be much easier, much more remunerative and
+would bring more glory to confine ourselves to the treatment of
+acute diseases, for it is there that Nature Cure works its most
+impressive miracles. On the other hand, to achieve the seemingly
+impossible, to prove what Nature Cure can accomplish in the most
+stubborn chronic cases, sustains our courage and is its own
+compensation.
+
+The word chronic in the vocabulary of the "Old School" of medicine
+is synonymous with "incurable." This is not strange; since the
+medical and surgical symptomatic treatment of acute diseases creates
+the chronic conditions, it certainly cannot be expected to cure
+them. If, by continued suppression, Nature's cleansing and healing
+efforts have been perverted into chronic disease conditions, the
+following directions are given in the regular works on medical
+practice:
+
+"When this disease reaches the chronic stage, you can no longer cure
+it. You may advise the patient to change climate or occupation. As
+for medication, treat the symptoms as they arise."
+
+We know that the symptoms are Nature's healing efforts; when these
+are promptly treated, that is, suppressed, it is not surprising that
+the chronic does not recover. In fact, it is the treatment which
+makes him and keeps him a chronic.
+
+Why Nature Cure Achieves Results
+
+Nature Cure achieves results in the treatment of chronic diseases
+because its theories and practices are entirely opposite to those
+just described. However, when the Nature Cure physician claims that
+he can cure cancer, tuberculosis, epilepsy, paralysis, Bright's
+disease, diabetes or certain mental derangements, the regular
+physician shows only derision and contempt. He will not even
+condescend to examine any evidence in support of our claims.
+
+Since, then, Nature Cure offers to the so-called incurable the only
+hope and the only possible means of regaining health, why not give
+him a chance? Many times apparently hopeless cases have responded
+most readily to our treatment, while more promising ones offered the
+most stubborn resistance. Even with the best possible methods of
+diagnosis, it is hard to determine just how far the destruction of
+vital organs has progressed, or how deeply they have been
+impregnated with drug poisons.
+
+Therefore, it is often an impossibility to predict with certainty
+just what the outcome will be. This can be determined only by a fair
+trial. In the past we have treated many a case that, according to
+the rules and precedents of orthodox science, should be dead and
+buried long ago; yet these individuals are today alive and in the
+best of health.
+
+Every now and then incidents like the following renew our enthusiasm
+and our faith in Nature Cure: Recently, we had three new cases, sent
+by three former patients who had been under treatment several years
+ago. These three had been among the worst cases ever treated in our
+institution. When they came to us, one was supposed to be dying with
+cancer, the second was in the advanced stages of tertiary syphilis
+and the third, a lady, had survived several operations for the
+removal of the appendix and the ovaries. At the time she took up our
+treatment she had been advised to undergo another operation for the
+removal of the uterus.
+
+These incurables had been exceedingly trying. More than once one or
+another had quit, discouraged and disgusted, only to return, knowing
+that, after all, Nature Cure was their only hope. After they left
+us, we lost track of them and often wondered how they were getting
+on. Imagine our pleasant surprise when all three were reported by
+the newcomers as being in good health. What if it did take months or
+even years to produce the desired results? What would have been the
+fate of these three patients if it had not been for slow Nature
+Cure?
+
+Discouraged patients frequently ask: "Why do others recover so
+quickly when I show so little improvement? This cure seems to be all
+right for some diseases, but evidently it does not fit my case."
+
+This is defective reasoning. True Nature Cure fits every case
+because it includes everything good in natural healing methods. In
+stubborn cases Nature Cure is not to blame for the slow and
+unsatisfactory results: the difficulty lies in the character and
+advanced stage of the disease.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII
+
+
+The Treatment of Chronic Diseases
+
+
+Let us now consider the best methods for producing the healing
+crises referred to in the preceding chapters, that is, the best
+methods for treating the chronic forms of disease.
+
+We found that acute diseases represent Nature's efforts to purify
+and regenerate the human organism by means of inflammatory feverish
+processes, while in the chronic condition the system is not capable
+of arousing itself to such acute reactions. The treatment must
+differ accordingly.
+
+The Nature Cure treatment of acute diseases tends to relieve inner
+congestion, to facilitate the radiation of heat and the elimination
+of morbid matter and systemic poisons from the body. In this way it
+eases and palliates the feverish processes and keeps them below the
+danger point without in any way checking or suppressing them.
+
+While our methods of treating acute diseases have a sedative effect,
+our treatment of chronic diseases is calculated to stimulate, that
+is, to arouse the sluggish organism to greater activity in order to
+produce the acute inflammatory reactions or healing crises.
+
+If the unity of diseases as demonstrated in a previous chapter is a
+fact in Nature, it must be possible to treat all chronic as well as
+all acute diseases by uniform methods, and the natural remedies must
+correspond to the primary causes of disease.
+
+The Natural Methods of Treatment
+
+Natural methods of treatment may be divided into two groups:
+
+Those which the patient can apply himself, provided he has been
+properly instructed in their correct selection, combination and
+application. Those which must be applied by a competent Nature Cure
+physician.
+
+To the first group belong diet (fasting), bathing and other water
+applications, correct breathing, general physical exercise,
+corrective gymnastics, air and sun baths, mental therapeutics.
+
+To the second group belong special applications of the methods
+mentioned under group 1, and in addition to these hydropathy,
+massage, manipulation, medical treatment in the form of homeopathic
+medicines, nonpoisonous herb extracts and the vitochemical remedies,
+and most important of all, the right management of healing crises
+which develop under the natural treatment of chronic diseases.
+
+Diagnosis
+
+Correct diagnosis is the first essential to rational treatment.
+Every honest physician admits that the "Old School" methods of
+diagnosis are, to say the least, unsatisfactory and uncertain,
+especially in ascertaining the underlying causes of disease.
+
+Therefore we should welcome any and all methods of diagnosis which
+throw more light on the causes and the nature of disease conditions
+in the human organism.
+
+Two valuable additions to diagnostic science are now offered to us
+in osteopathy and in the Diagnosis from the Eye.
+
+Osteopathy furnishes valuable information concerning the connection
+between disease conditions and misplacements of vertebrae and other
+bony structures, contractions or abnormal relaxation of muscles and
+ligaments, and inflammation of nerves and nerve centers.
+
+The Diagnosis from the Eye is as yet a new science, and much remains
+to be discovered and to be better explained. We do not claim that
+Nature's records in the eye disclose all the details of pathological
+tendencies and changes, but they do reveal many disease conditions,
+hereditary and acquired, that cannot be ascertained by any other
+methods of diagnosis.
+
+Omitting consideration of everything that is at present speculative
+and uncertain, we are justified in making the following statements:
+
+The eye is not only, as the ancients said, "the mirror of the soul,"
+but it also reveals abnormal conditions and changes in every part
+and organ of the body. Every organ and part of the body is
+represented in the iris of the eye in a well-defined area. The iris
+of the eye contains an immense number of minute nerve filaments,
+which through the optic nerves, the optic brain centers and the
+spinal cord are connected with and receive impressions from every
+nerve in the body. The nerve filaments, muscle fibers and minute
+blood vessels in the different areas of the iris reproduce the
+changing conditions in the corresponding parts or organs. By means
+of various marks, signs, abnormal colors and discolorations in the
+iris, Nature reveals transmitted disease taints and hereditary
+lesions. Nature also makes known, by signs, marks and
+discolorations, acute and chronic inflammatory or catarrhal
+conditions, local lesions, destruction of tissues, various drug
+poisons and changes in structures and tissues caused by accidental
+injury or by surgical mutilations. The Diagnosis from the Eye
+positively confirms Hahnemann's theory that all acute diseases have
+a constitutional background of hereditary or acquired disease
+taints. This science enables the diagnostician to ascertain, from
+the appearance of the iris alone, the patient's inherited or
+acquired tendencies toward health and toward disease, his condition
+in general and the state of every organin particular. Reading
+Nature's records in the eye, he can predict the different healing
+crises through which the patient will have to pass on the road to
+health. The eye reveals dangerous changes in vital parts and organs
+from their inception, thus enabling the patient to avert any
+threatening disease by natural living and natural methods of
+treatment. By changes in the iris, the gradual purification of the
+system, the elimination of morbid matter and poisons, and the
+readjustment of the organism to normal conditions under the
+regenerating influences of natural living and treatment are
+faithfully recorded.
+
+This interesting subject will be treated more fully in a separate
+volume (~Iridiagnosis,~ published in 1919 by Dr. Lindlahr). In this
+connection I shall confine myself to relating briefly the story of
+the discovery of this valuable science.
+
+The Story of a Great Discovery
+
+Dr. Von Peckzely, of Budapest, Hungary, discovered Nature's records
+in the eye, quite by accident, when a boy ten years of age.
+
+Playing one day in the garden at his home, he caught an owl. While
+struggling with the bird, he broke one of its limbs. Gazing straight
+into the owl's large, bright eyes, he noticed, at the moment when
+the bone snapped, the appearance of a black spot in the lower
+central region of the iris, which area he later found to correspond
+to the location of the broken leg.
+
+The boy put a splint on the broken limb and kept the owl as a pet.
+As the fracture healed, he noticed that the black spot in the iris
+became overdrawn with a white film and surrounded by a white border
+(denoting the formation of scar tissues in the broken bone).
+
+This incident made a lasting impression on the mind of the future
+doctor. It often recurred to him in later years. From further
+observations he gained the conviction that abnormal physical
+conditions are portrayed in the eyes.
+
+As a student, Von Peckzely became involved in the revolutionary
+movement of 1848 and was put in prison as an agitator and
+ringleader. During his confinement, he had plenty of time and
+leisure to pursue his favorite theory and he became more and more
+convinced of the importance of his discovery. After his release, he
+entered upon the study of medicine, in order to develop his
+important discoveries and to confirm them more fully in the
+operating and dissecting rooms. He had himself enrolled as an
+interne in the surgical wards of the college hospital. Here he had
+ample opportunity to observe the eyes of patients before and after
+accidents and operations, and in that manner he was enabled to
+elaborate the first accurate Chart of the Eye.
+
+Since Von Peckzely gave his discoveries to the world, many
+well-known scientists and conscientious observers in Austria,
+Germany and Sweden have devoted their lives to the perfection of
+this wonderful science. The regular schools of medicine, as a body,
+have ignored and will ignore it, because it discloses the fallacy of
+their favorite theories and practices, and because it reveals
+unmistakably the direful results of chronic drug poisoning and
+ill-advised operations.
+
+In our work we do not confine ourselves to the Diagnosis from the
+Eye, but combine with it the diagnostic methods (physical diagnosis)
+of the regular school of medicine and the osteopathic diagnosis of
+bony lesions, as well as microscopic examinations and chemical
+analyses.
+
+Thus any one of these methods supplements and verifies all the
+others. In this way only is it possible to arrive at a thorough and
+definite understanding of the patient's condition.
+
+The "Key to the Diagnosis from the Eye" outlines with precision the
+areas of the iris as they correspond to the various parts of the
+body. This colored chart of the iris has been prepared by Dr. H.
+Lahn, author of "The Diagnosis From the Eye," and can be obtained
+from the Kosmos Publishing Co., 2112 Sherman Ave., Evanston, Ill.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV
+
+
+Vitality
+
+
+In Chapter Four, we named, as the first of the primary causes of
+disease, lowered vitality.
+
+What can we do to increase vitality? "Old School" physicians and
+people in general seem to think that this can be done by consuming
+large quantities of nourishing food and drink and by the use of
+stimulants and tonics.
+
+The constant cry of patients is: "Doctor, if you could only
+prescribe some good tonic or some food that will give me strength,
+then I should be all right! I am sure that is all I need to be
+cured."
+
+We fully agree with the patient that he needs more vitality to
+overcome disease, but unfortunately this cannot be obtained from
+food and drink, from stimulants and tonics.
+
+Vitality, life, life force, whatever we may call it or whatever its
+aspect, is not something we can eat and drink. It is independent of
+the physical body and of material food. If the body should "fall
+dead," as we call it, the life force would continue to act just as
+vigorously in the spiritual body, which is the exact counterpart of
+the physical organism.
+
+The physical-material body as well as the spiritual-material body
+are only the instruments for the manifestation of the life force.
+They are no more life itself than the violin is the artist.
+
+But just as the violin must be kept in good condition in order to
+enable the artist to draw from it the harmonies of sound, so food
+and drink are necessary to keep the physical body in the best
+possible condition for the manifestation of vital force. The more
+normal our physical and spiritual bodies are in structure and
+function, the more harmonious our thought life and emotional life,
+the more abundant will be the influx of vital force into the twofold
+organism.
+
+This important subject has been treated more fully in Chapter IV.
+
+Ignorance of these simple truths leads to the most serious mistakes.
+Physicians and people in general do not stop to think that excessive
+eating and drinking tend to rob the body of vitality instead of
+supplying it.
+
+The processes of digestion, assimilation and elimination of food and
+drink in themselves require a considerable expenditure of vital
+force. Therefore all food taken in excess of the actual needs of the
+body consumes life force that should be available for other
+purposes, for the execution of physical and mental work.
+
+The Romans had a proverb: "Plenus venter non studet libenter"--"A
+full stomach does not like to study." The most wholesome food, if
+taken in excess, will clog the system with waste matter just as too
+much coal will dampen and extinguish the fire in the furnace.
+
+Furthermore, the morbid materials and systemic poisons produced by
+impure, unsuitable or wrongly combined foods will clog the cells and
+tissues of the body, cause unnecessary friction and obstruct the
+inflow and the operations of the vital energies, just as dust in a
+watch will clog and impede the movements of its mechanism.
+
+The greatest artist living cannot draw harmonious sounds from the
+strings of the finest Stradivarius if the body of the violin is
+filled with dust and rubbish. Likewise, the life force cannot act
+perfectly in a body filled with morbid encumbrances.
+
+The human organism is capable of liberating and manifesting daily a
+limited quantity of vital force, just as a certain amount of capital
+in the bank will yield a specified sum of interest in a given time.
+If more than the available interest be withdrawn, the capital in the
+bank will be decreased and gradually exhausted.
+
+Similarly, if we spend more than our daily allowance of vital force,
+"nervous bankruptcy," that is, nervous prostration or neurasthenia
+will be the result.
+
+It is the duty of the physician to regulate the expenditure of vital
+force according to the income. He must stop all leaks and guard
+against wastefulness.
+
+Stimulation by Paralysis
+
+This heading may seem paradoxical, but it is borne out by fact.
+Stimulants are poison to the system. Few people realize that their
+exhilarating and apparently tonic effects are produced by the
+paralysis of an important part of the nervous system.
+
+If, as we have learned, wholesome food and drink in themselves do
+not contain and therefore cannot convey life force to the human
+body, much less can this be accomplished by stimulants.
+
+The human body has many correspondences with a watch. Both have a
+motor or driving mechanism and an inhibitory or restraining
+apparatus.
+
+If it were not for the inhibiting balances, the wound watchspring
+would run off and spend its force in a few moments. The expenditure
+of the latent force in the wound spring must be regulated by the
+inhibitory and balancing mechanism of the timepiece.
+
+Similarly, the nervous system in the animal and human organism
+consists of two main divisions: the motor or driving and the
+inhibitory or restraining mechanisms.
+
+The driving power is furnished by the sympathetic nerves and the
+motor nerves. They convey the vital energies and nerve impulses to
+the cells and organs of the body, thus initiating and regulating
+their activities.
+
+We found that the human body is capable of liberating in a given
+time, say, in twenty-four hours, only a certain limited amount of
+vital energy, just as the wound spring of the watch is capable of
+liberating in a given time only a certain amount of kinetic energy.
+
+As in the watch the force of the spring is controlled by the
+regulating balances (the anchor), so in the body the expenditure of
+vital energy must be regulated in such a manner that it is evenly
+distributed over the entire running time. This is accomplished by
+the inhibitory nervous system [the parasympathetics].
+
+Every motor nerve must be balanced by an inhibitory nerve. The one
+furnishes the driving force, the other applies the brake. For
+instance, the heart muscle is supplied with motor force through the
+spinal nerves from the upper dorsal region, while the pneumogastric
+[vagus] nerve retards the action of the heart and in that way acts
+as a brake.
+
+Another brake is supplied by the waste products of metabolism in the
+system, the uric acid, carbonic acid, oxalic acid, etc., and the
+many forms of xanthines, alkaloids, and ptomaines. As these
+accumulate in the organism during the hours of wakeful activity,
+they gradually clog the capillary circulation, benumb brain and
+nerves, and thus produce a feeling of exhaustion and tiredness and a
+craving for rest and sleep.
+
+In this way, by means of the inhibitory nervous system and of the
+accumulating fatigue products in the body, Nature forces the
+organism to rest and recuperate when the available supply of vital
+force runs low. The lower the level of vital force, the more
+powerful will become the inhibitory influences.
+
+Now we can understand why stimulation is produced by paralysis.
+Stimulants precipitate the fatigue products from the circulation
+into the tissues of the body. They do this by overcoming and
+paralyzing the power of the blood to dissolve and carry in solution
+uric acid and other acids and alkaloids that should be eliminated
+from the organism. Thus will be explained more fully in the volume on
+"Natural Dietetics."
+
+Furthermore, stimulants temporarily benumb and paralyze the
+inhibitory nervous system. In other words, they lift the brakes from
+the motor nervous system, and allow the driving powers to run wild
+when Nature wanted them to slow up or stop.
+
+To illustrate: A man has been working hard all day. Toward night his
+available supply of vitality has run low, his system is filled with
+uric acid, carbonic acid and other benumbing fatigue products, and
+he feels tired and sleepy, At this juncture he receives word that he
+must sit up all night with a sick relative. In order to brace
+himself for the extraordinary demand upon his vitality, our friend
+takes a cup of strong coffee, or a drink of whisky, or whatever his
+favorite stimulant may be.
+
+The effect is marvelous. The tired feeling disappears, and he feels
+as though he could remain awake all night without effort.
+
+What has produced this apparent renewal and increase of vital
+energy? Has the stimulant added to his system one iota of vitality?
+This cannot be, because stimulants do not contain anything that
+could impart vital force to the organism. What, then, has produced
+the seemingly strengthening effect?
+
+The caffeine, alcohol or whatever the stimulating poison may have
+been has precipitated the fatigue products from the blood and
+deposited them in the tissues and organs of the body. Furthermore,
+the stimulant has benumbed the inhibitory nerves; in other words, it
+has lifted the brakes from the driving part of the organism, so that
+the wheels are running wild.
+
+But this means drawing upon the reserve supplies of nerve fats and
+of the vital energy stored in them, which Nature wants to save for
+extraordinary demands upon the system in times of illness or extreme
+exertion. Therefore this procedure is contrary to Nature's
+intent. Nature tried to force the tired body to rest and sleep, so
+that it could store up a new supply of vital force.
+
+Under the paralyzing influence of the stimulant upon the inhibitory
+nerves, the organism now draws upon the reserve stores of nerve fats
+and vital energies for the necessary strength to accomplish the
+extra nightwork.
+
+At the same time, the organism remains awake and active during the
+time it should be replenishing energy for the next day's work, which
+means that the latter also has to be done at the expense of the
+reserve supply of life force.
+
+During sleep only do we replenish our reserve stores of vitality.
+The expenditure of vital energies ceases, but their liberation in
+the system continues.
+
+Therefore sleep is the "sweet restorer." Nothing can take its place.
+No amount of food and drink, no tonics or stimulants can make up for
+the loss of sleep. Continued complete deprivation of sleep is bound
+to end in a short time in physical and mental exhaustion, in
+insanity and death.
+
+That the body, during sleep, acts as a storage battery for vital
+energy is proved by the fact that in deep, sound sleep the aura
+disappears entirely from around the body.
+
+The aura is to the organism what the exhaust steam is to the engine.
+It is formed by the electromagnetic fluids which have performed
+their work in the body and then escape from it, giving the
+appearance of a many-colored halo.
+
+With the first awakening of conscious mental activity after sleep,
+the aura appears, indicating that the expenditure of vital force has
+recommenced.
+
+In the above diagram we have an illustration of the true effect of
+stimulants upon the system. The heavy line A-B represents the normal
+level of available vital energy in a certain body for a given time,
+say, for twenty-four hours. At point C a stimulant is taken. This
+paralyzes the inhibitory nerves and temporarily precipitates the
+fatigue products from the blood.
+
+As we have seen, this allows an increased, unnatural expenditure of
+vital energy, which raises the latter to point D. But when the
+effect of the stimulant has been spent, the vital energy drops from
+the artificially attained high point not only back to the normal
+level, but below it to point E.
+
+The increased expenditure of vital energy was made possible at the
+expense of the reserve supply of vitality; therefore the depression
+following it is in proportion to the preceding stimulation. This is
+in accordance with the law: "Action and reaction are equal, but
+opposite."
+
+The falling of the vital energy below the normal to point E is
+accompanied by a feeling of exhaustion and depression which creates
+a desire to repeat the pleasurable experience of an abundant supply
+of vitality, and thus leads to a repetition of the artificial
+stimulation. As a result of this, the expenditure of vitality is
+again raised above the normal to point F, only to fall again below
+the normal, to G, etc.
+
+In this way the person who resorts to stimulants to keep up his
+strength or to increase it, is never normal, never on the level,
+never at his best. He is either overstimulated or abnormally
+depressed. His efforts are bound to be fitful and his work uneven in
+quality. Furthermore, it will be only a matter of time until he
+exhausts his reserve supply of nerve fats and vital energy and then
+suffers nervous bankruptcy in the forms of nervous prostration,
+neurasthenia or insanity.
+
+Such a person is acting like the spendthrift whose capital in the
+bank allows him to expend ten dollars a day, but who, instead, draws
+several times the amount of his legitimate daily interest. There can
+be but one outcome to this: in due time the cashier will inform him
+that his account is overdrawn.
+
+The same principles hold true with regard to stimulants given at the
+sickbed.
+
+One of the arguments I constantly hear from students and physicians
+of the "Old School" of medicine is: "Some of your methods may be all
+right, but what would you do at the sickbed of a patient who is so
+weak and low that he may die at any moment? Would you just let him
+die? Would you not give him something to keep him alive?"
+
+I certainly would, if I could. But I do not believe that poisons can
+give life. If there is enough vitality in that dying body to react
+to the poisonous stimulant by a temporary increase of vital
+activity, then that same amount of vitality will keep the heart
+beating and the respiration going a little longer at the slower
+pace. Nature regulates the heartbeat and the other functions
+according to the amount and availability of vital force. If the
+heart beats slow, it is because Nature is trying to economize
+vitality.
+
+In the inevitable depression following the artificial whipping up of
+the vital energies, many times the flame is snuffed out entirely
+when otherwise it might have continued to burn at the slower rate
+for some time longer.
+
+However, I do not deny the advisability of administering stimulants
+in cases of shock. When a shock has caused the stopping of the
+wheels of life, another shock by a stimulant may set them in motion
+again.
+
+The Effects of Stimulants upon the Mind
+
+The mental and emotional exhilaration accompanying the indulgence in
+alcohol or other poisonous stimulants is produced in a similar
+manner as the apparent increase of physical strength under the
+influence of these agents. Here, also, the temporary stimulation and
+seeming increase of power are effected by paralysis of the governing
+and restraining faculties of mind and soul: of reason, modesty,
+reserve, caution, reverence, etc.
+
+The moral, mental and emotional capacities and powers of the human
+entity are governed by the same principle of dual action that
+controls physical activity. We have on the one hand the motor or
+driving impulses, and on the other hand the restraining and
+inhibiting influences.
+
+In these higher realms appetite, passion, imagination and desire
+correspond to the motor nervous system in the physical organism, and
+the power of the will and the reasoning faculties represent the
+inhibitory nervous system.
+
+The exhilarating and stimulating influence of alcohol and narcotics
+such as opiates or hashish upon the animal spirits and the emotional
+and imaginative faculties is caused by the benumbing and paralyzing
+effect of these stimulants upon the powers of will, reason and
+self-control, the brakes on the lower appetites, passions and
+desires which fire the emotional nature and the imagination.
+However, what is gained in feeling and imagination, is lost in
+judgment and logic.
+
+Alcohol, nicotine, caffein, theobromine, lupulin (the bitter
+principle of hops), opium, cocaine, morphine, etc., when given in
+certain doses, all affect the human organism in a similar manner.
+
+In small quantities they seemingly stimulate and animate; in larger
+amounts they depress and stupefy. In reality, they are paralyzers
+from the beginning in every instance, and their apparent, temporary
+tonic effect is deceptive. They benumb and paralyze not only the
+physical organism, but also the higher and highest mental and moral
+qualities, capacities and powers.
+
+These higher and finer qualities are located in the front part of
+the brain. In the evolution of the species from lower to higher, the
+brain gradually developed and enlarged in a forward direction. Thus
+we find in the lowest order of fishes that all they possess of brain
+matter is a small protuberance at the end of the spinal cord. As the
+species and families rose in the scale of evolution, the brain
+developed proportionately from behind forward and became
+differentiated into three distinct divisions: the medulla oblongata,
+the cerebellum, and the cerebrum.
+
+The medulla oblongata, situated at the base of the brain where it
+joins the spinal cord, contains those brain centers that control the
+purely vegetative, vital functions: the circulation of the blood,
+the respiration, regulation of animal heat, etc.
+
+The cerebellum, in front of and above the medulla, is the seat of
+the centers for the coordination of muscular activities and for
+maintaining the equilibrium of the body.
+
+The frontal brain or cerebrum contains the centers for the sensory
+organs, also the motor centers which supply the driving impulses for
+the muscular activities of the body, and in the occipital and
+frontal lobes, the centers for the higher and highest qualities of
+mind and soul, which constitute the governing and restraining
+faculties on which depend the powers of self-control.
+
+Thus we see that the development of the brain has been in a forward
+direction, from the upper extremity of the spinal cord to the
+frontal lobes of the cerebrum, from the low, vegetative qualities of
+the animal and the savage to the complex and refined activities of
+the highly civilized and trained mind.
+
+It is an interesting and most significant fact that paralysis of
+brain centers caused by alcohol and other stimulants, or by
+hypnotics and narcotics, proceeds reversely to the order of their
+development during the processes of evolution.
+
+The first to succumb are the brain centers in the frontal lobes of
+the cerebrum, which control the latest-developed and most-refined
+human attributes. These are: modesty, caution, reserve, reverence,
+altruism. Then follow in the order given: memory, reason, logic,
+intelligence, will power, self-control, the control of muscular
+coordination and equilibrium and finally consciousness and the vital
+activities of heart action and respiration.
+
+When the conscious activities of the soul have been put to sleep,
+the paralysis extends to the subconscious activities of life or
+vital force. Respiration and heart action become weak and labored,
+and may finally cease entirely.
+
+In order to verify this, let us study the effects of alcohol, the
+best-known and most-used of stimulants. Many people believe that
+alcohol increases not only physical strength, but mental energy
+also. Regular medical science considers it a valuable tonic in all
+cases of physical and mental depression. It is often administered in
+surgical operations and in accidents with the idea of prolonging
+life. I have frequently found the whisky or brandy bottle at the
+bedside of infants and on it the directions of the attending
+physician.
+
+Watch the effect of this tonic on a group of convivial spirits at a
+banquet. Full honor is done to the art of the chef, and the wine
+flows freely. The flow of animal spirits increases proportionately;
+conviviality, wit and humor rise by leaps and bounds. But the
+apparent joy and happiness are in reality nothing but the play of
+the lower animal impulses, unrestrained by the higher powers of mind
+and soul.
+
+The words of the afterdinner speaker who, when sober, is a sedate
+and earnest gentleman, flow with unusual ease. The close and
+unprejudiced observer notices, however, that what the speaker has
+gained in eloquence, loquacity and exuberance of style and
+expres-sion, he has lost in logic, clearness and good sense.
+
+As King Alcohol tightens his grasp on the merry company, the
+toasters and speakers lose more and more their control over speech
+and actions. What was at first mischievous abandon and merry jest,
+gradually degenerates into loquaciousness, coarseness and querulous
+brawls. Here and there one of the maudlin crowd drops off in the
+stupor of drunkenness.
+
+If the liquor is strong enough and if the debauch is continued long
+enough, it may end in complete paralysis of the vital functions or
+in death.
+
+Hypnotism and Obsession
+
+Again, we find the seeming paradox of stimulation by paralysis
+exemplified in the phenomena of hypnotism and obsession. The
+abnormally exaggerated sensation, feeling and imagination of the
+subject under hypnotic control are made possible because the higher,
+critical and restraining faculties and powers of will, reason and
+self-control are temporarily or permanently benumbed and paralyzed
+by the stronger will of the hypnotist or of the obsessing
+intelligence.
+
+There is a most interesting resemblance between the effects of
+stimulants, narcotics or hypnotic control and blind, unreasoning
+faith. The latter also benumbs and paralyzes judgment and reason. It
+gives full sway to the powers of imagination and thus may produce
+seemingly miraculous results.
+
+This explains the modus operandi of faith cures as well as the
+fitful strength of the intoxicated and the insane, or the beautiful
+dreams and delusions of grandeur of the drug addict.
+
+The close resemblance and relationship between hypnotic control and
+faith became vividly apparent to me while witnessing the performance
+of a professional hypnotist. His subject on the stage was a young
+woman who, under his control, performed extraordinary feats of
+strength and resistance. Several strong men could not lift or move
+her in any way.
+
+What was the reason? In the ordinary, waking condition her judgment
+and common sense would tell her: "I cannot resist the combined
+strength of these men. Of course, they can lift me and pull me here
+and there." As a result of this doubting state of mind, she would
+not have the strength to resist.
+
+However, the control of the hypnotist had paralyzed her reasoning
+faculties and therewith her capacity for judging, doubting and not
+believing. Her subconscious mind accepted without question or the
+shadow of a doubt the suggestion of the hypnotist that she did
+possess the strength to resist the combined efforts of the men and
+as a result she actually manifested the necessary powers of
+resistance.
+
+It is an established fact that the impressions (records) made upon
+the subconscious mind under certain conditions as, for instance,
+under hypnotic influence absolutely control the activities of the
+physical body.
+
+Does not this throw an interesting light on the power of absolute
+faith, on the saying: "Everything is possible to him who believeth?"
+Blind, unreasoning faith benumbs and paralyzes judgment and reason
+in similar manner as hypnotic control or stimulants and in that way
+gives free and full sway to the powers of imagination and
+autosuggestion for good or ill, for white magic or black magic,
+according to the purpose for which faith is exerted.
+
+It also becomes apparent that such blind, unreasoning faith cannot
+be constructive in its influence upon the higher mental, moral and
+spiritual faculties. These can be developed only by the conscious
+and voluntary exercise of will, reason and self-control.
+
+From the foregoing it will have become evident that we cannot
+increase vital force in the body through any artificial means or
+methods from without, by food, drink or stimulant. What we can and
+should do, however, is to put the organism into the best possible
+condition for the liberation and manifestation of life force or
+vital energy.
+
+The more normal the chemical composition of the blood, and the more
+free the tissues are from clogging impurities, poisons and
+mechanical obstructions, such as lesions of the spinal column, the
+more abundant will be the liberation and the available supply of
+vital energy.
+
+Therefore perfect, buoyant health, which ensures the greatest
+possible efficiency and enjoyment of life, can be attained and
+maintained only by strict adherence to the natural ways of living
+and, when necessary, by the natural treatment of diseases.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV
+
+
+Natural Dietetics
+
+
+The chemical composition of blood and lymph depends upon the
+chemical composition of food and drink, and upon the normal or
+abnormal condition of the digestive organs.
+
+The purer the food and drink, the less it contains of morbid matter
+and poison-producing materials and the more it contains of the
+elements necessary for the proper execution of the manifold
+functions of the organism, for the building and repair of tissues
+and for the neutralization and elimination of waste and systemic
+poisons, the more "normal" and the more "natural" will be the diet.
+
+The system of dietetics of the Nature Cure school is based upon the
+composition of MILK, which is the only perfect natural food
+combination in existence.
+
+In its composition, milk corresponds very closely to red, arterial
+blood and contains all the elements which the newborn and growing
+organism needs in exactly the right proportions, providing, of
+course, that the human or animal body which produces the milk is in
+good health and lives on pure and normal foods.
+
+Therefore, if any food combination or diet is to be "normal" or
+"natural," it must approach in its chemical composition the chemical
+composition of milk or of red, arterial blood. This furnishes a
+strictly scientific basis for an exact science of dietetics, and
+proves true not only in the chemical aspect of the diet problem, but
+also in every other aspect and in its practical application.
+
+The "regular" school of medicine pays little or no attention to
+rational food regulation. In fact, it knows nothing about it,
+because "natural dietetics" are as yet not taught in medical
+schools. As a result of this condition, the dietary advice given by
+the majority of Old School practitioners is something as follows:
+"Eat what agrees with you: plenty of good, nourishing food. There is
+nothing in dietetic fads. What is one man's meat is another man's
+poison, etc."
+
+However, if we study dietetics from a strictly scientific point of
+view, we find that certain foods--among these especially the highly
+valued flesh foods, eggs, pulses and cereals--create in the system
+large quantities of morbid, poisonous substances, while on the other
+hand fruits and vegetables, which are rich in the organic salts,
+tend to neutralize and to eliminate from the system the waste
+materials and poisons created in the processes of protein and starch
+digestion.
+
+The accumulations of waste and systemic poisons are the cause of the
+majority of diseases arising within the human organism. Therefore it
+is imperative that the neutralizing and eliminating food elements be
+provided in sufficient quantities.
+
+On this turns the entire problem of natural dietetics. While the
+"Old School" of medicine looks upon starches, sugars, fats and
+proteins as the only elements of nutrition worthy of consideration,
+Nature Cure aims to reduce these foods in the natural dietary and to
+increase the purifying and eliminating fruits and vegetables.
+
+In this volume we cannot go into the details of the diet question.
+They will be treated in full in our ~Vegetarian Cookbook~ and in our
+volume on ~Natural Dietetics.~ We shall say here in a general way
+that in the treatment of chronic diseases, with few exceptions, we
+favor a strict vegetarian diet for the reason that most chronic
+diseases are created, as before stated, by the accumulation of the
+"feces of the cells" in the system.
+
+Every piece of animal flesh is saturated with these excrements of
+the cells in the form of uric acid and many other kinds of acids,
+alkaloids of putrefaction, xanthines, ptomaines, etc. The organism
+of the meat eater must dispose not only of its own impurities
+produced in the processes of digestion and of cell metabolism, but
+also of the morbid substances that are already contained in the
+animal flesh.
+
+Since the cure of chronic diseases consists largely in purifying the
+body of morbid materials, it stands to reason that a "chronic" must
+cease taking these in his daily food and drink. To do otherwise
+would be like sweeping the dirt out of a house through the front
+door and carrying it in again through the back door.
+
+Whether one approves of strict vegetarianism as a continuous mode of
+living or not, it will be admitted that the change from a meat diet
+to a nonmeat diet must be of great benefit in the treatment of
+chronic diseases.
+
+The cure of chronic conditions depends upon radical changes in the
+cells and tissues of the body, as explained in Chapter Twenty. The
+old, abnormal, faulty diet will continue to build the same abnormal
+and disease-encumbered tissues. The more thorough and radical the
+change in diet toward normality and purity, the quicker the cells
+and tissues of the body will change toward the normal and thus bring
+about a complete regeneration of the organism.
+
+Anything short of this may be palliative treatment, but is not
+worthy the name of cure.
+
+Natural Foods
+
+In the following I shall give the outline a natural diet regimen
+which has been found by experience to meet all requirements of the
+healthy organism, even when people have to work very hard physically
+or mentally. In case of disease, certain modifications may have to
+be made according to individual conditions. Persons in a low,
+negative state, whether physical, mental or psychical, may
+temporarily require the addition of flesh foods to their diet.
+
+Dietetics In A Nutshell
+
+Food Classes
+
+Predominant
+
+Chemical
+
+Elements
+
+Functions in Vital Processes
+
+Foods in Which the Elements of the Respective Groups Predominate
+
+GROUP I
+
+Carbohydrates
+
+Starches and Dextrines
+
+Carbon
+
+Oxygen
+
+Hydrogen
+
+Producers of Heat and Energy
+
+CEREALS: The inner, white parts of wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley,
+buckewheat and rice. VEGETABLES: Potatoes, pumpkins, squashes.
+FRUITS: Bananas. NUTS: Chestnuts
+
+GROUP II
+
+Carbohydrates
+
+Sugars
+
+Carbon
+
+Oxygen
+
+Hydrogen
+
+Producers of
+
+Heat and
+
+Energy
+
+VEGETABLES: Melons, beets, sorghum. FRUITS: Bananas, dates, figs,
+grapes, raisins. DAIRY PRODUCTS: Milk. NATURAL SUGARS: Honey, maple
+sugar. COMMERCIAL SUGARS: White sugar, syrup, glucose, candy. NUTS:
+Cocoanuts.
+
+GROUP III
+
+Hydrocarbons
+
+Fats and
+
+Oils
+
+Carbon
+
+Oxygen
+
+Hydrogen
+
+Producers of
+
+Heat and
+
+Energy
+
+FRUITS: Olives. DAIRY PRODUCTS: Cream, butter, cheese. NUTS:
+Peanuts, almonds, walnuts, cocoanuts, Brazil nuts, pecans,
+pignolias, etc. COMMERCIAL FATS: Olive oil, peanut oil, peanut
+butter, vegetable-cooking oils. THE YOKES OF EGGS
+
+GROUP IV
+
+Proteids
+
+Albumen
+
+(white of egg)
+
+Gluten
+
+(grains)
+
+Myosin
+
+(lean meat)
+
+Carbon
+
+Oxygen
+
+Hydrogen
+
+Nitrogen
+
+Phosphorus
+
+Sulphur
+
+Producers of Heat and Energy;
+
+Building Materials for Cells and Tissues
+
+CEREALS: The outer, dark parts of wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley,
+buckwheat, and rice. VEGETABLES: The legumes (peas, beans, lentils),
+mushrooms. NUTS: Cocoanuts, chestnuts, peanuts, pignolias (pine
+nuts), hickorynuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, etc. DAIRY PRODUCTS:
+Milk, cheese. MEATS: Muscular parts of animals, fish, and fowls.
+
+GROUP V
+
+Organic Minerals
+
+Organic
+
+Mineral
+
+Elements
+
+Sodium
+
+Na
+
+Ferrum (Iron)
+
+Fe
+
+Calcium (Lime)
+
+Ca
+
+Potassium
+
+K
+
+Magnesium
+
+Mg
+
+Manganese
+
+Mn
+
+Silicon
+
+Si
+
+Chlorine
+
+Cl
+
+Flourine
+
+Fl
+
+Eliminators:
+
+Bone, Blood, and Nerve
+
+Builders;
+
+Antiseptics:
+
+Blood Purifiers;
+
+Laxitives;
+
+Cholagogues;
+
+Producers of
+
+Electro-magnetic Energies
+
+THE RED BLOOD OF ANIMALS. CEREALS: The hulls and outer, dark layers
+of grains and rice. VEGETABLES: Lettuce, spinach, cabbage, green
+peppers, watercress, celery, onions, asparagus, cauliflower,
+tomatoes, string-beans, fresh peas, parsley, cucumbers, radishes,
+savoy, horseradish, dandelion, beets, carrots, turnips, eggplant,
+kohlrabi, oysterplant, artichokes, leek, rosekale (Brussels
+sprouts), parsnips, pumpkins, squashes, sorghum. FRUITS: Apples,
+pears, peaches, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, plums, prunes,
+apricots, cherries, olives. BERRIES: Strawberries, huckleberries,
+cranb \erries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, gooseberries,
+currants. DAIRY PRODUCTS: Milk, buttermilk, skimmed milk. NUTS:
+Cocoanuts.
+
+In the accompanying table entitled "Dietics In A Nutshell" we have
+divided all food materials into five groups:
+
+GROUP:
+
+(Carbohydrates): Starches. (Carbohydrates): Dextrins and sugars.
+(Hydrocarbons): Fats and oils. (Proteids): white of egg, lean meat,
+the gluten of grains and pulses, the proteins of nuts and milk.
+(Organic Minerals): Iron, sodium calcium, potassium, magnesium,
+silicon. These are contained in largest amounts in the juicy fruits
+and the leafy, juicy vegetables.
+
+As a general rule, let one-half of your food consist of Group V and
+the other half of a mixture of the first four groups.
+
+If you wish to follow a pure food diet, exclude meat, fish, fowl,
+meat soups and sauces and all other foods prepared from the dead
+animal carcass.
+
+This is brief and comprehensive. When in doubt, consult this rule.
+
+Also do not use coffee, tea, alcoholic beverages, tobacco or
+stimulants of any kind.
+
+Good foods are:
+
+Dairy Products: milk, buttermilk, skimmed milk, cream, butter, fresh
+cottage cheese. fermented cheeses, as American, Swiss, Holland and
+DeBrie, should be used sparingly. The stronger cheeses like
+Camembert and Roquefort should not be used at all
+
+Eggs: Raw, soft-boiled or poached, not fried or hard-boiled. Eggs
+should be used sparingly. Two eggs three times a week or on an
+average one egg a day, is sufficient.
+
+White of egg is much easier to digest than the yolk, therefore the
+whites only should be used in cases of very weak digestion. Beaten
+up with orange juice, they are both palatable and wholesome; or they
+may be beaten very stiff and served cold with a sauce of prune juice
+or other cooked fruit juices. This makes a delicious and very
+nutritive dish.
+
+Honey is a very valuable food and a natural laxative. It is not
+generally known that honey is not a purely vegetable product, but
+that in passing through the organism of the bee it partakes of its
+life element (animal magnetism).
+
+Honey is one of the best forms of sugar available. The white sugar
+is detrimental to health, because it has become inorganic through
+the refining process. The brown, unrefined granulated sugar or maple
+sugar should be used instead.
+
+Figs, dates, raisins, bananas and all the other sweet fruits are
+excellent to satisfy the craving of the organism for sweets.
+
+Cereal Foods: Rice, wheat, oats, barley, are good when properly
+combined with fruits and vegetables and with dairy products. Use
+preferably the whole-grain preparations such as shredded wheat or
+corn flakes. Oatmeal is not easily digestible; it is all right for
+robust people working in the open air, but not so good for invalids
+and people of sedentary habits.
+
+Thin mushes are not to be recommended, because they do not require
+mastication and therefore escape the action of the saliva, which is
+indispensable to the digestion of starchy foods.
+
+Avoid the use of white bread or any other white-flour products,
+especially pastry. White flour contains little more than the starchy
+elements of the grain. Most of the valuable proteins which are equal
+to meat in food value and the all-important organic salts which
+lodge in the hulls and the outer layers of the grain have been
+refined out of it together with the bran. The latter is in itself
+very valuable as a mechanical stimulant to the peristaltic action of
+the bowels.
+
+In preference to white bread eat Graham bread or whole rye bread.
+Our health bread forms the solid foundation of a well-balanced
+vegetarian diet. It is prepared as follows:
+
+Take one-third each of white flour, Graham flour and rye meal (not
+the ordinary Bohemian rye flour, but the coarse pumpernickel meal
+which contains the whole of the rye, including the hull).
+
+Make a sponge of the white flour in the usual manner, either with
+good yeast or with leavened dough from the last baking, which has
+been kept cold and sweet. When the sponge has risen sufficiently,
+work the graham flour and rye meal into it. Thorough kneading is of
+importance. Let rise slowly a second time, place in pans, and bake
+slowly until thoroughly done.
+
+By chemical analysis this bread has been found to contain more
+nourishment than meat. It is very easily digested and assimilated
+and is a natural laxative. Eaten with sweet butter and in
+combination with fruits and vegetables, it makes a complete and well
+balanced meal.
+
+A good substitute for bread is the following excellent whole wheat
+preparation: Soak clean, soft wheat in cold water for about seven
+hours and steam in a double boiler for from eight to twelve hours,
+or cook in a fireless cooker over night. Eat with honey and milk or
+cream, or with prune juice, fig juice, etc., or add butter and dates
+or raisins. This dish is more nutritious than meat, and one of the
+finest laxative foods in existence.
+
+Nuts are exceedingly rich in fats (60 percent) and proteins (15
+percent), but rank low in mineral salts. Therefore they should be
+used sparingly, and always in combination with fruits, berries or
+vegetables. The coconut differs from the other nuts in that it
+contains less fats and proteins and more organic salts. The meat of
+the coconut together with its milk comes nearer to the chemical
+composition of human milk than any other food in existence.
+
+Vegetables
+
+Leguminous Vegetables, such as peas, beans and lentils in the
+ripened state are richer in protein than meat (25 percent), and
+besides they contain a large percentage of starchy food elements (60
+percent); therefore they produce in the process of digestion large
+quantities of poisonous acids, alkaloids of putrefaction and noxious
+gases.
+
+They should not be taken in large quantities and only in combination
+cooked or raw vegetables. As a dressing use lemon juice and olive
+oil.
+
+Peas and beans in the green state differ very much from their
+chemical composition in the ripened state. As long as these
+vegetables are green and in the pulp, they contain large quantities
+of sugars and organic minerals, with but little starch and protein.
+As the ripening process advances, the percentages of starches and
+proteins increase, while those of the sugars and of the organic
+minerals decrease. The latter retire into the leaves and stems
+(polarization).
+
+In the green, pulpy state these foods may, therefore, be classed
+with Group II (Sugars) and with Group V (Organic Minerals), while in
+the ripened state they must be classed with Groups I (Starches) and
+Groups IV (Proteids).
+
+Dried peas, beans and lentils are more palatable and wholesome when
+cooked in combination with tomatoes or prunes.
+
+The Leafy and Juicy Vegetables growing in or near the ground are
+very rich in the positive organic salts and therefore of great
+nutritive and medicinal value. For this reason they are best suited
+to balance the negative, acid-producing starches, sugars, fats and
+proteins.
+
+Lettuce, spinach, cabbage, watercress, celery, parsley, savoy
+cabbage, brussels sprouts, Scotch kale, leek and endive rank highest
+in organic mineral salts. Next to these come tomatoes, cucumbers,
+green peppers, radishes, onions, asparagus, cauliflower and
+horseradish.(See also Group V in "Dietetics in a Nutshell.")
+
+Splendid, cooling summer foods, rich in the blood-purifying organic
+salts, are watermelons, muskmelons. cantaloupes, pumpkins, squashes
+and other members of the melon family.
+
+The green vegetables are most beneficial when eaten raw, with a
+dressing of lemon juice and olive oil. Avoid the use of vinegar as
+much as possible. It is a product of fermentation and a powerful
+preservative which retards digestion as well as fermentation, both
+processes being very much of the same character.
+
+Use neither pepper nor salt at the table. They may be used sparingly
+in cooking. Strong spices and condiments are more or less irritating
+to the mucous linings of the intestinal tract. They paralyze
+gradually the nerves of taste. At first they stimulate the digestive
+organs; but, like all other stimulants, in time they produce
+weakness and atrophy.
+
+Cooking of Vegetables
+
+While most vegetables are not improved by cooking, we do not mean
+that they should never be cooked. Many diet reformers go to extremes
+when they claim that all the organic salts in fruits and vegetables
+are rendered inorganic by cooking. This is an exaggera-tion. Cooking
+is merely a mechanical process of subdivision, not a chemical
+process of transformation. Mechanical processes of division do not
+dissolve or destroy organic molecules to any great extent.
+
+Nevertheless, it remains true that the green leafy vegetables are
+not improved by cooking. It is different with the starchy tubers and
+roots like potatoes, turnips, etc., and with other starchy foods
+such as rice and grains. Here the cooking serves to break up and
+separate the hard starch granules and to make them more pervious to
+penetration by the digestive juices.
+
+How to Cook Vegetables
+
+After the vegetables are thoroughly washed and cut into pieces as
+desired, place them in the cooking vessel, adding only enough water
+to keep them from burning, cover the vessel closely with a lid and
+let them steam slowly in their own juices.
+
+The leafy vegetables (cabbage, spinach, kale, etc.), usually contain
+enough water for their own steaming.
+
+Cook all vegetables only as long as is required to make them soft
+enough for easy mastication. Do not throw away a drop of the water
+in which such vegetables as carrots, beets, asparagus, oyster plant,
+egg plant, etc., have been cooked. Use what is left for the making
+of soups and sauces.
+
+The organic mineral salts contained in the vegetables readily boil
+out into the water. If the vegetables, as is the usual custom, are
+boiled in a large quantity of water, then drained or, what is still
+worse, pressed out, they have lost their nutritive and medicinal
+value. The mineral salts have vanished in the sink, the remains are
+insipid and indigestible and have to be soaked in soup stock and
+seasoned with strong condiments and spices to make them at all
+palatable.
+
+Fruits and Berries
+
+Next to the leafy vegetables, fruits and berries are the most
+valuable foods of the organic minerals group. Lemons, grapefruit,
+oranges, apples are especially beneficial as blood purifiers. Plums,
+pears, peaches, apricots, cherries, grapes, etc., contain large
+amounts of fruit sugars in easily assimilable form and are also very
+valuable on account of their mineral salts.
+
+The different kinds of berries are even richer in mineral salts than
+the acid and subacid fruits. In the country homes of Germany they
+are always at hand either dried or preserved to serve during the
+winter not only as delicious foods but also as valuable home
+remedies.
+
+Fruits and berries are best eaten raw, although they may be stewed
+or baked. Very few people know that rhubarb and cranberries are very
+palatable when cut up fine and well mixed with honey, being allowed
+to stand for about an hour before serving. Prepared in this way,
+they require much less sweetening and therefore do not tax the
+organism nearly as much as the ordinary rhubarb or cranberry sauce,
+which usually contains an excessive amount of sugar.
+
+Cooking of Fruits
+
+It is better to cook apples, cranberries, rhubarb, strawberries, and
+all other acid fruits without sugar until soft, and to add the sugar
+afterward. Much less sugar will be required to sweeten them
+sufficiently than when the sugar is added before or during the
+cooking.
+
+Dried fruits rank next to the fresh in value, as the evaporating
+process only removes a large percentage of water, without changing
+the chemical composition of the fruit in any way. Prunes, apricots,
+apples, pears, peaches and berries may be obtained in the dried
+state all through the year. Dates, figs, raisins and currants also
+come under this head.
+
+Olives are an excellent food. They are very rich in fats (about 50
+percent), and contain also considerable quantities of organic salts.
+They are therefore a good substitute for animal fat.
+
+Avoid factory-canned fruits. In the first place, they have become
+deteriorated by the cooking process and secondly, they usually
+contain poisonous chemical preservatives. Home-preserved fruits and
+vegetables are all right providing they do not contain too much
+sugar and no poisonous preservative.
+
+Bananas differ from the juicy fruits in that they consist almost
+entirely of starches, dextrines and sugars. They belong to the
+carbohydrate groups and should be used sparingly by people suffering
+from intestinal indigestion.
+
+However, we do not share the belief entertained by many people that
+bananas are injurious under all circumstances. We consider them an
+excellent food, especially for children.
+
+Mixing Fruits and Vegetables
+
+Many people, when they first sit down to our table, are horrified to
+see how we mix fruits and vegetables in the same meal. They have
+been taught that it is a cardinal sin against the laws of health to
+do this. After they overcome their prejudice and partake heartily of
+the meals as we serve them, they are greatly surprised to find that
+these combinations of vegetables and juicy fruits are not only
+harmless, but agreeable and highly beneficial.
+
+We have never been able to find any good reason why these foods
+should not be mixed and our experience proves that no ill effects
+can be traced to this practice except in very rare instances. There
+are a few individuals with whom the mixing of fruits and vegetables
+does not seem to agree. These, of course, should refrain from it. We
+must comply with idiosyncrasies until they are overcome by natural
+living.
+
+Eating fruits only or vegetables only at one and the same meal
+limits the selection and combination of foods to a very considerable
+extent and tends to create monotony, which is not only unpleasant
+but injurious. The flow of saliva and of the digestive juices is
+greatly increased by the agreeable sight, smell and taste of
+appetizing food and these depend largely upon its variety.
+
+With very few exceptions, every one of our patients (and we have in
+our institution as fine a collection of dyspeptics as can be found
+anywhere) heartily enjoys our mixed dietary and is greatly benefited
+by it.
+
+Mixing Starches and Acid Fruits
+
+Occasionally we find that one or another of our patients cannot eat
+starchy foods and acid fruits at the same meal without experiencing
+digestive disturbances. Whenever this is the case, it is best to
+take with bread or cereals only sweet, alkaline fruits such as
+prunes, figs, dates, raisins, or, in their season, watermelons and
+cantaloupes or the alkaline vegetables such as radishes, lettuce,
+onions, cabbage slaw, etc. The acid and subacid fruits should then
+be taken between those meals which consist largely of starchy foods.
+
+A Word About the Milk Diet
+
+When we explain that the natural diet is based upon the chemical
+composition of milk because milk is the only perfect natural food
+combination in existence, the question comes up: "Why, then, not
+live on milk entirely?" To this we reply: While milk is the natural
+food for the newborn and growing infant, it is not natural for the
+adult. The digestive apparatus of the infant is especially adapted
+to the digestion of milk, while that of the adult requires more
+solid and bulky food.
+
+Milk is a very beneficial article of diet in all acid diseases,
+because it contains comparatively low percentages of carbohydrates
+and proteins and large amounts of organic salts.
+
+However, not everybody can use milk as a food or medicine. In many
+instances it causes biliousness, fermentation and constipation.
+
+In cases where it is easily digested, a straight milk diet often
+proves very beneficial. As a rule, however, it is better to take
+fruits or vegetable salads with the milk.
+
+Directly with milk may be taken any sweetish, alkaline fruits such
+as melons, sweet pears, etc., or the dried fruits, such as prunes,
+dates, figs, and raisins, also vegetable salads. With the latter, if
+taken together with milk, little or no lemon juice should be used.
+
+All acid and subacid fruits should be taken between the milk meals.
+
+A patient on a milk diet may take from one to five quarts of milk
+daily, according to his capacity to digest it. This quantity may be
+distributed over the day after the following plan:
+
+Breakfast: One to three pints of milk, sipped slowly with any of the
+sweetish, alkaline fruits mentioned above, or with vegetable salads
+composed of lettuce, celery, raw cabbage slaw, watercress, green
+onions, radishes, carrots, etc
+
+10:00 A.M.: Grapefruit, oranges, peaches, apples, apricots, berries,
+grapes or other acid and subacid fruits.
+
+Luncheon: The same as breakfast.
+
+3:00 P.M. The same as 10 a.m.
+
+Supper: The same as breakfast. An orange or apple may be taken
+before retiring.
+
+When it is advisable to take a greater variety of food together with
+large quantities of milk, good whole grain bread and butter, cream,
+honey, cooked vegetables, moderate amounts of potatoes and cereals
+may be added to the dietary.
+
+Buttermilk
+
+Buttermilk is an excellent food for those with whom it agrees. In
+many instances a straight buttermilk diet for a certain period will
+prove very beneficial. This is especially true in all forms of uric
+acid diseases.
+
+Sour milk or clabber also has excellent medicinal qualities and may
+be taken freely by those with whom it agrees.
+
+Drinks
+
+It has been stated before that coffee, tea and alcoholic beverages
+should be avoided.
+
+Instead of the customary coffee, tea or cocoa, delicious drinks,
+which are nutritious and at the same time nonstimulating, may be
+prepared from the different fruit and vegetable juices. They may be
+served cold in hot weather and warm in winter. Recipes for fruit and
+vegetable drinks will be included in our new Vegetarian Cookbook,
+now in preparation.
+
+If more substantial drinks are desired, white of egg may be added or
+the entire egg may be used in combination with prune juice, fig
+juice or any of the acid fruit juices. Other desirable and
+unobjectionable additions to beverages are flaked nuts or bananas
+mashed to a liquid.
+
+The juice of a lemon or an orange, unsweetened, diluted with twice
+the amount of water, taken upon rising, is one of the best means of
+purifying the blood and other fluids of the body and, incidentally,
+clearing the complexion. The water in which prunes or figs have been
+cooked should be taken freely to remedy constipation.
+
+As a practical illustration, I shall describe briefly the daily
+dietary regimen as it is followed in our sanitarium work.
+
+Breakfast consists of juicy fruits, raw, baked or stewed, a cereal
+(whole wheat steamed, cracked wheat, shredded wheat, corn flakes,
+oat meal, etc.), and our health bread with butter, cottage cheese or
+honey. Nuts of various kinds, as well as figs, dates, or raisins,
+are always on the table. To those of our patients who desire a
+drink, we serve milk, buttermilk or cereal coffee.
+
+Twice a week we serve eggs, preferably raw, soft boiled or poached.
+
+Luncheon is served at noontime and is composed altogether of acid
+and subacid fruits, vegetable salads or both. We have found by
+experience that, by having one meal consist entirely of fruits and
+vegetables, the medicinal properties of these foods have a chance to
+act on the system without interference by starchy and protein food
+elements.
+
+Dinner is served to our patients between five and six. The items of
+the daily menu comprise relishes, such as radishes, celery, olives,
+young onions, raw carrots, etc., soup, one or two cooked vegetables,
+potatoes, preferably boiled or baked in their skins, and a dessert
+consisting of either a fruit combination or a pudding.
+
+We serve soup three times a week only, because we believe that a
+large amount of fluid of any kind taken into the system at meal time
+dilutes and thereby weakens the digestive juices. For this reason it
+is well to masticate with the soup some bread or crackers or some
+vegetable relish.
+
+As drinks we serve to those who desire it water, milk or buttermilk.
+
+Prunes or figs, stewed or raw, are served at every meal to those who
+require a specially laxative diet.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI
+
+
+Acid Diseases
+
+
+The origin, progressive development and cure of acid diseases are
+very much the same whether they manifest as rheumatism,
+arteriosclerosis, stones (calculi), gravel, diabetes, Bright's
+disease, affections of the heart or apoplexy.
+
+The human body is made up of acid and alkaline constituents. In
+order to have normal conditions and functions of tissues and organs,
+both must be present in the right proportions. If either the acid or
+the alkaline elements are present in excessive or insufficient
+quanitities, abnormal conditions and functions, that is, disease
+will be the result.
+
+All acids, with the exception of carbonic acid, exert a tensing
+influence upon the tissues of the body, while alkalies have a
+relaxing effect. The normal functions of the body depend upon the
+equilibrium between these opposing forces.
+
+Acidity and alkalinity undoubtedly play an important part in the
+generation of electricity and magnetism in the human organism. Every
+electric cell and battery contains acid and alkaline elements; and
+the human body is a dynamo made up of innumerable minute electric
+cells and batteries in the forms of living, protoplasmic cells and
+organs.
+
+It has been claimed that what we call vital force is electricity and
+magnetism, and that these forces are manufactured in the human body.
+This, however, is but a partial statement of the truth. It is true
+that vital force manifests in the body as electricity and magnetism,
+but life or vital force itself is not generated in the system.
+
+Life is a primary force; it is the source of all activity animating
+the universe. From this primary force other, secondary forces are
+derived, such as electricity, magnetism, mind force, nerve and
+muscle force, etc.
+
+These secondary, derived forces cannot be changed back into vital
+force in the human organism. Nothing can give life but LIFE itself.
+
+When the physical body is dead, as we call it, the life which left
+it is active in the spiritual body. It is independent of the
+physical organism just as electricity is independent of the
+incandescent bulb in which it manifests as light.
+
+After this digression we shall return to our study of the cause and
+development of acid diseases. Nearly every disease originating in
+the human body is due to or accompanied by the excessive formation
+of different kinds of acids in the system, the most important of
+which are uric, carbonic, sulphuric, phosphoric and oxalic acids.
+These, together with xanthines, poisonous alkaloids and ptomaines,
+are formed during the processes of protein and starch digestion and
+in the breaking down and decay of cells and tissues.
+
+Of these different waste products, uric acid causes probably the
+most trouble in the organism. The majority of diseases arising
+within the human body are due to its erratic behavior. Together with
+oxalic acid, it is responsible for arteriosclerosis, arthritic
+rheumatism and the formation of calculi.
+
+Dr. Haig of London has done excellent work in the investigation of
+uric-acid poisoning, but he becomes one-sided when he makes uric
+acid the scapegoat for all disease conditions originating in the
+organism. In his philosophy of disease he fails to take into
+consideration the effects of other acids and systemic poisons. For
+instance, he does not mention the fact that carbonic acid is
+produced in the system somewhat similarly to the formation of coal
+gas in the furnace; and that its accumulation prevents the entrance
+of oxygen into the cells and tissues, thus causing asphyxiation or
+oxygen starvation, which manifests in the symptoms of anemia and
+tuberculosis.
+
+Neither does Dr. Haig explain the effects of other destructive
+by-products formed during the digestion of starches and proteins.
+Sulphurous acid and sulphuric acid (vitriol), as well as phosphorus
+and phosphoric acids actually burn up the tissues of the body. They
+destroy the cellulose membranes which form the protecting skins or
+envelopes of the cells, dissolve the protoplasm and allow the latter
+to escape into the circulation. This accounts for the symptoms of
+Bright's disease, the presence of albumen (cell protoplasm) in blood
+and urine, the clogging of the circulation, the consequent
+stagnation and the accumulation of blood serum (dropsy) and the
+final breaking down of the tissues (necrosis) resulting in open
+sores and ulcers.
+
+Excess of phosphorus and the acids derived from it overstimulates
+the brain and the nervous system, causing nervousness, irritability,
+hysteria and the different forms of mania.
+
+An example of this is the distemper of a horse when given too much
+oats and not enough grass or hay. The excess of phosphorus and
+phosphoric acids formed from the protein materials of the grain, if
+not neutralized by the alkaline minerals contained in grasses, hay
+or straw, will overstimulate and irritate the nervous system of the
+animal and cause it to become nervous, irritable and vicious. These
+symptoms disappear when the rations of oats are decreased and when
+more fresh grass or hay is fed in place of the grain.
+
+Similar effects to those produced upon the horse by an excess of
+grains are caused in the human organism, especially in the sensitive
+nervous system of the child, by a surplus of protein foods, of meat,
+eggs, grains and pulses.
+
+Still, when patients suffering from overstimulation of the brain and
+nervous system consult their doctor, his advice in almost every
+instance is: "Your nerves are weak and overwrought. You need plenty
+of good, nourishing food (broths, meat and eggs), and 'a good
+tonic.'"
+
+The remedies prescribed by the doctor are the very things which
+caused the trouble in the first place.
+
+As stated before, uric acid is undoubtedly one of the most common
+causes of disease and therefore deserves especial attention. Through
+the study of its peculiar behavior under different circumstances and
+influences, the cause, nature and development of all acid diseases
+will become clearer.
+
+Like urea, uric acid is one of the end products of protein
+digestion. It is formed in much smaller quantities than urea, in
+proportion of about one to fifty, but the latter is more easily
+eliminated from the system through kidneys and skin.
+
+The principal ingredient in the formation of uric acid is nitrogen,
+one of the six elements which enter into all proteid or albuminous
+food materials, also called nitrogenous foods. Uric acid, as one of
+the by-products of digestion, is therefore always present in the
+blood and, in moderate quantities, serves useful purposes in the
+economy of the human and animal organism like the other waste
+materials. It becomes a source of irritation and cause of disease
+only when it is present in the circulation or in the tissues in
+excessive amounts.
+
+How Uric Acid Is Precipitated
+
+The alkaline blood takes up the uric acid, dissolves it and holds it
+in solution in the circulation until it is carried to the organs of
+depuration and eliminated in perspiration and urine. If, however,
+through the excessive use of nitrogenous foods or defective
+elimination, the amount of uric acid in the system is increased
+beyond a certain limit, the blood loses its power to dissolve it and
+it forms a sticky, glue-like, colloid substance, which occludes or
+blocks up the minute blood vessels (capillaries), so that the blood
+cannot pass readily from the arterial system into the venous
+circulation.
+
+This interference with the free passing of the blood is greater in
+proportion to the distance from the heart, because the farther from
+the heart, the less the force behind the circulation. Therefore we
+find that slowing up of the blood currents, whether due to uric acid
+occlusion or any other cause, is more pronounced in the surface of
+the body and in the extremities than in the interior parts and
+organs.
+
+This occlusion of the surface circulation can be easily observed and
+even measured by a simple test. Press the tip of the forefinger of
+one hand on the back of the other. A white spot will be formed where
+the blood has receded from the surface on account of the pressure.
+Now observe how quickly or how slowly the blood returns into this
+white patch.
+
+Dr. Haig says that, if the reflux of the blood take place within two
+or three seconds, the circulation is normal and not obstructed by
+uric acid. If, however, the blood does not return for four or more
+seconds, it is a sign that the capillary circulation is obstructed
+by colloid uric acid occlusion.
+
+In this connection I would call attention to the fact that the
+accumulation of carbonic acid in the cells and tissues, and the
+resulting oxygen starvation, may produce similar interference with
+the circulation and result in the same symptoms, including the slow
+reflux of blood after pressure, as those which Dr. Haig ascribes to
+the action of uric acid only.
+
+When this obstruction of the circulation by uric or carbonic acid
+prevails throughout the body, the blood pressure is too high in the
+arterial blood vessels and in the interior organs, such as heart,
+lungs, brain, etc., and too low in the surface, the extremities and
+in the venous circulation. The return flow of the blood to the heart
+through the veins is sluggish and stagnant because the force from
+behind, that is, the arterial blood pressure, is obstructed by the
+uric acid which clogs the minute capillaries that form the
+connection between the arterial and the venous systems.
+
+Because of this interference with the normal circulation and
+distribution of the blood, uric acid produces many annoying and
+deleterious effects. It irritates the nerves, the mucous membranes
+and other tissues of the body, thus causing headaches, rheumatic
+pains in joints and muscles, congestion of blood in the head,
+flushes, dizziness, depression, fainting and even epilepsy.
+
+Other results of uric acid irritation are: inflammatory and
+catarrhal conditions of the bronchi, lungs, stomach, intestines,
+genitourinary organs; rapid pulse; palpitation of the heart; angina
+pectoris; etc.
+
+These colloid substances occlude the minute excretory ducts in
+liver, spleen, kidneys and other organs, interfering with their
+normal functions and causing the retention of morbid matter in the
+system.
+
+All these troublesome and destructive effects of uric acid poisoning
+may be greatly augmented by excessive accumulation of sulphuric,
+phosphoric and other acids, and by the formation of ptomaines and
+poisonous alkaloids during the metabolism of proteid substances.
+
+The entire group of symptoms caused by the excess of uric acid in
+the system and the resulting occlusion of the capillary blood
+vessels by colloid substances is called ~collemia~ [a glutinous or
+viscid condition of the blood].
+
+If in such a condition as collemia the amount of uric acid in the
+circulation is still farther increased by the taking of uric
+acid-producing food and drink and the saturation point of the blood
+is reached, that is, if the blood becomes overcharged with the acid,
+a curious phenomenon may be observed: the collaemic symptoms
+suddenly disappear as if by magic, giving way to a feeling of
+physical and mental buoyancy and strength.
+
+This wonderful change has been wrought because the blood has lost
+its capacity for dissolving uric acid and holding it in solution and
+the acid has been precipitated, thrown out of the circulation and
+deposited in the tissues of the body.
+
+After a period of rest, that is, when no uric acid-or
+xanthine-producing foods have been taken for some time, say,
+overnight, the blood regains its alkalinity and its capacity for
+dissolving and carrying uric acid and begins to reabsorb it from the
+tissues. As a consequence, the blood becomes again saturated with
+uric acid and the collaemic symptoms reappear.
+
+This explains why the hilariousness and exaltation of spirits at the
+banquet is followed by "Katzenjammer" [hangover] in the morning. It
+also explains why many people do not feel fit for their day's work
+unless they take a stimulant of some kind on arising. Their blood is
+continually filled with uric acid to the point of saturation and the
+extra amount contained in the coffee or alcohol repeats the process
+of uric-acid precipitation, the temporary stimulation and relief.
+
+Every time this precipitation of uric acid from the circulation is
+repeated, some of the morbid materials remain and accumulate in
+different parts and organs. If these irritating substances become
+lodged in the joints and muscles, arthritic or muscular rheumatism
+is the result. If acids, xanthines and oxalates of lime form earthy
+deposits along the walls of arteries and veins, these vessels harden
+and become inelastic, and their diameter is diminished. This
+obstructs the free circulation of the blood and causes malnutrition
+of the brain and other vital organs. Furthermore, the blood vessels
+become brittle and break easily and there is danger of hemorrhages.
+
+This explains the origin and development of arteriosclerosis
+(hardening of the arteries) and apoplexy.
+
+Apoplexy may also be caused by other acids and drug poisons which
+soften, corrode and destroy the walls of the blood vessels in the
+brain.
+
+In individuals of different constitutions, accumulations of uric
+acid, xanthines, oxalates of calcium and various other earthy
+substances form stones, gravel or sandy deposits in the kidneys, the
+gall bladder and in other parts and organs.
+
+The diseases caused by permanent deposits of uric acid in the
+tissues are called arthritic diseases, because the accumulations
+frequently occur in the joints.
+
+Thus we distinguish two distinct stages of uric acid diseases: the
+collaemic stage, marked by an excess of uric acid in the circulation
+and resulting in occlusion of the capillary blood vessels, and the
+arthritic stage, marked by permanent deposits of uric acid and other
+earthy substances in the tissues of the body.
+
+During the prevalence of the collaemic symptoms, that is, when the
+circulation is saturated with uric acid, the urine is also highly
+acid. When precipitation of the acid materials from the blood into
+the tissues has taken place, the amount of acid in the urine
+decreases materially.
+
+I have repeatedly stated that xanthines have the same effect upon
+the system as uric acid. Caffeine and theobromine, the narcotic
+principles of coffee and tea, are xanthines; and so is the nicotine
+contained in tobacco. Peas, beans, lentils, mushrooms and peanuts,
+besides being very rich in uric acid-producing proteins, carry also
+large percentages of xanthines, which are chemically almost
+identical with uric acid and have a similar effect upon the organism
+and its functions.
+
+From what has been said, it becomes clear why the meat-eater craves
+alcohol and xanthines. When by the taking of flesh foods the blood
+has become saturated with uric acid and the annoying symptoms of
+collaemia make their appearance in the forms of lassitude, headache
+and nervous depression, then alcohol and the xanthines contained in
+coffee, tea and tobacco will cause the precipitation of the acids
+from the circulation into the tissues of the body, and thus
+temporarily relieve the collaemic symptoms and create a feeling of
+well-being and stimulation.
+
+Gradually, however, the blood regains its alkalinity and its
+acid-dissolving power and enough of the acid deposits are reabsorbed
+by the circulation to cause a return of the symptoms of collaemia.
+Then arises a craving for more alcohol, coffee, tea, nicotine or
+xanthine-producing foods in order to again obtain temporary relief
+and stimulation, and so on, ad infinitum.
+
+The person addicted to the use of stimulants is never himself. His
+mental, moral and emotional equilibrium is always unbalanced. His
+brain is muddled with poisons and he lacks the self-control, the
+clear vision and steady hand necessary for the achievement of
+success in any line of endeavor.
+
+We can now understand why one stimulant craves another, why it is
+almost impossible to give up one stimulant without giving up all
+others as well.
+
+From the foregoing it will have become clear that the stimulating
+effect of alcohol and of many so-called tonics depends upon their
+power to clear the circulation temporarily of uric and other acids.
+Those who have read this chapter carefully, will know why this
+effect is deceptive and temporary and why it is followed by a return
+of the collaemic symptoms in aggravated form, and how these are
+gradually changed into chronic arthritic uric acid diseases.
+
+In order to give a better idea of the various phases of uric acid
+poisoning, I have used the following illustration in some of my
+lectures:
+
+A man may carry a burden of fifty pounds on his shoulders without
+difficulty or serious discomfort. Let this correspond to the normal
+solving-power and carrying-capacity of the blood for uric acid.
+Suppose you add gradually to the burden on the man's back until its
+weight has reached one-hundred and fifty pounds. He may still be
+able to carry the burden, but as the weight increases he will begin
+to show signs of distress. This increase of weight and the attendant
+discomfort correspond to the increase of uric acid in the blood and
+the accompanying symptoms of collaemia.
+
+If you increase the burden on the man's shoulders still further,
+beyond his individual carrying-capacity, a point will be reached
+when he can no longer support its weight and will throw it off
+entirely. This climax corresponds to the saturation point of the
+blood, when the limit of its acid-carrying capacity is exceeded and
+its acid contents are precipitated into the tissues.
+
+The Treatment of Acid Diseases
+
+The treatment of acid diseases is the same as of all other diseases
+that are due to the violation of Nature's laws: purification of
+blood and tissues from within and building up of the vital fluids
+(blood and lymph) on a natural basis through normal habits of
+eating, dressing, bathing, breathing, working, resting and thinking
+as outlined in other parts of this volume.
+
+In severe cases which have reached the chronic stage, the treatment
+must be supplemented by the more aggressive methods of strict diet,
+hydrotherapy, curative gymnastics, massage, manipulation and
+homeopathic medication.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVII
+
+
+Fasting
+
+
+Next in importance to building up the blood on a natural basis is
+the elimination of waste, morbid matter and poisons from the system.
+This depends to a large extent upon the right (natural) diet; but it
+must be promoted by the different methods of eliminative treatment:
+fasting, hydrotherapy, massage, physical exercise, air-and sunbaths
+and, in the way of medicinal treatment, by homeopathic, herb and
+vitochemical remedies.
+
+Foremost among the methods of purification stands fasting, which of
+late years has become quite popular and is regarded by many people
+as a panacea for all human ailments. However, it is a two-edged
+sword. According to circumstances, it may do a great deal of good or
+a great deal of harm.
+
+Kuhne, the German pioneer of Nature Cure, claimed that "disease is a
+unit," that it consists in the accumulation of waste and morbid
+matter in the system. Since his time, many "naturists" claim that
+fasting offers the best and quickest means for eliminating systemic
+poisons and other encumbrances.
+
+To "fast it out" seems simple and plausible, but it does not always
+prove to be successful in practice. Fasting enthusiasts forget that
+the elimination of waste and morbid matter from the system is more
+of a chemical than a mechanical process. They also overlook the fact
+that in many cases lowered vitality and weakened powers of
+resistance precede and make possible the accumulation of morbid
+matter in the organism.
+
+If the encumbrances consist merely of superfluous flesh and fat or
+of accumulated waste materials, fasting may be sufficient to break
+up the accumulations and to eliminate the impurities that are
+clogging blood and tissues.
+
+If, however, the disease has its origin in other than mechanical
+causes, or if it is due to a weakened, negative constitution and
+lowered powers of resistance, fasting may aggravate the abnormal
+conditions instead of improving them.
+
+We hear frequently of long fasts, extending over days and weeks,
+undertaken recklessly without the prescription and guidance of a
+competent medical adviser, without proper preparation of the system
+and the right subsequent treatment. Many a good constitution has
+thus been permanently injured and wrecked.
+
+When Fasting Is Indicated
+
+Persons of sanguine, vital temperament, with the animal qualities
+strongly developed, enslaved by bad habits and evil passions, will
+be greatly benefited by occasional short fasts. In such cases, the
+experience affords a fine drill in self-discipline, strengthening of
+self-control and conquest of the lower appetites.
+
+Vigorous, fleshy people, positive physically and mentally,
+especially those who do not take sufficient physical exercise,
+should take frequent fasts of one, two, or three days' duration for
+the reduction of superfluous flesh and fat and for the elimination
+of systemic waste and other morbid materials. Such people should
+never eat more than two meals a day, and many get along best on one
+meal.
+
+However, different temperaments and constitutions require different
+treatment and management. People of a nervous, emotional
+temperament, especially those who are below normal in weight and
+physically and mentally negative, may be seriously and permanently
+injured by fasting. They should never fast except in acute diseases
+and during eliminative healing crises, when Nature calls for the
+fast as a means of cure.
+
+People of this type are usually thin, with weak and flabby muscles.
+Their vital activities are at a low ebb and their magnetic envelopes
+(aura) are wasted and attenuated like their physical bodies. The red
+aura, which is created by the action of the purely animal functions
+and forces, is more or less deficient or entirely lacking. Such
+people have the tendency to become abnormally sensitive to
+conditions in the magnetic field (the astral plane).
+
+Next to the hypnotic or mediumistic process, there is nothing that
+induces abnormal psychism so quickly as fasting. During a prolonged
+fast, the purely animal functions of digestion, assimilation and
+elimination are almost completely at a standstill. This depression
+of the physical functions arouses and increases the psychic
+functions and may produce intense emotionalism and abnormal activity
+of the senses of the spiritual-material body, the individual thus
+becoming abnormally clairvoyant, clairaudient and otherwise
+sensitive to conditions on the spiritual planes of life.
+
+This explains the spiritual exaltation and the visions of heavenly
+scenes and beings or the fights with demons which are frequently,
+indeed uniformly, reported by hermits, ascetics, saints, yogi,
+fakirs and dervishes.
+
+Fasting facilitates hypnotic control of the sensitive by positive
+intelligences either on the physical or on the spiritual plane of
+being. In the one case we speak of hypnotism, in the other of
+mediumship, obsession or possession. These conditions are usually
+diagnosed by the regular practitioner as nervousness, nervous
+prostration, hysteria, paranoia, delusional insanity, double
+personality, mania, etc.
+
+The destructive effects of fasting are intensified by solitude,
+grief, worry, introspection, religious exaltation or any other form
+of depressive or destructive mental and emotional activity.
+
+Spirit controls often force their subjects to abstain from food,
+thus rendering them still more negative and submissive. Psychic
+patients, when controlled or obsessed, will frequently not eat
+unless they are forced or fed like an infant. When asked why they do
+not want to eat, these patients reply: "I mustn't. They will not let
+me." When we say: "Who?" the answer is: "These people. Don't you see
+them?" pointing to a void, and becoming impatient when told that no
+one is there. The regular school says delusion; we call it abnormal
+clairvoyance.
+
+In other instances the control tells the subject that his food and
+drink are poisoned or unclean. To the obsessed victim these
+suggestions are absolute reality.
+
+To place persons of the negative, sensitive type on prolonged fasts
+and thus to expose them to the dangers just described is little
+short of criminal. Such patients need an abundance of the most
+positive animal and vegetable foods in order to build up and
+strengthen their physical bodies and their magnetic envelopes, which
+form the dividing and protecting wall between the terrestrial plane
+and the magnetic field.
+
+A negative vegetarian diet, consisting principally of fruits, nuts,
+cereal and pulses, but deficient in animal foods (the dairy
+products, eggs, honey) and in the vegetables growing in or near the
+ground may result in conditions similar to those which accompany
+prolonged fasting.
+
+Animal foods are elaborated under the influence of a higher
+life-element* than that controlling the vegetable kingdom, and foods
+derived from the animal kingdom are necessary to develop and
+stimulate the positive qualities in man.
+
+*This subject will be treated more fully in another volume of this
+series entitled "Natural Dietitics."
+
+In the case of the psychic, who is already deficient in the physical
+(animal) and overdeveloped in the spiritual qualities, it is
+especially necessary, in order to restore and maintain the lost
+equilibrium, to build up in him the animal qualities.
+
+How to Take an Occasional Therapeutic Fast
+
+Before, during and after a therapeutic fast, everything must be done
+to keep elimination active, in order to prevent the reabsorption of
+the toxins that are being stirred up and liberated.
+
+Fasting involves rapid breaking down of the tissues. This creates
+great quantities of worn-out cell materials and other morbid
+substances. Unless these poison-producing accumulations are promptly
+eliminated, they will be reabsorbed into the system and cause
+autointoxication.
+
+To prevent this, bowels, kidneys and skin must be kept in active
+condition. The diet, for several days before and after the fast,
+should consist largely of uncooked fruits and vegetables and the
+different methods of natural stimulative treatment to assure proper
+bowel action should be systematically applied.
+
+During a fast, every bit of vitality must be economized; therefore
+the passive treatments are to be preferred to active exercise,
+although a certain amount of exercise (especially walking) daily in
+the open air accompanied by deep breathing should not be neglected.
+
+While fasting, intestinal evacuation usually ceases, especially
+where there is a natural tendency to sluggishness of the bowels.
+Injections [salt and baking soda enemas are best] are therefore in
+order and during prolonged fasts may be taken every few days.
+
+By prolonged fasts we understand fasts that last from one to four
+weeks, short fasts being those of one, two or three days' duration.
+
+Moderate drinking is beneficial during a fast as well as at other
+times; but excessive consumption of water, the so-called flushing of
+the system, is very injurious. Under ordinary conditions from five
+to eight glasses of water a day are probably sufficient; the
+quantity consumed must be regulated by the desire of the patient.
+
+Those who are fasting should mix their drinking water with the juice
+of acid fruits, preferably lemon, orange or grapefruit. These juices
+act as eliminators and are fine natural antiseptics.
+
+Never use distilled water, whether during a fast or at any other
+time. Deprived of its own mineral constituents, distilled water
+leeches the mineral elements and organic salts out of the tissues of
+the body and thereby intensifies dysemic [blood deterioration]
+conditions.
+
+While fasting, the right mental attitude is all-important. Unless
+you can do it with perfect equanimity, without fear or misgiving, do
+not fast at all. Destructive mental conditions may more than offset
+the beneficial effects of the fast.
+
+To recapitulate: Never undertake a prolonged fast unless you have
+been properly prepared by natural diet and treatment, and never
+without the guidance of a competent Nature Cure doctor.
+
+Fasting in Chronic Diseases
+
+At all times some of our patients can be found fasting; but they do
+not begin until the right physiological and psychological moment has
+arrived, until the fast is indicated. When the organism, or rather
+the individual cell, is ready to begin the work of elimination, then
+assimilation should cease for the time being, because it interferes
+with the excretory processes going on in the system.
+
+To fast before the system is ready for it, means mineral salts
+starvation and defective elimination.
+
+Given a vigorous, positive constitution, encumbered with too much
+flesh and with a tendency to chronic constipation, rheumatism, gout,
+apoplexy and other diseases due to food poisoning, a fast may be
+indicated from the beginning. But it is different with persons of
+the weak, negative type.
+
+Ordinarily, the organism resembles a huge sponge, which absorbs the
+elements of nutrition from the digestive tract. During a fast the
+process is reversed, the sponge is being squeezed and gives off the
+impurities contained in it.
+
+However, this is a purely mechanical process and deals only with the
+mechanical aspect of disease: with the presence of waste matter in
+the system. It does not take into consideration the chemical aspect
+of disease. We have learned that most of the morbid matter in the
+system has its origin in the acid waste products of starchy and
+protein digestion.
+
+In rheumatism and gout, the colloid (glue-like) and earthy deposits
+collect in the joints and muscular tissues; in arteriosclerosis, in
+the arteries and veins; in paralysis, epilepsy and kindred diseases,
+in brain and nerve tissues.
+
+The accumulation of these waste products is due, in turn, to a
+deficiency in the system of the alkaline, acid-binding and
+acid-eliminating mineral elements. In point of fact, almost every
+form of disease is characterized by a lack of these organic mineral
+salts in blood and tissues.
+
+Stones, gravel (calculi), etc., grow in acid blood only, and must be
+dissolved and eliminated by rendering the blood alkaline. This is
+accomplished by the absorption of the alkaline salts, contained most
+abundantly in the juicy fruits, the leafy and juicy vegetables, the
+hulls of cereals and in milk.
+
+How, then, are these all-important solvents and eliminators to be
+supplied to the organism by total abstinence from food?
+
+Prolonged fasting undoubtedly lowers the patient's vitality and
+powers of resistance. But natural elimination of waste products and
+systemic poisons (healing crises) depends upon increased vitality
+and activity of the organism and the individual cells that compose
+it.
+
+For these reasons we find, in most cases, that proper adjustment of
+the diet, both as to quality and quantity, together with the
+different forms of natural corrective and stimulative treatment,
+must precede the fasting.
+
+The great majority of chronic patients have become chronics because
+their skin, kidneys, intestines and other organs of elimination are
+in a sluggish, atrophied condition. As a result, their system is
+overloaded with morbid matter.
+
+Moreover, during the fast the system has to live on its own tissues,
+which are being broken down rapidly. This results in the production
+and liberation of additional large quantities of morbid matter and
+poisons, which must be eliminated promptly to prevent their
+reabsorption.
+
+However, the atrophic condition of the organs of elimination makes
+this impossible and there are not enough alkaline mineral elements
+to neutralize the destructive acids. Therefore the impurities remain
+and accumulate in the system and may cause serious aggravations and
+complications.
+
+Is it not wiser first of all to build up the blood on a normal basis
+by natural diet and to put the organs of elimination in good working
+order by the natural methods of treatment before fasting is
+enforced? This is, indeed, the only rational procedure and will
+always be followed by the best possible results.
+
+When, under the influence of a rational diet, the blood has regained
+its normal composition, when mechanical obstructions to the free
+flow of blood and nerve currents have been removed by manipulative
+treatment, when skin, kidneys, bowels, nerves and nerve centers, in
+fact, every cell in the body has been stimulated into vigorous
+activity by the various methods of natural treatment, then the cells
+themselves begin to eliminate their morbid encumbrances. The waste
+materials are carried in the blood stream to the organs of
+elimination and incite them to acute reactions or healing crises in
+the form of diarrheas, catarrhal discharges, fevers, inflammations,
+skin eruptions, boils, abscesses, etc.
+
+Now the sponge is being squeezed and cleansed of its impurities in a
+natural manner. The mucous membranes of stomach and bowels are
+called upon to assist in the work of housecleaning; hence the coated
+tongue, lack of appetite, digestive disturbances, nausea,
+biliousness, sour stomach, fermentation, flatulence and occasionally
+vomiting and purging.
+
+These digestive disturbances are always accompanied by mental
+depression, the blues, homesickness, irritability, fear,
+hopelessness, etc.
+
+With the advent of these cleansing and healing crises the
+physiological and psychological moment for fasting has arrived. All
+the processes of assimilation are at a standstill. The entire
+organism is eliminating.
+
+We have learned that these healing crises usually arrive during the
+sixth week of natural treatment.
+
+To take food now would mean to force assimilation and thereby to
+stop elimination and perchance to interfere with or to check a
+beneficial healing crisis.
+
+Therefore we regard it as absolutely essential to stop eating as
+soon as any form of acute elimination makes its appearance and we do
+not give any food except acid fruit juices diluted with water until
+all signs of acute eliminative activity have subsided, whether this
+require a few days or a few weeks or a few months.
+
+Some time ago I treated a severe case of typhoid malaria. No food,
+except water mixed with a little orange or lemon juice, passed the
+lips of the patient for eight weeks. When all disease symptoms had
+disappeared, we allowed a few days for the rebuilding of the
+intestinal mucous membranes. Thereafter food was administered with
+the usual precautions. The patient gained rapidly and within six
+weeks weighed more than before the fever. During the entire period I
+saw the patient only twice, the simple directions being carried out
+faithfully by his relatives.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVIII
+
+
+Hydrotherapy Treatment of Chronic Disease
+
+
+While in our treatment of acute diseases we use wet packs and cold
+ablutions to promote the radiation of heat and thereby to reduce the
+fever temperature, our aim in the treatment of chronic diseases is
+to arouse the system to acute eliminative effort. In other words,
+while in acute disease our hydropathic treatment is sedative, in
+chronic diseases it is stimulative.
+
+The Good Effects of Cold-Water Applications
+
+(1) Stimulation of the Circulation. As before stated, cold water
+applied to the surface of the body arouses and stimulates the
+circulation all over the system. Blood counts before and after a
+cold-water application show a very marked increase in the number of
+red and white blood corpuscles. This does not mean that the cold
+water has in a moment created new blood cells, but it means that the
+blood has been stirred up and sent hurrying through the system, that
+the lazy blood cells which were lying inactively in the sluggish and
+stagnant blood stream and in the clogged and obstructed tissues are
+aroused to increased activity.
+
+Undoubtedly, the invigorating and stimulating influence of cold
+sprays, ablutions, sitz baths, barefoot walking in the dewy grass or
+on wet stones and all other cold-water applications depends largely
+upon their electromagnetic effects upon the system. This has been
+explained in Chapter Ten, "Natural Treatment of Acute Diseases."
+
+(2) Elimination of Impurities. As the cold water drives the blood
+with increased force through the system, it flushes the capillaries
+in the tissues and cleanses them from the accumulations of morbid
+matter and poisons which are one of the primary causes of acute and
+chronic diseases.
+
+As the blood rushes back to the surface it suffuses the skin, opens
+and relaxes the pores and the minute blood vessels or capillaries
+and thus unloads its impurities through the skin.
+
+Why We Favor Cold Water
+
+In the treatment of chronic diseases some advocates of natural
+methods of healing still favor warm or hot applications in the form
+of hot-water baths, different kinds of steam or sweat baths,
+electric light baths, hot compresses, fomentations, etc.
+
+However, the great majority of Nature Cure practitioners in Germany
+have abandoned hot applications of any kind almost entirely because
+of their weakening and enervating aftereffects and because in many
+instances they have not only failed to produce the expected results,
+but aggravated the disease conditions.
+
+We can explain the different effects of hot and cold water as well
+as of all other therapeutic agents upon the system by the Law of
+Action and Reaction. Applied to physics, this law reads: "Action and
+reaction are equal but opposite." I have adapted the Law of Action
+and Reaction to therapeutics in a somewhat circumscribed way as
+follows: "Every therapeutic agent affecting the human organism has a
+primary, temporary, and a secondary, permanent effect. The
+secondary, lasting effect is contrary to the primary, transient
+effect."
+
+The first, temporary effect of warmth above the body temperature,
+whether it be applied in the form of hot air or water, steam or
+light, is to draw the blood into the surface. Immediately after such
+an application the skin will be red and hot.
+
+The secondary and lasting effect, however (in accordance with the
+Law of Action and Reaction), is that the blood recedes into the
+interior of the body and leaves the skin in a bloodless and
+enervated condition subject to chills and predisposed to "catching
+cold."
+
+On the other hand, the first, transient effect of cold-water
+applications upon the body as a whole or any particular part is to
+chill the surface and send the blood scurrying inward, leaving the
+skin in a chilled, bloodless condition. This lack of blood and
+sensation of cold are at once telegraphed over the afferent nerves
+to headquarters in the brain, and from there the command goes forth
+to the nerve centers regulating the circulation: "Send blood into
+the surface!"
+
+As a result, the circulation is stirred up and accelerated
+throughout the system and the blood rushes with force into the
+depleted skin, flushing the surface of the body with warm, red blood
+and restoring to it the rosy color of health. This is the secondary
+effect. In other words, the well-applied cold-water treatment is
+followed by a good reaction and this is accompanied by many
+permanent beneficial results.
+
+The drawing and eliminating primary effect of hot applications, of
+sweat baths, etc., is at best only temporary, lasting only a few
+minutes and is always followed by a weakening reaction, while the
+drawing and eliminating action of the cold-water applications, being
+the secondary, lasting effect, exerts an enduring, invigorating and
+tonic influence upon the skin which enables it to throw off morbid
+matter not merely for ten or fifteen minutes, as in the sweat bath
+under the infiuence of excessive heat, but continually, by day and
+night.
+
+The Danger of Prolonged or
+
+Excessively Cold Applications
+
+As we have pointed out in the chapter dealing with water treatment
+in acute diseases, only water at ordinary temperature, as it comes
+from well or faucet, should be used in hydropathic applications. It
+is positively dangerous to apply ice bags to an inflamed organ or to
+use icy water for packs and ablutions in febrile conditions.
+
+Likewise, ice or icy water should not be used in the hydropathic
+treatment of chronic diseases. Excessive cold is as suppressive in
+its effects upon the organism as are poisonous antiseptics or
+antifever medicines.
+
+The baths, sprays, douches, etc., should not be kept up too long.
+The duration of the cold-water applications must be regulated by the
+individual conditions of the patient and by his powers of reaction;
+but it should be borne in mind that it is the short, quick
+application that produces the stimulating, electromagnetic effects
+upon the system.
+
+In the following pages are described some of the baths and other
+cold-water applications that are especially adapted to the treatment
+of chronic diseases.
+
+How to Keep the Feet Warm
+
+The proverb says: "Keep the head cool and the feet warm." This is
+good advice, but most people attempt to follow it by "doctoring"
+their cold feet with hot-water bottles, warming pans, hot bricks or
+irons, etc. These are excellent means of making the feet still
+colder, because "heat makes cold and cold makes heat."
+
+In accordance with the Law of Action and Reaction, hot applications
+drive the blood away from the feet, while cold applications draw the
+blood to the feet. Therefore, if your feet are cold and bloodless
+(which means that the blood is congested in other parts of the
+body), walk barefoot in the dewy grass, in a cool brook, on wet
+stone pavements or on the snow.
+
+Instead of putting a hot-water bottle to the feet of a bedridden
+invalid, bathe his feet with cold water, adding a little salt for
+its electric effect, then rub and knead (massage), and finish with a
+magnetic treatment by holding his feet between your hands and
+willing the blood to flow into them. This will have a lasting good
+effect not only upon the feet, but upon the entire organism.
+
+The following cold-water applications are very effective for curing
+chronic cold feet:
+
+(1) Foot Bath
+
+Stand in cold water reaching up to the ankle for one minute only.
+Dry the feet with a coarse towel and rub them vigorously with the
+hands, or walk about briskly for a few minutes. Repeat if necessary.
+
+(2) Leg Bath
+
+(a) Stand in water up to the calves, then proceed as above.
+
+(b) Stand in water up to the knees, then rub vigorously or walk as
+directed.
+
+(3) Barefoot Walking
+
+Walk barefoot in wet grass or on wet stone pavements several times a
+day, from ten to twenty minutes at a time, or less in case of
+weakness. The early morning dew upon the grass is especially
+beneficial; later in the day wet the grass or pavement with a hose.
+
+After barefoot walking, dry and rub the feet thoroughly and take a
+short, brisk walk in shoes and stockings.
+
+(4) Indoor Water-Treading
+
+Stand in a bathtub or large foottub containing about two inches of
+cold water, step and splash vigorously for several minutes, then dry
+and rub the feet and increase the circulation by walking around the
+room a few times.
+
+(5) Foot Spray
+
+Turn the full force of water from a hydrant or hose first on one
+foot, then on the other. Let the stream play alternately on the
+upper part of the feet and on the soles. The coldness and force of
+the water will draw the blood to the feet.
+
+These applications are excellent as a means of stimulating and
+equalizing the circulation and a sure cure for cold and clammy feet,
+as well as for sweaty feet.
+
+In this connection, we warn our readers most strongly against the
+use of drying powders or antiseptic washes to suppress foot-sweat.
+Epilepsy and other serious nervous disorders have been traced to
+this practice.
+
+(6) Partial Ablutions
+
+Partial ablutions with cold water are very useful in many instances,
+especially in local inflammation or where local congestion is to be
+relieved. The "Kalte Guss" [cold water splashing] forms an important
+feature of the Kneipp system of water cure.
+
+Sprays or showers may be administered to the head, arms, chest,
+back, thighs, knees or wherever indicated, with a dipper, a
+sprinkler or a hose attached to the faucet or hydrant. The water
+should be of natural temperature and the "guss" of short duration.
+
+(7) Limb Bath
+
+Take up cold water in the hollow of the hands from a running faucet
+or a bucket filled with water, rub arms and legs briskly for a few
+minutes.
+
+(8) Upper Body Bath
+
+Stand in an empty tub, take water in the hollow of the hands from a
+running faucet or a bucket filled with cold water and rub briskly
+the upper half of the body from neck to hips, for two or three
+minutes. Use a towel or brush for those parts of the body that you
+cannot reach with the hands.
+
+(9) Lower Body Bath
+
+Proceed as in (8), rubbing the lower part of the body from the waist
+downward.
+
+(10) Hip Bath
+
+Sit in a large basin or in the bathtub in enough water to cover the
+hips completely, the legs resting on the door or against the sides
+of the tub. While taking the hip bath, knead and rub the abdomen.
+
+Dry with a coarse towel, then rub and pat the skin with the hands
+for a few minutes.
+
+The duration of the hip bath and the temperature of the water must
+be adapted to individual conditions. Until you are accustomed to
+cold water, use water as cool as can be borne without discomfort.
+
+(11) The Morning Cold Rub
+
+The essentials for a cold rub, and in fact for every cold-water
+treatment, are warmth of the body before the application, coolness
+of the water (natural temperature), rapidity of action and friction
+or exercise to stimulate the circulation. No cold-water treatment
+should be taken when the body is in a chilled condition.
+
+Directly from the warmth of the bed, or after sunbath and exercise
+have produced a pleasant glow, go to the bathroom, sit in the empty
+tub with the stopper in place, turn on the cold water, and as it
+flows into the tub, catch it in the hollow of the hands and wash
+first the limbs, then the abdomen, then chest and back. Throw the
+water all over the body and rub the skin with the hands like you
+wash your face.
+
+Do this quickly but thoroughly. The entire procedure need not take
+up more than a few minutes. By the time the bath is finished, there
+may be from two to four inches of water in the tub. Use a towel or
+brush for the back if you cannot reach it otherwise.
+
+As long as there is a good reaction, the "cold rub" may be taken in
+an unheated bathroom even in cold weather.
+
+After the bath, dry the body quickly with a coarse towel and finish
+by rubbing with the hands until the skin is dry and smooth and you
+are aglow with the exercise, or expose the wet body to the fresh air
+before an open window and rub with the hands until dry and warm.
+
+A bath taken in this manner combines the beneficial effects of cold
+water, air, exercise and the magnetic friction of the hands on the
+body (life on life). No lifeless instrument or mechanical appliance
+can equal the dexterity, warmth and magnetism of the human hand.
+
+The bath must be so conducted that it is followed by a feeling of
+warmth and comfort. Some persons will be benefited by additional
+exercise or, better still, a brisk walk in the open air, while
+others will get better results by returning to the warmth of the
+bed.
+
+There is no better means for stimulating the general circulation and
+for increasing the eliminative activities of the system than this
+cold morning rub at the beginning of the day after the night's rest.
+If kept up regularly, its good effects will soon become apparent.
+
+This method of taking a morning bath is to be preferred to the
+plunge into a tub filled with cold water. While persons with very
+strong constitutions may experience no ill effects, to those who are
+weak and do not react readily, the cold plunge might prove a severe
+shock and strain upon the system.
+
+When a bathtub is not available, take the morning cold rub in the
+following manner:
+
+Stand in an empty washtub. In front of you, in the tub, place a
+basin or bucket filled with cold water. Wet the hands or a towel and
+wash the body, part by part, from the feet upward, then dry and rub
+with the hands as directed.
+
+(12) The Evening Sitz Bath
+
+The morning cold rub is stimulating in its effects, the evening sitz
+bath is quieting and relaxing. The latter is therefore especially
+beneficial if taken just before going to bed.
+
+The cold water draws the blood from brain and spinal cord and
+thereby insures better rest and sleep. It cools and relaxes the
+abdominal organs, sphincters, and orifices, stimulates gently and
+naturally the action of the bowels and of the urinary tract, and is
+equally effective in chronic constipation and in affections of the
+kidneys or bladder.
+
+The sitz bath is best taken in the regular sitz bathtub made for the
+purpose, but an ordinary bathtub or a washtub or pan may be used
+with equally good effect.
+
+Pour into the vessel a few inches of water at natural temperature,
+as it comes from the faucet, and sit in the water until a good
+reaction takes place--that is, until the first sensation of cold is
+followed by a feeling of warmth. This may take from a few seconds to
+a few minutes, according to the temperature of the water and the
+individual powers of reaction.
+
+Dry with a coarse towel, rub and pat the skin with the hands, then,
+in order to establish good reaction, practice deep breathing for a
+few minutes, alternating with the internal massage described in a
+later chapter.
+
+(13) The Head Bath
+
+Loss or discoloration of the hair is generally due to the lack of
+hair-building elements in the blood or to sluggish circulation in
+the scalp and a diseased condition of the hair follicles. Nothing
+more effectually stimulates the flow of blood to brain and scalp or
+promotes the elimination of waste matter and poisons from these
+parts than the head bath together with scalp massage.
+
+Under no circumstances use hair tonics, dandruff or eczema cures, or
+hair dyes. All such preparations contain poisons or at any rate
+strong antiseptics and germcides. Dandruff is a form of elimination
+and should not be suppressed. When the scalp is in good condition,
+it will disappear of its own accord.
+
+The Diagnosis from the Eye reveals the fact that glycerine, quinine,
+resorcin and other poisonous antiseptics and stimulants absorbed
+from scalp cures and hair tonics and deposited in the brain are in
+many cases the real cause of chronic headaches, neuralgia,
+dizziness, roaring in the ears, loss of hearing and sight, mental
+depression, irritability and even insanity.
+
+Cold water is an absolutely safe and at the same time a most
+effective means to promote the growth of hair, as many of our
+patients can testify.
+
+Whenever you have occasion to wash the face, wash also the head
+thoroughly with cold water. While doing so, vigorously pinch, knead
+and massage the scalp with the finger tips. When feasible, turn the
+stream from a hydrant or a hose upon the head. This will add the
+good effect of friction to the coldness of the water.
+
+Have your hair cut only during the third quarter of the moon. The
+ladies may clip off the ends of their hair during that period.
+Skeptics may smile at this as another evidence of ignorance and
+superstition. However, "fools deride," etc. The country people in
+many parts of Europe, who are much closer and wiser observers of
+Nature and her ways than the conceited wise men of the schools, do
+their sowing and reaping in accordance with the phases of the moon.
+In order to insure vigorous growth, they sow and plant during the
+growing moon; but their cutting and reaping is done during the
+waning moon.
+
+(14) The Eye Bath
+
+For the eye bath the temperature of the water should be as cold as
+the sensitive eyeball can stand, but not cold enough to cause
+serious discomfort. A few grains of salt may be added to make the
+water slightly saline.
+
+Submerge forehead and eyes in a basin of water, open and close the
+lids under water from six to eight times; repeat a few times. Bend
+over a basin filled with water and with the hands dash the water
+into the open eyes. Fill a glass eye-cup (which can be bought in any
+drug store or department store) with water, bend the head forward
+and press the cup securely against the eye; then bend backward and
+open and shut the lid a number of times.
+
+Many ailments of the eyes, for instance, the much-dreaded cataract,
+are caused by defective circulation and the accumulation of
+impurities and poisons in the system in general and in the mechanism
+of the eyes in particular. All such cases yield readily to our
+combination of natural methods of treatment, such as water
+applications, massage and special exercises, combined with the
+general Nature Cure regimen.
+
+In a large number of cases treated in our sanitarium, patients who
+had worn glasses for years were able to discard them. Weakened
+eyesight and many serious so-called incurable affections of the eye,
+including cataract and glaucoma, have been permanently cured.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIX
+
+
+Air and Light Baths
+
+
+Even among the adherents of Nature Cure there are those who think
+that air and light baths should be taken out of doors in warm
+weather only and in winter time only in well-heated rooms.
+
+This is a mistake. The effect of the air bath upon the organism is
+subject to the same Law of Action and Reaction which governs the
+effects of water applications.
+
+If the temperature of air or water is the same or nearly the same as
+that of the body, no reaction takes place, the conditions within the
+system remain the same. But if the temperature of air or water is
+considerably lower than the body temperature there will be a
+reaction.
+
+In order to react against the chilling effect of cold air or water,
+the nerve centers which control the circulation send the blood to
+the surface in large quantities, flushing the skin with warm, red,
+arterial blood. The flow of the blood stream is greatly accelerated,
+and the elimination of morbid matter on the surface of the body is
+correspondingly increased.
+
+What Is the Cause of Poor Skin Action?
+
+Man is naturally an air animal. He breathes with the pores of the
+skin as well as with the lungs. However, the custom of hiding the
+body under dense, heavy clothing, thus excluding it from the
+life-giving influence of air and light, together with the habit of
+warm bathing, has weakened and enervated the skin of the average
+individual until it has lost its tonicity and is no longer capable
+of fulfilling its natural functions.
+
+The compact, almost airtight layers of underwear and outer clothing
+made of cotton, wool, silk and leather prevent the ventilation of
+the skin and the escape of the morbid excretions of the body. The
+skin is an organ of absorption as well as of excretion; consequently
+the systemic poisons which are eliminated from the organism, if not
+removed by proper ventilation and bathing, are reabsorbed into the
+system just like the poisonous exhalations from the lungs are
+reinhaled and reabsorbed by people congregating in closed rooms or
+sleeping in unventilated bedrooms.
+
+Who would think of keeping plants or animals continuously covered
+up, away from the air and light? We know they would wither and waste
+away, and die before long.
+
+Nevertheless, civilized human beings have for ages hidden their
+bodies most carefully from sun and air, which are so necessary to
+their well-being. Is it any wonder that the human cuticle has become
+withered, enervated and atrophied, that it has lost the power to
+perform freely and efficiently its functions of elimination and
+absorption? Undoubtedly, this has much to do with the prevalence of
+disease.
+
+In the iris of the eye the atrophied condition of the skin is
+indicated by a heavy, dark rim, the so-called scurf rim. It
+signifies that the skin has become anemic, the surface circulation
+sluggish and defective, and that the elimination of morbid matter
+and systemic poisons through the skin is handicapped and retarded.
+This, in turn, causes autointoxication and favors the development of
+all kinds of acute and chronic diseases.
+
+The Importance of the Skin as an Organ of Elimination
+
+Of late physiologists have claimed that the skin is not of great
+importance as an organ of elimination. Common experience and the
+Diagnosis from the Eye teach us differently. The black rim seen more
+or less distinctly in the outer rim of the iris in the eyes of the
+majority of people has been called the scurf rim, because it was
+found that this dark rim appears in the iris after the suppression
+of scurfy and other forms of skin eruptions and after the external
+or internal use of lotions, ointments and medicines containing
+mercury, zinc, iodine, arsenic or other poisons which suppress or
+destroy the life and activity of the skin.
+
+Therefore, when we see in the iris of a person a heavy scurf rim, we
+can tell him at once: "Your cuticle is in a sluggish, atrophied
+condition, the surface circulation and elimination through the skin
+are not good and as a result of this there is a strong tendency to
+autointoxication, you take cold easily, and suffer from chronic
+catarrhal conditions." Therefore, a heavy scurf rim frequently
+indicates what is ordinarily called "a scrofulous condition."
+
+This certainly shows the great importance of the skin as an organ of
+elimination and the necessity of keeping it in the best possible
+condition. It explains why an atrophied skin has so much to do with
+the causation of disease and why in the treatment of both acute and
+chronic ailments air and cold water produce such wonderful results.
+
+The favorite method of diagnosis employed by Father Kneipp, the
+great water cure apostle, was to examine the skin of his patients.
+If the "jacket," as he called it, was in fairly good condition, he
+predicted a speedy recovery. If he found the "jacket" shriveled and
+dry, weakened and atrophied, he shook his head and informed the
+patient that it would take much time and patience to restore him to
+health. He, as well as other pioneers of the Nature Cure movement,
+realized that elimination is the keynote in the treatment of acute
+and chronic diseases.
+
+When Air Baths Should Be Taken
+
+On awakening in the morning and several times during the day, if
+circumstances permit, expose your nude body to the invigorating
+influence of the open air and the sunlight.
+
+During the hot season of the year and in tropical countries the best
+time for taking air and sun baths is the early morning and the late
+afternoon.
+
+Persons suffering from insomnia or nervousness in any form are in
+nearly every case greatly benefited by a short air bath taken just
+before retiring, either preceding or following the evening sitz
+bath, as may be most convenient.
+
+Where Air Baths Should Be Taken
+
+If at all possible, air baths should be taken out of doors. Every
+house should have facilities for air and sun baths, that is, an
+enclosure where the nude body can be exposed to the open air and the
+sunlight.
+
+If the air bath out of doors is impracticable, it may be taken in
+front of an open window. But indoor air, even in a well-ventilated
+room, is more or less stagnant and vitiated, and at best only a poor
+substitute for the open air.
+
+It is the breezy, moving outdoor air, permeated with sunlight and
+rich in oxygen and ozone, that generates the electric and magnetic
+currents which are so stimulating and vitalizing to everything that
+draws the breath of life.
+
+This is being realized more and more, and air-bath facilities will
+in the near future be considered as indispensable in the modern,
+up-to-date house as is now the bathroom.
+
+We predict that before many years the roofs of apartment houses will
+be utilized for this purpose and people will wonder how they ever
+got along without the air bath.
+
+Our sanitarium has two large enclosures on its roof, open above and
+surrounded on all sides by wooden lattice work, which allows the air
+to circulate freely, but excludes observation from neighboring roofs
+and windows and the streets below. One compartment is for men and
+one for women, each provided with gymnastic apparatus and a separate
+spray room.
+
+How Air Baths Should Be Taken
+
+At first expose the nude body to cool air only for short periods at
+a time, until the skin becomes inured to it.
+
+Likewise, unless you are well used to the sun, take air baths of
+short duration, say from ten to twenty minutes, until your skin and
+your nervous system have become accustomed to the influence of heat
+and strong light. Prolonged exposure to the glaring rays of the
+noonday sun might produce severe burning of the skin, aside from a
+possible harmful effect upon the nervous system.
+
+The novice should protect head and eyes against the fierce rays of
+sunlight. This is best accomplished by means of a wide-brimmed straw
+hat of light weight. In cases where dizziness results from the
+effect of the heat upon the brain, a wet cloth may be swathed around
+the head or placed inside a straw hat.
+
+It will be found very pleasurable and invigorating to take a cold
+shower or spray off and on during the sun bath and to allow the air
+to dry the body. This will also increase its electromagnetic effects
+upon the system.
+
+The Friction Bath
+
+While taking the air bath, the skin may be rubbed or brushed with a
+rough towel or a flesh brush in order to remove the excretions and
+the atrophied cuticle. The friction bath should always be followed
+by a spray or a cold-water rub.
+
+At the time of the air bath, practice breathing exercises and the
+curative gymnastics appropriate to your condition. (See Chapters
+Twenty-Eight and Thirty on "Correct Breathing" and "Physical
+Exercise.")
+
+If the air bath is taken at night, before retiring, the less active
+breathing exercises, as numbers 1, 3, 7 and 13, may be taken with
+good results, but all vigorous stimulating movements should be
+avoided.
+
+As the plant prospers under the life-giving influence of water and
+light, so the cuticle of the human skin becomes alive and active
+under the natural stimulation of water, air and sunlight. From the
+foregoing paragraphs it will be seen why the air and light baths are
+regarded among the most important natural methods of treatment in
+all the great Nature Cure sanitariums of Germany.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXX
+
+
+Correct Breathing
+
+
+The lungs are to the body what the bellows are to the fires of the
+forge. The more regularly and vigorously the air is forced through
+the bellows and through the lungs, the livelier burns the flame in
+the smithy and the fires of life in the body.
+
+Practice deep, regular breathing systematically for one week, and
+you will be surprised at the results. You will feel like a different
+person, and your working capacity, both physically and mentally,
+will be immensely increased.
+
+A plentiful supply of fresh air is more necessary than food and
+drink. We can live without food for weeks, without water for days,
+but without air only a few minutes.
+
+The Process of Breathing
+
+With every inhalation, air is sucked in through the windpipe or
+trachea, which terminates in two tubes called bronchi, one leading
+to the right lung, one to the left. The air is then distributed over
+the lungs through a network of minute tubes, to the air cells, which
+are separated by only a thin membrane from equally fine and minute
+blood vessels forming another network of tubes.
+
+The oxygen contained in the inhaled air passes freely through these
+membranes, is absorbed by the blood, carried to the heart and thence
+through the arteries and their branches to the different organs and
+tissues of the body, fanning the fires of life into brighter flame
+all along its course and burning up the waste products and poisons
+that have accumulated during the vital processes of digestion,
+assimilation and elimination.
+
+After the blood has unloaded its supply of oxygen, it takes up the
+carbonic acid gas which is produced during the oxidation and
+combustion of waste matter and carries it to the lungs, where the
+poisonous gases are transferred to the air cells and expelled with
+the exhaled breath. This return trip of the blood to the lungs is
+made through another set of blood vessels, the veins, and the blood,
+dark with the sewage of the system, is now called venous blood.
+
+In the lungs the venous blood discharges its freight of
+excrementitious poisons and gases, and by coming in contact with
+fresh air and a new supply of oxygen, it is again transformed into
+bright, red arterial blood, pregnant with oxygen and ozone, the
+life-sustaining elements of the atmosphere.
+
+This explains why normal, deep, regular breathing is all-important
+to sustain life and as a means of cure. By proper breathing, which
+exercises and develops every part of the lungs, the capacity of the
+air cells is increased. This, as we have learned, means also an
+increased supply of life-sustaining and health-promoting oxygen to
+the tissues and organs of the body.
+
+Bad Effects of Shallow Breathing
+
+Very few people breathe correctly. Some, especially women, with
+tight skirtbands and corsets pressing on their vital organs, use
+only the upper part of their lungs. Others breathe only with the
+lower part and with the diaphragm, leaving the upper structures of
+the lungs inactive and collapsed.
+
+In those parts of the lungs that are not used, slimy secretions
+accumulate, irritating the air cells and other tissues, which become
+inflamed and begin to decay. Thus a luxuriant soil is prepared for
+the tubercle bacillus, the pneumococcus and other disease-producing
+bacilli and germs.
+
+This habit of shallow breathing, which does not allow the lungs to
+be thoroughly permeated with fresh air, accounts in a measure for
+the fact that one-third of all deaths result from diseases of the
+lungs. To one individual perishing from food starvation, thousands
+are dying from oxygen starvation.
+
+Lung culture is more important than other branches of learning and
+training which require more time and a greater outlay of time, money
+and effort. In the Nature Cure regimen, breathing exercises play an
+important part.
+
+Breathing Exercises
+
+General Directions
+
+The effectiveness of breathing exercises and of all other kinds of
+corrective movements depends upon the mental attitude during the
+time of practice. Each motion should be accompanied by the conscious
+effort to make it produce a certain result. Much more can be
+accomplished with mental concentration, by keeping your mind on what
+you are doing, than by performing the exercises in an aimless,
+indifferent way.
+
+Keep in the open air as much as possible and at all events sleep
+with windows open.
+
+If your occupation is sedentary, take all opportunities for walking
+out of doors that present themselves. While walking, breathe
+regularly and deeply, filling the lungs to their fullest capacity
+and also expelling as much air as possible at each exhalation. Undue
+strain should, of course, be avoided. This applies to all breathing
+exercises.
+
+Do not breathe through the mouth. Nature intends that the outer air
+shall reach the lungs by way of the nose, whose membranes are lined
+with fine hairs in order to sift the air and to prevent foreign
+particles, dust and dirt, from irritating the mucous linings of the
+air tract and entering the delicate structures of the lungs. Also,
+the air is warmed before it reaches the lungs by its passage through
+the nose.
+
+Let the exhalations take about double the time of the inhalations.
+This will be further explained in connection with rhythmical
+breathing.
+
+Do not hold the breath between inhalations. Though frequently
+recommended by teachers of certain methods of breath culture, this
+practice is more harmful than beneficial.
+
+The Proper Standing Position
+
+Of great importance is the position assumed habitually by the body
+while standing and walking. Carelessness in this respect is not only
+unpleasant to the beholder, but its consequences are far-reaching in
+their effects upon health and the well-being of the organism.
+
+On the other hand, a good carriage of the body aids in the
+development of muscles and tissues generally and in the proper
+functioning of cells and organs in particular. With the weight of
+the body thrown upon the balls of the feet and the center of gravity
+well focused, the abdominal organs will stay in place and there will
+be no strain upon the ligaments that support them.
+
+In assuming the proper standing position, stand with your back to
+the wall, touching it with heels, buttocks, shoulders and head. Now
+bend the head backward and push the shoulders forward and away from
+the wall, still touching the wall with buttocks and heels.
+Straighten the head, keeping the shoulders in the forward position.
+Now walk away from the wall and endeavor to maintain this position
+while taking the breathing exercises and practicing the various arm
+movements.
+
+Take this position as often as possible during the day and try to
+maintain it while you go about your different tasks that must be
+performed while standing. Gradually this position will become second
+nature, and you will assume and maintain it without effort.
+
+When the body is in this position, the viscera are in their normal
+place. This aids the digestion materially and benefits indirectly
+the entire functional organism.
+
+Persistent practice of the above will correct protruding abdomen and
+other defects due to faulty position and carriage of the body.
+
+The following breathing exercises are intended especially to develop
+greater lung capacity and to assist in forming the habit of
+breathing properly at all times. The different movements should be
+repeated from three to six times, according to endurance and the
+amount of time at disposal.
+
+(1) With hands at sides or on hips, inhale and exhale slowly and
+deeply, bringing the entire respiratory apparatus into active play.
+
+(2) (To expand the chest and increase the air capacity of the
+lungs.)
+
+Jerk the shoulder forward in several separate movements, inhaling
+deeper at each forward jerk. Exhale slowly, bringing the shoulders
+back to the original position.
+
+Reverse the exercise, jerking the shoulders backward in similar
+manner while inhaling. Alternate the movements, forcing the
+shoulders first forward, then backward.
+
+(3) Stand erect, arms at sides. Inhale, raising the arms forward and
+upward until the palms touch above the head, at the same time
+raising on the toes as high as possible. Exhale, lowering the toes,
+bringing the hands downward in a wide circle until the palms touch
+the thighs.
+
+(4) Stand erect, hands on hips. Inhale slowly and deeply, raising
+the shoulders as high as possible, then, with a jerk, drop them as
+low as possible, letting the breath escape slowly.
+
+(5) Stand erect, hands at shoulders. Inhale, raising elbows
+sideways; exhale, bringing elbows down so as to strike the sides
+vigorously.
+
+(6) Inhale deeply, then exhale slowly, at the same time clapping the
+chest with the palms of the hands, covering the entire surface.
+
+(These six exercises are essential and sufficient. The following
+four may be practiced by those who are able to perform them and who
+have time and inclination to do so.)
+
+(7) Stand erect, hands at sides. Inhale slowly and deeply, at the
+same time bringing the hands, palms up, in front of the body to the
+height of the shoulders. Exhale, at the same time turning the palms
+downward and bringing the hands down in an outward circle.
+
+(8) Stand erect, the right arm raised upward, the left crossed
+behind the back. Lean far back, then bend forward and touch the
+floor with the right hand, without bending the knees, as far in
+front of the body as possible. Raise the body to original posture,
+reverse position of arms, and repeat the exercise. Inhale while
+leaning backward and changing position of arms, exhale while bending
+forward.
+
+(9) Position erect, feet well apart, both arms raised. Lean back,
+inhaling, then bend forward, exhaling, touching the floor with both
+hands between the legs as far back as possible.
+
+(10) Horizontal position, supporting the body on palms and toes.
+Swing the right hand upward and backward, flinging the body to the
+left side, resting on the left hand and the left foot. Return to
+original position, repeat the exercise, flinging the body to the
+right side. Inhale while swinging backward, exhale while returning
+to position.
+
+Diaphragmatic Breathing
+
+The diaphragm is a large, flat muscle, resembling a saucer, which
+forms the division between the chest cavity and the abdominal
+cavity. By downward expansion it causes the lungs to expand likewise
+and to suck in the air. The pressure of air being greater on the
+outside of the body than within, it rushes in and fills the vacuum
+created by the descending diaphragm. As the diaphragm relaxes and
+becomes contracted to its original size and position, the air is
+expelled from the body.
+
+(11) (To stimulate the action of the diaphragm)
+
+Lie flat on floor or mattress, the head unsupported. Relax the
+muscles all over the body, then inhale deeply with the diaphragm
+only, raising the wall of the abdomen just below the ribs without
+elevating either the chest or the lower abdomen. Take about four
+seconds to inhale, then exhale in twice that length of time,
+contracting the abdomen below the ribs.
+
+(12) (Internal massage)
+
+Lie on your back on a bed or couch, knees raised. Relax thoroughly,
+exhale and hold the breath after exhalation. While doing so, push
+the abdomen out and draw it in as far as possible each way. Repeat
+these movements as long as you can hold the breath without
+straining, then breathe deeply and regularly for several minutes,
+then repeat the massage movements.
+
+Next to deep breathing, I consider this practice of greater value
+than any other physical exercise. It imparts to the intestines an
+other abdominal organs a "washboard" motion which acts as a powerful
+stimulant to all the organs in the abdominal cavity. Internal
+massage is especially beneficial in chronic constipation. This
+exercise may be performed also while standing or walking. It should
+be practiced two or three times daily.
+
+Breathing Exercises to Be Taken in Bed
+
+(13) With hands at side, inhale slowly and deeply, as directed in
+Exercise Number (1), filling and emptying the lungs as much as
+possible, but without straining. Practice first lying on the back,
+then on each side.
+
+(14) Using one-or two-pound dumbbells, position recumbent on back,
+arms extended sideways, dumbbells in hands. Raise the arms with
+elbows rigid, cross arms over the chest as far as possible, at the
+same time expelling the air from the lungs. Extend the arms to the
+sides, inhaling deeply and raising the chest.
+
+(15) Lie flat on the back, arms at sides. Grasping the dumbbells,
+extend the arms backward over the head, inhaling. Leave them in this
+position for a few seconds, then raise them straight above the
+chest, and lower them slowly to the original position. Exhale during
+the second half of this exercise.
+
+As a variation, cross the arms in front of the body instead of
+bringing to sides.
+
+Rhythmical Breathing
+
+It is a fact not generally known to us western people (our attention
+had to be called to it by the "Wise Men of the East"), that in
+normal, rhythmical breathing exhalation and inhalation take place
+through one nostril at a time: for about one hour through the right
+nostril and then for a like period through the left nostril.
+
+The breath entering through the right nostril creates positive
+electro-magnetic currents, which pass down the right side of the
+spine, while the breath entering through the left nostril sends
+negative electro-magnetic currents down the left side of the spine.
+These currents are transmitted by way of the nerve centers or
+ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system, which is situated
+alongside the spinal column, to all parts of the body.
+
+In the normal, rhythmical breath exhalation takes about twice the
+time of inhalation. For instance, if inhalation require four
+seconds, exhalation, including a slight natural pause before the new
+inhalation, requires eight seconds.
+
+The balancing of the electro-magnetic energies in the system depends
+to a large extent upon this rhythmical breathing, hence the
+importance of deep, unobstructed, rhythmic exhalation and
+inhalation.
+
+In order to establish the natural rhythm of the breath when it has
+been impaired through catarrhal affections, wrong habits of
+breathing, or other causes, the following exercise, practiced not
+less than three times a day (preferably in the morning upon arising,
+at noon, and at night), will prove very beneficial in promoting
+normal breathing and creating the right balance between the positive
+and the negative electro-magnetic energies in the organism.
+
+The Alternate Breath
+
+Exhale thoroughly, then close the right nostril and inhale through
+the left. After a slight pause change the position of the fingers
+and expel the breath slowly through the right nostril. Now inhale
+through the right nostril and, reversing the pressure upon the
+nostrils, exhale through the left.
+
+Repeat this exercise from five to ten times, always allowing twice
+as much time for exhalation as for inhalation. That is, count three,
+or four, or six for inhalation and six, eight, or twelve,
+respectively, for exhalation, according to your lung capacity. Let
+your breaths be as deep and long as possible, but avoid all strain.
+
+This exercise should always be performed before an open window or,
+better yet, in the open air, and the body should not be constricted
+and hampered by tight or heavy clothing.
+
+Alternate breathing may be practiced standing, sitting, or in the
+recumbent position. The spine should at all times be held straight
+and free, so that the flow of the electro-magnetic currents be not
+obstructed. If taken at night before going to sleep, the effect of
+this exercise will be to induce calm, restful sleep.
+
+While practicing the "alternate breath," fix your attention and
+concentrate your power of will upon what you axe trying to
+accomplish. As you inhale through the right nostril, will the
+magnetic currents to flow along the right side of the spine, and as
+you inhale through the left nostril, consciously direct the currents
+to the left side.
+
+There is more virtue in this exercise than one would expect,
+considering its simplicity. It has been in practice among the Yogi
+of India since time immemorial.
+
+The wise men of India knew that with the breath they absorbed not
+only the physical elements of the air, but life itself. They taught
+that this primary force of all forces, from which all energy is
+derived, ebbs and flows in rhythmical breath through the created
+universe. Every living thing is alive by virtue of and by partaking
+of this cosmic breath.
+
+The more positive the demand, the greater the supply. Therefore,
+while breathing deeply and rhythmically in harmony with the
+universal breath, will to open yourself more fully to the inflow of
+the life force from the source of all life in the innermost parts of
+your being.
+
+This intimate connection of the individual soul with the great
+reservoir of life must exist. Without it life would be an
+impossibility.
+
+Warning
+
+While the alternate breathing exercises are very valuable for
+overcoming obstructions in the air passages, for establishing the
+habit of rhythmic breathing and for refining and accelerating the
+vibratory activities on the physical and spiritual planes of being,
+they must be practiced with great caution. These, and other "Yogi"
+breathing exercises, are powerful means for developing abnormal
+psychical conditions. They are therefore especially dangerous to
+those who are already inclined to be physically and mentally
+negative and sensitive. Such persons must avoid all practices which
+tend to refine excessively the physical body and to develop
+prematurely and abnormally the sensory organs of the spiritual body.
+The most dangerous of these methods are long extended fasting, raw
+food diet, that, is, a diet consisting of fruits, nuts, oils and raw
+vegetables and excluding the dalry products, "Yogi" breathing, and
+"sitting in the silence." That is, sitting in darkness, in seclusion
+or in company with others, while keeping the mind in a passive,
+receptive condition for extraneous impressions. These practices tend
+to develop very dangerous phases of abnormal and subjective
+psychism, such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, mediumship and
+obsession.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXI
+
+
+Physical Exercise
+
+
+Aside from breathing, gymnastics in general--or in the case of
+illness or deformity, special corrective and curative
+exercises--should be taken every day.
+
+Physical exercise has similar effects upon the system as
+hydrotherapy, massage and manipulative treatment. It stirs up the
+morbid accumulations in the tissues, stimulates the arterial and
+venous circulation, expands the lungs to their fullest capacity,
+thereby increasing the intake of oxygen, and most effectively
+promotes the elimination of waste and morbid materials through skin,
+kidneys, bowels and the respiratory tract.
+
+Furthermore, well-adapted, systematic physical exercises tend to
+correct dislocations of spinal vertebrae and other bony structures.
+They relax and soften contracted and hardened muscles and ligaments
+and tone up those tissues which are weakened and abnormally relaxed.
+Regular physical exercise means increased blood supply, improved
+nutrition and better drainage for all the vital organs of the body.
+
+By means of systematic exercise, combined with deep breathing, the
+liberation and distribution of electromagnetic energies in the
+system are also greatly promoted.
+
+Most persons who have to work hard physically are under the
+impression that they need not take special exercises. This, however,
+is a mistake. In nearly all kinds of physical labor only certain
+parts of the body are called into action and only certain sets of
+muscles exercised, while others remain inactive. This favors unequal
+development, which is injurious to the organism as a whole. It is
+most necessary that the ill effects of such one-sided activity be
+counteracted by exercises and movements that bring into active play
+all the different parts of the body, especially those that are
+neglected during the hours of work.
+
+Systematic physical exercise is an absolute necessity for brain
+workers and those following sedentary occupations. They not only
+need breathing gymnastics and corrective movements mornings and
+evenings, but should take regular daily walks, no matter what the
+condition of the weather. Unless they do this faithfully, their
+circulation will become sluggish and their organs of elimination
+inactive. The cells and tissues of their bodies will gradually
+become clogged with morbid encumbrances, and this will inevitably
+lead to physical and mental deterioration.
+
+General Rules
+
+Weak persons and those suffering from malignant diseases, such as
+cancer, tuberculosis, heart trouble, asthma, or from displacements
+and ruptures, or who are liable to apoplectic seizures, etc., should
+not take these or any other vigorous exercises except under the
+supervision of a competent physician. At least twice a day all parts
+of the respiratory apparatus should be thoroughly exercised (see
+Chapter Twenty-Eight on Breathing Exercises). Deep breathing should
+accompany every corrective movement, whether it be a special
+breathing exercise or not. Begin your exercises each day with light
+movements and change gradually to more vigorous ones, then reverse
+the process, ending with light, relaxing movements. When beginning
+to take systematic exercise, do not make the separate movements too
+vigorous or continue them too long. If any of them cause pain or
+considerable strain, omit them until the body becomes stronger and
+more flexible. The muscular soreness often resulting from exercise
+at the beginning is, as a rule, of little consequence and disappears
+before long. The different movements should be practiced in spite of
+it, because that is the only way to relieve and overcome this
+condition. Stop when you begin to feel tired. Never overdo; you
+should feel refreshed and relaxed after exercising, not tired and
+shaky. Do not take vigorous exercise of any kind within an hour and
+a half after eating, nor immediately before meals. It is a good plan
+to rest and relax thoroughly for about fifteen minutes before
+sitting down to the table. Whenever practicable, exercise out of
+doors. If indoors, perform the movements near an open window or
+where there is a current of fresh air. Exercise undressed, if
+possible, or in a regular gymnasium suit that gives free play to all
+the muscles. If dressed, loosen all tight clothing.~ ~Ladies should
+wear their garments suspended from the shoulders by means of
+shoulder braces, or so-called reform waists, the skirts being
+fastened to these. Always relax physically and mentally before
+taking exercise. Apparatus is not necessary to produce results.
+However, dumbbells, wands or Indian clubs may be used, but they
+should not be too heavy. One-pound dumbbells are sufficiently heavy
+in most cases. The exercises described here are intended for
+muscular control, flexibility, improvement of the circulation and
+increased activity of the vital functions rather than for mere
+animal strength.
+
+In the following paragraphs we offer a selection of corrective
+movements, graduated from the more simple to those requiring
+considerable agility and effort.
+
+In practicing these exercises, it is best to alternate them, that
+is, to select, say, six or seven movements, suited to individual
+conditions with a view to secure all-around general development and
+special practice for those parts and organs of the body that need
+extra attention. The time at your disposal will also have to be
+considered.
+
+Practice these exercises daily for a week. For the following week
+select six different exercises, then six more for the third week,
+and so on, supplementing the list here given as may be required by
+your particular needs. Then start over again in a similar manner.
+
+This is better than doing the same stunts every day. It promotes
+all-around development of the body and keeps the interest from
+flagging.
+
+Corrective Gymnastics
+
+(1) Raise the arms forward (at the same time beginning to inhale),
+upward above the head, and backward as far as possible, bending back
+the head and inhaling deeply. Now exhale slowly, at the same time
+lowering arms and head and bending the body downward until the
+fingers touch the toes. Keep the knees straight. Inhale again,
+raising arms upward and backward as before. Repeat from six to ten
+times.
+
+For exercising the muscles between the ribs and the abdominal
+muscles in the back:
+
+(2) Inhale slowly and deeply, with arms at side. Now exhale, and at
+the same time bend to the left as far as possible, raising the right
+arm straight above the head and keeping the left arm close to the
+side of the body. Assume the original position with a quick
+movement, at the same time inhaling. Exhale as before, bending to
+the right and raising the left arm. Repeat a number of times.
+
+For making the chest flexible. Also excellent for the digestive
+organs:
+
+(3) Chest Stretcher: This exercise must be performed vigorously, the
+movements following one another in rapid succession:
+
+Stand erect. Throw the arms backward so that the palms touch
+(striving to bring them higher with each repetition), at the same
+time rising on the toes and inhaling. Without pausing, throw the
+arms forward and across the chest, the right arm uppermost, striking
+the back with both hands on opposite sides, at the same time
+exhaling and lowering the toes. Throw the arms back immediately,
+touching palms, rising on toes and inhaling as before, then bring
+them forward and across the chest again, left arm upper most. Repeat
+from ten to twenty times.
+
+An excellent massage and vibratory movement for the lungs.
+
+(4) Exercises for filling out scrawny necks and hollow chests:
+
+Stand erect. Without raising or lowering the chin and without
+bending the neck, push the head forward as far as possible, then
+relax. Repeat a number of times. Push the head straight back in
+similar manner, making an effort to push it farther back each time.
+Do not bend the neck. Repeat. Stand erect. Bend the head toward the
+right shoulder as far as possible, then relax. Do not rotate the
+head. Repeat.
+
+Bend the head to the left shoulder in a similar manner, then
+alternate the two movements. Stand erect. Bend the head forward as
+far as possible, making an effort to bring it down farther each
+time. Relax.
+
+Bend the head backward as far as possible.
+
+Bend the head first forward, then backward. Repeat.
+
+(5) For exercising the muscles of the chest and the upper arm.
+
+Stand erect, elbows to sides, hands closed on chest, thumbs inward.
+Thrust out the arms vigorously and quickly, first straight ahead,
+then to the sides, then straight up, then straight downward, then
+backward. Repeat each movement a number of times, then alternate
+them, each time bringing arms back and hands to the original
+position quickly and forcefully.
+
+As a variation, raise the elbows sideways to shoulder height with
+fists on shoulders, then strike vigorously as before, opening the
+palms and stretching the fingers with each thrust. Repeat from ten
+to twenty times or until tired.
+
+(6) Stand erect, hands on hips. Keeping the legs straight, rotate
+the trunk upon the hips, bending first forward, then to the right,
+then backward, then to the left. Repeat a number of times, then
+rotate in the opposite direction.
+
+Especially valuable to stir up a sluggish liver:
+
+(7) Lie flat on your back on a bed or, better still, a mat on the
+floor, hands under head. Without bending knees, raise the right leg
+as high as possible and lower it slowly. Repeat a number of times,
+then raise the other leg, then alternate. As the abdomen becomes
+stronger, raise both legs at once, keeping knees straight. It is
+important that the legs be lowered slowly.
+
+For exercising the abdominal muscles and strengthening the pelvic
+organs. This and the following exercise are especially valuable for
+remedying female troubles:
+
+(8) Lie flat on back, arms folded on chest. Place the feet under a
+chair or bed to keep them in position. Raise the body to a sitting
+posture, keeping knees, back and neck straight. Lower the body
+slowly to its original position. Repeat from five to ten times,
+according to strength.
+
+Supplementary Exercises
+
+(9) Stride-stand position (feet about one-half yard apart). Raise
+the arms sideways until even with the shoulders, then, without
+bending the back, rotate the trunk upon the hips, first to the
+right, then to the left.
+
+As a variation of this exercise, rotate from the waist only, keeping
+the hips motionless.
+
+An excellent massage for the internal organs:
+
+(10) See-saw motion:
+
+Stride-stand position, arms raised sideways. Bend to the right until
+the hand touches the floor, left arm raised high. Resume original
+position. Repeat several times, then bend to the left side, then
+alternate.
+
+(11) Chopping exercise:
+
+Stride-stand position. Clasp the hands above the left shoulder.
+Swing the arms downward and between the legs, bending well forward.
+Return to position and repeat a number of times, then repeat with
+hands on right shoulder, then alternate.
+
+(12) Cradle rock:
+
+Clasp hands over head, elbows straight. Bend the trunk to the right
+and left side alternately and without pausing a number of times.
+
+(13) Stand erect, feet together. Jump to the stride-stand position,
+at the same time raising arms sideways to shoulders, jump back to
+original position and lower arms. Repeat from ten to twenty times.
+
+(14) Lie flat on back, arms at side, legs straight. Raise both legs
+till they are at right angles with body. From this position sway
+legs to the right and left side alternately.
+
+(15) Lie flat on back, arms extended over head. Swing arms and legs
+upward simultaneously, touching the toes with the hands in midair,
+balancing the body on the hip bones and lower part of spine. Return
+to original position and repeat.
+
+This is a difficult and strenuous exercise, and should not be
+attempted at first:
+
+(16) Lie flat on stomach, hands under shoulders, palms down-ward,
+fingers turned inward, about six inches apart. This will give free
+play to the muscles of the chest. Raise the upper half of the body
+on the hands and arms as high as possible, keeping the body
+straight. Return to position and repeat until slightly fatigued.
+
+(17) Same position as before. Raise the entire body on hands and
+toes, keeping arms and legs straight. Return to relaxed position and
+repeat the exercise.
+
+As a variation, sway forward and backward while in the raised
+position.
+
+(18) Lie flat on stomach, arms extended in front. Fling the arms
+upward and raise the upper part of the body as high as possible,
+keeping the legs straight. Return to position and repeat, but avoid
+excessive strain.
+
+(19) Same position as before, but hands on hips or clasped in back.
+Raise upper part of body without assistance from hands or arms.
+
+(20) Rocking chair motion:
+
+Sit on a mat or bed, legs straight, arms at side. Recline so that
+the upper part of the body almost touches the mat, at the same time
+swinging the legs upward. Return to original position and repeat
+without any pause between the movements, rocking back and forth
+until slightly tired.
+
+As you get stronger, clasp the hands behind the head. As a
+variation, rock with the knees bent, hands clasped below them.
+
+Special Exercises for Reducing Flesh and
+
+Strengthening the Abdominal Organs
+
+(21) Lie flat on stomach, heels and toes together, hands stretched
+out in front. Fling head and arms upward, at the same time raising
+the legs, knees straight. Avoid straining.
+
+(22) Same position, hands clasped on back, feet together. Roll from
+side to side.
+
+(23) Lie flat on back, seize a bar (bed rail or rung of chair) just
+behind the head. Keeping the feet close together, raise the legs as
+high as possible, then swing them from side to side. As a variation,
+swing legs in a circle without flexing the knees.
+
+(24) Same position. Raise and lower the legs up and down without
+letting them touch the floor, keeping the knees straight.
+
+(25) Lie flat on the back, fold the hands loosely across the
+stomach. Raise and lower the upper body without quite touching the
+floor.
+
+(26) Stand erect, heels together, arms raised above the head. Bend
+forward and downward, endeavoring to place the palms of the hands on
+the floor in front of the body without flexing the knees. Return
+slowly to original position and repeat.
+
+(27) Stand erect, hands on hips. Keeping the body motionless from
+the hips downward, sway the upper part of the body from side to side
+and forward and backward, and in a circle to right and left.
+
+(28) Stand erect, raise the arms above the head. Rotate the trunk
+upon the hips with extended arms, bending as far as possible in each
+direction, but avoiding undue strain. These are strenuous movements
+and should not be carried to excess or performed very long at a
+time.
+
+Physical Exercises for Invalids
+
+Persons who are very weak and unable to be on their feet for any
+length of time need not, for this reason, forego the benefits to be
+derived from systematic physical exercise.
+
+A low chair, with straight or very lightly curved back and no arms,
+or a rocking chair of similar construction with a wedge placed under
+the rockers in such a manner as to keep the chair steady at a
+suitable angle, is well adapted to the practice of a number of
+corrective movements, such as rotating of hips and waist, forward
+and sideward bending of the trunk, the various arm and neck
+exercises, bending and twisting of feet and toes, the internal
+massage (Exercise Number 12) and "Breathing Exercises to be Taken in
+Bed," in previous Chapter.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXII
+
+
+Manipulative Treatment Massage
+
+
+Massage has very much the same effects upon the system as the
+cold-water treatment. It accelerates the circulation, draws the
+blood into the surface, relaxes and opens the pores of the skin,
+promotes the elimination of morbid matter and increases and
+stimulates the electromagnetic energies in the body.
+
+We have learned that one of the primary causes of chronic disease is
+the accumulation of waste matter and systemic poisons in the tissues
+of the body. These morbid encumbrances clog the capillaries, thus
+obstructing the circulation and interfering with or preventing the
+normal activity of the organs of elimination, especially the skin.
+
+The deep-going massage, the squeezing, kneading, rolling and
+stroking, actually squeezes the stagnant blood and the morbid
+accumulations out of the tissues into the venous circulation, speeds
+the venous blood, charged with waste products and poisons, on its
+way to the lungs and enables the arterial blood with its freight of
+oxygen and nourishing elements to flow more freely into the
+less-obstructed tissues and organs.
+
+Through manipulation of the fleshy tissues, the blood is drawn to
+the surface of the body and in that way the elimination of morbid
+matter through the relaxed and opened pores of the skin is greatly
+facilitated.
+
+Very important are the electromagnetic effects of good massage upon
+the system. The positive magnetism of the operator will stir up and
+intensify the latent electromagnetic energies in the body of the
+patient, very much like a piece of iron or steel is magnetized by
+rubbing it with a horseshoe magnet. The more normal and positive,
+morally and mentally as well as physically, the operator, the more
+marked will be the good effects of the treatment upon the weak and
+negative patient.
+
+Magnetic Treatment
+
+The beneficial effect of magnetic treatment is not so much due to
+the actual transmission of vital force from operator to patient as
+to the arousing and stimulating of the latent, inactive
+electromagnetic energies of the latter, the polarizing of his
+magnetic forces.
+
+The horseshoe magnet does not impart its own magnetism to the piece
+of iron which is rubbed with it, but the electromagnetic energies in
+the magnet arouse to vibratory activity the latent electromagnetic
+energies in the iron. This is proved by the fact that both magnet
+and iron will remain magnetic as long as they are used for
+magnetizing other substances, but through disuse both will lose
+their magnetic qualities.
+
+I am often asked by my operators and others: "How can I best develop
+my magnetism?" and "Is there danger of losing my vitality and
+becoming 'negative' by treating the sick in this way?" It is true
+that manipulative work, like everything else, can be overdone and
+produce harmful effects upon the operator. But within reasonable
+limits, massage and magnetic treatments will not deplete the person
+giving them, providing he keeps his system in good condition. His
+own vibrations must be harmonious on all planes of being, the
+physical, mental, moral and spiritual. He must be inspired and
+actuated by the faith that he CAN heal, by the positive will to
+heal, and by sympathy for the one he is trying to benefit.
+
+Such an operator makes himself the instrument for the transmission
+of life force, which is healing force, from the Source of all life.
+"As he gives, so he receives"; for this is the basic law of the
+universe, the Law of Compensation. If he gives the treatments in the
+right spirit, he will gain vital force instead of losing it. He will
+actually feel his own intensified life vibrations and after treating
+he will experience a feeling of buoyancy and elation which nothing
+else can impart to him. "He who loses his life shall find it."
+
+Like a musician who tunes up (puts in harmonious vibration) the
+relaxed strings of his instrument, so the magnetic healer tunes up
+and harmonizes the weakened and discordant vibrations of his
+patient.
+
+Good massage will produce electromagnetic effects even though the
+operator is not aware of it and does not understand the underlying
+laws; but his work will gain in power and effectiveness in direct
+proportion to the conscious efforts he makes to benefit his patients
+by the influence of these higher and finer forces.
+
+I have frequently noticed in my own manipulative work how much the
+conscious and concentrated effort of the will has to do with its
+effectiveness. Often, when I had given the usual massage or
+osteopathic treatment and the patient still complained of pain in a
+certain locality of the body, I would lay my hands on the affected
+area and concentrate my will upon dissolving the congestion in that
+particular part or organ and upon harmonizing its discordant
+vibrations. Very shortly, usually within a few minutes, the
+congestion would be relieved and the pain would subside.
+
+The electromagnetic energies of the organism can be controlled by
+the will and either concentrated to or sent away from any part of
+the body, just as the circulation of the blood can be controlled.
+The latter I saw done by a hypnotist who made the blood flow into
+and out of the arms and hands of one of his subjects simply by the
+power of his will.
+
+While this was accomplished by means of a destructive process, it
+taught me a most valuable lesson regarding the power of the will to
+control physical conditions.
+
+Try it yourself. Next time when you have one of your annoying
+headaches, recline comfortably in a chair or on a couch, relax
+completely and then Will the blood to flow away from the brain in
+order to relieve the congestion and the attendant pain. Many of my
+patients have learned to treat themselves successfully in this way.
+
+It is obvious that magnetic treatment will not remove pain
+permanently if the latter is due to irritation caused by a
+subluxated bone or by some foreign body or by local accumulation of
+morbid matter and poisons in any part or organ. In all such cases
+the local cause of the irritation must be removed before the pain
+can subside or disappear.
+
+Spinal Manipulation and Adjustment History
+
+In many European countries "bonesetters" have, in a crude way, been
+treating strains and sprains of the spinal column since time
+immemorial. These bonesetters usually belong to the peasantry and
+the art has been transmitted in the same families from father to son
+for many generations.
+
+Incidentally, these simple people observed that their treatment
+relieved not only sprained, tired and painful backs--the result
+primarily aimed at--but frequently exerted a favorable influence
+upon disease processes in remote organs and parts. This empirical
+discovery has gradually led to a wider application of this method of
+treatment.
+
+The various modern systems of spinal manipulation, namely,
+osteopathy, chiropractic, naprapathy, neuropathy, spondylotherapy
+and our own neurotherapy, are all of distinctly American origin.
+
+During the last quarter century millions of Americans through
+personal experience have become staunch adherents to one or more of
+these systems of treatment. This fact has been instrumental in
+directing the attention of numerous sincere and scientific
+investigators to the spinal column with its associated structures as
+a mechanism through which to apply therapeutic measures. It
+therefore behooves every health seeker to acquaint himself with the
+theories and claims of these various systems of manipulative
+treatment.
+
+Osteopathy
+
+The autobiography of Dr. A. T. Still contains the following
+interesting statement:
+
+"In the year 1874 I proclaimed that a disturbed artery marked the
+beginning to an hour and a minute when disease began to sow its
+seeds of destruction in the human body. That in no case could it be
+done without a broken or suspended current of arterial blood, which
+by Nature was intended to supply and nourish all nerves, ligaments,
+muscles, skin, bones and the artery itself.  The rule of the artery
+must be absolute, universal and unobstructed or disease will be the
+result. I proclaimed then and there that all nerves depend wholly on
+the arterial system for their qualities such as sensation, nutrition
+and motion, even though by the law of reciprocity they furnish
+force, nutrition and motion to the artery itself."
+
+It may be argued that as early as 1805 the Ling System of Swedish
+Movement was founded on the same principle, namely, "permanent
+health through perfect circulation." The evidence at hand, however,
+strongly suggests that the founder of osteopathy arrived at his
+conclusions independently.
+
+The further claims of Dr. Still as to the cause and cure of disease
+are briefly as follows: Partial displacements of any of the various
+bones of the body exert pressure on neighboring blood vessels,
+thereby interfering with the circulation to the corresponding
+organs. These displacements, called "bony lesions," are best
+"reduced" by manipulations called osteopathic "moves."
+
+Chiropractic
+
+In 1895, Dr. D. D. Palmer put forth the following claims as to the
+cause and cure of diseases: Sprains of the spine result in partial
+displacement of one or more of the vertebrae which go to make up the
+spinal column, thus exerting pressure on the neighboring nerves.
+This shuts off the vitality of the organs supplied by the affected
+nerves, hence disease results. These displacements, called
+"vertebral subluxations," are best "adjusted" by means of
+manipulations in the form of chiropractic "thrusts."
+
+As soon as osteopathy and chiropractic were properly established,
+the more broad-minded exponents of both systems began mutual
+investigation and amalgamation. As a result, we find that only seven
+years after the birth of chiropractic, osteopathic literature began
+to mention vertebral subluxations as pressing on nerves, thereby
+causing disease. On the other hand, advanced chiropractors soon
+began to realize the importance of relaxing tense muscles prior to
+delivering their thrusts. They also began to pay attention to the
+bony lesions other than those occurring in the spine. Many of the
+chiropractic principles and much of its technique of today has been
+gleaned from osteopathy, while the reverse statement holds equally
+true.
+
+Naprapathy
+
+The "connective tissue doctrine of disease" was first proclaimed by
+Dr. Oakley Smith in 1907. It may be briefly stated as follows: A
+vertebra does not become misplaced without being fractured or
+completely dislocated. What is called a bony lesion by the osteopath
+and a subluxation by the chiropractor, is in reality a "ligatight,"
+that is, a shrunken condition of the connective tissue forming the
+various ligaments that bind the vertebrae together.
+
+Ligatights are best "corrected" by means of naprapathic "directos."
+These differ from chiropractic thrusts in that they aim not at
+adjusting subluxated vertebrae but at stretching definite strands of
+shrunken connective tissue. Ligatights occur not only in the spine
+but also in other parts of the body.
+
+Neuropathy
+
+This system of manipulative treatment was originated in 1899 by Drs.
+John Arnold and Harry Walter of Philadelphia. Their claims may be
+briefly stated as follows: Morbid matter, poisons and irritants of
+various kinds, acting upon the vasomotor nerves which control the
+blood vessels, produce abnormal changes in circulation which, if
+perpetuated, finally lead to disease manifestations. The nerve
+impulses coming from diseased parts travel to the spinal cord and,
+like all other nerve impulses, are transmitted along those branches
+of the spinal nerves which supply the structures (muscles, blood
+vessels, etc.) along each side of the spine. Here these impulses
+bring about abnormal circulatory changes similar to those found in
+the diseased organs or parts.
+
+Since nerve impulses are transmitted from diseased organs to the
+spine, it is evident that they can be made to travel also in the
+reverse direction. Neuropathic treatment, therefore, consists of
+manipulations and thermal applications which aim at correcting the
+abnormal circulatory changes as found in the spine, thereby
+correcting corresponding abnormal processes in the organs or parts
+supplied by the nerves coming from that region of the spine.
+
+These men also emphasized the fact that the circulation within the
+blood vessels, being propelled by the heart, needs less attention
+during disease than the circulation of the fluids in the spaces
+between the cells and through the lymph vessels and glands.
+Neuropathy, therefore, also lays great stress on applying
+manipulation and thermal applications to the lymphatic system.
+
+Neurotherapy
+
+While the exponents of the above systems of spinal manipulation
+differ widely in their theories as to the cause of disease and the
+means of removing such cause, their methods of treatment furnish
+considerable evidence of satisfactory results. This seems to suggest
+that there must be some real value in each system and that a great
+deal of the difference between these apparently opposed methods of
+treatment lies in the claims of their exponents. It will be shown
+presently that, in their final analysis, the osteopathic spinal
+lesion, the chiropractic subluxation and the naprapathic ligatight
+represent one and the same thing.
+
+Natural Therapeutics is broad enough to embrace all methods of
+treatment, no matter what their source, provided they harmonize with
+the fundamental laws of cure.
+
+Gradually, therefore, after having gathered the constructive
+elements from all the various methods of manipulation, after
+considerable spinal dissection and, above all, after close
+observation of the results obtained in hundreds of obstinate acute
+and chronic cases, we of the School of Natural Therapeutics have
+evolved our own system of spinal manipulation and have named it
+neurotherapy.
+
+The Relation of Neurotherapy to
+
+Other Manipulative Systems
+
+Osteopathy, chiropractic, naprapathy, neurotherapy and
+spondylotherapy, as we have learned, are various systems of
+maipulative treatment which have been devised mainly to correct
+spinal and other bony lesions, shrinkage and contracture of muscles,
+ligaments and other connective tissues.
+
+Important as these methods are in the treatment of acute and chronic
+diseases, by themselves they are not all-sufficient because they
+deal only with the mechanical causes of disease, not with the
+chemical, thermal or with the mental and psychical. The most
+efficient spinal treatment cannot make good for the bad effects of
+an unbalanced diet which contains an excessive amount of
+poison-producing materials and is deficient in the all-important
+mineral elements or organic salts. Just as surely as mental
+therapeutics and a natural diet cannot correct bony lesions produced
+by external violence, just so surely is it impossible to cure
+dementia praecox, monomania or obsession, or to supply iron, lime,
+sodium, etc., to the system by correcting spinal lesions.
+
+The trouble with the manipulative schools and their graduates is
+that they adhere too closely to the mechanical theory and treatment
+of disease; that they reject practically all natural methods of
+treatment aside from manipulative and that so far as the osteopathic
+school is concerned its practitioners show a strong tendency to fall
+back upon the "Old School" methods of drugging and of surgical
+treatment. This is due to the fact that in many types of diseases
+manipulative treatment by itself has proved insufficient to produce
+satisfactory results.
+
+In order to do justice to our patients and not neglect our
+responsibilities toward them we must use in the treatment of disease
+all that is good in all the natural methods of healing. In serious
+chronic cases any single one of these methods, whether it be pure
+food diet, hydrotherapy, massage, spinal treatment, mental
+therapeutics or homeopathy, is not by itself sufficient to achieve
+satisfactory results or to produce them fast enough.
+
+To use an illustration: Suppose a wagon full of freight requires the
+combined strength of six horses to move it and suppose that number
+of horses is available, would it not be foolish to try to move the
+load with one, two, three, four or even five horses? Would not
+common sense suggest the saving of time and effort by putting all
+six horses to work at once?
+
+In Natural Therapeutics every one of the various methods of
+treatment is supplemented and assisted by all the others.
+
+The manipulative schools of healing maintain that practically all
+disease is caused by mechanical abnormalities of the spinal column
+or of muscles, ligaments and other connective tissues, due to
+abnormal strain or injury. The philosophy of Natural Therapeutics,
+on the other hand, points out that a large percentage of such spinal
+and other mechanical lesions are secondary manifestations of
+disease, not primary causes; that acute or subacute inflammatory
+conditions in the interior of the body may cause nervous irritation
+and thereby contraction of muscles and ligaments and, as a result of
+these, subluxations of vertebrae or of other bony structures.
+
+The naprapathic theory of disease postulates that it is the
+shrinkage and contraction of the connective tissues, which serve as
+a support and protection for the nerve matter contained in the nerve
+trunks and filaments, that cause interference with the normal nerve
+supply of cells and tissues and thereby abnormal function and
+disease.
+
+The philosophy of Natural Therapeutics points to the fact that this
+shrinkage and contraction of the connective tissues surrounding and
+permeating the nerve trunks and filaments is caused by certain acids
+and other pathogenic materials which are produced by faulty diet and
+defective elimination and that the same causes produce accumulation
+of waste and morbid matter in the tissues of the body which, all
+through the system, interfere just as effectually with nutrition,
+drainage and innervation of the cells and tissue as do spinal
+lesions and ligatights.
+
+While the other systems of manipulative treatment confine themselves
+almost entirely to the correction of bony and other connective
+tissue lesions, to "pressing the button," as it is called,
+neurotherapy, besides this, aims at other very important results.
+
+In disease the tissues are either in an abnormally tense and
+contracted or in a weak, relaxed condition. The functional
+activities are either hyperactive as in acute inflammation, or
+sluggish and inactive as in chronic atonic and atrophic conditions.
+These extremes can be powerfully influenced and equalized by
+manipulative inhibition, relaxation or stimulation.
+
+During an acute attack of gastritis, for instance, the
+neurotherapist would exert strong inhibition on the nerves which
+supply the stomach. This is accomplished by deep and persistent
+pressure on the nerves where they emerge from the spinal openings
+(foramina). This diminishes the rush of blood and nerve currents to
+the inflamed organ and thereby eases but does not suppress the
+inflammatory process and the attending congestion and pain.
+
+In case of extreme tension in any part of the system, relaxation of
+the shrunken tissues can be brought about by gentle but persistent
+stretching of the nerves and adjacent muscles and ligaments, in a
+manner similar to that of the naprapathic directos.
+
+When the vital organs and their functions are weak and inactive or
+when nerves, muscles, ligaments and other connective tissues are in
+a relaxed, atonic or atrophic condition, certain stimulating
+movements applied to the nerves where they emerge from the spinal
+column will energize the vital functions all through the system.
+
+Many patients imagine that such manipulative treatment is
+superficial. To them it is just "rubbing" and seems all alike. They
+do not realize that manipulative stimulation applied to the nerves
+near the surface of the body travels all along their branches and
+filaments like electricity along a complicated system of copper
+wires and thus reaches the innermost cells and organs of the body,
+making them more alive and active. This internal stimulation of
+vital activities is attained also by good massage through energizing
+the nerve endings all over the surface of the body.
+
+The Fundamental Difference Between Neuratherapy
+and Other Manipulative Systems
+
+The following paragraphs will explain the fundamental difference
+between neurotherapy and the older systems of manipulative
+treatment. The older systems, the same as the allopathic school of
+medicine, look upon acute diseases as destructive processes
+dangerous to health and life; therefore they endeavor to check or
+suppress them as quickly as possible by their various methods.
+
+Neurotherapy so far is the only system of manipulative treatment
+that bases its work on the fundamental laws of Natural Therapeutics.
+According to these laws every acute disease is the result of a
+purifying, healing effort of Nature. Therefore neurotherapy would
+not suppress acute processes by manipulative treatment any more than
+by drugs, ice, antitoxins, surgery or any other suppressive method.
+
+To illustrate: Supposing that spontaneously or as a result of
+natural living and treatment a patient suffering from chronic
+constipation, indigestion, etc., develops a vigorous purging, which
+we of the Nature Cure school would consider a splendid healing
+crisis. Under allopathic as well as under the treatment of other
+manipulative schools such an acute reaction would be immediately
+suppressed. This can be accomplished very easily by a few
+manipulative moves, but it would mean the suppression of a purifying
+healing crisis and this would result in throwing the patient back
+into his old chronic condition. The underlying causes of disease
+must be removed before we can cure chronic disease and bring about a
+normal condition of the organism.
+
+Suppose manipulative treatment should succeed in stopping a fever
+instantaneously. This would suppress Nature's purifying,
+regenerating efforts, the patient would continue to "load up" more
+morbid materials (especially since these schools do not teach the
+importance of natural living) and it would only be a matter of time
+until the morbid accumulations in the body would excite new acute
+reactions, necessitating more adjustments. This may be all right for
+the practitioner; but what about the patient? In the long run it can
+only have one result, and that is chronic disease.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIII
+
+
+Legitimate Scope and Natural Limitations
+of Mental and Metaphysical Healing
+
+
+During the last generation people have perceived more or less
+clearly the fallacies of "Old School" medicine and surgery. They
+have grown more and more suspicious of orthodox theories and
+practices. From allopathic "overdoing" the pendulum has swung to the
+other extreme of metaphysical nihilism, to the "underdoing" of
+mental and metaphysical systems of treating human ailments.
+
+Some of these systems and cults of metaphysical healing have met
+with success and wide popularity and this is looked upon by their
+followers as a proof that all the claims and teachings of these
+cults and isms are based upon absolute truth.
+
+However, a thorough understanding of the fundamental Laws of Cure,
+as I have explained them in this volume, will reveal in how far
+their teachings and their practices are based upon truth and in how
+far they are inspired by erroneous assumptions.
+
+Let us then apply the yardstick and the weights and measures of
+Nature Cure philosophy in testing the true value of the claims of
+metaphysical healers.
+
+For ages people have been educated in the belief that almost every
+acute disease will end fatally unless the patient is drugged or
+operated on. When they find to their surprise that the metaphysical
+formulas or prayers of a mental healer or Christian Scientist will
+"cure" baby's measles or father's smallpox just as well as, and
+possibly better than, Dr. Dopem's pills and potions, they are firmly
+convinced that a miracle has been performed in their behalf and
+straightway they become blind believers in and fanatical followers
+of their new idols.
+
+They simply exchange one superstition for another: the belief in the
+efficacy of drugs and surgical operations for the belief in the
+wonder-working power of a metaphysical formula, a self-appointed
+savior or a reason-stultifying and will-benumbing cult. They have
+not been taught that every acute disease is the result of a healing
+effort of Nature and therefore fail to see that it is vital force,
+the physician within, that, if conditions are favorable, cures
+measles and smallpox as easily as it repairs the broken blade of
+grass or heals the wounded deer of the forest.
+
+"That is exactly what we say," exclaim healer and scientist. "Have
+unlimited faith in the God within and all will be well."
+
+True, faith is good, but faith and works are better. Though we
+cannot heal and give life, we can in many ways assist the healer
+within. We can teach and explain Nature's Laws, we can remove
+obstructions and we can make the conditions within and around the
+patient more favorable for the action of Nature's healing forces.
+
+When the Great Master said: "Go forth and sin no more, lest worse
+things than these befall you," he acknowledged sin, or the
+transgression of natural laws, to be the primary cause of disease,
+and made health dependent upon compliance with the Law. The
+necessity of complying with the Law, in all respects and on all the
+planes of being, is still more strongly emphasized in the following:
+
+"For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point,
+he is guilty of all."
+
+The skeptic and the superficial reader may reply: "This saying is
+utterly unreasonable. Stealing a penny is not committing a murder;
+overeating does not break the law of chastity; how, then, is it
+possible to break all laws by breaking any single one of them?"
+There is, however, a deeper meaning to this seeming paradox which
+makes it scientifically true.
+
+Self-Control, the Whole Law
+
+Obedience to all laws on all planes of being depends primarily on
+self-control. Self-control is, therefore, in a sense, the whole law,
+for man cannot break any one law unless he breaks first this
+fundamental Law of all Laws. This implies that the demoralizing
+effect of sinning or law-breaking, on any one of the planes of
+being, does not depend so much upon the enormity of the deed as upon
+the loss of self-control. Continued weakening of self-control in
+trivial things may therefore, in the end, prove more destructive
+than a murder committed in the heat of passion. If there is not
+self-control enough to resist a cup of coffee or a cigar, whence
+shall come the will-power to resist greater temptations?
+
+Truly, lack of self-control in small things is the "dry rot" of the
+soul. Is it not, then, somewhat unreasonable to expect God or Nature
+to strain and twist the immutable laws of Nature at the request of
+every healer in order to save us from the natural consequences of
+overeating, red meat eating, whisky drinking, smoking, tobacco
+chewing, drugging and a thousand and one other transgressions of
+natural laws?
+
+In spite of the finest-spun metaphysical sophistries, we continue to
+burn our fingers in the fire until we know enough to leave it alone.
+Herein lies the corrective purpose of that which we call
+evil--suffering and disease. The rational thing to do is not to deny
+the existence of Mother Nature's punishing rod, but to escape her
+salubrious spankings by conforming to her Laws.
+
+What about the "Cures"?
+
+As in medicine, so also in metaphysical healing, men judge by
+superficial results, not by the real underlying causes. The usual
+answer to any criticism of Christian Science or kindred methods of
+cure is: "That may be all right; but see the results! Nobody can
+deny their wonderful cures," etc.
+
+Let us see whether there really is anything wonderful or
+supernatural about these cures or whether they can be explained on
+simple, natural grounds.
+
+In another chapter we explain the difference between functional and
+organic disease and show how in diseases of the functional type the
+life force or healing force, which always endeavors to establish
+normal conditions and the perfect type, may work unaided up to the
+reconstructive healing crises and through these eliminate the morbid
+encumbrances from the system and reestablish normal structure and
+function.
+
+It is in cases like these that metaphysicians attain their best
+results simply because Nature helps herself.
+
+On the other hand, in cases of the true organic type, where the
+vitality is low and the destruction of vital parts and organs has
+progressed to a considerable extent, the system is no longer able to
+arouse itself to self-help.
+
+In such cases, faith alone is not sufficient to obtain results. It
+must be backed and assisted by all the natural methods of treatment
+at our command.
+
+Healers Work with Laws that
+
+They Do Not Understand
+
+In our critical analysis of "Old School" methods we found that by
+far the greater part of all chronic ailments is due to drugging and
+to surgery. People commence doctoring for little troubles, which are
+aggravated by every dose of medicine and every surgical operation
+until they end in big troubles.
+
+Is it marvelous that such patients improve and that many are cured
+when they are weaned from drugs and the knife?
+
+Metaphysical healers unwittingly do their best and most beneficial
+work because they induce their followers not to suppress acute
+diseases and healing crises by drugs and surgical operations, thus
+allowing them to run their natural course in harmony with the
+fundamental law of Nature Cure, which states that every acute
+disease is the result of a cleansing and healing effort of Nature.
+People will refrain from the suppressive drug treatment under the
+influence of metaphysical teachings, which appeal to the
+miracle-loving element in their nature, when they cannot be
+convinced by common sense Nature Cure reasoning.
+
+Thus metaphysicians assist Nature indirectly by noninterference and
+directly by soothing fear and worry, by instilling faith, hope and
+confidence. Frequently they also aid Nature by prohibiting the use
+of tobacco, alcohol and pork, and by regulating otherwise the life
+and habits of their followers.
+
+Let us consider the problem from another point of view. Let us
+assume, for argument's sake, that the average person passes in the
+course of a lifetime through a dozen different diseases. He recovers
+from eleven of these, no matter what the treatment. It is only the
+twelfth to which he succumbs. Yet, whosoever happened to treat the
+first eleven diseases claims to have cured them and, perhaps, to
+have saved the patient's life when, as a matter of fact, he
+recovered very often in spite of the treatment and not because of
+it.
+
+These explanations account for the seemingly miraculous results of
+metaphysical healing. If healers and Christian Scientists were to
+explain their cures by the laws and principles of Nature Cure
+philosophy, mystery and miracle would be taken out of their
+business.
+
+"Faith Without Works" Is Dangerous
+
+To believe that God or Nature will overcome the natural effects of
+our ignorance, laziness and viciousness by wonders, signs and
+metaphysics, or to deny the existence of sickness, sin and
+suffering, must lead inevitably to intellectual and moral stagnation
+and degeneration. I am a thorough and consistent optimist and New
+Thought enthusiast, but I do not overlook the fact that in this, as
+in everything else, there lurks always the danger of overdoing and
+of exaggerating virtue into fault.
+
+The greatest danger of this revulsion from old-time pessimism to
+modern optimism lies in the fact that the Higher Thought enthusiast
+may cut from under his feet the solid ground of reality; that he may
+become a dreamer instead of a thinker and doer; and that he may
+mistake selfish, emotional sentimentalism for practical charity and
+altruism.
+
+This unhealthy "all-is-good, there-is-no-evil" emotionalism leads
+only too often to weakening of personal effort, a deadening of the
+sense of individual responsibility and thereby to mental and moral
+atrophy; for any of our voluntary functions, capacities and powers
+which we fail to exercise will in time become benumbed and
+paralyzed. Unprejudiced observers who come in close contact with
+metaphysicians cannot help perceiving the pernicious effect of their
+subtle sophistries on reason and character.
+
+A chronic invalid who had been under the treatment of a faith healer
+for several years exclaimed, when we gave her our various
+instructions for dieting, bathing, breathing exercises, etc.: "How
+glad I am that you give me something to do! I fear I have been
+imposing too long on the goodness of the Lord, expecting Him to do
+my work for me." Often afterwards, while recovering from lifelong
+ailments, she expressed her happiness and contentment in that she
+herself was doing something which in her opinion was rational and
+helpful because it assisted Nature's healing efforts.
+
+We believe firmly and fully in the influence of mind over matter, in
+the fact that vibrations of the physical plane by continuity create
+corresponding vibrations on the mental and psychical planes and vice
+versa. We know that, in accordance with this law, anything which
+affects the mind or the moral life of a person affects also his
+physical condition; but instead of hypnotizing the minds of our
+patients by law-defying, reason-and will-benumbing dogmas and
+formulas, we strengthen and harmonize their mental vibrations by
+appealing to reason, by teaching and explaining natural laws instead
+of obscuring and denying them.
+
+The more intelligent the patient, the more amenable he will be to
+such normal suggestions based on scientific truth and on the
+dictates of reason and common sense.
+
+While nonresistance to Nature's healing efforts is better than
+suppression by drugs or the knife, there is something more helpful
+and rational than the negative attitude toward disease on the
+physical plane assumed by metaphysical healing cults. That
+"something" is intelligent cooperation with Nature's cleansing and
+healing efforts.
+
+Where the Old School fails by sins of commission, the Faith Schools
+fail by sins of omission. Many patients are sacrificed daily through
+fanatical inactivity, when their lives might be saved by a wet pack
+or a cold sponge bath, by an internal bath, rational diet, judicious
+fasting, scientific manipulation or some other simple yet powerful
+remedy of natural healing. To permit a patient to perish in a
+burning fever, depending solely upon the efficacy of prayers,
+formulas and mental attitude, when wet packs and cold sponging would
+in a few minutes reduce the temperature below the danger point, is
+manslaughter, even though it be done in the name of religion.
+
+Incidents like the following are common in our practice: A little
+girl in the neighborhood of our institution was taken with
+diphtheria. The mother, an ardent Christian Scientist, called in
+several healers of her cult, but the child grew worse from day to
+day, until the false membranes in the throat began to choke her to
+death.
+
+A boarder in the house, who was a follower of Nature Cure, finally
+induced the mother to call upon us for advice by threatening to
+notify the City Health Department. Within an hour after the
+application of the whole-body packs and the cold ablutions, the
+blood was sufficiently drawn away from the local congestion in the
+throat into the surface of the body, so that the child breathed
+easily and freely, and from then on made a splendid recovery.
+
+Another instance: A man had been suffering from sciatic rheumatism
+for fifteen years. He had swallowed poisonous drugs to no avail. For
+several years he had been under Mental Science treatment, but the
+suffering had grown more intense.
+
+When he applied to us for help, we found that the right hip bone
+(the innominate) had slipped upward and backward. A few manipulative
+treatments replaced the bone where it belonged, and the sciatic
+rheumatism was cured.
+
+In this case, the combined concentration and prayers of all the
+metaphysical healers on earth would not have succeeded in replacing
+the dislocated hip bone, which required the full strength of a
+trained manipulator.
+
+Metaphysicians could not have accomplished this feat any more than
+they could have moved, by their mental efforts, a hundred-pound
+weight from one place to another. Mechanical lesions of that kind
+(and there are many of them) require mechanical treatment.
+
+Another factor which makes converts to metaphysical healing cults by
+the hundreds and thousands is the get-rich-quick instinct in human
+nature, the desire to get something for nothing, or with as little
+effort as possible. Herein lies the seductive pull of old-time
+drugging and of modern metaphysics. "It does not matter how you
+live; when you get into trouble, a bottle of medicine or a
+metaphysical formula will make it all right." That sounds very easy
+and promising, but the trouble is--it does not always work.
+
+Our forefathers were too pessimistic; higher thought enthusiasts are
+often too optimistic. While the former poisoned their lives and
+paralyzed their God-given faculties and powers by dismal dread of
+hell's fire and damnation, our modern healers and Scientists have
+drifted to the other extreme. They tell us there is no sin, no pain,
+no suffering. If that be true, there is also no action and reaction,
+no Law of Compensation, no personal responsibility, no need of
+self-control, self-help or personal effort.
+
+The ideal of the faith healer is the ideal of the animal. The animal
+trusts implicitly, it has absolute faith; guided by instinct, God,
+or Nature, it follows the promptings of its appetites and passions
+without worrying about right or wrong. It acts today as it did ten
+thousand years ago.
+
+In man, reason has taken the place of instinct; we must think and
+manage for ourselves. We are free and responsible moral agents. If
+we deny this, we deny the very foundations of equity, justice and
+right. It behooves us to use the talents which God has given us, to
+study the laws of our being and to comply with them to the best of
+our ability, so that enlightened reason may take the place of animal
+instinct and guide us to physical, mental and moral perfection.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIV
+
+
+The Difference Between Functional and Organic Disease
+
+
+Much confusion concerning the curability of chronic diseases by the
+various methods of treatment arises because people do not understand
+the difference between functional and organic chronic disease.
+
+For instance, there is a close resemblance between pseudo-and true
+locomotor ataxy. Often it is difficult to distinguish functional
+lung trouble from the organic type of the disease. In our practice,
+several cases of mental derangement which had been diagnosed as true
+paresis proved to be of the functional type and under natural
+treatment recovered rapidly.
+
+Functional diseases may present a very serious appearance and may be
+labeled with awe-inspiring Greek or Latin names, and yet yield
+readily to natural methods of living and treatment.
+
+In diseases of an organic nature, however, right living and
+self-treatment are usually not sufficient to obtain satisfactory
+results. In such cases all forms of active and passive treatment
+must be applied, and even then it is frequently difficult and
+sometimes impossible to produce a cure.
+
+Chronic diseases of a functional nature develop when an otherwise
+healthy organism becomes saturated and clogged with food and drug
+poisons to such an extent that these encumbrances interfere with the
+free circuation of the blood and nerve currents, and with the normal
+functions of the cells, organs and tissues of the body.
+
+Such cases resemble a watch which is losing time because its works
+are filled with dust. All that such a waste-encumbered watch or body
+needs, in order to restore normal functions, is a good cleaning.
+Pure food diet, fasting, systematic exercise, deep breathing, cold
+bathing and the right mental attitude are usually sufficient to
+perform this physical housecleaning and to restore perfect health.
+
+Functional disorders yield readily to the various forms of
+metaphysical treatment. Remove such patients from the weakening and
+destructive effects of poisonous drugs and of surgical operations,
+supplant fear and worry by courage and faith, and the results often
+seem miraculous to those who do not understand the power of the
+purifying and stimulating influence of clean living and of the right
+mental attitude.
+
+In diseases of the organic type, however, good results are not so
+easily achieved. A body affected by organic disease resembles a
+watch whose mechanism has been injured and partly destroyed by rust
+and corrosive acids. If such be the case, cleaning and oiling alone
+will not be sufficient to put the timepiece in good working order.
+The watchmaker has to replace the damaged parts.
+
+This is easy enough in the case of the watch, but it is not so
+easily accomplished in the human body. Besides, in many instances
+the corroding acids are the very medicines which were given to cure
+the disease and the injury and destruction of vital parts and organs
+is only too often the direct or indirect result of surgical
+operations.
+
+The watchmaker may remove those parts of the watch which are
+suffering from organic trouble, and replace them by new ones. This
+the surgeon cannot do. He can extirpate, but he cannot replace.
+Operative treatment leaves the organism forever after in a mutilated
+and therefore unbalanced condition, and often prevents and
+frustrates Nature's cleansing and healing crises.
+
+The Limitations of Metaphysical Healing
+
+In the writings of metaphysical healers we often meet the assertion
+that they can cure organic diseases as easily and quickly as
+functional ailments. If they understood better the difference
+between functional and organic disorders as explained in the
+foregoing pages, they would not make such deceptive and extravagant
+claims. They would then realize the natural limitations of
+meta-physical healing.
+
+I do not underestimate the great value of mental, metaphysical
+and spiritual healing methods. Of these I shall speak more fully in
+subsequent chapters. But I do claim that we can and should aid
+Nature's healing efforts not only by the right mental attitude and
+the prayer of faith, but also by natural living and many different
+methods of physical treatment.
+
+Mental attitude alone will not clean the watch. To concentrate on
+the work of housecleaning without using broom, soap and water is not
+sufficient. Reason and common sense teach us that the removal of
+physical, material encumbrances can be, to say the least,
+accelerated by the use of physical or physiological agents. Anyone
+who has observed or himself experienced the efficacy of natural
+diet, cold-water treatment, massage and osteopathy in dealing with
+the morbid accumulations in the system will never again
+underestimate the practical value of these "brooms."
+
+In our study of the nature and purpose of acute diseases we have
+found that Nature tries to purify the system from its morbid
+encumbrances through inflammatory, febrile processes (acute
+diseases) and that these cleansing efforts of Nature are generally
+prevented, checked and suppressed by allopathic methods of medical
+and surgical treatment, and thus changed into chronic disease
+conditions.
+
+The metaphysical healers do away with these suppressive methods of
+treatment and allow Nature's acute cleansing and healing efforts to
+run their natural course. Thus they profit by the fundamental laws
+of cure without understanding them. The acute disease, whose very
+existence they deny, is in reality the cure.
+
+Furthermore, rational mental and metaphysical treatment supports
+Nature's efforts actively by supplanting the weakening and
+paralyzing fear vibrations with relaxing and invigorating vibrations
+of hope, confidence and faith in the supremacy of Nature's healing
+forces. Under these favorable conditions, the organism will arouse
+itself to the purifying and constructive healing crises (the
+chemicalizations of Christian Science) and through these eliminate
+the morbid encumbrances and restore normal structure and functions.
+
+While functional disorders, in nearly every case, yield
+readily enough to the natural methods of living and of treatment and
+to the right mental attitude, it is different with organic diseases.
+
+When waste matter, ptomaines or poisonous alkaloids and acids
+produced in the body as a result of wrong diet and other violations
+of Nature's laws have brought about destruction and corrosion in
+vital parts and organs--when dislocations and subluxations of bony
+structures, or new growths and accumulations in the forms of tumors,
+stones or gravel obstruct the blood vessels and nerve currents, shut
+off the supply of the vital fluids and thus cause malnutrition and
+gradual decay of the tissues--when, in addition to this, the
+organism has been poisoned or mutilated by drugs and surgical
+operations, then its purification and repair becomes a tedious and
+difficult task.
+
+Not only must the mechanism of the body be cleansed and freed from
+obstructive and destructive materials, but the injured parts must be
+repaired, morbid growths and abnormal formations dissolved and
+eliminated and lesions in the bony structures corrected by
+manipulative treatment.
+
+In organic diseases, the vitality is usually so low and destruction
+so great that the organism cannot arouse itself to self-help. Even
+the cessation of suppressive treatment and the stimulating influence
+of mental and metaphysical therapeutics are not sufficient to bring
+about the reconstructive healing crises. This can only be
+accomplished by the combined influences of all the natural methods
+of living and of treatment.
+
+It is in cases like these that metaphysical healing and hygienic
+living find their limitations. Such organic defects require
+systematic treatment by all the methods, active and passive, which
+the best Nature Cure sanitariums can furnish. It may be slow and
+laborious work to obtain satisfactory results, and if the vitality
+is too low or the destruction of vital parts and organs has too far
+advanced, even the best and most complete combination of natural
+methods of treatment may fail to produce a cure.
+
+However, this can be determined only by a fair trial of the natural
+methods. The forces of Nature are ever ready to react to persistent,
+systematic effort in the right direction and when there is enough
+vitality to keep alive there is likely to be enough to purify and
+reconstruct the organism and in time to bring about improvement and
+cure.
+
+This, then, explains why, in the organic types of diseases,
+metaphysical methods of treatment alone are insufficient. At least
+one-half of the patients that come to the Nature Cure physician have
+faithfully tried these methods without avail, but the failures are
+easily excused by lack of faith, wrong mental attitude or something
+wrong with the patient or his surroundings.
+
+In our experience with patients who had formerly tried metaphysical
+methods of healing faithfully, but without results, we sometimes
+come face to face with a curious and amusing phase of human nature.
+As our patients improve under the natural regimen and treatment,
+they gradually return to their first love and ascribe the good
+effects of natural treatment to a better understanding of "the
+Science." As health and strength return, they say: "Formerly I did
+not know just how to apply the Science, but now I know, and that is
+why I am growing better."
+
+I suppose this form of self-deception which we have frequently
+observed is due to the fact that people feel flattered by the idea
+that Providence has taken a special interest in their case and cured
+them by miraculous intervention. It is so much more interesting to
+be cured by some occult principle than by diet and cold water.
+
+Undoubtedly it is this miracle-loving element in human nature that
+makes metaphysical healing so much more popular than plain,
+commonsense Nature Cure.
+
+Not long ago Professor Munsterberg investigated the claims of
+Christian Scientists that they were constantly curing diseases of
+the organic type. He reported his findings in a series of articles
+in McClure's Magazine (1908), stating that he inquired personally
+into one hundred cases said to have been cured by Christian Science
+and found that ninety-two of them had been of the functional type,
+while eight were claimed to have been organic, but that in no
+instance could this be proved beyond doubt.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXV
+
+
+The Two-fold Attitude of Mind and Soul
+
+
+The following is an extract from a letter sent to me by a reader of
+my articles in ~The Nature Cure Magazine.~
+
+"Sometimes you say we must rely on our own personal efforts and at
+other times you teach dependence upon a higher power. This, to me,
+is contradictory and confusing. I cannot understand how,
+consistently, we can do both at the same time. Which is right? Is it
+best to rely upon our own power and our personal efforts or upon the
+'Higher Power'?"
+
+Similar inquiries have come from other friends. I shall now endeavor
+to answer these and other questions.
+
+There is nothing contradictory or incompatible in the teachings of
+the Nature Cure philosophy concerning the physical and metaphysical
+methods of treating human ailments. Both the independent and the
+dependent attitudes of mind and soul are good and true and may be
+entertained at the same time. It is necessary for us to rely on our
+own personal efforts in carrying out the dictates of reason and of
+common sense. But this need not prevent us from praying for and
+confidently expecting a larger inflow of vital power and intuitional
+discernment from the Source of all intelligence and power in the
+innermost parts of our being.
+
+This two-fold attitude of mind and soul is justified not only by
+reason and intuition, but also by the anatomical structure of the
+human organism and its physiological and psychological faculties,
+capacities and powers.
+
+The activities of the human organism are governed by two different
+systems of nerves, the sympathetic and the motor. The sympathetic
+nervous system is the conveyor of vital force to the organs and
+cells of the body. Just what this vital force is and where it
+ultimately comes from, we do not know. It is a manifestation of that
+which we call God, Nature, Life, the Higher Power or the Divine
+Within.
+
+Heart action, the circulation of the blood, respiration, digestion,
+assimilation of food, elimination and all other involuntary
+activities and functions of the human organism are controlled by
+means of the sympathetic nervous system. The nature of the
+controlling force itself is not known to us. We do know that it is
+supremely powerful, intelligent and benevolent.
+
+The more we study the anatomy, physiology and psychology of the
+human organism, the more we wonder at its marvelous complexity and
+ingenuity of structure and function. Every moment there are enacted
+in our bodies innumerable mechanical, chemical and psychological
+miracles. Who, or what, performs these miracles? We do not know. Yet
+every moment of our lives depends upon the infinite care and wisdom
+of this unknown intelligence and power.
+
+Why, then, should we not trust the One so faithful? Why should we
+not ask aid from One so powerful? Why not seek enlightenment from
+One who is so wise and so benevolent?
+
+However, not all of the human entity is dependent upon a controlling
+power, nor are all its functions involuntary. Within the house
+prepared by the Divine Intelligence, there dwells a sovereign in his
+own right and by his own might. He is endowed with freedom of
+desire, of choice and of action. He creates in his brain the nerve
+centers which control the voluntary activities of the body and from
+these brain centers he sends his commands through the fibers of the
+motor nerves to the voluntary muscles and makes them do his bidding;
+some he commands to walk, others to laugh, to eat, to speak, etc.
+
+This independent principle in man we call the ego, the individual
+intelligence. It imagines, desires, reasons, plans and works out, by
+the power of free will and independent choice, its own salvation or
+destruction, physically, mentally, morally and spiritually. By means
+of the motor nervous system, this thinker and doer directs and
+controls from the headquarters in the brain all the voluntary
+functions, capacities and powers of the human organism.
+
+This part of the human entity can evolve and progress only through
+its own conscious and voluntary personal efforts.
+
+In this, Man differs from the animal creation. The animal is able to
+take care of itself shortly after birth. It inherits, already fully
+developed, those brain centers for the control of the bodily
+functions which the newborn human must develop slowly and
+laboriously through patient and persistent effort in the course of
+many years.
+
+Of voluntary capacities and powers the newborn infant possesses
+little more than the simplest unicellular animalcule, that is, about
+all it can do is to scent and swallow food. Its cerebral hemispheres
+are as yet blank slates, to be inscribed gradually by its conscious
+and voluntary exertions. Before it can think, reason, speak, walk or
+do anything else, it must first develop in its brain special centers
+for each and every one of these voluntary faculties and functions.
+
+Through these persistent personal efforts, reason, will and
+self-control are gradually evolved and developed; while the animal,
+being hereditarily endowed with the faculties and functions
+necessary for the maintenance of life, has no occasion for the
+development of the higher faculties and powers and therefore remains
+an irresponsible automaton, which cannot be held accountable for its
+actions.
+
+To recapitulate: Freedom of choice and of action distinguish the
+human from the animal. In the animal kingdom, reasoning power and
+freedom of action move in the narrow limits of heredity and
+instinct, while Man, through his own personal efforts, is capable of
+unlimited development physically, mentally, morally and spiritually,
+both here and hereafter. We say physically advisedly, for in the
+spiritual realms, in the life after death, the physical
+(spiritual-material) body also is capable of deterioration or of
+ever greater refinement and beautification.
+
+Through the right use of his voluntary faculties, capacities and
+powers, Man is enabled to become the master of himself and of his
+destiny.
+
+Thus we find that the human organism consists of two distinct parts
+or departments, the one acting independently of the ego and deriving
+its motive force from an unknown source and the other under the
+conscious and voluntary control of the ego.
+
+This two-fold nature of the human entity justifies the two-fold
+attitude of mind and soul, on the one hand the prayerful and
+faithful dependence upon that mysterious power which flows into us
+and controls us through the sympathetic nervous system and on the
+other hand the conscious and voluntary dominion over the various
+faculties, capacities and powers with which Nature has endowed us.
+
+It is our privilege and our duty to maintain both attitudes, the
+dependent as well as the independent. The desire and the will to
+plan, to choose and to perform are ours, but for the power to
+execute we are dependent upon a Higher Source.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXVI
+
+
+The Symphony of Life
+
+
+Human life appears to me as a great orchestra in which we are the
+players. The great composition to be performed is the "Symphony of
+Life," its infinitude of dissonances and melodies blending into one
+colossal tone picture of harmony and grandeur. We players must study
+the laws of music and the score of the Great Symphony and we must
+practice diligently and persistently, until we can play our part
+unerringly in harmony with the concepts of the Great Composer. At
+the same time we must learn to keep our instrument, the body, in the
+best possible condition; for the greatest artist, endowed with a
+profound knowledge of the laws of music and possessed of the most
+perfect technique, cannot produce musical and harmonious sounds from
+an instrument with strings relaxed or overtense, or with its body
+filled with rubbish.
+
+The artist must learn that the instrument, its material, its
+construction and its care are just as subject to law as the
+harmonics of the score.
+
+In the final analysis, everything is vibration acting in and on the
+universal ethers, which are held to be the primordial substance.
+Possibly the ethers themselves are modes of vibration.
+
+That which is constructive is harmonious vibration. That which is
+destructive is inharmonious or discordant vibration.
+
+Against this it may be urged that devolution has its harmonics as
+well as evolution, that every symphony is made up of dissonances as
+well as of harmonies. To this I answer: "Unadulterated harmony may,
+solely for lack of change, become monotonous; but discords alone
+never create melody, harmony, health or happiness."
+
+As the artist seeks vibratory harmony between his instrument and the
+harmonics of the universe of sound, so the health-seeker must
+endeavor to establish vibratory unison between the material elements
+of his body and Nature's harmonics of health in the physical
+universe.
+
+The atoms and molecules in the wood and strings of the violin, as
+well as the sounds produced from them, are modes of motion or
+vibration. In order to bring forth musical and harmonious notes, the
+vibratory conditions of the physical elements of the violin must be
+in harmonious vibratory relationship with Nature's harmonics in the
+universe of sound.
+
+The elements and forces composing the human body are also vibratory
+in their nature, the same as the material elements of the violin.
+They also must be kept in a certain well-balanced chemical
+combination, mechanical adjustment and physical refinement before
+they can vibrate in unison with Nature's harmonics in the physical
+universe and thus produce the harmonies of health and strength and
+beauty.
+
+If our instrument is out of tune, or if we ignorantly or willfully
+insist on playing in our own way, regardless of the score, we create
+discords not only for ourselves, but also for our fellow artists in
+the great orchestra of life.
+
+Sin, disease, suffering and evil are nothing but discords, produced
+by the ignorance, indifference or malice of the players. Therefore we
+cannot attribute the discords of life to the Great Composer. They
+are of our own making and will last as long as we refuse to learn
+our parts and to play them in tune with the Great Score. For in this
+way only can we ever hope to master the art and science of right
+living and to enjoy the harmonies of peace, self-content and
+happiness.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXVII
+
+
+The Three-fold Constitution of Man
+
+
+The following diagram and accompanying explanations will serve to
+illustrate "Three Planes of Being," the corresponding "Three-fold
+Constitution of man," and their analogy tothe artist and his
+instrument.
+
+The Three-fold Constitution of Man
+
+~Planes of Being~
+
+~Three-fold Constitution of Man~
+
+~Analogy~
+
+Psychical or Moral
+
+Soul
+
+Music, Laws of Harmony
+
+Mental
+
+Mind
+
+Player
+
+Material
+
+Bodies
+
+(Physical and Spiritual)
+
+Violin
+
+Man lives and functions on three distinct planes of being: the
+physical-material and spiritual-material, the mental and the soul
+(psychical or moral) planes.
+
+He may be diseased upon any one or more of these planes. The true
+physician must look for causes of disease and for methods of
+treatment upon all three planes of being.
+
+The purely materialistic physician concentrates all his study and
+effort upon the physical-material plane of being. To him, mental,
+spiritual, psychical, and moral phenomena are merely chemical and
+physiological actions and reactions of brain and nerve substance. He
+has nothing but contempt and derision for the man who believes in or
+knows of a spiritual body or a soul.
+
+He is like an artist who says: "My violin is all there is to music.
+The musician's art consists in keeping his instrument in good
+condition. Technique and the laws of harmony are a matter of
+imagination and of superstitious belief."
+
+On the other hand, mental healers, Christian Scientists and faith
+healers concentrate all their efforts upon either the mental or the
+soul plane, frequently making no distinction between the two. In the
+treatment of disease, they ignore the conditions and needs of the
+physical body, and some of them even deny its existence.
+
+These metaphysicians are like the artist who devotes all his time
+and energy to the study and practice of technique, counterpoint and
+harmony, neglecting his instrument and taking no heed whether its
+mechanism is out of order or its interior filled with rubbish. His
+knowledge of the laws of harmonics and his execution may be ever so
+perfect; but with his instrument out of tune and out of order he
+will produce discords instead of harmony.
+
+The true artist realizes that MIND, the player, must study SOUL, the
+harmonics; and that the mind must also have its instrument, the
+BODY, in perfect condition in order to interpret perfectly and
+artistically the harmonies of the symphony of life. Likewise, the
+Nature Cure physician will look for causes of disease and for means
+of cure upon the material, mental and psychical planes of being.
+
+Thus will higher civilization and greater knowledge lead back to the
+natural simplicity of primitive races, where physician and priest
+are one.
+
+After all, physical health is the best possible basis for the
+attainment of mental, moral and spiritual health. All building
+begins with the foundation. We do not first suspend the steeple in
+the air and then build the church under it. So also, the building of
+the temple of human character should begin by laying the foundation
+in physical health.
+
+We have known people who had attained high intellectual, moral and
+spiritual development and then suffered utter shipwreck physically,
+mentally and in every other way, because ignorantly they had
+violated the laws of their physical nature.
+
+There are others who believe that the possession of occult knowledge
+and the achievement of mastership confer absolute control over
+Nature's forces and phenomena on the physical plane. These people
+believe that a man is not a master if he does not miraculously heal
+all manner of disease and raise the dead.
+
+If such things were possible, they would overthrow the Laws of Cause
+and Effect and of Compensation. They would abolish the basic
+principles of morality and constructive spirituality. If it is
+possible in one case to heal disease and to overcome death through
+the fiat of the will of a master, then it must be possible in all
+cases. If so, then we can ignore the existence of Nature's laws,
+indulge our appetites and passions to the fullest extent, and when
+the natural results of our transgressions overtake us, we can go to
+a healer or master and have our diseases instantly and painlessly
+removed, like a bad tooth.
+
+I say this with all due reverence for, and faith in, the efficacy of
+true prayer and with full knowledge of the healing power of
+therapeutic faith, but I do not believe that God, or Nature, or a
+master or metaphysical formulas can or will make good in a
+miraculous way for the inevitable results of our transgressions of
+the natural laws that govern our being.
+
+If such miraculous healing were possible and of common occurrence,
+what occasion would there be for the exercise of reason, will and
+self-control? What would become of the scientific basis of morality
+and constructive spirituality?
+
+All this leads us to the following conclusions:
+
+"If there is in operation a constructive principle of Nature on the
+ethical, moral and spiritual planes of being, with which we must
+align ourselves and to which we must conform our conscious and
+voluntary activities in order to achieve self-completion,
+self-content, individual completion and happiness, then this
+constructive principle must be in operation also in our physical
+bodies and in their corelated physical, mental and emotional
+activities. If the constructive principle is active in the physical
+as well as in the moral and spiritual realms, then the established
+harmonic relationship of the physical to the constructive law of its
+being must constitute the morality of the physical; and from this it
+follows that the achievement of health on the physical plane is as
+much under our conscious and voluntary control as the working out of
+our individual salvation on the higher planes of life."
+
+To recapitulate:
+
+First, our well-being on all planes and in all relationships of life
+depends upon the existence, recognition and practical application of
+the great fundamental laws and principles just explained.
+
+Second: Physical health, as well as moral health, is of our own
+making. We are personally responsible not only for our own physical
+and mental health, but we are also morally responsible for the
+hereditary tendencies of our offspring toward health or disease.
+
+Third: The attainment of physical health through compliance with
+Nature's laws is just as much a part of the Great Work as our
+ethical, moral and psychical development.
+
+The Unity and Continuity of the Law
+
+That which we call God, Nature, the Creator or the Universal
+Intelligence is the great central cause of all things and the
+vibratory activities produced by or proceeding from this central or
+primary cause continue through all spheres of life, in like manner
+as the light waves of the sun, moon and fixed stars penetrate
+through the intervening spheres of life to our plane of earth.
+Therefore all powers, forces, laws and principles which manifest on
+our plane proceed and continue from the innermost Divine to the most
+external plane in physical nature. This explains the continuity,
+stability and correspondence on all planes of being of that which we
+call Natural Law. In other words, "Natural Law is the established
+harmonic relationship of effects and phenomena to their causes and
+of all particular causes to the one great primary cause of all
+things."
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXVIII
+
+
+Mental Therapeutics
+
+
+The new psychology and the science of mental and spiritual healing
+teach us that the lower principles in Man stand or should stand
+under the dominion of the higher. The physical body, with its
+material elements, is dominated and guided by the mind. The mind is
+inspired through the inner consciousness, which is an attribute of
+the soul. The soul of man is in communion with the Oversoul, which
+is the Source of all life and all intelligence animating the
+universe.
+
+Wherever this natural order is reversed, there is discord or
+disease. Too many people think and act as though the physical body
+is all in all, as though it is the only thing worth caring for and
+thinking about. They exaggerate the importance of the physical and
+become its abject slaves.
+
+The physical body is the lowest and least intelligent of the
+different principles making up the human entity. Yet people allow
+their minds and their souls to become dominated and terrified by the
+sensations of the physical body.
+
+When the servants in the house control and terrify the master, when
+the master becomes their slave and they can do with him as they
+please, there cannot be order and harmony in that house.
+
+We must expect the same results when the lower principles in Man
+lord it over the higher. When physical weakness, illness and pain
+fill the mind with fear and dismay, reason becomes clouded, the will
+atrophied and self-control is lost.
+
+Every thought and every emotion has its direct effect upon the
+physical constituents of the body. The mental and emotional
+vibrations become physical vibrations and structures. Discord in the
+mind is translated into physical disease in the body, while the
+harmonies of hope, faith, cheerfulness, happiness, love and altruism
+create in the organism the corresponding health vibrations.
+
+Have you ever noticed how the written or printed notes of a tone
+piece or the perforations on the paper music roll of an automatic
+player are arranged in symmetrical and geometrical figures and
+groups? Dry sand strewn on the top of a piano on which harmonious
+tone combinations are produced shows a tendency to arrange itself in
+symmetrical patterns.
+
+In this you have a visual illustration of the translation of
+harmonious sound vibrations, which express the harmonics of the
+soul's emotions, into correspondingly harmonious arrangements and
+configurations in the physical material of the paper roll.
+
+A jumble of discords of sound, if reproduced on a music roll, would
+present a chaotic jumble of perforations.
+
+Thus the purely mental and emotional is translated into its
+corresponding discords or harmonies in the physical.
+
+As the perforations on the paper music roll arrange themselves
+either symmetrically or without symmetry and order, in strict
+accordance with the harmonies or discords of the composition, so the
+atoms, molecules and cells in the physical body group themselves in
+normal or abnormal structures of health or of disease in exact
+correspondence with the harmonious or the discordant vibrations
+conveyed to them from the mental and emotional planes.
+
+Another Illustration: Two violins, as they leave the shop of the
+maker, are exactly alike in material, structure and quality of tone.
+One of the two instruments is constantly used by beginners and
+persons incapable of producing pure notes. The other passes into the
+hands of an artist who understands how to use the instrument to the
+best advantage and who draws from it only musical tones that are
+true in pitch and quality.
+
+After a few years, compare the two violins again. You will find that
+the one used by the tyros in music has deteriorated in its musical
+qualities, while the one in the hands of the artist has greatly
+improved in quality and purity of tone. What is the reason? The
+atoms and molecules in the wood of the two instruments have grouped
+themselves according to the discords or the harmonies that have been
+produced from them.
+
+If this rearrangement of atoms is possible in dead wood, how much
+easier must be this adjustment of atoms, molecules and cells to
+discordant or harmonious vibratory influence in the living, plastic
+and fluidic human organism!
+
+What harmony is to music, hope, faith, cheerfulness, happiness,
+sympathy, love and altruism are to the vibratory conditions of the
+human entity. These emotions are in alignment with the constructive
+principle in Nature. They harmonize the physical vibrations, relax
+the tissues and open them wide to the inflow of the life force.
+
+Swedenborg truly says: "The warmth of life is the heat of the divine
+love permeating and animating the universe." The more we possess of
+hope, faith, love and their kindred emotions, the more we open
+ourselves to the inflow and action of the vital energies. The
+good-natured, cheerful, sympathetic person is more alive than the
+crabbed, morose or selfish individual.
+
+It has been proved over and over again by everyday experience that
+mental and emotional conditions positively affect the chemical
+composition of the tissues and secretions of the body. The
+destructive emotions of fear, worry, anger, jealousy,
+revengefulness, envy, etc., actually poison the fluids and tissues
+of the body. The bite of an angry man may cause blood-poisoning and
+prove as fatal as the bite of a mad dog. Sudden fear, anger or any
+other destructive emotion in the nursing mother may cause illness or
+even death of the infant.
+
+In psychological laboratories it has been found by scientifically
+conducted experiments that under the influence of destructive mental
+and emotional conditions, the secretions and excretions of the body
+show an increase of morbid and poisonous elements.
+
+Selfishness, fear and worry contract and congeal the blood vessels,
+the nerve fibers, and the other channels through which the life
+forces are conveyed from the innermost source of life to different
+parts and organs of the physical body. The flow of the life currents
+is impeded and diminished. Such are the actual physiological effects
+of fear, anxiety and egotism on the physical organism.
+
+A man under the influence of great fear and one exposed to freezing
+present the same outward appearance. In both cases death may result
+through the congealing of the tissues and the shutting out of the
+life currents. The person afflicted with the worry habit may not die
+suddenly like the one overcome by great and sudden fear.
+Nevertheless, the fear and worry vibrations maintained constantly
+will surely obstruct and diminish the inflow of the life force,
+lower the vitality and therewith the resistance to the encroachment
+of influences inimical to the health of the organism.
+
+The cells in the body are negative, or, at least, they should be
+negative to the positive mind. The relationship of the mind to the
+cell should be like that of hypnotist to subject. If the mind could
+not exert such absolute control over the cells and cell groups, it
+would be impossible for us to walk, talk, write, dodge danger, etc.,
+with almost automatic ease.
+
+The cells are not able to reason upon the truth or untruth of the
+suggestions conveyed to them from the mind. They accept its
+promptings unqualifiedly and act accordingly.
+
+Thus, if the mind constantly thinks of, say, the stomach as being in
+a badly diseased condition, unable to do its work properly, the
+mental images of weakness and disease with their accompanying fear
+vibrations are telegraphed over the efferent nerves to the cells of
+the stomach and these become more and more weakened and diseased
+through the destructive vibrations sent to them from the mind.
+
+I often advise my patients to procure a book on anatomy and
+physiology and to study and keep constantly before their mind's eye
+the normal structure and functions of a healthy stomach or liver or
+whatever organ may be involved in any particular case.
+
+Positive Affirmations
+
+This explains why affirmations of health are justified in the face
+of disease. The health conditions must be first established in the
+mind before they can be conveyed to and impressed upon the cells.
+
+The well-being of the human body as a whole depends upon the health
+of the billions of minute cells which compose it. These cells are so
+small that they have to be magnified several hundred times under a
+powerful microscope before we can see them. Yet they are independent
+living beings which grow, assimilate food, multiply and die like the
+big cell, Man.
+
+These little cells are congregated in communities which form the
+organs and tissues of the body and in these communities they carry
+on the complicated activities of citizens living in a large city.
+Some are carriers, bringing food materials to the tissues and organs
+or conveying waste and morbid matter to the excretory channels of
+the body. Other cells manufacture chemical substances, such as
+sugar, fats, ferments, hormones etc., for the production of which
+man requires complicated factories. Still others act as policemen
+and soldiers which protect the commonwealth against bacteria,
+parasites and other hostile invaders.
+
+The marvelous work performed by these little organisms, as well as
+observations made in the dissecting room and under the microscope,
+strongly indicate that these cells are endowed with some sort of
+individual intelligence. They do their work without our aid or
+conscious volition. But, nevertheless, they are greatly influenced
+by the varying conditions of the mind. While their activities seem
+to be controlled through the sympathetic nervous system, they stand
+in direct telegraphic communication with headquarters in the brain
+and every impulse of the mind is conveyed to them.
+
+If there be dismay and confusion in the mind, this condition is
+telegraphically conveyed over the nerve trunks and filaments to
+every cell in the body, and as a result these little workers and
+soldiers become panic-stricken and incapable of rightly performing
+their manifold duties.
+
+The cell system of the body resembles a vast army. The mind is the
+general at the head of it. The cells are the soldiers, divided into
+groups for special work.
+
+Much of the work of an army is carried on through different
+well-established departments, as the commissariat, the hospital
+service, the scouts and pickets, etc. Though the life and the
+activities of the army are so well regulated that they seem
+automatic, nevertheless much depends upon the commander.
+
+The vital processes of the human organism, digestion, assimilation,
+elimination, respiration, the circulation of the blood, etc., are
+going on without our volition, whether we be awake or asleep. These
+involuntary activities are impelled by the sympathetic nervous
+system, while the voluntary functions of the body are controlled
+through the motor [voluntary] nervous system. This division,
+however, is not a sharp one, and the two departments frequently
+overlap one another.
+
+The sympathetic nervous system resembles the commissarial department
+of the army, which attends to the material welfare of the soldiers,
+while the motor nervous system, with headquarters in the brain,
+corresponds to the commander with his executive staff, the nerve
+centers in the spinal cord and other parts of the body being the
+subordinate officers in the field.
+
+While the physical well-being of the army depends upon the almost
+automatic work of its different departments, its mind and soul is
+the man commanding it. He determines the spirit, the energy and the
+efficiency of the vast organization.
+
+If the commander-in-chief lacks insight, force and determination,
+the discipline of the army will be lax and its efficiency greatly
+impaired. If he is a craven, without faith in himself and in the
+cause he represents, his lack of courage, his doubt and indecision
+will communicate themselves to the whole army, resulting in
+discouragement and defeat.
+
+The most successful commanders have been those who were possessed of
+absolute confidence in themselves and in the efficiency of their
+army, who in the face of gravest danger and discouraging situations
+pressed on to the predetermined goal with dogged courage and
+resolution. Determination and pertinacity of this kind create the
+magnetic power which imparts itself to every individual soldier in
+the army and makes him a willing subject, even unto death, to the
+will of his commander.
+
+When the plague was invading Napoleon's army, that great general
+entered the hospitals where the victims of the plague were lying,
+took them by the hand and conversed with them. He did this to
+overcome the fear in the hearts of his soldiers, and thus to protect
+them against the dread disease. He said: "A man whose will can
+conquer the world, can conquer the plague."
+
+To my mind, this was one of the greatest deeds of the Corsican. At a
+time when "New Thought" was practically unknown, the genius of this
+man had grasped its principles and was making them factors in his
+apparent success. "Apparent" because, while we admire his genius, we
+deplore the ends to which he applied his wonderful powers.
+
+At times when the battle seemed lost, Napoleon would go to the front
+where the danger was greatest; and by the mere sight of him the
+hard-pressed soldiers under his command were inspired to super-human
+effort and final victory.
+
+As long as the glamour of invincibility surrounded him, Napoleon was
+invincible, because he infused into his soldiers a faith and courage
+which nothing could withstand. But when the cunning of the Russian
+broke his power and decimated his ranks on the ice-bound steppes,
+the hypnotic spell was broken also. Friends and enemies alike
+recognized that, after all, he was but a man, subject to chance and
+circumstance; and from that time on he was vulnerable and suffered
+defeat after defeat.
+
+The power of the mind over the physical body and its involuntary
+functions (the functions which are regulated and controlled through
+the sympathetic nervous system) may be illustrated by the
+demonstrated facts of hypnotism. Through the exertion of his own
+imagination and his will-power, the hypnotist can so dominate the
+brain and through the brain the physical body of his subject, as to
+influence not only the sensory functions, but also heart action and
+respiration. By the power of his will the hypnotist is able to
+retard or accelerate pulse and respiration, and even to subdue the
+heart beat so that it becomes hardly perceptible.
+
+If it is possible thus to control by the power of will the vital
+functions in the body of another person, it must be possible also to
+control these functions in our own bodies. Many a Hindu fakir and
+yogi have developed this power of the mind over the physical body to
+a marvelous extent.
+
+Here lies the true domain of mental therapeutics. We can learn to
+dominate and regulate the vital activities and the life currents in
+our bodies so that they will do their work intelligently and
+serenely even under the stress of illness or of danger. We can, by
+the power of will, direct the vital currents to those parts and
+organs which need them most and we can relieve congested areas by
+equalizing the circulation, by drawing from the surplus of blood and
+nerve currents and distributing the vital fluids over other parts of
+the body.
+
+We must be careful, however, to use our higher powers in conformity
+with Nature's intent; that is, we must not endeavor to suppress
+Nature's cleansing and healing efforts. It is possible to do this by
+the power of will as well as with ice bags and drugs.
+
+Mentally and emotionally, as well as physically, we must work with
+Nature, not against her. When we understand the fundamental laws of
+disease and cure, we cannot well do otherwise.
+
+
+Chapter XXXIX
+
+
+HOW SHALL WE PRAY?
+
+
+Shall we say: "Father, give me this Father, do for me that!"? Or
+shall we say: "Behold, I am perfect! Imperfection, sin and suffering
+are only errors of mortal mind!"?
+
+Or shall we pray: "Father, give me of Thy strength that I may live
+in harmony with Thy law, for thus only will all good come to me!"?
+
+The first way is to beg, the second, to steal, the third, to earn by
+honest effort.
+
+"Father, give me this!"--"Father do for me that!" Thus prayed our
+fathers, not understanding the great law of compensation, the law of
+giving and receiving, which demands that we give an equivalent for
+everything we receive. To receive without giving is to beg.
+
+The lily, in return for the nourishment it receives from the soil
+and the sun, gives its beauty and fragrance. The birds of the air
+give a return for their sustenance by their songs, their beauty of
+plumage, and by destroying worms and insects, the enemies of plants
+and men. Every living thing gives an equivalent for its existence in
+some way or other.
+
+With Man, the fulfillment of the law of service and of compensation
+becomes conscious and voluntary, and his self-respect refuses to
+take without giving.
+
+"Behold, I am perfect! Imperfection, sin, and suffering are only
+errors of mortal mind!" Such is the prayer of certain metaphysical
+healers.
+
+To assume the possession of goodness and perfection without an
+earnest effort to develop and to deserve these qualities, means to
+steal the glory of the only Perfect One. The assumption of present
+perfection precludes the necessity of striving and laboring for its
+attainment. If I am already all goodness, all love, all wisdom, and
+all power, what remains for me to strive for?
+
+Herein lies the danger of metaphysical idealism. While it may dispel
+pessimism, fear, and anxiety, it inevitably weakens the will power
+and the capacity for self-help and personal effort.
+
+The ideal of the metaphysician is the ideal of the animal. The
+animal does not worry about right or wrong, nor, with few
+exceptions, does it make provision for the future. Its care and
+forethought extend only to the next meal. But this perfect, ideal,
+passive trust in Nature's bounty causes the animal to remain animal
+and prevents its rising above the narrow limitations of habit and
+instinct.
+
+The inherent faculties, capacities, and powers of the human soul can
+be developed only by effort and use. The savage, living in the most
+favored regions of the earth, depending for his sustenance in
+perfect faith and trust on Nature's never-failing bounty, has
+remained savage. Through ages he has risen but little above the
+level of the beasts that perish.
+
+The great law of use ordains that those faculties and powers which
+we do not develop remain in abeyance, and that those which we
+possess weaken and atrophy if we fail to exercise them.
+
+The Master, Jesus, emphasized this law of use in many of his
+parables and sayings.
+
+"For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more
+abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even
+that he hath."
+
+What does this mean? Those who have the desire and the will to work
+out their own salvation, acquire greater knowledge and power in
+exact proportion to their well-directed efforts; but those who have
+neither the desire nor the will to help themselves, lose their
+natural endowments and the possibilities and opportunities which
+these would have conferred upon them.
+
+The anatomy and physiology of the human brain reveal the fact that
+for every voluntary faculty, capacity, and power of body, mind, and
+soul which we wish to develop, we have to create new cells and
+centers in the brain. In this respect, Nature gives us no more and
+no less than we deserve and work for. If we "try to cheat" by
+usurping the perfection and the power which we have not honestly
+earned and developed, then sometime, somewhere we shall have to
+"square the balance."
+
+The Right Way to Pray
+
+After all, the only true prayer is personal effort and self-help.
+This does not mean that we should not invoke the help of the Higher
+Powers, of those who have gone before us, of the Great Friends and
+Invisible Helpers, and of the Great Father, the giver of all life,
+all wisdom, and all power. But we should pray for strength to do our
+work, not to have it done for us. The wise parent will not do for
+the child the home tasks assigned him at school. Neither will the
+powers on high or the Great Friends perform our allotted tasks for
+us.
+
+This life is a school for personal effort. If it were not so, life
+would be meaningless. From the cradle to the grave, our days are
+one continuous effort to learn, to acquire, to overcome difficulties.
+Only in this way can we develop our latent faculties, capacities,
+and powers. These cannot be developed by having our tasks done
+for us, nor by assuming that we already know and possess everything.
+
+The athlete must do his own training. No one else can do it for him.
+The assumption of superiority over his opponent will riot develop
+his suppleness of body and strength of muscle. To be sure, faith and
+courage are essential to--victory, but they must be backed by
+careful and persistent training. Vainglorious boasting alone will
+not win the contest.
+
+So in the battle of life, the more faith we have in God, in the
+Great Friends, and in our own powers, the wider do we open ourselves
+to the inflow of wisdom and strength from all that is good and true
+and powerful in the universe. But through persistent and
+welldirected effort alone can we control the powers and fashion the
+materials which Nature has so lavishly bestowed upon us.
+
+The creative will, actuated by desire and enlightened by reason,
+brings order and harmony out of chaotic forces and materials. And
+yet certain metaphysicians tell us that we ourselves must do nothing
+to overcome weakness, sin, and suffering, that we must depend
+entirely upon the efficiency of metaphysical formulas, that the
+deity and the powers of Nature are jealous of our personal efforts,
+that we must not try to help ourselves lest we forfeit their good
+will.
+
+Is it not blasphemous to assume that God would blame us and withhold
+his aid because we dared to use the faculties, capacities, and
+powers with which he has endowed us? You say, "Nobody is foolish
+enough to claim such things." But this is the teaching of a powerful
+healing-cult. Its members are forbidden, on penalty of expulsion, to
+use in the treatment of human ailments the most innocent natural
+remedies. The giving of an enema, or the common-sense regulation of
+diet are regarded as sufficient to nullify the power of their
+metaphysical formulas and to prevent the working of Nature's healing
+forces.
+
+One of our patients who had been under such treatment until she was
+in a dying condition, told us afterwards that her bowels often did
+not move for a week, and that, when she complained to her "healer"
+about this condition and asked permission to take an enema, he
+answered her: "Pay no attention. The Lord is taking care of that in
+some other way."
+
+The man who said this had been a prominent allopathic physician
+before he turned "healer." He, too, like so many others ignorant of
+Nature's simple laws, had swung from one extreme to the other, from
+allopathic overdoing to metaphysical underdoing. In this instance,
+the Lord "took care" of the patient's bowels until she was taken
+down with a severe attack of appendicitis and peritonitis.
+
+Amidst all the extremes, Nature Cure points the common-sense middle
+way. Basing its teachings and its practices on a clear understanding
+of the laws of health, disease, and cure, it refrains from
+suppressing acute diseases with poisonous drugs or the knife,
+realizing that they are in reality Nature's cleansing and healing
+efforts. Neither does it sit idly by and expect the Lord, or
+metaphysical formulas, or the medicine bottle and the knife, to do
+our work and to make good for our violations of Nature's laws.
+
+Understanding the Law, Nature Cure believes in cooperating with the
+law; in giving the Lord a helping hand. It teaches that "God helps
+him who helps himself," that He will not become angry and refuse His
+help if His children use rightly the reason, the willpower, and the
+self-control with which he has endowed them, so that they may
+achieve their own salvation.
+
+Nature Cure from beginning to end is one grand, true prayer. It
+teaches The Law on all planes of being, the physical, the mental,
+the moral, and the spiritual; and it insists that the only way to
+attain perfect health of body, mind, and soul is to comply with the
+law to the best of our ability. When we do that, we place ourselves
+in allgnment with the constructive principle in Nature, and in exact
+proportion to our intelligent and voluntary co-operation with the
+laws of our being, all good things will come to us.
+
+Therefore we pray: "Father, give me of Thy strength that I may live
+in harmony with Thy law, for thus only will all good come to me."
+
+
+
+Chapter XL
+
+
+Scientific Relaxation and Normal Suggestion
+
+
+Under the strain of work-a-day hurry and worry, your nerve
+vibrations are apt to become more and more intense and excited. They
+run away with you until, as the saying goes, "you are flying all to
+pieces."
+
+A good illustration of this condition of the nervous system may be
+found in a team of horses shying at some object in their path. The
+driver, panic-stricken, has dropped the reins, the frightened horses
+have taken the bits between their teeth and are dashing headlong
+down the road, until their master regains control, checks the
+animals in their maddened course, and compels them to resume their
+ordinary pace.
+
+So the high-strung, oversensitive individual must gain control over
+his nervous system and must subdue his runaway mental and emotional
+activities into restful, harmonious vibrations.
+
+This is done by insuring sufficient rest and sleep under the right
+conditions and by practicing scientific relaxation at all times.
+
+The "nervous" person gets easily excited. Comparatively little
+things will cause an outbreak of intense irritation or emotional
+hyperactivity.
+
+Usually, the victim of unbalanced nerves is of the high-strung,
+sensitive type, naturally inclining to more rapid vibrations on all
+planes, capable of greater achievement than the stolid, heavy,
+slow-vibrating person who doesn't know that he has any nerves, but
+he is also in greater danger of mental and emotional overstrain and
+physical depletion as a result of the excessive and uncontrolled
+expenditure of life force and nervous energy.
+
+Relaxation while Working
+
+At first glance this expression may seem paradoxical, but experience
+will teach that it is not only possible, but absolutely necessary
+that we perform our work in a relaxed and serene condition of body
+and mind. The most strenuous physical or mental labor will then not
+cause as much exhaustion as light work done in a state of nervous
+tension, irritability, fretfulness or worry.
+
+Relaxation while working necessitates planning and system. Most
+nervous breakdowns result not so much from overwork as from the
+vitality wasted through lack of orderly procedure. Therefore, take
+some time to plan and arrange your work and form the habit of doing
+certain things that have to be done every day as nearly as possible
+in the same way (making sure that it is the right way) and at the
+same time of the day. Such orderly system will soon become habitual
+and result in saving much valuable time and energy.
+
+Always cultivate a serene and cheerful attitude of mind and soul,
+taking whatever comes as part of the day's work, doing your best
+under the circumstances, but absolutely refusing to worry and fret
+about anything. Do not cross a bridge before you get to it, and do
+not waste time regretting something that cannot be undone.
+
+Relaxation while Sitting
+
+Sit upright in a comfortable chair without strain or tension, spine
+and head erect, the legs forming right angles with the thighs (the
+chair should be neither too high nor too low), feet resting firmly
+upon the floor, toes pointing slightly outward, the forearms resting
+lightly upon the legs with the hands upon the knees. This must be
+accomplished without effort, for effort means tension.
+
+Dismiss all thoughts of hurry, care, worry or fear and dwell upon
+the following thoughts:
+
+"I am now completely relaxed in body and mind. I am receptive to
+Nature's harmonious and invigorating vibrations--they dispel the
+discordant and destructive vibrations of hurry, worry, fear and
+anger. New life, new health, new strength are entering into me with
+every breath, pervading my whole being."
+
+Repeat these thoughts mentally, or, if it helps you, say them aloud
+several times, quietly and forcefully, impressing them deeply upon
+your inner consciousness.
+
+After practicing relaxation in this manner, lie down for a few
+minutes' rest--if circumstances permit--or practice rhythmical
+breathing (see Chapter Twenty-Eight). Then return to your work and
+endeavor to maintain a calm, trustful, controlled attitude of mind.
+
+If you are inclined to be irritable, suspicious, jealous,
+fault-finding, envious, etc., dwell on the following thought
+pictures:
+
+"I am now fully relaxed, at rest and at peace. The world is an echo.
+If I send forth irritable, suspicious, hateful thought vibrations,
+the like will return to me from other minds. I shall think such
+thoughts no longer. God is love, love is harmony, happiness, heaven.
+The more I send forth Love, the more I am like God; the more of love
+will God and men return to me; the more shall I realize true
+happiness, true health, true strength and true success."
+
+Relaxation Before Going to Sleep
+
+When ready to go to sleep, lie flat on your back, so that as nearly
+as possible every part of the spine touches the bed, extend the arms
+along the sides of the body, hands turned upward, palms open, every
+muscle relaxed. Dismiss all thoughts of work, annoyance or anxiety.
+Say to yourself: "I am now going to sleep soundly and peacefully. I
+am master of my body, my mind and my soul. Nothing evil shall
+disturb me. At .... A. M., neither earlier nor later, I shall awaken
+rested and refreshed, strong in body and mind. I shall meet
+tomorrow's tasks and duties promptly and serenely."
+
+Simple as this formula may seem, it has helped cure many a case of
+persistent insomnia and nervous prostration. Having thus set your
+mental alarm clock, with a few times, practice you will be able to
+wake up, without being called, at the appointed time and to
+demonstrate to yourself the power of your mind over your body.
+
+The quality of your sleep and its effect upon your system depend on
+the character of the mental and psychic vibrations carried into it.
+If you harbor thoughts of passion, worry or fear, these destructive
+thought vibrations will disturb your slumbers and you will awaken in
+the morning weak and tired. If, however, you repeat mentally a
+formula such as the above, suggesting harmonious, constructive
+thoughts, until you lose consciousness, you will carry into your
+slumbers vibrations of rest, health and strength, producing
+corresponding effects upon the physical organism.
+
+After a perfectly relaxed condition of body and mind has been
+attained, it is not necessary to remain lying on the back. Any
+position of the body may then be assumed which seems most restful.
+
+My patients frequently ask what position of the body is best during
+sleep. It is not good to lie continuously in any one position. This
+tends to cause unsymmetrical development of the different parts of
+the body and to affect unfavorably the functions of various organs.
+It is best to change occasionally from one position to another, as
+bodily comfort seems to indicate and require.
+
+Many persons fret and worry if sleep does not come as quickly as
+desired. They picture to themselves in darkest colors the dire
+results of wakefulness. Such a state of mind makes sleep impossible.
+If persisted in, it will inevitably lead to chronic insomnia.
+
+Instead of indulging in hurtful worry, say to yourself: "I do not
+care whether I sleep or not! Though I do not sleep, I am lying here
+perfectly relaxed, at rest and at peace. I am strengthened and
+rested by remaining in a state of peaceful relaxation."
+
+However, the "I do not care" must be actually meant and felt, must
+not be merely a mechanical repetition of words.
+
+Nothing is more conducive to sleep, even under the most trying
+circumstances, than such an "I-don't-care" attitude of mind. Try it,
+and the chances are that just because you do not care, you will fall
+fast asleep.
+
+
+
+Chapter XLI
+
+
+Conclusion
+
+
+Our critics say: "If Nature Cure is all that you claim for it, why
+is it not more generally accepted by the medical profession and the
+public?"
+
+The greatest drawback to spreading the Nature Cure idea is the
+necessity of self-control which it imposes. If our cures of
+so-called incurable diseases could be made without asking the
+patients to change their habits of living, without the demand of
+effort on their own part, Nature Cure sanitariums could not be built
+fast enough in this country.
+
+No matter how marvelous the results of the natural methods--when
+investigators learn that the treatment necessitates the control of
+indiscriminate appetite and self-indulgence and the persistent
+practice of natural living and all that this involves, they exclaim:
+"The natural regimen may be all right, but who can live up to it?
+You are asking the impossible. You are looking for a perfection
+which does not exist. Your directions call for an amount of
+willpower and self-control which nobody possesses."
+
+Fortunately, however, this is not true. Human nature is good enough
+and strong enough to comply with Nature's laws. Furthermore, the
+natural ways must be the most pleasant in the end or Nature is a
+fraud and a cheat. True enjoyment of life and happiness are
+impossible without perfect physical, mental and moral health and
+these depend upon natural living and natural treatment of human
+ailments.
+
+Strengthening of Will-Power and Self-Control
+
+If I were asked the question: "What do you consider the greatest
+benefit to be derived from the Nature Cure regimen?" I should
+answer: "The strengthening of willpower and self-control."
+
+This is the very purpose of life. Upon it depends all further
+achievement. Self-control is the master's key to all higher
+development on the mental, moral and spiritual planes of being; but
+before we can exercise it on the higher planes, we must have learned
+to apply it on the lower plane, in the management and control of our
+physical appetites and habits. When we have learned to control
+these, higher development will come easy.
+
+A good method for strengthening the willpower is autosuggestion. The
+most opportune moments in the twenty-four hours of the day for
+practicing this mental magic are those before dropping to sleep. At
+this time there is the least disturbance and interference from
+outside influences, the mind is most passive and susceptible to
+suggestion and impressions made under these favorable conditions
+upon the "phonograph records" of the subconscious mind are the most
+lasting and the most powerful to control physical, mental and moral
+activities.
+
+When thoroughly relaxed, at rest and at peace, say to yourself:
+"Whatever duties confront me tomorrow, I shall execute them
+promptly, without wavering or hesitation. I shall not give in to
+this bad habit which has been controlling me. I shall do that only
+of which reason and conscience approve."
+
+In order to be more specific and systematic and to obtain results
+more surely and quickly, concentrate upon one weakness at a time.
+When that has been overcome, take up another one, until in this way
+you have attained perfect control over your thoughts, feelings and
+actions.
+
+Suppose you have acquired the habit of remaining in bed and dozing
+after your mental alarm clock has given its signal to arise and you
+dread the effort of going through your morning exercises and
+ablutions. Then, the night before, impress upon the subconscious
+mind deeply and firmly the following suggestions: "Tomorrow morning,
+on awakening, I shall jump out of bed without hesitation and go
+through my morning exercises with zest and vigor."
+
+Or, suppose you are subject to the fear and worry habit. Say to
+yourself: "Tomorrow or any time thereafter when depressing, gloomy
+thoughts threaten to control me, I shall overcome them with thoughts
+of hope and faith, and with absolute confidence in the Divine power
+of the will within me to overcome and to achieve."
+
+In this manner you may give the subconscious mind suggestions and
+impressions for overcoming bad habits and for establishing and
+strengthening good habits.
+
+If a serious problem is confronting you, and you are unable to solve
+it to your satisfaction, think upon it just before you are dropping
+off to sleep and confidently demand that the right solution come to
+you during the hours of rest. The inner consciousness is always
+awake. It is the watchman who awakens you at the appointed time in
+the morning. It will work upon your problem while your physical
+brain is asleep. In this lies the psychological justification for
+the popular phrase: "Before I decide the matter I'll sleep over it."
+
+In the practice of mental magic, as in everything else, success
+depends upon patience and perseverance. It would be entirely useless
+to go through these mental drills occasionally and in a desultory
+fashion; but if persisted in faithfully and intelligently, they will
+prove truly magical in their effects upon the development of
+willpower and self-control, and on these depend the mastery of
+conditions within and without, the conquest of fate and destiny.
+PAIN'S SOLILOQUY
+
+By C. J. Buell, President Minnesota Health League
+
+I
+
+I am Pain--most people hate me,
+
+Think me cruel, call me heartless,
+
+Study ways to bribe and fool me,
+
+Try by every means to slay me,
+
+Dope themselves with anaesthetics,
+
+Fill themselves with patent nostrums,
+
+Call the doctor with his poisons,
+
+Seek the Christian Science healer,
+
+Beat the tom-tom of the savage,
+
+Build the altar, burn the incense,
+
+Seek to sate the wrath of devils,
+
+Pray to saints, and Gods, and angels;
+
+Not to cure the ills within them,
+
+Not to cleanse and purify them,
+
+Just to calm the pain that hurts them,
+
+Just to-kill the guide that warns them.
+
+II
+
+Pain am I, but when you know me,
+
+When you once have learned my secret,
+
+How I come to help and bless you,
+
+Warn you, guide you, teach and lead you
+
+When you know my loving nature,
+
+How at first I gently twinge you,
+
+Lightly twinge you as a warning,
+
+Hoping thus, by kind reminder,
+
+You will bear my voice and listen--
+
+Sure am I that when you know me,
+
+You will gladly then embrace me,
+
+Call me friend and give me welcome,
+
+Call me friend and ask my message.
+
+III
+
+This the message I would bring you,
+
+This the reason for my visits,
+
+This the warning I would give you,
+
+This the secret I would teach you:
+
+When you learn to live as Nature
+
+In her great and boundless mercy,
+
+In her tender, loving kindness,
+
+In her wisdom and her goodness
+
+Meant that men should live and labor,
+
+When you learn to shun the by-ways
+
+Leading off to vicious habits,
+
+When you learn to keep your body
+
+Strong and clean and pure and active,
+
+Give it work in right proportion,
+
+Give it air, and food, and water,
+
+Fit to build its every member,
+
+Fit to nourish every function,
+
+When you teach your mind and spirit
+
+Pure and noble thoughts to harbor,
+
+Drive out fear, and hate, and malice,
+
+Cherish love and kindly motive,
+
+When you learn these things I've told you,
+
+~When you know them, when you do them,
+
+~Then I will depart and leave you,
+
+Then no more will Pain be needed.
+
+IV
+
+This is, then, the truth I bring you,
+
+That I hurt you but to warn you,
+
+Not to harm you but to heal you,
+
+That I come to guide and teach you.
+
+I am God's most blessed angel,
+
+Sent to point the way to virtue,
+
+Sent to teach the noblest manhood,
+
+Sent to fill the mind with wisdom,
+
+Sent to rouse the soul to action.
+
+V
+
+Love me, trust me, heed my message;
+
+I will bring you peace and bless you!
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Nature Cure
+by Henry Lindlahr
+
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