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bodysoulmakeover’s blog http://bodysoulmakeover.vox.com/library/posts/page/1/ beauty within en Vox Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:37:39 -0700 Copyright 2008 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Photo Album http://bodysoulmakeover.vox.com/library/post/photo-album.html?_c=feed-rss-full nobody@vox.com(bodysoulmakeover) http://bodysoulmakeover.vox.com/library/post/photo-album.html?_c=feed-rss-full http://bodysoulmakeover.vox.com/library/post/photo-album.html?_c=feed-rss-full Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:37:39 -0700 <p></p> <div at:enclosure="asset" at:xid="6a00f48ce8e8d0000200fa9681c9080003" at:format="auto" at:align="center" class="enclosure enclosure-center enclosure-auto embed-enclosure" style="text-align: center;"> <div class="enclosure-inner" style="width: 300px;" > <div class="enclosure-list"> <div class="enclosure-item embed-asset last"> <div class="enclosure-embed"> <iframe class="enclosure-iframe" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://a0.vox-data.com/6a00f48ce8e8d0000200fa9681c9080003-html" style="width: 300px; height: 253px;"></iframe> </div> <div class="enclosure-meta"> <div class="enclosure-asset-name"></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <p><br /></p> <p style="clear:both;"> <a href="http://bodysoulmakeover.vox.com/library/post/photo-album.html?_c=feed-rss-full#comments">Read and post comments</a> | <a href="http://www.vox.com/share/6a00f48ce8e8d0000200fa9681c9090003?_c=feed-rss-full">Send to a friend</a> </p> True healing natures Laws http://bodysoulmakeover.vox.com/library/post/true-healing-natures-laws.html?_c=feed-rss-full nobody@vox.com(bodysoulmakeover) http://bodysoulmakeover.vox.com/library/post/true-healing-natures-laws.html?_c=feed-rss-full http://bodysoulmakeover.vox.com/library/post/true-healing-natures-laws.html?_c=feed-rss-full Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:55:12 -0700 <pre>"Ho, ye who suffer! Know ye suffer from vowselves. None else<br />compels--no other holds ye that ye live or die. "~--Siddartha~<br /><br /><br />TO THE PROGRESSIVE PHYSICIANS OF THE AGE<br /><br /><br />There are two principal methods of treating disease. One is the<br />combative, the other the preventive. The trend of modern medical<br />research and practice in our great colleges and endowed research<br />institutes is almost entirely along combative lines, while the<br />individual, progressive physician learns to work more and more along<br />preventive lines. The slogan of modern medical science is, "Kill the<br />germ and cure the disease." The usual procedure is to wait until<br />acute or chronic diseases have fully developed, and then, if<br />possible, to subdue them by means of drugs, surgical operations, and<br />by means of the morbid products of disease, in the form of serums,<br />antitoxins, vaccines, etc. The combative method fights disease with<br />disease, poison with poison, and germs with germs and germ products.<br />In the language of the Good Book, it is "Beelzebub against the<br />Devil."<br /><br />The preventive method does not wait until diseases have fully<br />developed and gained the ascendancy in the body, but concentrates<br />its best endeavors on preventing, by hygienic living and by natural<br />methods of treatment, the development of diseases. By these it<br />endeavors to put the human body in such a normal, healthy condition<br />that it is practically proof against infection or contagion by<br />disease taints and miasms, and against the inroads of germs,<br />bacteria and parasites.<br /><br />The question is, which method is the most practical, the most<br />successful and most popular? Which will stand the test of "the<br />survival of the fittest" in the great struggle for existence?<br /><br />The medical profession has good reason to be alarmed by the inroads<br />made in its work by irregular, unorthodox systems, schools and cults<br />of treating human ailments; but instead of raging at the audacious<br />presumption of these interlopers, would it not be better to inquire<br />if there is not some reason for the astonishing spread and<br />popularity of these therapeutic innovations?<br /><br />Their success undoubtedly is based on the fact that they concentrate<br />their best efforts on preventive instead of combative methods of<br />treating disease. People are beginning to realize that it is cheaper<br />and more advantageous to prevent disease than to cure it. To create<br />and maintain continuous, buoyant good health means greater<br />efficiency for mental and physical work; greater capacity for the<br />true enjoyment of life, and the best insurance against failure and<br />poverty. Therefore, he who builds health is of greater value to<br />humanity than he who allows people to drift into disease through<br />ignorance of Nature's laws, and then attempts to cure them by<br />doubtful and uncertain combative methods.<br /><br />It is said that in China the physician is hired and paid by the<br />year; that he receives a certain stipend as long as the members of<br />the family are in good health, but that the salary is suspended as<br />long as one of his charges is ill. If some similar method of<br />engaging and paying for medical services were in vogue in this<br />country the trend of medical research and practice would soon<br />undergo a radical change.<br /><br />The diet expert, the hydropath, the physical culturist, the adjuster<br />of the spine, the mental healer, and Christian scientist, do not pay<br />much attention to the pathological conditions or to the symptoms of<br />disease. They regulate the diet and habits of living on a natural<br />basis, promote elimination, teach correct breathing and wholesome<br />exercise, correct the mechanical lesions of the spine, establish the<br />right mental and emotional attitude and, in so far as they succeed<br />in doing this, they build health and diminish the possibility of<br />disease. The successful doctor of the future will have to fall in<br />line with the procession and do more teaching than prescribing.<br /><br />I realize that many of the statements and claims made in this volume<br />will seem radical and irrational to my colleagues of the regular<br />school of medicine. They win say that most of my teachings are<br />contrary to the firmly established theories of medical science. All<br />I ask, of them is not to judge too hastily; to observe, to think and<br />to test, and I am certain that they will find verified in actual<br />experience many of the teachings of the Nature Cure Philosophy.<br />Medical science has had to abandon innumerable theories and<br />practices which at one time were as firmly established as some of<br />the pet theories of today.<br /><br />By none of the statements made in this book do I mean to deny the<br />necessity of combative methods under certain circumstances. What I<br />wish to emphasize is that the regular school of medicine is spending<br />too much of its effort along combative lines and not enough along<br />preventive. It would be foolish to deny the necessity of surgery in<br />traumatism, and in abnormal conditions which require mechanical<br />means of adjustment or treatment.<br /><br />Such necessity, for instance, will exist in certain obstetrical<br />cases, as long as women have not learned, or are not willing to live<br />in such a way as to make surgical intervention unnecessary in<br />child-birth. The same is true with regard to the treatment of germ<br />diseases. As long as people persist in violating the laws of their<br />being, and thereby making their bodies prolific breeding grounds for<br />disease taints, germs and parasites which are bound to provoke<br />inflammatory, feverish processes (Nature's cleansing and healing<br />efforts), combative measures will have to be resorted to by the<br />physician, and precautionary measures against infection will have to<br />be observed, but these should be in harmony with Nature's endeavors,<br />not contrary and suppressive; they should tend to conserve and not<br />to destroy.<br /><br />Natural dietetics, fasting, hydropathy, osteopathy, chiropractic,<br />and mental therapeutics, are combative as well as preventive, but if<br />properly applied they do not in any way injure the organism or<br />interfere with Nature's intent and Nature's methods. This cannot be<br />said for much of the surgical and medical treatment of the old<br />school of medicine. We criticize and condemn only those methods<br />which are suppressive and destructive instead of curative.<br /><br />In many instances already the warnings and teachings of Nature Cure<br />Philosophy have been verified, and had to be heeded and accepted by<br />medical science. The exponents of Nature Cure protested against the<br />barbarous practice of withholding water from patients burning in<br />fever heat, and against the exclusion of fresh air from the sickroom<br />by order of the doctor. The cold water and no drug treatment of<br />typhoid fever, the water treatment for other acute diseases, as well<br />as the open air treatment for tuberculosis, were forced upon the<br />medical profession by the Nature Cure people. For more than half a<br />century the latter have been curing all inflammaory, feverish<br />diseases, from simple colds to scarlet fever, diphtheria,<br />cerebro-spinal meningitis, smallpox, appendicitis, etc., etc., by<br />hydropathy, fasting, and other natural methods, without resorting at<br />all to the use of poisonous drugs, antitoxins and surgical<br />operations.<br /><br />For many years before the terrible after-effects of X-Ray treatment,<br />of extirpation of the ovaries, the womb, and of other vital organs,<br />became so patent that the physicians of the regular school could not<br />ignore them any longer, Nature Cure physicians had strongly warned<br />against these unnatural practices, and called attention to their<br />destructive after-effects.<br /><br />As far back as ten years ago, when the X-Rays were in high favor for<br />the treatment of cancer, lupus, and other diseases, I warned against<br />the use of these rays, claiming that their vibratory velocity was<br />too high and powerful, and therefore destructive to the tissues of<br />the human body. Since the failure of the X-Rays and the discovery of<br />Radio-activity, the rays and emanations of radium and other<br />radio-active substances are widely advertised and exploited as<br />therapeutic agents, but these rays also are far beyond the vibratory<br />ranges of the physical body in velocity and power. Therefore, it<br />remains to be seen whether their injurious by and after-effects do<br />not out-weigh in the long run their beneficial effects.<br /><br />The destructive action of these high power rays, as well as of<br />inorganic minerals, is very slow and insidious, manifesting only in<br />the course of many years. This new field of therapeutics, therefore,<br />has not yet passed the stage of dangerous experimentation.<br /><br />Inorganic minerals prove injurious and destructive to the tissues of<br />the human body because they are too slow in vibratory velocity, and<br />too coarse in molecular structure.<br /><br />It is the intent and purpose of this volume to warn against the<br />exploitation of destructive combative methods to the neglect of<br />preventive constructive and conservative methods. If these teachings<br />contribute something toward this end they will fulfil their mission.<br /><br />The Author<br /><br />Chicago, Nov., 1913.<br /><br /><br /><br />INTRODUCTION<br /><br /><br />It was the following letter from Mr. William Louden to the editor of<br />~"Health Culture"~ which prompted the author to issue the ~"Nature<br />Cure Magazine"~ (published from November, 1907, to October, 1909).<br />In the series of books of which this is the first volume, he will<br />endeavor to collect and systematize all his former writings in the~<br />"Nature Cure Magazine," "Health Culture," "Life and Action,"~ the<br />~"Naturopath,"~ the ~"Volksrath,"~ and other publications, and to<br />amplify these by new material obtained through further research and<br />wider experience.<br /><br />Mr. Albert Turner,<br /><br />Editor of ~"Health Culture."~<br /><br />DEAR SIR--I write to ask what you consider the best book or pamphlet<br />to put into the hands of people generally, in regard to the<br />preservation of health. I know ther e are a number of very excellent<br />publications, but as a rule they deal with certain details or phases<br />of the question, and do not begin with the great underlying<br />principles in such a way as to attract and hold the attention of the<br />masses. One advocates one plan, and another an entirely different,<br />and sometimes a directly opposite plan--such as uncooked vs.<br />thoroughly cooked food; a strictly vegetarian diet, and mental<br />culture in place of attention to either, etc. Such a state of<br />affairs makes it confusing to average people and gets them to<br />believe that health reformers are all at sea, and what is good for<br />one is not good for another, or, in common language, "what is one<br />man's meat is another's poison."<br /><br />Now, I know it is natural, and doubtless best, that there should be<br />a difference of opinion on any question, but at the same time, if<br />any movement is to be crowned with great success, there should be<br />some underlying principles upon which all should agree, and these<br />should be pressed to the forefront, so as to attract and hold the<br />attention of the people, in place of the divergent details upon<br />which they disagree. If these fundamental laws and principles are<br />thoroughly studied and well defined, it may be found that they would<br />explain the discrepancies between the different theories, and that<br />under certain conditions, one plan is best, and that under different<br />conditions another plan is more applicable, etc. The pushing of<br />these fundamental principles to the front would also tend to correct<br />errors into which the different theorists have fallen, and would<br />certainly tend to make the different theories more homogeneous and<br />more easily understood by people in general, than at present.<br /><br />In my opinion, the general fundamental principles of life and health<br />are what people need to understand more than anything else. Without<br />this, most of the details will be meaningless or at least confusing<br />dogmas. I don't mean by these fundamental principles the details of<br />anatomy, or, for that matter, the details of anything else, but the<br />general rules governing life and death, so that people may know<br />which way they, are tending, and may understand the many illusions<br />with which life and death, as well as all else in nature are beset.<br /><br />Yours truly,<br /><br />WILLIAM LOUDEN<br /><br />Louden Mfg. Co.,<br /><br />Fairfield, Iowa.<br /><br /><br /><br />The present volume and others of the "Nature Cure Series" which are<br />to follow are an attempt to answer Mr. Louden's inquiry and to<br />formulate and elucidate the fundamental laws of health, disease and<br />cure for which he and many others have been vainly seeking. Who<br />among you at some time or another, has not thought and felt like Mr.<br />Louden and in doubt and perplexity voiced Pilate's query,<br /><br />What Is Truth?<br /><br />The exact information and rational method of teaching which Mr.<br />Louden is seeking, has heretofore been wanting in health-culture<br />literature.<br /><br />Many, indeed, stand ready and willing to show the way to physical,<br />mental and moral perfection. Hundreds, yes, thousands, of different<br />cults, isms, teachers, books and periodicals treat of these<br />subjects, but their teachings are so manifold, so contradictory and<br />confusing, that one becomes bewildered amid the ever increasing<br />testimony. As is often the case in the study of complicated<br />subjects, the more one reads and the more one hears, the less one<br />knows. I believe that no one has described more strikingly this<br />state of general perplexity than Mr. Louden in his excellent letter.<br /><br />Nevertheless, these simple fundamental laws and principles really<br />exist. They must exist, because everything in Nature, including the<br />processes of health, of disease and cure, of birth, of life and<br />death, are subject to law and order.<br /><br />Allopathy, or Old School Medical Science, admits that it does not<br />know these fundamental principles; that it reasons, not from<br />underlying causes, but from external symptoms and personal<br />experiences. It is, therefore, self-confessedly full of doubts,<br />errors and confusion; in short, empirical--and necessarily, a<br />failure.<br /><br />Many teachers of Nature Cure, Hygiene and Health cults have stumbled<br />accidentally upon some of the natural laws and true methods of<br />healing, but have failed to grasp and to formulate the broad<br />underlying principles. For this reason they are often partly right<br />and partly wrong and very apt to overdo certain methods to the<br />neglect of others just as effective and essential, or even more so.<br /><br />I shall endeavor in these volumes to formulate and elucidate some of<br />the fundamental laws and principles underlying the phenomena of life<br />and death, health, disease and cure, and shall try to ascertain in<br />the light of these laws how much of truth and how much of error, how<br />much of usefulness and how much of harmfulness there may be<br />contained in the various theories and systems of living and of<br />healing.<br /><br />Nature Owe an Exact Science<br /><br />One of the reasons why Nature Cure is not more popular with the<br />medical profession and the public is that it is too simple. The<br />average mind is more impressed by the involved and mysterious than<br />by the simple and common-sense.<br /><br />However, it remains a fact that "exact science" reduces complexity<br />and confusion to simplicity and clearness. Science becomes exact<br />science only when the underlying laws which correlate and unify its<br />scattered facts and theories have been discovered.<br /><br />These simple laws rightly understood and applied will do for medical<br />science what the law of gravitation has done for physics and<br />astronomy, and what the laws of chemical affinity have done for<br />chemistry, they will place medical science in the ranks of exact<br />sciences. The understanding and proper application of these truths<br />will explain every fact and phenomenon in the processes of health,<br />disease and cure, and will enable the student to reason from simple,<br />natural laws and principles to their logical effects. The "Regular"<br />school of medicine, so far, has endeavored to build a medical<br />science on the observation of "effects" and "experiences," but<br />since one fundamental law of nature may produce a million seemingly<br />differing effects it becomes self-evident that it is utterly<br />impossible to found an exact science on such uncertain and<br />conflicting evidence.<br /><br />The primary laws and principles once understood, it becomes easy to<br />reason from and to explain through them, the various phenomena which<br />they produce. Herein lie the merit and achievement of the Nature<br />Cure philosophy.<br /><br />THE UPAS TREE OF DISEASE<br /><br />EVIL IS NOT AN ACCIDENT, NOT AN ARBITRARY PUNISHMENT, NOT ALWAYS AN<br />"ERROR OF MORTAL MIND." IT IS THE NATURAL AND INEVITABLE RESULT OF<br />VIOLATIONS OF NATURE'S LAWS. IT IS INSTRUCTIVE AND CORRECTIVE IN<br />PURPOSE, AND WILL REMAIN WITH US ONLY AS LONG AS WE NEED ITS<br />SALUTARY LESSONS.<br /><br /><br /><br />Chapter I<br /><br /><br />What ~Is~ Nature Cure?<br /><br /><br />It is vastly more than a system of curing aches and pains; it is a<br />complete revolution in the art and science of living. It is the<br />practical realization and application of all that is good in natural<br />science, philosophy and religion. Like many another world-wide<br />revolution and reformation, it had its inception in Germany, the<br />land of thinkers and philosophers.<br /><br />About seventy years ago this greatest and most beneficent of<br />reformation movements was inaugurated by Priessnitz in Grafenberg, a<br />small village in the Silesian mountains. The originator of Nature<br />Cure was a simple farmer, but he had a natural genius for the art of<br />healing.<br /><br />His pharmacopeia consisted not in poisonous pills and potions but in<br />plenty of exercise, fresh mountain air, water treatments in the<br />cool, sparkling brooks, and simple, wholesome country fare,<br />consisting largely of black bread, vegetables, and milk fresh from<br />cows fed on nutritious mountain grasses.<br /><br />The results accomplished by these simple means were wonderful.<br />Before he died, a large sanitarium, filled with patients from all<br />over the world and from all stations of life, had grown up around<br />his forest home.<br /><br />Among those who made the pilgrimage to Grafenberg to become patients<br />and students of this genial healer, the simple-minded<br />farmer-physician, were wealthy merchants, princes and doctors from<br />all parts of the world.<br /><br />Rapidly the idea of drugless healing spread over Germany and over<br />the civilized world. In the Fatherland, Hahn the apothecary, Kuhne<br />the weaver, Rikli the manufacturer, Father Kneipp the priest,<br />Lahmann the doctor, and Turnvater Jahn, the founder of physical<br />culture, became enthusiastic pupils and followers of Priessnitz.<br /><br />Each one of these men enlarged and enriched some special field of<br />the great realm of natural healing. Some elaborated the water cure<br />and natural dietetics, others invented various systems of<br />manipulative treatment, earth, air and light cures, magnetic<br />healing, mental therapeutics, curative gymnastics, etc., etc. Von<br />Peckzely added the Diagnosis from the Eye, which reveals not only<br />the innermost secrets of the human organism, but also Nature's ways<br />and means of cure, and the changes for better or for worse<br />continually occurring in the body.<br /><br />In this country, Dr. Trall of New York, Dr. Jackson of Danville, Dr.<br />Kellogg of Battle Creek, and others caught the infection and crossed<br />the ocean to become students of Priessnitz. The achievements of<br />these men in their respective fields of endeavor will stand as<br />enduring monuments to the eternal truths revealed by the genius of<br />Nature Cure.<br /><br />Quimby, the itinerant spiritualist and healer, became successful and<br />renowned by the application of the natural methods of cure. At first<br />his favorite methods were water, massage, magnetic and mental<br />treatment. Gradually he concentrated his efforts on metaphysical<br />methods of cure, and before he died, he evolved a complete system of<br />magnetic and mental therapeutics.<br /><br />Quimby's teachings and methods were adopted by Mrs. Eddy, his most<br />enthusiastic pupil, and by her elaborated into Christian Science,<br />the latest and most successful of modern mental-healing cults.<br /><br />Dr. Still of Kirksville, Missouri, made a valuable addition to<br />natural methods of treatment by the invention of Osteopathy, a<br />system of scientific manipulation of the bony structures, nerves and<br />nerve centers, muscles and ligaments. A later development of<br />manipulative science is Chiropractic, originated by Dr. Palmer of<br />Davenport, Iowa. Thus the simple pioneers of German Nature Cure,<br />every one of them gifted by Nature with the instinct and genius of<br />the true healer, who is born, not made, laid the foundation for the<br />worldwide modern healthculture movement.<br /><br />They were not blinded or confused by the conflicting theories of<br />books and authorities, or by the action of a thousand different<br />drugs on a legion of different symptoms, but applied common-sense<br />reasoning to the solution of the problems of health, disease and<br />cure.<br /><br />They went for inspiration to field and forest rather than to the<br />murky atmosphere of the dissecting and vivisection rooms. They<br />studied the whole and not only the parts, causes as well as effects<br />and symptoms. Realizing that man had lost his natural instinct and<br />strayed far from Nature's ways, they studied and imitated the<br />natural habits of the animal creation rather than the confusing<br />doctrines of the schools.<br /><br />Thus they proclaimed the "return to Nature" and the "new gospel of<br />health," which are destined to free humanity from the destructive<br />influences of alcoholism, red meat overeating, the dope and tobacco<br />habit, and of drug poisoning, vaccination, surgical mutilation,<br />vivisection and a thousand other abuses practiced in the name of<br />science.<br /><br />When parents learn how to create children in accord with natural<br />law, how to mold their bodies and their characters into harmony and<br />beauty before the new life sees the light of day, when they learn to<br />rear their offspring in health of body and purity of mind in harmony<br />with the laws of their being, then we shall have true types of<br />beautiful manhood and womanhood, then children will no longer be a<br />curse and a burden to themselves and to those who bring them into<br />the world or to society at large.<br /><br />These thoughts are not the mere dreams of a visionary. When we see<br />the wonderful changes wrought in a human being by a few months or<br />years of rational living and treatment, it seems not impossible or<br />improbable that these ideals may be realized within a few<br />generations.<br /><br />Children thus born and reared in harmony with the law will be the<br />future masters of the earth. They will need neither gold nor<br />influence to win in the race of life--their innate powers of body and<br />soul will make them victors over every circumstance. The offspring<br />of alcoholism, drug poisoning and sexual perversity will cut but<br />sorry figures in comparison with the manhood and womanhood of a true<br />and noble aristocracy of health.<br /><br /><br /><br />Chapter II<br /><br /><br />Catechism of Nature Cure<br /><br /><br />The philosophy of Nature Cure is based on sciences dealing with<br />newly discovered or rediscovered natural laws and principles, and<br />with their application to the phenomena of life and death, health,<br />disease and cure.<br /><br />Every new science embodying new modes of thought requires exact<br />modes of expression and new definitions of already well-known words<br />and phrases.<br /><br />Therefore, we have endeavored to define, as precisely as possible,<br />certain words and phrases which convey meanings and ideas peculiar<br />to the teachings of Nature Cure.<br /><br />The student of Nature Cure and kindred subjects will do well to<br />study these definitions and formulated principles closely, as they<br />contain the pith and marrow of our philosophy and greatly facilitate<br />its understanding.<br /><br />(1) What Is Nature Cure?<br /><br />Nature Cure is a system of building the entire being in harmony with<br />the constructive principle in Nature on the physical, mental, moral<br />and spiritual planes of being.<br /><br />(2) What Is the Constructive Principle in Nature?<br /><br />The constructive principle in Nature is that principle which builds<br />up, improves and repairs, which always makes for the perfect type,<br />whose activity in Nature is designated as evolutionary and<br />constructive and which is opposed to the destructive principle in<br />Nature<br /><br />(3) What Is the Destructive Principle in Nature?<br /><br />The destructive principle in Nature is that principle which<br />disintegrates and destroys existing forms and types, and whose<br />activity in Nature is designated as devolutionary and destructive.<br /><br />(4) What Is Normal or Natural?<br /><br />That is normal or natural which is in harmonic relation with the<br />life purposes of the individual and the constructive principle in<br />Nature.<br /><br />(5) What Is Health?<br /><br />Health is normal and harmonious vibration of the elements and forces<br />composing the human entity on the physical, mental, moral and<br />spiritual planes of being, in conformity with the constructive<br />principle of Nature applied to individual life.<br /><br />(6) What Is Disease?<br /><br />Disease is abnormal or inharmonious vibration of the elements and<br />forces composing the human entity on one or more planes of being, in<br />conformity with the destructive principle of Nature applied to<br />individual life.<br /><br />(7) What Is the Primary Cause of Disease?<br /><br />The primary cause of disease, barring accidental or surgical injury<br />to the human organism and surroundings hostile to human life, is<br />violation of Nature's Laws.<br /><br />(8) What Is the Effect of Violation of Nature's Laws on the Physical<br />Human Organism?<br /><br />The effect of violation of Nature's Laws on the physical human<br />organism are:<br /><br />Lowered vitality. Abnormal composition of blood and lymph.<br />Accumulation of waste matter, morbid materials and poisons.<br /><br />These conditions are identical with disease, because they tend to<br />lower, hinder or inhibit normal function (harmonious vibration) and<br />because they engender and promote destruction of living tissues.<br /><br />(9) What Is Acute Disease?<br /><br />What is commonly called acute disease is in reality the result of<br />Nature's efforts to eliminate from the organism waste matter,<br />foreign matter and poisons, and to repair injury to living tissues.<br />In other words, every so-called acute disease is the result of a<br />cleansing and healing effort of Nature. The real disease is lowered<br />vitality, abnormal composition of the vital fluids (blood and lymph)<br />and the resulting accumulation of waste materials and poisons.<br /><br />(10) What Is Chronic Disease?<br /><br />Chronic disease is a condition of the organism in which lowered<br />vibration (lowered vitality), due to the accumulation of waste<br />matter and poisons, with the consequent destruction of vital parts<br />and organs, has progressed to such an extent that Nature's<br />constructive and healing forces are no longer able to react against<br />the disease conditions by acute corrective efforts (healing crises).<br />Chronic disease is a condition of the organismin which the morbid<br />encumbrances have gained the ascendancy and prevent acute reaction<br />(healing crises) on the part of the constructive forces of Nature.<br />Chronic disease is the inability of the organism to react by acute<br />efforts or healing crises against constitutional disease conditions.<br /><br />(11) What Is a Healing Crisis?<br /><br />A healing crisis is an acute reaction, resulting from the ascendancy<br />of Nature's healing forces over disease conditions. Its tendency is<br />toward recovery, and it is, therefore, in conformity with Nature's<br />constructive principle.<br /><br />(12) Are All Acute Reactions Healing Crises?<br /><br />No, there are healing crises and disease crises.<br /><br />(13) What Is a Disease Crisis?<br /><br />A disease crisis is an acute reaction resulting from the ascendancy<br />of disease conditions over the healing forces of the organism. Its<br />tendency is toward fatal termination, and it is, therefore, in<br />conformity with Nature's destructive principle<br /><br />(14) What Is Cure?<br /><br />Cure is the readjustment of the human organism from abnormal to<br />normal conditions and functions.<br /><br />(15) What Methods of Cure Are in Conformity with the Constructive<br />Principle in Nature?<br /><br />Those methods which:<br /><br />Establish normal surroundings and natural habits of life in accord<br />with Nature's Laws. Economize vital force. Build up the blood on a<br />natural basis, that is, supply the blood with its natural<br />constituents in right proportions. Promote the elimination of waste<br />matter and poisons without in any way injuring the human body.<br />Arouse the individual in the highest possible degree to the<br />consciousness of personal accountability and the necessity of<br />intelligent personal effort and self-help.<br /><br />(16) Are Medicines in Conformity with the Constructive Principle in<br />Nature?<br /><br />Medicines are in conformity with the constructive principle in<br />Nature insofar as they, in themselves, are not injurious and<br />destructive to the human organism and insofar as they act as tissue<br />foods and promote the neutralization and elimination of morbid<br />matter and poisons.<br /><br />(17) Are Poisonous Drugs and Promiscuous Surgical Operations in<br />Conformity with the Constructive Principle in Nature?<br /><br />Poisonous drugs and promiscuous operations are not usually in<br />conformity with the constructive principle in Nature, because:<br /><br />They suppress acute diseases or reactions (crises), the cleaning and<br />healing efforts of Nature. They are in themselves harmful and<br />destructive to human life. Such treatment fosters the belief that<br />drugs and surgical operations can be substituted for obedience to<br />Nature's Laws and for personal effort and self-help.<br /><br />(18) Is Metaphysical Healing in Conformity with the Constructive<br />Principle in Nature?<br /><br />Metaphysical systems of healing are in conformity with the<br />constructive principle in Nature insofar as:<br /><br />They do not interfere with or suppress Nature's healing efforts.<br />They awaken hope and confidence (therapeutic faith) and increase the<br />inflow of vital force into the organism.<br /><br />They are not in conformity with the constructive principle in Nature<br />in so far as:<br /><br />They fail to assist Nature's healing efforts. They ignore, obscure<br />and deny the laws of Nature and defy the dictates of reason and<br />common sense. They substitute, in the treatment of disease, a blind,<br />dogmatic belief in the wonder-working power of metaphysical formulas<br />and prayer for intelligent cooperation with Nature's constructive<br />forces for personal effort and self-help. They weaken the<br />consciousness of personal responsibility.<br /><br />(19) Is Nature Cure in Conformity with the Constructive Principle in<br />Nature?<br /><br />Nature Cure is in conformity with the constructive principle in<br />Nature because:<br /><br />It teaches that the primary cause of weakness and disease is<br />disobedience to the laws of Nature. It arouses the individual to the<br />study of natural laws and demonstrates the necessity of strict<br />compliance with these laws. It strengthens the consciousness of<br />personal responsibility of the individual for his own status of<br />health and for the hereditary conditions, traits and tendencies of<br />his off-spring. It encourages personal effort and self-help. It<br />adapts surroundings and habits of life to natural laws. It assists<br />Nature's cleansing and healing efforts by simple natural means and<br />methods of treatment which are in no wise harmful or destructive to<br />health and life, and which are within the reach of everyone.<br /><br />(20) What Are the Natural Methods of Living and of Treatment?<br /><br />Return to Nature by the regulation of eating, drinking, breathing,<br />bathing, dressing, working, resting, thinking, the moral life,<br />sexual and social activities, etc., on a normal and natural basis.<br />Elementary remedies, such as water, air, light, earth cures,<br />magnetism, electricity, etc. Chemical remedies, such as scientific<br />food selection and combination, specific nutritional augmentation<br />with natural food concentrates, homeopathic medicines, simple herb<br />extracts and the vitochemical remedies. Mechanical remedies, such as<br />corrective gymnastics, massage, magnetic treatment, chiropractic or<br />osteopathic manipulation and, when indicated, surgery. Mental and<br />spiritual remedies, such as scientific relaxation, normal<br />suggestion, constructive thought, the prayer of faith, etc.<br /><br /><br /><br />Chapter III<br /><br /><br />What Is Life?<br /><br /><br />In our study of the cause and character of disease we must endeavor<br />to begin at the beginning, and that is with LIFE itself, for the<br />processes of health, disease and cure are manifestations of that<br />which we call life, vitality, life elements, etc.<br /><br />While endeavoring to fathom the mystery of life we soon realize,<br />however, that we are dealing with an ultimate which no human mind is<br />capable of solving or explaining. We can study and understand life<br />only in its manifestations, not in its origin and real essence.<br /><br />There are two prevalent, but widely differing, conceptions of the<br />nature of life or vital force: the material and the vital.<br /><br />The former looks upon life or vital force with all its physical,<br />mental and psychical phenomena as manifestations of the electric,<br />magnetic and chemical activities of the physical-material elements<br />composing the human organism. From this viewpoint, life is a sort of<br />spontaneous combustion, or, as one scientist expressed it, a<br />succession of fermentations.<br /><br />This materialistic conception of life, however, has already become<br />obsolete among the more advanced biologists as a result of the<br />wonderful discoveries of modern science, which are fast bridging the<br />chasm between the material and the spiritual realms of being.<br /><br />But medical science, as taught in the regular schools, is still<br />dominated by the old, crude, mechanical conception of vital force<br />and this, as we shall see, accounts for some of its gravest errors<br />of theory and of practice.<br /><br />The vital conception of life, on the other hand, regards it as the<br />primary force of all forces, coming from the great central source of<br />all power.<br /><br />This force, which permeates, heats and animates the entire created<br />universe, is the expression of the divine will, the "logos," the<br />"word" of the great creative intelligence. It is this divine energy<br />which sets in motion the whirls in the ether, the electric<br />corpuscles and ions that make up the different atoms and elements of<br />matter.<br /><br />These corpuscles and ions are positive and negative forms of<br />electricity. Electricity is a form of energy. It is intelligent<br />energy; otherwise it could not move with that same wonderful<br />precision in the electrons of the atoms as in the suns and planets<br />of the sidereal universe.<br /><br />This intelligent energy can have but one source: the will and the<br />intelligence of the Creator; as Swedenborg expresses it, "the great<br />central sun of the universe."<br /><br />If this supreme intelligence should withdraw its energy, the<br />electrical charges (forms of energy) and with it the atoms,<br />elements, and the entire material universe would disappear in the<br />flash of a moment.<br /><br />From this it appears that crude matter, instead of being the source<br />of life and of all its complicated mental and spiritual phenomena<br />(which assumption, on the face of it, is absurd), is only an<br />expression of the Life Force, itself a manifestation of the great<br />creative intelligence which some call God, others Nature, the<br />Oversoul, Brahma, Prana, etc., each one according to his best<br />understanding.<br /><br />It is this supreme power and intelligence, acting in and through<br />every atom, molecule and cell in the human body, which is the true<br />healer, the vis medicatrix nature, which always endeavors to<br />repair, to heal and to restore the perfect type. All that the<br />physician can do is to remove obstructions and to establish normal<br />conditions within and around the patient, so that the healer within<br />can do his work to the best advantage.<br /><br />Here the Christian Scientist will say: "That is exactly what we<br />claim. All is God, all is mind! There is no matter! Our attitude<br />toward disease is based on these facts."<br /><br />Well, what of it, Brother Scientist? Suppose, in the final analysis,<br />matter is nothing but vibration, an expression of Divine Mind and<br />Will. That, for all practical purposes, does not justify me to deny<br />and to ignore its reality. Because I have an "all-mind" body, is it<br />advisable for me to place myself in the way of an "all-mind"<br />locomotive moving at the rate of sixty miles an hour?<br /><br />The question is not what matter is in the final analysis, but how<br />matter affects us. We have to take it and treat it as we find it. We<br />must be as obedient to the laws of matter as to those of the higher<br />planes of being.<br /><br />Life Is Vibratory<br /><br />In the final analysis, all things in Nature, from a fleeti g thought<br />or emotion to the hardest piece of diamond or platinum, are modes of<br />motion or vibration. A few years ago physical science assumed that<br />an atom was the smallest imaginable part of a given element of<br />matter; that although infinitesimally small, it still represented<br />solid matter. Now, in the light of better evidence, we have good<br />reason to believe that there is no such thing as solid matter: that<br />every atom is made up of charges of negative and positive<br />electricity acting in and upon an omnipresent ether; that the<br />difference between an atom of iron and of hydrogen or any other<br />element consists solely in the number of electrical charges or<br />corpuscles it contains, and on the velocity with which these vibrate<br />around one another.<br /><br />Thus the atom, which was thought to be the ultimate particle of<br />solid matter, is found to be a little universe in itself in which<br />corpuscles of electricity rotate or vibrate around one another like<br />the suns and planets in the sidereal universe. This explains what we<br />mean when we say life and matter are vibratory.<br /><br />As early as 1863 John Newlands discovered that when he arranged the<br />elements of matter in the order of their atomic weight, they<br />displayed the same relationship to one another as do the tones in<br />the musical scale. Thus modern chemistry demonstrates the verity of<br />the music of the spheres--another visionary concept of ancient<br />mysticism. The individual atoms in themselves, as well as all the<br />atoms of matter in their relationship to one another, are<br />constructed and arranged in exact correspondence with the laws of<br />harmony. Therefore the entire sidereal universe is built on the laws<br />of music.<br /><br />That which is orderly, lawful, good, beautiful, natural, healthy,<br />vibrates in unison with the harmonics of this great "Diapason of<br />Nature"; in other words, it is in alignment with the constructive<br />principle in Nature.<br /><br />That which is disorderly, abnormal, ugly, unnatural, unhealthy,<br />vibrates in discord with Nature's harmonics. It is in alignment with<br />the destructive principle in Nature.<br /><br />What we call "Inanimate Nature" is beautiful and orderly because it<br />plays in tune with the score of the Symphony of Life. Man alone can<br />play out of tune. This is his privilege, if he so chooses, by virtue<br />of his freedom of choice and action.<br /><br />We can now better understand the definitions of health and of<br />disease, given in Chapter Two, "Catechism of Nature Cure" as<br />follows:<br /><br />"Health is normal and harmonious vibration of the elements and<br />forces composing the human entity on the physical, mental, moral and<br />spiritual planes of being, in conformity with the constructive<br />principle of Nature applied to individual life."<br /><br />"Disease is abnormal or inharmonious vibration of the elements and<br />forces composing the human entity on one or more planes of being, in<br />conformity with the destructive principle of Nature applied to<br />individual life."<br /><br />The question naturally arising here is, "Normal or abnormal<br />vibration with what?" The answer is that the vibratory conditions of<br />the organism must be in harmony with Nature's established harmonic<br />relations in the physical, mental, moral, spiritual and psychical<br />realms of human life and action.<br /><br />What Is an Established Harmonic Relation?<br /><br />Let us see whether we cannot make this clear by a simile. If a watch<br />is in good condition, in harmonious vibration, its movement is so<br />adjusted that it coincides exactly, in point of time, with the<br />rotations of our earth around its axis. The established, regular<br />movement of the earth forms the basis of the established harmonic<br />relationship between the vibrations of a normal, healthy timepiece<br />and the revolutions of our planet. The watch has to vibrate in<br />unison with the harmonics of the planetary universe in order to be<br />normal, or in harmony.<br /><br />In like manner, everything that is normal, natural, healthy, good,<br />beautiful must vibrate in unison with its correlated harmonics in<br />Nature.<br /><br />Obedience the Only Salvation<br /><br />Orthodox medical science attributes disease largely to accidental<br />causes: to chance infection by disease taints, germs or parasites;<br />to drafts, chills, wet feet, etc.<br /><br />The religiously inclined frequently attribute disease and other<br />tribulations to the arbitrary rulings of an inscrutable Providence.<br /><br />Christian Scientists tell us that sin, suffering, disease and all<br />other kinds of evil are only errors of mortal mind, or the products<br />of diseased imagination (though this in itself admits the existence<br />of something abnormal or diseased).<br /><br />Nature Cure philosophy presents a rational concept of evil, its<br />cause and purpose, namely: that it is brought on by violation of<br />Nature's Laws; that it is corrective in its purpose; that it can be<br />overcome only by compliance with the law. There is no suffering,<br />disease or evil of any kind anywhere unless the law has been<br />transgressed somewhere by someone.<br /><br />These transgressions of the law may be due to ignorance, to<br />indifference or to wilfulness and viciousness. The effects will<br />always be commensurate with the causes.<br /><br />The science of natural living and healing shows clearly that what we<br />call disease is primarily Nature's effort to eliminate morbid matter<br />and to restore the normal functions of the body; that the processes<br />of disease are just as orderly in their way as everything else in<br />Nature; that we must not check or suppress them, but cooperate with<br />them. Thus we learn, slowly and laboriously, the all-important<br />lesson that "obedience to the law" is the only means of prevention<br />of disease, and the only cure.<br /><br />The Fundamental Law of Cure, the Law of Action and Reaction, and the<br />Law of Crises, as revealed by the Nature Cure philosophy, impress<br />upon us the truth that there is nothing accidental or arbitrary in<br />the processes of health, disease and cure; that every changing<br />condition is either in harmony or in discord with the laws of our<br />being; that only by complete surrender and obedience to the law can<br />we attain and maintain perfect physical health.<br /><br />Self-Control, the Master's Key<br /><br />Thus Nature Cure brings home to us constantly and forcibly the<br />inexorable facts of natural law and the necessity of compliance with<br />the law. Herein lies its great educational value to the individual<br />and to the race. The man who has learned to master his habits and<br />his appetites so as to conform to Nature's Laws on the physical<br />plane, and who has thereby regained his bodily health, realizes that<br />personal effort and self-control are the Master's Key to all further<br />development on the mental and spiritual planes of being as well;<br />that self-mastery and unremitting and unselfish personal effort are<br />the only means of self-completion, of individual and social<br />salvation.<br /><br />The naturist who has regained health and strength through obedience<br />to the laws of his being, enjoys a measure of self-content, gladness<br />of soul and enthusiasm which cannot be explained by the mere<br />possession of physical health. These highest and purest attainments<br />of the human soul are not the results of mere physical well-being,<br />but of the peace and harmony which come only from obedience to the<br />law. Such is the peace which passeth understanding.<br /><br /><br /><br />Chapter IV<br /><br /><br />The Unity of Disease and Treatment<br /><br /><br />There exists a close resemblance between the mechanism and the<br />functions of a watch and of the human body. Their well-being is<br />subject to similar underlying laws and principles. Both a watch and<br />a human body may function abnormally as a result of accidental<br />injury or unfavorable external conditions, such as extreme heat or<br />cold, etc. However, in our present study of the causes of disease we<br />shall not consider accidental injury and hostile environment, but<br />confine ourselves to causes arising within the organism itself.<br /><br />The watch may cease to vibrate in accord with the harmonics of our<br />planetary universe for several reasons. It may lose time or stand<br />still because (1) the wound spring has spent its force, or (2) its<br />parts are not made up of the right constituents, or (3) foreign<br />matter clogs or corrodes its mechanism.<br /><br />Similarly, there exist three primary causes of disease and of<br />premature death of the physical body. These are:<br /><br />Lowered vitality. Abnormal composition of blood and lymph.<br />Accumulation of morbid matter and poisons.<br /><br />In the ultimate, disease and everything else that we designate as<br />evil are the result of transgressions of natural laws in thinking,<br />breathing, eating, dressing, working, resting, as well as in moral,<br />sexual and social conduct.<br /><br />In Tables I and II, I have endeavored to present in concise and<br />comprehensive form the primary and the secondary causes or<br />manifestations of disease and the corresponding natural methods of<br />treatment.<br /><br />TABLE I<br /><br />~THE UNITY OF DISEASE AND TREATMENT~<br /><br />Barring trauma (injury), advancing age and surroundings uncongenial<br />to human life, all causes of disease may be classified as given<br />below.<br /><br />Violations of Nature's Laws in thinking, breathing, eating,<br />drinking, dressing, working, resting and in moral, sexual and social<br />conduct result in the following:<br /><br />Primary and Secondary Causes of Disease<br /><br />Primary Causes<br /><br />Lowered vitality due to overwork, nightwork, excesses,<br />overstimulation, poisonous drugs and ill-advised surgical<br />operations. Abnormal composition of blood and lymph due to the<br />improper selection and combination of food, and especially the lack<br />of organic mineral salts and other essential nutritional elements.<br />Accumulation of waste matter, morbid matter and poisons due to the<br />first two causes, as well as to faulty diet, overeating, the use of<br />alcoholic and narcotic stimulants, drugs [both street and<br />prescription], vaccines, accidental poisoning and, last but not<br />least, to the suppression of acute diseases (Nature's cleansing and<br />healing efforts) by poisonous drugs and surgical operations.<br /><br />Secondary Causes<br /><br />Hereditary and constitutional taints of sycosis, scrofula, psora,<br />syphilis; mercurianism, cinchonism, iodism and many other forms of<br />chronic poisoning. Fevers, inflammations, skin eruptions, chronic<br />sinus discharges, ulcers, abscesses, germs, bacteria, parasites,<br />etc. Mechanical subluxations, distortions and displacements of bony<br />structures, muscles and ligaments; weakening and loss of reason,<br />will, and self-control resulting in negative, sensitive and<br />subjective conditions which open the way to nervous prostration,<br />control by other personalities (hypnotic influence, obsession,<br />possession); the different forms of insanity, epilepsy, petit mal,<br />etc.<br /><br />Table II<br /><br />~THE UNITY OF DISEASE AND TREATMENT~<br /><br />In correspondence with the three primary causes of disease, Nature<br />Cure recognizes the following:<br /><br />Natural Methods of Treatment<br /><br />1. Return to Nature, or the establishment of normal habits and<br />surroundings, which necessitates:<br /><br />Extension of consciousness by popular general and individual<br />education. The constant exercise of reason, will and self-control. A<br />return to natural habits of life in thinking, breathing, eating,<br />dressing, working, resting and in moral, sexual and social conduct.<br />Correction of mechanical defects and injuries by means of massage,<br />chiropractic or osteopathy, surgery and other mechanical methods of<br />treatment.<br /><br />2. Economy of Vital Force, which necessitates:<br /><br />Prevention of waste of vital force by the stoppage of all leaks.<br />Scientific relaxation, proper rest and sleep. Proper food selection,<br />magnetic treatment, etc. The right mental attitude.<br /><br />3. Elimination, which necessitates:<br /><br />Scientific selection and combination of food and drink. Judicious<br />fasting. Hydrotherapy (water cure). Light and air baths, friction.<br />Chiropratic or osteopathy, massage, and other manipulative<br />treatment. Correct breathing, curative gymnastics. Such medicinal<br />remedies as will build up the blood on a normal basis and supply the<br />system with the all-important mineral salts in organic form.<br /><br />In the following chapters I shall endeavor to show that all the<br />different forms, phases and phenomena of disease arising within the<br />human organism, provided they are not caused by accident or external<br />conditions unfavorable to the existence of human life, can be<br />attributed to one or more of three primary causes (as outlined in<br />Tables I and II). When we succeed in proving that all disease<br />originates from a few simple causes, it will not seem so strange and<br />improbable that all disease can be cured by a few simple, natural<br />methods of living and of treatment. If Nature Cure can accomplish<br />this, it establishes its right to be classed with the exact<br />sciences.<br /><br />The Three Primary Causes of Disease<br /><br />We shall now consider the three primary causes of disease one by<br />one.<br /><br />Lowered Vitality<br /><br />There is a well-defined limit to the running of a watch. When the<br />wound spring has spent its force, the mechanism stops.<br /><br />So also the living forms of vegetable, animal and human life seem to<br />be wound by Nature to run a certain length of time, in accordance<br />with the laws governing their growth and development. Even the<br />healthiest of animals living in the most congenial surroundings in<br />the freedom of Nature do not much exceed their allotted span of<br />life, nor do they fall much below it. As a rule, the longer the<br />period between birth and maturity, the longer the life of the<br />animal.<br /><br />All the different families of mammalia, when living in freedom, live<br />closely up to the life period allotted to them by Nature. Man is the<br />only exception. It is claimed that according to the laws of<br />longevity his average length of life should be considerably over one<br />hundred years, while according to life insurance statistics, the<br />average is at present [1913] thirty-seven years. This shows an<br />immense discrepancy between the possible and the actual longevity of<br />man.<br /><br />Even this brief span of life means little else than weakness,<br />physical and mental suffering and degeneracy for the majority of<br />mankind. Visiting physicians of the public schools in our large<br />cities report that seventy-five percent of all school children show<br />defective health in some way. Diagnosis from the Eye proves that the<br />remaining twenty-five percent are also more or less affected by<br />hereditary and acquired disease conditions. Christian Science says,<br />"There is no disease." Nature's records in the iris of the eye say<br />there is no perfect health.<br /><br />These established facts of greatly impaired longevity and universal<br />abnormality of the human race would of themselves indicate that<br />there is something radically wrong somewhere in the life habits of<br />man, and that there is ample reason for the great health-reform<br />movement which was started about the middle of the last century by<br />the pioneers of Nature Cure in Germany, and which has since swept,<br />under many different forms and guises, all portions of the civilized<br />world.<br /><br />When people in general grow better acquainted with the laws<br />underlying prenatal and postnatal child culture, natural living and<br />the natural treatment of diseases, human beings will approach much<br />more closely the normal in health, strength, beauty and longevity.<br />Then will arise a true aristocracy, not of morbid, venous blue<br />blood, but pulsating with the rich red blood of health.<br /><br />However, to reach this ideal of perfect physical, mental and moral<br />health, succeeding generations will have to adhere to the natural<br />ways of living and of treating their ailments. It cannot be attained<br />by the present generation. The enthusiasts who claim that they can,<br />by their particular methods, achieve perfect health and live the<br />full term of human life, are destined to disappointment. We are so<br />handicapped by the mistakes of the past that the best which most of<br />us adults can do is to patch up, to attain a reasonable measure of<br />health and to approach somewhat nearer Nature's full allotment of<br />life.<br /><br />Wild animals living in freedom retain their full vigor unimpaired<br />almost to the end of life. Hunters report that among the great herds<br />of buffalo, elk and deer, the oldest bucks are the rulers and<br />maintain their sovereignty over the younger males of the herd solely<br />by reason of their superior strength and prowess. Premature old age,<br />among human beings, as indicated by the early decay of physical and<br />mental powers, is brought on solely by their violation of Nature's<br />Laws in almost all the ordinary habits of life.<br /><br />Health Positive--Disease Negative<br /><br />The freer the inflow of life force into the organism, the greater<br />the vitality, the more there is of strength, of positive resisting<br />and recuperating power.<br /><br />In the book~ Harmonics of Evolution~ we are told that at the very<br />foundation of the manifestation of life lies the principle of<br />polarity, which expresses itself in the duality and unity of<br />positive and negative affinity. The swaying to and fro of the<br />positive and the negative, the desire to balance incomplete<br />polarity, constitutes the very ebb and flow of life.<br /><br />Disease is disturbed polarity. Exaggerated positive or negative<br />conditions, whether physical, mental, moral or spiritual, tend to<br />disease on the respective planes of being. Foods, medicines,<br />suggestion and all the other different methods of therapeutic<br />treatment exert on the individual subjected to them either a<br />positive or a negative influence. It is, therefore, of the greatest<br />importance that the physician and every one who wishes to live and<br />work in harmony with Nature's Laws should understand this<br />all-important question of magnetic polarity.<br /><br />Lowered vitality means lowered, slower and coarser vibration, and<br />this results in lowered resistance to the accumulation of morbid<br />matter, poisons, disease taints, germs and parasites. This is what<br />we designate ordinarily as the negative condition.<br /><br />Let us see whether we can explain this more fully by a homely but<br />practical illustration: A great many of my readers have probably<br />seen in operation in the summer amusement parks the "human<br />roulette." This contrivance consists of a large wheel,<br />board-covered, somewhat raised in the center, and sloping towards<br />the circumference. The wheel rotates horizontally, evenly with the<br />floor or ground. The merrymakers pay their nickels for the privilege<br />of throwing themselves flat down on the wheel and attempting to<br />cling to it while it rotates with increasing swiftness. While the<br />wheel moves slowly, it is easy enough to cling to it; but the faster<br />it revolves, the more strongly the centrifugal force tends to throw<br />off the human flies who try to stick to it.<br /><br />The increasing repelling power of the accelerated motion of the<br />wheel may serve as an illustration of that which we call vigorous<br />vibration, good vitality, natural immunity or recuperative power.<br />This is the positive condition.<br /><br />The more intense the action of the life force, the more rapid and<br />vigorous are the vibratory activities of the atoms and molecules in<br />the cells, and of the cells in the organs and tissues of the body.<br />The more rapid and vigorous this vibratory activity, the more<br />powerful is the repulsion and expulsion of morbid matter, poisons<br />and germs of disease which try to encumber or destroy the organism.<br /><br />Health and Disease Resident in the Cell<br /><br />We must not forget that health or disease, in the final analysis, is<br />resident in the cell. Though a minute, microscopic organism, the<br />cell is an independent living being, which is born, grows, eats,<br />drinks, throws off waste matter, multiplies, ages and dies, just<br />like man, the large cell. If the individual cell is well, man, the<br />complex cell, is well also, and vice versa. From this it is apparent<br />that in all our considerations of the processes of health, disease<br />and cure, we have to deal primarily with the individual cell.<br /><br />The vibratory activity of the cell may be lowered through the<br />decline of vitality brought about in a natural way by advancing age,<br />or in an artificial way through wrong habits of living, wrong<br />thinking and feeling, overwork, unnatural stimulation and excesses<br />of various kinds.<br /><br />On the other hand, the inflow of vital force into the cells may be<br />obstructed and their vibratory activity lowered by the accumulation<br />of waste and morbid matter in the tissues, blood vessels and nerve<br />channels of the body. Such clogging will interfere with the inflow<br />of life force and with the free and harmonious vibration of the<br />cells and organs of the body as surely as dust in a watch will<br />interfere with the normal action and vibration of its wheels and<br />balances.<br /><br />From this it is evident that negative conditions may be brought<br />about not only by hyperrefinement of the physical organism, but also<br />by clogging it with waste and morbid matter which interfere with the<br />inflow and distribution of the vital force. It also becomes apparent<br />that in such cases the Nature Cure methods of eliminative treatment,<br />such as pure food diet, hydrotherapy, massage, chiropractic,<br />osteopathy, etc., are valuable means of removing these obstructions<br />and promoting the inflow and free circulation of the positive<br />electric and magnetic life currents<br /><br />Abnormal Composition of Blood and Lymph<br /><br />As one of the primary causes of disease, we cited abnormal<br />composition of blood and lymph. The human organism is made up of a<br />certain number of elements in well-defined proportions. Chem-istry<br />has discovered, so far, about seventeen of these elements in<br />appreciable quantities and has ascertained their functions in the<br />economy of the body. These seventeen elements must be present in the<br />right proportions in order to insure normal texture, structure and<br />functioning of the component parts and organs of the body.<br /><br />The cells and organs receive their nourishment from the blood and<br />lymph currents. Therefore, these must contain all the elements<br />needed by the organism in the right proportions, and this, of<br />course, depends upon the character and the combination of the food<br />supply.<br /><br />Every disease arising in the human organism from internal causes is<br />accompanied by a deficiency in blood and tissues of certain<br />important mineral elements [organic salts]. Undoubtedly, the<br />majority of these diseases are caused by an unbalanced diet, or by<br />food and drink poisoning. Wrong food combinations, on the one hand,<br />create an overabundance of waste and morbid matter in the system<br />and, on the other hand, fail to supply the positive mineral elements<br />or organic salts on which depends the elimination of waste and<br />systemic poisons from the body.<br /><br />The great problem of natural dietetics and of natural medical<br />treatment is, therefore, how to restore and maintain the positivity<br />of the blood and of the organism as a whole through providing in<br />food, drink and medicine an abundant supply of the positive mineral<br />salts in organic form.<br /><br />Accumulation of Morbid Matter and Poisons<br /><br />This is the third of the primary causes of disease. We have learned<br />how lowered vitality and the abnormal composition of thevital fluids<br />favor the retention of systemic poisons in the body. If, in addition<br />to this, food and drink contain too much of the waste-producing<br />carbohydrates, hydrocarbons and proteins, and not enough of the<br />eliminating positive mineral salts then waste and morbid materials<br />are bound to accumulate in the system and this results in the<br />clogging of the tissues with acid precipitates and earthy deposits.<br /><br />Such accumulation of waste and morbid matter in blood and tissues<br />creates the great majority of all diseases arising within the human<br />organism. This will be explained fully in the following chapters<br />which deal with the causation of acute and chronic disease.<br /><br />More harmful and dangerous, and more difficult to eliminate than the<br />different kinds of systemic poisons, that is, those which have<br />originated within the body, are the drug poisons, especially when<br />they are administered in the inorganic mineral form. Health is<br />dependent upon an abundant supply of life force, upon the<br />unobstructed, normal circulation of the vital fluids and upon<br />perfect oxygenation and combustion. Anything that interferes with<br />these essentials causes disease; anything that promotes them<br />establishes health. Nothing so interferes with the inflow of the<br />life force, with free and normal circulation of blood and lymph and<br />with the oxygenation and combustion of food materials and systemic<br />waste as the accumulation of morbid matter and poisons in the<br />tissues of the body.<br /><br />This I have endeavored to explain more fully in connection with<br />lowered vitality. Let us now see how disease and health are affected<br />by mental and emotional conditions.<br /><br />Mental and Emotional Influences<br /><br />Our mental and emotional conditions exert a most powerful influence<br />upon the inflow and distribution of vital force. The author of The<br />Great Work [~The Great Work: The Constructive Principle of Nature in<br />Individual Life, ~by John Emmett Richardson {1853-1935},<br />Indio-American Book Company, Chicago, IL. 1907.] has described most<br />graphically in the chapter on Self-Control how fear, worry, anxiety<br />and all kindred emotions create in the system conditions similar to<br />those of freezing; how these destructive vibrations congeal the<br />tissues, clog the channels of life and paralyze the vital functions.<br />He shows how the emotional conditions of impatience, irritability,<br />anger, etc., have a heating, corroding effect upon the tissues of<br />the body.<br /><br />In like manner, all other destructive emotional vibrations ob-struct<br />the inflow and normal distribution of the life forces in and through<br />the organism, while on the other hand the constructive emotions of<br />faith, hope, cheerfulness, happiness and love exert a relaxing,<br />harmonizing influence upon the tissues, blood vessels and nerve<br />channels of the body, thus opening wide the floodgates of the life<br />forces, and raising the discords of weakness, disease and discontent<br />to the harmonics of buoyant health and happiness.<br /><br />Let us see just how mind controls matter and how it affects the<br />changing conditions of the physical body. Life manifests through<br />vibration. It acts on the mass by acting through its minutest<br />par-ticles. Changes in the physical body are wrought by vibratory<br />changes in atoms, molecules and cells. Health is satisfied polarity,<br />that is, the balancing of the positive and negative elements in<br />harmonious vibration. Anything that interferes with the free,<br />vigor-ous and harmonious vibration of the minute parts and particles<br />composing the human organism tends to disturb polarity and natural<br />affinity, thus causing discord or disease.<br /><br />When we fully realize these facts we shall not stand so much in awe<br />of our physical bodies. In the past we have been thinking of the<br />body as a solid and imponderable mass difficult to control and to<br />change. This conception left us in a condition of utter helplessness<br />and hopelessness in the presence of weakness and disease.<br /><br />We now think of the body as composed of minute corpuscles rotating<br />around one another within the atom at relatively immense distances.<br />We know that in similar manner the atoms vibrate in the molecule,<br />the molecules in the cell, the cells in the organ and the organs in<br />the body; the whole capable of being changed by a change in the<br />vibrations of its particles.<br /><br />Thus the erstwhile solid physical mass appears plastic and fluidic,<br />readily swayed and changed by the vibratory harmonies or discords of<br />thoughts and emotions as well as by foods, medicines and therapeutic<br />treatment.<br /><br />Under the old conception the mind fell readily under the control of<br />the body and became the abject slave of its physical conditions,<br />swayed by fear and apprehension under every sensation of physical<br />weakness, discomfort or pain. The servants lorded it with a high<br />hand over the master of the house, and the result was chaos. Under<br />the new conception, control is placed where it belongs. It is<br />assumed by the real master of the house, the Soul-Man, and the<br />servants, the physical members of the body, remain obedient to his<br />bidding.<br /><br />This is the new man, the ideal progeny of a new and higher<br />philosophy. Understanding the structure of the body, the laws of its<br />being and the operation of the life elements within it, the superman<br />retains perfect poise and confidence under the most trying<br />circumstances. Animated by an abounding faith in the supremacy of<br />the healing forces within him and sustained by the power of his<br />sovereign will, he governs his body as perfectly as the artist<br />controls his violin and attunes its vibrations to Nature's harmonies<br />of health and happiness.<br /><br /><br /><br />Chapter V<br /><br /><br />The Unity of Acute Diseases<br /><br /><br />In the last chapter I endeavored to explain the three primary causes<br />of disease, namely: (1) Lowered Vitality, (2) Abnormal Composition<br />of Blood and Lymph, (3) Accumulation of Waste, Morbid Matter, and<br />Poisons in the System.<br /><br />We shall now consider some of the secondary manifestations resulting<br />from these primary causes. Consulting the table on page 18 (Chapter<br />2, internet version), we find mentioned as the first one of the<br />secondary causes or manifestations of disease, "Hereditary and<br />Constitutional Taints."<br /><br />On first impression, it might be thought that heredity is a primary<br />cause of disease; but on further consideration it becomes apparent<br />that it is an effect and not a primary cause. If the parents possess<br />good vitality and pure, normal blood and tissues, and if they apply<br />in the prenatal and postnatal treatment of the child the necessary<br />insight and foresight, there cannot be disease heredity. In order to<br />create abnormal hereditary tendencies, the parents, or earlier<br />ancestors, must have ignorantly or wantonly violated Nature's Laws,<br />such violation resulting in lowered vitality and in deterioration of<br />blood and tissues.<br /><br />The female and male germinal cells unite and form the primitive<br />reproductive cell--the prototype of marriage. The human body with<br />its millions of cells and cell colonies is developed by the<br />multiplication, with gradual differentiation, of the reproductive<br />cell. Its abnormalities of structure, of cell materials and of<br />functional tendencies are reproduced just as surely as its normal<br />constituents. Herein lies the simple explanation of heredity which<br />is proved to be an actual fact, not only by common experience and<br />scientific observation but also in a more definite way by Nature's<br />records in the iris of the eye.<br /><br />The iris of the newborn child reveals in its diagnostic details not<br />only, in a general way, hereditary taints, lowered resistance, and<br />deterioration of vital fluids, but frequently special weakness and<br />deterioration in those organs which were weak or diseased in the<br />parents. Under the conventional (unnatural) management of the<br />infant, these hereditary tendencies to weakness and disease and<br />their corresponding signs in the iris become more and more<br />pronounced, proceeding through the various stages of incumbrance<br />from acute, infantile diseases through chronic catarrhal conditions<br />to the final destructive stages.<br /><br />In the face of the well-established facts of disease heredity we<br />have, however, this consolation: If the child be treated in<br />accordance with the teachings of Nature Cure philosophy, the<br />abnormal hereditary encumbrances and tendencies can be overcome and<br />eliminated within a few years. If we place the infant organism under<br />the right conditions of living and of treatment, in harmony with the<br />laws of its being, the Life Principle within will approach ever<br />nearer to the establishment of the perfect type. Hundreds of "Nature<br />Cure" babies all over this country are living proofs of this<br />gladsome message to all those who have assumed or intend to assume<br />the responsibilities of parenthood.<br /><br />Natural Immunity<br /><br />Under Division II of "Secondary Causes or Manifestations of Disease"<br />we find mentioned germs, bacteria, parasites, inflammations, fevers,<br />skin eruptions, chronic sinus discharges, ulcers, etc.<br /><br />Modern medical science is built up upon the germ theory of disease<br />and treatment. Since the microscope has revealed the presence and<br />seemingly entirely pernicious activity of certain microorganisms in<br />connection with certain diseases, it has been assumed that bacteria<br />are the direct, primary causes of most diseases. Therefore, the<br />slogan now is: "Kill the bacteria (by poisonous antiseptics, serums<br />and antitoxins) and you will cure the disease."<br /><br />The Nature Cure philosophy takes a different view of the problem.<br />Germs cannot be the cause of disease, because disease germs are also<br />found in healthy bodies. The real cause must be something else. We<br />claim that it is the waste and morbid matter in the system which<br />afford the microorganisms of disease the opportunity to breed and<br />multiply.<br /><br />We regard microorganisms as secondary manifestations of disease, and<br />maintain that bacteria and parasites live, thrive and multiply to<br />the danger point in a weakened and diseased organism only. If it<br />were not so, the human family would be extinct within a few months'<br />time.<br /><br />The fear instilled by the bacterial theory of disease is frequently<br />more destructive than the microorganisms themselves. We have had<br />under observation and treatment a number of insane patients whose<br />peculiar delusion or monomania was an exaggerated fear of germs, a<br />genuine bacteriophobia.<br /><br />Keep yourself clean and vigorous from within, and you cannot be<br />affected by disease taints and germs from without.<br /><br />Bacteria are practically omnipresent. We absorb them in food and<br />drink, we inhale them in the air we breathe. Our bodies are<br />literally alive with them. The last stages of the digestive<br />processes depend upon the activity of millions of bacteria in the<br />intestinal tract.<br /><br />The proper thing to do, therefore, is not to try and kill the germs,<br />but to remove the morbid matter and disease taints in which they<br />live.<br /><br />Instead of concentrating its energies upon killing the germs, whose<br />presence we cannot escape, Nature Cure endeavors to in-vigorate the<br />system, to build up blood and lymph on a normal basis and to purify<br />the tissues of their morbid encumbrances in such a way as to<br />establish natural immunity to destructive germ activity. Everything<br />that tends to accomplish this without injuring the system by<br />poisonous drugs or surgical operations is good Nature Cure<br />treatment.<br /><br />To adopt the germ-killing process without purifying and invigorating<br />the organism would be like trying to keep a house free from fungi<br />and vermin by sprinkling it daily with carbolic acid and other germ<br />killers, instead of keeping it pure and sweet by flooding it with<br />fresh air and sunshine and applying freely and vigorously broom,<br />brush and plenty of soap and water. Instead of purifying it, the<br />antiseptics and germ killers would only add to the filth in the<br />house.<br /><br />All bacteriologists are unanimous in declaring that the various<br />disease germs are found not only in the bodies of the sick, but also<br />in seemingly healthy persons.<br /><br />A celebrated French bacteriologist reports that in the mouth of a<br />healthy infant, two months old, he found almost all the disease<br />germs known to medical science. Only lately, a celebrated physician,<br />appointed by the French government to investigate the causes of<br />tuberculosis, declared before a meeting of the International<br />Tuberculosis Congress in Rome that he found the bacilli of<br />tuberculosis in ninety-five percent of all the school children he<br />had examined.<br /><br />Dr. Osler, one of the greatest living medical authorities, mentions<br />repeatedly in his works that the bacilli of diphtheria, pneumonia<br />and of many other virulent diseases are found in the bodies of<br />healthy persons.<br /><br />The inability of bacteria, by themselves, to create diseases is<br />further confirmed by the well-known facts of natural immunity to<br />specific infection or contagion. All mankind is more or less<br />affected by hereditary and acquired disease taints, morbid<br />encumbrances and drug poisoning, resulting from age-long violation<br />of Nature's Laws and from the suppression of acute diseases; but<br />even under the almost universal present conditions of lowered<br />vitality, morbid heredity and physical and mental degeneration it is<br />found that under identical conditions of exposure to drafts or<br />infection, a certain percentage of individuals only will take the<br />cold or catch the disease. The fact of natural immunity is<br />constantly confirmed by common experience as well as in the clinics<br />and laboratories of our medical schools and research institutes. Of<br />a specific number of mice or rabbits inoculated with particles of<br />cancer, only a small percentage develops the malignant growth and<br />succumbs to its ravages.<br /><br />The development of infectious and contagious diseases necessitates a<br />certain predisposition, or, as medical science calls it, "disease<br />diathesis." This predisposition to infection and contagion consists<br />in the primary causes of disease, which we have designated as<br />lowered vitality, abnormal composition of blood and lymph, and the<br />accumulation of waste, morbid matter and poisons in the system.<br /><br />Bacteria: Secondary, Not Primary,<br /><br />Manifestations of Disease<br /><br />In a previous chapter we learned how lowered vitality weakens the<br />resistance of the system to the attacks and inroads of disease germs<br />and poisons. The growth and multiplication of microorganisms depend<br />furthermore upon a congenial, morbid soil. Just as the ordinary<br />yeast germ multiplies in a sugar solution only, so the various<br />microorganisms of disease thrive and multiply to the danger point<br />only in their own peculiar and congenial kind of morbid matter.<br />Thus, the typhoid fever bacillus thrives in a certain kind of effete<br />matter which accumulates in the intestines; the pneumonia bacilli<br />flourish best in the catarrhal secretions of the lungs, and<br />meningitis bacilli in the diseased meninges of the brain and spinal<br />cord.<br /><br />Dr. Pettenkofer, a celebrated physician and professor of the<br />University of Vienna, also arrived at the conclusion that bacteria,<br />by themselves, cannot create disease, and for years he defended his<br />opinion from the lecture platform and in his writings against the<br />practically solid phalanx of the medical profession. One day he<br />backed his theory by a practical test. While instructing his class<br />in the bacteriological laboratory of the university, he picked up a<br />glass which contained millions of live cholera germs and swallowed<br />its contents before the eyes of the students. The seemingly<br />dangerous experiment was followed only by a slight nausea. Lately I<br />have heard repeatedly of persons in this country who subjected<br />themselves in similar manner to infection, inoculation and contagion<br />with the most virulent kinds of bacteria and disease taints without<br />developing the corresponding diseases.<br /><br />A few years ago Dr. Rodermund, a physician in the State of<br />Wisconsin, created a sensation all over this country when he smeared<br />his body with the exudate of smallpox sores in order to demonstrate<br />to his medical colleagues that a healthy body could not be infected<br />with the disease. He was arrested and quarantined in jail, but not<br />before he had come in contact with many people. Neither he nor<br />anyone else exposed by him developed smallpox.<br /><br />During the ten years that I have been connected with sanitarium<br />work, my workers and myself, in giving the various forms of<br />manipulative treatment, have handled intimately thousands of cases<br />of infectious and contagious diseases, and I do not remember a<br />single instance where any one of us was in the least affected by<br />such contact. Ordinary cleanliness, good vitality, clean blood and<br />tissues, the organs of elimination in good, active condition and,<br />last but not least, a positive, fearless attitude of mind will<br />practically establish natural immunity to the inroads and ravages of<br />bacteria and disease taints. If infection takes place, the organism<br />reacts to it through inflammatory processes, and by means of these<br />endeavors to overcome and eliminate microorganisms and poisons from<br />the system.<br /><br />In this connection it is of interest to learn that the danger to<br />life from bites and stings of poisonous reptiles and insects has<br />been greatly exaggerated. According to popular opinion, anyone<br />bitten by a rattlesnake, gila monster or tarantula is doomed to die,<br />while as a matter of fact the statistics show that only from two to<br />seven per-cent succumb to the effects of the wounds inflicted by the<br />bites of poisonous reptiles.<br /><br />In this, as in many other instances, popular opinion should rather<br />be called "popular superstition."<br /><br />In the open discussions following my public lectures, I am often<br />asked: "What is the right thing to do in case of snakebite? Would<br />you not give plenty of whiskey to save the victim's life?"<br /><br />It is my belief that of the seven percent who die after being bitten<br />by rattlesnakes or other poisonous snakes, a goodly proportion give<br />up the ghost because of the effects of the enormous doses of strong<br />whiskey that are poured into them under the mistaken idea that the<br />whiskey is an efficient antidote to the snake poison.<br /><br />People do not know that the death rate from snakebite is so very<br />low, and therefore they attribute the recoveries to the whiskey,<br />just as recoveries from other diseases under medical or metaphysical<br />treatment are attributed to the virtues of the particular medicine<br />or method of treatment instead of to the real healer, the~ vis<br />medicatrix nature,~ the healing power of Nature, which in<br />ninety-three cases in a hundred eliminates the rattlesnake venom<br />without injury to the organism.<br /><br />To recapitulate: Just as yeast cells are not only the cause but also<br />the product of sugar fermentation, so disease germs are not only a<br />cause (secondary) but also a product of morbid fermentation in the<br />system. Furthermore, just as yeast germs live on and decompose<br />sugar, so disease germs live on and decompose morbid matter and<br />systemic poisons.<br /><br />In a way, therefore, microorganisms are just as much the product as<br />the cause of disease and act as scavengers or eliminators of morbid<br />matter. In order to hold in check the destructive activity of<br />bacteria and to prevent their multiplication beyond the danger<br />point, Nature resorts to inflammation and manufactures her own<br />antitoxins.<br /><br />On the other hand, whatever tends to build up the blood on a natural<br />basis, to promote elimination of morbid matter and thereby to limit<br />the activity of destructive microorganisms without injuring the body<br />or depressing its vital functions, is good Nature Cure practice. The<br />first consideration, therefore, in the treatment of inflammation<br />must be to not interfere with its natural course.<br /><br />By the various statements and claims made in this chapter, I do not<br />wish to convey the idea that I am opposed to scrupulous cleanliness<br />or surgical asepsis. Far from it! These are dictates of common<br />sense. But I do affirm that the danger from germ and other<br />infectious diseases lies just as much or more so in internal filth<br />as in external uncleanliness. Cleanliness and asepsis must go hand<br />in hand with the purification of the inner man in order to insure<br />natural immunity.<br /><br /><br /><br />Chapter VI<br /><br /><br />The Laws of Cure<br /><br /><br />This brings us to the consideration of acute inflammatory and<br />feverish diseases. From what has been said, it follows that<br />inflammation and fever are not primary, but secondary,<br />manifestations of disease. There cannot arise any form of<br />inflammatory disease in the system unless there is present some<br />enemy to health which Nature is endeavoring to overcome and get rid<br />of. On this fact in Nature is based what I claim to be the<br />fundamental Law of Cure.<br /><br />"Give me fever and I can cure every disease." Thus Hippocrates the<br />Father of Medicine, expressed the fundamental Law of Cure over two<br />thousand years ago. I have expressed this law in the following<br />sentence: "Every acute disease is the result of a cleansing and<br />healing effort of Nature."<br /><br />This law, when thoroughly understood and applied to the treatment of<br />diseases, will in time do for medical science what the discovery of<br />other natural laws has done for physics, astronomy, chemistry and<br />other exact sciences. It will transform the medical empiricism and<br />confusion of the past and present into an exact science by<br />demonstrating the unity of disease and treatment.<br /><br />Applying the law in a general way, it means that all acute diseases,<br />from a simple cold to measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, smallpox,<br />pneumonia, etc., represent Nature's efforts to repair injury or to<br />remove from the system some kind of morbid matter, virus, poison or<br />microorganism dangerous to health and life. In other words, acute<br />diseases cannot develop in a perfectly normal, healthy body living<br />under conditions favorable to human life. The question may be asked:<br />"If acute diseases represent Nature's healing efforts, why is it<br />that people die from them?" The answer to this is: the vitality may<br />be too low, the injury or morbid encumbrance too great or the<br />treatment may be inadequate or harmful, so that Nature loses the<br />fight; still, the acute disease represents an effort of Nature to<br />overcome the enemies to health and life and to reestablish normal,<br />healthy conditions.<br /><br />It is a curious fact that this fundamental principle of Nature Cure<br />and Law of Nature has been acknowledged and verified by medical<br />science. The most advanced works on pathology admit the constructive<br />and beneficial character of inflammation. However, when it comes to<br />the treatment of acute diseases, physicians seem to forget entirely<br />this basic principle of pathology, and treat inflammation and fever<br />as though they were, in themselves, inimical and destructive to<br />health and life.<br /><br />From this inconsistency in theory and practice arise all the errors<br />of allopathic medical treatment. Failure to understand this<br />fundamental Law of Cure accounts for all the confusion on the part<br />of the exponents of the different schools of healing sciences, and<br />for the greater part of human suffering.<br /><br />The Nature Cure philosophy never loses sight of the fundamental Law<br />of Cure. While allopathy regards acute disease conditions as in<br />themselves harmful and hostile to health and life, as something to<br />be cured (we should say suppressed) by drug or knife, the Nature<br />Cure school regards these forcible housecleanings as beneficial and<br />necessary, so long, at least, as people will continue to disregard<br />Nature's Laws. While, through its simple, natural methods of<br />treatment, Nature Cure easily modifies the course of inflammatory<br />and feverish processes and keeps them within safe limits, it never<br />checks or suppresses these acute reactions by poisonous drugs,<br />serums, antiseptics, surgical operations, suggestion or any other<br />suppressive treatment.<br /><br />Skin eruptions, boils, ulcers, catarrhs, diarrheas, and all other<br />forms of inflammatory febrile disease conditions are indications<br />that there is something hostile to life and health in the organism<br />which Nature is trying to remove or overcome by these so-called<br />"acute" diseases. What, then, can be gained by suppressing them with<br />poisonous drugs and surgical operations? Such practice does not<br />allow Nature to carry on her work of cleansing and repair and to<br />attain her ends. The morbid matter which she endeavored to eliminate<br />by acute reactions is thrown back into the system. Worse than that,<br />drug poisons are added to disease poisons. Is it any wonder that<br />fatal complications arise, or that the acute condition is changed to<br />chronic disease?<br /><br />Why Does the Greater Part of Allopathic Materia<br /><br />Medica Consist of Virulent Poisons?<br /><br />The statements made in the preceding pages are a severe indictment<br />of regular medical science, but they point out the difference in the<br />basic principles of the "Old School" of healing and those of the<br />Nature Cure philosophy.<br /><br />The fundamental Law of Cure quoted in this chapter explains why<br />allopathic medical science is in error, not in a few things only,<br />but in most things. The foundation, the orthodox conception of<br />disease being wrong, it follows that everything which is built<br />thereon must be wrong also.<br /><br />No matter how learned a man may be, if he begins a problem in<br />arithmetic with the proposition 2x2=5, he never will arrive at a<br />correct solution if he continue to figure into all eternity. Neither<br />can allopathy solve the problem of disease and cure as long as its<br />fundamental conception of disease is based on error.<br /><br />The fundamental law of cure explains also why the great majority of<br />allopathic prescriptions contain virulent poisons in some form or<br />another and why surgical operations are in high favor with the<br />disciples of the regular school.<br /><br />The answer of allopathy to the question, "Why do you give poisons?"<br />usually is, "Our materia medica contains poisons because drug poison<br />kills and eliminates disease poison." We, however, claim that drug<br />poisons merely serve to paralyze vital force, whereby the deceptive<br />results of allopathic treatment are obtained.<br /><br />The following will explain this more fully. We have learned that<br />so-called acute diseases are Nature's cleansing and healing efforts.<br />All acute reactions represent increased activity of vital force,<br />resulting in feverish and inflammatory conditions, accompanied by<br />pain, redness, swelling, high temperature, rapid pulse, catarrhal<br />discharges, skin eruptions, boils, ulcers, etc.<br /><br />Allopathy regards these violent activities of vital force as<br />detrimental and harmful in themselves. Anything which will inhibit<br />the action of vital force will, in allopathic parlance, cure (?)<br />acute diseases. As a matter of fact, nothing more effectively<br />paralyzes vital force and impairs the vital organs than poisonous<br />drugs and the surgeon's knife. These, therefore, must necessarily<br />constitute the favorite means of cure (?) of the regular school of<br />medicine.<br /><br />This school mistakes effect for cause. It fails to see that the<br />local inflammation arising within the organism is not the disease,<br />but merely marks the locality and the method through which Nature is<br />trying her best to discharge the morbid encumbrances; that the acute<br />reaction is local, but that its causes or feeders are always<br />constitutional and must be treated constitutionally. When, under the<br />influence of rational, natural treatment, the poisonous irritants<br />are eliminated from blood and tissues, the local symptoms take care<br />of themselves; it does not matter whether they manifest as pimple or<br />cancer, as a simple cold or as consumption.<br /><br />The Law of Dual Effect<br /><br />Everywhere in Nature rules the great Law of Action and Reaction. All<br />life sways back and forth between giving and receiving, between<br />action and reaction. The very breath of life mysteriously comes and<br />goes in rhythmical flow. So also heaves and falls in ebb and tide<br />the bosom of Mother Earth.<br /><br />In some of its aspects, this law is called the Law of Compensation,<br />or the Law of Dual Effect. On its action depends the preservation of<br />energy.<br /><br />The Great Master expressed the ethical application of this law when<br />he said:<br /><br />"Give, and it shall be given unto you. . . . For with the same<br />measure that ye mete it shall be measured to you again."--Luke 6:38.<br /><br />In the realms of physical nature, giving and receiving, action and<br />reaction balance each other mechanically and automatically. What we<br />gain in power we lose in speed or volume, and vice versa. This makes<br />it possible for the mechanic, the scientist and the astronomer to<br />predict with mathematical precision for ages in advance the results<br />of certain activities in Nature.<br /><br />The great Law of Dual Effect forms the foundation of the healing<br />sciences. It is related to and governs every phenomenon of health,<br />disease and cure. When I formulated the fundamental Law of Cure in<br />the words, "Every acute disease is the result of a healing effort of<br />Nature," this was but another expression of the great Law of Action<br />and Reaction. What we commonly call crisis, acute reaction or acute<br />disease is in reality Nature's attempt to establish health.<br /><br />Applied to the physical activity of the body, the Law of<br />Com-pensation may be expressed as follows: "Every agent affecting<br />the human organism produces two effects: a first, apparent,<br />temporary effect, and a second, lasting effect. The secondary,<br />lasting effect is always contrary to the primary, transient effect."<br /><br />For instance: The first and temporary effect of cold water applied<br />to the skin consists in sending the blood to the interior; but in<br />order to compensate for the local depletion, Nature responds by<br />sending greater quantities of blood back to the surface, resulting<br />in increased warmth and better surface circulation.<br /><br />The first effect of a hot bath is to draw the blood to the surface;<br />but the secondary effect sends the blood back to the interior,<br />leaving the surface bloodless and chilled.<br /><br />Stimulants, as we shall see later on, produce their deceptive<br />effects by burning up the reserve stores of vital energy in the<br />organism. This is inevitably followed by weakness and exhaustion in<br />exact proportion to the previous excitation.<br /><br />The primary effect of relaxation and sleep is weakness, numbness and<br />death-like stupor; the secondary effect, however, is an increase of<br />vitality.<br /><br />The Law of Dual Effect governs all drug action. The first,<br />temporary, violent effect of poisonous drugs, when given in<br />physiological doses, is usually due to Nature's efforts to overcome<br />and eliminate these substances. The secondary, lasting effect is due<br />to the retention of the drug poisons in the system and their action<br />on the organism.<br /><br />In theory and practice, allopathy considers the first effect only<br />and ignores the lasting aftereffects of drugs and surgical<br />operations. It administers remedies whose first effect is contrary<br />to the disease condition. Therefore, in accordance with the Law of<br />Action and Reaction, the secondary, lasting effect of such remedies<br />must be similar to or like the disease condition.<br /><br />Common, everyday experience should teach us that this is so, for<br />laxatives and cathartics always tend to produce chronic<br />constipation.<br /><br />The secondary effect of stimulants and tonics of any kind is<br />increased weakness, and their continued use often results in<br />complete exhaustion and paralysis of mental and physical powers.<br /><br />Headache powders, pain killers, opiates, sedatives and hypnotics may<br />paralyze brain and nerves into temporary insensibility; but, if due<br />to constitutional causes, the pain, nervousness and insomnia will<br />always return with redoubled force. If taken habitually, these<br />agents invariably tend to create heart disease and paralysis, and<br />ultimately develop the patient into a dope fiend.<br /><br />Cold and catarrh cures (?), such as quinine, coal-tar products,<br />etc., suppress Nature's efforts to eliminate waste and morbid matter<br />through the mucous linings of the respiratory tract, and drive the<br />disease matter back into the lungs, thus breeding pneumonia, chronic<br />catarrhs, asthma and consumption.<br /><br />Mercury, iodine and all other alteratives, by suppression of<br />external elimination, create internal chronic diseases of the most<br />dreadful types, such as locomotor ataxy, paresis, etc.<br /><br />So the recital might be continued all through orthodox materia<br />medica. Each drug breeds new disease symptoms which are in their<br />turn cured (?) by other poisons, until the insane asylum or merciful<br />death rings down the curtain on the tragedy of a ruined life.<br /><br />The teaching and practice of homeopathy, as explained in Chapter<br />Twenty-Six, is fully in harmony with the Law of Action and Reaction.<br />Acting upon the basic principle of homeopathy: ~Similia similibus<br />curantur,~ or like cures like, it administers remedies whose first,<br />temporary effect is similar to the disease conditions. In accordance<br />with the Law of Dual Effect, then, the secondary effect of these<br />remedies must be contrary to the disease conditions, that is,<br />curative.<br /><br /><br /><br />Chapter VII<br /><br /><br />Suppression Versus Elimination<br /><br /><br />My claim that the conventional treatment of acute diseases is<br />suppressive and not curative will probably be denied by my medical<br />colleagues. They will maintain that their methods also are<br />calculated to eliminate morbid matter and disease germs from the<br />system.<br /><br />But what are the facts in actual practice? Is it not true that<br />preparations of mercury, lead, zinc and other powerful poisons are<br />constantly used to suppress skin eruptions, boils, abscesses, etc.,<br />instead of allowing Nature to rid the system through these skin<br />diseases of scrofulous, venereal and psoric taints?<br /><br />Some time ago Dr. Wiley, the former Government Chemist, published<br />the ingredients of a number of popular remedies for colds, coughs<br />and catarrh. Every one of them contained some powerful opiate or<br />astringent. These poisonous drugs relieve the cough and the<br />catarrhal conditions by paralyzing the eliminative activity of the<br />membranous linings of the nasal passages, the bronchi and lungs, the<br />digestive and genitourinary organs; but in doing so, they throw back<br />into the system the morbid matter which Nature is trying to get rid<br />of, and add drug poisons to disease poisons.<br /><br />Equally harmful is suppression by means of the surgeon's knife. It<br />may be a quicker and apparently more effective process to remove the<br />inflamed appendix or the diseased tonsils than to cure them by<br />building up the blood and inducing elimination of systemic poisons<br />by natural methods. But operative treatment is not eliminative. It<br />does not remove from the system the original cause of the<br />inflammation or deterioration of tissues and organs, but it does<br />remove the outlet which Nature had established for the escape of<br />morbid materials.<br /><br />These morbid encumbrances, forcibly retained in the body, weaken and<br />destroy other parts and organs, or affect the general health of the<br />patient.<br /><br />My own observations during nearly fifteen years of practical<br />experience, confirmed by many other conscientious observers among<br />Nature Cure practitioners as well as physicians of other schools and<br />of allopathy itself, prove positively that the average length of<br />life after a major operation, performed on important, vital parts<br />and organs, is less than ten years, and that after such an operation<br />the general health of the patient is in the great majority of cases<br />not as good as before.<br /><br />In the following paragraphs are mentioned some very common instances<br />of suppression and some of their usual chronic aftereffects<br />(sequelae).<br /><br />Diarrhea is suppressed with laudanum and other opiates, which<br />paralyze the peristaltic action of the bowels and, if repeated, soon<br />produce chronic constipation. Gonorrheal discharges and syphilitic<br />ulcers are checked and suppressed by local injections, cauterization<br />and by prescriptions containing mercury, iodine and other poisonous<br />alternatives which effectually prevent Nature's efforts to eliminate<br />the venereal poisons from the system.<br /><br />Gonorrheal discharges and syphilitic ulcers are checked and<br />supressed by local injections, cauterizatin, and by prescriptions<br />containing mercury, iodine, and other poisonous alternatives which<br />effectually prevent Nature's efforts to elminate the venereal<br />poisons from the system.<br /><br />All feverish diseases are more or less interfered with or suppressed<br />by antiseptics, antipyretics, serums and antitoxins. The best books<br />on ~Materia Medica~ and the professors in the colleges teach that<br />these remedies lower the fever because they are "protoplasmic<br />poisons"; because they paralyze the red and white blood corpuscles,<br />benumb heart action and respiration, and depress all vital<br />functions.<br /><br />Nervousness, sleeplessness and pain are suppressed by sedatives,<br />opiates and hypnotics. Every one of the drugs used for such purposes<br />is a powerful poison which paralyzes brain and nerve action, in that<br />way interfering with Nature's healing efforts and frequently<br />preventing the consummation of beneficial healing crises.<br /><br />Epileptic attacks and other forms of convulsions are suppressed, but<br />never cured, by bromides which benumb and paralyze the brain and<br />nerve centers. All that these sedatives accomplish is to produce in<br />the course of time idiocy and the different forms of paralysis and<br />premature senility.<br /><br />However, is he not considered the best doctor who can most promptly<br />produce these and many similar deceptive results through artificial<br />inhibition or stimulation by means of the most virulent poisons<br />found on earth?<br /><br />Dandruff and falling hair are caused by the elimination of systemic<br />poisons through the scalp. The thing to do, therefore, is not to<br />suppress this elimination and thereby cause the accumulation of<br />poisons in the brain, but to stop the manufacture of poison in the<br />body and to promote its removal through the natural channels.<br /><br />Dandruff cures and hair tonics contain glycerine, poisonous<br />antiseptics and stimulants which are absorbed by scalp and brain,<br />causing dizziness, headaches, loss of memory, neurasthenia,<br />deaf-ness, weakness of sight, etc.<br /><br />Head lice and similar parasites peculiar to other parts of the body<br />live on scrofulous and psoriotic taints. When these are consumed,<br />the lice depart as they came, no one knows whence or whither.<br /><br />This is confirmed by the fact that these noxious pests do not remain<br />with all people who have been exposed to them, but only with those<br />whose internal or external filth conditions furnish the parasites<br />with the means of subsistence.<br /><br />In a number of instances we have seen "healing crises" take the form<br />of lice. At that time the patients were living in the most clean<br />surroundings, taking different forms of water treatment every day<br />and infection was practically impossible.<br /><br />These people invariably recalled that they had been infested with<br />parasites at some previous time, and that strong antiseptics,<br />mercurial salves, or other means of suppression had been applied.<br /><br />We prescribe for the removal of lice only cold water and the comb.<br />Even antiseptic soaps should be avoided.<br /><br />The Results of Suppression of Children's Diseases<br /><br />Sycotic eruptions on the heads and bodies of infants, also called<br />milk scurf, if suppressed by salves, cream, unsalted butter or<br />merely by warm bathing, are often followed by chorea (St. Vitus'<br />dance), epilepsy, a scrofulous constitution and in later life by<br />tuberculosis.<br /><br />Measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, spinal meningitis and other<br />febrile diseases of childhood, if properly treated by natural<br />methods, are curative or at least corrective in their effects on the<br />system, and represent well-defined, orderly natural processes for<br />the elimination of inherited or acquired disease taints, drug<br />poisons, etc. But if arrested or suppressed before they have run<br />their natural course, before Nature has had time to reestablish<br />normal conditions, then the abnormal condition becomes fixed and<br />permanent (chronic).<br /><br />In addition to this, the poisons and serums employed to arrest the<br />disease process very often affect vital parts and organs<br />permanently, causing the gradual deterioration of cells and tissues,<br />and paving the way for tuberculosis, chronic affection of the<br />kidneys, cancer, etc., in later years.<br /><br />These self-evident facts, which can be verified by any unprejudiced<br />observer, account for the "mysterious sequelae" of drug-and<br />serum-treated acute diseases, which never occur where natural<br />methods of healing have been correctly employed. Some of these<br />chronic aftereffects are deafness, blindness, heart and kidney<br />diseases, nervous affections, idiocy, infantile paralysis, etc.<br /><br />These are merely a few ordinary examples of the results of<br />suppression. They could be multiplied a hundred fold, yet medical<br />science assures us that the causes of cancer and other malignant<br />diseases are unknown.<br /><br />Good Nature Cure Doctrine from an Allopathic Authority<br /><br />The following utterances of the late Dr. Nicholas Senin strongly<br />confirm our claims as to the nature and cure of disease. Coming from<br />the lips of a celebrated surgeon and physician, these statements<br />should carry some weight with those who, being unable to reason for<br />themselves, worship at the feet of "authority." The quotations<br />referred to are taken from the report of an interview granted by the<br />doctor to Chicago newspaper representatives on his return from his<br />trip around the world.<br /><br />[Chicago American, August 5th, 1906.]<br /><br />GERMS PLANTED BY TIGHT LACING<br /><br />Over-Feeding and Over-Dressing Given as Causes of Cancer<br /><br />"Dr. Nicholas Senn brought back from Africa, from whence he returned<br />to Chicago yesterday, confirmations of his belief that cancer is a<br />'civilized' disease.<br /><br />"Dr. Senn spent from $2,000 to $3,000 worth of time--at the cash<br />value per hour of his time on his first day at home for four months,<br />telling a half dozen newspaper men more than all the world, except<br />himself and a score of specialists like him, know about the fearful<br />disease. He summed up his own learning in the statement that the<br />disease is still incurable except by the knife in its incipient<br />stages and that the best preventive is clean, plain living.<br /><br />"His investigations of the natives of Africa served to strengthen<br />his conviction that cancer is a product of civilization, 'like<br />apoplexy and scores of other exotic ailments,' Dr. Senn said. He<br />could not find or hear of a case of cancer among the 'Hamites,' as<br />he termed them. And from the fact that he found the disease, to be<br />an unknown one to the Esquimaux of Greenland, he is assured that<br />climate has nothing whatever to do with it. Climate did not cause<br />it, and climate will not cure it."<br /><br />Cancer Caused by Over-Living<br /><br />"'The nearer the human race approaches the animals in habits and<br />particularly in the matter of diet and dress, the freer it is from<br />cancer,' he said. 'Cancer comes from over-feeding and over-living.<br /><br />"'Drinking, gourmandizing, unnatural habits of women, like lacing,<br />all those things help to plant the seeds of cancer in the child.<br /><br />"'And as we have not learned to cure it the best thing to do is to<br />prevent it when we can. If children were brought up in simplicity by<br />natural mothers; then, if care should be taken to prevent<br />hypernutrition, there would be much less danger from cancer. Cancer<br />itself is an over-fed thing--tissue that never matures, for if I<br />could mature the cells I could cure the disease. The thing for<br />people to do who fear they may have inherited it, is to live<br />simply--there are many cases among people with a tendency to obesity<br />to one among those of a scanty habit of living--and particularly to<br />remove all sources of irritation, like bad teeth, tobacco, and<br />clothes that chafe.'"<br /><br />Studies African Race<br /><br />"Besides his hobby, as he calls it, Dr. Senn studied the African<br />generally in his voyage along the East Coast of that continent.<br /><br />"'It was a fine trip,' he said, 'with so many things to learn.<br />Ethnologically I am certain Africans are of common stock. The negro<br />is a negro wherever you find him. From Kaffir to Bushman and pygmy<br />they are all Hamites.<br /><br />"'They are mostly a fine people physically, lean and tall, except<br />the dwarfs. There is little tendency toward obesity; they have no<br />apoplexy, no distended veins as we have in civilization. Hence their<br />freedom from cancer. They live naturally, and are vegetarians<br />mostly, while the Northern Esquimaux are meat-eaters, but both races<br />eat naturally to sustain life, hence their immunity from that<br />disease. It is where eati