Nature Cure

Philosophy & Practice Based on the

Unity of Disease & Cure
 

Henry Lindlahr, M.D.

 TWENTIETH EDITION

Published by The Nature Cure Publishing Company

525 South Ashland Boulevard, Chicago

1922

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. 5
What Is Nature Cure?..........................................................................................................8
Catechism of Nature Cure..................................................................................................10
What Is Life?................................................................................................................... 15
The Unity of Disease and Treatment...................................................................................19
The Unity of Acute Diseases..............................................................................................26
The Laws of Cure............................................................................................................. 31
Suppression Versus Elimination.........................................................................................35
Inflammation................................................................................................................... 43
The Effectes of Suppression of Venereal Diseases................................................................52
Suppressive Surgical Treatment of Tonsillitis and Enlarged Adenoids....................................55
Cancer............................................................................................................................. 57
Women's Suffering........................................................................................................... 62
The Treatment of Acute Diseases by Natural Methods..........................................................67
The True Scope of Medicine..............................................................................................83
Homeopathy.................................................................................................................... 91
The Diphtheria Antitoxin...................................................................................................97
Vaccination.................................................................................................................... 103
Surgery.......................................................................................................................... 107
Chronic Diseases............................................................................................................ 110
Crises............................................................................................................................ 116
Periodicity..................................................................................................................... 123
What About The "Chronic"?............................................................................................131
The Treatment of Chronic Diseases..................................................................................135
Vitality.......................................................................................................................... 139
Natural Dietetics............................................................................................................. 148
Acid Diseases................................................................................................................. 158
Fasting.......................................................................................................................... 164
Hydrotherapy Treatment of Chronic Disease......................................................................170
Air and Light Baths........................................................................................................ 177
Correct Breathing........................................................................................................... 180
Physical Exercise............................................................................................................ 187
Manipulative Treatment Massage.....................................................................................193
Legitimate Scope and Natural Limitations of Mental and Metaphysical Healing....................200
The Difference Between Functional and Organic Disease....................................................205
The Two-fold Attitude of Mind and Soul...........................................................................209
The Symphony of Life....................................................................................................211
The Three-fold Constitution of Man..................................................................................212
Mental Therapeutics........................................................................................................215
HOW SHALL WE PRAY?..............................................................................................220
Scientific Relaxation and Normal Suggestion.....................................................................223
Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 226
PAIN'S SOLILOQUY.....................................................................................................228

"Ho, ye who suffer! Know ye suffer from vowselves. None else compels--no
other holds ye that ye live or die. "--Siddartha

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 TO THE PROGRESSIVE PHYSICIANS OF THE AGE

THERE are two principal methods of treating disease. One is the combative, the other the
preventive. The trend of modern medical research and practice in our great colleges and endowed
research institutes is almost entirely along combative lines, while the individual, progressive
physician learns to work more and more along preventive lines. The slogan of modern medical
science is, "Kill the germ and cure the disease." The usual procedure is to wait until acute or
chronic diseases have fully developed, and then, if possible, to subdue them by means of drugs,
surgical operations, and by means of the morbid products of disease, in the form of serums,
antitoxins, vaccines, etc. The combative method fights disease with disease, poison with poison,
and germs with germs and germ products. In the language of the Good Book, it is "Beelzebub
against the Devil.

  The preventive method does not wait until diseases have fully developed and gained the
ascendancy in the body, but concentrates its best endeavors on preventing, by hygienic living and
by natural methods of treatment, the development of diseases. By these it endeavors to put the
human body in such a normal, healthy condition that it is practically proof against infection or
contagion by disease taints and miasms, and against the inroads of germs, bacteria and parasites.

  The question is, which method is the most practical, the most successful and most popular?
Which will stand the test of "the survival of the fittest" in the great struggle for existence?

  The medical profession has good reason to be alarmed by the inroads made in its work by
irregular, unorthodox systems, schools and cults of treating human ailments; but instead of raging
at the audacious presumption of these interlopers, would it not be better to inquire if there is not
some reason for the astonishing spread and popularity of these therapeutic innovations?

  Their success undoubtedly is based on the fact that they concentrate their best efforts on
preventive instead of combative methods of treating disease. People are beginning to realize that
it is cheaper and more advantageous to prevent disease than to cure it. To create and maintain
continuous, buoyant good health means greater efficiency for mental and physical work; greater
capacity for the true enjoyment of life, and the best insurance against failure and poverty.
Therefore, he who builds health is of greater value to humanity than he who allows people to drift
into disease through ignorance of Nature's laws, and then attempts to cure them by doubtful and
uncertain combative methods.

  It is said that in China the physician is hired and paid by the year; that he receives a certain
stipend as long as the members of the family are in good health, but that the salary is suspended
as long as one of his charges is ill. If some similar method of engaging and paying for medical
services were in vogue in this country the trend of medical research and practice would soon
undergo a radical change.

  The diet expert, the hydropath, the physical culturist, the adjuster of the spine, the mental
healer, and Christian Scientist, do not pay much attention to the pathological conditions or to the
symptoms of disease. They regulate the diet and habits of living on a natural basis, promote
elimination, teach correct breathing and wholesome exercise, correct the mechanical lesions of
the spine, establish the right mental and emotional attitude and, in so far as they succeed in doing
this, they build health and diminish the possibility of disease. The successful doctor of the future
will have to fall in line with the procession and do more teaching than prescribing.

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   I realize that many of the statements and claims made in this volume will seem radical and
irrational to my colleagues of the regular school of medicine. They win say that most of my
teachings are contrary to the firmly established theories of medical science. All I ask, of them is
not to judge too hastily; to observe, to think and to test, and I am certain that they will find
verified in actual experience many of the teachings of the Nature Cure Philosophy. Medical
science has had to abandon innumerable theories and practices which at one time were as firmly
established as some of the pet theories of today.

  By none of the statements made in this book do I mean to deny the necessity of combative
methods under certain circumstances. What I wish to emphasize is that the regular school of
medicine is spending too much of its effort along combative lines and not enough along
preventive. It would be foolish to deny the necessity of surgery in traumatism, and in abnormal
conditions which require mechanical means of adjustment or treatment.

  Such necessity, for instance, will exist in certain obstetrical cases, as long as women have
not learned, or are not willing to live in such a way as to make surgical intervention unnecessary
in child-birth. The same is true with regard to the treatment of germ diseases. As long as people
persist in violating the laws of their being, and thereby making their bodies prolific breeding
grounds for disease taints, germs and parasites which are bound to provoke inflammatory,
feverish processes (Nature's cleansing and healing efforts), combative measures will have to be
resorted to by the physician, and precautionary measures against infection will have to be
observed, but these should be in harmony with Nature's endeavors, not contrary and suppressive;
they should tend to conserve and not to destroy.

  Natural dietetics, fasting, hydropathy, osteopathy, chiropractic, and mental therapeutics, are
combative as well as preventive, but if properly applied they do not in any way injure the
organism or interfere with Nature's intent and Nature's methods. This cannot be said for much of
the surgical and medical treatment of the old school of medicine. We criticize and condemn only
those methods which are suppressive and destructive instead of curative.

  In many instances already the warnings and teachings of Nature Cure Philosophy have been
verified, and had to be heeded and accepted by medical science. The exponents of Nature Cure
protested against the barbarous practice of withholding water from patients burning in fever heat,
and against the exclusion of fresh air from the sickroom by order of the doctor. The cold water
and no drug treatment of typhoid fever, the water treatment for other acute diseases, as well as the
open air treatment for tuberculosis, were forced upon the medical profession by the Nature Cure
people. For more than half a century the latter have been curing all inflammaory, feverish
diseases, from simple colds to scarlet fever, diphtheria, cerebro-spinal meningitis, smallpox,
appendicitis, etc., etc., by hydropathy, fasting, and other natural methods, without resorting at all
to the use of poisonous drugs, antitoxins and surgical operations.

  For many years before the terrible after-effects of X-Ray treatment, of extirpation of the
ovaries, the womb, and of other vital organs, became so patent that the physicians of the regular
school could not ignore them any longer, Nature Cure physicians had strongly warned against
these unnatural practices, and called attention to their destructive after-effects.

  As far back as ten years ago, when the X-Rays were in high favor for the treatment of
cancer, lupus, and other diseases, I warned against the use of these rays, claiming that their
vibratory velocity was too high and powerful, and therefore destructive to the tissues of the
human body. Since the failure of the X-Rays and the discovery of Radio-activity, the rays and

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emanations of radium and other radio-active substances are widely advertised and exploited as
therapeutic agents, but these rays also are far beyond the vibratory ranges of the physical body in
velocity and power. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether their injurious by and after-effects
do not out-weigh in the long run their beneficial effects.

  The destructive action of these high power rays, as well as of inorganic minerals, is very
slow and insidious, manifesting only in the course of many years. This new field of therapeutics,
therefore, has not yet passed the stage of dangerous experimentation.

  Inorganic minerals prove injurious and destructive to the tissues of the human body because
they are too slow in vibratory velocity, and too coarse in molecular structure.

  It is the intent and purpose of this volume to warn against the exploitation of destructive
combative methods to the neglect of preventive constructive and conservative methods. If these
teachings contribute something toward this end they will fulfill their mission.

The Author
Chicago, Nov., 1913.

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 INTRODUCTION
IT was the following letter from Mr. William Louden to the editor of "Health Culture" which
prompted the author to issue the "Nature Cure Magazine" (published from November, 1907, to
October, 1909). In the series of books of which this is the first volume, he will endeavor to collect
and systematize all his former writings in the "Nature Cure Magazine," "Health Culture," "Life
and Action," the "Naturopath," the "Volksrath," and other publications, and to amplify these by
new material obtained through further research and wider experience.

Mr. Albert Turner,

  Editor of "Health Culture."

DEAR SIR--I write to ask what you consider the best book or pamphlet to put into the hands
of people generally, in regard to the preservation of health. I know there are a number of very
excellent publications, but as a rule they deal with certain details or phases of the question, and do
not begin with the great underlying principles in such a way as to attract and hold the attention of
the masses. One advocates one plan, and another an entirely different, and sometimes a directly
opposite plan--such as uncooked vs. thoroughly cooked food; a strictly vegetarian diet, and
mental culture in place of attention to either, etc. Such a state of affairs makes it confusing to
average people and gets them to believe that health reformers are all at sea, and what is good for
one is not good for another, or, in common language, "what is one man's meat is another's
poison."

  Now, I know it is natural, and doubtless best, that there should be a difference of opinion on
any question, but at the same time, if any movement is to be crowned with great success, there
should be some underlying principles upon which all should agree, and these should be pressed to
the forefront, so as to attract and hold the attention of the people, in place of the divergent details
upon which they disagree. If these fundamental laws and principles are thoroughly studied and
well defined, it may be found that they would explain the discrepancies between the different
theories, and that under certain conditions, one plan is best, and that under different conditions
another plan is more applicable, etc. The pushing of these fundamental principles to the front
would also tend to correct errors into which the different theorists have fallen, and would
certainly tend to make the different theories more homogeneous and more easily understood by
people in general, than at present.

  In my opinion, the general fundamental principles of life and health are what people need to
understand more than anything else. Without this, most of the details will be meaningless or at
least confusing dogmas. I don't mean by these fundamental principles the details of anatomy, or,
for that matter, the details of anything else, but the general rules governing life and death, so that
people may know which way they, are tending, and may understand the many illusions with
which life and death, as well as all else in nature are beset.

Yours truly,

WILLIAM LOUDEN
Louden Mfg. Co.,
Fairfield, Iowa.

  The present volume and others of the "Nature Cure Series" which are to follow are an
attempt to answer Mr. Louden's inquiry and to formulate and elucidate the fundamental laws of
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health, disease and cure for which he and many others have been vainly seeking. Who among you
at some time or another, has not thought and felt like Mr. Louden and in doubt and perplexity
voiced Pilate's query,

What Is Truth?

  The exact information and rational method of teaching which Mr. Louden is seeking, has
heretofore been wanting in health-culture literature.

  Many, indeed, stand ready and willing to show the way to physical, mental and moral
perfection. Hundreds, yes, thousands, of different cults, isms, teachers, books and periodicals
treat of these subjects, but their teachings are so manifold, so contradictory and confusing, that
one becomes bewildered amid the ever increasing testimony. As is often the case in the study of
complicated subjects, the more one reads and the more one hears, the less one knows. I believe
that no one has described more strikingly this state of general perplexity than Mr. Louden in his
excellent letter.

  Nevertheless, these simple fundamental laws and principles really exist. They must exist,
because everything in Nature, including the processes of health, of disease and cure, of birth, of
life and death, are subject to law and order.

  Allopathy, or Old School Medical Science, admits that it does not know these fundamental
principles; that it reasons, not from underlying causes, but from external symptoms and personal
experiences. It is, therefore, self-confessedly full of doubts, errors and confusion; in short,
empirical--and necessarily, a failure.

  Many teachers of Nature Cure, Hygiene and Health cults have stumbled accidentally upon
some of the natural laws and true methods of healing, but have failed to grasp and to formulate
the broad underlying principles. For this reason they are often partly right and partly wrong and
very apt to overdo certain methods to the neglect of others just as effective and essential, or even
more so.

  I shall endeavor in these volumes to formulate and elucidate some of the fundamental laws
and principles underlying the phenomena of life and death, health, disease and cure, and shall try
to ascertain in the light of these laws how much of truth and how much of error, how much of
usefulness and how much of harmfulness there may be contained in the various theories and
systems of living and of healing.

Nature Owe an Exact Science

  One of the reasons why Nature Cure is not more popular with the medical profession and
the public is that it is too simple. The average mind is more impressed by the involved and
mysterious than by the simple and common-sense.

  However, it remains a fact that "exact science" reduces complexity and confusion to
simplicity and clearness. Science becomes exact science only when the underlying laws which
correlate and unify its scattered facts and theories have been discovered.

  These simple laws rightly understood and applied will do for medical science what the law
of gravitation has done for physics and astronomy, and what the laws of chemical affinity have
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done for chemistry, they will place medical science in the ranks of exact sciences. The
understanding and proper application of these truths will explain every fact and phenomenon in
the processes of health, disease and cure, and will enable the student to reason from simple,
natural laws and principles to their logical effects. The "Regular" school of medicine, so far, has
endeavored to build a medical science on the observation of "effects" and “experiences," but
since one fundamental law of nature may produce a million seemingly differing effects it
becomes self-evident that it is utterly impossible to found an exact science on such uncertain and
conflicting evidence.

  The primary laws and principles once understood, it becomes easy to reason from and to
explain through them, the various phenomena which they produce. Herein lay the merit and
achievement of the Nature Cure philosophy. 

THE UPAS TREE OF DISEASE

EVIL IS NOT AN ACCIDENT, NOT AN ARBITRARY PUNISHMENT, NOT

ALWAYS AN "ERROR OF MORTAL MIND." IT IS THE NATURAL AND
INEVITABLE RESULT OF VIOLATIONS OF NATURE'S LAWS. IT IS
INSTRUCTIVE AND CORRECTIVE IN PURPOSE, AND WILL REMAIN WITH US
ONLY AS LONG AS WE NEED ITS SALUTARY LESSONS.

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 What Is Nature Cure?
  It is vastly more than a system of curing aches and pains; it is a complete revolution in the
art and science of living. It is the practical realization and application of all that is good in
natural science, philosophy and religion. Like many another world-wide revolution and
reformation, it had its inception in Germany, the land of thinkers and philosophers.

  About seventy years ago this greatest and most beneficent of reformation movements was
inaugurated by Priessnitz in Grafenberg, a small village in the Silesian mountains. The originator
of Nature Cure was a simple farmer, but he had a natural genius for the art of healing.

  His pharmacopeia consisted not in poisonous pills and potions but in plenty of exercise,
fresh mountain air, water treatments in the cool, sparkling brooks, and simple, wholesome
country fare, consisting largely of black bread, vegetables, and milk fresh from cows fed on
nutritious mountain grasses.

  The results accomplished by these simple means were wonderful. Before he died, a large
sanitarium, filled with patients from all over the world and from all stations of life, had grown up
around his forest home.

  Among those who made the pilgrimage to Grafenberg to become patients and students of
this genial healer, the simple-minded farmer-physician, were wealthy merchants, princes and
doctors from all parts of the world.

  Rapidly the idea of drugless healing spread over Germany and over the civilized world. In
the Fatherland, Hahn the apothecary, Kuhne the weaver, Rikli the manufacturer, Father Kneipp
the priest, Lahmann the doctor, and Turnvater Jahn, the founder of physical culture, became
enthusiastic pupils and followers of Priessnitz.

  Each one of these men enlarged and enriched some special field of the great realm of natural
healing. Some elaborated the water cure and natural dietetics, others invented various systems of
manipulative treatment, earth, air and light cures, magnetic healing, mental therapeutics, curative
gymnastics, etc., etc. Von Peckzely added the Diagnosis from the Eye, which reveals not only the
innermost secrets of the human organism, but also Nature's ways and means of cure, and the
changes for better or for worse continually occurring in the body.

  In this country, Dr. Trall of New York, Dr. Jackson of Danville, Dr. Kellogg of Battle
Creek, and others caught the infection and crossed the ocean to become students of Priessnitz.
The achievements of these men in their respective fields of endeavor will stand as enduring
monuments to the eternal truths revealed by the genius of Nature Cure.

  Quimby, the itinerant spiritualist and healer, became successful and renowned by the
application of the natural methods of cure. At first his favorite methods were water, massage,
magnetic and mental treatment. Gradually he concentrated his efforts on metaphysical methods of
cure, and before he died, he evolved a complete system of magnetic and mental therapeutics.

  Quimby's teachings and methods were adopted by Mrs. Eddy, his most enthusiastic pupil,
and by her elaborated into Christian Science, the latest and most successful of modern mental-
healing cults.

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   Dr. Still of Kirksville, Missouri, made a valuable addition to natural methods of treatment
by the invention of Osteopathy, a system of scientific manipulation of the bony structures, nerves
and nerve centers, muscles and ligaments. A later development of manipulative science is
Chiropractic, originated by Dr. Palmer of Davenport, Iowa. Thus the simple pioneers of German
Nature Cure, every one of them gifted by Nature with the instinct and genius of the true healer,
who is born, not made, laid the foundation for the worldwide modern health culture movement.

  They were not blinded or confused by the conflicting theories of books and authorities, or
by the action of a thousand different drugs on a legion of different symptoms, but applied
common-sense reasoning to the solution of the problems of health, disease and cure.

  They went for inspiration to field and forest rather than to the murky atmosphere of the
dissecting and vivisection rooms. They studied the whole and not only the parts, causes as well
as effects and symptoms. Realizing that man had lost his natural instinct and strayed far from
Nature's ways, they studied and imitated the natural habits of the animal creation rather than the
confusing doctrines of the schools.

  Thus they proclaimed the "return to Nature" and the "new gospel of health," which are
destined to free humanity from the destructive influences of alcoholism, red meat overeating, the
dope and tobacco habit, and of drug poisoning, vaccination, surgical mutilation, vivisection and a
thousand other abuses practiced in the name of science.

  When parents learn how to create children in accord with natural law, how to mold their
bodies and their characters into harmony and beauty before the new life sees the light of day,
when they learn to rear their offspring in health of body and purity of mind in harmony with the
laws of their being, then we shall have true types of beautiful manhood and womanhood, then
children will no longer be a curse and a burden to themselves and to those who bring them into
the world or to society at large.

  These thoughts are not the mere dreams of a visionary. When we see the wonderful changes
wrought in a human being by a few months or years of rational living and treatment, it seems not
impossible or improbable that these ideals may be realized within a few generations.

  Children thus born and reared in harmony with the law will be the future masters of the
earth. They will need neither gold nor influence to win in the race of life—their innate powers of
body and soul will make them victors over every circumstance. The offspring of alcoholism, drug
poisoning and sexual perversity will cut but sorry figures in comparison with the manhood and
womanhood of a true and noble aristocracy of health.

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 Catechism of Nature Cure
The philosophy of Nature Cure is based on sciences dealing with newly discovered or
rediscovered natural laws and principles, and with their application to the phenomena of life and
death, health, disease and cure.

  Every new science embodying new modes of thought requires exact modes of expression
and new definitions of already well-known words and phrases.

  Therefore, we have endeavored to define, as precisely as possible, certain words and phrases
which convey meanings and ideas peculiar to the teachings of Nature Cure.

  The student of Nature Cure and kindred subjects will do well to study these definitions and
formulated principles closely, as they contain the pith and marrow of our philosophy and greatly
facilitate its understanding.

  (1) What Is Nature Cure?

  Nature Cure is a system of building the entire being in harmony with the constructive
principle in Nature on the physical, mental, moral and spiritual planes of being.

  (2) What Is the Constructive Principle in Nature?

  The constructive principle in Nature is that principle which builds up, improves and repairs,
which always makes for the perfect type, whose activity in Nature is designated as evolutionary
and constructive and which is opposed to the destructive principle in Nature

  (3) What Is the Destructive Principle in Nature?

  The destructive principle in Nature is that principle which disintegrates and destroys
existing forms and types, and whose activity in Nature is designated as devolutionary and
destructive.

  (4) What Is Normal or Natural?

  That is normal or natural which is in harmonic relation with the life purposes of the
individual and the constructive principle in Nature.

  (5) What Is Health?

  Health is normal and harmonious vibration of the elements and forces composing the human
entity on the physical, mental, moral and spiritual planes of being, in conformity with the
constructive principle of Nature applied to individual life.

  (6) What Is Disease?

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   Disease is abnormal or inharmonious vibration of the elements and forces composing the
human entity on one or more planes of being, in conformity with the destructive principle of
Nature applied to individual life.

  (7) What Is the Primary Cause of Disease?

  The primary cause of disease, barring accidental or surgical injury to the human organism
and surroundings hostile to human life, is violation of Nature’s Laws.

  (8) What Is the Effect of Violation of Nature’s Laws on the Physical Human
Organism?

  The effect of violation of Nature’s Laws on the physical human organism are:

1. Lowered vitality.
2. Abnormal composition of blood and lymph.
3. Accumulation of waste matter, morbid materials and poisons.

  These conditions are identical with disease, because they tend to lower, hinder or inhibit
normal function (harmonious vibration) and because they engender and promote destruction of
living tissues.

  (9) What Is Acute Disease?

  What is commonly called acute disease is in reality the result of Nature’s efforts to eliminate
from the organism waste matter, foreign matter and poisons, and to repair injury to living tissues.
In other words, every so-called acute disease is the result of a cleansing and healing effort of
Nature. The real disease is lowered vitality, abnormal composition of the vital fluids (blood and
lymph) and the resulting accumulation of waste materials and poisons.

  (10) What Is Chronic Disease?

a. Chronic disease is a condition of the organism in which lowered vibration (lowered

vitality), due to the accumulation of waste matter and poisons, with the consequent
destruction of vital parts and organs, has progressed to such an extent that Nature’s
constructive and healing forces are no longer able to react against the disease conditions
by acute corrective efforts (healing crises).
b. Chronic disease is a condition of the organism in which the morbid encumbrances have
gained the ascendancy and prevent acute reaction (healing crises) on the part of the
constructive forces of Nature.
c. Chronic disease is the inability of the organism to react by acute efforts or healing crises
against constitutional disease conditions.

  (11) What Is a Healing Crisis?

  A healing crisis is an acute reaction, resulting from the ascendancy of Nature’s healing
forces over disease conditions. Its tendency is toward recovery, and it is, therefore, in conformity
with Nature’s constructive principle.

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   (12) Are All Acute Reactions Healing Crises?

 No, there are healing crises and disease crises.

  (13) What Is a Disease Crisis?

  A disease crisis is an acute reaction resulting from the ascendancy of disease conditions over
the healing forces of the organism. Its tendency is toward fatal termination, and it is, therefore, in
conformity with Nature’s destructive principle

  (14) What Is Cure?

  Cure is the readjustment of the human organism from abnormal to normal conditions and
functions.

  (15) What Methods of Cure Are in Conformity with the Constructive Principle in
Nature?

  Those methods which:

1. Establish normal surroundings and natural habits of life in accord with Nature’s Laws.
2. Economize vital force.
3. Build up the blood on a natural basis, that is, supply the blood with its natural
constituents in right proportions.
4. Promote the elimination of waste matter and poisons without in any way injuring the
human body.
5. Arouse the individual in the highest possible degree to the consciousness of personal
accountability and the necessity of intelligent personal effort and self-help.

  (16) Are Medicines in Conformity with the Constructive Principle in Nature?

  Medicines are in conformity with the constructive principle in Nature insofar as they, in
themselves, are not injurious and destructive to the human organism and insofar as they act as
tissue foods and promote the neutralization and elimination of morbid matter and poisons.

  (17) Are Poisonous Drugs and Promiscuous Surgical Operations in Conformity with
the Constructive Principle in Nature?

  Poisonous drugs and promiscuous operations are not usually in conformity with the
constructive principle in Nature, because:

1. They suppress acute diseases or reactions (crises), the cleaning and healing efforts of
Nature.
2. They are in themselves harmful and destructive to human life.
3. Such treatment fosters the belief that drugs and surgical operations can be substituted for
obedience to Nature’s Laws and for personal effort and self-help.

  (18) Is Metaphysical Healing in Conformity with the Constructive Principle in Nature?

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   Metaphysical systems of healing are in conformity with the constructive principle in Nature
insofar as:

1. They do not interfere with or suppress Nature’s healing efforts.

2. They awaken hope and confidence (therapeutic faith) and increase the inflow of vital
force into the organism.

They are not in conformity with the constructive principle in Nature in so far as:

1. They fail to assist Nature’s healing efforts.

2. They ignore, obscure and deny the laws of Nature and defy the dictates of reason and
common sense.

3. They substitute, in the treatment of disease, a blind, dogmatic belief in the wonder-
working power of metaphysical formulas and prayer for intelligent cooperation with Nature’s
constructive forces for personal effort and self-help.

4. They weaken the consciousness of personal responsibility.

  (19) Is Nature Cure in Conformity with the Constructive Principle in Nature?

  Nature Cure is in conformity with the constructive principle in Nature because:

5. It teaches that the primary cause of weakness and disease is disobedience to the laws of
Nature.

6. It arouses the individual to the study of natural laws and demonstrates the necessity of
strict compliance with these laws.

7. It strengthens the consciousness of personal responsibility of the individual for his own
status of health and for the hereditary conditions, traits and tendencies of his off-spring.

8. It encourages personal effort and self-help.

9. It adapts surroundings and habits of life to natural laws.

10. It assists Nature’s cleansing and healing efforts by simple natural means and methods of
treatment which are in no wise harmful or destructive to health and life, and which are
within the reach of everyone.

  (20) What Are the Natural Methods of Living and of Treatment?

1. Return to Nature by the regulation of eating, drinking, breathing, bathing, dressing,

working, resting, thinking, the moral life, sexual and social activities, etc., on a normal
and natural basis.
2. Elementary remedies, such as water, air, light, earth cures, magnetism, electricity, etc.

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 3. Chemical remedies, such as scientific food selection and combination, specific
nutritional augmentation with natural food concentrates, homeopathic medicines, simple
herb extracts and the vitochemical remedies.
4. Mechanical remedies, such as corrective gymnastics, massage, magnetic treatment,
chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation and, when indicated, surgery.
5. Mental and spiritual remedies, such as scientific relaxation, normal suggestion,
constructive thought, the prayer of faith, etc.

What Is Life?
In our study of the cause and character of disease we must endeavor to begin at the
beginning, and that is with LIFE itself, for the processes of health, disease and cure are
manifestations of that which we call life, vitality, life elements, etc.

  While endeavoring to fathom the mystery of life we soon realize, however, that we are
dealing with an ultimate which no human mind is capable of solving or explaining. We can study
and understand life only in its manifestations, not in its origin and real essence.

  There are two prevalent, but widely differing, conceptions of the nature of life or vital force:
the material and the vital.

  The former looks upon life or vital force with all its physical, mental and psychical
phenomena as manifestations of the electric, magnetic and chemical activities of the physical-
material elements composing the human organism. From this viewpoint, life is a sort of
spontaneous combustion, or, as one scientist expressed it, a succession of fermentations.

  This materialistic conception of life, however, has already become obsolete among the more
advanced biologists as a result of the wonderful discoveries of modern science, which are fast
bridging the chasm between the material and the spiritual realms of being.

  But medical science, as taught in the regular schools, is still dominated by the old, crude,
mechanical conception of vital force and this, as we shall see, accounts for some of its gravest
errors of theory and of practice.

  The vital conception of life, on the other hand, regards it as the primary force of all forces,
coming from the great central source of all power.

  This force, which permeates, heats and animates the entire created universe, is the
expression of the divine will, the "logos," the "word" of the great creative intelligence. It is this
divine energy which sets in motion the whirls in the ether, the electric corpuscles and ions that
make up the different atoms and elements of matter.

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   These corpuscles and ions are positive and negative forms of electricity. Electricity is a form
of energy. It is intelligent energy; otherwise it could not move with that same wonderful
precision in the electrons of the atoms as in the suns and planets of the sidereal universe.

  This intelligent energy can have but one source: the will and the intelligence of the Creator;
as Swedenborg expresses it, "the great central sun of the universe."

  If this supreme intelligence should withdraw its energy, the electrical charges (forms of
energy) and with it the atoms, elements, and the entire material universe would disappear in the
flash of a moment.

  From this it appears that crude matter, instead of being the source of life and of all its
complicated mental and spiritual phenomena (which assumption, on the face of it, is absurd), is
only an expression of the Life Force, itself a manifestation of the great creative intelligence which
some call God, others Nature, the Oversoul, Brahma, Prana, etc., each one according to his best
understanding.

  It is this supreme power and intelligence, acting in and through every atom, molecule and
cell in the human body, which is the true healer, the vis medicatrix naturæ, which always
endeavors to repair, to heal and to restore the perfect type. All that the physician can do is to
remove obstructions and to establish normal conditions within and around the patient, so that the
healer within can do his work to the best advantage.

  Here the Christian Scientist will say: "That is exactly what we claim. All is God, all is mind!
There is no matter! Our attitude toward disease is based on these facts."

  Well, what of it, Brother Scientist? Suppose, in the final analysis, matter is nothing but
vibration, an expression of Divine Mind and Will. That, for all practical purposes, does not justify
me to deny and to ignore its reality. Because I have an "all-mind" body, is it advisable for me to
place myself in the way of an "all-mind" locomotive moving at the rate of sixty miles an hour?

  The question is not what matter is in the final analysis, but how matter affects us. We
have to take it and treat it as we find it. We must be as obedient to the laws of matter as to those
of the higher planes of being.

Life Is Vibratory

  In the final analysis, all things in Nature, from a fleeting thought or emotion to the hardest
piece of diamond or platinum, are modes of motion or vibration. A few years ago physical
science assumed that an atom was the smallest imaginable part of a given element of matter; that
although infinitesimally small, it still represented solid matter. Now, in the light of better
evidence, we have good reason to believe that there is no such thing as solid matter: that every
atom is made up of charges of negative and positive electricity acting in and upon an omnipresent
ether; that the difference between an atom of iron and of hydrogen or any other element consists
solely in the number of electrical charges or corpuscles it contains, and on the velocity with
which these vibrate around one another.

  Thus the atom, which was thought to be the ultimate particle of solid matter, is found to be a
little universe in itself in which corpuscles of electricity rotate or vibrate around one another like

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the suns and planets in the sidereal universe. This explains what we mean when we say life and
matter are vibratory.

  As early as 1863 John Newlands discovered that when he arranged the elements of matter in
the order of their atomic weight, they displayed the same relationship to one another as do the
tones in the musical scale. Thus modern chemistry demonstrates the verity of the music of the
spheres--another visionary concept of ancient mysticism. The individual atoms in themselves, as
well as all the atoms of matter in their relationship to one another, are constructed and arranged in
exact correspondence with the laws of harmony. Therefore the entire sidereal universe is built on
the laws of music.

  That which is orderly, lawful, good, beautiful, natural, healthy, vibrates in unison with the
harmonics of this great "Diapason of Nature"; in other words, it is in alignment with the
constructive principle in Nature.

  That which is disorderly, abnormal, ugly, unnatural, unhealthy, vibrates in discord with
Nature's harmonics. It is in alignment with the destructive principle in Nature.

  What we call "Inanimate Nature" is beautiful and orderly because it plays in tune with the
score of the Symphony of Life. Man alone can play out of tune. This is his privilege, if he so
chooses, by virtue of his freedom of choice and action.

  We can now better understand the definitions of health and of disease, given in Chapter
Two, "Catechism of Nature Cure" as follows:

  "Health is normal and harmonious vibration of the elements and forces composing the
human entity on the physical, mental, moral and spiritual planes of being, in conformity with the
constructive principle of Nature applied to individual life."

  "Disease is abnormal or inharmonious vibration of the elements and forces composing the
human entity on one or more planes of being, in conformity with the destructive principle of
Nature applied to individual life."

  The question naturally arising here is, "Normal or abnormal vibration with what?" The
answer is that the vibratory conditions of the organism must be in harmony with Nature's
established harmonic relations in the physical, mental, moral, spiritual and psychical realms of
human life and action.

What Is an Established Harmonic Relation?

  Let us see whether we cannot make this clear by a simile. If a watch is in good condition, in
harmonious vibration, its movement is so adjusted that it coincides exactly, in point of time, with
the rotations of our earth around its axis. The established, regular movement of the earth forms
the basis of the established harmonic relationship between the vibrations of a normal, healthy
timepiece and the revolutions of our planet. The watch has to vibrate in unison with the
harmonics of the planetary universe in order to be normal, or in harmony.

  In like manner, everything that is normal, natural, healthy, good, beautiful must vibrate in
unison with its correlated harmonics in Nature.

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 Obedience the Only Salvation

  Orthodox medical science attributes disease largely to accidental causes: to chance infection
by disease taints, germs or parasites; to drafts, chills, wet feet, etc.

  The religiously inclined frequently attribute disease and other tribulations to the arbitrary
rulings of an inscrutable Providence.

  Christian Scientists tell us that sin, suffering, disease and all other kinds of evil are only
errors of mortal mind, or the products of diseased imagination (though this in itself admits the
existence of something abnormal or diseased).

  Nature Cure philosophy presents a rational concept of evil, its cause and purpose, namely:
that it is brought on by violation of Nature's Laws; that it is corrective in its purpose; that it can be
overcome only by compliance with the law. There is no suffering, disease or evil of any kind
anywhere unless the law has been transgressed somewhere by someone.

  These transgressions of the law may be due to ignorance, to indifference or to willfulness

and viciousness. The effects will always be commensurate with the causes.

  The science of natural living and healing shows clearly that what we call disease is primarily
Nature's effort to eliminate morbid matter and to restore the normal functions of the body; that the
processes of disease are just as orderly in their way as everything else in Nature; that we must not
check or suppress them, but cooperate with them. Thus we learn, slowly and laboriously, the all-
important lesson that "obedience to the law" is the only means of prevention of disease, and the
only cure.

  The Fundamental Law of Cure, the Law of Action and Reaction, and the Law of Crises, as
revealed by the Nature Cure philosophy, impress upon us the truth that there is nothing accidental
or arbitrary in the processes of health, disease and cure; that every changing condition is either in
harmony or in discord with the laws of our being; that only by complete surrender and obedience
to the law can we attain and maintain perfect physical health.

Self-Control, the Master's Key

  Thus Nature Cure brings home to us constantly and forcibly the inexorable facts of natural
law and the necessity of compliance with the law. Herein lies its great educational value to the
individual and to the race. The man who has learned to master his habits and his appetites so as to
conform to Nature's Laws on the physical plane, and who has thereby regained his bodily health,
realizes that personal effort and self-control are the Master's Key to all further development on
the mental and spiritual planes of being as well; that self-mastery and unremitting and unselfish
personal effort are the only means of self-completion, of individual and social salvation.

  The naturist who has regained health and strength through obedience to the laws of his
being, enjoys a measure of self-content, gladness of soul and enthusiasm which cannot be
explained by the mere possession of physical health. These highest and purest attainments of the
human soul are not the results of mere physical well-being, but of the peace and harmony which
come only from obedience to the law. Such is the peace which passeth understanding.

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 The Unity of Disease and Treatment
There exists a close resemblance between the mechanism and the functions of a watch and of
the human body. Their well-being is subject to similar underlying laws and principles. Both a
watch and a human body may function abnormally as a result of accidental injury or unfavorable
external conditions, such as extreme heat or cold, etc. However, in our present study of the causes
of disease we shall not consider accidental injury and hostile environment, but confine ourselves
to causes arising within the organism itself.

  The watch may cease to vibrate in accord with the harmonics of our planetary universe for
several reasons. It may lose time or stand still because (1) the wound spring has spent its force, or
(2) its parts are not made up of the right constituents, or (3) foreign matter clogs or corrodes its
mechanism.

  Similarly, there exist three primary causes of disease and of premature death of the physical
body. These are:

1. Lowered vitality.
2. Abnormal composition of blood and lymph.
3. Accumulation of morbid matter and poisons.

  In the ultimate, disease and everything else that we designate as evil are the result of
transgressions of natural laws in thinking, breathing, eating, dressing, working, resting, as well
as in moral, sexual and social conduct.

  In Tables I and II, I have endeavored to present in concise and comprehensive form the
primary and the secondary causes or manifestations of disease and the corresponding natural
methods of treatment.

TABLE I

THE UNITY OF DISEASE AND TREATMENT

  Barring trauma (injury), advancing age and surroundings uncongenial to human life, all
causes of disease may be classified as given below.

  Violations of Nature's Laws in thinking, breathing, eating, drinking, dressing, working,

resting and in moral, sexual and social conduct result in the following:

Primary and Secondary Causes of Disease

Primary Causes

1. Lowered vitality due to overwork, night work, excesses, overstimulation, poisonous

drugs and ill-advised surgical operations.
2. Abnormal composition of blood and lymph due to the improper selection and
combination of food, and especially the lack of organic mineral salts and other essential
nutritional elements.

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 3. Accumulation of waste matter, morbid matter and poisons due to the first two causes,
as well as to faulty diet, overeating, the use of alcoholic and narcotic stimulants, drugs
[both street and prescription], vaccines, accidental poisoning and, last but not least, to the
suppression of acute diseases (Nature's cleansing and healing efforts) by poisonous drugs
and surgical operations.

Secondary Causes

1. Hereditary and constitutional taints of sycosis, scrofula, psora, syphilis; mercurianism,

cinchonism, iodism and many other forms of chronic poisoning.
2. Fevers, inflammations, skin eruptions, chronic sinus discharges, ulcers, abscesses, germs,
bacteria, parasites, etc.
3. Mechanical subluxations, distortions and displacements of bony structures, muscles and
ligaments; weakening and loss of reason, will, and self-control resulting in negative,
sensitive and subjective conditions which open the way to nervous prostration, control by
other personalities (hypnotic influence, obsession, possession); the different forms of
insanity, epilepsy, petit mal, etc.

Table II

THE UNITY OF DISEASE AND TREATMENT

  In correspondence with the three primary causes of disease, Nature Cure recognizes the
following:

Natural Methods of Treatment

1. Return to Nature, or the establishment of normal habits and surroundings, which

necessitates:

a. Extension of consciousness by popular general and individual education.

b. The constant exercise of reason, will and self-control.
c. A return to natural habits of life in thinking, breathing, eating, dressing, working, resting
and in moral, sexual and social conduct.
d. Correction of mechanical defects and injuries by means of massage, chiropractic or
osteopathy, surgery and other mechanical methods of treatment.

2. Economy of Vital Force, which necessitates:

a. Prevention of waste of vital force by the stoppage of all leaks.

b. Scientific relaxation, proper rest and sleep.
c. Proper food selection, magnetic treatment, etc.
d. The right mental attitude.

3. Elimination, which necessitates:

a. Scientific selection and combination of food and drink.

b. Judicious fasting.
c. Hydrotherapy (water cure).

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 d. Light and air baths, friction.
e. Chiropractic or osteopathy, massage, and other manipulative treatment.
f. Correct breathing, curative gymnastics.
g. Such medicinal remedies as will build up the blood on a normal basis and supply the
system with the all-important mineral salts in organic form.

  In the following chapters I shall endeavor to show that all the different forms, phases and
phenomena of disease arising within the human organism, provided they are not caused by
accident or external conditions unfavorable to the existence of human life, can be attributed to
one or more of three primary causes (as outlined in Tables I and II). When we succeed in proving
that all disease originates from a few simple causes, it will not seem so strange and improbable
that all disease can be cured by a few simple, natural methods of living and of treatment. If
Nature Cure can accomplish this, it establishes its right to be classed with the exact sciences.

The Three Primary Causes of Disease

  We shall now consider the three primary causes of disease one by one.

Lowered Vitality

  There is a well-defined limit to the running of a watch. When the wound spring has spent its
force, the mechanism stops.

  So also the living forms of vegetable, animal and human life seem to be wound by Nature to
run a certain length of time, in accordance with the laws governing their growth and
development. Even the healthiest of animals living in the most congenial surroundings in the
freedom of Nature do not much exceed their allotted span of life, nor do they fall much below it.
As a rule, the longer the period between birth and maturity, the longer the life of the animal.

  All the different families of mammalia, when living in freedom, live closely up to the life
period allotted to them by Nature. Man is the only exception. It is claimed that according to the
laws of longevity his average length of life should be considerably over one hundred years, while
according to life insurance statistics, the average is at present [1913] thirty-seven years. This
shows an immense discrepancy between the possible and the actual longevity of man.

  Even this brief span of life means little else than weakness, physical and mental suffering
and degeneracy for the majority of mankind. Visiting physicians of the public schools in our large
cities report that seventy-five percent of all school children show defective health in some way.
Diagnosis from the Eye proves that the remaining twenty-five percent are also more or less
affected by hereditary and acquired disease conditions. Christian Science says, "There is no
disease." Nature's records in the iris of the eye say there is no perfect health.

  These established facts of greatly impaired longevity and universal abnormality of the
human race would of themselves indicate that there is something radically wrong somewhere in
the life habits of man, and that there is ample reason for the great health-reform movement which
was started about the middle of the last century by the pioneers of Nature Cure in Germany, and
which has since swept, under many different forms and guises, all portions of the civilized world.

  When people in general grow better acquainted with the laws underlying prenatal and
postnatal child culture, natural living and the natural treatment of diseases, human beings will
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approach much more closely the normal in health, strength, beauty and longevity. Then will arise
a true aristocracy, not of morbid, venous blue blood, but pulsating with the rich red blood of
health.

  However, to reach this ideal of perfect physical, mental and moral health, succeeding
generations will have to adhere to the natural ways of living and of treating their ailments. It
cannot be attained by the present generation. The enthusiasts who claim that they can, by their
particular methods, achieve perfect health and live the full term of human life, are destined to
disappointment. We are so handicapped by the mistakes of the past that the best which most of us
adults can do is to patch up, to attain a reasonable measure of health and to approach somewhat
nearer Nature's full allotment of life.

  Wild animals living in freedom retain their full vigor unimpaired almost to the end of life.
Hunters report that among the great herds of buffalo, elk and deer, the oldest bucks are the rulers
and maintain their sovereignty over the younger males of the herd solely by reason of their
superior strength and prowess. Premature old age, among human beings, as indicated by the early
decay of physical and mental powers, is brought on solely by their violation of Nature's Laws in
almost all the ordinary habits of life.

Health Positive--Disease Negative

  The freer the inflow of life force into the organism, the greater the vitality, the more there is
of strength, of positive resisting and recuperating power.

  In the book Harmonics of Evolution we are told that at the very foundation of the
manifestation of life lies the principle of polarity, which expresses itself in the duality and unity
of positive and negative affinity. The swaying to and fro of the positive and the negative, the
desire to balance incomplete polarity, constitutes the very ebb and flow of life.

  Disease is disturbed polarity. Exaggerated positive or negative conditions, whether physical,

mental, moral or spiritual, tend to disease on the respective planes of being. Foods, medicines,
suggestion and all the other different methods of therapeutic treatment exert on the individual
subjected to them either a positive or a negative influence. It is, therefore, of the greatest
importance that the physician and every one who wishes to live and work in harmony with
Nature's Laws should understand this all-important question of magnetic polarity.

  Lowered vitality means lowered, slower and coarser vibration, and this results in lowered
resistance to the accumulation of morbid matter, poisons, disease taints, germs and parasites. This
is what we designate ordinarily as the negative condition.

  Let us see whether we can explain this more fully by a homely but practical illustration: A
great many of my readers have probably seen in operation in the summer amusement parks the
"human roulette." This contrivance consists of a large wheel, board-covered, somewhat raised in
the center, and sloping towards the circumference. The wheel rotates horizontally, evenly with the
floor or ground. The merrymakers pay their nickels for the privilege of throwing themselves flat
down on the wheel and attempting to cling to it while it rotates with increasing swiftness. While
the wheel moves slowly, it is easy enough to cling to it; but the faster it revolves, the more
strongly the centrifugal force tends to throw off the human flies who try to stick to it.

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   The increasing repelling power of the accelerated motion of the wheel may serve as an
illustration of that which we call vigorous vibration, good vitality, natural immunity or
recuperative power. This is the positive condition.

  The more intense the action of the life force, the more rapid and vigorous are the vibratory
activities of the atoms and molecules in the cells, and of the cells in the organs and tissues of the
body. The more rapid and vigorous this vibratory activity, the more powerful is the repulsion and
expulsion of morbid matter, poisons and germs of disease which try to encumber or destroy the
organism.

Health and Disease Resident in the Cell

  We must not forget that health or disease, in the final analysis, is resident in the cell. Though
a minute, microscopic organism, the cell is an independent living being, which is born, grows,
eats, drinks, throws off waste matter, multiplies, ages and dies, just like man, the large cell. If the
individual cell is well, man, the complex cell, is well also, and vice versa. From this it is apparent
that in all our considerations of the processes of health, disease and cure, we have to deal
primarily with the individual cell.

  The vibratory activity of the cell may be lowered through the decline of vitality brought
about in a natural way by advancing age, or in an artificial way through wrong habits of living,
wrong thinking and feeling, overwork, unnatural stimulation and excesses of various kinds.

On the other hand, the inflow of vital force into the cells may be obstructed and their
vibratory activity lowered by the accumulation of waste and morbid matter in the tissues, blood
vessels and nerve channels of the body. Such clogging will interfere with the inflow of life force
and with the free and harmonious vibration of the cells and organs of the body as surely as dust in
a watch will interfere with the normal action and vibration of its wheels and balances.

  From this it is evident that negative conditions may be brought about not only by
hyperrefinement of the physical organism, but also by clogging it with waste and morbid matter
which interfere with the inflow and distribution of the vital force. It also becomes apparent that in
such cases the Nature Cure methods of eliminative treatment, such as pure food diet,
hydrotherapy, massage, chiropractic, osteopathy, etc., are valuable means of removing these
obstructions and promoting the inflow and free circulation of the positive electric and magnetic
life currents

Abnormal Composition of Blood and Lymph

  As one of the primary causes of disease, we cited abnormal composition of blood and
lymph. The human organism is made up of a certain number of elements in well-defined
proportions. Chemistry has discovered, so far, about seventeen of these elements in appreciable
quantities and has ascertained their functions in the economy of the body. These seventeen
elements must be present in the right proportions in order to insure normal texture, structure and
functioning of the component parts and organs of the body.

  The cells and organs receive their nourishment from the blood and lymph currents.
Therefore, these must contain all the elements needed by the organism in the right proportions,
and this, of course, depends upon the character and the combination of the food supply.

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   Every disease arising in the human organism from internal causes is accompanied by a
deficiency in blood and tissues of certain important mineral elements [organic salts].
Undoubtedly, the majority of these diseases are caused by an unbalanced diet, or by food and
drink poisoning. Wrong food combinations, on the one hand, create an overabundance of waste
and morbid matter in the system and, on the other hand, fail to supply the positive mineral
elements or organic salts on which depends the elimination of waste and systemic poisons from
the body.

  The great problem of natural dietetics and of natural medical treatment is, therefore, how to
restore and maintain the positivity of the blood and of the organism as a whole through providing
in food, drink and medicine an abundant supply of the positive mineral salts in organic form.

Accumulation of Morbid Matter and Poisons

  This is the third of the primary causes of disease. We have learned how lowered vitality and
the abnormal composition of the vital fluids favor the retention of systemic poisons in the body.
If, in addition to this, food and drink contain too much of the waste-producing carbohydrates,
hydrocarbons and proteins, and not enough of the eliminating positive mineral salts then waste
and morbid materials are bound to accumulate in the system and this results in the clogging of the
tissues with acid precipitates and earthy deposits.

  Such accumulation of waste and morbid matter in blood and tissues creates the great
majority of all diseases arising within the human organism. This will be explained fully in the
following chapters which deal with the causation of acute and chronic disease.

  More harmful and dangerous, and more difficult to eliminate than the different kinds of
systemic poisons, that is, those which have originated within the body, are the drug poisons,
especially when they are administered in the inorganic mineral form. Health is dependent upon an
abundant supply of life force, upon the unobstructed, normal circulation of the vital fluids and
upon perfect oxygenation and combustion. Anything that interferes with these essentials causes
disease; anything that promotes them establishes health. Nothing so interferes with the inflow of
the life force, with free and normal circulation of blood and lymph and with the oxygenation and
combustion of food materials and systemic waste as the accumulation of morbid matter and
poisons in the tissues of the body.

  This I have endeavored to explain more fully in connection with lowered vitality. Let us
now see how disease and health are affected by mental and emotional conditions.

Mental and Emotional Influences

  Our mental and emotional conditions exert a most powerful influence upon the inflow and
distribution of vital force. The author of The Great Work [The Great Work: The Constructive
Principle of Nature in Individual Life, by John Emmett Richardson {1853-1935}, Indio-American
Book Company, Chicago, IL. 1907.] has described most graphically in the chapter on Self-
Control how fear, worry, anxiety and all kindred emotions create in the system conditions similar
to those of freezing; how these destructive vibrations congeal the tissues, clog the channels of life
and paralyze the vital functions. He shows how the emotional conditions of impatience,
irritability, anger, etc., have a heating, corroding effect upon the tissues of the body.

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   In like manner, all other destructive emotional vibrations obstruct the inflow and normal
distribution of the life forces in and through the organism, while on the other hand the
constructive emotions of faith, hope, cheerfulness, happiness and love exert a relaxing,
harmonizing influence upon the tissues, blood vessels and nerve channels of the body, thus
opening wide the floodgates of the life forces, and raising the discords of weakness, disease and
discontent to the harmonics of buoyant health and happiness.

  Let us see just how mind controls matter and how it affects the changing conditions of the
physical body. Life manifests through vibration. It acts on the mass by acting through its minutest
particles. Changes in the physical body are wrought by vibratory changes in atoms, molecules
and cells. Health is satisfied polarity, that is, the balancing of the positive and negative elements
in harmonious vibration. Anything that interferes with the free, vigorous and harmonious
vibration of the minute parts and particles composing the human organism tends to disturb
polarity and natural affinity, thus causing discord or disease.

  When we fully realize these facts we shall not stand so much in awe of our physical bodies.
In the past we have been thinking of the body as a solid and imponderable mass difficult to
control and to change. This conception left us in a condition of utter helplessness and
hopelessness in the presence of weakness and disease.

  We now think of the body as composed of minute corpuscles rotating around one another
within the atom at relatively immense distances. We know that in similar manner the atoms
vibrate in the molecule, the molecules in the cell, the cells in the organ and the organs in the
body; the whole capable of being changed by a change in the vibrations of its particles.

  Thus the erstwhile solid physical mass appears plastic and fluidic, readily swayed and
changed by the vibratory harmonies or discords of thoughts and emotions as well as by foods,
medicines and therapeutic treatment.

  Under the old conception the mind fell readily under the control of the body and became the
abject slave of its physical conditions, swayed by fear and apprehension under every sensation of
physical weakness, discomfort or pain. The servants Lorded it with a high hand over the master
of the house, and the result was chaos. Under the new conception, control is placed where it
belongs. It is assumed by the real master of the house, the Soul-Man, and the servants, the
physical members of the body, remain obedient to his bidding.

  This is the new man, the ideal progeny of a new and higher philosophy. Understanding the
structure of the body, the laws of its being and the operation of the life elements within it, the
superman retains perfect poise and confidence under the most trying circumstances. Animated by
an abounding faith in the supremacy of the healing forces within him and sustained by the power
of his sovereign will, he governs his body as perfectly as the artist controls his violin and attunes
its vibrations to Nature's harmonies of health and happiness.

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 The Unity of Acute Diseases
In the last chapter I endeavored to explain the three primary causes of disease, namely: (1)
Lowered Vitality, (2) Abnormal Composition of Blood and Lymph, (3) Accumulation of
Waste, Morbid Matter, and Poisons in the System.

  We shall now consider some of the secondary manifestations resulting from these primary
causes. Consulting the table on page 18 (Chapter 2, internet version), we find mentioned as the
first one of the secondary causes or manifestations of disease, "Hereditary and Constitutional
Taints."

  On first impression, it might be thought that heredity is a primary cause of disease; but on
further consideration it becomes apparent that it is an effect and not a primary cause. If the
parents possess good vitality and pure, normal blood and tissues, and if they apply in the prenatal
and postnatal treatment of the child the necessary insight and foresight, there cannot be disease
heredity. In order to create abnormal hereditary tendencies, the parents, or earlier ancestors, must
have ignorantly or wantonly violated Nature's Laws, such violation resulting in lowered vitality
and in deterioration of blood and tissues.

  The female and male germinal cells unite and form the primitive reproductive cell--the
prototype of marriage. The human body with its millions of cells and cell colonies is developed
by the multiplication, with gradual differentiation, of the reproductive cell. Its abnormalities of
structure, of cell materials and of functional tendencies are reproduced just as surely as its normal
constituents. Herein lies the simple explanation of heredity which is proved to be an actual fact,
not only by common experience and scientific observation but also in a more definite way by
Nature's records in the iris of the eye.

  The iris of the newborn child reveals in its diagnostic details not only, in a general way,
hereditary taints, lowered resistance, and deterioration of vital fluids, but frequently special
weakness and deterioration in those organs which were weak or diseased in the parents. Under the
conventional (unnatural) management of the infant, these hereditary tendencies to weakness and
disease and their corresponding signs in the iris become more and more pronounced, proceeding
through the various stages of encumbrance from acute, infantile diseases through chronic
catarrhal conditions to the final destructive stages.

  In the face of the well-established facts of disease heredity we have, however, this
consolation: If the child be treated in accordance with the teachings of Nature Cure philosophy,
the abnormal hereditary encumbrances and tendencies can be overcome and eliminated within a
few years. If we place the infant organism under the right conditions of living and of treatment, in
harmony with the laws of its being, the Life Principle within will approach ever nearer to the
establishment of the perfect type. Hundreds of "Nature Cure" babies all over this country are
living proofs of this gladsome message to all those who have assumed or intend to assume the
responsibilities of parenthood.

Natural Immunity

  Under Division II of "Secondary Causes or Manifestations of Disease" we find mentioned

germs, bacteria, parasites, inflammations, fevers, skin eruptions, chronic sinus discharges, ulcers,
etc.
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   Modern medical science is built up upon the germ theory of disease and treatment. Since the
microscope has revealed the presence and seemingly entirely pernicious activity of certain
microorganisms in connection with certain diseases, it has been assumed that bacteria are the
direct, primary causes of most diseases. Therefore, the slogan now is: "Kill the bacteria (by
poisonous antiseptics, serums and antitoxins) and you will cure the disease."

  The Nature Cure philosophy takes a different view of the problem. Germs cannot be the
cause of disease, because disease germs are also found in healthy bodies. The real cause must be
something else. We claim that it is the waste and morbid matter in the system which afford the
microorganisms of disease the opportunity to breed and multiply.

  We regard microorganisms as secondary manifestations of disease, and maintain that

bacteria and parasites live, thrive and multiply to the danger point in a weakened and diseased
organism only. If it were not so, the human family would be extinct within a few months' time.

  The fear instilled by the bacterial theory of disease is frequently more destructive than the
microorganisms themselves. We have had under observation and treatment a number of insane
patients whose peculiar delusion or monomania was an exaggerated fear of germs, a genuine
bacteriophobia.

  Keep yourself clean and vigorous from within, and you cannot be affected by disease taints
and germs from without.

  Bacteria are practically omnipresent. We absorb them in food and drink, we inhale them in
the air we breathe. Our bodies are literally alive with them. The last stages of the digestive
processes depend upon the activity of millions of bacteria in the intestinal tract.

  The proper thing to do, therefore, is not to try and kill the germs, but to remove the morbid
matter and disease taints in which they live.

  Instead of concentrating its energies upon killing the germs, whose presence we cannot
escape, Nature Cure endeavors to invigorate the system, to build up blood and lymph on a normal
basis and to purify the tissues of their morbid encumbrances in such a way as to establish natural
immunity to destructive germ activity. Everything that tends to accomplish this without injuring
the system by poisonous drugs or surgical operations is good Nature Cure treatment.

  To adopt the germ-killing process without purifying and invigorating the organism would be
like trying to keep a house free from fungi and vermin by sprinkling it daily with carbolic acid
and other germ killers, instead of keeping it pure and sweet by flooding it with fresh air and
sunshine and applying freely and vigorously broom, brush and plenty of soap and water. Instead
of purifying it, the antiseptics and germ killers would only add to the filth in the house.

  All bacteriologists are unanimous in declaring that the various disease germs are found not
only in the bodies of the sick, but also in seemingly healthy persons.

  A celebrated French bacteriologist reports that in the mouth of a healthy infant, two months
old, he found almost all the disease germs known to medical science. Only lately, a celebrated
physician, appointed by the French government to investigate the causes of tuberculosis, declared
before a meeting of the International Tuberculosis Congress in Rome that he found the bacilli of
tuberculosis in ninety-five percent of all the school children he had examined.
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   Dr. Osler, one of the greatest living medical authorities, mentions repeatedly in his works
that the bacilli of diphtheria, pneumonia and of many other virulent diseases are found in the
bodies of healthy persons.

  The inability of bacteria, by themselves, to create diseases is further confirmed by the well-
known facts of natural immunity to specific infection or contagion. All mankind is more or less
affected by hereditary and acquired disease taints, morbid encumbrances and drug poisoning,
resulting from age-long violation of Nature's Laws and from the suppression of acute diseases;
but even under the almost universal present conditions of lowered vitality, morbid heredity and
physical and mental degeneration it is found that under identical conditions of exposure to drafts
or infection, a certain percentage of individuals only will take the cold or catch the disease. The
fact of natural immunity is constantly confirmed by common experience as well as in the clinics
and laboratories of our medical schools and research institutes. Of a specific number of mice or
rabbits inoculated with particles of cancer, only a small percentage develops the malignant
growth and succumbs to its ravages.

  The development of infectious and contagious diseases necessitates a certain predisposition,

or, as medical science calls it, "disease diathesis." This predisposition to infection and
contagion consists in the primary causes of disease, which we have designated as lowered
vitality, abnormal composition of blood and lymph, and the accumulation of waste, morbid
matter and poisons in the system.

Bacteria: Secondary, Not Primary,

Manifestations of Disease

  In a previous chapter we learned how lowered vitality weakens the resistance of the system
to the attacks and inroads of disease germs and poisons. The growth and multiplication of
microorganisms depend furthermore upon a congenial, morbid soil. Just as the ordinary yeast
germ multiplies in a sugar solution only, so the various microorganisms of disease thrive and
multiply to the danger point only in their own peculiar and congenial kind of morbid matter.
Thus, the typhoid fever bacillus thrives in a certain kind of effete matter which accumulates in the
intestines; the pneumonia bacilli flourish best in the catarrhal secretions of the lungs, and
meningitis bacilli in the diseased meninges of the brain and spinal cord.

  Dr. Pettenkofer, a celebrated physician and professor of the University of Vienna, also
arrived at the conclusion that bacteria, by themselves, cannot create disease, and for years he
defended his opinion from the lecture platform and in his writings against the practically solid
phalanx of the medical profession. One day he backed his theory by a practical test. While
instructing his class in the bacteriological laboratory of the university, he picked up a glass which
contained millions of live cholera germs and swallowed its contents before the eyes of the
students. The seemingly dangerous experiment was followed only by a slight nausea. Lately I
have heard repeatedly of persons in this country who subjected themselves in similar manner to
infection, inoculation and contagion with the most virulent kinds of bacteria and disease taints
without developing the corresponding diseases.

  A few years ago Dr. Rodermund, a physician in the State of Wisconsin, created a sensation
all over this country when he smeared his body with the exudates of smallpox sores in order to
demonstrate to his medical colleagues that a healthy body could not be infected with the disease.
He was arrested and quarantined in jail, but not before he had come in contact with many people.
Neither he nor anyone else exposed by him developed smallpox.

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   During the ten years that I have been connected with sanitarium work, my workers and
myself, in giving the various forms of manipulative treatment, have handled intimately thousands
of cases of infectious and contagious diseases, and I do not remember a single instance where any
one of us was in the least affected by such contact. Ordinary cleanliness, good vitality, clean
blood and tissues, the organs of elimination in good, active condition and, last but not least, a
positive, fearless attitude of mind will practically establish natural immunity to the inroads and
ravages of bacteria and disease taints. If infection takes place, the organism reacts to it through
inflammatory processes, and by means of these endeavors to overcome and eliminate
microorganisms and poisons from the system.

  In this connection it is of interest to learn that the danger to life from bites and stings of
poisonous reptiles and insects has been greatly exaggerated. According to popular opinion,
anyone bitten by a rattlesnake, gila monster or tarantula is doomed to die, while as a matter of
fact the statistics show that only from two to seven per-cent succumb to the effects of the wounds
inflicted by the bites of poisonous reptiles.

  In this, as in many other instances, popular opinion should rather be called "popular
superstition."

  In the open discussions following my public lectures, I am often asked: "What is the right
thing to do in case of snakebite? Would you not give plenty of whiskey to save the victim's life?"

  It is my belief that of the seven percent who die after being bitten by rattlesnakes or other
poisonous snakes, a goodly proportion give up the ghost because of the effects of the enormous
doses of strong whiskey that are poured into them under the mistaken idea that the whiskey is an
efficient antidote to the snake poison.

  People do not know that the death rate from snakebite is so very low, and therefore they
attribute the recoveries to the whiskey, just as recoveries from other diseases under medical or
metaphysical treatment are attributed to the virtues of the particular medicine or method of
treatment instead of to the real healer, the vis medicatrix naturæ, the healing power of Nature,
which in ninety-three cases in a hundred eliminates the rattlesnake venom without injury to the
organism.

  To recapitulate: Just as yeast cells are not only the cause but also the product of sugar
fermentation, so disease germs are not only a cause (secondary) but also a product of morbid
fermentation in the system. Furthermore, just as yeast germs live on and decompose sugar, so
disease germs live on and decompose morbid matter and systemic poisons.

  In a way, therefore, microorganisms are just as much the product as the cause of disease and
act as scavengers or eliminators of morbid matter. In order to hold in check the destructive
activity of bacteria and to prevent their multiplication beyond the danger point, Nature resorts to
inflammation and manufactures her own antitoxins.

  On the other hand, whatever tends to build up the blood on a natural basis, to promote
elimination of morbid matter and thereby to limit the activity of destructive microorganisms
without injuring the body or depressing its vital functions, is good Nature Cure practice. The first
consideration, therefore, in the treatment of inflammation must be to not interfere with its natural
course.

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   By the various statements and claims made in this chapter, I do not wish to convey the idea
that I am opposed to scrupulous cleanliness or surgical asepsis. Far from it! These are dictates of
common sense. But I do affirm that the danger from germ and other infectious diseases lies just
as much or more so in internal filth as in external uncleanliness. Cleanliness and asepsis must go
hand in hand with the purification of the inner man in order to insure natural immunity.

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 The Laws of Cure
 This brings us to the consideration of acute inflammatory and feverish diseases. From what
has been said, it follows that inflammation and fever are not primary, but secondary,
manifestations of disease. There cannot arise any form of inflammatory disease in the system
unless there is present some enemy to health which Nature is endeavoring to overcome and get
rid of. On this fact in Nature is based what I claim to be the fundamental Law of Cure.

  "Give me fever and I can cure every disease." Thus Hippocrates the Father of Medicine,
expressed the fundamental Law of Cure over two thousand years ago. I have expressed this law in
the following sentence: "Every acute disease is the result of a cleansing and healing effort of
Nature."

“Nature, to relieve herself of poisonous impurities, makes an effort to free the system, which
effort produces fevers, and what is termed disease“.-- H. to L., Chap. 4, p. 60. HL.224.

  This law, when thoroughly understood and applied to the treatment of diseases, will in time
do for medical science what the discovery of other natural laws has done for physics, astronomy,
chemistry and other exact sciences. It will transform the medical empiricism and confusion of the
past and present into an exact science by demonstrating the unity of disease and treatment.

  Applying the law in a general way, it means that all acute diseases, from a simple cold to
measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, smallpox, pneumonia, etc., represent Nature's efforts to repair
injury or to remove from the system some kind of morbid matter, virus, poison or microorganism
dangerous to health and life. In other words, acute diseases cannot develop in a perfectly normal,
healthy body living under conditions favorable to human life. The question may be asked: "If
acute diseases represent Nature's healing efforts, why is it that people die from them?" The
answer to this is: the vitality may be too low, the injury or morbid encumbrance too great or the
treatment may be inadequate or harmful, so that Nature loses the fight; still, the acute disease
represents an effort of Nature to overcome the enemies to health and life and to reestablish
normal, healthy conditions.

  It is a curious fact that this fundamental principle of Nature Cure and Law of Nature has
been acknowledged and verified by medical science. The most advanced works on pathology
admit the constructive and beneficial character of inflammation. However, when it comes to the
treatment of acute diseases, physicians seem to forget entirely this basic principle of pathology,
and treat inflammation and fever as though they were, in themselves, inimical and destructive to
health and life.

  From this inconsistency in theory and practice arise all the errors of allopathic medical
treatment. Failure to understand this fundamental Law of Cure accounts for all the confusion on
the part of the exponents of the different schools of healing sciences, and for the greater part of
human suffering.

  The Nature Cure philosophy never loses sight of the fundamental Law of Cure. While
allopathy regards acute disease conditions as in themselves harmful and hostile to health and life,
as something to be cured (we should say suppressed) by drug or knife, the Nature Cure school
regards these forcible house cleanings as beneficial and necessary, so long, at least, as people will
continue to disregard Nature's Laws. While, through its simple, natural methods of treatment,
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Nature Cure easily modifies the course of inflammatory and feverish processes and keeps them
within safe limits, it never checks or suppresses these acute reactions by poisonous drugs, serums,
antiseptics, surgical operations, suggestion or any other suppressive treatment.

  Skin eruptions, boils, ulcers, catarrhs, diarrheas, and all other forms of inflammatory febrile
disease conditions are indications that there is something hostile to life and health in the organism
which Nature is trying to remove or overcome by these so-called "acute" diseases. What, then,
can be gained by suppressing them with poisonous drugs and surgical operations? Such practice
does not allow Nature to carry on her work of cleansing and repair and to attain her ends. The
morbid matter which she endeavored to eliminate by acute reactions is thrown back into the
system. Worse than that, drug poisons are added to disease poisons. Is it any wonder that fatal
complications arise, or that the acute condition is changed to chronic disease?

Why Does the Greater Part of Allopathic Materia

Medica Consist of Virulent Poisons?

  The statements made in the preceding pages are a severe indictment of regular medical
science, but they point out the difference in the basic principles of the "Old School" of healing
and those of the Nature Cure philosophy.

  The fundamental Law of Cure quoted in this chapter explains why allopathic medical
science is in error, not in a few things only, but in most things. The foundation, the orthodox
conception of disease being wrong, it follows that everything which is built thereon must be
wrong also.

  No matter how learned a man may be, if he begins a problem in arithmetic with the
proposition 2x2=5, he never will arrive at a correct solution if he continue to figure into all
eternity. Neither can allopathy solve the problem of disease and cure as long as its fundamental
conception of disease is based on error.

  The fundamental law of cure explains also why the great majority of allopathic prescriptions
contain virulent poisons in some form or another and why surgical operations are in high favor
with the disciples of the regular school.

  The answer of allopathy to the question, "Why do you give poisons?" usually is, "Our
materia medica contains poisons because drug poison kills and eliminates disease poison." We,
however, claim that drug poisons merely serve to paralyze vital force, whereby the deceptive
results of allopathic treatment are obtained.

  The following will explain this more fully. We have learned that so-called acute diseases are
Nature's cleansing and healing efforts. All acute reactions represent increased activity of vital
force, resulting in feverish and inflammatory conditions, accompanied by pain, redness, swelling,
high temperature, rapid pulse, catarrhal discharges, skin eruptions, boils, ulcers, etc.

  Allopathy regards these violent activities of vital force as detrimental and harmful in
themselves. Anything which will inhibit the action of vital force will, in allopathic parlance, cure
(?) acute diseases. As a matter of fact, nothing more effectively paralyzes vital force and impairs
the vital organs than poisonous drugs and the surgeon's knife. These, therefore, must necessarily
constitute the favorite means of cure (?) of the regular school of medicine.

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   This school mistakes effect for cause. It fails to see that the local inflammation arising
within the organism is not the disease, but merely marks the locality and the method through
which Nature is trying her best to discharge the morbid encumbrances; that the acute reaction is
local, but that its causes or feeders are always constitutional and must be treated constitutionally.
When, under the influence of rational, natural treatment, the poisonous irritants are eliminated
from blood and tissues, the local symptoms take care of themselves; it does not matter whether
they manifest as pimple or cancer, as a simple cold or as consumption.

The Law of Dual Effect

  Everywhere in Nature rules the great Law of Action and Reaction. All life sways back and
forth between giving and receiving, between action and reaction. The very breath of life
mysteriously comes and goes in rhythmical flow. So also heaves and falls in ebb and tide the
bosom of Mother Earth.

  In some of its aspects, this law is called the Law of Compensation, or the Law of Dual
Effect. On its action depends the preservation of energy.

  The Great Master expressed the ethical application of this law when he said:

  "Give, and it shall be given unto you. . . . For with the same measure that ye mete it shall be
measured to you again."--Luke 6:38.

  In the realms of physical nature, giving and receiving, action and reaction balance each
other mechanically and automatically. What we gain in power we lose in speed or volume, and
vice versa. This makes it possible for the mechanic, the scientist and the astronomer to predict
with mathematical precision for ages in advance the results of certain activities in Nature.

  The great Law of Dual Effect forms the foundation of the healing sciences. It is related to
and governs every phenomenon of health, disease and cure. When I formulated the fundamental
Law of Cure in the words, "Every acute disease is the result of a healing effort of Nature,"
this was but another expression of the great Law of Action and Reaction. What we commonly call
crisis, acute reaction or acute disease is in reality Nature's attempt to establish health.

  Applied to the physical activity of the body, the Law of Compensation may be expressed as
follows: "Every agent affecting the human organism produces two effects: a first, apparent,
temporary effect, and a second, lasting effect. The secondary, lasting effect is always contrary to
the primary, transient effect."

  For instance: The first and temporary effect of cold water applied to the skin consists in
sending the blood to the interior; but in order to compensate for the local depletion, Nature
responds by sending greater quantities of blood back to the surface, resulting in increased warmth
and better surface circulation.

  The first effect of a hot bath is to draw the blood to the surface; but the secondary effect
sends the blood back to the interior, leaving the surface bloodless and chilled.

  Stimulants, as we shall see later on, produce their deceptive effects by burning up the
reserve stores of vital energy in the organism. This is inevitably followed by weakness and
exhaustion in exact proportion to the previous excitation.
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   The primary effect of relaxation and sleep is weakness, numbness and death-like stupor; the
secondary effect, however, is an increase of vitality.

  The Law of Dual Effect governs all drug action. The first, temporary, violent effect of
poisonous drugs, when given in physiological doses, is usually due to Nature's efforts to
overcome and eliminate these substances. The secondary, lasting effect is due to the retention of
the drug poisons in the system and their action on the organism.

  In theory and practice, allopathy considers the first effect only and ignores the lasting
aftereffects of drugs and surgical operations. It administers remedies whose first effect is
contrary to the disease condition. Therefore, in accordance with the Law of Action and Reaction,
the secondary, lasting effect of such remedies must be similar to or like the disease condition.

  Common, everyday experience should teach us that this is so, for laxatives and cathartics
always tend to produce chronic constipation.

  The secondary effect of stimulants and tonics of any kind is increased weakness, and their
continued use often results in complete exhaustion and paralysis of mental and physical powers.

  Headache powders, pain killers, opiates, sedatives and hypnotics may paralyze brain and
nerves into temporary insensibility; but, if due to constitutional causes, the pain, nervousness and
insomnia will always return with redoubled force. If taken habitually, these agents invariably tend
to create heart disease and paralysis, and ultimately develop the patient into a dope fiend.

  Cold and catarrh cures (?), such as quinine, coal-tar products, etc., suppress Nature's efforts
to eliminate waste and morbid matter through the mucous linings of the respiratory tract, and
drive the disease matter back into the lungs, thus breeding pneumonia, chronic catarrhs, asthma
and consumption.

  Mercury, iodine and all other alteratives, by suppression of external elimination, create
internal chronic diseases of the most dreadful types, such as locomotor ataxy, paresis, etc.

  So the recital might be continued all through orthodox materia medica. Each drug breeds
new disease symptoms which are in their turn cured (?) by other poisons, until the insane asylum
or merciful death rings down the curtain on the tragedy of a ruined life.

  The teaching and practice of homeopathy, as explained in Chapter Twenty-Six, is fully in

harmony with the Law of Action and Reaction. Acting upon the basic principle of homeopathy:
Similia similibus curantur, or like cures like, it administers remedies whose first, temporary effect
is similar to the disease conditions. In accordance with the Law of Dual Effect, then, the
secondary effect of these remedies must be contrary to the disease conditions, that is, curative.

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 Suppression Versus Elimination
 My claim that the conventional treatment of acute diseases is suppressive and not
curative will probably be denied by my medical colleagues. They will maintain that their
methods also are calculated to eliminate morbid matter and disease germs from the system.

  But what are the facts in actual practice? Is it not true that preparations of mercury, lead,
zinc and other powerful poisons are constantly used to suppress skin eruptions, boils, abscesses,
etc., instead of allowing Nature to rid the system through these skin diseases of scrofulous,
venereal and psoric taints?

  Some time ago Dr. Wiley, the former Government Chemist, published the ingredients of a
number of popular remedies for colds, coughs and catarrh. Every one of them contained some
powerful opiate or astringent. These poisonous drugs relieve the cough and the catarrhal
conditions by paralyzing the eliminative activity of the membranous linings of the nasal passages,
the bronchi and lungs, the digestive and genitourinary organs; but in doing so, they throw back
into the system the morbid matter which Nature is trying to get rid of, and add drug poisons to
disease poisons.

  Equally harmful is suppression by means of the surgeon's knife. It may be a quicker and
apparently more effective process to remove the inflamed appendix or the diseased tonsils than to
cure them by building up the blood and inducing elimination of systemic poisons by natural
methods. But operative treatment is not eliminative. It does not remove from the system the
original cause of the inflammation or deterioration of tissues and organs, but it does remove the
outlet which Nature had established for the escape of morbid materials.

  These morbid encumbrances, forcibly retained in the body, weaken and destroy other parts
and organs, or affect the general health of the patient.

  My own observations during nearly fifteen years of practical experience, confirmed by
many other conscientious observers among Nature Cure practitioners as well as physicians of
other schools and of allopathy itself, prove positively that the average length of life after a major
operation, performed on important, vital parts and organs, is less than ten years, and that after
such an operation the general health of the patient is in the great majority of cases not as good as
before.

  In the following paragraphs are mentioned some very common instances of suppression and
some of their usual chronic aftereffects (sequelae).

  Diarrhea is suppressed with laudanum and other opiates, which paralyze the peristaltic
action of the bowels and, if repeated, soon produce chronic constipation. Gonorrheal discharges
and syphilitic ulcers are checked and suppressed by local injections, cauterization and by
prescriptions containing mercury, iodine and other poisonous alternatives which effectually
prevent Nature's efforts to eliminate the venereal poisons from the system.

  Gonorrheal discharges and syphilitic ulcers are checked and suppressed by local
injections, cauterization, and by prescriptions containing mercury, iodine, and other poisonous
alternatives which effectually prevent Nature's efforts to eliminate the venereal poisons from the
system.
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   All feverish diseases are more or less interfered with or suppressed by antiseptics,
antipyretics, serums and antitoxins. The best books on Materia Medica and the professors in the
colleges teach that these remedies lower the fever because they are "protoplasmic poisons";
because they paralyze the red and white blood corpuscles, benumb heart action and respiration,
and depress all vital functions.

  Nervousness, sleeplessness and pain are suppressed by sedatives, opiates and hypnotics.
Every one of the drugs used for such purposes is a powerful poison which paralyzes brain and
nerve action, in that way interfering with Nature's healing efforts and frequently preventing the
consummation of beneficial healing crises.

  Epileptic attacks and other forms of convulsions are suppressed, but never cured, by
bromides which benumb and paralyze the brain and nerve centers. All that these sedatives
accomplish is to produce in the course of time idiocy and the different forms of paralysis and
premature senility.

  However, is he not considered the best doctor who can most promptly produce these and
many similar deceptive results through artificial inhibition or stimulation by means of the most
virulent poisons found on earth?

  Dandruff and falling hair are caused by the elimination of systemic poisons through the
scalp. The thing to do, therefore, is not to suppress this elimination and thereby cause the
accumulation of poisons in the brain, but to stop the manufacture of poison in the body and to
promote its removal through the natural channels.

  Dandruff cures and hair tonics contain glycerin, poisonous antiseptics and stimulants which
are absorbed by scalp and brain, causing dizziness, headaches, loss of memory, neurasthenia,
deafness, weakness of sight, etc.

  Head lice and similar parasites peculiar to other parts of the body live on scrofulous and
psoriotic taints. When these are consumed, the lice depart as they came, no one knows whence or
whither.

  This is confirmed by the fact that these noxious pests do not remain with all people who
have been exposed to them, but only with those whose internal or external filth conditions furnish
the parasites with the means of subsistence.

  In a number of instances we have seen "healing crises" take the form of lice. At that time the
patients were living in the most clean surroundings, taking different forms of water treatment
every day and infection was practically impossible.

  These people invariably recalled that they had been infested with parasites at some previous
time, and that strong antiseptics, mercurial salves, or other means of suppression had been
applied.

  We prescribe for the removal of lice only cold water and the comb. Even antiseptic soaps
should be avoided.

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 The Results of Suppression of Children's Diseases

  Sycotic eruptions on the heads and bodies of infants, also called milk scurf, if suppressed
by salves, cream, unsalted butter or merely by warm bathing, are often followed by chorea (St.
Vitus' dance), epilepsy, a scrofulous constitution and in later life by tuberculosis.

  Measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, spinal meningitis and other febrile diseases of
childhood, if properly treated by natural methods, are curative or at least corrective in their effects
on the system, and represent well-defined, orderly natural processes for the elimination of
inherited or acquired disease taints, drug poisons, etc. But if arrested or suppressed before they
have run their natural course, before Nature has had time to reestablish normal conditions, then
the abnormal condition becomes fixed and permanent (chronic).

  In addition to this, the poisons and serums employed to arrest the disease process very often
affect vital parts and organs permanently, causing the gradual deterioration of cells and tissues,
and paving the way for tuberculosis, chronic affection of the kidneys, cancer, etc., in later years.

  These self-evident facts, which can be verified by any unprejudiced observer, account for
the "mysterious sequelae" of drug- and serum-treated acute diseases, which never occur where
natural methods of healing have been correctly employed. Some of these chronic aftereffects are
deafness, blindness, heart and kidney diseases, nervous affections, idiocy, infantile paralysis, etc.

  These are merely a few ordinary examples of the results of suppression. They could be
multiplied a hundred fold, yet medical science assures us that the causes of cancer and other
malignant diseases are unknown.

Good Nature Cure Doctrine from an Allopathic Authority

The following utterances of the late Dr. Nicholas Senin strongly confirm our claims as to the
nature and cure of disease. Coming from the lips of a celebrated surgeon and physician, these
statements should carry some weight with those who, being unable to reason for themselves,
worship at the feet of "authority." The quotations referred to are taken from the report of an
interview granted by the doctor to Chicago newspaper representatives on his return from his trip
around the world.

[Chicago American, August 5th, 1906.]

GERMS PLANTED BY TIGHT LACING

Over-Feeding and Over-Dressing Given as Causes of Cancer

"Dr. Nicholas Senn brought back from Africa, from whence he returned to Chicago
yesterday, confirmations of his belief that cancer is a 'civilized' disease.
"Dr. Senn spent from $2,000 to $3,000 worth of time--at the cash value per hour of his
time on his first day at home for four months, telling a half dozen newspaper men more
than all the world, except himself and a score of specialists like him, know about the
fearful disease. He summed up his own learning in the statement that the disease is still
incurable except by the knife in its incipient stages and that the best preventive is clean,
plain living.
"His investigations of the natives of Africa served to strengthen his conviction that cancer
is a product of civilization, 'like apoplexy and scores of other exotic ailments,' Dr. Senn
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said. He could not find or hear of a case of cancer among the 'Hamites,' as he termed
them. And from the fact that he found the disease, to be an unknown one to the
Esquimaux of Greenland, he is assured that climate has nothing whatever to do with it.
Climate did not cause it, and climate will not cure it.

Cancer Caused by Over-Living

"'The nearer the human race approaches the animals in habits and particularly in the
matter of diet and dress, the freer it is from cancer,' he said. 'Cancer comes from over-
feeding and over-living.
"'Drinking, gourmandizing, unnatural habits of women, like lacing, all those things help
to plant the seeds of cancer in the child.
"'And as we have not learned to cure it the best thing to do is to prevent it when we can.
If children were brought up in simplicity by natural mothers; then, if care should be taken
to prevent hyper nutrition, there would be much less danger from cancer. Cancer itself is
an over-fed thing--tissue that never matures, for if I could mature the cells I could cure
the disease. The thing for people to do who fear they may have inherited it, is to live
simply--there are many cases among people with a tendency to obesity to one among
those of a scanty habit of living--and particularly to remove all sources of irritation, like
bad teeth, tobacco, and clothes that chafe.'

Studies African Race

"Besides his hobby, as he calls it, Dr. Senn studied the African generally in his
voyage along the East Coast of that continent.
"'It was a fine trip,' he said, 'with so many things to learn. Ethnologically I am certain
Africans are of common stock. The negro is a negro wherever you find him. From Kaffir
to Bushman and pygmy they are all Hamites.
"'They are mostly a fine people physically, lean and tall, except the dwarfs. There is little
tendency toward obesity; they have no apoplexy, no distended veins as we have in
civilization. Hence their freedom from cancer. They live naturally, and are vegetarians
mostly, while the Northern Esquimaux are meat-eaters, but both races eat naturally to
sustain life, hence their immunity from that disease. It is where eating is made an art that
cancer is most prevalent.
"'They are free from many other diseases that pester us also. Tuberculosis is hardly
known, and only along the coast, where it has been taken by the whites. The real curse of
the coast country is malaria. It is bad all up and down the East shore. I kept away from it
myself by taking five grains of quinine and the juice of a lemon once a day on an empty
stomach. That is a good remedy for malaria, for in all my running around I have never
had it.

(Editor's Note.--Dr. Senn died January 2, 1908. The papers stated after his death, that the
doctor had never been well since the return from his long voyage, that his heart and
nervous system had been seriously affected by the altitudes of the Andes and of other
mountains. We wonder whether the "high altitudes" or the "five grains of quinine daily"
were to blame for the celebrated physician's heart disease and death.)

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 Suppression, the Cause of Chronic Diseases

  Dr. Senn was right. If men and women lived more naturally, the majority of diseases would
disappear.

  The primary cause of disease is violation of Nature's Laws. "Civilization" has largely
stood for artificiality of life and for unnatural habits. A higher civilization, yet to come, will
combine the most exquisite culture of heart and mind with true simplicity and naturalness of
living. Excessive meat eating, strong spices and condiments, alcohol, coffee, tea, overwork, night
work, fear, worry, sensuality, corsets, high heels, foul air, improper breathing, lack of exercise,
loveless marriages, race suicide, all of these and many other evils of hyper civilization have
contributed their share in creating the universal degeneracy of civilized nations commented upon
by Dr. Senn.

  When the unnatural habits of life alluded to have lowered the vitality and favored the
accumulation of waste matter and poisons to such an extent that the sluggish bowels, kidneys,
skin and the other organs of elimination are unable to keep a clean house, Nature has to resort to
other, more radical means of purification or we should choke in our own impurities. These
forcible house cleanings of Nature are colds, catarrh, skin eruptions, diarrheas, boils, ulcers,
abnormal perspiration, hemorrhages and many other forms of inflammatory febrile diseases.

  Sulfur and mercury may drive back the skin eruptions, antipyretics and antiseptics may
suppress fever and catarrh. The patient and the doctor may congratulate themselves on a speedy
cure; but what is the true state of affairs? Nature has been thwarted in her work of healing and
cleansing. She had to give up the fight against disease matter in order to combat the more potent
poisons of mercury, quinine, iodine, strychnine, etc. The disease matter is still in the system,
plus the drug poison.

  Proof positive of the retention of drug poisons in the organism is furnished by the Diagnosis
from the Eye. This will be explained more fully in another chapter.

  When vitality has been sufficiently restored, Nature may make another attempt at
purification, this time, possibly, in another direction; but again her well-meant efforts are
defeated. This process of suppression is repeated over and over again until blood and tissues
become so loaded with waste material and poisons that the healing forces of the organism can no
longer react against them by acute diseases. Then results the chronic condition, which in the
vocabulary of the "Old School" of medicine is only another name for incurable disease.

  The more skilled the allopathic school becomes in the suppression and prevention of acute
diseases by drugs, knife, x-rays, serums, vaccination virus, etc., the greater will be the increase of
chronic dyspepsia, nervous prostration, insanity, locomotor ataxy, paresis, cancer, secondary and
tertiary syphilis, tuberculosis and many other so-called incurable diseases. Thus, the standard
medical practice is self-supporting; the treatment of acute conditions assuring a lifelong supply of
chronic conditions for the doctor to treat.

  Suppression of acute diseases, by drugs and knife, is the all-important factor in the
creation of malignant diseases which Dr. Senn had overlooked in his discourse on the causes
of destructive ailments. If he had studied his experiences in foreign lands in the light of these
explanations he would have found that these scourges of mankind exist only in those parts of
earth where the drug store flourishes.

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   These statements may seem exaggerated; but allow me to cite a few typical cases of
suppression and their effects upon the system from our daily practice.

  Paresis, locomotor ataxy and paralysis agitans are not, as is usually assumed, due to
secondary and tertiary syphilis, but to the mercury administered for the cure of luetic and
other diseases. In less than six months' time we cure the so-called specific diseases by our natural
methods, provided they are not suppressed and complicated by mercury, iodine or other
poisonous drugs. We never interfere with the original lesion, but allow Nature to discharge the
poisons through the channels established for this purpose.

  Under this rational treatment, discharge and ulcer act as fontanels to the system. Not only
the specific poison, but much of hereditary and acquired disease matter also are eliminated in the
process; and after such a cure, blood and tissues of the patient are purer than they were before
infection.

  The foregoing statement has nothing to do with the moral aspects involved in acquiring
venereal diseases. In this connection we are dealing solely with the rational or irrational treatment
of the infection after it has been contracted. We do not wish to intimate that it is advisable to cure
the body by killing the soul.

  Nevertheless, we must deal with the facts in Nature as we find them. Furthermore, a great
many persons, especially women and children, acquire these diseases innocently. Are we not
justified in relieving their minds of needless fear and in showing them the way to prevent the
dreadful sufferings of the secondary and tertiary stages brought on by suppressive drug treatment
by means of mercury, the iodides, "606," etc.?

  These poisonous drugs suppress the initial lesion and diffuse the disease poison through the
system. Nature takes up the work of elimination by means of skin eruptions and ulcers in various
parts of the body, but these also are promptly suppressed with mercurial ointments and other
alternatives. This process of suppression is continued for months and years, until the organism is
so thoroughly saturated with alterative poisons that vital force can no longer react by acute
reactions against the original syphilitic poisons. This state of vital paralysis is then called a cure.

  The medical professor, however, knows better. He instructs the students from the lecture
platform: "When, after two or three years of mercurial treatment, syphilitic symptoms cease to
appear, you may permit the patient to marry--but never guarantee a cure."

  Why not? Because the professor is aware that the offspring of such a union are born with
hereditary symptoms well known to every physician, and because the patient thus cured (?) may
turn up in the doctor's office at any time thereafter with a hole in his palate, ulcers on his body,
caries of the bones or with other secondary and tertiary symptoms.

  Mercury has an especial affinity for the bony structures. It will work its way through the
vertebrae of the spine and the bones of the skull into the nerve matter of the brain and spinal cord,
causing inflammation, excruciating headaches, nervous symptoms, girdle pains, etc. These stages
of acute inflammation are followed in a few years by sclerosis (hardening) of nerve matter and
blood vessels, resulting in paresis, locomotor ataxy or paralysis agitans.

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   Neither is it necessary to contract specific diseases in order to fall a victim to these dreadful
conditions: mercury, iodine and other destructive alternatives are given in a hundred different
forms for a multitude of other ailments.

  A few years ago we had under our care a patient in the last stages of locomotor ataxy, who
for years had been suffering the tortures of the damned. There had never been a taint of specific
disease in her system, but four different times in her life she had been salivated by calomel (a
common laxative containing mercury). This dreadful poison was given to her in large doses for
the cure of liver trouble and constipation. She was only fourteen years old when, on account of
this, she first suffered from acute mercurial poisoning.

  Another patient who, after fifteen years of slow and torturous dying by inches, succumbed
to the same disease, absorbed the mercurial poison in his boyhood days while attending a
boarding school. He was twice salivated by mercurial ointments applied to cure the itch (scabies),
a disease which was epidemic at times among the boys. He likewise never had a syphilitic
disease.

  A young man, insane at the age of thirty, absorbed the infernal poison when four years of
age. He had at the time a psoric skin eruption, but the family physician suspected syphilitic
infection from the nurse girl and kept the child under mercury for six months. How do we know
that the diagnosis of syphilis was false? Because the iris of the eye revealed "psora" as the cause
of the suspicious eruption which reappeared several times later in life, and because the servant
girl was afterwards absolutely exonerated by competent physicians.

Proofs by the Diagnosis from the Eye

  We have treated many hundreds of cases of so-called chronic neuralgia, neuritis,
rheumatism, neurasthenia, epilepsy and idiocy, due to the pernicious effects of quinine, iodine,
arsenic, strychnine, coal-tar products and other virulent poisons taken under the guise of
medicine.

  How do we know that this is so?

a. Because the Diagnosis from the Eye plainly reveals the presence of these poisons in the
system.
b. Because the drug signs in the eye are accompanied by the symptoms of these poisons in
the system.
c. Because the record in the eye is confirmed by the history of the patient.
d. Because, under natural living and treatment, diseases long ago suppressed by drugs or
knife reappear as healing crises.
e. Because, in these healing crises, drugs indicated by the signs in the iris of the eye are
frequently eliminated under their own peculiar symptoms.
f. Because, to the extent that a drug is eliminated from the system by a healing crisis, its
sign will disappear from the iris of the eye.

  To illustrate:

a. The Diagnosis from the Eye reveals heavy quinine poisoning in the region of the brain.

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b. This enables us to say to the patient, without questioning him, that he suffers from severe
frontal headaches and ringing in the ears, that he is very irritable, and so on through the
various symptoms of quinine poisoning.
c. The history of the patient reveals the fact that he has taken large amounts of quinine for
colds, la grippe or malaria.
d. Under our methods of natural living and treatment, the patient improves; the organism
becomes more vigorous, and the organs of elimination act more freely; the latent poisons
are stirred up in their hiding places; healing crises make their appearance. The processes
of elimination thus inaugurated develop various symptoms of acute poisoning. The
eliminating crises are accompanied by headaches, ringing in the ears, nasal catarrh, bone
pains, neuritis, strong taste of quinine in the mouth, etc.
e. Every healing crisis, if naturally treated, diminishes the signs of disease and drug poisons
in the eye.

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 Inflammation
 From what has already been said on this subject, it will have become apparent that
inflammatory and feverish diseases are just as natural, orderly and lawful as anything else in
Nature, that, therefore, after they have once started, they must not be checked or suppressed by
poisonous drugs and surgical operations.

  Inflammatory processes can be kept within safe limits, and they must be assisted in their
constructive tendencies by the natural methods of treatment. To check and suppress acute
diseases before they have run their natural course means to suppress Nature's purifying and
healing efforts, to court fatal complications and to change the acute, constructive reactions into
chronic disease conditions.

  Those who have followed the preceding chapters will remember that their general trend has
been to prove one of the fundamental principles of Nature Cure philosophy, namely the Unity of
Disease and Cure.

  We claim that all acute diseases are uniform in their causes, their purpose, and if
conditions are favorable, uniform also in their progressive development.

  In former chapters I endeavored to prove and to elucidate the unity of acute diseases in
regard to their causes and their purpose, the latter not being destructive, but constructive and
beneficial. I demonstrated that the microorganisms of disease are not the unmitigated nuisance
and evil which they are commonly regarded, but that, like everything else in Nature, they, too,
serve a useful purpose. I showed that it depends upon ourselves whether their activity is harmful
and destructive, or beneficial: upon our manner of living and of treating acute reactions.

  Let us now trace the unity of acute diseases in regard to their general course by a brief
examination of the processes of inflammation and their progressive development through five
well-defined stages. We shall base our studies on the most advanced works on pathology and
bacteriology.

The Story of Inflammation

  To me the story of inflammation has been one of the most wonderful revelations of the
complex activities of the human organism. More than anything else it confirms to me the
fundamental principles of Nature Cure, the fact that Nature is a good healer, not a poor one.

  Before inflammation can arise, there must exist an exciting cause in the form of some
obstruction or of some agent inimical to health and life. Such excitants of inflammation may be
dead cells, blood clots, fragments of bone and other effete matter produced in the system itself or
they may be foreign bodies such as particles of dust, soot, stone, iron or other metals, slivers of
wood, etc.; again, they may be microorganisms or parasites.

  When one or more of these exciting agents of inflammation are present in the tissues of the
body in sufficient strength to call forth the reaction and opposition of the healing forces, the
microscope will always reveal the following phenomena, slightly varying under different
conditions:

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   The blood rushes to the area of irritation. Owing to this increased blood pressure, the minute
arteries and veins in the immediate neighborhood of the excitant dilate and increase in size. The
distension of the blood vessels stretches and thereby weakens their walls. Through these the white
blood corpuscles squeeze their mobile bodies and work their way through the intervening tissues
toward the affected area.

  In some mysterious way they seem to sense the exact location of the danger point and hurry
toward it in large numbers like soldiers summoned to meet an invading army. This faculty of the
white blood corpuscles to apprehend the presence and exact location of the enemy has been
ascribed to chemical attraction and is called chemotaxis.

  The army of defense is made up of the white blood corpuscles or leukocytes and of
connective tissue cells which separate themselves from the neighboring tissues. All these
wandering cells possess the faculty of absorbing and digesting microbes. They contain certain
proteolytic or protein-splitting ferments, by means of which they decompose and digest poisons
and hostile microorganisms. On account of their activity as germ destroyers, these cells have been
called germ killers or phagocytes. In their movements and actions these valiant little warriors act
very much like intelligent beings, animated by the qualities of patience, perseverance, courage,
foresight and self-sacrifice.

  The phagocytes absorb morbid matter, poisons or microorganisms by enveloping them with
their own bodies. It is a hand-to-hand fight, and many of the brave little soldiers are destroyed by
the poisons and bacteria which they attack and swallow. What we call pus is made up of the
bodies of live and dead phagocytes, disease taints and germs, blood serum, broken-down tissues
and cells, in short, the debris of the battlefield.

  We can now understand how the processes just described produce the well-known cardinal
symptoms of inflammation and fever; the redness, heat and swelling due to increased blood
pressure, congestion and the accumulation of exudates; the pain due to irritation and to pressure
on the nerves. We can also realize how impaired nutrition and the obstruction and destruction in
the affected parts and organs will interfere with and inhibit functional activity.

  The organism has still other ways and means of defending itself. At the time of bacterial
infection, certain germ-killing substances are developed in the blood serum. Science has named
these defensive proteins alexins. It has also been found that the phagocyte and tissue cells in the
neighborhood of the area of irritation produce antipoisons or natural antitoxins, which neutralize
the bacterial poisons and kill the microorganisms of disease.

With the Evil, Nature Provides the Cure

  Furthermore, the growth and development of bacteria and parasites is inhibited and finally
arrested by their own waste products. We have an example of this in the yeast germ, which
thrives and multiplies in the presence of sugar in solution. Living on and digesting the sugar, it
decomposes the sugar molecules into alcohol and carbonic acid. As the alcohol increases during
the process of fermentation, it gradually arrests the development and activity of the yeast cells.

  Similar phenomena accompany the activity of disease germs and parasites. They produce
certain waste products which gradually inhibit their own growth and increase. The vaccines,
serums and antitoxins of medical science are prepared from these bacterial excrements and from
extracts made of the bodies of bacteria.

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   In the serum and antitoxin treatment, therefore, the allopathic school is imitating Nature's
procedure in checking the growth of microorganisms, but with this difference: Nature does not
suppress the growth and multiplication of disease germs until the morbid matter on which they
subsist has been decomposed and consumed, and until the inflammatory processes have run
their course through the five stages of inflammation; while serums and antitoxins given in
powerful doses at the different stages of any disease may check and suppress germ activity and
the processes of inflammation before the latter have run their natural course and before the
morbid matter has been eliminated.

The Five Stages of Inflammation

  What has been said in former chapters confirms my claim that all acute diseases are uniform
in their causes and in their purpose. From the foregoing description of inflammation it will have
become clear that they are also uniform in their pathological development. The uniformity of
acute inflammatory processes becomes still more apparent when we follow them through their
five succeeding stages, that is: Incubation, Aggravation, Destruction, Abatement and
Reconstruction, as illustrated in the following diagram:

  I. Incubation. The first section of the diagram corresponds to the period of Incubation, the
time between the exposure to an infectious disease and its development. This period may last
from a few minutes to a few days, weeks, months or even years.

  During this stage morbid matter, poisons, microorganisms and other excitants of
inflammation gather and concentrate in certain parts and organs of the body. When they have
accumulated to such an extent as to interfere with the normal functions or to endanger the health
and life of the organism, the life forces begin to react to the obstruction or threatening danger by
means of the inflammatory processes before described.

  II. Aggravation. During the period of Aggravation the battle between the phagocytes and
Nature's antitoxins on the one hand, and the poisons and microorganisms of disease on the other
hand, gradually progresses, accompanied by a corresponding increase of fever and inflammation,
until it reaches its climax, marked by the greatest intensity of feverish symptoms.

  III. Destruction. This battle between the forces of disease and the healing forces is
accompanied by the disintegration of tissues due to the accumulation of exudates, to pus
formation, the development of abscesses, boils, fistulas, open sores, etc., and to other morbid
changes. It involves the destruction of phagocytes, bacteria, blood vessels, and tissues just as a
battle between contending human armies results in loss of life and property.

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   The stage of Destruction ends in crisis, which may be either fatal or beneficial. If the
healing forces of the organism are in the ascendancy, and if they are supported by right treatment
which tends to build up the blood, increase the vitality and promote elimination, then the poisons
and the microorganisms of disease will gradually be overcome, absorbed or eliminated and, by
degrees, the tissues will be cleared of the debris of the battlefield.

  IV. Abatement. The absorption and elimination of exudates, pus, etc., take place during the
period of abatement. It is accompanied by a gradual lowering of temperature, pulse rate and the
other symptoms of fever and inflammation.

  V. Resolution or Reconstruction. When the period of Abatement has run its course and the
affected areas have been cleared of the morbid accumulations and obstructions, then, during the
fifth stage of inflammation, the work of rebuilding the injured parts and organs begins. More or
less destruction has taken place in the cells and tissues, the blood vessels and organs of the areas
involved. These must now be reconstructed, and this last stage of the inflammatory process is,
therefore, in a way the most important. On the perfect regeneration of the injured parts depends
the final effect of the acute disease upon the organism.

  If the inflammation has been allowed to run its course through the different stages of acute
activity and the final stage of Reconstruction, then every acute disease, whatever its name and
description may be, will prove beneficial to the organism because morbid matter, foreign bodies,
poisons and microorganisms have been eliminated from the system; abnormal and diseased
tissues have been broken down and built up again to a purer and more normal condition.

  As it were, the acute disease has acted upon the organism like a thunderstorm on the sultry,
vitiated summer air. It has cleared the system of impurities and destructive influences, and re-
established wholesome, normal conditions. Therefore acute diseases, when treated in harmony
with Nature's intent, always prove beneficial.

  If, however, through neglect or wrong treatment, the inflammatory processes are not
allowed to run their natural course, if they are checked or suppressed by poisonous drugs, the ice
bag or surgical operations, or if the disease conditions in the system are so far in the ascendancy
that the healing forces cannot react properly, then the constructive forces may lose the battle and
the disease may take a fatal ending or develop into chronic ailments.

Suppression During the First

Two Stages of Inflammation

  It may be suggested that suppression during the stages of Incubation and Aggravation
need not have fatal consequences if followed by natural living and eliminative treatment. To this I
would reply: "Such procedure always involves the danger of concentrating the disease poisons
in vital parts and organs, thus laying the foundation for chronic destructive diseases."

  Furthermore, it is not at all necessary to suppress inflammatory processes by poisonous

drugs and other unnatural means, because we can easily and surely control them and keep them
from becoming dangerous by our natural means of treatment.

  I shall now endeavor to prove and to illustrate the foregoing theoretical expositions by
following the development of various diseases through the five stages of inflammation. I shall
first take up the commonest of all forms of disease, the cold.
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 Catching a Cold

  According to popular opinion, the catching of colds is responsible for the greater portion of
human ailments. Almost daily I hear from patients who come for consultation: All my troubles
date back to a cold I took at such and such a time, etc. Then I have to explain that colds are not
taken suddenly and from without but that they come from within, that their period of Incubation
may have extended over months or years, that a clean, healthy body possessed of good vitality
cannot take cold under the ordinary thermal conditions congenial to human life, no matter how
sudden the change in temperature.

  At first glance, this may seem to be contrary to common experience as well as to the theory
and practice of medical science. But let us follow the development of a cold from start to finish.
This will throw some light on the question as to whether it can be caught, or whether it develops
slowly within the organism; also whether this development or incubation may extend over a long
period of time.

  Taking cold may be caused by chilling of the surface of the body or part of the body. In the
chilled portions of the skin the pores close, the blood recedes into the interior, and as a result of
this the elimination of poisonous gases and exudates through these portions of the skin is
suppressed.

  This catching a cold through being exposed to a cold draft, through wet clothing, etc., is not
necessarily followed by more serious consequences. If the system is not too much encumbered
with morbid matter and if kidneys and intestines are in fairly good working order, these organs
will take care of the extra amount of waste and morbid materials in place of the temporarily
inactive skin and eliminate them without difficulty. The greater the vitality and the more normal
the composition of the blood, the better the system will react in such an emergency and throw off
the morbid matter which failed to be eliminated through the skin.

  If, however, the organism is already overloaded with waste and morbid materials, if the
bowels and the kidneys are already weakened and atrophied through continued overwork and
overstimulation, if, in addition to this, the vitality has been lowered through excesses or
overexertion and the vital fluids are in an abnormal condition, then the morbid matter thrown into
the circulation by the chilling and temporary inactivity of the skin cannot find an outlet through
the regular channels of elimination and endeavors to escape by way of the mucous linings of the
nasal passages, the throat, bronchi, stomach, bowels and genitourinary organs.

  The waste materials and poisonous exudates which are being eliminated through these
internal membranes cause irritation and congestion, and thus produce the well-known symptoms
of inflammation and catarrhal elimination: sneezing (coryza), cough, expectoration, mucous
discharges, diarrhea, leucorrhea [vaginal discharge], etc. In other words, these so-called colds are
nothing more or less than different forms of vicarious elimination. The membranous linings of the
internal organs are doing the work for the inactive, sluggish and atrophied skin, kidneys and
intestines. The greater the accumulation of morbid matter in the system, the lower the vitality,
and the more abnormal the composition of the blood and lymph, the greater will be the liability to
the catching of colds.

  What is to be gained by suppressing the different forms of catarrhal elimination with cough
and catarrh cures containing opiates, astringents, antiseptics, germ killers and antipyretics? Is it
not obvious that such a procedure interferes with Nature's purifying efforts, that it hinders and

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suppresses the inflammatory processes and the accompanying elimination of morbid matter from
the system? Worst of all, that it adds drug poisons to disease poisons?

  Such a course can have but one result, namely the changing of Nature's cleansing and
healing efforts into chronic disease.

  From the foregoing it will have become clear that the cause of a cold lies not so much in the
cold draft, or the wet feet, as in the primary causes of all disease: lowered vitality,
deterioration of the vital fluids and the accumulation of morbid matter and poisons in the
system.

  The incubation period of the cold may have extended over many years or over an entire
lifetime.

  What, then, is the natural cure for colds? There can be but one remedy: increased
elimination through the proper channels. This is accomplished by judicious dieting and fasting,
and through restoring the natural activity of the skin, kidneys and bowels by means of wet packs,
cold sprays and ablutions, sitz baths, massage, chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation,
homeopathic remedies, exercise, sun and air baths and all other methods of natural treatment that
save vitality, build up the blood on a normal basis and promote elimination without injuring the
organism.

Suppression During the Third

Stage of Inflammation

  Should the inflammatory processes be suppressed during the stage of Destruction, the
results would be still more serious and far-reaching. We have learned that during this stage the
affected parts and organs are involved in more or less disintegration. They are filled with morbid
exudates, pus, etc., which interfere with and make impossible normal nutrition and functioning. If
suppression takes place during this stage, it is obvious that the affected areas will be left
permanently in a condition of destruction.

  Here is an illustration from practical life: Suppose necessary changes and repairs have to be
made in a house. Workmen have torn down the partitions, hangings, wallpaper, etc. At this stage
of the proceedings the owner discharges the workmen and the house is left in a condition of
chaos. Surely, this would not be rational. It would leave the house unfit for habitation. But such a
procedure would correspond exactly to the suppression of inflammatory diseases during the stage
of Destruction. This also leaves the affected organs permanently in an abnormal, diseased
condition.

  That accounts for the mysterious sequelae or chronic after-effects which so often follow
drug-treated acute diseases. I have traced numerous cases of chronic affections of the lungs and
kidneys, of infantile paralysis and of many other chronic ailments to such suppression. In the
following I shall describe a typical case, which came under our care and treatment a few years
ago.

Suppression by Means of the Ice Bag

  A few years ago several gentlemen of Greek nationality called on me with the request that I
visit a friend of theirs who had been lying sick for about two months in one of our great West
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Side [Chicago] hospitals. On investigation I found that the patient had entered the hospital
suffering from a mild case of pneumonia. The doctors of the institution had ordered ice packs.
Rubber sheets filled with ice were applied to the chest and other parts of the body. This had been
done for several weeks until the fever subsided.

  As a matter of fact, ice is more suppressive than antifever medicines. The continued icy cold
applications chill the parts of the body to which they are applied, depress the vital functions and
effectually suppress the inflammatory processes.

  The result in this case, as in many similar ones which I had occasion to observe during and
after the ice-bag treatment, was that the inflammation in the lungs had been arrested and
suppressed during the stage of destruction, when the air cells and tissues were filled with
exudates, blood serum, pus, live and dead blood cells, bacteria, etc., leaving the affected areas of
the lungs in a consolidated, liver-like condition.

  As a consequence of suppression in the case of this Greek patient, the pneumonia had been
changed from the acute to the sub acute and chronic stages and the doctors in charge had told his
friends that he was now suffering from miliary tuberculosis, and would probably die within a
week or two.

  After receiving this discouraging information, the friends of the patient came to me and
prevailed upon me to take charge of the case. He was transferred to our institution, and we began
at once to apply the natural methods of treatment. Instead of ice packs we used the regular cold-
water packs, strips of linen wrung out of water of ordinary temperature wrapped around the body
and covered with several layers of flannel bandages.

  The wet packs became warm on the body in a few minutes. They relaxed the pores and drew
the blood into the surface, thus promoting heat radiation and the elimination of morbid matter
through the skin. They did not suppress the fever, but kept it below the danger point.

  Under this treatment, accompanied by fasting and judicious osteopathic manipulation, the
inflammatory and feverish processes suppressed by the ice packs soon revived, became once
more active and aggressive, and were now allowed to run their natural course through the stages
of destruction, absorption (abatement) and reconstruction.

  The result of the Nature Cure treatment was that about two months after the patient entered
our institution, his friends bought him a ticket to sunny Greece. He had a good journey, and in the
congenial climate of his native country made a perfect recovery.

  I have observed a number of similar cases suffering from consolidation of the lungs and the
resulting asthmatic or tubercular conditions, which had been doctored into these chronic ailments
by means of antipyretics and of ice.

  Equally dangerous is the ice bag if applied to the inflamed brain or the spinal column. Only
too often it results either in paralysis or in death. In many instances, acute cerebrospinal
meningitis is changed in this way by drug and serum treatment or by the use of ice bags into the
chronic, so-called incurable infantile paralysis.

  We say so-called incurable because we have treated and cured such cases in all stages of
development from the acute inflammatory meningitis to the chronic paralysis of long standing.
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   In our treatment of acute diseases we never use ice or icy water for packs, compresses, baths
or ablutions, but always water of ordinary temperature as it comes from the faucet. The water
compress or pack warms up quickly, and thus brings about a natural reaction within a few
minutes, while the ice bag or pack continually chills and practically freezes the affected parts and
organs. This does not allow the skin to relax; it prevents a warm reaction, the radiation of the
body heat and the elimination of morbid matter through the skin.

Suppression During the Fourth and

Fifth Stages of Inflammation

  Let us see what happens when acute diseases are suppressed during the stages of
abatement and reconstruction. If the defenders of the body, the phagocyte and antitoxins,
produced in the tissues and organs, gain the victory over the inimical forces which are threatening
the health and life of the organism, then the symptoms of inflammation, swelling, redness, heat,
pain and the accelerated heart action which accompanies them, gradually subside. The debris of
the battlefield is carried away through the venous circulation which forms the drainage system of
the body.

  When in this way all morbid materials have been completely eliminated, Vital Force, "the
physician within," will commence to regenerate and reconstruct the injured and destroyed cells
and tissues.

  If, however, these processes of elimination and reconstruction are interfered with or
interrupted before they are completed, then the affected parts and organs will not have a chance to
become entirely well or strong. They will remain in an abnormal, crippled condition, and their
functional activity will be seriously handicapped.

The After-effects of Drug-Treated Typhoid Fever

  In hundreds of cases I have told patients after a glance into their eyes that they were
suffering from chronic indigestion, malassimilation and malnutrition caused by drug-treated
typhoid fever; and every time the records in the eyes were confirmed by the history of the
patient.

  In such cases the outer rim of the iris shows a wreath of whitish or drug-colored circular
flakes. I have named this wreath "the typhoid rosary." It corresponds to the lymphatic and other
absorbent vessels in the intestines, and appears in the iris of the eye when these structures have
been injured or atrophied by drug, ice or surgical treatment. Wherever this has been done, the
venous and lymphatic vessels in the intestines do not absorb the food materials and these pass
through the digestive tract and out of the body without being properly digested and assimilated.

  During the destructive stages of typhoid fever, the intestines become denuded by the
sloughing of their membranous linings. These sloughed membranes give the stools of the typhoid
fever patient their peculiar pea soup appearance. In a similar manner the lymphatic, venous and
glandular structures which constitute the absorbent vessels of the intestines atrophy and slough
away.

  If the inflammatory processes are allowed to run their normal course under natural methods
of treatment through the stages of Destruction, Absorption and Reconstruction, Nature will

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rebuild the membranous and glandular structures of the intestinal canal perfectly, convalescence
will be rapid and the patient will enjoy better health than before he contracted the disease.

  If, however, through injudicious feeding or the administration of quinine, mercury, purging
salts, opiates or other destructive agents, Nature's processes are interfered with, prematurely
checked and suppressed, then the sloughed membranes and absorbent vessels are not
reconstructed, and the intestinal tract is left in a denuded and atrophied condition.

  Such a patient may arise from his bed thinking that he is cured; but unless he is afterward
treated by natural methods, he will never make a full recovery. It will take him, perhaps, months
or years to die a gradual, miserable death through malassimilation and malnutrition, which
usually end in some form of wasting disease, such as pernicious anemia or tuberculosis. If he
does not actually die from the effects of the wrongly treated typhoid fever, he will be troubled all
his life with intestinal indigestion, constipation, malassimilation and the accompanying nervous
disorders.

A Change for the Better

  Speaking of typhoid fever, we are glad to say that for this particular form of disease the
most advanced medical science has adopted the Nature Cure treatment, that is, straight cold
water and fasting, and no drugs, as it was originated by the pioneers of Nature Cure in Germany
more than fifty years ago.

  This treatment, which medical science has found so eminently successful in typhoid fever,
would prove equally efficacious in all other acute diseases if the regular doctors would only try it.
It is a strange and curious fact that so far they have never found it worth while to do so. All
Nature Cure physicians know from their daily experience in actual practice that the simple water
treatment and fasting is sufficient to cure all other forms of acute diseases just as easily and
effectively as typhoid fever. By this is proved the unity of treatment in all acute diseases.

  Both in typhoid fever and in tuberculosis, progressive medical men have now entirely
abandoned the germ-killing method of treatment. They have found it absolutely useless and
superfluous to hunt for drugs and serums to kill the typhoid and tuberculosis bacilli in these, the
two most destructive diseases afflicting the human family. They were forced to admit that the
simple remedies of the Nature Cure school, cold water and fasting in typhoid fever and the fresh-
air treatment in tuberculosis, are the only worthwhile methods to fight these formidable enemies
to health and life.

  If they would continue their researches and experiments along these natural lines, they
would attain infinitely more satisfactory results than through their germ-hunting and germ-killing
theories and practices.

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 The Effects of Suppression
of Venereal Diseases 
ANOTHER good illustration of suppression may be found in the allopathic treatment of
venereal diseases. Almost invariably the drug treatment suppresses these diseases in the stages of
incubation and aggravation, thus locking them up in the system. The venereal taints and germs,
however, are living things which grow and multiply until the body has been completely
permeated by them. Then they must find an outlet somehow and somewhere, and consequently
they break out in the manifold so-called "secondary" and "tertiary" symptoms.

  The drug poisons which are used to "cure" (suppress) these symptoms, greatly aggravate the
disease. They create conditions in the system infinitely worse than the venereal diseases
themselves. Thus the acute, easily curable stages of these ailments are changed into the dreadful
and obstinate chronic conditions. It is in this way that venereal diseases are made hereditary and
transmitted to future generations.

  In a special article on this subject entitled "Venereal Diseases," published in "The
Naturopath," January, 1913, 1 have substantiated the following claims:

1. "Venereal diseases are not necessarily chronic in their progressive development.

2. "They are essentially acute and self-limited. But may become chronic through neglect or
through suppressive drug treatment.
3. "The chronic, so-called secondary and tertiary manifestations of venereal diseases, such
as ulceration of bones and fleshy tissue, gummata of the brain, sclerosis of the spinal
cord, arthritic rheumatism, degeneration and destruction of other vital parts and organs of
the body, are not so much the result of the original gonorrheal or syphilitic infection, as
of the destructive drug poisons which have been taken to cure or rather to suppress the
primary lesions and acute inflammatory symptoms.
4. "Venereal diseases in the acute inflammatory stages are easily and completely curable by
natural methods of living and of treatment.
5. "Venereal diseases treated and cured by natural methods during the acute inflammatory
stages are never followed by any chronic after-effects or secondary and tertiary
manifestations whatsoever.
6. "When venereal diseases have reached the secondary and tertiary stages, they are still
curable by natural methods of living and of treatment, providing there is left sufficient
vitality to respond to treatment and providing the destruction of vital parts and organs has
not advanced too far.
  "Hundreds of cases of well-developed locomotor ataxy, paresis, and other so-called
secondary and tertiary diseases of the brain and the nervous system, of bony and fleshy
tissues, and of vital organs have been cured by our natural methods of treatment.
  "It is self-evident, however, that the treatment and cure of the chronic conditions require
more patience and perseverance than the cure of acute conditions not tampered with and
suppressed by drugs.
7. "Venereal diseases treated and cured by natural methods are never followed by chronic
after-effects. On the other hand, mercury, iodine, quinine, and coal-tar poisons produce
all the so-called secondary and tertiary symptoms of syphilis in people who never in their
lives were afflicted with venereal diseases, but who have taken or absorbed these drug
poisons in other ways.
  ". . . These facts are proven beyond doubt by the Diagnosis from the Eye. All,
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 destructive poisons taken in sufficient quantities will in time reveal their presence and
exact location in the body through certain well-defined signs or discolorations in the iris.
  "These poisons undermine the structures of the body and deteriorate vital parts and
organs so slowly and insidiously that the superficial observer does not trace and connect
cause and effect."

The Wasserman and Noguchi Tests

  Medical men may say to the foregoing that the Wasserman and Noguchi tests furnish
positive proofs of syphilis in the system. These chemical tests are supposed to reveal with
certainty the presence of venereal taints in the body,--at least, the public is left under this
impression.

  I am convinced, however, that in many instances the "positive" Wasserman or Noguchi tests
are the result of mercurial poison instead of syphilitic infection. In a number of cases where these
tests proved "positive," that is, where, according to the theory of allopathic medical science, they
indicated a luetic condition of the system, the subjects of these tests had never in their lives
shown any symptoms of syphilis nor, as far as they knew, had they ever been exposed to
infection, but every one of them showed plainly the sign of mercurial poisoning in the iris of the
eye, and had taken considerable mercury in the form of calomel or of other medicinal
preparations for diseases not of a luetic nature, or they had been "salivated" by coming in
contact with the mercurial poison in mines, smelters, mirror factories, etc.

  This leads me to believe that, sooner or later, medical science will have to admit that the
Wasserman and Noguchi tests reveal, in many instances at least, the effects of mercurial
poisoning instead of the effects of syphilitic infection. And this would not be surprising since it is
well known that mercury has very similar effects upon the system as syphilis.

  It takes the mercurial poison from five to ten and even fifteen years before it works its way
into the brain and spinal cord, and there causes its characteristic degeneration and destruction of
brain and. nerve tissues which manifest outwardly as locomotor ataxy, paralysis agitans, paresis,
apoplexy, hemiplegia, epilepsy, St. Vitus dance, and the different forms of idiocy and insanity.
Mercurial poisoning is also in many instances the cause of deafness and blindness.

  When the symptoms of mercurial destruction begin to show, then they, in turn, are
suppressed by preparations of iodine, the "606," or other "alteratives," and so the merry war goes,
on: poison against poison, Beelzebub against the Devil, and the poor suffering body has to stand
it all.

  In this way the system is periodically saturated with the most virulent poisons on earth, until
the undertaker finishes the job. And this is miscalled "scientific treatment." There never was
invented by cruel Indian or fanatical inquisition worse torture than this. They mercifully finished
the sufferings of their victims within a few hours or, at the worst, days; but this torture inflicted
upon human beings in the name of medical science continues for a lifetime. It means dying by
inches under the most horrible conditions for ten, twenty, thirty years or longer.

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   In this connection it may be well to quote the testimony of Professor E. A. Farrington of
Philadelphia, one of the most celebrated homeopathic physicians of the nineteenth century. He
says, in his "Clinical Materia Medica," third edition, page 141:

  "The various constitutions or dyscrasia underlying chronic and acute affections are, indeed,
very numerous. As yet, we do not know them all. We do know that one of them comes in
gonorrhea, a disease which is frightfully common, so that the constitution arising from this
disease is rapidly on the increase.

  "Now I want to tell you why it is so. It is because allopathic physicians, and many
homeopaths as well, do not properly cure it. I do not believe gonorrhea to be a local disease. If it
is not properly cured, a constitutional poison which may be transmitted to the children is
developed. I know, from years of experience and observation, that gonorrhea is a serious
difficulty, and one, too, that complicates many cases that we have to treat.

  "The same is true of syphilis in a modified degree. Gonorrhea seems to attack the nobler
tissues, the lungs, the heart, and the nervous system, all of which are reached by syphilis only
after the lapse of years."

The Destructive After-Effects of Mercury

  Concerning the destructive after-effects of mercury, of which homeopaths have made a most
careful study, Professor Farrington says, on pages 558-559 of the same volume:

  "The more remote symptoms of mercurial poisoning are these: You will find that the blood
becomes impoverished. The albumin and fibrin of that fluid are affected. They are diminished,
and you find in their place a certain fatty substance, the composition of which I do not exactly
know. Consequently, as a prominent symptom, the body wastes and emaciates. The patient
suffers from fever which is rather hectic in its character. The periosteum becomes affected, and
you then have a characteristic group of mercurial pains, bone pains worse in changes of the
weather, worse in the warmth of the bed, and chilliness with or after stool. The skin becomes
rather of a brownish hue; ulcers form, particularly on the legs; they are stubborn and will not heal.
The patient is troubled with sleeplessness and ebullitions of blood at night; he is hot and cannot
sleep; he is thrown quickly into a perspiration, which perspiration gives him no relief.

  "The entire system suffers also, and you have here two series of symptoms. At first the
patient becomes anxious and restless and cannot remain quiet; he changes his position; he moves
about from place to place; he seems to have a great deal of anxiety about the heart, praecordial
anguish, as it is termed, particularly at night.

  "Then, in another series of symptoms, there are jerkings of the limbs, making the patient
appear as though he were attacked by St. Vitus' dance. Or, you may notice what is more common
yet, trembling of the hands, this tremor being altogether beyond the control of the patient and
gradually spreading over the entire body, giving you a resemblance to paralysis agitans or
shaking palsy.

  "Finally, the patient becomes paralyzed, cannot move his limbs, his mind becomes lost, and
he presents a perfect picture of imbecility. He does all sorts of queer things. He sits in the corner
with an idiotic smile on his face, playing with straws; he is forgetful, he cannot remember even

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the most ordinary events. He becomes disgustingly filthy and eats his own excrement. In fact, he
is a perfect idiot.

  "Be careful how you give mercury; it is a treacherous medicine. It seems often indicated.
You give it and relieve; but your patient is worse again in a few weeks and then you give it again
with relief. By and by, it fails you. Now, if I want to make a permanent cure, for instance, in a
scrofulous child, I will very seldom give him mercury; should I do so, it will be at least only as an
intercurrent remedy."

Suppressive Surgical Treatment of

Tonsillitis and Enlarged Adenoids
The following paragraphs are taken from an article in the Nature Cure Magazine May,
1909, titled "Surgery for Tonsillitis and Adenoids." They will throw further interesting light on
the dangerous consequences of suppressing acute and sub acute diseases.

  "The tonsils are excreting glands. Nature has created them for the elimination of impurities
from the body. Acute, sub acute and chronic tonsillitis accompanied by enlargement and cheesy
decay of the tonsils means that these glands have been habitually congested with morbid matter
and poisons, that they have had more work to do than they could properly attend to.

  "These glandular structures constitute a valuable part of the drainage system of the
organism. If the blood is poisoned through overeating and faulty food combinations, or with
scrofulous, venereal or psoriatic poisons, the tonsils are called upon, along with other organs, to
eliminate these morbid taints. Is it any wonder that frequently they become inflamed and subject
to decay? What, however, can be gained by destroying them with iodine or extirpating them with
the surgeon's scissors or the 'guillotine'?

  "Because your servants are weakened by overwork, would you kill them? Because the
drains in your house are too small to carry off the waste, would you blockade or remove them?
Still, this is the orthodox philosophy of the medical schools applied to the management of the
human body.

  ". . . In case of any morbid discharge from the body, wherever it be, whether through
hemorrhoids, open sores, ulcers or through tonsils, scrofulous glands, etc., a fontanelle has been
established to which and through which systemic poisons make their way. If such an outlet be
blocked by medical or surgical treatment the stream of morbid matter has to seek another escape
or else the poisons will accumulate somewhere in the body.

  "Fortunate is the patient when such an escape can be established, because wherever in the
system morbid excretions, suppressed by medical treatment, concentrate, there will inevitably be
found the seat of chronic disease.

  "After the tonsils have been removed, the morbid matter which they were eliminating
usually finds the nearest and easiest outlet through the adenoid tissues and nasal membranes.
These now take up the work of 'vicarious' elimination and, in their turn, become hyperactive and
inflamed.

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   "Sometimes it happens that the adenoid tissues become affected before the tonsils. In that
case, also, relief through the surgeon's knife is sought and then the process is reversed: after the
adenoids have been removed, the tonsils develop chronic catarrhal conditions.

  "When both tonsils and adenoids have been removed, the nasal membranes will, in turn,
become congested and swollen. Often the mucous elimination increases to an alarming degree,
and frequently polyps and other growths make their appearance or the turbinated bones soften and
swell and obstruct the nasal passages, thus again making the patient a 'mouth breather.'

  "But in vain does Nature protest against local symptomatic treatment. Science has nothing to
learn from her.

  "When the nose takes up the work of vicarious elimination, the same mode of treatment is
resorted to. The mucous membranes of the nose are now swabbed and sprayed with antiseptics
and astringents, or 'burned' by cauterizers, electricity, etc. The polyps are cut out, and frequently
parts of the turbinated bone and septum as well, in order to open the air passages.

  "Now, surely, the patient must be cured. But, strange to say, new and more serious troubles
arise. The posterior nasal passages and the throat are now affected by chronic catarrhal conditions
and there is much annoyance from phlegm and mucous discharges which drop into the throat.
These catarrhal conditions frequently extend to the mucous membranes of stomach and intestines.

  "When the drainage system of the nose and the nasopharyngeal cavities has been completely
destroyed, the impurities must either travel upward into the brain or downward into the glandular
structures of the neck, thence into the bronchi and the tissues of the lungs.

  "If the trend be upward, to the brain, the patient grows nervous and irritable or becomes dull
and apathetic. How often is a child reprimanded or even punished for laziness and inattention
when it cannot help itself? In many instances the morbid matter affects certain centers in the brain
and causes nervous conditions, hysteria, St. Vitus' dance, epilepsy, etc. In children the impurities
frequently find an outlet through the eardrums in the form of pus-like discharges. This may
frequently avert inflammation of the brain, meningitis, imbecility, insanity or infantile paralysis.

  "If the trend of the suppressed impurities and poisons be downward, it often results in the
hypertrophy and degeneration of the lymphatic glands of the neck. In such cases the suppressive
treatment, by drugs or knife, is again applied instead of eliminative and curative measures. The
scrofulous poisons, suppressed and driven back from the diseased glands in the neck, now find
lodgment in the bronchi and lungs, where they accumulate and form a luxuriant soil for the
growth of the bacilli of pneumonia and tuberculosis.

  "In other cases, the vocal organs become seriously affected by chronic catarrhal conditions,
abnormal growths and in later stages by tuberculosis. Many a fine voice has been ruined in this
way.

  "The prevention and the cure of all these ailments lie not in local symptomatic treatment and
suppression by drugs or knife, but in the rational and natural treatment of the body as a whole."

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 Cancer
 Let us see how our theories of the Unity of Disease and Cure apply to cancer, the much-
dreaded and rapidly increasing disease which is considered absolutely incurable by both the laity
and the medical profession.

  Allopathy says that the only possible remedy is "early operation." Nevertheless, in the
textbooks of medical science and in medical schools and colleges it is taught that cancer and all
other malignant growths "always return after extirpation." In fact, every student of medicine is
expected to state this in his examination papers as part of the definition of malignant tumors.

  The great majority of medical practitioners hold, furthermore, that cancer is a local disease.
This is proved by the fact that they apply local, symptomatic treatment.

  In reality, however, the disease is constitutional. Therefore, after removal of the growth by
surgery, the electric needle, x-rays, etc., the cancer or tumor is liable to break out again in the
same place or in several places.

  The surest way to change insignificant, so-called "benign" (not fatal to life) fibroid or fatty
tumors into malignant cancer or sarcoma is to operate upon them. Wens and warts are often made
malignant by surgical interference or other local irritation.

  In my article titled "What We Know About Cancer" in the August, 1909, issue of the Nature
Cure Magazine I quote from an article by Burton J. Hendrick, the cancer expert, published in the
July, 1909, number of McClure's Magazine, as follows:

  "Clinical observation long ago established the fact that any irritating interference
with a cancer almost always stimulates its growth. In his earliest experiments Dr. Loeb
found that, by merely drawing a silk thread through a dormant or slowly developing
tumor, he could transform it into a rapidly growing one. Cutting with a knife produced
the same effect. This accounts for the commonly observed fact that, when extirpated
cancers in human beings recur, they increase in size much more rapidly than the original
growth."

  The late Dr. Senn, the great cancer surgeon, admitted these facts in an interview given to
Chicago press representatives upon his return from his trip around the world in 1906. The press
clipping reads as follows.

"Avoid Beauty Doctors"

  "Incidentally, Dr. Senn advises women who worry over their disfigurement of
moles about their heads and shoulders to have those so-called beauty spots removed early
in life, but he tells them they should not go to beauty doctors to have the operations
performed.

  "He knows of hundreds of cases, he says, where cancer has resulted from the
irritation of moles by an electric needle, or by constant picking it. 'Have a surgeon cut the
mole out,' is his advice, as it will hurt little and leave no scar."

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   To this we answered in our comments on the interview: "If the little knife of the beauty
doctor causes cancer, what about the big knife of the surgeon?"

  In point of fact, our office records show that a large percentage of malignant growths are the
direct result of surgical operations.

Cancer Not a Local, But a Constitutional Disease

  For many years I have been teaching in my lectures and writings as well as in private advice
to patients that cancer is a constitutional disease; that it is rooted in every drop of blood in the
body; that it is caused by the presence of certain disease taints or of food and drug poisons in the
system; that these poisons irritate and stimulate the cells in a certain locality and cause their
abnormal multiplication or proliferation in the forms of benign or malignant tumors.

  I also claim that meat eating has much to do with the causation of cancer.

  Certain discoveries by Dr. H. C. Ross of London, England, confirm my claims that cancer is
not at all of local and accidental origin, but that it is constitutional, and that it may be caused by
the gradual accumulation in the system of certain poisons which form in decaying animal matter.

  One day, while experimenting in his laboratory, Dr. Ross brought white blood cells or
leucocytes into contact with a certain aniline dye on the slide of a microscope and noticed that
they began at once to multiply by cell division (proliferation). This was the first time that cell
proliferation had been observed by the human eye while the cells were separated from their
parent organism.

  Dr. Ross realized that he had made an important discovery and continued his experiments
under the microscope in order to find out what other substances would cause cell multiplication.
He found that certain xanthines and albuminoids derived from decaying animal matter were the
most effective for this purpose and induced more rapid cell proliferation than any other
substances he was able to procure.

  Dr. Ross obtained these "alkaloids of putrefaction," as he called them, from blood which had
been allowed to putrefy in a warm place. He found that albuminoids derived from decaying
vegetable substances did not have the same effect.

  His discoveries led him to believe that the alkaloids of putrefaction produced in a cut or
wound by the decaying of dead blood and tissue cells are the cause of the rapid multiplication of
the neighboring live cells, which gradually fill the wound with new tissues.

  Thus, for the first time in the history of medicine, a rational explanation of Nature's methods
for repairing injured tissues has been advanced.

  Dr. Ross applied his theory still farther to the causation of benign and malignant growths,
reasoning that the alkaloids of putrefaction produced in or attracted to a certain part of the body
by some local irritation are the cause of the rapid, abnormal multiplication of cells in tumor
formations.

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   In benign tumors the abnormal proliferation of cells takes place slowly, and they do not tend
to immediate and rapid decay and deterioration.

  In malignant tumors the "wild" cells, created in immense numbers, decay almost as rapidly
as they are produced because the abnormal growths are devoid of normal organization. They have
no established, regular blood and nerve supply, nor are they provided with adequate venous
drainage. They are, therefore, cut off from the orderly life of the organism and doomed to rapid
deterioration.

  The processes of decay of these tumor materials liberate large quantities of alkaloids of
putrefaction, and these, in turn, stimulate the normal, healthy cells with which they come in
contact to rapid, abnormal multiplication.

  The malignant growth, therefore, feeds on its own products of decay, aside from the
systemic poisons and morbid materials already contained in the blood and tissues of the body.
These morbid products permeate the entire system. They are carried by the circulation of the
blood into all parts of the body. This explains why cancer is a constitutional disease, why it is, as
I stated it, "rooted in every drop of blood."

  It also explains why cancer, or rather the disposition to its development (diathesis), is
hereditary.

  If the original cancerous growth is removed by surgical intervention, x-rays, the electric
needle, cauterization or any other form of local treatment, the poisonous materials (alkaloids of
putrefaction) in the blood will set up other foci of abnormal, wild proliferation. Medical science
has applied the term metastasis to such spreading and reappearing of malignant tumors after
extirpation.

  Dr. Ross' findings throw an interesting light on the relationship between cancer and meat
eating. Is it not self-evident that in a digestive tract filled most of the time with large masses of
partially digested and decaying animal food enormous quantities of alkaloids of putrefaction are
created? These are absorbed into the circulation, attracted to any point where exists some form of
local irritation and then stimulate the cells in that locality to abnormal proliferation.

  "But," it will be said, "meat eating alone does not account for cancer, because vegetarians
also succumb to the disease." This is true. Alkaloids of putrefaction are constantly produced in
every animal and human body. They form in the excretions of living cells and in the decaying
protoplasm of dead cells, and if the organs of elimination do not function properly, these morbid
materials will accumulate in the system.

  Furthermore, the Diagnosis from the Eye furnishes positive proof that Hahnemann's theory
of psora is based on truth. I quote from my article in the Nature Cure Magazine August, 1909:

  "For a hundred years, Hahnemann's theory of psora has been scouted and ridiculed
by the allopathic schools and even among homeopaths only a few have accepted it. Now
we are confronted by the remarkable fact that, at this late day, the Diagnosis from the Eye
confirms the observations and speculations of the great genius of homeopathy.
  "After suppression of itchy eruptions, lice, crab lice, etc., spots ranging in color from
light brown to dark red appear in different places in the iris of the eye. These 'itch spots'
indicate the organs and localities of the body in which the suppressed disease taints have
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concentrated.
  "Such suppressions represent not only the scrofulous taints which Nature was trying to
eliminate by means of eruptions and parasites, but, in addition to these, the poisons
contained in the bodies of the parasites and the drug poisons which were used to suppress
or kill them.
 "It has been found that the bodies of the itch parasites (Sarcoptes scabici ) contain an
exceedingly poisonous substance which the homeopaths call 'psorinum'. When these
minute animals burrowing in and under the skin are killed by poisonous drugs and
antiseptics, the morbid taints in their bodies are absorbed by the system and added to the
psoriatic poisons which Nature has been trying to eliminate.
  "Thus, after suppression of itchy eruptions or parasites, the organism is encumbered
with three poisons instead of one: (1) the hereditary or acquired scrofulous and psoriatic
taints which the cells of the body were throwing off into the blood stream and which the
blood was feeding to the parasites on the surface, (2) the morbid substance contained in
the bodies of the parasites, (3) the drug poisons used as suppressants. (Such poisons may
lie latent in the system for many years before they become active and, in combination
with other disease taints and with food and drug poisons, create the different forms of
chronic destructive diseases.)
  "These facts explain why the itch spots in different areas of the iris of the eye so
frequently indicate serious chronic, destructive disease conditions in the parts and organs
of the body corresponding to these areas, why; for instance, in asthma and tuberculosis
we often find itch spots in the region representing the lungs or why in cancer of the liver
or of the stomach itch spots show in the area of stomach or liver.
 "That the itch or psoriatic taint is actually at the bottom of the cancerous diathesis is
attested by the fact that all cancer patients whom we have treated and cured, with two
exceptions (whose healing crisis took the form of furunculosis), broke out with the itch at
one time or another during the natural treatment. In most of these cases the bodies of the
patients were inflamed with fiery eruptions for days or even weeks at a time.
  "Nature Cure allows these healing crises to run their course unhindered and unchecked;
in fact, we encourage them by air and sun baths, cold-water treatment and homeopathic
remedies."

  What has been said verifies my claim that benign and malignant tumors can be cured only
by thorough purifying the system of all morbid and poisonous taints and by building up the blood
to a normal basis, that is, by providing it with the proper elements of nutrition, especially with the
all-important organic salts.

  That this is not merely theory, but actual fact has been proved in the great cancer institutes
in Europe and in this country. The scientists in charge of these institutions report that they have
found a positive cure for cancer in animals. The treatment is as follows:

  The blood is pumped out of the body of a dog or other animal afflicted with cancer and
immediately afterwards the blood of a healthy animal which has shown immunity to cancer
inoculation is pumped into the body of the diseased animal. It is reported that in nine cases out of
ten thus treated the cancerous growths disappear.

  This treatment, of course, entails the death of the animal which had to give up its life blood
to cure the other and therefore this method of cure is not adaptable to human beings. Even though
an individual, with suicidal intent, would be willing to give up his life for a stipulated legacy to
his relatives, the law would not sanction the transaction.

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   However, we of the Nature Cure school say that it is not necessary to pump the diseased
blood out of the organism. In the natural methods of living and of treatment we possess the means
of purifying and regenerating that blood while it is in the body. That this is possible we have
proved in a number of cancer cases.

  It is obvious, however, that the earlier the disease is treated by the natural methods, that is,
before the breaking-down process has far advanced, the easier and quicker will be the cure.

  In the case of tumors, then, we see again verified the fundamental law of Nature Cure: the
Unity of Disease and of Treatment. We see that the tumor is not of local, but of constitutional,
origin, that its period of incubation may extend over a lifetime or over several generations.

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 Women's Suffering
Certain ailments peculiar to the female organism have become almost universal among
civilized races. Probably the majority of surgical operations are performed for so-called women's
diseases. That women suffer untold agonies during menstruation, in childbirth and at the
climacteric is looked upon as unavoidable and a matter of course.

  The fact that the native women of Africa, of the Sandwich Islands, the South American bush
and our western plains are practically exempt from these ailments indicates that the cause of
female troubles must lie in artificial habits of living and in the unnatural treatment of diseases.

  Many are beginning to recognize these truths. For them is dawning a new era, when
knowledge will free Woman from physical suffering as it has freed her from other bondage.

  Instances like the following are of common occurrence in our free clinics for Diagnosis
from the Eye:

  A lady tells us that she has been suffering for many years from a complication of female
troubles. Her eyes show a heavy scurf rim, indicating an inactive, atrophied skin, poor surface
circulation and, as a result of this condition, defective elimination through the skin and
accumulation of waste matter and systemic poisons in the system. The areas of stomach and
intestines reveal the signs of chronic catarrhal affection and atrophy of the membranous linings
and glandular structures. This, of course, means indigestion, fermentation of foods, gas
formation, constipation and a multitude of resulting disturbances.

  The signs in the iris also indicate an atonic, relaxed and prolapsed condition of stomach,
bowels and other abdominal organs. This is likely to cause sagging of the genital organs,
relaxation of the bands and ligaments which hold them in place and, as a result of this relaxation,
misplacement of the womb.

  We tell the patient of our findings in her eyes and she admits all the conditions and
symptoms which we describe, but she is not satisfied because our diagnosis does not agree with
that of the great specialists and professors of medicine whom she has consulted. Every one of
them has told her that all her troubles are due to the fact that her uterus is flexed and retroverted,
that it presses on the rectum (this being the cause of her chronic constipation and of the
obstructed menstrual flow, the congestion, pain, etc.), and that the womb must be placed in its
normal position by a surgical operation.

  In this and many similar cases that have come to us for treatment, it was the relaxed and
prolapsed condition of the stomach and intestines that caused the sinking (prolapsus) of the uterus
with the attending distressing symptoms. In some instances the womb and with it the bladder had
fallen so low that they protruded from the vagina. In all of these cases, as the patients without
exception told us, the professors and specialists assured them that surgical treatment, shortening
of the ligaments, the insertion of pessaries, the cutting loose and raising of the womb, etc., were
the only possible means of curing these ailments.

  So we explain to the lady that the relaxed and prolapsed condition of the genital organs, the
misplacement of the womb, etc., are not causes of disease, but only the effects of the weakened
and relaxed condition of the digestive organs, and that this, in turn, is due to indigestion,
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malnutrition, defective elimination through skin, bowels and kidneys; that, therefore, the only
possibility of cure lies in correcting and overcoming these constitutional conditions through an
eliminative diet, blood-building remedies and other natural methods; that the blood must be built
up on a normal basis, and that the digestive tract and the other abdominal organs must be made
more alive and active through hydropathic treatment, massage, spinal manipulation, general and
special exercises, air and sun baths, etc.

  In thousands of cases we have thus cured female troubles without poisonous drugs or
surgical operations, simply by improving the digestion, purifying the blood and invigorating the
abdominal organs in a natural manner.

  On the other hand, almost daily we meet with instances of untold suffering as the direct
consequence of operations, the use of pessaries, etc., which only served to weaken the genital
organs still more and resulted in all sorts of complications, inflammations, adhesions, etc., and in
many cases in malignant tumors.

  In this connection I would warn especially against the use of pessaries. They are at best
only a mechanical contrivance, and do not add anything to the improvement of the diseased
condition. On the other hand, they irritate the abdominal organs by excessive pressure, which in
many instances produces inflammation of the neighboring tissues and abnormal growths.

  Suppressing inflammation of the genital organs by poisonous antiseptics, sprays, tampons or

other local applications only tends to aggravate the chronic conditions. Curetting (scraping) the
womb does not cure the catarrhal affection, but only serves to destroy its delicate mucous lining
and to suppress catarrhal elimination. Holding up the womb by means of a pessary in order to
strengthen its muscles and ligaments is about as reasonable and effective as to try to strengthen a
weak arm by carrying it in a sling. Replacing or removing misplaced or affected organs by means
of surgery does not contribute anything toward correcting the causes of these abnormal
conditions, but in many instances makes a real cure impossible. How can an organ be cured after
it has been extirpated with the knife?

  It is a fact known to every observing physician that from fifty to seventy-five percent of all
women have some kind of misplacement of the genital organs and that only a comparatively
small number of these suffer from local disturbances, indicating that, in most cases, misplacement
alone will not create serious trouble.

  It is ridiculous to assume that the small, flabby uterus of an anemic woman can block the
rectum and cause disease, but it is an excellent talking point, as effective in bringing victims to
the operating table as appendicitis with its fairy tales of seeds and foreign bodies lodging in the
appendix vermiformis.

  While studying Nature Cure in Germany, I took special courses in the Thure-Brandt
Massage. By means of this internal manipulative treatment, weakness of ligaments and muscles,
displacements, adhesions, etc., can be corrected without the use of knife or drugs. During my first
years in practice, I frequently resorted to the internal manual treatment with good results; but I
found that in most cases it was not at all necessary in order to produce perfect cures.

  I saw that chiropractic and osteopathic correction of spinal and pelvic lesions and
consequent removal of irritation and pressure on the nerves, the cure of chronic constipation and
malnutrition by pure food diet and hydrotherapy, the strengthening of the pelvic muscles and

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nerves by means of active and passive movements and exercises, were fully sufficient to correct
the local symptoms in a natural manner. Thousands of cases cured by us by these methods attest
the truth of our statements; while those who failed to understand the simple reasoning of the
Nature Cure philosophy or lacked will power to withstand the arguments of friends and
physicians followed the siren call of the operating table and have been sorry for it ever since.

  In case of operation for misplacement of the womb, it is necessary, in order to keep the
womb in its new position, to stitch it to the frontal abdominal wall. Very frequently it will not
stay there, breaks loose, and relapses into an abnormal position. Granted that it remains fixed,
woe to the woman if she becomes pregnant. The womb cannot assume the constantly changing
positions of pregnancy, and the result is either abortion or malformation of the fetus, together
with great and constant suffering to the woman.

  The operation has done nothing to correct unnatural habits of living or to purify the system
of its scrofulous and psoriatic taints, of drug and food poisons. Frequently these gather in the
parts that have been weakened and irritated by the antiseptics and by the surgeon's knife, and set
up new inflammations, ulcerations and only too often malignant tumors. As a result, one
operation follows another.

  We cannot cut in the genital organs without cutting in the brain. The nervous system is
a unit, and the brain is directly and intimately connected with the complex and highly sensitive
nerve centers of the genital organs. Mutilation of the genital nerve centers, therefore, invariably
affects the brain, and thus the intellectual and emotional life of a woman. It is almost axiomatic
that a woman whose uterus or ovaries have been removed or mutilated is afterward mentally and
emotionally more or less abnormal. Nervousness, irritability and only too often nervous
prostration and insanity are the sequelae of operative treatment.

  In medical colleges, among students and professors, these facts are freely admitted and
discussed, but the prospective patient hears a different story. "Cut loose the womb, shorten the
ligaments, put it into the right position, and everything will be well." This sounds plausible and
seductive; but everyday experiences expose the inadequacy and the destructive aftereffects of
local symptomatic treatment.

The Climacteric or Change of Life

  Under our artificial methods of living, the climacteric or change of life, has become the
bugbear of womanhood. It seems to be universally assumed that this period in a woman's life
must be fraught with manifold sufferings and dangers. It is taken as a matter of course that during
these changes in her organism a woman is assailed by the most serious physical, mental, and
psychic ailments which may endanger her sanity and often her life.

  Like rheumatism, neurasthenia, neuralgia and hundreds of other medical terms, "change of
life" is a convenient phrase to cover the doctor's ignorance. No matter what ailments befall a
woman during the years from forty to fifty, may the causes be ever so obscure, the diagnosis is
easy. "You are in the climacteric, you are suffering from the change of life," says the doctor, and
the patient is satisfied and resigns herself to the inevitable.

  Frequently women come to us for consultation, and after reciting a long string of troubles
they conclude with the remark: "Of course, doctor, I'm in the change, and I know that lots of
these things are natural at my time of life."

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   Is it true that all this suffering is natural and inevitable?Among the primitive races of the
earth suffering incident to the change of life is practically unknown. The same is true in a lesser
degree of the country population of Europe. The causes of it must, therefore, be sought in the
artificial modes of living peculiar to our hypercivilization and in the unnatural methods of
treating disease as commonly practiced.

  Which are the specific causes of the profound disturbances so often accompanying the
organic changes of the climacteric?

  Aside from their other physiological functions, the menses are for the woman a monthly
cleansing crisis through which Nature eliminates from her system considerable amounts of waste
and morbid matter which, under a natural regime of life, would be discharged by means of the
organs of depuration, that is, the lungs, skin, kidneys and bowels.

  The more natural the life and the more normal, as the result of this, the woman's physical
condition, the shorter and less annoying and painful, within certain limits, will be the menstrual
periods.

  Through unnatural habits of eating, drinking, dressing, breathing and through equally
unnatural methods of medical treatment, the kidneys, skin and bowels have become inactive,
benumbed or paralyzed. As long as the vicarious monthly purification by means of the menses
continues, the evil results of the torpid condition of the regular organs of depuration do not
become so apparent. The organism has learned to adapt itself to this mode of elimination.

  But when, on account of the organic changes of the climacteric, menstruation ceases, then
the systemic poisons, which formerly were eliminated by means of this monthly purification,
accumulate in the system and become the source of all manner of trouble. All tendencies to
physical, mental or psychic disease are greatly intensified. The poisonous taints circulating in the
blood overstimulate or else depress and paralyze the brain and the nervous system. As a
consequence, mental and psychic disorders are of common occurrence; the more so because the
waning of the sex functions is accompanied by a tendency to negativity and hypersensitiveness.

  How Can the Ailments of the Climacteric Be Avoided or Cured?

  Is it not self-evident that the easiest way to sidestep the troubles incident to this critical
period and to reestablish the perfect equilibrium of the organism lies in restoring the natural
activity of the organs of elimination?

  This is what Nature Cure accomplishes easily and successfully with its natural methods of
treatment. Air and sun baths, water treatments and massage bring new life and activity to the
enervated skin. Pure food diet, chiropractic and osteopathic treatment, curative gymnastics,
homeopathic or herb remedies restore the natural tonicity and functioning of the stomach, liver,
kidneys and intestines. Mental therapeutics, systematically practiced, make every cell in the body
vibrant with the higher and finer forces of the mental and spiritual planes of being.

  When the natural equilibrium of the organism is thus restored, there is absolutely no
occasion for the troubles of the climacteric. We have proved this in hundreds of cases. As
kidneys, skin and bowels begin to function normally and freely, physical and mental conditions
commence to improve, and one after another the dreaded symptoms disappear.

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   Let us compare with this common sense, natural treatment the orthodox medical
practice in such cases:

  The medical treatment, as usual, is entirely symptomatic. The sluggish organs of elimination
are prodded by poisonous cathartics, laxatives, diaphoretics, cholagogues and tonics, all of which,
after temporary stimulation, leave the organs in a more weakened and the system in a more
poisoned condition. If brain and nerves are irritated and aching, sedatives and hypnotics are given
to stupefy them into insensibility. If the heart action is weak and irregular, it is whipped up by
poisonous stimulants; if too fast, it is checked and paralyzed by sedatives and depressants.

  Thus, instead of removing the underlying causes, every symptom is promptly suppressed.
Drug poisons are added to the waste and morbid matter which are already clogging the channels
of life. And, of course, under such unnatural treatment, in many instances things go from bad to
worse. Flushes, headaches, rheumatic and neuralgic pains, melancholia, irritability, mental
aberration, partial paralysis and a multitude of other symptoms appear and gradually increase in
severity.

  When the family physician has arrived at the end of his wits, the surgeon has his innings,
and leaves the patient in a still worse condition of chronic suffering.

  These experiences are so common that the manifold troubles of the climacteric are regarded
as unavoidable and as a matter of course. Here, as in so many other instances, people fail to see
that it is the treatment which prevents the cure. If the efficiency of common sense, natural
treatment were more widely known and recognized, how much unnecessary suffering could be
avoided.

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 The Treatment of Acute Diseases
by Natural Methods
In the preceding chapters we have described the results of the wrong, that is, suppressive
treatment of acute diseases. We shall now proceed to describe the simple and uniform methods of
natural treatment.

  If the uniformity of acute diseases be a fact in Nature, then it follows that it must be
possible to treat all acute diseases by uniform methods.

  That it is possible to treat all acute diseases most successfully by natural methods, which
anybody possessed of ordinary intelligence can apply, has been demonstrated for more than
seventy years by the Nature Cure practitioners in Germany, and by myself during the last ten
years in an extensive practice.

  One of the many advantages of natural treatment is that it may be applied right from
the beginning, as soon as the first symptoms of acute febrile conditions manifest themselves. It is
not necessary to wait for a correct diagnosis of the case.

  The regular physician, with his specific treatment for the multitude of specific diseases
which he recognizes, often has to wait several days or even weeks before the real nature of the
disease becomes clear to him, before he is able to diagnose the case or even to make a good
guess. The conscientious medical practitioner has to postpone actual treatment until the
symptoms are well defined. Meanwhile he applies expectant treatment as it is called in medical
parlance, that is, he gives a purgative or a placebo, something or other to placate, or to make the
patient and his friends believe that something is being done.

  But during this period of indecision and inaction very often the best opportunity for aiding
Nature in her healing efforts is lost, and the inflammatory processes may reach such virulence
that it becomes very difficult or even impossible to keep them within constructive limits. The
bonfire that was to burn up the rubbish on the premises may, if not watched and tended, assume
such proportions that it damages or destroys the house.

  It must also be borne in mind that very frequently acute diseases do not present the well-
defined sets of symptoms which fit into the accepted medical conception of certain specific
ailments. On the contrary, in many instances the symptoms suggest a combination of different
forms of acute diseases.

  If the character of the disease is ill-defined and complicated, how, then, is the physician of
the "Old School" to select the proper specific remedy, Under such circumstances, the diagnosis of
the case as well as the medical treatment will at best be largely guesswork.

  Compare with this unreliable and unsatisfactory treatment the simple and scientific, exact
and efficient natural methods. The natural remedies can be applied from the first, at the
slightest manifestation of inflammatory and febrile symptoms. No matter what the specific nature
or trend of the inflammatory process, whether it be a simple cold, or whether it take the form of
measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, smallpox, appendicitis, etc.--it makes absolutely no difference
in the mode of treatment. In many instances the natural treatment will have broken the virulence

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of the attack or brought about a cure before the regular physician gets good and ready to apply his
specific treatment.

  In the following I shall describe briefly these natural methods for the treatment of acute
diseases which insure the largest possible percentage of recoveries and at the same time do not in
any way tax the system, cause undesirable aftereffects or lead to the different forms of chronic
invalidism.

The Natural Remedies

  The most important ones of these natural remedies can be had free of cost in any home.
They are: air, fasting or eliminative diets, water, and the right mental attitude.

  I am fully convinced that these remedies offered freely by Mother Nature are sufficient, if
rightly applied, to cure any acute disease arising within the organism. If circumstances permit,
however, we may advantageously add corrective manipulation of the spine, massage, magnetic
treatment, advanced regenerative modalities (like the Magnatherm) and homeopathic, herbal and
specific nutritional supplementation.

The Fresh-Air Treatment

  A plentiful supply of pure fresh air is of vital importance at any time. We can live without
food for several weeks and without water for several days, but we cannot live without air for
more than a few minutes. Just as a fire in the furnace cannot be kept up without a good draft
which supplies the necessary amount of oxygen to the flame, so the fires of life in the body
cannot be maintained without an abundance of oxygen in the air we breathe.

  This is of vital importance at all times, but especially so in acute disease, because here, as
we have learned, all the vital processes are intensified. The system is working under high
pressure. Large quantities of waste and morbid materials, the products of inflam-mation, have to
be oxidized, that is, burned up and eliminated from the system.

  In this respect the Nature Cure people have brought about one of the greatest reforms in
medical treatment: the admission of plenty of fresh air to the sickroom.

  But, strange to say, the importance of this most essential natural remedy is as yet not
universally recognized by the representatives of the regular school of medicine. Time and again I
have been called to sickrooms where by order of the doctor every window was closed and the
room filled with pestilential odors, the poisonous exhalations of the diseased organism added to
the stale air of the unventilated and often overheated apartment. And this air starvation had been
enforced by graduates of our best medical schools and colleges. This unnatural and inexcusable
crime against the sick is committed even at this late day in our great hospitals under the direct
supervision of physicians who are foremost in their profession.

  It is not the cold draft that is to be feared in the sickroom. Cool air is most agreeable and
beneficial to the body burning in fever heat. What is to be feared is the reinhalation and
reabsorption of poisonous emanations from the lungs and skin of the diseased body.

  Furthermore, the ventilation of a room can be so regulated as to provide a constant and

plentiful supply of fresh air without expos-ing its occupants to a direct draft. Where there is only
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one window and one door, both may be opened and a sheet or blanket hung across the opening of
the door, or the single window may be opened partly from above and partly from below, which
insures the entrance of fresh, cold air at the bottom and the expulsion of the heated and vitiated
air at the top. The patient may be protected by a screen, or a board may be placed across the lower
part of the window in such manner that a direct current of air upon the patient is prevented.

  In very cold weather, or if conditions are not favorable to constant ventilation of the
sickroom, the doors and windows may be opened wide for several minutes every few hours,
while the patient's body and head are well protected. There is absolutely no danger of taking cold
if these precautions are taken. Under right conditions of room temperature, frequent exposure of
the patient's nude body to air and the sunlight will be found most beneficial and will often induce
sleep when other means fail.

  I would strongly warn against keeping the patient too warm. This is especially dangerous in
the case of young children, who cannot use their own judgment or make their wishes known. I
have frequently found children in high fever smothered in heavy blankets under the mistaken
impression on the part of the attendants that they had to be kept warm and protected against
possible draft. In many instances the air under the covers was actually steaming hot. This surely
does not tend to reduce the burning fever heat in the body of the patient.

"Natural Diet" in Acute Diseases

  From the appearance of the first suspicious symptoms until the fever has abated and there is
a hearty, natural hunger, feeding should be reduced to a minimum or better still, entirely
suspended.

  In cases of extreme weakness, and where the acute and sub acute processes are long drawn
out and the patient has become greatly emaciated, it is advisable to give such easily digestible
foods as white of egg, milk, buttermilk and whole grain bread with butter in combination with
raw and stewed fruits and with vegetable salads prepared with lemon juice and olive oil.

  The quantity of drinking water should be regulated by the desire of the patient, but he should
be warned not to take any more than is necessary to satisfy his thirst. Large amounts of water
taken into the system dilute the blood and the other fluids and secretions of the organism to an
excessive degree, and this tends to increase the general weakness and lower the patient's
resistance to the disease forces.

  Water may be made more palatable and at the same time more effective for purposes of
elimination by the addition of the unsweetened juice of acid fruits, such as orange, grapefruit or
lemon, about one part of juice to three parts of water. Fresh pineapple juice is very good except in
cases of hyperacidity of the stomach. The fresh, unsweetened juice of Concord grapes is also
beneficial.

  Acid and subacid fruit juices do not contain sufficient carbohydrate or protein materials to
unduly excite the digestive processes, while on the other hand they are very rich in Nature's best
medicines, the mineral salts in organic form. Sweet grapes and sweetened grape juice should
not be given to patients suffering from acute, febrile diseases because they contain too much
sugar, which would have a tendency to start the processes of digestion and assimilation, to cause
morbid fermentation and to raise the temperature and accelerate the other disease symptoms.

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 Fasting

  Total abstinence from food during acute febrile conditions is of primary importance.
In certain diseases which will be mentioned later on, especially those involving the digestive
tract, fasting must be continued for several days after all fever symptoms have disappeared.

  There is no greater fallacy than that the patient must be sustained and his strength kept up by
plenty of nourishing food and drink or, worse still, by stimulants and tonics. This is altogether
wrong in itself, and besides, habit and appetite are often mistaken for hunger.

  A common spectacle witnessed at the bedside of the sick is that of well-meaning but
misguided relatives and friends forcing food and drink on the patient, often by order of the
doctor, when his whole system rebels against it and the nauseated stomach expels the food as
soon as taken. Sedatives and tonics are then resorted to in order to force the digestive organs into
submission.

  Aversion to eating during acute diseases, whether they represent healing crises or disease
crises, is perfectly natural, because the entire organism, including the mucous membranes of
stomach and intestines, is engaged in the work of elimination, not assimilation. Nausea, slimy
and fetid discharges, constipation alternating with diarrhea, etc., indicate that the organs of
digestion are throwing off disease matter, and that they are not in a condition to take up and
assimilate food.

  Ordinarily, the digestive tract acts like a sponge which absorbs the elements of nutrition; but
in acute diseases the process is reversed, the sponge is being squeezed and gives off large
quantities of morbid matter. The processes of digestion and assimilation are at a standstill. In fact,
the entire organism is in a condition of prostration, weakness and inactivity. The vital energies are
concentrated on the cleansing and healing processes. Accordingly, there is no demand for food.

  This is verified by the fact that a person fasting for a certain period, say, four weeks, during
the course of a serious acute illness, will not lose nearly as much in weight as the same person
fasting four weeks in days of healthful activity.

  It is for the foregoing reasons that nourishment taken during acute disease:

1. is not properly digested, assimilated and transmuted into healthy blood and tissues.
Instead, it ferments and decays, filling the system with waste matter and noxious gases.
2. interferes seriously with the elimination of morbid matter through stomach and intestines
by forcing these organs to take up the work of digestion and assimilation.
3. diverts the vital forces from their combat against the disease conditions and draws upon
them to remove the worse than useless food ballast from the organism.

  This explains why taking food during feverish diseases is usually followed by a rise in
temperature and by aggravation of the other disease symptoms. As long as there are signs of
inflammatory, febrile conditions and no appetite, do not be afraid to withhold food entirely, if
necessary, for as long as five, six or seven weeks. In my practice I have had several patients who
did not take any food, except water to which acid fruit juices had been added, for more than seven
weeks, and then made a rapid and complete recovery.

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   In cases of gastritis, appendicitis, peritonitis, dysentery or typhoid fever, abstinence
from food is absolutely imperative. Not even milk should be taken until fever and inflammation
have entirely subsided, and then a few days should be allowed for the healing and restoring of the
injured tissues. Many of the serious chronic aftereffects of these diseases are due to too early
feeding, which does not allow the healing forces of Nature time to rebuild sloughed membranes
and injured organs.

  After a prolonged fast, great care must be observed when commencing to eat. Very small
quantities of light food may safely be taken at intervals of a few hours. A good plan, especially
after an attack of typhoid fever or dysentery, is to break the fast by thoroughly masticating one or
two tablespoonfuls of popcorn. This gives the digestive tract a good scouring and starts the
peristaltic action of the bowels better than any other food.

  The popcorn may advantageously be followed in about two hours with a tablespoonful of
cooked rice and one or two cooked prunes or a small quantity of some other stewed fruit.

  For several days or weeks after a fast, according to the severity of the acute disease or
healing crisis, a diet consisting largely of raw fruits, such as oranges, grapefruit, apples, pears,
grapes, etc., and juicy vegetables, especially lettuce, celery, cabbage slaw, watercress, young
onions, tomatoes or cucumbers should be adhered to. No condiments or dressings should be
used with the vegetables except lemon juice and olive oil.

Hydropathic Treatment in Acute Diseases

  We claim that in acute diseases hydropathic treatment will accomplish all the benefcial
effects which the "Old School" practitioners ascribe to drugs, and that water applications will
produce the desired results much more efficiently, and without any harmful by-effects or
aftereffects upon the system.

  The principal objects to be attained in the treatment of acute inflammatory diseases are:

1. To relieve the inner congestion and consequent pain in the affected parts.
2. To keep the temperature below the danger point by promoting heat radiation through the
skin.
3. To increase the activity of the organs of elimination and thus to facilitate the removal of
morbid materials from the system.
4. To increase the positive electromagnetic energies in the organism.
5. To increase the amount of oxygen and ozone in the system and thereby to promote the
oxidation and combustion of effete matter.

  The above-mentioned objects can be attained most effectually by the simple cold water
treatment. Whatever the acute condition may be, whether an ordinary cold or the most serious
type of febrile disease, the applications described in detail in the following pages, used singly,
combined or alternately according to individual conditions, will always be in order and sufficient
to produce the best possible results.

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 Baths and Ablutions

  Cooling sprays or, if the patient is too weak to leave the bed, cold sponge baths or ablutions,
repeated whenever the temperature rises, are very effective for keeping the fever below the
danger point, for relieving the congestion in the interior of the body and for stimulating the
elimination of systemic poisons through the skin.

  However, care must be taken not to lower the temperature too much by the excessive
coldness or unduly prolonged duration of the application. It is possible to suppress
inflammatory processes by means of cold water or ice bags just as easily as with poisonous
antiseptics, antifever medicines and surgical operations.

  It is sufficient to reduce the temperature to just below the danger point. This will allow
the inflammatory processes to run their natural course through the five progressive stages of
inflammation and this natural course will then be followed by perfect regeneration of the affected
parts.

  In our sanitarium we use only water of ordinary temperature as it flows from the faucet,
never under any circumstances ice bags or ice water. The application of ice keeps the parts to
which it is applied in a chilled condition. The circulation cannot react, and the inflammatory
processes are thus most effectually suppressed.

To recapitulate: Never check or suppress a fever by means of cold baths, ablutions, wet
packs, etc., but merely lower it below the danger point. For instance, if a certain type of fever
has a tendency to rise to 104° F. or more, bring it down to about 102°. If the fever ordinarily runs
at a lower temperature, say at 102° F., do not try to reduce it more than one or two degrees.

  If the temperature is subnormal, that is, below the normal or regular body temperature, the
packs should be applied in such a manner that a warming effect is produced, that is, less wet
cloths and more dry covering should be used, and the packs left on the body a longer time before
they are renewed. More detailed instruction will be given in subsequent pages.

  Never lose sight of the fact that fever is in itself a healing, cleansing process which must not
be checked or suppressed.

Hot-Water Applications Are Injurious

  Altogether wrong is the application of hot water to seats of inflammation as, for
instance, the inflamed appendix or ovaries, sprains, bruises, etc. Almost in every instance where I
am called in to attend a case of acute appendicitis or peritonitis, I find hot compresses or hot
water bottles, by means of which the inflamed parts are kept continually in an overheated
condition. It is in this way that a simple inflammation is nurtured into an abscess and made more
serious and dangerous.

  The hot compress or hot-water bottle draws the blood away from the inflamed area to the
surface temporarily; but unless the hot application is kept up continually, the blood, under the
Law of Action and Reaction, will recede from the surface into the interior, and as a result the
inner congestion will become as great as or greater than before.

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   If the hot applications are continued, the applied heat tends to maintain and increase the
heat in the inflamed parts.

  Inflammation means that there is already too much heat in the affected part or organ.
Common sense, therefore, would dictate cooling applications instead of heating ones.

  The cold packs and compresses, on the other hand, have a directly cooling effect upon the
seat of inflammation and in accordance with the Law of Action and Reaction their secondary,
lasting effect consists in drawing the blood from the congested and heated interior to the
surface, thus relaxing the pores of the skin and promoting the radiation of heat and the
elimination of impurities.

  Both the hot-water applications and the use of ice are, therefore, to be absolutely
condemned. The only rational and natural treatment of inflammatory conditions is that by
compresses, packs and ablutions, using water of ordinary temperature, as it comes from the cold
water tap.

  By means of the simple cold-water treatment and fasting all fevers and inflammations can
be reduced in a perfectly natural way within a short time without undue strain on the organism.

The Whole-Body Pack

  The whole-body pack is most effective if by means of it the patient can be brought into a
state of copious perspiration. The pack is then removed and the patient is given a cold sponge
bath.

  It will be found that this treatment often produces a second profuse sweat which is very
beneficial. This aftersweat should also be followed by a cold sponge bath.

  Such a course of treatment will frequently be sufficient to eliminate the morbid matter
which has gathered in the system, and thus prevent in a perfectly natural manner a threatening
disease which otherwise might become dangerous to life.

How to Apply the Whole-Body Pack

  On a bed or cot spread two or more blankets, according to their weight. Over the top blanket
spread a linen or cotton sheet which has been dipped into cold water and wrung out fairly dry. Let
the blankets extend about one foot beyond the wet sheet at the head of the bed.

  Place the patient on the wet sheet so that it comes well up to the neck, and wrap the sheet
snugly around the body so that it covers every part, tucking it in between the arms and sides and
between the legs. It will be found that the sheet can be adjusted more snugly and smoothly if
separate strips of wet linen are placed between the legs and between the arms and the sides of
the body.

  The blankets are now folded, one by one, upward over the feet and around the body, turned
in at the neck and brought across the chest, the outer layers being held in place with safety pins.

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   The patient should stay in this whole-body pack from one-half hour to two hours, according
to the object to be attained and the reaction of the body to the pack. If the pack has been correctly
applied, the patient will become warm in a few minutes.

The Bed-Sweat Bath

  If the patient does not react to the pack, that is, if he remains cold, or if, as is sometimes the
case in malaria, the fever is accompanied by chills or if profuse perspiration is desired, bottles
filled with hot water or bricks heated in the oven and wrapped in flannel should be placed along
the sides and to the feet, under the outside covering.

  This form of application is called the bed-sweat bath. It may be used with good results when
an incipient cold is to be aborted.

  After the pack has been removed, the body should be sponged with cold water, as already
stated. Use a coarse cloth or Turkish towel for this purpose rather than a sponge, as the latter
cannot be kept perfectly clean. Dry the body quickly but thoroughly, and finish by rubbing with
the hands.

  In the meantime the damp bed clothing should be replaced by dry sheets and blankets (a
second cot or bed will be found a great convenience), and the patient put to bed without delay and
well covered in order to prevent chilling and also to induce, if possible, a copious aftersweat. The
patient is then sponged off a second time, put into a dry bed, and allowed to rest.

  If the patient is too weak to leave his bed, the cold sponge may be given on a large rubber
sheet or oilcloth covered with an old blanket, which should be placed on the bed before the pack
is applied. After removing the pack, put a blanket over the patient to prevent chilling and wash
quickly but thoroughly first the limbs, then chest and stomach, then the back, drying and covering
each part as soon as finished. Remove the rubber sheet from the bed and wrap the patient in dry,
warm blankets, or lift him into another bed.

How to Apply the Short-Body Pack

  A wide strip of linen or muslin, wrung out of cold water, is wrapped around the patient from
under the armpits to the thighs or knees in one, two or more layers, covered by one or more layers
of dry flannel or muslin in such a manner that the wet linen does not protrude at any place.

  Similar packs may be applied to the throat,* the arms, legs, shoulder joints or any other part
of the body.

  The number of layers of wet linen and dry covering is determined by the vitality of the
patient, the height of his temperature and the particular object of the application, which may be:

1. to lower high temperature

2. to raise the temperature when subnormal
3. to relieve inner congestion
4. to promote elimination.

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   If the object is to lower high temperature, several layers of wet linen should be wrapped
around the body and covered loosely by one or two layers of the dry wrappings in order to
prevent the bed from getting wet. The packs must be renewed as soon as they become dry or
uncomfortably hot.

  If the object is to raise subnormal temperature, less wet linen and more dry covering must be
used, and the packs left on a longer time, say from thirty minutes to two hours. If the patient does
not react to the pack, hot bricks or bottles filled with hot water should be placed at the sides and
to the feet, as explained in connection with the whole-body pack.

  If inner congestion is to be relieved, or if the object is to promote elimination, less of the wet
linen and more dry wrappings should be used.

  When packs are applied, the bed may be protected by spreading an oilcloth over the mattress
under the sheet. But in no case should oilcloth or rubber sheeting be used for the outer covering
of packs. This would interfere with some of the main objects of the pack treatment, especially
with heat radiation. The outer covering should be warm but at the same time porous, to allow the
escape of heat and of poisonous gases from the body.

Local Compresses

  In case of local inflammation, as in appendicitis, ovaritis, colitis, etc., separate cooling
compresses may be slipped under the pack and over the seat of inflammation. These local
compresses may be removed and changed when hot and dry without disturbing the larger pack.

  In all fevers accompanied by high temperature, it is advisable to place an extra cooling
compress at the nape of the neck (the region of the medulla and the back brain), because here are
located the brain centers which regulate the inner temperature of the body (thermotaxic centers),
and the cooling of these brain centers produces a cooling effect upon the entire organism.

Enemas

  While ordinarily we do not favor the giving of injections or enemas unless they are
absolutely necessary, we apply them freely in feverish diseases in order to remove from the
rectum and lower colon any accumulations of morbid matter, and thus to prevent their
reabsorption into the system. In cases of exceptionally stubborn constipation, an injection of a
few ounces of warm olive oil may be given. Allow this to remain in the colon about thirty
minutes in order to soften the contents of the rectum, and follow with an injection of warm water.

Just How the Cold Packs Produce

Their Wonderful Results

(1) How Cold Packs Promote Heat Radiation

  Many people are under the impression that the packs reduce the fever temperature so
quickly because they are put on cold. But this is not so, because, unless the reaction be bad, the
packs become warm after a few minutes' contact with the body.

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   The prompt reduction of temperature takes place because of increased heat radiation.
The coldness of the pack may lower the surface temperature slightly; but it is the moist warmth
forming under the pack on the surface of the body that draws the blood from the congested
interior into the skin, relaxes and opens its minute blood vessels and pores, and in that way
facilitates the escape of heat from the body.

  In febrile conditions the pores and capillary blood vessels of the skin are tense and
contracted. Therefore the heat cannot escape, the skin is hot and dry, and the interior of the body
remains overheated. When the skin relaxes and the patient begins to perspire freely, we say the
fever is broken.

  The moist warmth under the wet pack produces this relaxation of the skin in a perfectly
natural manner. By means of these simple packs followed by cold ablutions, the temperature of
the patient can be kept at any point desired without the use of poisonous antifever medicines,
serums and antitoxins which lower the temperature by benumbing and paralyzing heart action,
respiration, the red and white blood corpuscles, and thus generally lowering the vital activities of
the organism.

(2) How Cold Packs Relieve Inner Congestion

  In all inflammatory febrile diseases the blood is congested in the inflamed parts and organs.
This produces the four cardinal symptoms of inflammation: redness, swelling, heat, and pain.
[Rubor, tumor, colar and dolar.] If the congestion be too great, the pain becomes excessive, and
the inflammatory processes cannot run their natural course to the best advantage. It is therefore of
great importance to relieve the local blood pressure in the affected parts and this can be
accomplished most effectively by means of the wet packs.

  As before stated, they draw the blood onto the surface of the body and in that way
relieve inner congestion wherever it may exist, whether it be in the brain, as in meningitis, in
the lungs, as in pneumonia, or in the inflamed appendix.

  In several cases where a child was in the most dangerous stage of diphtheria, where the
membranes in throat and nasal passages were already choking the little patient, the wet packs
applied to the entire body from neck to feet relieved the congestion in the throat so quickly that
within half an hour after the first application the patient breathed easily and soon made a perfect
recovery. The effectiveness of these simple water applications in reducing congestion, heat and
pain is little short of marvelous.

(3) How Cold Packs Promote Elimination

  By far the largest number of deaths in febrile diseases result from the accumulation in the
system of poisonous substances, which paralyze or destroy vital centers and organs. Therefore it
is necessary to eliminate the morbid products of inflammation from the organism as quickly as
possible.

  This also is accomplished most effectively and thoroughly by the application of wet packs.
As they draw the blood into the surface and relax the minute blood vessels in the skin, the
morbid materials in the blood are eliminated through the pores of the skin and absorbed by
the packs. That this is actually so is verified by the yellowish or brownish discoloration of the
wet wrappings and by their offensive odor.
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   One of the main causes of constipation in febrile diseases is the inner congestion and fever
heat. Through the cooling and relaxing effect of the packs upon the intestines, this inner fever
heat is reduced, and a natural movement of the bowels greatly facilitated.

  If constipation should persist in spite of the packs and cooling compresses, injections of
tepid water should be given every day or every other day in order to prevent the reabsorption of
poisonous products from the lower colon. But never give injections of cold water with the idea
of reducing fever in that way. This is very dangerous and may cause fatal collapse.

The Electromagnetic Effect of Cold Water Applications

  One of the most important, but least understood, effects of hydropathic treatment is its
influence upon the electromagnetic energies in the human body. At least, I have never found any
allusions to this aspect of the cold-water treatment in any books on hydrotherapy which have
come to my notice.

  The sudden application of cold water or cold air to the surface of the nude body and the
inhalation of cold air into the lungs have the effect of increasing the amount of electromagnetic
energy in the system.

  This can be verified by the following experiment: Insert one of the plates of an electrometer
(sensitive galvanometer) into the stomach of a person who has remained for some time in a warm
room. Now let this person inhale suddenly fresh, cold outside air. At once the galvanometer will
register a larger amount of electromagnetic energy.

  The same effect will be produced by the application of a quick, cold spray to the warm
body.

  It is the sudden lowering of temperature on the surface of the body or in the lungs and the
resulting contrast between the heat within and the cold outside, that causes the increased
manifestation of electromagnetic energy in the system.

  This, together with the acceleration of the entire circulation, undoubtedly accounts for the
tonic effect of cold-water applications such as cold packs, ablutions, sprays, sitz baths, barefoot
walking, etc., and for the wonderfully bracing influence of fresh, cold outside air.

  The energizing effect of cold air may also explain to a large extent the superiority of the
races inhabiting the temperate zones over those of the warm and torrid southern regions.

  To me it seems a very foolish custom to run away from the invigorating northern winters to
the enervating sameness of southern climates. One of the reasons I abandoned, with considerable
financial sacrifice, a well-established home in a Texas city which is the Mecca of health-seekers,
was that I did not want to rear my children under the enervating influence of that beautiful
climate. I, for my part, want some cold winter weather every year to stir up the lazy blood
corpuscles, to set the blood bounding through the system and to freeze out the microbes.

  In our Nature Cure work we find all the way through that the continued application of
warmth has a debilitating effect upon the organism, and that only by the opposing influences of
alternating heat and cold can we produce the natural stimulation which awakens the dormant vital
energies in the body of the chronic.
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 Increase of Oxygen and Ozone

  The liberation of electromagnetic currents through cold-water applications has other very
important effects upon the system besides that of stimulation.

  Electricity splits up molecules of water into hydrogen, oxygen and ozone. We have an
example of this in the thunderstorm. The powerful electric discharges which we call lightning
separate or split the watery vapors in the air into these elements. It is the increase of oxygen and
ozone in the air that purifies and sweetens the atmosphere after the storm.

  In acute as well as in chronic disease, large amounts of oxygen and ozone are required to
burn up the morbid materials and to purify the system. Certain combinations of these elements
are among the most powerfu1 antiseptics and germicides.

  Likewise, the electric currents produced by cold packs, ablutions and other cold-water
applications split up the molecules of water in the tissues of the body into their component parts.
In this way large amounts of oxygen and ozone are liberated, and these elements assist to a
considerable extent in the oxidation and neutralization of waste materials and disease products.

  The following experiment proves that sudden changes in temperature create electric currents
in metals: When two cylinders of dissimilar metals are welded together, and one of the metals is
suddenly chilled or heated, electric currents are produced which will continue to flow until both
metals are at the same temperature.

  Another application of this principle is furnished by the oxydonor. If both poles of this little
instrument are exposed to the same temperature, there is no manifestation of electricity; but if one
of the poles be attached to the warm body and the other immersed in cold water or exposed to
cold air, the liberation of electromagnetic currents begins at once. These electric currents set free
oxygen and ozone, which in their turn support the oxidation and neutralization of systemic
poisons.

  According to my experience, however, the cold-water applications are more effective in this
respect than the oxydonor.

The Importance of Right Mental and

Emotional Attitude in Acute Disease

  We have learned that in the processes of inflammation a battle is going on between the
healing forces of the body, the phagocytes and natural antitoxins on the one hand and the disease
taints, germs, bacilli, etc., on the other hand.

  This battle is real in every respect, as real as a combat between armies of living soldiers. In
this conflict, going on in all acute inflammatory diseases, mind plays the same role as the
commander of an army.

  The great general needs courage, equanimity and presence of mind most in the stress of
battle. So the mind, the commander of the vast armies of cells battling in acute disease for the
health of the body, must have absolute faith in the superiority of Nature's healing forces.

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   If the mind becomes frightened by the inflammatory and febrile symptoms and pictures to
itself in darkest colors their dreadful consequences, these confused and distracted thought
vibrations are conveyed instantaneously to the millions of little soldiers fighting in the affected
parts and organs. They also become confused and panic-stricken.

  The excitement of fear in the mind still more accelerates heart action and respiration,
intensifies the local congestion and greatly increases the morbid accumulations in the system. In
the last chapters of this volume we shall deal especially with the deteriorating influence of fear,
anxiety, anger, irritability, impatience, etc., and explain how these and all other destructive
emotions actually poison the secretions of the body.

  In acute disease we cannot afford to add to the poisonous elements in the organism, because
the danger of a fatal ending lies largely in the paralysis of vital centers by the morbid and
poisonous products of inflammation.

  Everything depends upon the maintenance of the greatest possible inflow of vital force; and
there is nothing so weakening as worry and anxiety, nothing that impedes the inflow, distribution
and normal activity of the vital energies like fear. A person overcome by sudden fright is actually
benumbed and paralyzed, unable to think and to act intelligently.

  These truths may be expressed in another way. The victory of the healing forces in acute
disease depends upon an abundant supply of the positive electromagnetic energies. In the initial
chapters of this volume we have learned that health is positive, disease negative. The positive
mental attitude of faith and equanimity creates positive electromagnetic energies in the body, thus
infusing the battling phagocytes with increased vigor and favoring the secretion of the antitoxins
and antibodies, while the negative, fearful and worrying attitude of mind creates in the system the
negative conditions of weakness, lowered resistance and actual paralysis.

  In the paragraphs dealing with the effects of cold-water treatment upon the body we learned
that the electric currents created in the organism split up the molecules of water in the tissues into
their component elements (hydrogen and oxygen), thus liberating large amounts of oxygen and
ozone; and that these, in turn, support the processes of combustion and oxidation in the system,
burn up waste and morbid matter, and destroy hostile microorganisms.

  However, the electromagnetic forces in the body are not only increased and intensified by
positive foods, exercise, cold-water treatment, air baths, etc., but also by the positive attitude of
mind and will.

  The positive mind and will are to the body what the magneto is to the automobile. As the
electric sparks from the magneto ignite the gas, thus generating the power that drives the
machine, so the positive vibrations, generated by a confident and determined will, create in the
body the positive electromagnetic currents which incite and stimulate all vital activities.

  Common experience teaches us that the concentration of the will on the thing to be
accomplished greatly heightens and increases all physical, mental and moral powers.

  Therefore the victory in acute diseases is conditioned by the absolute faith, confidence and
serenity of mind on the part of the patient. The more he exercises these harmonizing and
invigorating qualities of mind and soul, the more favorable are the conditions for the little
soldiers who are fighting his battles in the inflamed parts and organs. The blood and nerve
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currents are less impeded and disturbed, and flow more normally. The local congestion is
relieved, and this favors the natural course of the inflammatory processes.

  Therefore, instead of being overcome with fear and anxiety, as most people are under such
circumstances, do not become alarmed, nor convey alarm to the millions of little cells battling in
the inflamed parts. Speak to them like a commander addressing his troops: "We understand the
laws of disease and cure, we know that these inflammatory and febrile symptoms are the result of
Nature's healing efforts, we have perfect confidence in her wisdom and in the efficiency of her
healing forces. This fever is merely a good house-cleaning, a healing crisis. We are eliminating
morbid matter, poisons and germs which were endangering health and life.

  "We rejoice over the purification and regeneration now taking place and benefiting the
whole body. Fear not! Attend to your work quietly and serenely! Let us open ourselves wide to
the inflow of life from the source of all life in the innermost parts of our being! The life in us is
the life of God. We are strengthened and made whole by the Divine life and power which animate
the universe."

  The serenity of your mind, backed by absolute trust in the Law and by the power of a strong
Will, infuses the cells and tissues with new life and vigor, enabling them to turn the acute disease
into a beneficial, cleansing and healing crisis.

  In the following we give a similar formula for treating chronic constipation.

  Say to the cells in the liver, the pancreas and the intestinal tract:

"I am not going to force you any longer with drugs or enemas to do your duty. From
now on you must work on your own initiative. Your secretions will become more
abundant. Every day at--o'clock the bowels will move freely and easily."

  At the appointed time make the effort, whether you are successful or not, and do not resort
to the enema until it becomes an absolute necessity. If you combine with the mental and physical
effort a natural diet, cold sitz baths, massage and osteopathic treatment, you will have need of the
enema at increasingly longer intervals, and soon be able to discard it altogether.

  Be careful, however, not to employ your intelligence and your will power to suppress acute
inflammatory and febrile processes and symptoms. This can be accomplished by the power of the
will as well as by ice bags and poisonous drugs, and its effect would be to turn Nature's acute
cleansing efforts into chronic disease.

The Importance of Right Mental and Emotional

Attitude on the Part of Friends and Relatives

  What has just been said about the patient is true also of his friends and relatives. Disease is
negative. The sick person is exceedingly sensitive to his surroundings. He is easily influenced by
all depressing, discordant and jarring conditions. He catches the expressions of fear and anxiety
in the looks, the words, gestures and actions of his attendants, relatives and friends and these
intensify his own depression and gloomy forebodings.

  This applies especially to the influence exerted by the mother upon her ailing infant. There
exists a most intimate sympathetic and telepathic connection between mother and child. The child
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is affected not only by the outward expression of the mother's fear and anxiety, but likewise by
the hidden doubt and despair in the mother's mind and soul.

  Usually, the first thing that confronts me when I am called to the sickbed of a child is the
frantic and almost hysterical mental condition of the mother, and to begin with, I have to explain
to her the destructive influence of her behavior. I ask her:

  "Would you willingly give some deadly poison to your child?" "Certainly not," she says, to
which I reply:

"Do you realize that you are doing this very thing? That your fear and worry
vibrations actually poison and paralyze the vital energies in the body of your child and
most seriously interfere with Nature's healing processes?

  "Instead of helping the disease forces to destroy your child, assist the healing forces
to save it by maintaining an attitude of absolute faith, serenity, calmness and
cheerfulness. Then your looks, your voice, your touch will convey to your child the
positive, magnetic vibrations of health and of strength. Your very presence will radiate
healing power."

  Then I explain how faith, calmness and cheerfulness on her part will soothe and harmonize
the discordant disease vibrations in the child's body.

  Herein lies the modus operandi or working basis of all successful mental and metaphysical
treatment.

Summary

Natural Methods in the Treatment of Acute Disease

  I. Fresh Air

A. A plentiful supply of pure air in the sickroom.

B. Frequent exposure of the nude body to air and sun light.
C. Patient must not be kept too warm.

  II. Natural Diet

A. The minimum amount of light food, chiefly fruit and vegetable salads, no condiments.
B. Only enough water to quench thirst, preferably mixed with acid fruit juices.
C. In serious acute febrile conditions and during healing crises no food whatever.
D. In diseases affecting the digestive organs fasting must be prolonged several days beyond
cessation of febrile symptoms.
E. Great care must be observed when breaking fast.

  III. Water Treatment

A. Cooling sprays or sponge baths whenever temperature rises.

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 B. Fever and inflammation must not be suppressed by cold-water applications, but kept
below the danger point.
C. Neither ice nor hot applications should be used.
D. Wet packs followed by cold ablutions for elimination of systemic poisons.
E. Separate compresses over seat of inflammation, also at nape of neck.
F. Kind and duration of pack to be determined by condition of patient and object to be
attained.
G. Injections of tepid water to relieve constipation when necessary.

  IV. Medications

A. No poisonous drugs, nor any medicines or applications which may check or suppress the
feverish, inflammatory processes.
B. Homeopathic medicines, herb decoctions and specific nutritional remedies when
indicated.

  V. Manipulative Treatment

Osteopathy, massage or magnetic treatment when indicated and available.

  VI. Mental Attitude

A. Courage, serenity and presence of mind are important factors.

B. Fear and anxiety intensify disease conditions, poison the secretions of the body and
inhibit the action of the healing forces.
C. Do not suppress acute inflammatory and feverish processes by the power of the will.
D. The right mental and emotional attitude of relatives and friends exerts a powerful
influence upon the patient.

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 The True Scope of Medicine
Anyone able to read the signs of the times cannot help observing the powerful influence
which the Nature Cure philosophy is already exerting upon the trend of modern medical science.
In Germany the younger generation of physicians has been forced by public demand to adopt the
natural methods of treatment and the German government has introduced them in the medical
departments of its army and navy.

  In English-speaking countries, the foremost members of the medical profession are
beginning to talk straight Nature Cure doctrine, to condemn the use of drugs and to endorse
unquaIifiedly the Nature Cure methods of treatment. In proof of this I quote from an article by
Dr. William Osler in the Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. X, under the title of "Medicine":

Dr. Osler on Medicine

  "The new school does not feel itself under obligation to give any medicines
whatever, while a generation ago not only could few physicians have held their practice
unless they did, but few would have thought it safe or scientific. Of course, there are still
many cases where the patient or the patient's friends must be humored by administering
medicine or alleged medicine where it is not really needed, and indeed often where the
buoyancy of mind which is the real curative agent, can only be created by making him
wait hopefully for the expected action of medicine; and some physicians still cannot
unlearn their old training. But the change is great. The modern treatment of disease
relies very greatly on the old so-called natural methods, diet and exercise, bathing
and massage--in other words, giving the natural forces the fullest scope by easy and
thorough nutrition, increased flow of blood and removal of obstructions to the excretory
systems or the circulation in the tissues.

  "One notable example is typhoid fever. At the outset of the nineteenth century it
was treated with 'remedies' of the extremest violence--bleeding and blistering, vomiting
and purging, and the administration of antimony and mercury, and plenty of other heroic
remedies. Now the patient is bathed and nursed and carefully tended, but rarely given
medicine. This is the result partly of the remarkable experiments of the Paris and Vienna
schools in the action of drugs, which have shaken the stoutest faiths; and partly of the
constant and reproachful object lesson of homeopathy. No regular physician would ever
admit that the homeopathic preparations, 'infinitesimals,' could do any good as direct
curative agents; and yet it was perfectly certain that homeopaths lost no more of their
patients than others. There was but one conclusion to draw-- that most drugs had no
effect whatever on the diseases for which they were administered."

  Dr. Osler is probably the greatest medical authority on drugs now living. He was formerly
professor of materia medica at the Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore, U. S., and now holds a
professorship at Oxford University, England. His books on medical practice are in use in
probably every university and medical school in English-speaking countries. His views on drugs
and their real value as expressed in this article should be an eye-opener to those good people who
believe that we of the Nature Cure school are altogether too radical, extreme, and somewhat
cranky.

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   However, what Dr. Osler says regarding the "New School" is true only of a few
advanced members of the medical profession.

  On the rank and file, the idea of drugless healing has about the same effect as a red rag on a
mad bull. There are still very few physicians in general practice today who would not lose their
bread and butter if they attempted to practice drugless healing on their patients. Both the
profession and the public will need a good deal more education along Nature Cure lines before
they will see the light.

  In the second sentence of his article, Dr. Osler admits the efficacy of mental therapeutics
and therapeutic faith as a "curative agent," and ascribes the good effects of medicine to their
stimulating influence upon the patient's mind rather than to any beneficial action of the drugs
themselves.

  With regard to the origin of the modern treatment of typhoid fever, however, the learned
doctor is either misinformed or he misrepresents the facts. The credit for the introduction of
hydropathic treatment of typhoid fever does not belong to the "remarkable experiments of the
Paris and Vienna schools." These schools and the entire medical profession fought this treatment
with might and main. For thirty years Priessnitz, Bilz, Ruhne, Father Kneipp and many other
pioneers of Nature Cure were persecuted and prosecuted, dragged into the courts and tried on the
charges of malpractice and manslaughter for using their sane and natural methods. Not until Dr.
Braun of Berlin wrote an essay on the good results obtained by the hydropathic treatment of
typhoid fever and it had in that way received orthodox baptism and sanction, was it adopted by
advanced physicians all over the world.

  Through the Nature Cure treatment of typhoid fever, the mortality of this disease has
been reduced from over fifty percent under the old drug treatment to less than five percent
under the water treatment.

  But the average medical practitioner has not yet learned from the Nature Cure school, that
the same simple fasting and cold water which cure typhoid fever so effectively, will just as
surely and easily cure every other form of acute disease, as, for instance, scarlet fever,
diphtheria, smallpox, cerebrospinal meningitis, appendicitis, etc. Therefore, we claim that there
is no necessity for the employment of poisonous drugs, serums and antitoxins for this
purpose.

  Referring to the last two sentences of Dr. Osler's article, homeopaths have, as a matter of
fact, lost less patients than allopaths. The effect of homeopathic medicine, moreover, is not
altogether negative, as Dr. Osler implies. The discovery of the minute cell as the basis of the
human organism on the one hand and of the unlimited divisibility of matter on the other hand
explains the rationality of the infinitesimal dose. Health and disease are resident in the cell;
therefore, the homeopath doctors the cell, and the size of the dose has to be apportioned to the
size of the patient.

  When Dr. Osler says that most drugs have no effect whatsoever, he makes a serious
misstatement. While they may not contribute anything to the cure of the disease for which they
are given, they are often very harmful in themselves.

  Almost every virulent poison known to man is found in allopathic prescriptions. It is now
positively proved by the Diagnosis from the Eye that these poisons have a tendency to

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accumulate in the system, to concentrate in certain parts and organs for which they have a special
affinity and then to cause continual irritation and actual destruction of tissues. By far the greater
part of all chronic diseases are created or complicated on the one hand by the suppression of acute
diseases by means of drug poisons, and on the other hand through the destructive effects of the
drugs themselves.

  Dr. Schwenninger, the medical adviser of Prince Bismarck, and later of Richard Wagner, the
great composer, has published a book entitled The Doctor. This work is the most scathing
arraignment and condemnation of modern medical practice, especially of poisonous drugs and of
surgery. Dr. Treves, the body physician of the late King Edward of England, is no less outspoken
in his denunciation of drugging than Drs. Osler and Schwenninger.

  Just a few men like these, foremost in the medical profession, who have achieved financial
and scientific independence, can afford to speak so frankly. The great majority of physicians,
even though they know better, continue in the old ruts so as to be considered ethical and
orthodox, and in order to hold their practice. It is not the medical profession that has brought
about this reform in the treatment of typhoid fever and other diseases. They have been
forced into the adoption of the more advanced natural methods through the pressure of the
Nature Cure movement in Germany and elsewhere.

  Dr. Osler's statements, made with due deliberation in a contribution to the Encyclopedia
Americana, are certainly a frank declaration as to the uselessness of drug treatment, and on the
other hand, an unqualified endorsement of natural methods of healing.

  But it seems to me that Dr. Osler pours out the baby with the bath water, as we say in
German. That is, I am inclined to think that his opinion regarding the ineffectiveness of drugs is
entirely too radical. There is a legitimate scope for medicinal remedies insofar as they build
up the blood on a natural basis and serve as tissue foods.

  Many people who have lost their faith in "Old School" methods of treatment have swung
around to the other extreme of medical nihilism. In fact, Dr. Osler himself stands accused of
being a medical nihilist.

  Many of those who have adopted natural methods of living and of treating diseases have
acquired an actual horror of the word medicine. However, this extreme attitude is not justified.

  It also appears that some of the readers of my writings are under the impression that we of
the Nature Cure school absolutely condemn the use of any and all medicines. This, however, is
not so.

The Position of "Nature Cure" Regarding Medicinal Remedies

  We do condemn the use of drugs insofar as they are poisonous and destructive and insofar
as they suppress acute diseases or healing crises, which are Nature's cleansing and healing efforts;
but on the other hand we realize that there is a wide field for the helpful application of medicinal
remedies insofar as they act as foods to the tissues of the body and as neutralizers and eliminators
of waste and morbid materials.

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   In every form of chronic disease there exists in the system, on the one hand, an excess of
certain morbid materials, and on the other hand, a deficiency of certain mineral constituents,
organic salts, which are essential to the normal functions of the body.

  Thus, in all anemic diseases the blood is lacking in iron, which picks up the oxygen in the
air cells of the lungs and carries it into the tissues, and in sodium, which combines with the
carbonic acid (coal gas) that is constantly being liberated in the system and conveys it to the
organs of depuration, especially the lungs and the skin. In point of fact, oxygen starvation is due
in a much greater degree to the deficiency of sodium and the consequential accumulation of
carbonic acid in the system (carbonic acid asphyxiation) than to the lack of iron in the blood, as
assumed by the regular school of medicine.

  Foods or medicinal remedies which will supply this deficiency of iron and sodium in the
organism will tend to overcome the anemic conditions.

  The great range of uric acid diseases, such as rheumatism, calculi, arteriosclerosis, certain
forms of diabetes and albuminuria, are due, on the one hand, to the excessive use of acid-
producing foods, and on the other hand, to a deficiency in the blood of certain alkaline mineral
elements, especially sodium, magnesium and potassium, whose office it is to neutralize and
eliminate the acids which are created and liberated in the processes of starchy and protein
digestion.

  In another chapter I have explained the origin and progressive development of uric-acid
diseases. Our volume on Natural Dietetics will contain additional proof that practically all
diseases are caused by, or complicated with, acid conditions in the system.

  Any foods or medicines which will provide the system with sufficient quantities of the acid-
binding, alkaline mineral salts will prove to be good medicine for all forms of acid diseases.

  The mineral constituents necessary to the vital economy of the organism should, however,
be supplied in the organic form. This will be explained more fully in subsequent pages.

  From what I have said, it becomes apparent that it is impossible to draw a sharp line of
distinction between foods and medicines. All foods which serve the above-named purposes are
good medicines, and all nonpoisonous herb extracts, homeopathic and vitochemical remedies that
have the same effect upon the system are, for the same reason, good foods.

  The medical treatment of the Nature Cure school consists largely in the proper selection and
combination of food materials. This must be so. It stands to reason that Nature has provided
within the ranges of the natural foods all the elements which Man needs in the way of food and
medicine.

  But it is quite possible that, through continued abuse, the digestive apparatus has become so
weak and so abnormal that it cannot function properly, that it cannot absorb and assimilate from
natural foods a sufficient quantity of the elements which the organism needs. In such cases it may
be very helpful and indeed imperative to take the organic mineral salts in the forms of fruit, herb
and vegetable juices, extracts or decoctions. Among the best of these food remedies are extracts
of leafy vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, Scotch kale, cabbage, Swiss chard, etc. These
vegetables are richer than any other foods in the positive mineral salts. The extract may be
prepared from one or more of these vegetables, according to the supply on hand or the tolerance
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of the digestive organs and the taste and preference of the patient. They should be ground to a
pulp in a vegetable grinder, then pressed out in a small fruit press, which can be secured in any
department store. One or two teacups per day will be sufficient to supply the needs of the system
for mineral salts. This extract should be prepared fresh every day.

  Then there are the Kneipp Herb Remedies. Most of these are the Hausmittel [home
remedies] of the country population of Germany which have proved their efficacy since time
immemorial. Their medicinal value lies in the organic mineral salts which they contain in large
quantities and in beneficial combinations.

  The homeopathic medications, as will be explained at length in another chapter, produce

their good results because they work in harmony with the Laws of Nature.

  We never hesitate, therefore, to prescribe for our patients homeopathic medicines, herb
decoctions and extracts, and the vitochemical remedies which assist in the elimination of morbid
matter from the system and in building up blood and lymph on a normal basis, that is, remedies
which supply the organism with the mineral elements in which it is deficient in the organic,
easily assimilable form. Herein lies the legitimate scope of medicinal remedies.

  All medicinal remedies which build up the system on a normal, natural basis and increase its
fighting power against disease without in any way inflicting injury upon the organism are
welcome to the adherents of the Nature Cure methods of treatment.

  On the other hand, we do not use any drugs or medicines which tend to hinder, check or
suppress Nature's cleansing and regenerating processes. We never give anything in the least
degree poisonous. We avoid all anodynes, hypnotics, sedatives, antipyretics, laxatives, cathartics,
etc. Judicious fasting, cold-water applications and, if necessary, warm-water injections in case of
constipation will do everything that is claimed for poisonous drugs.

Inorganic Minerals and Mineral Poisons

  For many years past, physicians of the different schools of medicine, diet experts and food
chemists have been divided on the question whether or not mineral substances which in the
organic form enter into the composition of the human body may safely be used in foods and
medicines in the inorganic form.

  The medical profession holds almost unanimously that this is permissible and good practice,
so that nearly every allopathic medical prescription contains some such inorganic substance, or
worse than that, one or more virulent mineral poisons, as mercury, arsenic, phosphorus, etc.

  So far, the discussion about the usefulness or harmfulness of inorganic minerals as foods
and medicines was largely theoretical and controversial. Neither party had positive proofs for its
contentions.

  But Nature's records in the iris of the eye settle the question for good and for ever. One of
the fundamental principles of the science of Diagnosis from the Eye is that "nothing shows in
the iris by abnormal signs or discolorations except that which is abnormal in the body or
injurious to it." When substances which are uncongenial or poisonous to the system accumulate
in any part or organ of the body in sufficient quantities, they will indicate their presence by
certain signs and abnormal colors in the corresponding areas of the iris.
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   In this way Nature makes known by her records in the eye what substances are injurious to
the body, and which are harmless.

  Certain mineral elements, such as iron, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium,

phosphorus, sulfur, etc., which are among the important constituents of the human body, may be
taken in the organic form in fruits and vegetables, or in herb extracts and the vitochemical
remedies, in large amounts, in fact, far beyond the actual needs of the body, but they will not
show in the iris of the eye, because they are easily eliminated from the system.

  If, however, the same minerals be taken in the inorganic form in considerable quantities, the
iris will exhibit certain well-defined signs and discolorations in the areas corresponding to those
parts of the body in which the mineral substances have accumulated.

  Obviously, Nature does not intend that these mineral elements should enter the organism in
the inorganic form, and therefore the organs of depuration are not able to neutralize and eliminate
them.

  Thus, for instance, any amount of iron may be taken in vegetable or herb extracts, or in the
vitochemical remedies, but this will not be seen in the eye. Whatever is taken in excess of the
needs of the body will be promptly eliminated.

  If, however, similar quantities of iron be taken for the same length of time in the inorganic,
mineral form, the iron will accumulate in the tissues of stomach and bowels, and begin to show in
the iris in the form of a rust brown discoloration in the corresponding areas of the digestive
organs, directly around the pupil.

  In similar manner sodium, which is one of the most important mineral elements in the
human body, if taken in the inorganic form, will show in a heavy, white rim along the outer edge
of the iris. Sulfur will show in the form of yellowish discolorations in the area of stomach and
bowels. Iodine in the medicinal, inorganic form, prepared from the ash of seaweeds, shows in the
iris in well-defined bright red spots. Phosphorus appears in whitish streaks and clouds in the areas
corresponding to the organs in which it has accumulated.

  An interesting exception to this rule is our common table salt (sodium chloride), which is an
inorganic mineral combination. So far, diagnosticians from the eye have not discovered any sign
in the iris for it. There seems to be something in its nature that makes it akin to organic
substances or, like other inorganic minerals and their combinations, it would show in the iris.

  This might explain why salt is the only inorganic mineral substance which is extensively
used as food by humanity in general. Also animals who, guided by their natural instincts, are the
finest discriminators in the selection of foods and medicines, do not hesitate to take salt freely
(salt licks) when they would not touch any other inorganic mineral.

  Nevertheless, we do not wish to encourage the excessive use of salt, either in the cooking of
food or at the table. Taken in considerable quantities, it is undoubtedly injurious to the tissues of
the body.

  Before the days of canned goods, scurvy was a common disease among mariners and other
people who had to subsist for long periods of time on salted meats and were deprived of fresh
vegetables. The disease manifested as a breaking down of the gums and other tissues of the body,
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accompanied by bleeding and much soreness. As soon as these people partook of fresh fruits and
vegetables, the scurvy disappeared.

  The minerals contained in these organic salts foods furnished the building-stones which
imparted tensile strength to the tissues and stopped the disintegration of the fleshy structures.

  The Nature Cure regimen aims to provide sodium chloride as well as the other mineral
elements and salts required by the body in organic form in foods and medicines.

  When the use of inorganic minerals is discontinued and when the proper methods of
eliminative treatment, dietetic and otherwise, are applied, these mineral substances are gradually
dislodged and carried out of the system. Simultaneously with their elimination disappear their
signs in the iris and the disease symptoms which their presence had created in the organism.

  In this connection it is a significant fact that those minerals which are congenial to the
system, that is, those which in their organic form enter into the composition of the body, are
much more easily eliminated if they have been taken in the inorganic form, than those substances
which are naturally foreign and poisonous to the human organism, such as mercury, arsenic,
iodine, the bromides, the different coal-tar preparations, etc.

  This is proved by the fact that the signs of the minerals which are normal constituents of the
human body disappear from the iris of the eye much more quickly than the signs of those
minerals which are foreign and naturally poisonous to the system.

  The difficulty we experience in eliminating mineral poisons from the body would seem to
indicate that Nature never intended them to be used as foods or medicines. The intestines,
kidneys, skin, mucous membranes and other organs of depuration are evidently not constructed or
prepared to cope with inorganic, poisonous substances and to eliminate them completely.
Accordingly, these poisons show the tendency to accumulate in certain parts or organs of the
body for which they have a special affinity and then to act as irritants and destructive corrodents.

  The diseases which we find most difficult to cure, even by the most radical application of
natural methods, are cases of drug-poisoning. Substances which are foreign to the human
organism, and especially the inorganic, mineral poisons, positively destroy tissues and organs,
and are much harder to eliminate from the system than the encumbrances of morbid materials and
waste matter produced in the body by wrong habits of living only. The obvious reason for this is
that our organs of elimination are intended and constructed to excrete only such waste products as
are formed in the organism in the processes of metabolism.

  Tuberculosis or cancer may be caused in a scrofulous or psoriatic constitution by

overloading the system with meat, coffee, alcohol or tobacco; but as soon as these bad habits are
discontinued, and the organs of elimination stimulated by natural methods, the encumbrances will
be eliminated, and the much-dreaded symptoms will subside and disappear, often with surprising
rapidity.

  On the other hand, mercury, arsenic, quinine, strychnine, iodine, etc., accumulate in the
brain, the spinal cord, and the cells and tissues of the vital organs, causing actual destruction and
disintegration. The tissues thus affected are not easily rebuilt, and it is exceedingly difficult to stir
up the destructive mineral poisons and to eliminate them from the system.

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 Therefore it is an indisputable fact that many of the most stubborn, so-called incurable
diseases are drug diseases

The Importance of Natural Diet

  While certain medicinal remedies in organic form may be very useful in supplying quickly
a deficiency of mineral elements in the system, we should aim to keep our bodies in a normal,
healthy condition by proper food selection and combination. A brief description of the scientific
basis of "Natural Dietetics" will be found in the chapter on Diet.

  Undoubtedly, Nature has supplied all the elements which the human organism needs in
abundance and in the right proportions in the natural foods, otherwise she would be a very
ignorant organizer and provider.

  We should learn to select and combine food materials in such a manner that they supply all
the needs of the body in the best possible way and thus insure perfect health and strength without
the use of medicines.

  Why should we attempt to cure anemia with inorganic iron, hyperacidity of the stomach
with baking soda, swollen glands with iodine, the itch with sulfur, rickets conditions in infants
with lime water, etc., when these mineral elements are contained in abundance and in live,
organic form in fruits and vegetables, herbs and in the vitochemical remedies?

  Unfortunately, however, a great many individuals, through wrong habits of living and of
treating their ailments, have ruined their digestive organs to such an extent that they are incapable
of properly assimilating their food and require, at least temporarily, stimulative treatment by
natural methods and a supply of the indispensable organic mineral salts through medicinal food
preparations.

  In such cases the mineral elements must be provided in the most easily assimilable form in
vegetable extracts (which should be prepared fresh every day), and in the vitochemical remedies.

  What has been said is sufficient, I believe, to justify the attitude of the Nature Cure school
toward medicines in general. It explains why we avoid the use of inorganic minerals and
poisonous substances, while on the other hand we find a wide and useful field for medicinal
remedies in the form of blood and tissue foods.

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 Homeopathy
When we recommend the use of homeopathic remedies, the medical nihilist says: "Don't talk
homeopathy to me! I didn't come to you for drugs; I have had enough of them."

  When we explain that these remedies are so highly refined that they cannot possibly do any
harm, he becomes still more indignant. "I don't need any of your mental therapeutics in
homeopathic form," he exclaims. "I, too, believe in the power of mind over matter, but I have no
faith in your sugar of milk pellets; they are poor substitutes for the real article. That kind of sugar-
coated suggestion might work on some people, but it doesn't on me."

  When I first entered upon the study of medicine, I, too, did not believe in the curative power
of homeopathic doses; but experience caused me to change my mind. The well-selected remedy
administered at the right time often works wonders.

  True homeopathic medicines in high-potency doses are so highly refined and rarefied that
they cannot possibly produce harmful results or suppress Nature's cleansing and healing efforts;
on the contrary, if employed according to the Law of Homeopathy: "like cures like," they assist in
producing acute reactions or healing crises, thus aiding Nature in the work of purification and
repair.

  Homeopathy Works with the Laws of Cure, Not Against Them. Similia similibus
curantur (like cures like) translated into practice means that a drug capable of producing a certain
set of disease symptoms in a healthy body, when given in large, physiological doses, will relieve
or cure a similar set of symptoms in the diseased organism if the drug be given in small,
homeopathic doses.

  For instance, belladonna, given in large, poisonous doses to a healthy person, will cause a
peculiar headache with sharp, stabbing pains in forehead and temples, high fever, violent
delirium, dilation of the pupils, dryness and rawness of the throat, scarlet redness of the skin and
extreme sensitiveness to light, jars and noises.

  It will be observed that this is a fair picture of a typical case of scarlet fever. A homeopathic
prescriber, when called to a scarlet fever patient exhibiting in a marked degree three or more of
the above-described symptoms, would give a trituration of belladonna, say 6x. In numberless
cases the fever has subsided and its symptoms have rapidly disappeared under such treatment.

  The reader may say: "I do not see any difference between this and the allopathic suppression
of disease by drugs."

  There is a great difference. The allopathic physician may use the same remedy, belladonna,
in the same case, but he will give from ten to twenty drops of tincture of belladonna, repeated
every three or four hours. These doses are from twenty to forty thousand times stronger than the
homeopathic 3x or 6x.

  Herein lies the difference. The allopathic dose allays the fever symptoms by paralyzing the
organism as a whole and the different vital organs and their functions in particular. This is frankly

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admitted in every allopathic materia medica. But by such dosing Nature is forcibly interrupted in
her efforts of cleansing and healing; the acute reaction is suppressed, but not cured.

  If fever is a healing effort of Nature, it may be controlled and modified, but must not be
suppressed. A minute dose of homeopathic belladonna, acting on the innermost cells of the
organism which the coarser allopathic doses would paralyze, stimulates these cells to effort in the
right direction. It brings about conditions similar to those produced by Nature, and thus assists
her; it is cooperation instead of counteroperation.

  After this brief discussion of the practical application of homeopathy, let us now ascertain in
how far its laws and theories agree with and corroborate the laws and principles of the Nature
Cure school.

  Hahnemann discovered the Law of similia similibus curantur accidentally, while

investigating the effects of quinine on the human organism. Ever since then it has been applied
successfully by him and his followers in treating human ailments.

  However, this law has been used empirically. Neither in the Organon nor in any other
writings or teachings of Hahnemann and the homeopathic school can be found a clear and concise
explanation of why like cures like. The proof offered has been negative rather than positive.

  Therefore the allopath says: "You tell me that 'like cures like,' and that you can prove it at
the sickbed; but unless you can give me good and valid reasons why it should be so, I cannot and
will not believe that it is your 'similar' which cures the patient. How do I know it is your
'potency'? The patient might recover just as well without it."

  With the aid of the three laws of cure, I shall endeavor to give the reasons and furnish the
proofs for our contentions. The laws alluded to are: The Law of Cure, the Law of Dual Effect
and the Law of Crises.

  Similia similibus curantur is only another way of stating the fundamental Law of Nature
Cure: "Every acute disease is the result of a cleansing and healing effort of Nature."

  If a certain set of disease symptoms are the result of a healing effort of Nature, and if I give
a remedy which produces the same or similar symptoms in the system, am I not aiding Nature in
her attempt to overcome the abnormal conditions?

  In such a case, the indicated homeopathic remedy will not suppress the acute reaction, but it
will help it along, thus accelerating and hastening the curative process.

  In the last analysis, disease resides in the cell. The well-being of the organism as a whole is
dependent upon the health of the individual cells of which it is composed. This has been
explained more fully in connection with the action of stimulants.

  In order to cure the man, we must free the cell of its encumbrances. Elimination must begin
in the cell, not in the organs of depuration. Laxatives and cathartics, by irritating the digestive
tract, may cause a forced evacuation of the contents of the intestinal canal, but they do not
eliminate the poisons which clog cells and tissues.

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   In stubborn chronic diseases, when the cells are too weak to throw off the latent
encumbrances of their own accord, a well-chosen homeopathic remedy is often of great service in
arousing them to acute reaction.

  For instance, if the system is heavily encumbered with scrofulous taints and if its vitality is
lowered to such an extent that the individual cell cannot of itself throw off the morbid
encumbrances by means of a vigorous, acute effort, sulfur, if administered in doses sufficiently
triturated and refined to affect the minute cells composing the organism, will start disease
vibrations similar to those of acute scrofulosis, and thus give the needed impetus to acute
eliminative activity on the part of the individual cell.

  The acute reaction, once started, may develop into vigorous forms of scrofulous elimination,
such as skin eruptions, glandular swellings, abscesses, catarrhal discharges, etc.

Are High-Potency Doses Effective?

  The question now arises: How large or how small must the dose be in order to affect the
minute cells?

  In the administration of medicines, the size of the dose is adjusted to the size of the patient.
If half a grain of a certain drug is the normal dose for an adult, the proper dose of the same drug
for a small infant, say, less than a year old, may be about one twenty-fifth of the adult dose. How
small, in proportion, should then be the dose given to a cell a billion times as small as the infant?

  The dose given to an adult would paralyze or perhaps kill an infant. In like manner the
minute cell would be benumbed and paralyzed by the drug suited to the infant's organism.

  But this is how allopathy effects its fictitious cures. It suppresses inflammatory processes by
paralyzing the cells and organs and their vital activities.

  Homeopathy adapts the smallness of the dose to the smallness of the cell which is to be
treated. Herein lies the reasonableness of the high-potency dose.

The Personal Responsibility of the Cell

  The cell resembles Man not only in physical and physiological aspects, but also in regard to
the moral law.

  Elimination must commence in the cell and by virtue of the cell's personal effort. Its work
cannot be done vicariously by drugs or the knife. Large, allopathic doses of medicine may be
given with the idea of doing the work for the cell by violently stimulating or else paralyzing the
organism as a whole or certain ones of the vital organs; but this is demoralizing and destructive to
the cell. The powerful doses calculated to affect the body and its organs as a whole make
superfluous or paralyze the individual efforts of the cells and thus intensify the chronic disease
conditions in cells and tissues.

  Alms-giving, prison sentences and capital punishment have a similar allopathic effect upon
Man, the individual cell of the social body. Instead of providing for him the proper environment

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and the opportunity for natural development and for working out his own salvation, they take this
opportunity away from him and weaken his personal effort or make it impossible.

The Efficacy of Small Doses

  The late revelations of chemistry, Roentgen rays, x-rays, radio-activity of metals, etc., throw
an interesting light upon the seemingly infinite divisibility of matter. A small particle of a given
substance may for many years throw off a continuous shower of corpuscles without perceptibly
diminishing its volume.

  For an illustration we may take the odoriferous musk. A few grains of this substance will fill
a room with its penetrating aroma for years. When we smell musk or any other perfume, minute
particles of it bombard the end filaments of the nerves of smell in the nose. Therefore the musk
must be casting off such minute particles continually without apparent loss of substance.

  With the aid of this recent knowledge of the true nature of matter, of the minuteness and
complexity of the atom, we can now understand how the highly triturated and refined (attenuated)
homeopathic remedy may still retain the dynamic force of the element, as Hahnemann has
expressed it, and how a remedy so attenuated may still be capable of exerting an influence upon
the minute cell. Since chemistry and physiology have acquainted us with the finer forces of
Nature, demonstrating that they are mightier than the things we can apprehend by weight and
measure, the claims of homeopathy do not appear so absurd as they did a generation ago.

  Undoubtedly, the good effect produced by a well-chosen remedy is heightened and

strengthened by the mental and magnetic influence of the prescriber. The positive faith of the
physician in the efficacy of the remedy, his sympathy and his indomitable will to assist the
sufferer affect both the physical substance of the remedy and the mind of the patient.

  The varying mental and magnetic qualities of prescribers have undoubtedly much to do with
the varying degrees of efficaciousness of the same remedy when administered by different
physicians.

  The true Hahnemannian homeopath, who believes in his remedies as in his God, will
concentrate his intellectual and spiritual forces on a certain remedy in order to accomplish certain
well-defined results. The bottle is not allowed to become empty. Whenever the graft runs low, it
is replenished with distilled water, alcohol, milk sugar, or another "vehicle." Every time he takes
the medicine bottle into his hands, these potent thought forms are projected into it: "You are the
element sulfur. You produce in the human body a certain set of symptoms. You will produce
these symptoms in the body of this patient."

  If there is any virtue at all in magnetic, mental and spiritual healing, the homeopathic
remedy must be an effective agency for transmitting magnetic, mental and psychic healing forces
from prescriber to patient.

  Transmission of these higher and finer forces, whether directly, telepathically or by means
of some physical agent, such as magnetized water, a charm or simile, etc., is the modus operandi
in all the different forms of ancient and modern magic, white or black. It is the active principle in
mental healing, Christian Science, sympathy healing, voodooism, witchcraft, etc.
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 Homeopathy and the Law of Dual Effect

  I have formulated the Law of Action and Reaction in its application to the treatment of
diseases as follows:

"Every agent affecting the human organism has two effects: a first, apparent,
temporary one and a second, lasting one. The second effect is directly opposite to the
first."

  Allopathy, in giving large, physiological doses, takes into consideration only the first,
apparent effect of the drug, and thereby accomplishes in the long run results directly opposite to
those which it desires to bring about. It produces the very conditions it tries to cure. As an
example, note the permanent effects of laxatives, stimulants and sedatives upon the system. This
has been explained more fully in Chapter Six.

  On the other hand, the homeopathic physician may use the same remedies as the allopath,
provided they produce symptoms similar to those of the disease, but he administers the different
drugs in such minute doses that their first effect is noticed only as a slight "homeopathic
aggravation," while their second and lasting effect is relied upon to relieve and cure the disease.

  In other words, homeopathy produces as the first effect the condition like the disease, and
counts on the second and lasting effect of the drug to bring about a permanent change.

  If, in accordance with the Law of Dual Effect as applied to drugs, the primary, temporary
effect of the homeopathic remedy is equal to the disease, it is self-evident that the secondary,
lasting effect of the remedy must be equal to the cure.

  This law has been proved by homeopathy for over a hundred years. An experienced
homeopathic prescriber would no more doubt it than he would doubt the Law of Gravitation.

Homeopathy and the Law of Crises

  Therefore, if the remedy be well chosen in accord with the Law of similia similibus
curantur, the first homeopathic aggravation, which corresponds to the crisis of Nature Cure, will
be followed by speedy and perfect readjustment. Nature has her way, the disorder runs its course,
and the return to normal conditions will be quicker and more perfect than if the homeopathic
remedy had not been employed or if Nature's healing processes had been forcibly interrupted and
suppressed by large, poisonous allopathic doses. Homeopathy assists Nature in removing the old
encumbrances, whereas allopathy changes the acute, inflammatory healing effort into chronic,
destructive disease.

The Economics of Homeopathy

  The Law of like cures like is of great practical importance from another point of view,
namely, that of economics.

  The best engineer is the one who accomplishes the maximum of results with the minimum
of expenditure of force and with the least friction. The same is true of the physician and his
remedies.

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   We have learned that drugs given in the coarse allopathic doses attack and affect the
organism as a whole. If, for instance, there is a catarrhal affection of the serous and mucous
membranes of the respiratory tract accompanied by fever, the allopath will give quinine in large
doses to change this condition. He may accomplish his aim; but if so, he does it by paralyzing the
heart, the respiratory centers, the red and white blood corpuscles and the excreting cells of the
mucous membranes. The body as a whole and certain parts in particular are saturated with the
drug poison and correspondingly weakened. As allopathy itself states it: "Quinine reduces fever
by depressing the metabolism" (the vital functions).

  Homeopathic materia medica teaches that Bryonia has a special affinity for the mucous and
serous membranes of the respiratory tract and that its symptomatic effects correspond closely to
those described in the preceding paragraph.

  If, in accordance with the Law of similia similibus curantur, a homeopathic dose of Bryonia
be given to a patient exhibiting these symptoms, the remedy, as has been demonstrated, will assist
Nature in her work of cure; and in doing this, it will not attack and affect the entire organism, but
only those serous and mucous tissues for which it has a special affinity and which, as in the case
of this patient, are the most seriously affected.

  To state it in another way: the large, allopathic dose paralyzes the whole organism in
order to produce its fictitious cure. The small, homeopathic dose, on the other hand, goes right
to the spot where it is needed, and by mild and harmless stimulation of the affected parts, assists
and supports the cells in their acute eliminative efforts.

  Homeopathic medication, therefore, is not only curative in its effects, but also conservative
and in the highest degree economic.

Homeopathy, a Complement of Nature Cure

  Having proved the accuracy of Hahnemann's Law of similia similibus curantur, and having
occasion daily to observe its practical results in the treatment of acute and chronic diseases, we
should not be justified in omitting homeopathy from our system of treatment. The attenuated
homeopathic doses of certain drugs may be of great service in bringing about the acute reactions
which we so earnestly desire, especially in the treatment of chronic diseases of long standing.

  I am aware of the fact that in severe and obstinate conditions homeopathy is often
apparently of no avail. But when the system has been purified and strengthened by our natural
methods, by a rational vegetarian diet, hydrotherapy, chiropractic or osteopathy, massage,
corrective exercise, air and sun baths, normal suggestion, etc., the homeopathic remedies will
work with much greater promptitude and effectiveness.

  It is the combination of all the different healing factors which constitutes the perfect
system of treatment.

  No disease condition, whether apparently hopeless or not, can be called incurable unless all
these different healing factors, properly combined and applied, have been given a thorough trial.
It is no charlatanic boasting, but the simple truth, when we affirm that the different natural
methods of treatment, as we of the Nature Cure school apply them, can and do cure so-called
incurable diseases, such as tuberculosis, cancer, locomotor ataxy, epilepsy, eczema, neurasthenia,
insanity and the worst forms of chronic dyspepsia and constipation, always providing that the
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patient possesses sufficient vitality to react to the treatment and that the destruction of vital parts
and organs has not advanced too far.

The Diphtheria Antitoxin

IN this country the antitoxin treatment for diplitheria is still in high favor, while in Germany,
where it originated, many of the best medical authorities are abandoning its use on account of its
doubtful curative results and certain destructive after-effects.

  According to the enthusiastic advocates of this treatment among the "regular" physicians in
this country, the antitoxin is a "certain cure" for diphtheria; but how is this claim borne out by
actual facts?

  The Health Bulletins sent regularly to every physician in the City of Chicago by the City
Health Department show an average of from fifteen to twenty deaths every week from diphtheria
treated with antitoxin.

  I do not deny that the antitoxin treatment may have reduced somewhat the mortality
percentage of this disease, allowing even for the great uncertainty of medical statistics. But we of
the Nature Cure school claim and can prove that the hydropathic treatment of diphtheria
shows a much lower percentage of mortality than the antitoxin treatment.

  The crucial point to be considered in this connection is: What are the after-effects of the
different methods of treatment?

  This is a very important matter. I make the following claims:

1. That the antitoxin, being itself a most powerful poison, may be and often is the direct
cause of paralysis, or of death due to heart-failure.
2. That diphtheria treated with antitoxin may be and often is followed by paralysis, heart-
failure, or lifelong invalidism of some kind after the patient has apparently recovered
from the disease.
3. That these undesirable after-effects of diphtheria do not occur when the disease is treated
by natural methods, but that they are the result of the antitoxin treatment and of its
suppressive effect upon the disease.

  To prove my claims, I submit the following facts: I have in my possession clippings from
newspapers from different parts of the country stating that death had followed the administration
of the diphtheria antitoxin for prevention or "immunization," that is, where the individual had
been in good health at the time the antitoxin was given.

  Several cases of this kind created quite a sensation in Germany about fifteen years ago. Dr.
Robert Langerhans, superintendent of the Moabit Hospital in Berlin, a strong advocate of the
antitoxin treatment and also of vaccination, had been one of a committee of three appointed by
the municipal government of the German metropolis to investigate the efficiency of the diphtheria
antitoxin. As a result of his findings, he had recommended its free distribution to the poor of the
City of Berlin.

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   Not long thereafter the doctor's cook was suddenly taken ill with severe pains in the throat
and sent to the hospital. It was thought to be a case of diphtheria, and the doctor, to protect his
little son, one and one-half years old, against possible infection, administered an injection of
antitoxin. Shortly afterward the child developed symptoms of blood-poisoning and died of heart-
failure within twenty-four hours.

  It is customary in Germany to insert a death-notice in one of the local newspapers and to
invite the friends of the family to the funeral. In his announcement in the columns of the
"Lokalanzeiger," Dr. Langerhans stated explicitly that his little son had died after an injection
of diphtheria antitoxin for immunization.

  Another similar case is that of Dr. Pistor, a prominent Berlin physician, whose little
daughter contracted a slight inflammation of the throat. The child was given an injection of
antitoxin, and this was followed by a severe and protracted illness.

  Very significant, in this connection, are certain utterances of Dr. William Osler in his
"Practice of Medicine. " He says, on page 150:

  "Of the sequelae of diphtheria, paralysis is by far the most important. This can be
experimentally produced in animals by the inoculation of the toxic material produced by the
bacilli. [This is the active principle in the antitoxin. Author's note] The paralysis occurs in a
variable proportion of the cases, ranging from 10 to 15 and even to 20 per cent. It is strictly a
sequel of the disease [of the disease treated with antitoxin?--Author's note], coming on usually in
the second or third week of convalescence. . . . It may follow very mild cases; indeed, the local
lesion may be so trifling that the onset of the paralysis alone calls attention to the true
nature of the disease. . . .

  "The disease is a toxic neuritis, due to the absorption of the poison. . . .

  "Of the local paralysis the most common is that which affects the palate. . . . Of other local
forms perhaps the most common are paralysis of the eye muscles. . . . Heart symptoms are not
uncommon. . . . Heart-failure and fatal syncope (death) may occur at the height of the disease or
during convalescence, even as late as the sixth or seventh week after apparent recovery."

  It appears to me that the mystery of these "sequelae" can easily be explained. It is certain
that a mere "sore throat, " not serious enough to be diagnosed as diphtheria, cannot produce
paralysis or heart-failure; but we know positively that the antitoxin can do it and does do it. The
cases that Dr. Osler refers to undoubtedly received the antitoxin treatment, because it is
administered on the slightest suspicion of diphtheria, nay, even to perfectly healthy persons "for
purposes of immunization."

  Then is it not most likely that these "mysterious after-effects" are caused rather by the
highly poisonous antitoxin than by the "sore throat?"

  In my own practice, I am frequently consulted by chronic patients whose troubles date back
to diphtheria "cured" by antitoxin. Among these I have met with several cases of idiocy and
insanity, with many cases of partial paralysis, infantile paralysis, and nervous disorders of a most
serious nature, also with various other forms of chronic destructive diseases.

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   In the iris of the eye, the effect of the antitoxin on the system shows as a darkening of the
color. In many instances, the formerly blue or light-brown iris assumes an ashy-gray or brownish-
gray hue.

  My secretary who is taking this dictation and who has brown eyes, tells me that her mother
informed her that up to her tenth year her eyes had been of a clear blue. About that time she had
several attacks of diphtheria and a severe "second" attack of scarlet fever, which were treated and
"cured" under the care of an allopathic physician. She does not remember whether she was given
antitoxin, but recalls that her throat was painted and her body rubbed with oil, and that she had to
take a great deal of medicine. Since that time her eyes have turned brown. They show plainly the
rust-brown spots of iodine in the areas of the brain, the throat, and other parts of the body.

  The effect upon the iris of the eye would be very much the same whether the attacks of
diphtheria had been suppressed by antitoxin or by the old-time drug treatment. A significant fact
in this connection is that, since Mrs. C. is with us, following natural methods of living and under
the effects of the treatments which she has been taking regularly for several months, her eyes
have become much lighter and in places the original blue is visible under the brown. The nerve
rings in the region of the brain, which were very marked when she came to us, have become less
defined. There is a corresponding improvement in her general health, and especially in the
condition of her nerves.

  In regard to my claim that undesirable after-effects do not occur under treatment by
natural methods, I wish again to call attention to the fact that for fifty years the Nature Cure
physicians in Germany have proved that hydropathic treatment of diphtheria is not followed by
paralysis, heart-failure, or the different forms of chronic, destructive diseases.

  This has been confirmed by my own experience in the treatment of diphtheria and other
serious acute ailments. 

A Reply to My Critics

  My discussions of the germ-theory of disease and of the vaccine, serum, and antitoxin
treatment in a series of articles entitled: "Harmonies of the Physical" and published in "Life and
Action" called forth a great deal of adverse criticism from physicians of the regular school of
medicine. The following paragraphs are extracts from a letter sent by one of these critics to the
editor of the above-named magazine:

  " . . . I am convinced that some statements have been published in this particular issue
[October-Decemher, 1912] which have no proper place in this magazine, the earnest champion of
the cause of Truth and the official organ of expression of the U. S. headquarters of the movement
which you evidently have at heart."

  Dr. E. then refers to certain passages in my article in the October-December, 1912, number
of "Life and Action," and comments upon them by quoting Drs. Osler and Andrews in favor of
the antitoxin treatment in diphtheria and by giving his own opinion on the subject. He concludes
his arguments as follows:

  "I am a subscriber to this magazine and have also had my sister's name put on the mailing
list. She has a little boy about two years old. Now, suppose she should read that article of Dr.
Lindlahr's, and as a result, refuse to permit the use of antitoxin, and if the boy should get
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diphtheria, with a fatal issue as a result, I could hardly feel gratified over the fact that I had placed
that reading-matter at her disposal. I fully appreciate the fact that such an unhappy result might
easily ensue in some one or more of the families who read 'Life and Action' and look upon its
columns as a source of the truly higher light."

  Perhaps Dr. E. has not read one of Dr. Osler's latest and strongest utterances, his unqualified
endorsement of natural methods of healing in the Encyclopedia Americana, quoted on page 154
of this volume.

Nature Cure in Germany

  That it is possible to cure all kinds of serious acute diseases by drugless methods of healing,
has been proved by the Nature Cure practitioners in Germany, nearly all of whom were laymen
who had never visited a medical school. For over half a century, many thousands of them have
been practicing the art of healing in all parts of Germany. With hydrotherapy and the other
natural methods they have treated successfully typhoid fever. diphtheria, smallpox, appendicitis,
cerebro-spinal meningitis and all other acute diseases.

  It is a significant fact that, in spite of the most strenuous opposition and appeal to the law-
making powers on the part of the regular school of medicine, the lay doctors could not be
prevented from practicing the natural methods of treatment in law-and police-ridden Germany.

  On the contrary, during the last few generations there have been practicing in Germany at all
times an ever increasing number of Nature Cure physicians, most of them laymen.

  This freedom of Nature Cure practice in Germany is entirely due to the success of its
methods.

  And this success has been demonstrated in spite of all kinds of opposition and attempted
restriction. While the Nature Cure practitioner is permitted to treat those who come to him for
relief, he does not have the right to cover his mistakes with six feet of earth. If one of his patients
dies, a doctor of the regular school of medicine has to be called in to testify to the fact and issue
the death-certificate.

  Thus the "lay doctors," the "Nature Cure physicians," were and are at present constantly
exposed to the strictest critical supervision by the "regulars," and if the latter can prove that a
patient has died because the natural methods were inefficient or harmful, the lay practitioner can
be prosecuted for and convicted of malpractice or man-slaughter.

  But in point of fact, while a number of these lay physicians were brought before the courts,
in no instance could the actual harmfulness of the methods employed by them be proven. The
natural methods of treatment became so popular that, as a matter of self-preservation, the younger
generation of physicians in Germany had to fall in line with the Nature Cure idea in their practice.

  Since Dr. E. so strongly questions the efficacy of our methods, I may be permitted to say
something about my own professional experience.

Nature Cure in America

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   During the last ten years, I have treated and cured all kinds of serious acute diseases without
resorting to allopathic drugs. In a very extensive practice, I have not in all these years lost a single
case of appendicitis (and not one of them was operated upon), of typhoid fever, diphtheria,
smallpox, scarlet fever, etc., and only one case of cerebro-spinal meningitis and of lobar
pneumonia. These facts may be verified from the records of the Health Department of the City of
Chicago.

  After the foregoing statements, I leave it to my readers to judge whether the Nature Cure
philosophy is inspired by blind fanaticism and based upon ignorance and inexperience, or
whether it is justified in the light of scientific facts advanced by the Regular School of Medicine
itself and demonstrated by the wonderful success of the Nature Cure movement in Germany,
which in its different forms has attained world-wide recognition and adoption.

  There is a popular saying: "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." The following letter
will explain itself:

January 20, 1913.

Dear Dr. Lindlahr:--

  You may remember that last winter, Mrs. White and I attended your Sunday afternoon
lectures in the Schiller Building. Those lectures were an education--I might better say a revelation
and an inspiration.

  On the 11th of November last, our boy, aged thirteen years, was taken ill with diphtheria. I
called at your office and asked your advice. You replied: "You know what to do--wet packs, no
food except fruit juices, osteopathic treatment and no antitoxin. "

  We called an osteopathic physician, who at once sent a specimen from the boy's throat to the
city laboratory, where it was pronounced diphtheria. A physician from the Board of Health came
and quarantined us and inquired if we had used the antitoxin treatment. When Mrs. White replied
"No," he said: "I suppose you know that the percentage of deaths of those who do not have it is
very high." She said: "Yes, I know, but we do not intend to use it."

  The boy had all the acute symptoms, was drowsy, with headache, and on the second day his
temperature went to 105 degrees. We applied the wet body pack and by night had reduced his
temperature to 100 degrees. With the aid of the osteopathic treatment, which he had each night,
the boy slept well all through big illness. On the fifth day, the membrane spread from his throat to
his nose, and his temperature rose again; but the wet body packs again reduced it so that it was
never again over 100 degrees.

  The boy was bright, his mind was clear, he was able to read, and after the first week was
able to play chess with his mother. The only unfavorable symptom he had at all was an irregular
pulse. He took no medicine and no food except fruit juices. We used occasionally the warm water
enema. On the tenth day he took a little lamb broth, but refused it the next day, and again asked
for fruit juices. It was not until two weeks had passed that his appetite returned and he began to
eat. He lost flesh, but did not lose strength in the same degree--he was able to go to the bathroom
each day unaided.

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   On the 21st day, the osteopathic physician sent a specimen to the city laboratory which they
pronounced "positive," and the city physician found it necessary to take as many as four or five
additional specimens before he pronounced him free from the diphtheria germ. The boy was not
released from quarantine until five weeks had passed.

  During all this time his only attendant was his mother and the osteopathic physician who
came daily. The boy has fully recovered and has suffered no bad results that often follow such
diseases.

  In contrast to this experience of ours, I would like to cite the case of a neighbor of ours
whose little girl died of the disease under the antitoxin treatment. She recovered from the
diphtheria, but her heart failed and she died suddenly. They had a regular M. D. and a trained
nurse. Her mother took ill, but recovered. The father told me that their drug bill alone amounted
to $75.

  We want to express to you our gratitude for the knowledge and confidence that you have so
freely given to us, and you are at liberty to make whatever use of this letter that you desire.

Sincerely yours,

HINTON WHITE
1443 Cuyler Ave., Chicago, Ill.

  This letter proves that my claims and assertions regarding the curability of diphtheria by
natural methods are not extravagant or untrue. In this case, as in many others, I gave directions
for treatment verbally and over the telephone without having seen the patient personally.

  I am convinced, furthermore, that this patient would have made just as good a recovery
without the osteopathic treatment. I recommended the attendance of an osteopathic physician in
order to ease the burden of responsibility on the part of the parents. If the child had died, they
would have been blamed by friends and relatives for their seeming foolhardiness.

  The experience of Mr. White's neighbor is another proof of the fatal effect of the antitoxin
treatment. The antitoxin "cured" the diphtheria, but-the child died!

  Once more I repeat: The hydropathic treatment will give equally good results in
appendicitis, meningitis, scarlet fever, and all other forms of acute diseases. If this be a fact, why
should not my colleagues of the Regular School of Medicine give the hydropathic method a fair
trial, the more so since in Germany, even among the physicians of the Regular School,
hydropathy as a remedy is fast superseding antitoxin! Is it not worth while when the "mysterious
sequelae" referred to by Dr. Osler, and the many cases of chronic invalidism which he does not
connect with the disease or its treatment, might thus be avoided?

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 Vaccination
The pernicious aftereffects of vaccination upon the system are similar to those of the various
serum and antitoxin treatments.

  Jenner, an English barber and chiropodist, is usually credited with the discovery of
vaccination. The doubtful honor, however, belongs in reality to an old Circassian woman who,
according to the historian Le Duc, in the year 1672 startled Constantinople with the
announcement that the Virgin Mary had revealed to her an unfailing preventive against the
smallpox.

  Her specific was inoculation with the genuine smallpox virus. But even with her the idea
was not an original one, because the principle of isopathy (curing a disease with its own disease
products) was explicitly taught a hundred years before that by Paracelsus, the great genius of the
Renaissance of learning of the Middle Ages. But even he was only voicing the secret teachings of
ancient folklore, sympathy healing and magic dating back to the Druids and Seers of ancient
Britain and Germany.

  The Circassian seeress cut a cross in the flesh of people and inoculated this wound with the
smallpox virus. Together with this she prescribed prayer, abstinence from meat and fasting for
forty days.

  As at that time smallpox was a terrible and widespread scourge, the practice of inoculation
was carried all over Europe. At first the operation was performed by women and laymen; but
when vaccination became popular and people were willing to pay for it, the doctors began to
incorporate it into their regular practice.

  Popular superstitions run a very similar course to epidemics. They have a period of
inception, of virulence and of abatement. As germs and bacteria become inactive and die a natural
death in their own poisonous excreta, so popular superstitions die as a natural result of their own
falsities and exaggerations.

  It soon became evident that inoculation with the virus did not prevent smallpox, but, on the
contrary, frequently caused it; and therefore the practice gradually fell into disuse, only to be
revived by Jenner about one hundred years later in a modified form. He substituted cowpox virus
for smallpox virus.

  Modern allopathy, in applying the isopathic principle, gives large and poisonous doses of
virus, lymph, serums and antitoxins, while homeopathy, as did ancient mysticism, applies the
isopathic remedies in highly diluted and triturated doses only.

  From England vaccination gradually spread over the civilized world and during the
nineteenth century the smallpox disease (variola) constantly diminished in virulence and
frequency until today it has become of comparatively rare occurrence.

  "Therefore vaccination has exterminated smallpox," say the disciples of Jenner.

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   Is that really so? Is vaccination actually a preventive of smallpox? This seems very doubtful
when the advocates of vaccination themselves do not believe it. "What," I hear them say, "we do
not believe in our own theory?" Evidently you do not, my friends. If you believe that vaccination
protects you against smallpox, why are you afraid of catching it from those who are not
vaccinated? If you are thoroughly protected, as you claim to be, how can you catch the disease
from those who are not protected? Why do you not allow the other fellow to have his fill of
smallpox and then enjoy a good laugh on him? The fact of the matter is you know full well that
you are not safe, that you can catch the disease just as readily as the unprotected.

  German statistics are more reliable than those of any other country. In the years of 1870-71
smallpox was rampant in the Fatherland. Over 1,000,000 persons had the disease, and 120,000
died. Ninety-six percent of these had been vaccinated and only four percent had not been
protected. Most of the victims were vaccinated, once at least, shortly before they took the
disease.

  In 1888 Bismarck sent an address to the governments of all the German states in which it
was admitted that numerous eczematous diseases, even those of an epidemic nature, were
directly attributable to vaccination and that the origin and cure of smallpox were still unsolved
problems.

  In this message to the various legislatures the great statesman said: "The hopes placed in the
efficacy of the cowpox virus as a preventive of smallpox have proved entirely deceptive."

  Realizing this to be a fact, most of the German governments have modified or entirely
relinquished their compulsory vaccination laws.

  "But," our opponents insist, "you cannot deny that smallpox has greatly diminished since the
almost universal adoption of vaccination."

  Certainly the disease has diminished. But so have diminished and, in fact, nearly
disappeared the plague, the Black Death, cholera, the bubonic plague, yellow fever and
numerous other epidemic pests which only recently decimated entire nations.

  Not one of these epidemics was treated by vaccination. Why, then, did they abate and
practically disappear?

  Not vaccination, but the more universal adoption of soap, bathtubs, all kinds of
sanitary measures, such as plumbing, drainage, ventilation and more hygienic modes of
living generally have subdued smallpox as well as all other plagues.

  Many of us remember how the yellow fever raged in Havanna during the Spanish
occupancy. Within two months after the energetic Yankees took possession and gave the filthy
city a good scouring, yellow fever had entirely disappeared--without any yellow fever
vaccination.

  The question is now in order why, of all the dreaded plagues of the past, smallpox alone
survives to this day.

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   The answer is: on account of vaccination. If scrofulous and syphilitic poisons were not
artificially kept alive in human blood by vaccination, smallpox would by this time be as rare as
cholera and yellow fever.

  Thanks to the oft-repeated compulsory vaccination of every citizen, young and old, we as a
nation have become saturated with the smallpox virus. Is it any wonder that every once in a while
this latent taint breaks out in acute epidemics?

  Undoubtedly, the almost universal systematic contamination and degeneration of vital fluids
and tissues, not alone with vaccine virus, but also with many other filthy serums, antitoxins and
drug poisons, account in a large measure for the steady increase of tuberculosis, cancer, insanity
and a multitude of other chronic destructive diseases unknown among primitive people that have
not come in contact with the blessings (?) of vaccination.

  By weakening the system's reactionary powers against one disease, its reactionary powers
against all diseases are weakened. In other words, creating in the body a form of chronic
smallpox by means of vaccination favors the development of all kinds of chronic diseases.

  Quit sowing the seed, gentlemen, and you will cease reaping the harvest. By the mercurial
suppression of syphilis and by means of vaccination you are perpetuating smallpox.

  What has syphilis to do with smallpox? They are very closely related, and similar in
appearance, symtomatology and in their effects upon the organism.

  A German physician, Dr. Cruwell, who studied the subject thoroughly, says: "Every
vaccination with so-called cowpox virus means syphilitic infection. Cowpox is not a disease
peculiar to cattle; it is always due to syphilitic or smallpox infection from the diseased hands of
human beings. Cowpox pustules have been found only on the udders of milk cows which came in
contact with human hands. Cattle roaming in pasture and prairie have never been affected by
cowpox, nor have domesticated steers and oxen. If this disease were a disorder peculiar to cattle,
both sexes would be equally affected. Jenner's cowpox was caused by the diseased hands of the
syphilitic milkmaid, Sarah Nehnes."

  Vaccination of healthy children and adults is often followed by a multitude of symptoms

which cannot be distinguished from syphilis, viz., characteristic ulcers and eczematous eruptions,
swellings of the axillary and other lymphatic glands, atrophy of the mammary glands in the
breasts of women and of girls above the age of puberty, etc.

  This explains the constantly growing demand for "bust foods" and "bust developers." A
perfectly developed bust has become so rare that many hundreds of beauty doctors and of
business concerns that make a specialty of developing the flat-bosomed realize thousands of
dollars annually. One firm in this city, and a small concern at that, has made from $2,500 to
$5,000 a year and has over ten thousand names on its constantly increasing list of patrons.

  It is reasonable to assume that almost without exception these ten thousand women had been
vaccinated from one to three times before the age of puberty. When this is realized, and the fact
that vaccination dries up the mammary glands is taken into account, is it not time to pause and
consider?

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   The figures of this one small concern represent the report of only one out of several hundred
such firms doing business in all parts of the country.

  Some years ago, a disease similar to smallpox broke out among the sheep in certain parts of
Scotland. As a preventive, the sheep were vaccinated. In the course of a few years it was
noticed that a great many ewes were unable to nourish their lambs. With the discontinuance
of vaccination this phenomenon disappeared.

  Does this help to explain why nowadays over fifty percent of human mothers are incapable
of nursing their babies?

Looking Forward

  At present the trend of allopathic medical science is undoubtedly toward the serum,
antitoxin and vaccine treatment. Practically all medical research tends that way. Every few days
we see in the daily papers reports of new serums and antitoxins which are claimed to cure or
create immunity to certain diseases.

  Suppose the research and practice of medical science continue along these lines and are
generally accepted or, as the medical associations would have it, forced upon the public by law.
What would be the result? Before a child reached the years of adolescence, it would have had
injected into its blood the vaccines, serums, and antitoxins of smallpox, hydrophobia, tetanus
(lockjaw), cerebro-spinal meningitis, typhoid fever, diphtheria, pneumonia, scarlet fever, etc.

  If allopathy were to have its way, the blood of the adult would be a mixture of dozens of
filthy bacterial extracts, disease taints and destructive drug poisons. The tonsils and adenoids, the
appendix vermiformis and probably a few other parts of the human anatomy would be extirpated
in early youth under compulsion of the health departments.

  What is more rational and sensible: the endeavor to produce immunity to disease by making
the human body the breeding ground for all sorts of antibacteria and antipoisons, or to create
natural immunity by building up the blood on a normal basis, purifying the body of morbid
matter and poisons, correcting mechanical lesions and by cultivating the right mental attitude?
Which one of these methods is more likely to be disease-building, which health-building?

  Just imagine what human blood will be like in coming generations if this artificial
contamination with all sorts of disease taints and drug poisons is to be forced upon the people!

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 Surgery
The discoverers of anesthetics are classed among the greatest benefactors of humanity,
because it is believed that ether, chloroform, cocaine and similar nerve-paralyzing agents have
greatly lessened the sum of human suffering. I doubt, however, that this is true.

  Anesthetics have made surgery technically easy and have done away with the pain caused
directly by the incisions; but on the other hand, these marvelous effects of pain-killing drugs have
encouraged indiscriminate and unnecessary operations to such an extent that at least nine-tenths
of all the surgical operations performed today are uncalled for. In most instances these ill-advised
mutilations are followed by lifelong weakness and suffering, which far outweigh the temporary
pains formerly endured when unavoidable operations were performed without the use of
anesthesia.

  We do not wish to be understood as condemning unqualifiedly any and all surgical
interventions in the treatment of human ailments. An operation may occasionally be absolutely
necessary as a means of saving life. Surgery is also indicated in cases of injury, such as wounds
or fractured bones, in certain obstetrical complications and in other affections of a purely
mechanical nature.

  In all such cases anesthetics prevent much suffering which cannot be avoided in any other
way. But anyone who has had an opportunity to watch the prolonged misery of the victims of un-
called-for operations will not doubt that anesthesia has been a two-edged sword which has
inflicted many more wounds than it has healed.

  Many physicians have recognized more or less distinctly the uselessness and harmfulness of
"Old School" medical treatment. Dissatisfied and disgusted with old-fashioned drugging, they
turn to surgery, convinced that in it they possess an exact scientific method of curing ailments.
They seem to think that the surest way to cure a diseased organ is to remove it with the knife--
fine reasoning for school boys, but not worthy of men of science.

  I, for my part, cannot understand how an organ can be cured after it has been extirpated and,
preserved in alcohol, adorns the specimen cabinet of the surgeon.

Destruction or Cure--Which Is Better?

  "But," the surgeon says, "we do not remove organs from the body unless they have become
useless."

  However, this claim is not borne out by actual facts. During the past ten years thousands of
patients have come under our treatment, both in the sanitarium and in the downtown offices,
whose family physicians had declared that in order to save their lives they must submit to the
knife without delay. With very few exceptions these people were cured by us without using a
poisonous drug, an antiseptic or a knife.

  Several women who, years ago, were confronted with removal of the ovaries, are today the
joyful mothers of children. Many of our former patients, who were treated by "Old School"
physicians for acute or chronic appendicitis and were strongly urged to have the offending organ

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removed, are today alive and well and still in possession of their vermiform appendices. Other
patients were threatened with operations for kidney, gall and bladder stones; fibroid and other
tumors; floating kidneys; stomach troubles; intestinal and uterine disorders, not to mention the
multitude of children whose tonsils and adenoids were to have been removed. All of these
onetime surgical cases have escaped the knife and are doing very well indeed with their bodies
intact and in possession of the full quota of organs given them by Nature.

  Is it not better to cure a diseased organ than to remove it? Nature Cure proves every day
that the better way is at the same time the easiest way.

  Thousands of men and women operated upon for some local ailment which could have been
cured easily by natural methods of treatment are condemned by these inexcusable mutilations to
lifelong suffering. Many, if not actually suffering pain, have been unnecessarily unsexed and in
other ways incapacitated for the normal functions and natural enjoyments of life.

  Cases of this kind are the most pitiable of all that come under our observation. When we
learn that a major operation has been performed upon a consultant, our barometer of hope drops
considerably. We know from much experience that the mutilation of the human organism has a
tendency to lessen the chances of recovery; such patients are nearly always lacking in
recuperative power.

  A body deprived of important parts or organs is forever unbalanced. It is like a watch with a
spring or a wheel taken out; it may run, but never quite right; it is hypersensitive and easily
thrown out of balance by any adverse influence.

The Human Body Is a Unit

  We are realizing more and more that the human body is a homogeneous and harmonious
whole, and that we cannot injure one part of it without damaging other parts and often the entire
organism. Cutting in the vital organs means cutting in the brain. It affects the functions of the
nervous system most profoundly.

  A physician in Vienna has written a very interesting book in which he shows that the inner
membranes of the nose are in close relationship and sympathy with distant parts and organs of the
body. He located in the nose one small area which corresponds to the lungs. By irritating this area
with an electric needle he could provoke asthmatic attacks in patients subject to this disease. By
anesthetizing the same area he could stop immediately severe attacks of asthma and of coughing.
Another area in the nasal cavity corresponds to the genital organs. The doctor proved that by
electric irritation applied to this area abortions could be produced, and that by anesthesia of the
same area in the nose, uterine hemorrhages could be stopped.

  These and many other facts of experience throw a wonderful light upon the unity of the
human organism. The body resembles a watch. You cannot injure one part of it without affecting
its entire mechanism.

  The evil aftereffects of surgical operations do not always manifest at once. On the contrary,
the surgical treatment is frequently followed by a period of seeming improvement. The
troublesome local symptoms have been removed, and aftereffects of the mutilation have not had
time to assert themselves. But sooner or later the old symptoms return in aggravated form, or a
new set of complications arises. The patient is made to believe that the first operation was a
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perfect success and that this latest crop of difficulties has nothing to do with the former, but is
something entirely new. At other times he is assured that the first operation did not go deep
enough, that it failed to reach the seat of the trouble and must be done over again.

  And so the work of mutilation goes merrily on. The disease poisons in the body set up one
center of inflammation after another. These centers the surgeon promptly removes; but the real
disease, the venereal, psoriatic or scrofulous taint, the uric or oxalic acid, the poisonous alkaloids
and ptomaines affecting every cell and every drop of blood in the body, these elude the surgeon's
knife and create new ulcers, abscesses, inflammations, stones, cancers, etc., as fast as the old ones
are extirpated.

  Those who have studied the previous chapters carefully will readily comprehend these facts.
They will know that acute and sub acute conditions represent Nature's cleansing and healing
efforts, and that local suppression by drug or knife only serves to turn Nature's corrective and
purifying activities into chronic disease.

  The highest art of the true physician is to preserve and to restore, not to mutilate or destroy.

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 Chronic Diseases
The "Old School" of medical science defines acute diseases as those which run a brief and
more or less violent course and chronic diseases as those which run a protracted course and have
a tendency to recur.

  Nature Cure attaches a broader and more significant meaning to these terms. This will have
become apparent from our discussion of the causes, the progressive development and the purpose
of acute diseases in the preceding pages.

  From the Nature Cure viewpoint, the chronic condition is the latent, constitutional disease
encumbrance, whereas acute disease represents Nature's efforts to rectify abnormal conditions, to
overcome and eliminate hereditary or acquired morbid taints and systemic poisons and to
reestablish normal structure and functions.

  To use an illustration: In a case of permanent or recurrent itchy psoriasis, the "Old School"
physician would look upon the itchy skin eruption as the chronic disease, while we should see in
the external eczema an attempt of the healing forces of Nature to remove from the system the
inner, latent hereditary or acquired psora, which constitutes the real chronic disease.

  It stands to reason that the exterior eruptions should not be suppressed by any means
whatever, but that the only true and really effective method of treatment consists in eliminating
from the organism the inner, latent psoric taint. After this is accomplished, the external "skin
disease" will disappear of its own accord.

  As another illustration of the radical difference in our respective points of view, let us take
hemorrhoids (piles). The regular physician considers the local hemorrhoidal enlargements in
themselves the chronic disease, while the Nature Cure practitioner looks upon hemorrhoids as
Nature's effort to rid the system of certain morbid encumbrances and poisons which have
accumulated as a result of sluggish circulation, chronic constipation, defective elimination
through kidneys, lungs, and skin and from many other causes.

  These constitutional abnormalities, which are the real chronic disease, have to be treated and
corrected. After this has been done, the hemorrhoidal enlargements and discharges will take care
of themselves.

  It is, therefore, absolutely irrational, and frequently followed by the most serious
consequences, to surgically remove the piles or to suppress the hemorrhoidal discharges and
thereby to drive these concentrated poison extracts back into the system.

  In a number of cases we have traced paralysis, insanity, tuberculosis, cancer and other
forms of chronic destructive diseases to the forcible suppression of hemorrhoids.

  Chronic disease, from the viewpoint of Nature Cure philosophy, means that the organism
has become permeated with morbid matter and poisons to such an extent that it is no longer able
to throw off these encumbrances by a vigorous, acute eliminative effort. The chronic condition,
therefore, represents the slow, cold type of disease, characterized by feeble, ineffectual efforts to

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eliminate the latent morbid taints and impediments from the system. These efforts may take the
form of open sores, skin eruptions, catarrhal discharges, chronic diarrhea, etc.

  If acute diseases are treated in harmony with Nature's laws, they will leave the body in a
purer, healthier condition. But if the treatment is wrong, if under the "Old School" methods fever
and inflammation (Nature's methods of elimination) are checked and suppressed with poisonous
drugs, serums and antitoxins or if, instead of purifying and invigorating cells and tissues, the
affected parts and organs are removed with the surgeon's knife, Nature is not allowed to get rid of
the disease matter, and the poisonous taints and morbid encumbrances remain in the organism.

  In this way originate the worst forms of chronic diseases which now afflict civilized
races.

  The truth of this assertion is proved by the fact that chronic diseases we know are rare
among the primitive peoples of the earth, such as the early indiginous people of Africa and
Australia or the Eskimos of the arctic regions. They are not found among people who do not use
drugs. All the different forms of venereal disease, chronic rheumatism, chronic indigestion, etc.,
are unknown in those countries whose inhabitants live in harmony with Nature. The reason is that
these people have not learned to suppress Nature's acute purifying and healing efforts by
poisonous drugs and surgical operations.

The Cell

  Let us now study the actual condition of the cells, tissues and organs of the body in chronic
disease.

  We know that the human body is made up of billions of minute cells of living protoplasm.
Though these cells are so small that they have to be magnified under the microscope several
hundred times before we can see them, they are independent living beings which are born, grow,
eat, drink, throw off waste matter, multiply, decline and die just like the large conglomerate cell
which we call Man.

  Each one of these little cells has its own business to attend to, whether it be assimilation,
elimination, nervous activities and functions, etc.

  If these little beings are well individually, the man is well. If they are starved or ailing, the
entire man is similarly affected. The whole depends upon the parts. In the human body as well as
in a nation or a city, the welfare of the entire community depends upon the well-being of its
individual members.

  If governing bodies would realize and apply these truths, and pay more attention to
providing wholesome surroundings and proper conditions of living for their subjects, to an
adequate supply of pure food and a normal combination of work and rest, instead of
concentrating their best efforts upon restrictive and punitive measures (allopathic treatment),
there would be no social problems to solve.

  It is our duty to provide the most favorable conditions of living for the little cells that make
up the individual human organism. If we do that, there will be no occasion for disease. Natural
immunity will be the result.

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   Herein lies the vital difference between the attitude of Nature Cure and that of the allopathic
school toward disease. The latter spends all its efforts in fighting the disease symptoms, while the
former confines itself to creating health conditions in the habits and surroundings of the patient,
from the standpoint that the disease symptoms will then take care of themselves, that they will
disappear on account of nonsupport. It is the application of the injunction "Resist not Evil" to the
treatment of physical disease.

  Under the influence of wrong habits of living and the suppressive treatment of diseases, all
forms of waste and morbid matter (the feces of the cells), together with food, drink and drug
poisons accumulate in the system, affect the cells and obstruct the tiny spaces (interstices)
between them. These morbid encumbrances impinge upon and clog the blood vessels, the nerve
channels and the other tissues of the body. This is bound to interfere with the normal functions of
the organism, and in time lead to deterioration and organic destruction.

  In this connection we wish to call attention to a difference in viewpoint between the school
of osteopathy and the Nature Cure school. Osteopaths and chiropractors attribute disease almost
entirely to "impingement" (abnormal pressure) upon nerves and blood vessels due to dislocations
and subluxations of the vertebrae of the spine and of other bony structures. They do not take
into consideration the impingement upon and obstruction of nerve channels and blood
vessels all through the system caused by local or general encumbrances of the organism
with waste matter, morbid products, and poisons that have accumulated in cells and tissues.

The Life of the Cell

  Every individual cell must be supplied with food and with oxygen. These it receives from
the red arterial blood. The cells must also be provided with an outlet for their waste products.
This is furnished by the venous circulation, which represents the drainage system of the body. If
this drainage is defective, the effect upon the organism is similar to the effect produced upon a
house when the excretions and discharges of its inhabitants are allowed to remain in it.

  Furthermore, every cell must be in unobstructed communication with the nerve currents of
the organism. Most important of all, it must be in touch with the sympathetic nervous system
through which it receives the Life Force which vivifies and controls all involuntary functions of
the cells and organs in the human body.

  Each individual cell must be supplied with nerve fibers which convey its sensations and
needs to headquarters, the nerve centers in brain and spinal cord. Also, each cell must be
connected with other nerve filaments which carry impulses from the cranial, spinal and
sympathetic centers to the cell, governing and directing its activities.

  For instance, if the cell be hungry, thirsty, cold or in pain, it telegraphs these sensations to
headquarters in the brain or spinal cord and from there directions necessary to comply with the
needs of the cell are sent forth in the form of nerve impulses to the centers controlling the
circulation, the food and heat supply, the means of protection, etc.

  This circuit of communication from the cell over the afferent nerves to the nerve centers in
the brain or spinal cord, and from these centers over the efferent nerves back to the cell or to other
cells is called the reflex arc.

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   Let us use an illustration: Suppose the fingers come in close contact with a hot iron. The
cells in the finger tips experience a sensation of burning pain. At once this sensation is
telegraphed over the afferent nerves to the nerve centers in the brain or spinal cord. In response to
this call of distress the command comes back over the efferent nerve filaments: "Withdraw the
fingers!" At the same time the impulse to withdraw the fingers is sent over the motor nerves to
the muscles and ligaments which control the movements of the hand.

  If the means of communication between the different parts of the organism are obstructed or
cut off entirely, the individual cell is bound to deteriorate and to die, just like a person lost in a
barren wilderness and cut off from his fellowmen must perish.

  In warfare it is a well-known fact that if one of the contending armies succeeds in cutting off
the telegraphic communication of the other army with its headquarters, the activities of that other
army are seriously handicapped. So the waste materials in the system, the disease taints, narcotic
and alcoholic poisons, etc., obstruct the nerve passages, and thus interfere with the functions of
the cell by cutting off its means of communication.

  What has been said will serve to elucidate and emphasize the necessity of perfect
cleanliness, inside as well as outside of the body. It justifies the dictum of Kuhne, the apostle of
Nature Cure: "Cleanliness is Health." Anything that in any way interferes with or obstructs the
circulation of vital fluids and nerve currents in the system is bound to create the abnormal
conditions and functions which constitute disease.

  When the morbid encumbrances and obstructions in the organism have reached the point
where they seriously interfere with the nourishment, drainage and nerve supply of the cells, the
latter cannot perform their activities properly, nor can they rid themselves of the impediment.
They may be compared to people who are forced to live in bad, unwholesome surroundings and
who cannot do their best work under these unfavorable conditions from which they cannot
escape.

  In this way originates chronic disease, which means that the cells have become incapable of
arousing themselves to acute eliminative effort in the form of inflammatory febrile reactions.

  In my lectures I sometimes liken the cell thus encumbered with morbid matter and poisons
to a man buried in a mine under the debris of a cave in such a manner that it is impossible for him
to free himself of the earth and timbers which are pinning him down. In such a predicament the
man is unable to help himself. His fellow workers or his friends must come to his aid and remove
the obstructing masses until he can assist them and free himself.

  This is a good illustration of the condition of the cells of the body in chronic disease. They
also have become unable to help themselves and need assistance until they can once more arouse
themselves to self-help by means of an acute eliminative effort.

  What can we do to help them? We must endeavor in the flrst place to furnish the cells
with the right nourishment. We must abstain from everything that may be injurious to the body
in food and drink, so as to relieve the cells of all unnecessary work.

  Whatever one may think of vegetarianism as a continuous mode of living, a little

consideration will make it plain that a rational vegetarian diet is the sine qua non in the cure of
chronic diseases. It builds up the blood on a normal basis, excludes all food and drink poisons and
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thereby gives the organism an opportunity to throw off the old accumulations of waste and
morbid materials.

  In chronic disease, every drop of blood and every cell of the organism is affected. In order to
produce a cure, the old tissues must be broken down and removed and new tissues built up. The
more thorough the change in diet, the greater and more rapid will be the changes for the better in
cells and tissues, especially if only pure and eliminating foods are used.

  For these reasons it is advisable to omit most red-blooded meat while under the natural
treatment. All animal flesh contains the morbid secretions and other waste products of the animal
organism, and this means additional work for the cells already overburdened with systemic
poisons.

  Then we must work for elimination. Cold water applied to the surface of the body is the
most powerful stimulant to the circulation. It actually pumps and pushes the blood through the
system. One feels the blood rushing through the arteries and veins with greater force.

  The cold-water treatment makes the skin more alive and active, stirs up and accelerates the
circulation throughout the system and thus promotes the elimination of systemic poisons through
the skin.

  This stimulating effect of cold water upon the organism has been proved by counting the
number of red blood corpuscles in a drop of blood before and after the application of the cold
"blitzguss." They were found to have doubled in number. That does not mean that in an instant
again as many red blood corpuscles had come into existence, but it does mean that before the cold
"guss" one-half of them were dozing lazily in the corners. The cold water stirred them up, forced
them into the circulation, made them travel and attend to business.

  Another powerful means to promote elimination is thorough, systematic massage. The

kneading, rolling, twisting and clapping actually squeezes the stagnant morbid matter and the
waste products out of the tissues into the circulation, to be carried off through the venous
drainage and allows the red blood with its nourishment and fresh supply of oxygen to flood the
cells and organs.

  Massage is also very effective as a means of regulating the blood supply in the system. In
every chronic disease there is obstruction or congestion in some part of the organism, causing
high blood pressure in the interior of the body and insufficient blood supply to the external parts,
especially the extremities. Massage distributes the blood quickly and evenly.

  Of great importance is osteopathy. All dislocations, luxations and subluxations of bones
and ligaments should be corrected by expert manipulation. As a matter of fact, hardly a person
can be found today whose spine is not abnormal in one way or another, just as there is hardly a
single normal human eye [as far as iridology markings are concerned].

  Manipulative treatment adjusts the lesions of the spine and other bony structures, thus
removing abnormal pressure upon the nerves and blood vessels and establishing a free and
abundant flow of nerve and blood currents.

  Air and light baths, by stimulating the skin in a natural manner to increased activity, also
contribute to the attainment of the various good results just described.
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   Next comes physical exercise. Corrective and curative movements combined with deep
breathing promote the combustion (oxidation) of morbid materials and in this way facilitate their
elimination from the system.

  Life itself is dependent upon breathing. The Life Force enters the body with every breath we
draw. Show me a man with well-developed, full-breathing lungs, and I will show you a man with
good vitality.

  Last but not least among the natural methods of treating the cell in chronic disease we
mention the right mental and emotional attitude. Fear, anxiety and all kindred emotions
congeal the nerve matter and thereby shut off the supply of nerve force. The cells and tissues
starve and freeze. On the other hand, the emotions of hope, confidence and cheerfulness relax and
open blood vessels and nerve channels and allow the free and unobstructed inflow and circulation
of vital energy.

  The different methods of natural treatment and their practical application in chronic diseases
will be discussed in detail in subsequent chapters.

  When through natural methods of living and of treatment the morbid encumbrances have
been removed sufficiently to provide and maintain normal blood supply, better venous drainage
and the unobstructed flow of the nerve currents, when lesions of the bony structures have been
corrected by skilful adjustment, and when, through right mental attitude, a free and abundant
inflow of Life Force has been established, then the cells and tissues of the body become once
again able to arouse themselves to an acute eliminative effort, and the organism is ready for a
healing crisis.

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 Crises
Crisis in the ordinary sense of the word means change, either for better or for worse. In its
relation to medicine, the term "crisis" has been defined as "a decisive change in the disease,
resulting either in recovery or in death."

  We of the Nature Cure school distinguish between healing crises and disease crises,
according to the character and the tendency of the acute reaction. If an acute disease is brought
about through the accumulation of morbid matter or the invasion of disease germs to such an
extent that the health or the life of the organism is endangered, in other words, if the disease
conditions are forcing the crises, we speak of disease crises.

  But if acute reactions take place in the system because conditions have become more
normal, because the healing forces have gained the ascendancy and forced the acute inflammatory
processes, we call them healing crises.

  Healing crises are simply different forms of elimination by means of which Nature
endeavors to remove the latent, chronic disease encumbrance from the system. The most common
forms of these acute purifications are colds, catarrhal and hemorrhoidal discharges, boils, ulcers,
abscesses, open sores, skin eruptions, diarrheas, etc.

  Healing crises and disease crises may seem very much alike. Patients often tell me: "I
have had this before. I call it an ordinary boil (or cold, or fever)."

  That may be true. The former disease crisis and the present healing crisis may be similar in
their outward manifestations. But they are taking place under entirely different conditions.

  When the organism is loaded to the danger point with morbid matter, it may arouse itself in
self-defense to an acute eliminative effort in the shape of cold, catarrh, fever, inflammation, skin
eruption, etc. In these instances, the disease conditions bring about the crisis and the organism is
on the defensive. These are disease crises.

  Such unequal struggles between the healing forces and disease conditions sometimes end
favorably and sometimes unfavorably.

  On the other hand, healing crises develop because the healing forces are in the ascendancy
and take the offensive. They are brought about through the natural methods of living and of
treatment and always result in improved conditions.

  A simple allegory may assist me in explaining the difference between a healing crisis and a
disease crisis:

  For years a prizefighter holds the championship because he keeps himself in perfect physical
condition and before every contest spends many weeks in careful training. When he faces his
opponent in the ring, he has eliminated from his organism as much waste matter and superfluous
flesh and fat as possible by a strictly regulated diet and a great deal of hard exercise. As a
consequence, he comes off victorious in every contest and easily maintains his superiority.

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   These victories in his career, like healing crises in the organism, are the result of training
and preparation.

  The prizefighter in the one case and Vital Force in the other are on the offensive from the
beginning of the struggle and have the best of the fight from start to finish.

  Rendered overconfident by long-continued success, our champion gradually permits himself

to drift into a weakened physical condition. He omits his regular training and indulges in all kinds
of dissipation.

  One day, full of self-conceit and underestimating the strength of his challenger, he enters the
ring without preparation and is ingloriously defeated by a man who, under different
circumstances, would not be a match for him.

  So, in the case of a patient in a disease crisis, fatal termination may be due to the excessive
accumulation of waste and morbid matter in the system, to lowered vitality and to lack of
preparation. Victory or defeat in acute reactions as well as in the ring depends on right living and
preparatory training.

  In the healing crisis, vitality is the stronger and gains the victory in the struggle; in the
disease crisis, disease conditions have gained the ascendancy and may bring about the defeat of
the healing forces.

  Under conditions favorable to human life, a body of normal structure, healthy blood
and tissues and good vitality cannot be affected by acute disease. Such an organism is
practically immune to all forms of inflammatory febrile reactions. These always indicate that
there is something wrong in the system which Nature is trying to correct or get rid of.

Healing Crises

  In Chapter Two "Catechism of Nature Cure," we defined healing crises" as follows: "A
healing crisis is an acute reaction, resulting from the ascendancy of Nature's healing forces over
disease conditions. Its tendency is toward recovery, and it is, therefore, in conformity with
Nature's constructive principle." The possibility of producing healing crises and thereby curing
chronic ailments depends upon the following conditions:

1. The patient must possess sufficient vital energy and powers of reaction to respond to the
natural treatment and to a change of habits.
2. The destruction and disorganization of vital fluids and organs must not have advanced
too far.

  Some patients become frightened at the idea of crises. They exclaim: "I came here to get
well, not to grow worse."

  However, there is no occasion for alarm. Healing crises occur in mild form only because,
under the influence of natural living and treatment, Nature has the best of the fight. The healing
forces of the organism have gained the ascendancy over the disease conditions.

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   In fact, Nature never undertakes a healing crisis until the system has been prepared for
it, until the organism is sufficiently purified and strengthened to conduct the acute reaction to a
favorable termination.

  Furthermore, it is well to remember that crises cannot be avoided, because it is through

fevers and inflammatory processes that Nature effects the cure--that she tears down the old to
build up the new.

  On the other hand, if patients are possessed of exceptionally good vitality and if the organs
of elimination are in good working order, the purification and adjustment of the organism may
occasionally proceed gradually without the occurrence of marked acute reactions or crises.

Healing Crises, When Properly Conducted,

Are Never Fatal to Life

  When well assisted by the right, natural methods of living and of treatment, healing crises
are never dangerous or fatal to life. The only danger lies in suppressing these acute reactions by
drugs, knife, the ice bag or any means whatever.

  If acute reactions are suppressed, the constructive healing crisis may be changed into a
destructive disease crisis. Therefore we earnestly warn our patients never to interfere in any way
with a healing crisis lest the chronic condition (which resulted from the suppression of the
original disease) become worse than before.

  When Nature, with all the force inherent in the human organism, has finally worked up to
the point of a healing crisis, another defeat by a new suppression may be beyond her powers of
endurance and recuperation. Fatal collapse may then be the result.

  Therefore, take heed! If you are not willing to endure the healing crises, do not undertake
the treatment. When you have conjured up the hidden demons of disease, you must have the
courage to face and subdue them. Nothing good in life comes to us except as we pay the price. He
who is too cowardly to conquer in a healing crisis may perish in a disease crisis.

Drugs Versus Healing Crises

  Our explanations of the natural laws of cure and of natural therapeutics are often greeted by
"Old School" physicians and students with remarks like the following:

  "You speak as if you had the monopoly of eliminative treatment and of the production of
crises. With our laxatives, cathartics, diuretics, diaphoretics and tonics, we are doing the same
thing. What is more effectual for stimulating a sluggish liver and cleansing the intestinal tract
than calomel followed by a dose of salts? What will produce more profuse perspiration than
pilocarpin; or what is a better stimulus to the kidneys than squills or buchu? Can we not by means
of stimulants and depressants regulate heart action to a nicety?

  "We accomplish all this in a clean, scientific manner, without resorting to unpleasant dieting
and to barbarous applications of douches, packs and manual treatments. Isn't it more dignified
and professional to write a Latin prescription? How much better the impression on the laity than
soaking and rubbing!"

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   Let us see if these statements are true, if laxation, urination or perspiration produced by
poisonous drugs are identical in character and in effect with the elimination produced by natural
living and natural methods of treatment through healing crises.

  Mercury, in the form of calomel, is one of the best-known cholagogues [an agent designed
to increase the flow of bile and, thereby, stimulate lower bowel action, ed.]. It is the favorite
laxative and cathartic of allopathy. The prevailing idea is that calomel acts on the liver and the
intestines; but in reality these organs act on the drug.

  All laxatives and cathartics are poisons; if it were not so, they would not produce their
peculiar, drastic effects. Because they are poisons, Nature tries to eliminate them from the system
as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. In order to do this, the excretory glands and membranes
of the liver and the digestive tract greatly increase the amount of their secretions and thereby
produce a forced evacuation of the intestinal canal.

  Thus the system, in the effort to eliminate the mercurial poison, expels also the other
contents of the intestines. This may effect a temporary cleansing of the intestinal tract, but it does
not and cannot cleanse the individual cells throughout the body of their impurities.

The Lasting Effects of Artificial Purging

  In accordance with the Law of Action and Reaction, action and reaction are equal and
opposite; the temporary irritation and overstimulation of the sensitive membranes of the digestive
organs are followed by corresponding weakness and exhaustion, and if this procedure be repeated
and become habitual, by gradual atrophy and paralysis. As atrophy progresses, the dose of the
purgative must be increased in order to accomplish the desired result and this, in its turn, hastens
the degenerative changes in the system.

  Such enforced, artificial purging may flush the drains and sewers, but does not cleanse the
chambers of the house. The cells in the interior tissues remain encumbered with morbid matter. A
genuine and truly effective housecleaning must start in the cells and must be brought about
through the initiative of the vital energies in the organism, through healing crises, and not through
stimulation by means of poisonous irritants.

  When, under a natural regimen of living and of treatment, the system has been sufficiently
purified, adjusted and vivified, the cells themselves begin the work of elimination.

  This is what takes place: The morbid matter and poisons thrown off by the cells and tissues
are carried by means of the venous circulation to the organs of elimination, the bowels, kidneys,
lungs and skin, and to the mucous membranes lining the interior tracts, such as the nasal
passages, the throat and bronchi, the digestive and genitourinary canals, etc.

  These organs of elimination become overcrowded with the rush of morbid matter and the
accompanying congestion and irritation cause the acute inflammatory processes and feverish
symptoms characterizing the various forms of colds, catarrhs, skin eruptions, diarrheas, boils and
other acute forms of elimination, which we call healing crises. In other words, what the "Old
School" of medicine calls the disease, we look upon as the Cure.

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   Acute elimination brought about in this manner is Nature's method of housecleaning. It is a
true healing crisis, the result of purification and increased activity from within the cell,
produced by natural means.

  Here interposes Friend Allopath: "You claim that you bring about your acute reactions by
natural means only, and that these are never injurious to the organism. What difference does it
make if the circulation is stimulated and elimination increased by a cold-water spray or by
digitalis? The cold-water stimulation produces a reaction just as digitalis does, and the one must
therefore be as injurious as the other."

  To this we reply: "The stimulating effect on heart and circulation produced by digitalis is the
first action of a highly poisonous drug; the second lasting effect is weakening and paralyzing. On
the other hand, the first action of a cold-water spray is depressing; it sends the blood into the
interior of the body and benumbs the surface. The sensory nerves at once report this sensation of
cold to headquarters in the brain, and immediately the command is telegraphed to the blood
vessels in the interior of the body: ‘Send blood to the surface!' As a result, the blood is carried to
the surface, and the skin becomes warm and rosy with the glow of life. In this case the
stimulation is the second and lasting effect of the water treatment, from which there is no further
reaction."

  Similarly, the stimulation produced by exercise, massage, manipulation or the exposure of

the nude body to light and air is natural stimulation, produced by harmless, natural means. It is
entirely due to the fact that conditions in the system have been made more normal, as explained
in other chapters.

  Drugs, stimulants and tonics, while they produce an artificial, temporary stimulation, do not
change the underlying abnormal conditions in the organism. Likewise, the flushing of the colon
with water, the use of laxative herb teas and decoctions or forced sweating by means of Turkish
or Russian baths, though not as dangerous as inorganic minerals and poisonous drugs, cannot be
classed among the natural means of cure. These agents, which by many persons are looked upon
as natural treatment, irritate the organs of elimination to forced, abnormal activity without at the
same time arousing the cells in the interior of the body to natural elimination.

  Dr. H. Lahmann, one of the foremost scientists of the Nature Cure movement, made a series
of interesting experiments. His chemists gathered the natural perspiration of certain patients,
produced by ordinary exercise in the sunshine. These excretions of the skin were evaporated and
analyzed, and were found to contain poisons powerful enough to kill rabbits.

  If profuse sweating was produced in the same patients by the high temperature of the hot-air
box or the electric-light cabinet, their perspiration, when evaporated and analyzed, was found to
contain only small amounts of toxins. Thus Dr. Lahmann proved that:

1. Sweating and the elimination of disease matter are two different processes.
2. Artificially induced sweating does not eliminate disease matter.
3. The organism cannot be forced by irritants and stimulants and artificial means, but
eliminates morbid matter only in its own natural manner and when it is in proper
condition to do so.

  In a lesser degree, this applies also to fasting. Under certain conditions it becomes a
necessity; but it may easily be abused and overdone.

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 Do We Never Fail?

  Certainly we fail, but our failures are usually due to the fact that sick people, as a rule, do
not consider Nature Cure except as a last resort. The methods and requirements of Nature Cure
appear at first so unusual and exacting that people seek to evade them so long as they have the
least faith in the miracle-working power of the poison bottle, a metaphysical healer or the
surgeon's knife. When health, wealth and hope are entirely exhausted, then the chronic sufferer
grasps at Nature Cure as a drowning man clutches at a straw. But even though ninety percent of
these cases which come to us are of the apparently incurable type, our total failures are few and
far between.

  If there is sufficient vitality in the body to react to natural treatment and if the destruction of
vital parts and organs has not too far advanced, a cure is possible. Often the seemingly hopeless
cases yield the most readily.

  Our success is due to the fact that we do not rely on any one method of treatment, but
combine in our work everything that is good in the different systems of natural healing.

The Law of Crises

  Everywhere in nature and in the world of men we find the Law of Crises in evidence. This
proves it to be a universal law, ruling all cosmic relations and activities.

  Wars and revolutions are the healing crises in the life of nations. Heresies and reformations
are the crises of religion. In strikes, riots and panics, we recognize the crises of commercial life.

  Staid old Mother Earth herself has in the hoary past repeatedly changed the configurations
of her continents and oceans by great cataclysms or geological crises.

  When the sultry summer air has become pregnant with poisonous vapors and miasmas,
atmospheric crises, such as rainstorms, thunder, lightning and electric storms, cool and purify the
air and charge it anew with life-giving ozone. In like manner will healing crises purify the
disease-laden bodies of men.

  Emanuel Swedenborg gives us a wonderful description of the Law of Crises in its

relationship to the regeneration of the soul. We quote from the chapter in which he describes the
working of this law, entitled, "Regeneration Is Effected by Combats in Temptation."

  "They who have not been instructed concerning the regeneration of man think that man can
be regenerated without temptation. But it is to be known that no one is regenerated without
temptation; and that many temptations succeed, one after another. The reason is that regeneration
is effected for an end, in order that the life of the old man may die, and the new life which is
heavenly be insinuated. It is evident, therefore, that there must be a conflict [healing crisis--
author's note ]; for the life of the old man resists and determines not to be extinguished; and the
life of the new man can only enter where the life of the old is extinct.

  "Whoever thinks from an enlightened rationale, may see and perceive from this that a man
cannot be regenerated without combat, that is, without spiritual temptations; and further, that he is
not regenerated by one temptation, but by many. For there are very many kinds of evil which
formed the delight of his former life, that is, of the old life. These evils cannot all be subdued at
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once and together; for they cleave tenaciously, since they have been inrooted in the parents for
many ages back [the scrofula of the soul--author's note ] and are therefore innate in man, and are
confirmed by actual evils from himself from infancy. All these evils are diametrically opposite to
the celestial good [perfect health--author's note ] that is to be insinuated and which is to constitute
the New Life."

  Thus the inspired Seer of the North draws a vivid picture of what we call healing crises in
their relation to moral regeneration.

  We cannot help recognizing the close agreement of physical and spiritual crises; this, again,
demonstrates the continuity and exact correspondence of Natural Law on the different planes of
being. [The Law of Hermes: As above, so below; as in the inner, so in the outer; as in the lesser,
so in the greater.]

  We of the Nature Cure school know that this great Law of Crises dominates the cure of
chronic disease. Every case is another verification of it; in fact, every decided advance on the
road to perfect health is marked by acute reactions.

  The cure invariably proceeds through the darkness and chaos of the crises to the light and
beauty of perfect health, periods of marked improvement alternating with acute eliminating
activity (the "spiritual temptations" and "combats" of Swedenborg), until perfect regeneration has
taken place.

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 Periodicity
 In many forms of acute disease, crises develop with marked regularity and in well-defined
periodicity. This phenomenon has been observed and described by many physicians.

  It is not so well known, however, that in the cure of chronic diseases also, crises develop in
accordance with certain laws of periodicity.

  Periodicity is governed by the Septimal Law or Law of Sevens, which seems to be the basic
law governing the vibratory activities of the planetary universe.

  The harmonics of heat, light, sound, electricity, magnetism and of atomic structure and
arrangement run in scales of seven.

  The Law of Sevens governs the days of the week, the phases of the moon and the menstrual
periods of the woman. Every observing physician is aware of its influence on feverish, nervous
and psychic diseases.

  The Law of Sevens dominates the life of individuals and of nations and of everything that
lives and has periods of birth, growth, fruitage and decline.

  Over two thousand years ago Pythagoras and Hippocrates distinctly recognized and
proclaimed the Law of Crises in its bearing on the cure of chronic diseases. They taught that
alternating, well-defined periods of improvement and of crises were determined and governed by
the law of periodicity and by the law of numbers (the Septimal Law).

  The following quotations are taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. XV, p. 800:

  "But this artistic completeness was closely connected with 'the third cardinal virtue'
of Hippocratic medicine--the clear recognition of disease as being equally with life a
process governed by what we should now call natural laws, which could be known by
observation and which indicated the spontaneous and normal direction of recovery, by
following which alone could the physician succeed.

"Another Hippocratic doctrine, the influence of which is not even yet exhausted, is
that of the healing power of Nature. Not that Hippocrates taught, as he was afterwards
reproached with teaching, that Nature is sufficient for the cure of diseases; for he held
strongly the efficacy of art. But he recognized, at least in acute diseases, a natural process
which the humours went through--being first of all crude, then passing through coction or
digestion, and finally being expelled by resolution or crisis through one of the natural
channels of the body. The duty of the physician was to foresee these changes, 'to assist or
not to hinder them,' so that 'the sick man might conquer the disease with the help of the
physician.' The times at which crises were to be expected were naturally looked for with
anxiety; and it was a cardinal point in the Hippocratic system to foretell them with
precision. Hippocrates, influenced as is thought by the Pythagorean doctrine of numbers,
taught that they were to be expected on days fixed by certain numerical rules, in some
cases on odd, in others on even numbers--the celebrated doctrine of 'critical days.' It
follows from what has been said that prognosis, or the art of foretelling the course and

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event of the disease, was a strong point with the Hippocratic physicians. In this perhaps
they have never been excelled. Diagnosis, or recognition of the disease, must have been
necessarily imperfect, when no scientific nosology, or system of disease* existed, and the
knowledge of anatomy was quite inadequate to allow of a precise determination of the
seat of disease; but symptoms were no doubt observed and interpreted skilfully. The
pulse is not spoken of in any of the works now attributed to Hippocrates himself, though
it is mentioned in other works of the collection.

*The author of this article in the Encyclopedia Britannica does not see that it
is the modern [then as now] orthodox "scientific nosology, or system of disease"
which obscures the simplicity and precision of the Hippocratic philosophy of
disease and cure.

  "In the treatment of disease, the Hippocratic school attached great importance to
diet, the variations necessary in different diseases being minutely defined…. In chronic
cases diet, exercises and natural methods were chiefly relied upon."

  These wonderful truths, with other wisdom of the ancients, were lost in the spiritual
darkness of the Middle Ages. Modern medicine looks upon these claims and teachings of the
Hippocratic School as "superstition without any foundation in fact." However, the great sages of
antiquity, drawing upon a source of ancient wisdom, deeply hidden from the self-satisfied scribes
and wise men of the schools, after all, proclaimed the truth.

  Every case of chronic disease properly treated by natural methods proves the reality and
stability of the Law of Crises. It is therefore a standing wonder and surprise to one who knows,
that this all-important and self-evident law is practically unknown to the disciples of the regular
schools.

The Law of Sevens

  In accordance with the Law of Periodicity, the sixth period in any seven periods is marked
by reactions, changes, revolutions or crises. It is, therefore, looked upon by popular intuition as
an unlucky period. Friday, the sixth day of the week, is regarded as an unlucky day; Friday is
hangman's day; according to tradition the Master, Jesus, was crucified on Friday.

  Counting from the first sixth or Friday period in any given number of hours, days, weeks,
months, years or groups of years, as the case may be, every succeeding seventh period is
characterized by crises.

  This explains why 13 is considered an unlucky number. It represents the second critical or
Friday period.

  However, there is really no cause for this superstitious fear of Friday and the number 13. It
is due to a lack of understanding of Nature's Laws. By intelligent cooperation with these laws we
may turn the critical periods in our lives into healing crises and beneficial changes.

  We should not fear the crises periods of the larger life and the changes in our outward
circumstances which they may bring any more than we should fear crises in the physical body.

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   A thorough understanding of the nature and purpose of healing crises in acute and chronic
diseases has taught me the nature and purpose of evil in general. It has made me understand more
clearly the meaning of "Resist not Evil" and of the saying: "We are punished by our sins, not for
our sins." It has shown me that evil is not a punishment or a curse, but a necessary complement of
good, that it is corrective and educational in its purposes, that it remains with us only as long as
we need its salutary lessons.

  The evil of physical disease is not due to accident or to the arbitrary rulings of a capricious
Providence, nor is it always "error of mortal mind." From the Nature Cure philosophy and its
practical applications we have learned that, barring accidents and conditions or surroundings
unfavorable to human life, it is caused in every instance by violations of the physical laws of our
being. So the social, political and industrial evil of the larger life is brought about by violations of
the law in the respective domains of life and action.

  So long as transgressions of the physical laws of our being result in hereditary and acquired
disease encumbrances, we must expect reactions which may become either disease crises or
healing crises. Likewise, so long as ignorance, selfishness and self-indulgence continue to create
evil in other domains of life, we must expect there also the occurrence of crises, of reaction and
revolution. When knowledge, self-control and altruism become the sole motives of action, evil
and the crises it necessitates will naturally disappear.

  Therefore, we should not be afraid of changes and crises periods but cooperate with
them clear-eyed and strong-willed. Then they will result in improvement and further growth.

  Life is growth, and growth is change. The only death is stagnation. The loss of friends,
home or fortune may seem for the time being an overwhelming calamity; but if met in the right
spirit, such losses will prove stepping-stones to greater opportunity and higher achievement.

  Many of our patients formerly looked upon their diseased condition as a great misfortune
and an undeserved punishment; but since it brought them in contact with the Nature Cure
philosophy and showed them the necessity of complying with the laws of their being, they now
look upon the former evil as the greatest blessing in their lives, because it taught them how to
become the masters of fate instead of remaining the plaything of Nature's destructive forces.

  Why should we fear even the greatest of all crises, physical death, when it, also, is only the
gateway to a larger life, greater opportunities and more beautiful surroundings? Why should we
mourn and grieve over the death of friends and relatives, when they have only emigrated to
another, better country?

  Suppose we ourselves had to enter upon the great journey today or tomorrow, shouldn't we
be glad to meet some of our friends on the other side and to be welcomed, advised and guided by
them in the new surroundings?

  Therefore we should not fear, nor endeavor to avoid the crises in any and all domains of life
and action, but meet them and cooperate with them fearlessly and intelligently. They then will
always make for greater opportunity and higher accomplishment.

The Law of Sevens Applied to Individual Life

  Applied to the life of the individual, the Law of Periodicity manifests itself as follows:
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   Human life on the earth plane is divided into periods of seven years. The first seven years
represent the period of infancy. With the next seven, the years of childhood, begins individual
responsibility, the conscious discernment between right and wrong. The third group comprises
the years of adolescence; the fourth marks the attainment of full growth. Nearly all civilized
countries take cognizance of this fact by fixing the legal age at twenty-one.

  The twenty-eighth year, the beginning of the fifth period, is another milestone along the
road to development.

  The sixth period, beginning at the age of thirty-five and ending at forty-two, is marked by
reactions, changes and crises. It may, therefore, seem an unlucky period; but if we understand the
law and comply with it, we shall be better and stronger in every way after we have passed this
period.

  During the seventh period, the effects of the sixth or crises period continue and adjust
themselves. It is a period of reconstruction, of recuperation and rest, and thus the best preparation
for a new cycle of sevens which begins with the fiftieth year.**

**Those who are interested in the Law of Periodicity as applied to life in general,
will find much valuable information in a book entitled Periodicity by J. R. Buchanan,
M.D., published by the Kosmos Publishing Co., 2112 Sherman Ave., Evanston, Il.

  In this connection it is interesting to note that the Mosaic law recognized the law of
periodicity and fixed upon Sunday as the first day or "birthday" of the week, and upon
Saturday (the Sabbath) as the last or "rest" day, in which to prepare for another period of
seven days.

  Orthodox science now admits that the normal length of human life should be about one
hundred and fifty years. This would constitute three cycles of forty-nine years each, the first
corresponding to youth, the second to maturity, and the third to fruition.

The Law of Sevens in Febrile Diseases

  If we apply the Laws of Periodicity to the course of acute febrile or inflammatory diseases,
we find that the sixth day from the beginning of the first well-defined symptom marks the first
Friday-period or the first crisis of the disease, and that every seventh day thereafter is also
distinguished by aggravations and changes, either for better or for worse.

The Law of Sevens in Chronic Diseases

  Applied to the cure of chronic diseases under the influence of natural methods of living and
of treatment, the Laws of Crises and of Periodicity manifest as follows:

  When a chronic patient, whose chances of cure are good, is placed under proper (natural)
conditions of living and of treatment he will, as a rule, experience five weeks of marked
improvement.

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   The sixth week, if conditions are favorable, usually marks the beginning of acute reactions
or healing crises. This means that the healing forces of the organism have grown strong enough to
begin the work of acute elimination.

  By all sorts of acute reactions, such as skin eruptions, diarrheas, feverish, inflammatory and
catarrhal conditions, boils, abscesses, mucopurulent discharges, etc., Nature now endeavors to
remove the latent, chronic disease taints from the system.

  The character of the healing crises and the time of their occurrence in any given case can
often be accurately predicted by means of the Diagnosis from the Eye (see Chapter XIII), from
Nature's records in the iris.

  But the best of all methods of diagnosis is the cure iself, because weak spots and morbid
taints in the organism are revealed through the healing crises

The Same Old Aches and Pains

  Frequently we hear from a patient in the throes of crises: "These are the same old aches and
pains that I had before. It is exactly the same trouble I have been suffering with for many years.
This is not a crisis !--I have caught a cold, or I have eaten something which does not agree with
me."

  The patient has forgotten what we taught him regarding the Law of Crises. He loses sight of
the fact that healing crises are nothing more or less than a coming-up-again of old disease
conditions, an acute manifestation of ailments which had become chronic through neglect or
suppression.

  Of course they are "the same old aches and pains." Nature Cure does not create new
diseases. Crises mean the stirring up and eliminating of hereditary and acquired taints and
poisons. Under the right methods of treatment, any previous disease condition suppressed by
drugs or knife or by mental effort may recur as a healing crisis.

  They are the same old aches and pains which so often gave trouble in the past, but they are
now running their course under different conditions because the patient is now living in
harmony with Nature's Laws.

  Under the natural regimen, Nature is encouraged and assisted in her cleansing and healing
efforts. She is allowed in her own wise way to tear down the old and build up the new.

  The "Old Schools" of healing proclaim Mother Nature a poor healer. But we of the Nature
Cure school believe that the wisdom which created this wonderful, complex mechanism which
we call the human body knows also how to preserve and to repair it. Every healing crisis passed
under natural conditions assisted by natural methods of treatment leaves the body purified and
strengthened and nearer to perfect health.

  Our critics and opponents frequently ask us how we know that our methods are natural and
in harmony with Nature's laws.

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   To this we reply: The timely appearance of healing crises, their orderly development and
favorable termination constitute the best criterion of the correctness and naturalness of the
methods of treatment employed. The prompt arrival and beneficial results of acute reactions are a
certain indication that the healing forces of the organism are in the ascendancy and that the
treatment is in conformity with the natural laws of cure and with the constructive principle in
Nature.

  Another question sometimes asked of us is: "Do healing crises develop in every chronic
disease under natural treatment?" Our answer is: If the condition of the patient is not favorable to
a cure, that is, if the vitality is too low and the destruction of vital parts too far advanced, the
healing crises may be proportionately delayed or may not occur at all. In such cases the disease
symptoms will increase in severity and complexity and become more destructive instead of more
constructive, until the final fatal crisis. The end may come quickly, or the patient may decline
gradually toward the fatal termination.

  Again, patients ask us: "Through how many crises shall I have to pass?" We tell them: Just
as many as you need; no more, no less. So long as there is anything wrong in the system, crises
will come and go; but each crisis, if successfully passed, is another milestone on the road to
perfect health.

  It is intensely interesting to observe how orderly and intelligently Nature proceeds in her
work of healing and repair. One problem after another is taken up and adjusted.

  First of all, the digestive organs are put into better condition, because further progress
depends upon proper assimilation and elimination. The bowels must act freely and naturally
before any permanent improvement can take place. A treatment which fails to accomplish this
first preliminary improvement will surely fail to produce more important results.

  In this connection it is a significant fact that nearly all our patients, when they come under
our care, are suffering from very stubborn constipation in spite of (or possibly on account of)
lifelong drugging. Neither medicines nor operations had given them anything but temporary relief
and the trouble had grown worse instead of better.

  If the "Old School" methods of treatment were not successful in relieving simple
constipation, what else can they be expected to cure, since the overcoming of constipation is
evidently the primary necessity for any other improvement?

  A system of treatment which cannot accomplish this cannot accomplish anything else. It is
strange, therefore, that a school of medicine which has not succeeded, with all its vaunted
knowledge and wisdom, to cure simple constipation, flatly denies that natural methods can cure
cancer, epilepsy, locomotor ataxy and other so-called incurable diseases.

Our Greatest Difficulty

  The greatest difficulty in our work lies in conducting our patients safely through the stormy
crises periods. The first, preliminary improvement is often so marked that the patient believes
himself already cured. He wilI say: "Doctor, I am feeling fine! There is nothing the matter with
me any more! I cannot understand why I shouldn't go home and continue the natural regimen
there!"

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   This feeling of mental elation and physical well-being is usually the sign that the first
general improvement has progressed far enough to prepare the system for a healing crisis.
Therefore my answer to the overconfident patient may be something like this: "Remember what I
told you. The first improvement is not the cure, it is only the preparation for the real fight. Look
out! In a few days you may whistle another tune."

  And sure enough, usually within a few days after such a conversation the patient is down in
the slough of despond. His digestive organs are in a wretched condition. He is nauseated, his
tongue is coated, he is suffering from headache and from a multitude of other symptoms
according to his individual condition. In fact, many of the old aches and pains which he thought
already cured come up again with renewed force.

  Healing crises, representing radical changes in the system, are always accompanied by
physical and mental weakness, because every bit of vitality is drawn upon in these reconstructive
processes. The entire organism is shaken up to its very foundation; deep-seated, chronic disease
taints are being stirred up throughout the system.

  The eliminative processes of the healing crises are often accompanied by great mental
depression and a feeling of strong revulsion to the natural regimen and everything connected with
it.

  The patient thinks that, after all, Nature Cure is not for him, that he is growing worse instead
of better. In proportion to the severity of the changes going on within him, he becomes
disheartened and despondent. Often he exhibits all the mental and emotional symptoms of
homesickness. In these critical days it requires all our powers of persuasion to keep the depressed
and discouraged patient from giving up the fight and from taking something to relieve his
distress. He insists that "something must be done for him," and cannot understand how he will
ever get out of his "awful condition" without some good strong medicine.

  If our patients were not continually and thoroughly instructed regarding the Laws of Crises
and of Periodicity and if we did not strongly advise and encourage them to persevere with the
treatment, few of them would hold out during these critical periods.

  This explains why so many people fail to be cured and it also explains why natural living
and self-treatment often do not meet with the desired results if carried on without the instruction
and guidance of a competent, experienced Nature Cure physician.

  So long as the improvement continues, everything is lovely and hope soars high. But when
the inevitable crises arrive, the sufferer believes that, after all, he made a mistake in taking up the
natural regimen, especially so when friends and relatives do their best to destroy his confidence in
the natural methods of cure by ridicule and dire prophesies of failure.

  Frightened and discouraged, the patient returns to the "flesh-pots of Egypt" and to the good
old pills and potions and ever afterwards he tells his friends that "he tried Nature Cure and the
vegetarian diet, but it was no good."

  Mother Nature remains a "book sealed with seven seals" to those who mistrust, despise and
counteract her, who rely on man-made wisdom and the ever-changing theories and dogmas of the
schools.

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   But on the other hand, every crisis conducted to a successful termination in accordance with
Nature's laws becomes an inspiration to him who follows her guidance and assists her with
intelligent effort and loving care.

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 What About The "Chronic"?
It Takes So Long 

Yes, Nature Cure is all right, but it takes so long." Now and then we hear this or a similar
remark. Our answer is: "No, it does not take long. It is the swiftest cure in existence."

  The trouble is that, as a rule, we have to deal with none but the most advanced cases of
so-called incurable diseases. People go to the Nature Cure physician only after all other methods
of treatment have been tried and found of no avail.

  As long as there remains a particle of faith in the medicine bottle, the knife or the
metaphysical formula of the mind healer, people prefer these easy methods, which require no
effort on their part, to the Nature Cure treatment, which necessitates personal exertion, self-
control, the changing or giving up of cherished habits. This, however, is what most of us evade as
long as we can. "Exercise, the cold blitzguss, no red meat, no coffee?--I'd rather die!"

Afraid of Cold Water

  The most-dreaded terror on the threshold seems to be cold water. Undoubtedly, it has kept
away thousands from Nature Cure and thereby from the only possible cure for their chronic
ailments. If we could achieve equally good results without our heroic methods of treatment, the
sidewalks leading to our institution would be crowded with people clamoring for admission.

  After all, this foolish fear is entirely groundless. Cold water is no more to be dreaded than
the bogey man. It is one of our fundamental principles of treatment never to do anything that is
painful to the patient. We always "temper the wind to the shorn lamb," the coldness of the water
and the force of the manipulations to the sensitiveness and endurance of the subject. Beginning
with mild, alternately warm and cool sprays, which are pleasant and agreeable to everyone, we
gradually increase the force and lower the temperature until the patient is so inured to cold water
that the blitzguss becomes a delightful and pleasurable sensation, a positive luxury.

  It is amusing to watch the gradual change in the attitude of our patients toward the cold-
water treatment. In some instances we have had to spend hours in earnest persuasion before we
could induce a particularly sensitive person to try the first mild spray. A few weeks later if,
perchance, something interfered with the cold water applications, the patient would indignantly
refuse to take the other treatment if there was to be no cold water.

  There is certainly no finer tonic than cold water, no more exhilarating sensation than that
produced by the artistic application of alternating douches and the blitz.

  The real cause of this cold-water scare, we believe, is to be found in the boasting of the
veterans. When, with protruding chest and chin in air, they brag to the newcomers or to their
friends about their heroism and the coolness with which they allow the cold-water hose to be
turned on them, the listener shudders and exclaims: "This cold water may be all right for you, but
it would never do for me."

  No doubt, it is this bravado of the initiated that keeps many a novice from the first plunge
into the mysteries of Nature Cure. If these timid ones only knew what they miss!

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 Business Versus Cure

  From a business point of view it would, perhaps, be better to omit the cold water altogether.
It would certainly be much less trouble; but then, the rugged honesty of Father Kneipp, the
champion of the cold-water treatment branch of German Nature Cure, has descended upon his
followers and compels them to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to make use of
everything that is likely to be of benefit to the patient and to effect a real and lasting cure.

  Our friends, the osteopaths, have only a pitying smile for our arduous labors. They ask:
"Why fool with cold water and drive patients away, when pleasant manipulations bring the
business?" If we query in return: "Do your pleasant manipulations cure obstinate chronic
ailments?" They answer: "We do not expect to cure them. The effort involves too much labor and
spoils the reputation of our work. Not one in a hundred chronics has the patience and
perseverance to be cured. Besides, if a patient comes too long to the office for treatment he drives
others away."

  Some of the most successful osteopaths in this city make it a rule not to treat a patient longer
than six weeks or two months.

  In a number of cases this may be sufficient to produce marked primary improvement, but it
is not enough to launch the patient into a healing crisis and, therefore, does not produce a real
cure because it does not remove the underlying causes of the disease. If, after a while, the latent
chronic condition again manifests in external symptoms, the patient returns for another course of
treatment; he was "cured" so quickly before and thinks he will be helped again.

  In justice to the osteopaths it must be said that we are not referring to those chronic diseases
which are directly caused by lesions of the spine or other bony structures. If such dislocations or
subluxations be the sole cause of the trouble, their correction by manipulative treatment may
produce a cure within a few weeks.

  But notwithstanding the teachings of orthodox osteopathy, the majority of chronic ailments
have their origin in other causes. In most cases, the existing spinal lesions are themselves the
result of other primary disease conditions which must be removed before the bony lesions will
remain corrected.

  The mode of treatment depends upon the object that is to be accomplished. If it is to make
the patient feel better with the least possible expenditure of time, money, personal effort and self-
control on his part, and the least amount of exertion on the part of the physician or healer, then
osteopathic manipulations or meta-physical formulas may be in order. But if the object is to cure
actually and permanently a deep-seated chronic disease, all the methods of the natural treatment,
intelligently combined and adapted to the individual case, will be required in order to accomplish
results.

Pull the Roots

  Cutting off their heads does not kill the weeds. The first sign of improvement in the
treatment of a chronic disease does not mean a cure.

  Diagnosis from the Eye, borne out by everyday practical experience, reveals the fact that
symptomatic manifestations of disease are due to underlying constitutional causes; that the
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chronic symptoms are Nature's feeble and ineffectual efforts to eliminate from the system
scrofulous, psoric or syphilitic taints and the disease products resulting from food and drug
poisoning, or to overcome the destructive effects of surgical mutilations.

  An abatement of symptoms is, therefore, not always the sign of a real and permanent cure.
The latter depends entirely on the elimination of the hereditary and acquired constitutional taints
and poisons.

  When, under the influence of natural living and methods of treatment, the body of the
chronic becomes sufficiently purified and strengthened, a period of marked improvement may set
in. All disease symptoms gradually abate, the patient gains in strength, both physically and
mentally, and he feels as though there was nothing the matter with him any more.

  But the eyes tell a different story. They show that the underlying constitutional taints have
not been fully eliminated--the weeds have not been pulled up by the roots.

  This can be accomplished only by healing crises, by Nature's cleansing and healing
activities in the form of inflammatory and feverish processes; anything short of this is merely
preliminary improvement, "training for the fight," but not the cure.

  When you order a suit of clothes from your tailor, you do not take it away from him half-
finished; if you do, you will have an unsatisfactory garment.

  No more should you interfere with your cure after the first signs of improvement. Continue
until you have thoroughly eliminated from your system the hidden constitutional taints and the
drug poisons which have been the cause of your troubles. After that you can paddle your own
canoe; right living and right thinking will then be sufficient to maintain perfect health and
strength, physically, mentally and morally.

Is the Chronic Patient to Be Left to His Fate

Because Allopathy Says He Is Incurable?

  Frequently we have been severely criticised by our friends, our coworkers or our patients for
accepting certain seemingly hopeless chronic cases. They exclaim:

  "You know this man has locomotor ataxy and that woman is an epileptic: you certainly do
not expect to cure them," or, "Doctor, don't you think it injures the institution to have that
dreadful-looking person around? He is nothing but skin and bones and surely cannot live much
longer."

  Sometimes open criticism and covert insinuation intimate that our reasons for taking in
incurables are mercenary.

  If we should dismiss today those of our patients who, from the orthodox and popular point
of view, are considered incurable, there would not remain ten out of a hundred; and yet our total
failures are few and far between. Many such seemingly hopeless cases have come for treatment
month after month, in several instances for a year or more, apparently without any marked
advance; yet today they are in the best of health.

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   Yes, it is hard work and frequently thankless work to deal with these patients. It would be
much easier, much more remunerative and would bring more glory to confine ourselves to the
treatment of acute diseases, for it is there that Nature Cure works its most impressive miracles.
On the other hand, to achieve the seemingly impossible, to prove what Nature Cure can
accomplish in the most stubborn chronic cases, sustains our courage and is its own compensation.

  The word chronic in the vocabulary of the "Old School" of medicine is synonymous with
"incurable." This is not strange; since the medical and surgical symptomatic treatment of acute
diseases creates the chronic conditions, it certainly cannot be expected to cure them. If, by
continued suppression, Nature's cleansing and healing efforts have been perverted into chronic
disease conditions, the following directions are given in the regular works on medical practice:

  "When this disease reaches the chronic stage, you can no longer cure it. You may advise the
patient to change climate or occupation. As for medication, treat the symptoms as they arise."

  We know that the symptoms are Nature's healing efforts; when these are promptly treated,
that is, suppressed, it is not surprising that the chronic does not recover. In fact, it is the
treatment which makes him and keeps him a chronic.

Why Nature Cure Achieves Results

  Nature Cure achieves results in the treatment of chronic diseases because its theories and
practices are entirely opposite to those just described. However, when the Nature Cure physician
claims that he can cure cancer, tuberculosis, epilepsy, paralysis, Bright's disease, diabetes or
certain mental derangements, the regular physician shows only derision and contempt. He will
not even condescend to examine any evidence in support of our claims.

  Since, then, Nature Cure offers to the so-called incurable the only hope and the only
possible means of regaining health, why not give him a chance? Many times apparently hopeless
cases have responded most readily to our treatment, while more promising ones offered the most
stubborn resistance. Even with the best possible methods of diagnosis, it is hard to determine just
how far the destruction of vital organs has progressed, or how deeply they have been impregnated
with drug poisons.

  Therefore, it is often an impossibility to predict with certainty just what the outcome will be.
This can be determined only by a fair trial. In the past we have treated many a case that,
according to the rules and precedents of orthodox science, should be dead and buried long ago;
yet these individuals are today alive and in the best of health.

  Every now and then incidents like the following renew our enthusiasm and our faith in
Nature Cure: Recently, we had three new cases, sent by three former patients who had been under
treatment several years ago. These three had been among the worst cases ever treated in our
institution. When they came to us, one was supposed to be dying with cancer, the second was in
the advanced stages of tertiary syphilis and the third, a lady, had survived several operations for
the removal of the appendix and the ovaries. At the time she took up our treatment she had been
advised to undergo another operation for the removal of the uterus.

  These incurables had been exceedingly trying. More than once one or another had quit,
discouraged and disgusted, only to return, knowing that, after all, Nature Cure was their only
hope. After they left us, we lost track of them and often wondered how they were getting on.
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Imagine our pleasant surprise when all three were reported by the newcomers as being in good
health. What if it did take months or even years to produce the desired results? What would have
been the fate of these three patients if it had not been for slow Nature Cure?

  Discouraged patients frequently ask: "Why do others recover so quickly when I show so
little improvement? This cure seems to be all right for some diseases, but evidently it does not fit
my case."

  This is defective reasoning. True Nature Cure fits every case because it includes everything
good in natural healing methods. In stubborn cases Nature Cure is not to blame for the slow
and unsatisfactory results: the difficulty lies in the character and advanced stage of the
disease.

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 The Treatment of Chronic Diseases
Let us now consider the best methods for producing the healing crises referred to in the
preceding chapters, that is, the best methods for treating the chronic forms of disease.

  We found that acute diseases represent Nature's efforts to purify and regenerate the human
organism by means of inflammatory feverish processes, while in the chronic condition the system
is not capable of arousing itself to such acute reactions. The treatment must differ accordingly.

  The Nature Cure treatment of acute diseases tends to relieve inner congestion, to facilitate
the radiation of heat and the elimination of morbid matter and systemic poisons from the body. In
this way it eases and palliates the feverish processes and keeps them below the danger point
without in any way checking or suppressing them.

  While our methods of treating acute diseases have a sedative effect, our treatment of
chronic diseases is calculated to stimulate, that is, to arouse the sluggish organism to greater
activity in order to produce the acute inflammatory reactions or healing crises.

  If the unity of diseases as demonstrated in a previous chapter is a fact in Nature, it must be
possible to treat all chronic as well as all acute diseases by uniform methods, and the natural
remedies must correspond to the primary causes of disease.

The Natural Methods of Treatment

  Natural methods of treatment may be divided into two groups:

1. Those which the patient can apply himself, provided he has been properly instructed in
their correct selection, combination and application.
2. Those which must be applied by a competent Nature Cure physician.

  To the first group belong diet (fasting), bathing and other water applications, correct
breathing, general physical exercise, corrective gymnastics, air and sun baths, mental
therapeutics.

  To the second group belong special applications of the methods mentioned under group 1,
and in addition to these hydropathy, massage, manipulation, medical treatment in the form of
homeopathic medicines, nonpoisonous herb extracts and the vitochemical remedies, and most
important of all, the right management of healing crises which develop under the natural
treatment of chronic diseases.

Diagnosis

  Correct diagnosis is the first essential to rational treatment. Every honest physician
admits that the "Old School" methods of diagnosis are, to say the least, unsatisfactory and
uncertain, especially in ascertaining the underlying causes of disease.

  Therefore we should welcome any and all methods of diagnosis which throw more light on
the causes and the nature of disease conditions in the human organism.

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   Two valuable additions to diagnostic science are now offered to us in osteopathy and in
the Diagnosis from the Eye.

  Osteopathy furnishes valuable information concerning the connection between disease

conditions and misplacements of vertebrae and other bony structures, contractions or abnormal
relaxation of muscles and ligaments, and inflammation of nerves and nerve centers.

  The Diagnosis from the Eye is as yet a new science, and much remains to be discovered and
to be better explained. We do not claim that Nature's records in the eye disclose all the details of
pathological tendencies and changes, but they do reveal many disease conditions, hereditary and
acquired, that cannot be ascertained by any other methods of diagnosis.

  NOTE: This picture is an active link. Click it and you will see
a muh largre version (longer download time) appearing in a new window.

  Omitting consideration of everything that is at present speculative and uncertain, we are

justified in making the following statements:

1. The eye is not only, as the ancients said, "the mirror of the soul," but it also reveals
abnormal conditions and changes in every part and organ of the body.
2. Every organ and part of the body is represented in the iris of the eye in a well-defined
area.
3. The iris of the eye contains an immense number of minute nerve filaments, which
through the optic nerves, the optic brain centers and the spinal cord are connected with
and receive impressions from every nerve in the body.
4. The nerve filaments, muscle fibers and minute blood vessels in the different areas of the
iris reproduce the changing conditions in the corresponding parts or organs.
5. By means of various marks, signs, abnormal colors and discolorations in the iris, Nature
reveals transmitted disease taints and hereditary lesions.
6. Nature also makes known, by signs, marks and discolorations, acute and chronic
inflammatory or catarrhal conditions, local lesions, destruction of tissues, various drug
poisons and changes in structures and tissues caused by accidental injury or by surgical
mutilations.
7. The Diagnosis from the Eye positively confirms Hahnemann's theory that all acute
diseases have a constitutional background of hereditary or acquired disease taints.
8. (This science enables the diagnostician to ascertain, from the appearance of the iris alone,
the patient's inherited or acquired tendencies toward health and toward disease, his
condition in general and the state of every organic particular. Reading Nature's records in
the eye, he can predict the different healing crises through which the patient will have to
pass on the road to health.
9. The eye reveals dangerous changes in vital parts and organs from their inception, thus
enabling the patient to avert any threatening disease by natural living and natural methods
of treatment.

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 10. By changes in the iris, the gradual purification of the system, the elimination of morbid
matter and poisons, and the readjustment of the organism to normal conditions under the
regenerating influences of natural living and treatment are faithfully recorded.

  This interesting subject will be treated more fully in a separate volume (Iridiagnosis,
published in 1919 by Dr. Lindlahr). In this connection I shall confine myself to relating briefly
the story of the discovery of this valuable science.

The Story of a Great Discovery

  Dr. Von Peckzely, of Budapest, Hungary, discovered Nature's records in the eye, quite by
accident, when a boy ten years of age.

  Playing one day in the garden at his home, he caught an owl. While struggling with the bird,
he broke one of its limbs. Gazing straight into the owl's large, bright eyes, he noticed, at the
moment when the bone snapped, the appearance of a black spot in the lower central region
of the iris, which area he later found to correspond to the location of the broken leg.

  The boy put a splint on the broken limb and kept the owl as a pet. As the fracture healed, he
noticed that the black spot in the iris became overdrawn with a white film and surrounded by a
white border (denoting the formation of scar tissues in the broken bone).

  This incident made a lasting impression on the mind of the future doctor. It often recurred to
him in later years. From further observations he gained the conviction that abnormal physical
conditions are portrayed in the eyes.

  As a student, Von Peckzely became involved in the revolutionary movement of 1848 and
was put in prison as an agitator and ringleader. During his confinement, he had plenty of time and
leisure to pursue his favorite theory and he became more and more convinced of the importance
of his discovery. After his release, he entered upon the study of medicine, in order to develop his
important discoveries and to confirm them more fully in the operating and dissecting rooms. He
had himself enrolled as an interne in the surgical wards of the college hospital. Here he had ample
opportunity to observe the eyes of patients before and after accidents and operations, and in that
manner he was enabled to elaborate the first accurate Chart of the Eye.

  Since Von Peckzely gave his discoveries to the world, many well-known scientists and
conscientious observers in Austria, Germany and Sweden have devoted their lives to the
perfection of this wonderful science. The regular schools of medicine, as a body, have ignored
and will ignore it, because it discloses the fallacy of their favorite theories and practices, and
because it reveals unmistakably the direful results of chronic drug poisoning and ill-advised
operations.

  In our work we do not confine ourselves to the Diagnosis from the Eye, but combine with
it the diagnostic methods (physical diagnosis) of the regular school of medicine and the
osteopathic diagnosis of bony lesions, as well as microscopic examinations and chemical
analyses.

  Thus any one of these methods supplements and verifies all the others. In this way only is it
possible to arrive at a thorough and definite understanding of the patient's condition.

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   The "Key to the Diagnosis from the Eye" outlines with precision the areas of the iris as they
correspond to the various parts of the body. This colored chart of the iris has been prepared by
Dr. H. Lahn, author of "The Diagnosis From the Eye," and can be obtained from the Kosmos
Publishing Co., 2112 Sherman Ave., Evanston, Ill.

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 Vitality
In Chapter Four, we named, as the first of the primary causes of disease, lowered vitality.

  What can we do to increase vitality? "Old School" physicians and people in general seem to
think that this can be done by consuming large quantities of nourishing food and drink and by the
use of stimulants and tonics.

  The constant cry of patients is: "Doctor, if you could only prescribe some good tonic or
some food that will give me strength, then I should be all right! I am sure that is all I need to be
cured."

  We fully agree with the patient that he needs more vitality to overcome disease, but
unfortunately this cannot be obtained from food and drink, from stimulants and tonics.

  Vitality, life, life force, whatever we may call it or whatever its aspect, is not something we
can eat and drink. It is independent of the physical body and of material food. If the body should
"fall dead," as we call it, the life force would continue to act just as vigorously in the spiritual
body, which is the exact counterpart of the physical organism.

  The physical-material body as well as the spiritual-material body are only the instruments
for the manifestation of the life force. They are no more life itself than the violin is the artist.

  But just as the violin must be kept in good condition in order to enable the artist to draw
from it the harmonies of sound, so food and drink are necessary to keep the physical body in the
best possible condition for the manifestation of vital force. The more normal our physical and
spiritual bodies are in structure and function, the more harmonious our thought life and emotional
life, the more abundant will be the influx of vital force into the twofold organism.

  This important subject has been treated more fully in Chapter IV.

  Ignorance of these simple truths leads to the most serious mistakes. Physicians and people in
general do not stop to think that excessive eating and drinking tend to rob the body of vitality
instead of supplying it.

  The processes of digestion, assimilation and elimination of food and drink in themselves
require a considerable expenditure of vital force. Therefore all food taken in excess of the actual
needs of the body consumes life force that should be available for other purposes, for the
execution of physical and mental work.

  The Romans had a proverb: "Plenus venter non studet libenter"--"A full stomach does not
like to study." The most wholesome food, if taken in excess, will clog the system with waste
matter just as too much coal will dampen and extinguish the fire in the furnace.

  Furthermore, the morbid materials and systemic poisons produced by impure, unsuitable or
wrongly combined foods will clog the cells and tissues of the body, cause unnecessary friction
and obstruct the inflow and the operations of the vital energies, just as dust in a watch will clog
and impede the movements of its mechanism.

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   The greatest artist living cannot draw harmonious sounds from the strings of the finest
Stradivarius if the body of the violin is filled with dust and rubbish. Likewise, the life force
cannot act perfectly in a body filled with morbid encumbrances.

  The human organism is capable of liberating and manifesting daily a limited quantity of
vital force, just as a certain amount of capital in the bank will yield a specified sum of interest in a
given time. If more than the available interest be withdrawn, the capital in the bank will be
decreased and gradually exhausted.

  Similarly, if we spend more than our daily allowance of vital force, "nervous bankruptcy,"
that is, nervous prostration or neurasthenia will be the result.

  It is the duty of the physician to regulate the expenditure of vital force according to the
income. He must stop all leaks and guard against wastefulness.

Stimulation by Paralysis

  This heading may seem paradoxical, but it is borne out by fact. Stimulants are poison to the
system. Few people realize that their exhilarating and apparently tonic effects are produced by the
paralysis of an important part of the nervous system.

  If, as we have learned, wholesome food and drink in themselves do not contain and
therefore cannot convey life force to the human body, much less can this be accomplished by
stimulants.

  The human body has many correspondences with a watch. Both have a motor or driving
mechanism and an inhibitory or restraining apparatus.

  If it were not for the inhibiting balances, the wound watchspring would run off and spend its
force in a few moments. The expenditure of the latent force in the wound spring must be
regulated by the inhibitory and balancing mechanism of the timepiece.

  Similarly, the nervous system in the animal and human organism consists of two main
divisions: the motor or driving and the inhibitory or restraining mechanisms.

  The driving power is furnished by the sympathetic nerves and the motor nerves. They
convey the vital energies and nerve impulses to the cells and organs of the body, thus initiating
and regulating their activities.

  We found that the human body is capable of liberating in a given time, say, in twenty-four
hours, only a certain limited amount of vital energy, just as the wound spring of the watch is
capable of liberating in a given time only a certain amount of kinetic energy.

  As in the watch the force of the spring is controlled by the regulating balances (the anchor),
so in the body the expenditure of vital energy must be regulated in such a manner that it is
evenly distributed over the entire running time. This is accomplished by the inhibitory nervous
system [the parasympathetics].

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   Every motor nerve must be balanced by an inhibitory nerve. The one furnishes the driving
force, the other applies the brake. For instance, the heart muscle is supplied with motor force
through the spinal nerves from the upper dorsal region, while the pneumogastric [vagus] nerve
retards the action of the heart and in that way acts as a brake.

  Another brake is supplied by the waste products of metabolism in the system, the uric acid,
carbonic acid, oxalic acid, etc., and the many forms of xanthines, alkaloids, and ptomaines. As
these accumulate in the organism during the hours of wakeful activity, they gradually clog the
capillary circulation, benumb brain and nerves, and thus produce a feeling of exhaustion and
tiredness and a craving for rest and sleep.

  In this way, by means of the inhibitory nervous system and of the accumulating fatigue
products in the body, Nature forces the organism to rest and recuperate when the available supply
of vital force runs low. The lower the level of vital force, the more powerful will become the
inhibitory influences.

  Now we can understand why stimulation is produced by paralysis. Stimulants precipitate

the fatigue products from the circulation into the tissues of the body. They do this by
overcoming and paralyzing the power of the blood to dissolve and carry in solution uric acid and
other acids and alkaloids that should be eliminated from the organism.Thus will be explained
more fully in the volume on "Natural Dietetics."

  Furthermore, stimulants temporarily benumb and paralyze the inhibitory nervous

system. In other words, they lift the brakes from the motor nervous system, and allow the driving
powers to run wild when Nature wanted them to slow up or stop.

  To illustrate: A man has been working hard all day. Toward night his available supply of
vitality has run low, his system is filled with uric acid, carbonic acid and other benumbing fatigue
products, and he feels tired and sleepy, At this juncture he receives word that he must sit up all
night with a sick relative. In order to brace himself for the extraordinary demand upon his vitality,
our friend takes a cup of strong coffee, or a drink of whisky, or whatever his favorite stimulant
may be.

  The effect is marvelous. The tired feeling disappears, and he feels as though he could remain
awake all night without effort.

  What has produced this apparent renewal and increase of vital energy? Has the stimulant
added to his system one iota of vitality? This cannot be, because stimulants do not contain
anything that could impart vital force to the organism. What, then, has produced the seemingly
strengthening effect?

  The caffeine, alcohol or whatever the stimulating poison may have been has precipitated the
fatigue products from the blood and deposited them in the tissues and organs of the body.
Furthermore, the stimulant has benumbed the inhibitory nerves; in other words, it has lifted the
brakes from the driving part of the organism, so that the wheels are running wild.

  But this means drawing upon the reserve supplies of nerve fats and of the vital energy
stored in them, which Nature wants to save for extraordinary demands upon the system in
times of illness or extreme exertion. Therefore this procedure is contrary to Natureís intent.

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Nature tried to force the tired body to rest and sleep, so that it could store up a new supply of vital
force.

  Under the paralyzing influence of the stimulant upon the inhibitory nerves, the organism
now draws upon the reserve stores of nerve fats and vital energies for the necessary strength to
accomplish the extra nightwork.

  At the same time, the organism remains awake and active during the time it should be
replenishing energy for the next day's work, which means that the latter also has to be done at
the expense of the reserve supply of life force.

  During sleep only do we replenish our reserve stores of vitality. The expenditure of vital
energies ceases, but their liberation in the system continues.

  Therefore sleep is the "sweet restorer." Nothing can take its place. No amount of food and
drink, no tonics or stimulants can make up for the loss of sleep. Continued complete deprivation
of sleep is bound to end in a short time in physical and mental exhaustion, in insanity and death.

  That the body, during sleep, acts as a storage battery for vital energy is proved by the fact
that in deep, sound sleep the aura disappears entirely from around the body.

  The aura is to the organism what the exhaust steam is to the engine. It is formed by the
electromagnetic fluids which have performed their work in the body and then escape from it,
giving the appearance of a many-colored halo.

  With the first awakening of conscious mental activity after sleep, the aura appears,
indicating that the expenditure of vital force has recommenced.

  In the above diagram we have an illustration of the true effect of stimulants upon the
system. The heavy line A-B represents the normal level of available vital energy in a certain body

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for a given time, say, for twenty-four hours. At point C a stimulant is taken. This paralyzes the
inhibitory nerves and temporarily precipitates the fatigue products from the blood.

  As we have seen, this allows an increased, unnatural expenditure of vital energy, which
raises the latter to point D. But when the effect of the stimulant has been spent, the vital energy
drops from the artificially attained high point not only back to the normal level, but below it to
point E.

  The increased expenditure of vital energy was made possible at the expense of the reserve
supply of vitality; therefore the depression following it is in proportion to the preceding
stimulation. This is in accordance with the law: "Action and reaction are equal, but opposite."

  The falling of the vital energy below the normal to point E is accompanied by a feeling of
exhaustion and depression which creates a desire to repeat the pleasurable experience of an
abundant supply of vitality, and thus leads to a repetition of the artificial stimulation. As a result
of this, the expenditure of vitality is again raised above the normal to point F, only to fall again
below the normal, to G, etc.

  In this way the person who resorts to stimulants to keep up his strength or to increase it, is
never normal, never on the level, never at his best. He is either overstimulated or abnormally
depressed. His efforts are bound to be fitful and his work uneven in quality. Furthermore, it will
be only a matter of time until he exhausts his reserve supply of nerve fats and vital energy and
then suffers nervous bankruptcy in the forms of nervous prostration, neurasthenia or insanity.

  Such a person is acting like the spendthrift whose capital in the bank allows him to expend
ten dollars a day, but who, instead, draws several times the amount of his legitimate daily interest.
There can be but one outcome to this: in due time the cashier will inform him that his account is
overdrawn.

  The same principles hold true with regard to stimulants given at the sickbed.

  One of the arguments I constantly hear from students and physicians of the "Old School" of
medicine is: "Some of your methods may be all right, but what would you do at the sickbed of a
patient who is so weak and low that he may die at any moment? Would you just let him die?
Would you not give him something to keep him alive?"

  I certainly would, if I could. But I do not believe that poisons can give life. If there is
enough vitality in that dying body to react to the poisonous stimulant by a temporary increase of
vital activity, then that same amount of vitality will keep the heart beating and the respiration
going a little longer at the slower pace. Nature regulates the heartbeat and the other functions
according to the amount and availability of vital force. If the heart beats slow, it is because Nature
is trying to economize vitality.

  In the inevitable depression following the artificial whipping up of the vital energies, many
times the flame is snuffed out entirely when otherwise it might have continued to burn at the
slower rate for some time longer.

  However, I do not deny the advisability of administering stimulants in cases of shock. When
a shock has caused the stopping of the wheels of life, another shock by a stimulant may set them
in motion again.
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 The Effects of Stimulants upon the Mind

  The mental and emotional exhilaration accompanying the indulgence in alcohol or other
poisonous stimulants is produced in a similar manner as the apparent increase of physical strength
under the influence of these agents. Here, also, the temporary stimulation and seeming
increase of power are effected by paralysis of the governing and restraining faculties of
mind and soul: of reason, modesty, reserve, caution, reverence, etc.

  The moral, mental and emotional capacities and powers of the human entity are governed by
the same principle of dual action that controls physical activity. We have on the one hand the
motor or driving impulses, and on the other hand the restraining and inhibiting influences.

  In these higher realms appetite, passion, imagination and desire correspond to the motor
nervous system in the physical organism, and the power of the will and the reasoning faculties
represent the inhibitory nervous system.

  The exhilarating and stimulating influence of alcohol and narcotics such as opiates or
hashish upon the animal spirits and the emotional and imaginative faculties is caused by the
benumbing and paralyzing effect of these stimulants upon the powers of will, reason and self-
control, the brakes on the lower appetites, passions and desires which fire the emotional nature
and the imagination. However, what is gained in feeling and imagination, is lost in judgment and
logic.

  Alcohol, nicotine, caffein, theobromine, lupulin (the bitter principle of hops), opium,
cocaine, morphine, etc., when given in certain doses, all affect the human organism in a similar
manner.

  In small quantities they seemingly stimulate and animate; in larger amounts they depress
and stupefy. In reality, they are paralyzers from the beginning in every instance, and their
apparent, temporary tonic effect is deceptive. They benumb and paralyze not only the physical
organism, but also the higher and highest mental and moral qualities, capacities and powers.

  These higher and finer qualities are located in the front part of the brain. In the evolution of
the species from lower to higher, the brain gradually developed and enlarged in a forward
direction. Thus we find in the lowest order of fishes that all they possess of brain matter is a small
protuberance at the end of the spinal cord. As the species and families rose in the scale of
evolution, the brain developed proportionately from behind forward and became differentiated
into three distinct divisions: the medulla oblongata, the cerebellum, and the cerebrum.

  The medulla oblongata, situated at the base of the brain where it joins the spinal cord,
contains those brain centers that control the purely vegetative, vital functions: the circulation of
the blood, the respiration, regulation of animal heat, etc.

  The cerebellum, in front of and above the medulla, is the seat of the centers for the
coordination of muscular activities and for maintaining the equilibrium of the body.

  The frontal brain or cerebrum contains the centers for the sensory organs, also the motor
centers which supply the driving impulses for the muscular activities of the body, and in the
occipital and frontal lobes, the centers for the higher and highest qualities of mind and soul,

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which constitute the governing and restraining faculties on which depend the powers of self-
control.

  Thus we see that the development of the brain has been in a forward direction, from the
upper extremity of the spinal cord to the frontal lobes of the cerebrum, from the low, vegetative
qualities of the animal and the savage to the complex and refined activities of the highly civilized
and trained mind.

  It is an interesting and most significant fact that paralysis of brain centers caused by
alcohol and other stimulants, or by hypnotics and narcotics, proceeds reversely to the order
of their development during the processes of evolution.

  The first to succumb are the brain centers in the frontal lobes of the cerebrum, which control
the latest-developed and most-refined human attributes. These are: modesty, caution, reserve,
reverence, altruism. Then follow in the order given: memory, reason, logic, intelligence, will
power, self-control, the control of muscular coordination and equilibrium and finally
consciousness and the vital activities of heart action and respiration.

  When the conscious activities of the soul have been put to sleep, the paralysis extends to the
subconscious activities of life or vital force. Respiration and heart action become weak and
labored, and may finally cease entirely.

  In order to verify this, let us study the effects of alcohol, the best-known and most-used of
stimulants. Many people believe that alcohol increases not only physical strength, but mental
energy also. Regular medical science considers it a valuable tonic in all cases of physical and
mental depression. It is often administered in surgical operations and in accidents with the idea of
prolonging life. I have frequently found the whisky or brandy bottle at the bedside of infants and
on it the directions of the attending physician.

  Watch the effect of this tonic on a group of convivial spirits at a banquet. Full honor is done
to the art of the chef, and the wine flows freely. The flow of animal spirits increases
proportionately; conviviality, wit and humor rise by leaps and bounds. But the apparent joy and
happiness are in reality nothing but the play of the lower animal impulses, unrestrained by the
higher powers of mind and soul.

  The words of the afterdinner speaker who, when sober, is a sedate and earnest gentleman,
flow with unusual ease. The close and unprejudiced observer notices, however, that what the
speaker has gained in eloquence, loquacity and exuberance of style and expres-sion, he has lost in
logic, clearness and good sense.

  As King Alcohol tightens his grasp on the merry company, the toasters and speakers lose
more and more their control over speech and actions. What was at first mischievous abandon and
merry jest, gradually degenerates into loquaciousness, coarseness and querulous brawls. Here and
there one of the maudlin crowd drops off in the stupor of drunkenness.

  If the liquor is strong enough and if the debauch is continued long enough, it may end in
complete paralysis of the vital functions or in death.

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 Hypnotism and Obsession

  Again, we find the seeming paradox of stimulation by paralysis exemplified in the

phenomena of hypnotism and obsession. The abnormally exaggerated sensation, feeling and
imagination of the subject under hypnotic control are made possible because the higher,
critical and restraining faculties and powers of will, reason and self-control are temporarily
or permanently benumbed and paralyzed by the stronger will of the hypnotist or of the
obsessing intelligence.

  There is a most interesting resemblance between the effects of stimulants, narcotics or

hypnotic control and blind, unreasoning faith. The latter also benumbs and paralyzes judgment
and reason. It gives full sway to the powers of imagination and thus may produce seemingly
miraculous results.

  This explains the modus operandi of faith cures as well as the fitful strength of the
intoxicated and the insane, or the beautiful dreams and delusions of grandeur of the drug addict.

  The close resemblance and relationship between hypnotic control and faith became vividly
apparent to me while witnessing the performance of a professional hypnotist. His subject on the
stage was a young woman who, under his control, performed extraordinary feats of strength and
resistance. Several strong men could not lift or move her in any way.

  What was the reason? In the ordinary, waking condition her judgment and common sense
would tell her: "I cannot resist the combined strength of these men. Of course, they can lift me
and pull me here and there." As a result of this doubting state of mind, she would not have the
strength to resist.

  However, the control of the hypnotist had paralyzed her reasoning faculties and therewith
her capacity for judging, doubting and not believing. Her subconscious mind accepted without
question or the shadow of a doubt the suggestion of the hypnotist that she did possess the strength
to resist the combined efforts of the men and as a result she actually manifested the necessary
powers of resistance.

  It is an established fact that the impressions (records) made upon the subconscious mind
under certain conditions as, for instance, under hypnotic influence absolutely control the activities
of the physical body.

  Does not this throw an interesting light on the power of absolute faith, on the saying:
"Everything is possible to him who believeth?" Blind, unreasoning faith benumbs and paralyzes
judgment and reason in similar manner as hypnotic control or stimulants and in that way gives
free and full sway to the powers of imagination and autosuggestion for good or ill, for white
magic or black magic, according to the purpose for which faith is exerted.

  It also becomes apparent that such blind, unreasoning faith cannot be constructive in its
influence upon the higher mental, moral and spiritual faculties. These can be developed only by
the conscious and voluntary exercise of will, reason and self-control.

  From the foregoing it will have become evident that we cannot increase vital force in the
body through any artificial means or methods from without, by food, drink or stimulant. What we

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can and should do, however, is to put the organism into the best possible condition for the
liberation and manifestation of life force or vital energy.

  The more normal the chemical composition of the blood, and the more free the tissues are
from clogging impurities, poisons and mechanical obstructions, such as lesions of the spinal
column, the more abundant will be the liberation and the available supply of vital energy.

  Therefore perfect, buoyant health, which ensures the greatest possible efficiency and
enjoyment of life, can be attained and maintained only by strict adherence to the natural ways of
living and, when necessary, by the natural treatment of diseases.

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 Natural Dietetics
The chemical composition of blood and lymph depends upon the chemical composition of
food and drink, and upon the normal or abnormal condition of the digestive organs.

  The purer the food and drink, the less it contains of morbid matter and poison-producing
materials and the more it contains of the elements necessary for the proper execution of the
manifold functions of the organism, for the building and repair of tissues and for the
neutralization and elimination of waste and systemic poisons, the more "normal" and the more
"natural" will be the diet.

  The system of dietetics of the Nature Cure school is based upon the composition of MILK,
which is the only perfect natural food combination in existence.

  In its composition, milk corresponds very closely to red, arterial blood and contains all the
elements which the newborn and growing organism needs in exactly the right proportions,
providing, of course, that the human or animal body which produces the milk is in good health
and lives on pure and normal foods.

  Therefore, if any food combination or diet is to be "normal" or "natural," it must approach in

its chemical composition the chemical composition of milk or of red, arterial blood. This
furnishes a strictly scientific basis for an exact science of dietetics, and proves true not only in the
chemical aspect of the diet problem, but also in every other aspect and in its practical application.

  The "regular" school of medicine pays little or no attention to rational food regulation. In
fact, it knows nothing about it, because "natural dietetics" are as yet not taught in medical
schools. As a result of this condition, the dietary advice given by the majority of Old School
practitioners is something as follows: "Eat what agrees with you: plenty of good, nourishing food.
There is nothing in dietetic fads. What is one man's meat is another man's poison, etc."

  However, if we study dietetics from a strictly scientific point of view, we find that certain
foods--among these especially the highly valued flesh foods, eggs, pulses and cereals--create in
the system large quantities of morbid, poisonous substances, while on the other hand fruits and
vegetables, which are rich in the organic salts, tend to neutralize and to eliminate from the system
the waste materials and poisons created in the processes of protein and starch digestion.

  The accumulations of waste and systemic poisons are the cause of the majority of diseases
arising within the human organism. Therefore it is imperative that the neutralizing and
eliminating food elements be provided in sufficient quantities.

  On this turns the entire problem of natural dietetics. While the "Old School" of medicine
looks upon starches, sugars, fats and proteins as the only elements of nutrition worthy of
consideration, Nature Cure aims to reduce these foods in the natural dietary and to increase
the purifying and eliminating fruits and vegetables.

  In this volume we cannot go into the details of the diet question. They will be treated in full
in our Vegetarian Cookbook and in our volume on Natural Dietetics. We shall say here in a
general way that in the treatment of chronic diseases, with few exceptions, we favor a strict

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vegetarian diet for the reason that most chronic diseases are created, as before stated, by the
accumulation of the "feces of the cells" in the system.

  Every piece of animal flesh is saturated with these excrements of the cells in the form of uric
acid and many other kinds of acids, alkaloids of putrefaction, xanthines, ptomaines, etc. The
organism of the meat eater must dispose not only of its own impurities produced in the processes
of digestion and of cell metabolism, but also of the morbid substances that are already contained
in the animal flesh.

  Since the cure of chronic diseases consists largely in purifying the body of morbid
materials, it stands to reason that a "chronic" must cease taking these in his daily food and
drink. To do otherwise would be like sweeping the dirt out of a house through the front door and
carrying it in again through the back door.

  Whether one approves of strict vegetarianism as a continuous mode of living or not, it will
be admitted that the change from a meat diet to a nonmeat diet must be of great benefit in the
treatment of chronic diseases.

  The cure of chronic conditions depends upon radical changes in the cells and tissues of the
body, as explained in Chapter Twenty. The old, abnormal, faulty diet will continue to build the
same abnormal and disease-encumbered tissues. The more thorough and radical the change in diet
toward normality and purity, the quicker the cells and tissues of the body will change toward the
normal and thus bring about a complete regeneration of the organism.

  Anything short of this may be palliative treatment, but is not worthy the name of cure.

Natural Foods

  In the following I shall give the outline a natural diet regimen which has been found by
experience to meet all requirements of the healthy organism, even when people have to work very
hard physically or mentally. In case of disease, certain modifications may have to be made
according to individual conditions. Persons in a low, negative state, whether physical, mental or
psychical, may temporarily require the addition of flesh foods to their diet.

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 Dietetics In A Nutshell
  Food Predomina Functions Foods in Which the Elements of the
Classes nt in Respective Groups Predominate
Chemical Vital
Elements Processes
GROUP I Starche Carbon Producers CEREALS: The inner, white parts of
Carbohydra s Oxygen of wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley,
tes and Hydrogen Heat and buckewheat and rice. VEGETABLES:
Dextrin Energy Potatoes, pumpkins, squashes. FRUITS:
es Bananas. NUTS: Chestnuts
GROUP II Sugars Carbon Producers VEGETABLES: Melons, beets,
Carbohydra Oxygen of sorghum. FRUITS: Bananas, dates, figs,
tes Hydrogen Heat and grapes, raisins. DAIRY PRODUCTS:
Energy Milk. NATURAL SUGARS: Honey,
maple sugar. COMMERCIAL SUGARS:
White sugar, syrup, glucose, candy.
NUTS: Cocoanuts.
GROUP III Fats Carbon Producers FRUITS: Olives. DAIRY
Hydrocarbo and Oxygen of PRODUCTS: Cream, butter, cheese.
ns Oils Hydrogen Heat and NUTS: Peanuts, almonds, walnuts,
Energy cocoanuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, pignolias,
etc. COMMERCIAL FATS: Olive oil,
peanut oil, peanut butter, vegetable-
cooking oils. THE YOKES OF EGGS
GROUP IV Albume Carbon Producers CEREALS: The outer, dark parts of
Proteids n Oxygen of wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat,
(white Hydrogen Heat and and rice. VEGETABLES: The legumes
of egg) Nitrogen Energy; (peas, beans, lentils), mushrooms.
Gluten Phosphoru Building NUTS: Cocoanuts, chestnuts, peanuts,
(grains) s Materials pignolias (pine nuts), hickorynuts,
Myosin Sulfur for Cells hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, etc. DAIRY
(lean and PRODUCTS: Milk, cheese. MEATS:
meat) Tissues Muscular parts of animals, fish, and
fowls.
GROUP V Organic Sodium Eliminator THE RED BLOOD OF ANIMALS.
Organic Mineral Na s: CEREALS: The hulls and outer, dark
Minerals Elemen Ferrum Bone, layers of grains and rice.
ts (Iron) Blood, VEGETABLES: Lettuce, spinach,
Fe and Nerve cabbage, green peppers, watercress,
Calcium Builders; celery, onions, asparagus, cauliflower,
(Lime) Antiseptics tomatoes, string-beans, fresh peas,
Ca : parsley, cucumbers, radishes, savoy,
Potassium Blood horseradish, dandelion, beets, carrots,
K Purifiers; turnips, eggplant, kohlrabi, oysterplant,
Magnesiu Laxitives; artichokes, leek, rosekale (Brussels
m Cholagogu sprouts), parsnips, pumpkins, squashes,
Mg es; sorghum. FRUITS: Apples, pears,
Manganes Producers peaches, oranges, lemons, grapefruit,
e of plums, prunes, apricots, cherries, olives.
Mn Electro- BERRIES: Strawberries, huckleberries,

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 Silicon magnetic cranberries, blackberries, blueberries,
Si Energies raspberries, gooseberries, currants.
Chlorine DAIRY PRODUCTS: Milk, buttermilk,
Cl skimmed milk. NUTS: Cocoanuts.
Flourine
Fl

  In the accompanying table entitled "Dietics In A Nutshell" we have divided all food
materials into five groups:

GROUP:

I. (Carbohydrates): Starches.
II. (Carbohydrates): Dextrins and sugars.
III. (Hydrocarbons): Fats and oils.
IV. (Proteids): white of egg, lean meat, the gluten of grains and pulses, the proteins of nuts
and milk.
V. (Organic Minerals): Iron, sodium calcium, potassium, magnesium, silicon. These are
contained in largest amounts in the juicy fruits and the leafy, juicy vegetables.

  As a general rule, let one-half of your food consist of Group V and the other half of a
mixture of the first four groups.

  If you wish to follow a pure food diet, exclude meat, fish, fowl, meat soups and sauces
and all other foods prepared from the dead animal carcass.

  This is brief and comprehensive. When in doubt, consult this rule.

  Also do not use coffee, tea, alcoholic beverages, tobacco or stimulants of any kind.

  Good foods are:

  Dairy Products: milk, buttermilk, skimmed milk, cream, butter, fresh cottage cheese,
fermented cheeses, as American, Swiss, Holland and DeBrie, should be used sparingly. The
stronger cheeses like Camembert and Roquefort should not be used at all

  Eggs: Raw, soft-boiled or poached, not fried or hard-boiled. Eggs should be used sparingly.
Two eggs three times a week or on an average one egg a day, is sufficient.

  White of egg is much easier to digest than the yolk, therefore the whites only should be used
in cases of very weak digestion. Beaten up with orange juice, they are both palatable and
wholesome; or they may be beaten very stiff and served cold with a sauce of prune juice or other
cooked fruit juices. This makes a delicious and very nutritive dish.

  Honey is a very valuable food and a natural laxative. It is not generally known that honey is
not a purely vegetable product, but that in passing through the organism of the bee it partakes of
its life element (animal magnetism).

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   Honey is one of the best forms of sugar available. The white sugar is detrimental to health,
because it has become inorganic through the refining process. The brown, unrefined granulated
sugar or maple sugar should be used instead.

  Figs, dates, raisins, bananas and all the other sweet fruits are excellent to satisfy the craving
of the organism for sweets.

  Cereal Foods: Rice, wheat, oats, barley, are good when properly combined with fruits and
vegetables and with dairy products.Use preferably the whole-grain preparations such as shredded
wheat or corn flakes. Oatmeal is not easily digestible; it is all right for robust people working in
the open air, but not so good for invalids and people of sedentary habits.

  Thin mushes are not to be recommended, because they do not require mastication and
therefore escape the action of the saliva, which is indispensable to the digestion of starchy foods.

  Avoid the use of white bread or any other white-flour products, especially pastry. White
flour contains little more than the starchy elements of the grain. Most of the valuable proteins
which are equal to meat in food value and the all-important organic salts which lodge in the hulls
and the outer layers of the grain have been refined out of it together with the bran. The latter is in
itself very valuable as a mechanical stimulant to the peristaltic action of the bowels.

  In preference to white bread eat Graham bread or whole rye bread. Our health bread forms
the solid foundation of a well-balanced vegetarian diet. It is prepared as follows:

  Take one-third each of white flour, Graham flour and rye meal (not the ordinary Bohemian
rye flour, but the coarse pumpernickel meal which contains the whole of the rye, including the
hull).

  Make a sponge of the white flour in the usual manner, either with good yeast or with
leavened dough from the last baking, which has been kept cold and sweet. When the sponge has
risen sufficiently, work the graham flour and rye meal into it. Thorough kneading is of
importance. Let rise slowly a second time, place in pans, and bake slowly until thoroughly done.

  By chemical analysis this bread has been found to contain more nourishment than meat. It is
very easily digested and assimilated and is a natural laxative. Eaten with sweet butter and in
combination with fruits and vegetables, it makes a complete and well balanced meal.

  A good substitute for bread is the following excellent whole wheat preparation: Soak clean,
soft wheat in cold water for about seven hours and steam in a double boiler for from eight to
twelve hours, or cook in a fireless cooker over night. Eat with honey and milk or cream, or with
prune juice, fig juice, etc., or add butter and dates or raisins. This dish is more nutritious than
meat, and one of the finest laxative foods in existence.

  Nuts are exceedingly rich in fats (60 percent) and proteins (15 percent), but rank low in
mineral salts. Therefore they should be used sparingly, and always in combination with fruits,
berries or vegetables. The coconut differs from the other nuts in that it contains less fats and
proteins and more organic salts. The meat of the coconut together with its milk comes nearer to
the chemical composition of human milk than any other food in existence.

Vegetables
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   Leguminous Vegetables, such as peas, beans and lentils in the ripened state are richer in
protein than meat (25 percent), and besides they contain a large percentage of starchy food
elements (60 percent); therefore they produce in the process of digestion large quantities of
poisonous acids, alkaloids of putrefaction and noxious gases.

  They should not be taken in large quantities and only in combination cooked or raw
vegetables. As a dressing use lemon juice and olive oil.

  Peas and beans in the green state differ very much from their chemical composition in the
ripened state. As long as these vegetables are green and in the pulp, they contain large quantities
of sugars and organic minerals, with but little starch and protein. As the ripening process
advances, the percentages of starches and proteins increase, while those of the sugars and of the
organic minerals decrease. The latter retire into the leaves and stems (polarization).

  In the green, pulpy state these foods may, therefore, be classed with Group II (Sugars) and
with Group V (Organic Minerals), while in the ripened state they must be classed with Groups I
(Starches) and Groups IV (Proteids).

  Dried peas, beans and lentils are more palatable and wholesome when cooked in
combination with tomatoes or prunes.

  The Leafy and Juicy Vegetables growing in or near the ground are very rich in the
positive organic salts and therefore of great nutritive and medicinal value. For this reason they
are best suited to balance the negative, acid-producing starches, sugars, fats and proteins.

  Lettuce, spinach, cabbage, watercress, celery, parsley, savoy cabbage, brussels sprouts,
Scotch kale, leek and endive rank highest in organic mineral salts. Next to these come tomatoes,
cucumbers, green peppers, radishes, onions, asparagus, cauliflower and horseradish.(See also
Group V in "Dietetics in a Nutshell.")

  Splendid, cooling summer foods, rich in the blood-purifying organic salts, are watermelons,
muskmelons. cantaloupes, pumpkins, squashes and other members of the melon family.

  The green vegetables are most beneficial when eaten raw, with a dressing of lemon juice
and olive oil. Avoid the use of vinegar as much as possible. It is a product of fermentation and a
powerful preservative which retards digestion as well as fermentation, both processes being very
much of the same character.

  Use neither pepper nor salt at the table. They may be used sparingly in cooking. Strong
spices and condiments are more or less irritating to the mucous linings of the intestinal tract. They
paralyze gradually the nerves of taste. At first they stimulate the digestive organs; but, like all
other stimulants, in time they produce weakness and atrophy.

Cooking of Vegetables

  While most vegetables are not improved by cooking, we do not mean that they should never
be cooked. Many diet reformers go to extremes when they claim that all the organic salts in fruits
and vegetables are rendered inorganic by cooking. This is an exaggera-tion. Cooking is merely a
mechanical process of subdivision, not a chemical process of transformation. Mechanical
processes of division do not dissolve or destroy organic molecules to any great extent.
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   Nevertheless, it remains true that the green leafy vegetables are not improved by cooking. It
is different with the starchy tubers and roots like potatoes, turnips, etc., and with other starchy
foods such as rice and grains. Here the cooking serves to break up and separate the hard starch
granules and to make them more pervious to penetration by the digestive juices.

How to Cook Vegetables

  After the vegetables are thoroughly washed and cut into pieces as desired, place them in the
cooking vessel, adding only enough water to keep them from burning, cover the vessel closely
with a lid and let them steam slowly in their own juices.

  The leafy vegetables (cabbage, spinach, kale, etc.), usually contain enough water for their
own steaming.

  Cook all vegetables only as long as is required to make them soft enough for easy
mastication. Do not throw away a drop of the water in which such vegetables as carrots, beets,
asparagus, oyster plant, egg plant, etc., have been cooked. Use what is left for the making of
soups and sauces.

  The organic mineral salts contained in the vegetables readily boil out into the water. If the
vegetables, as is the usual custom, are boiled in a large quantity of water, then drained or, what is
still worse, pressed out, they have lost their nutritive and medicinal value. The mineral salts have
vanished in the sink, the remains are insipid and indigestible and have to be soaked in soup stock
and seasoned with strong condiments and spices to make them at all palatable.

Fruits and Berries

  Next to the leafy vegetables, fruits and berries are the most valuable foods of the organic
minerals group. Lemons, grapefruit, oranges, apples are especially beneficial as blood purifiers.
Plums, pears, peaches, apricots, cherries, grapes, etc., contain large amounts of fruit sugars in
easily assimilable form and are also very valuable on account of their mineral salts.

  The different kinds of berries are even richer in mineral salts than the acid and subacid
fruits. In the country homes of Germany they are always at hand either dried or preserved to serve
during the winter not only as delicious foods but also as valuable home remedies.

  Fruits and berries are best eaten raw, although they may be stewed or baked. Very few
people know that rhubarb and cranberries are very palatable when cut up fine and well mixed
with honey, being allowed to stand for about an hour before serving. Prepared in this way, they
require much less sweetening and therefore do not tax the organism nearly as much as the
ordinary rhubarb or cranberry sauce, which usually contains an excessive amount of sugar.

Cooking of Fruits

  It is better to cook apples, cranberries, rhubarb, strawberries, and all other acid fruits
without sugar until soft, and to add the sugar afterward. Much less sugar will be required to
sweeten them sufficiently than when the sugar is added before or during the cooking.

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   Dried fruits rank next to the fresh in value, as the evaporating process only removes a large
percentage of water, without changing the chemical composition of the fruit in any way. Prunes,
apricots, apples, pears, peaches and berries may be obtained in the dried state all through the year.
Dates, figs, raisins and currants also come under this head.

  Olives are an excellent food. They are very rich in fats (about 50 percent), and contain also
considerable quantities of organic salts. They are therefore a good substitute for animal fat.

  Avoid factory-canned fruits. In the first place, they have become deteriorated by the
cooking process and secondly, they usually contain poisonous chemical preservatives. Home-
preserved fruits and vegetables are all right providing they do not contain too much sugar and no
poisonous preservative.

  Bananas differ from the juicy fruits in that they consist almost entirely of starches,
dextrines and sugars. They belong to the carbohydrate groups and should be used sparingly by
people suffering from intestinal indigestion.

  However, we do not share the belief entertained by many people that bananas are injurious
under all circumstances. We consider them an excellent food, especially for children.

Mixing Fruits and Vegetables

  Many people, when they first sit down to our table, are horrified to see how we mix fruits
and vegetables in the same meal. They have been taught that it is a cardinal sin against the laws of
health to do this. After they overcome their prejudice and partake heartily of the meals as we
serve them, they are greatly surprised to find that these combinations of vegetables and juicy
fruits are not only harmless, but agreeable and highly beneficial.

  We have never been able to find any good reason why these foods should not be mixed and
our experience proves that no ill effects can be traced to this practice except in very rare
instances. There are a few individuals with whom the mixing of fruits and vegetables does not
seem to agree. These, of course, should refrain from it. We must comply with idiosyncrasies until
they are overcome by natural living.

  Eating fruits only or vegetables only at one and the same meal limits the selection and
combination of foods to a very considerable extent and tends to create monotony, which is not
only unpleasant but injurious. The flow of saliva and of the digestive juices is greatly increased
by the agreeable sight, smell and taste of appetizing food and these depend largely upon its
variety.

  With very few exceptions, every one of our patients (and we have in our institution as fine a
collection of dyspeptics as can be found anywhere) heartily enjoys our mixed dietary and is
greatly benefited by it.

Mixing Starches and Acid Fruits

  Occasionally we find that one or another of our patients cannot eat starchy foods and acid
fruits at the same meal without experiencing digestive disturbances. Whenever this is the case, it
is best to take with bread or cereals only sweet, alkaline fruits such as prunes, figs, dates, raisins,
or, in their season, watermelons and cantaloupes or the alkaline vegetables such as radishes,
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lettuce, onions, cabbage slaw, etc. The acid and subacid fruits should then be taken between
those meals which consist largely of starchy foods.

A Word About the Milk Diet

  When we explain that the natural diet is based upon the chemical composition of milk
because milk is the only perfect natural food combination in existence, the question comes up:
"Why, then, not live on milk entirely?" To this we reply: While milk is the natural food for the
newborn and growing infant, it is not natural for the adult. The digestive apparatus of the infant is
especially adapted to the digestion of milk, while that of the adult requires more solid and bulky
food.

  Milk is a very beneficial article of diet in all acid diseases, because it contains comparatively
low percentages of carbohydrates and proteins and large amounts of organic salts.

  However, not everybody can use milk as a food or medicine. In many instances it causes
biliousness, fermentation and constipation.

  In cases where it is easily digested, a straight milk diet often proves very beneficial. As a
rule, however, it is better to take fruits or vegetable salads with the milk.

  Directly with milk may be taken any sweetish, alkaline fruits such as melons, sweet pears,
etc., or the dried fruits, such as prunes, dates, figs, and raisins, also vegetable salads. With the
latter, if taken together with milk, little or no lemon juice should be used.

  All acid and subacid fruits should be taken between the milk meals.

  A patient on a milk diet may take from one to five quarts of milk daily, according to his
capacity to digest it. This quantity may be distributed over the day after the following plan:

Breakfast: One to three pints of milk, sipped slowly with any

of the sweetish, alkaline fruits mentioned above, or
with vegetable salads composed of lettuce, celery, raw
cabbage slaw, watercress, green onions, radishes,
carrots, etc
10:00 A.M.: Grapefruit, oranges, peaches, apples, apricots,
berries, grapes or other acid and subacid fruits.
Luncheon: The same as breakfast.
3:00 P.M. The same as 10 a.m.
Supper: The same as breakfast. An orange or apple may be
taken before retiring.

  When it is advisable to take a greater variety of food together with large quantities of milk,
good whole grain bread and butter, cream, honey, cooked vegetables, moderate amounts of
potatoes and cereals may be added to the dietary.

ButtermiIk

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   Buttermilk is an excellent food for those with whom it agrees. In many instances a straight
buttermilk diet for a certain period will prove very beneficial. This is especially true in all forms
of uric acid diseases.

  Sour milk or clabber also has excellent medicinal qualities and may be taken freely by those
with whom it agrees.

Drinks

  It has been stated before that coffee, tea and alcoholic beverages should be avoided.

  Instead of the customary coffee, tea or cocoa, delicious drinks, which are nutritious and at
the same time nonstimulating, may be prepared from the different fruit and vegetable juices.
They may be served cold in hot weather and warm in winter. Recipes for fruit and vegetable
drinks will be included in our new Vegetarian Cookbook, now in preparation.

  If more substantial drinks are desired, white of egg may be added or the entire egg may be
used in combination with prune juice, fig juice or any of the acid fruit juices. Other desirable and
unobjectionable additions to beverages are flaked nuts or bananas mashed to a liquid.

  The juice of a lemon or an orange, unsweetened, diluted with twice the amount of water,
taken upon rising, is one of the best means of purifying the blood and other fluids of the body
and, incidentally, clearing the complexion. The water in which prunes or figs have been cooked
should be taken freely to remedy constipation.

  As a practical illustration, I shall describe briefly the daily dietary regimen as it is followed
in our sanitarium work.

  Breakfast consists of juicy fruits, raw, baked or stewed, a cereal (whole wheat steamed,
cracked wheat, shredded wheat, corn flakes, oat meal, etc.), and our health bread with butter,
cottage cheese or honey. Nuts of various kinds, as well as figs, dates, or raisins, are always on the
table. To those of our patients who desire a drink, we serve milk, buttermilk or cereal coffee.

  Twice a week we serve eggs, preferably raw, soft boiled or poached.

  Luncheon is served at noontime and is composed altogether of acid and subacid fruits,
vegetable salads or both. We have found by experience that, by having one meal consist entirely
of fruits and vegetables, the medicinal properties of these foods have a chance to act on the
system without interference by starchy and protein food elements.

  Dinner is served to our patients between five and six. The items of the daily menu comprise
relishes, such as radishes, celery, olives, young onions, raw carrots, etc., soup, one or two cooked
vegetables, potatoes, preferably boiled or baked in their skins, and a dessert consisting of either a
fruit combination or a pudding.

  We serve soup three times a week only, because we believe that a large amount of fluid of
any kind taken into the system at meal time dilutes and thereby weakens the digestive juices. For
this reason it is well to masticate with the soup some bread or crackers or some vegetable relish.

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   As drinks we serve to those who desire it water, milk or buttermilk.

  Prunes or figs, stewed or raw, are served at every meal to those who require a specially
laxative diet.

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 Acid Diseases
The origin, progressive development and cure of acid diseases are very much the same
whether they manifest as rheumatism, arteriosclerosis, stones (calculi), gravel, diabetes, Bright's
disease, affections of the heart or apoplexy.

  The human body is made up of acid and alkaline constituents. In order to have normal
conditions and functions of tissues and organs, both must be present in the right proportions. If
either the acid or the alkaline elements are present in excessive or insufficient quanitities,
abnormal conditions and functions, that is, disease will be the result.

  All acids, with the exception of carbonic acid, exert a tensing influence upon the tissues of
the body, while alkalies have a relaxing effect. The normal functions of the body depend upon
the equilibrium between these opposing forces.

  Acidity and alkalinity undoubtedly play an important part in the generation of electricity and
magnetism in the human organism. Every electric cell and battery contains acid and alkaline
elements; and the human body is a dynamo made up of innumerable minute electric cells and
batteries in the forms of living, protoplasmic cells and organs.

  It has been claimed that what we call vital force is electricity and magnetism, and that
these forces are manufactured in the human body. This, however, is but a partial statement of the
truth. It is true that vital force manifests in the body as electricity and magnetism, but life or vital
force itself is not generated in the system.

  Life is a primary force; it is the source of all activity animating the universe. From this
primary force other, secondary forces are derived, such as electricity, magnetism, mind force,
nerve and muscle force, etc.

  These secondary, derived forces cannot be changed back into vital force in the human
organism. Nothing can give life but LIFE itself.

  When the physical body is dead, as we call it, the life which left it is active in the spiritual
body. It is independent of the physical organism just as electricity is independent of the
incandescent bulb in which it manifests as light.

  After this digression we shall return to our study of the cause and development of acid
diseases. Nearly every disease originating in the human body is due to or accompanied by the
excessive formation of different kinds of acids in the system, the most important of which are
uric, carbonic, sulfuric, phosphoric and oxalic acids. These, together with xanthines, poisonous
alkaloids and ptomaines, are formed during the processes of protein and starch digestion and in
the breaking down and decay of cells and tissues.

  Of these different waste products, uric acid causes probably the most trouble in the
organism. The majority of diseases arising within the human body are due to its erratic behavior.
Together with oxalic acid, it is responsible for arteriosclerosis, arthritic rheumatism and the
formation of calculi.

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   Dr. Haig of London has done excellent work in the investigation of uric-acid poisoning, but
he becomes one-sided when he makes uric acid the scapegoat for all disease conditions
originating in the organism. In his philosophy of disease he fails to take into consideration the
effects of other acids and systemic poisons. For instance, he does not mention the fact that
carbonic acid is produced in the system somewhat similarly to the formation of coal gas in the
furnace; and that its accumulation prevents the entrance of oxygen into the cells and tissues, thus
causing asphyxiation or oxygen starvation, which manifests in the symptoms of anemia and
tuberculosis.

  Neither does Dr. Haig explain the effects of other destructive by-products formed during the
digestion of starches and proteins. Sulfurous acid and sulfuric acid (vitriol), as well as phosphorus
and phosphoric acids actually burn up the tissues of the body. They destroy the cellulose
membranes which form the protecting skins or envelopes of the cells, dissolve the protoplasm and
allow the latter to escape into the circulation. This accounts for the symptoms of Bright's disease,
the presence of albumen (cell protoplasm) in blood and urine, the clogging of the circulation, the
consequent stagnation and the accumulation of blood serum (dropsy) and the final breaking down
of the tissues (necrosis) resulting in open sores and ulcers.

  Excess of phosphorus and the acids derived from it overstimulates the brain and the nervous
system, causing nervousness, irritability, hysteria and the different forms of mania.

  An example of this is the distemper of a horse when given too much oats and not enough
grass or hay. The excess of phosphorus and phosphoric acids formed from the protein materials
of the grain, if not neutralized by the alkaline minerals contained in grasses, hay or straw, will
overstimulate and irritate the nervous system of the animal and cause it to become nervous,
irritable and vicious. These symptoms disappear when the rations of oats are decreased and when
more fresh grass or hay is fed in place of the grain.

  Similar effects to those produced upon the horse by an excess of grains are caused in the
human organism, especially in the sensitive nervous system of the child, by a surplus of protein
foods, of meat, eggs, grains and pulses.

  Still, when patients suffering from overstimulation of the brain and nervous system consult
their doctor, his advice in almost every instance is: "Your nerves are weak and overwrought. You
need plenty of good, nourishing food (broths, meat and eggs), and 'a good tonic.' "

  The remedies prescribed by the doctor are the very things which caused the trouble in the
first place.

  As stated before, uric acid is undoubtedly one of the most common causes of disease and
therefore deserves especial attention. Through the study of its peculiar behavior under different
circumstances and influences, the cause, nature and development of all acid diseases will become
clearer.

  Like urea, uric acid is one of the end products of protein digestion. It is formed in much
smaller quantities than urea, in proportion of about one to fifty, but the latter is more easily
eliminated from the system through kidneys and skin.

  The principal ingredient in the formation of uric acid is nitrogen, one of the six elements
which enter into all proteid or albuminous food materials, also called nitrogenous foods. Uric
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acid, as one of the by-products of digestion, is therefore always present in the blood and, in
moderate quantities, serves useful purposes in the economy of the human and animal organism
like the other waste materials. It becomes a source of irritation and cause of disease only when it
is present in the circulation or in the tissues in excessive amounts.

How Uric Acid Is Precipitated

  The alkaline blood takes up the uric acid, dissolves it and holds it in solution in the
circulation until it is carried to the organs of depuration and eliminated in perspiration and urine.
If, however, through the excessive use of nitrogenous foods or defective elimination, the amount
of uric acid in the system is increased beyond a certain limit, the blood loses its power to
dissolve it and it forms a sticky, glue-like, colloid substance, which occludes or blocks up the
minute blood vessels (capillaries), so that the blood cannot pass readily from the arterial system
into the venous circulation.

  This interference with the free passing of the blood is greater in proportion to the distance
from the heart, because the farther from the heart, the less the force behind the circulation.
Therefore we find that slowing up of the blood currents, whether due to uric acid occlusion or any
other cause, is more pronounced in the surface of the body and in the extremities than in the
interior parts and organs.

  This occlusion of the surface circulation can be easily observed and even measured by a
simple test. Press the tip of the forefinger of one hand on the back of the other. A white spot will
be formed where the blood has receded from the surface on account of the pressure. Now observe
how quickly or how slowly the blood returns into this white patch.

  Dr. Haig says that, if the reflux of the blood take place within two or three seconds, the
circulation is normal and not obstructed by uric acid. If, however, the blood does not return for
four or more seconds, it is a sign that the capillary circulation is obstructed by colloid uric acid
occlusion.

  In this connection I would call attention to the fact that the accumulation of carbonic acid in
the cells and tissues, and the resulting oxygen starvation, may produce similar interference with
the circulation and result in the same symptoms, including the slow reflux of blood after pressure,
as those which Dr. Haig ascribes to the action of uric acid only.

  When this obstruction of the circulation by uric or carbonic acid prevails throughout the
body, the blood pressure is too high in the arterial blood vessels and in the interior organs, such as
heart, lungs, brain, etc., and too low in the surface, the extremities and in the venous circulation.
The return flow of the blood to the heart through the veins is sluggish and stagnant because the
force from behind, that is, the arterial blood pressure, is obstructed by the uric acid which clogs
the minute capillaries that form the connection between the arterial and the venous systems.

  Because of this interference with the normal circulation and distribution of the blood, uric
acid produces many annoying and deleterious effects. It irritates the nerves, the mucous
membranes and other tissues of the body, thus causing headaches, rheumatic pains in joints and
muscles, congestion of blood in the head, flushes, dizziness, depression, fainting and even
epilepsy.

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   Other results of uric acid irritation are: inflammatory and catarrhal conditions of the bronchi,
lungs, stomach, intestines, genitourinary organs; rapid pulse; palpitation of the heart; angina
pectoris; etc.

  These colloid substances occlude the minute excretory ducts in liver, spleen, kidneys and
other organs, interfering with their normal functions and causing the retention of morbid matter in
the system.

  All these troublesome and destructive effects of uric acid poisoning may be greatly
augmented by excessive accumulation of sulfuric, phosphoric and other acids, and by the
formation of ptomaines and poisonous alkaloids during the metabolism of proteid substances.

  The entire group of symptoms caused by the excess of uric acid in the system and the
resulting occlusion of the capillary blood vessels by colloid substances is called collemia [a
glutinous or viscid condition of the blood].

  If in such a condition as collemia the amount of uric acid in the circulation is still farther
increased by the taking of uric acid-producing food and drink and the saturation point of the
blood is reached, that is, if the blood becomes overcharged with the acid, a curious phenomenon
may be observed: the collaemic symptoms suddenly disappear as if by magic, giving way to a
feeling of physical and mental buoyancy and strength.

  This wonderful change has been wrought because the blood has lost its capacity for
dissolving uric acid and holding it in solution and the acid has been precipitated, thrown out of
the circulation and deposited in the tissues of the body.

  After a period of rest, that is, when no uric acid- or xanthine-producing foods have been
taken for some time, say, overnight, the blood regains its alkalinity and its capacity for dissolving
and carrying uric acid and begins to reabsorb it from the tissues. As a consequence, the blood
becomes again saturated with uric acid and the collaemic symptoms reappear.

  This explains why the hilariousness and exaltation of spirits at the banquet is followed by
"Katzenjammer" [hangover] in the morning. It also explains why many people do not feel fit for
their day's work unless they take a stimulant of some kind on arising. Their blood is continually
filled with uric acid to the point of saturation and the extra amount contained in the coffee or
alcohol repeats the process of uric-acid precipitation, the temporary stimulation and relief.

  Every time this precipitation of uric acid from the circulation is repeated, some of the
morbid materials remain and accumulate in different parts and organs. If these irritating
substances become lodged in the joints and muscles, arthritic or muscular rheumatism is the
result. If acids, xanthines and oxalates of lime form earthy deposits along the walls of arteries and
veins, these vessels harden and become inelastic, and their diameter is diminished. This obstructs
the free circulation of the blood and causes malnutrition of the brain and other vital organs.
Furthermore, the blood vessels become brittle and break easily and there is danger of
hemorrhages.

  This explains the origin and development of arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and
apoplexy.

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   Apoplexy may also be caused by other acids and drug poisons which soften, corrode and
destroy the walls of the blood vessels in the brain.

  In individuals of different constitutions, accumulations of uric acid, xanthines, oxalates of

calcium and various other earthy substances form stones, gravel or sandy deposits in the kidneys,
the gall bladder and in other parts and organs.

  The diseases caused by permanent deposits of uric acid in the tissues are called arthritic
diseases, because the accumulations frequently occur in the joints.

  Thus we distinguish two distinct stages of uric acid diseases: the collaemic stage, marked by
an excess of uric acid in the circulation and resulting in occlusion of the capillary blood vessels,
and the arthritic stage, marked by permanent deposits of uric acid and other earthy substances in
the tissues of the body.

  During the prevalence of the collaemic symptoms, that is, when the circulation is saturated
with uric acid, the urine is also highly acid. When precipitation of the acid materials from the
blood into the tissues has taken place, the amount of acid in the urine decreases materially.

  I have repeatedly stated that xanthines have the same effect upon the system as uric acid.
Caffeine and theobromine, the narcotic principles of coffee and tea, are xanthines; and so is the
nicotine contained in tobacco. Peas, beans, lentils, mushrooms and peanuts, besides being very
rich in uric acid-producing proteins, carry also large percentages of xanthines, which are
chemically almost identical with uric acid and have a similar effect upon the organism and its
functions.

  From what has been said, it becomes clear why the meat-eater craves alcohol and
xanthines. When by the taking of flesh foods the blood has become saturated with uric acid and
the annoying symptoms of collaemia make their appearance in the forms of lassitude, headache
and nervous depression, then alcohol and the xanthines contained in coffee, tea and tobacco will
cause the precipitation of the acids from the circulation into the tissues of the body, and thus
temporarily relieve the collaemic symptoms and create a feeling of well-being and stimulation.

  Gradually, however, the blood regains its alkalinity and its acid-dissolving power and
enough of the acid deposits are reabsorbed by the circulation to cause a return of the symptoms of
collaemia. Then arises a craving for more alcohol, coffee, tea, nicotine or xanthine-producing
foods in order to again obtain temporary relief and stimulation, and so on, ad infinitum.

  The person addicted to the use of stimulants is never himself. His mental, moral and
emotional equilibrium is always unbalanced. His brain is muddled with poisons and he lacks the
self-control, the clear vision and steady hand necessary for the achievement of success in any line
of endeavor.

  We can now understand why one stimulant craves another, why it is almost impossible to
give up one stimulant without giving up all others as well.

  From the foregoing it will have become clear that the stimulating effect of alcohol and of
many so-called tonics depends upon their power to clear the circulation temporarily of uric
and other acids. Those who have read this chapter carefully, will know why this effect is

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deceptive and temporary and why it is followed by a return of the collaemic symptoms in
aggravated form, and how these are gradually changed into chronic arthritic uric acid diseases.

  In order to give a better idea of the various phases of uric acid poisoning, I have used the
following illustration in some of my lectures:

  A man may carry a burden of fifty pounds on his shoulders without difficulty or serious
discomfort. Let this correspond to the normal solving-power and carrying-capacity of the blood
for uric acid. Suppose you add gradually to the burden on the man's back until its weight has
reached one-hundred and fifty pounds. He may still be able to carry the burden, but as the weight
increases he will begin to show signs of distress. This increase of weight and the attendant
discomfort correspond to the increase of uric acid in the blood and the accompanying symptoms
of collaemia.

  If you increase the burden on the man's shoulders still further, beyond his individual
carrying-capacity, a point will be reached when he can no longer support its weight and will
throw it off entirely. This climax corresponds to the saturation point of the blood, when the limit
of its acid-carrying capacity is exceeded and its acid contents are precipitated into the tissues.

The Treatment of Acid Diseases

  The treatment of acid diseases is the same as of all other diseases that are due to the
violation of Nature's laws: purification of blood and tissues from within and building up of the
vital fluids (blood and lymph) on a natural basis through normal habits of eating, dressing,
bathing, breathing, working, resting and thinking as outlined in other parts of this volume.

  In severe cases which have reached the chronic stage, the treatment must be supplemented
by the more aggressive methods of strict diet, hydrotherapy, curative gymnastics, massage,
manipulation and homeopathic medication.

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 Fasting
Next in importance to building up the blood on a natural basis is the elimination of waste,
morbid matter and poisons from the system. This depends to a large extent upon the right
(natural) diet; but it must be promoted by the different methods of eliminative treatment: fasting,
hydrotherapy, massage, physical exercise, air- and sunbaths and, in the way of medicinal
treatment, by homeopathic, herb and vitochemical remedies.

  Foremost among the methods of purification stands fasting, which of late years has become
quite popular and is regarded by many people as a panacea for all human ailments. However, it is
a two-edged sword. According to circumstances, it may do a great deal of good or a great deal of
harm.

  Kuhne, the German pioneer of Nature Cure, claimed that "disease is a unit," that it consists
in the accumulation of waste and morbid matter in the system. Since his time, many "naturists"
claim that fasting offers the best and quickest means for eliminating systemic poisons and other
encumbrances.

  To "fast it out" seems simple and plausible, but it does not always prove to be successful in
practice. Fasting enthusiasts forget that the elimination of waste and morbid matter from the
system is more of a chemical than a mechanical process. They also overlook the fact that in
many cases lowered vitality and weakened powers of resistance precede and make possible
the accumulation of morbid matter in the organism.

  If the encumbrances consist merely of superfluous flesh and fat or of accumulated waste
materials, fasting may be sufficient to break up the accumulations and to eliminate the impurities
that are clogging blood and tissues.

  If, however, the disease has its origin in other than mechanical causes, or if it is due to a
weakened, negative constitution and lowered powers of resistance, fasting may aggravate the
abnormal conditions instead of improving them.

  We hear frequently of long fasts, extending over days and weeks, undertaken recklessly
without the prescription and guidance of a competent medical adviser, without proper preparation
of the system and the right subsequent treatment. Many a good constitution has thus been
permanently injured and wrecked.

When Fasting Is Indicated

  Persons of sanguine, vital temperament, with the animal qualities strongly developed,
enslaved by bad habits and evil passions, will be greatly benefited by occasional short fasts. In
such cases, the experience affords a fine drill in self-discipline, strengthening of self-control and
conquest of the lower appetites.

  Vigorous, fleshy people, positive physically and mentally, especially those who do not take
sufficient physical exercise, should take frequent fasts of one, two, or three days' duration for the
reduction of superfluous flesh and fat and for the elimination of systemic waste and other morbid

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materials. Such people should never eat more than two meals a day, and many get along best on
one meal.

  However, different temperaments and constitutions require different treatment and

management. People of a nervous, emotional temperament, especially those who are below
normal in weight and physically and mentally negative, may be seriously and permanently
injured by fasting. They should never fast except in acute diseases and during eliminative
healing crises, when Nature calls for the fast as a means of cure.

  People of this type are usually thin, with weak and flabby muscles. Their vital activities are
at a low ebb and their magnetic envelopes (aura) are wasted and attenuated like their physical
bodies. The red aura, which is created by the action of the purely animal functions and forces, is
more or less deficient or entirely lacking. Such people have the tendency to become abnormally
sensitive to conditions in the magnetic field (the astral plane).

  Next to the hypnotic or mediumistic process, there is nothing that induces abnormal
psychism so quickly as fasting. During a prolonged fast, the purely animal functions of digestion,
assimilation and elimination are almost completely at a standstill. This depression of the physical
functions arouses and increases the psychic functions and may produce intense emotionalism and
abnormal activity of the senses of the spiritual-material body, the individual thus becoming
abnormally clairvoyant, clairaudient and otherwise sensitive to conditions on the spiritual planes
of life.

  This explains the spiritual exaltation and the visions of heavenly scenes and beings or the
fights with demons which are frequently, indeed uniformly, reported by hermits, ascetics, saints,
yogi, fakirs and dervishes.

  Fasting facilitates hypnotic control of the sensitive by positive intelligences either on the
physical or on the spiritual plane of being. In the one case we speak of hypnotism, in the other of
mediumship, obsession or possession. These conditions are usually diagnosed by the regular
practitioner as nervousness, nervous prostration, hysteria, paranoia, delusional insanity, double
personality, mania, etc.

  The destructive effects of fasting are intensified by solitude, grief, worry, introspection,
religious exaltation or any other form of depressive or destructive mental and emotional activity.

  Spirit controls often force their subjects to abstain from food, thus rendering them still more
negative and submissive. Psychic patients, when controlled or obsessed, will frequently not eat
unless they are forced or fed like an infant. When asked why they do not want to eat, these
patients reply: "I mustn't. They will not let me." When we say: "Who?" the answer is: "These
people. Don't you see them?" pointing to a void, and becoming impatient when told that no one is
there. The regular school says delusion; we call it abnormal clairvoyance.

  In other instances the control tells the subject that his food and drink are poisoned or
unclean. To the obsessed victim these suggestions are absolute reality.

  To place persons of the negative, sensitive type on prolonged fasts and thus to expose them
to the dangers just described is little short of criminal. Such patients need an abundance of the
most positive animal and vegetable foods in order to build up and strengthen their physical bodies

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and their magnetic envelopes, which form the dividing and protecting wall between the terrestrial
plane and the magnetic field.

  A negative vegetarian diet, consisting principally of fruits, nuts, cereal and pulses, but
deficient in animal foods (the dairy products, eggs, honey) and in the vegetables growing in or
near the ground may result in conditions similar to those which accompany prolonged
fasting.

  Animal foods are elaborated under the influence of a higher life-element* than that
controlling the vegetable kingdom, and foods derived from the animal kingdom are necessary to
develop and stimulate the positive qualities in man.

*This subject will be treated more fully in another volume of this series entitled
"Natural Dietitics."

  In the case of the psychic, who is already deficient in the physical (animal) and
overdeveloped in the spiritual qualities, it is especially necessary, in order to restore and maintain
the lost equilibrium, to build up in him the animal qualities.

How to Take an Occasional Therapeutic Fast

  Before, during and after a therapeutic fast, everything must be done to keep
elimination active, in order to prevent the reabsorption of the toxins that are being stirred up and
liberated.

  Fasting involves rapid breaking down of the tissues. This creates great quantities of worn-
out cell materials and other morbid substances. Unless these poison-producing accumulations are
promptly eliminated, they will be reabsorbed into the system and cause autointoxication.

  To prevent this, bowels, kidneys and skin must be kept in active condition. The diet, for
several days before and after the fast, should consist largely of uncooked fruits and vegetables
and the different methods of natural stimulative treatment to assure proper bowel action should be
systematically applied.

  During a fast, every bit of vitality must be economized; therefore the passive treatments are
to be preferred to active exercise, although a certain amount of exercise (especially walking) daily
in the open air accompanied by deep breathing should not be neglected.

  While fasting, intestinal evacuation usually ceases, especially where there is a natural
tendency to sluggishness of the bowels. Injections [salt and baking soda enemas are best] are
therefore in order and during prolonged fasts may be taken every few days.

  By prolonged fasts we understand fasts that last from one to four weeks, short fasts being
those of one, two or three days' duration.

  Moderate drinking is beneficial during a fast as well as at other times; but excessive
consumption of water, the so-called flushing of the system, is very injurious. Under ordinary
conditions from five to eight glasses of water a day are probably sufficient; the quantity
consumed must be regulated by the desire of the patient.

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   Those who are fasting should mix their drinking water with the juice of acid fruits,
preferably lemon, orange or grapefruit. These juices act as eliminators and are fine natural
antiseptics.

  Never use distilled water, whether during a fast or at any other time. Deprived of its
own mineral constituents, distilled water leeches the mineral elements and organic salts out of the
tissues of the body and thereby intensifies dysemic [blood deterioration] conditions.

  While fasting, the right mental attitude is all-important. Unless you can do it with perfect
equanimity, without fear or misgiving, do not fast at all. Destructive mental conditions may more
than offset the beneficial effects of the fast.

  To recapitulate: Never undertake a prolonged fast unless you have been properly prepared
by natural diet and treatment, and never without the guidance of a competent Nature Cure doctor.

Fasting in Chronic Diseases

  At all times some of our patients can be found fasting; but they do not begin until the right
physiological and psychological moment has arrived, until the fast is indicated. When the
organism, or rather the individual cell, is ready to begin the work of elimination, then assimilation
should cease for the time being, because it interferes with the excretory processes going on in the
system.

  To fast before the system is ready for it, means mineral salts starvation and defective
elimination.

  Given a vigorous, positive constitution, encumbered with too much flesh and with a
tendency to chronic constipation, rheumatism, gout, apoplexy and other diseases due to food
poisoning, a fast may be indicated from the beginning. But it is different with persons of the
weak, negative type.

  Ordinarily, the organism resembles a huge sponge, which absorbs the elements of nutrition
from the digestive tract. During a fast the process is reversed, the sponge is being squeezed and
gives off the impurities contained in it.

  However, this is a purely mechanical process and deals only with the mechanical aspect of
disease: with the presence of waste matter in the system. It does not take into consideration the
chemical aspect of disease. We have learned that most of the morbid matter in the system has its
origin in the acid waste products of starchy and protein digestion.

  In rheumatism and gout, the colloid (glue-like) and earthy deposits collect in the joints and
muscular tissues; in arteriosclerosis, in the arteries and veins; in paralysis, epilepsy and kindred
diseases, in brain and nerve tissues.

  The accumulation of these waste products is due, in turn, to a deficiency in the system
of the alkaline, acid-binding and acid-eliminating mineral elements. In point of fact, almost
every form of disease is characterized by a lack of these organic mineral salts in blood and
tissues.

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   Stones, gravel (calculi), etc., grow in acid blood only, and must be dissolved and eliminated
by rendering the blood alkaline. This is accomplished by the absorption of the alkaline salts,
contained most abundantly in the juicy fruits, the leafy and juicy vegetables, the hulls of cereals
and in milk.

  How, then, are these all-important solvents and eliminators to be supplied to the
organism by total abstinence from food?

  Prolonged fasting undoubtedly lowers the patient's vitality and powers of resistance. But
natural elimination of waste products and systemic poisons (healing crises) depends upon
increased vitality and activity of the organism and the individual cells that compose it.

  For these reasons we find, in most cases, that proper adjustment of the diet, both as to
quality and quantity, together with the different forms of natural corrective and stimulative
treatment, must precede the fasting.

  The great majority of chronic patients have become chronics because their skin, kidneys,
intestines and other organs of elimination are in a sluggish, atrophied condition. As a result, their
system is overloaded with morbid matter.

  Moreover, during the fast the system has to live on its own tissues, which are being broken
down rapidly. This results in the production and liberation of additional large quantities of morbid
matter and poisons, which must be eliminated promptly to prevent their reabsorption.

  However, the atrophic condition of the organs of elimination makes this impossible and
there are not enough alkaline mineral elements to neutralize the destructive acids. Therefore the
impurities remain and accumulate in the system and may cause serious aggravations and
complications.

  Is it not wiser first of all to build up the blood on a normal basis by natural diet and to put
the organs of elimination in good working order by the natural methods of treatment before
fasting is enforced? This is, indeed, the only rational procedure and will always be followed by
the best possible results.

  When, under the influence of a rational diet, the blood has regained its normal composition,
when mechanical obstructions to the free flow of blood and nerve currents have been removed by
manipulative treatment, when skin, kidneys, bowels, nerves and nerve centers, in fact, every cell
in the body has been stimulated into vigorous activity by the various methods of natural
treatment, then the cells themselves begin to eliminate their morbid encumbrances. The waste
materials are carried in the blood stream to the organs of elimination and incite them to acute
reactions or healing crises in the form of diarrheas, catarrhal discharges, fevers, inflammations,
skin eruptions, boils, abscesses, etc.

  Now the sponge is being squeezed and cleansed of its impurities in a natural manner. The
mucous membranes of stomach and bowels are called upon to assist in the work of
housecleaning; hence the coated tongue, lack of appetite, digestive disturbances, nausea,
biliousness, sour stomach, fermentation, flatulence and occasionally vomiting and purging.

  These digestive disturbances are always accompanied by mental depression, the blues,
homesickness, irritability, fear, hopelessness, etc.
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   With the advent of these cleansing and healing crises the physiological and psychological
moment for fasting has arrived. All the processes of assimilation are at a standstill. The entire
organism is eliminating.

  We have learned that these healing crises usually arrive during the sixth week of natural
treatment.

  To take food now would mean to force assimilation and thereby to stop elimination and
perchance to interfere with or to check a beneficial healing crisis.

  Therefore we regard it as absolutely essential to stop eating as soon as any form of acute
elimination makes its appearance and we do not give any food except acid fruit juices diluted
with water until all signs of acute eliminative activity have subsided, whether this require a few
days or a few weeks or a few months.

  Some time ago I treated a severe case of typhoid malaria. No food, except water mixed with
a little orange or lemon juice, passed the lips of the patient for eight weeks. When all disease
symptoms had disappeared, we allowed a few days for the rebuilding of the intestinal mucous
membranes. Thereafter food was administered with the usual precautions. The patient gained
rapidly and within six weeks weighed more than before the fever. During the entire period I saw
the patient only twice, the simple directions being carried out faithfully by his relatives.

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 Hydrotherapy Treatment of
Chronic Disease
While in our treatment of acute diseases we use wet packs and cold ablutions to promote the
radiation of heat and thereby to reduce the fever temperature, our aim in the treatment of chronic
diseases is to arouse the system to acute eliminative effort. In other words, while in acute disease
our hydropathic treatment is sedative, in chronic diseases it is stimulative.

The Good Effects of Cold-Water Applications

  (1) Stimulation of the Circulation. As before stated, cold water applied to the surface of
the body arouses and stimulates the circulation all over the system. Blood counts before and after
a cold-water application show a very marked increase in the number of red and white blood
corpuscles. This does not mean that the cold water has in a moment created new blood cells, but
it means that the blood has been stirred up and sent hurrying through the system, that the lazy
blood cells which were lying inactively in the sluggish and stagnant blood stream and in the
clogged and obstructed tissues are aroused to increased activity.

  Undoubtedly, the invigorating and stimulating influence of cold sprays, ablutions, sitz baths,
barefoot walking in the dewy grass or on wet stones and all other cold-water applications depends
largely upon their electromagnetic effects upon the system. This has been explained in Chapter
Ten, "Natural Treatment of Acute Diseases."

  (2) Elimination of Impurities. As the cold water drives the blood with increased force
through the system, it flushes the capillaries in the tissues and cleanses them from the
accumulations of morbid matter and poisons which are one of the primary causes of acute and
chronic diseases.

  As the blood rushes back to the surface it suffuses the skin, opens and relaxes the pores and
the minute blood vessels or capillaries and thus unloads its impurities through the skin.

Why We Favor Cold Water

  In the treatment of chronic diseases some advocates of natural methods of healing still favor
warm or hot applications in the form of hot-water baths, different kinds of steam or sweat baths,
electric light baths, hot compresses, fomentations, etc.

  However, the great majority of Nature Cure practitioners in Germany have abandoned hot
applications of any kind almost entirely because of their weakening and enervating aftereffects
and because in many instances they have not only failed to produce the expected results, but
aggravated the disease conditions.

  We can explain the different effects of hot and cold water as well as of all other therapeutic
agents upon the system by the Law of Action and Reaction. Applied to physics, this law reads:
"Action and reaction are equal but opposite." I have adapted the Law of Action and Reaction to
therapeutics in a somewhat circumscribed way as follows: "Every therapeutic agent affecting the
human organism has a primary, temporary, and a secondary, permanent effect. The secondary,
lasting effect is contrary to the primary, transient effect."

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   The first, temporary effect of warmth above the body temperature, whether it be applied in
the form of hot air or water, steam or light, is to draw the blood into the surface. Immediately
after such an application the skin will be red and hot.

  The secondary and lasting effect, however (in accordance with the Law of Action and
Reaction), is that the blood recedes into the interior of the body and leaves the skin in a bloodless
and enervated condition subject to chills and predisposed to "catching cold."

  On the other hand, the first, transient effect of cold-water applications upon the body as a
whole or any particular part is to chill the surface and send the blood scurrying inward, leaving
the skin in a chilled, bloodless condition. This lack of blood and sensation of cold are at once
telegraphed over the afferent nerves to headquarters in the brain, and from there the command
goes forth to the nerve centers regulating the circulation: "Send blood into the surface!"

  As a result, the circulation is stirred up and accelerated throughout the system and the
blood rushes with force into the depleted skin, flushing the surface of the body with warm, red
blood and restoring to it the rosy color of health. This is the secondary effect. In other words, the
well-applied cold-water treatment is followed by a good reaction and this is accompanied by
many permanent beneficial results.

  The drawing and eliminating primary effect of hot applications, of sweat baths, etc., is at
best only temporary, lasting only a few minutes and is always followed by a weakening reaction,
while the drawing and eliminating action of the cold-water applications, being the secondary,
lasting effect, exerts an enduring, invigorating and tonic influence upon the skin which enables it
to throw off morbid matter not merely for ten or fifteen minutes, as in the sweat bath under the
infiuence of excessive heat, but continually, by day and night.

The Danger of Prolonged or

Excessively Cold Applications

  As we have pointed out in the chapter dealing with water treatment in acute diseases, only
water at ordinary temperature, as it comes from well or faucet, should be used in hydropathic
applications. It is positively dangerous to apply ice bags to an inflamed organ or to use icy water
for packs and ablutions in febrile conditions.

  Likewise, ice or icy water should not be used in the hydropathic treatment of chronic
diseases. Excessive cold is as suppressive in its effects upon the organism as are poisonous
antiseptics or antifever medicines.

  The baths, sprays, douches, etc., should not be kept up too long. The duration of the cold-
water applications must be regulated by the individual conditions of the patient and by his powers
of reaction; but it should be borne in mind that it is the short, quick application that produces the
stimulating, electromagnetic effects upon the system.

  In the following pages are described some of the baths and other cold-water applications
that are especially adapted to the treatment of chronic diseases.

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 How to Keep the Feet Warm

  The proverb says: "Keep the head cool and the feet warm." This is good advice, but most
people attempt to follow it by "doctoring" their cold feet with hot-water bottles, warming pans,
hot bricks or irons, etc. These are excellent means of making the feet still colder, because "heat
makes cold and cold makes heat."

  In accordance with the Law of Action and Reaction, hot applications drive the blood away
from the feet, while cold applications draw the blood to the feet. Therefore, if your feet are cold
and bloodless (which means that the blood is congested in other parts of the body), walk barefoot
in the dewy grass, in a cool brook, on wet stone pavements or on the snow.

  Instead of putting a hot-water bottle to the feet of a bedridden invalid, bathe his feet with
cold water, adding a little salt for its electric effect, then rub and knead (massage), and finish with
a magnetic treatment by holding his feet between your hands and willing the blood to flow into
them. This will have a lasting good effect not only upon the feet, but upon the entire organism.

  The following cold-water applications are very effective for curing chronic cold feet:

(1) Foot Bath

Stand in cold water reaching up to the ankle for one minute only. Dry the feet with a
coarse towel and rub them vigorously with the hands, or walk about briskly for a few
minutes. Repeat if necessary.

(2) Leg Bath

(a) Stand in water up to the calves, then proceed as above.
(b) Stand in water up to the knees, then rub vigorously or walk as directed.

(3) Barefoot Walking

Walk barefoot in wet grass or on wet stone pavements several times a day, from ten to
twenty minutes at a time, or less in case of weakness. The early morning dew upon the
grass is especially beneficial; later in the day wet the grass or pavement with a hose.

  After barefoot walking, dry and rub the feet thoroughly and take a short, brisk walk
in shoes and stockings.

(4) Indoor Water-Treading

Stand in a bathtub or large foottub containing about two inches of cold water, step and
splash vigorously for several minutes, then dry and rub the feet and increase the
circulation by walking around the room a few times.

(5) Foot Spray

Turn the full force of water from a hydrant or hose first on one foot, then on the other.
Let the stream play alternately on the upper part of the feet and on the soles. The coldness
and force of the water will draw the blood to the feet.

  These applications are excellent as a means of stimulating and equalizing the

circulation and a sure cure for cold and clammy feet, as well as for sweaty feet.

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   In this connection, we warn our readers most strongly against the use of drying
powders or antiseptic washes to suppress foot-sweat. Epilepsy and other serious nervous
disorders have been traced to this practice.

(6) Partial Ablutions

Partial ablutions with cold water are very useful in many instances, especially in local
inflammation or where local congestion is to be relieved. The "Kalte Guss" [cold water
splashing] forms an important feature of the Kneipp system of water cure.

  Sprays or showers may be administered to the head, arms, chest, back, thighs, knees
or wherever indicated, with a dipper, a sprinkler or a hose attached to the faucet or
hydrant. The water should be of natural temperature and the "guss" of short duration.

(7) Limb Bath

Take up cold water in the hollow of the hands from a running faucet or a bucket filled
with water, rub arms and legs briskly for a few minutes.

(8) Upper Body Bath

Stand in an empty tub, take water in the hollow of the hands from a running faucet or a
bucket filled with cold water and rub briskly the upper half of the body from neck to hips,
for two or three minutes. Use a towel or brush for those parts of the body that you cannot
reach with the hands.

(9) Lower Body Bath

Proceed as in (8), rubbing the lower part of the body from the waist downward.

(10) Hip Bath

Sit in a large basin or in the bathtub in enough water to cover the hips completely, the
legs resting on the door or against the sides of the tub. While taking the hip bath, knead
and rub the abdomen.

  Dry with a coarse towel, then rub and pat the skin with the hands for a few minutes.

  The duration of the hip bath and the temperature of the water must be adapted to
individual conditions. Until you are accustomed to cold water, use water as cool as can be
borne without discomfort.

(11) The Morning Cold Rub

The essentials for a cold rub, and in fact for every cold-water treatment, are warmth of
the body before the application, coolness of the water (natural temperature), rapidity of
action and friction or exercise to stimulate the circulation. No cold-water treatment
should be taken when the body is in a chilled condition.

  Directly from the warmth of the bed, or after sunbath and exercise have produced a
pleasant glow, go to the bathroom, sit in the empty tub with the stopper in place, turn on
the cold water, and as it flows into the tub, catch it in the hollow of the hands and wash
first the limbs, then the abdomen, then chest and back. Throw the water all over the body
and rub the skin with the hands like you wash your face.

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   Do this quickly but thoroughly. The entire procedure need not take up more than a
few minutes. By the time the bath is finished, there may be from two to four inches of
water in the tub. Use a towel or brush for the back if you cannot reach it otherwise.

  As long as there is a good reaction, the "cold rub" may be taken in an unheated
bathroom even in cold weather.

  After the bath, dry the body quickly with a coarse towel and finish by rubbing with
the hands until the skin is dry and smooth and you are aglow with the exercise, or expose
the wet body to the fresh air before an open window and rub with the hands until dry and
warm.

  A bath taken in this manner combines the beneficial effects of cold water, air,
exercise and the magnetic friction of the hands on the body (life on life). No lifeless
instrument or mechanical appliance can equal the dexterity, warmth and magnetism of
the human hand.

  The bath must be so conducted that it is followed by a feeling of warmth and

comfort. Some persons will be benefited by additional exercise or, better still, a brisk
walk in the open air, while others will get better results by returning to the warmth of the
bed.

  There is no better means for stimulating the general circulation and for increasing
the eliminative activities of the system than this cold morning rub at the beginning of the
day after the night's rest. If kept up regularly, its good effects will soon become apparent.

  This method of taking a morning bath is to be preferred to the plunge into a tub
filled with cold water. While persons with very strong constitutions may experience no ill
effects, to those who are weak and do not react readily, the cold plunge might prove a
severe shock and strain upon the system.

  When a bathtub is not available, take the morning cold rub in the following manner:

  Stand in an empty washtub. In front of you, in the tub, place a basin or bucket filled
with cold water. Wet the hands or a towel and wash the body, part by part, from the feet
upward, then dry and rub with the hands as directed.

(12) The Evening Sitz Bath

The morning cold rub is stimulating in its effects, the evening sitz bath is quieting and
relaxing. The latter is therefore especially beneficial if taken just before going to bed.

  The cold water draws the blood from brain and spinal cord and thereby insures
better rest and sleep. It cools and relaxes the abdominal organs, sphincters, and orifices,
stimulates gently and naturally the action of the bowels and of the urinary tract, and is
equally effective in chronic constipation and in affections of the kidneys or bladder.

  The sitz bath is best taken in the regular sitz bathtub made for the purpose, but an
ordinary bathtub or a washtub or pan may be used with equally good effect.

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   Pour into the vessel a few inches of water at natural temperature, as it comes from
the faucet, and sit in the water until a good reaction takes place--that is, until the first
sensation of cold is followed by a feeling of warmth. This may take from a few seconds
to a few minutes, according to the temperature of the water and the individual powers of
reaction.

  Dry with a coarse towel, rub and pat the skin with the hands, then, in order to
establish good reaction, practice deep breathing for a few minutes, alternating with the
internal massage described in a later chapter.

(13) The Head Bath

Loss or discoloration of the hair is generally due to the lack of hair-building elements in
the blood or to sluggish circulation in the scalp and a diseased condition of the hair
follicles. Nothing more effectually stimulates the flow of blood to brain and scalp or
promotes the elimination of waste matter and poisons from these parts than the head bath
together with scalp massage.

  Under no circumstances use hair tonics, dandruff or eczema cures, or hair dyes. All
such preparations contain poisons or at any rate strong antiseptics and germcides.
Dandruff is a form of elimination and should not be suppressed. When the scalp is in
good condition, it will disappear of its own accord.

  The Diagnosis from the Eye reveals the fact that glycerine, quinine, resorcin and
other poisonous antiseptics and stimulants absorbed from scalp cures and hair tonics and
deposited in the brain are in many cases the real cause of chronic headaches, neuralgia,
dizziness, roaring in the ears, loss of hearing and sight, mental depression, irritability and
even insanity.

  Cold water is an absolutely safe and at the same time a most effective means to
promote the growth of hair, as many of our patients can testify.

  Whenever you have occasion to wash the face, wash also the head thoroughly with
cold water. While doing so, vigorously pinch, knead and massage the scalp with the
finger tips. When feasible, turn the stream from a hydrant or a hose upon the head. This
will add the good effect of friction to the coldness of the water.

  Have your hair cut only during the third quarter of the moon. The ladies may clip
off the ends of their hair during that period. Skeptics may smile at this as another
evidence of ignorance and superstition. However, "fools deride,"etc. The country people
in many parts of Europe, who are much closer and wiser observers of Nature and her
ways than the conceited wise men of the schools, do their sowing and reaping in
accordance with the phases of the moon. In order to insure vigorous growth, they sow
and plant during the growing moon; but their cutting and reaping is done during the
waning moon.

(14) The Eye Bath

For the eye bath the temperature of the water should be as cold as the sensitive eyeball can stand,
but not cold enough to cause serious discomfort. A few grains of salt may be added to make the
water slightly saline.

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 a. Submerge forehead and eyes in a basin of water, open and close the lids under water from
six to eight times; repeat a few times.
b. Bend over a basin filled with water and with the hands dash the water into the open eyes.
c. Fill a glass eye-cup (which can be bought in any drug store or department store) with
water, bend the head forward and press the cup securely against the eye; then bend
backward and open and shut the lid a number of times.

  Many ailments of the eyes, for instance, the much-dreaded cataract, are caused by
defective circulation and the accumulation of impurities and poisons in the system in
general and in the mechanism of the eyes in particular. All such cases yield readily to our
combination of natural methods of treatment, such as water applications, massage and
special exercises, combined with the general Nature Cure regimen.

  In a large number of cases treated in our sanitarium, patients who had worn glasses
for years were able to discard them. Weakened eyesight and many serious so-called
incurable affections of the eye, including cataract and glaucoma, have been permanently
cured.

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 Air and Light Baths
 Even among the adherents of Nature Cure there are those who think that air and light baths
should be taken out of doors in warm weather only and in winter time only in well-heated rooms.

  This is a mistake. The effect of the air bath upon the organism is subject to the same Law of
Action and Reaction which governs the effects of water applications.

  If the temperature of air or water is the same or nearly the same as that of the body, no
reaction takes place, the conditions within the system remain the same. But if the temperature of
air or water is considerably lower than the body temperature there will be a reaction.

  In order to react against the chilling effect of cold air or water, the nerve centers which
control the circulation send the blood to the surface in large quantities, flushing the skin with
warm, red, arterial blood. The flow of the blood stream is greatly accelerated, and the elimination
of morbid matter on the surface of the body is correspondingly increased.

What Is the Cause of Poor Skin Action?

  Man is naturally an air animal. He breathes with the pores of the skin as well as with the
lungs. However, the custom of hiding the body under dense, heavy clothing, thus excluding it
from the life-giving influence of air and light, together with the habit of warm bathing, has
weakened and enervated the skin of the average individual until it has lost its tonicity and is no
longer capable of fulfilling its natural functions.

  The compact, almost airtight layers of underwear and outer clothing made of cotton, wool,
silk and leather prevent the ventilation of the skin and the escape of the morbid excretions of the
body. The skin is an organ of absorption as well as of excretion; consequently the systemic
poisons which are eliminated from the organism, if not removed by proper ventilation and
bathing, are reabsorbed into the system just like the poisonous exhalations from the lungs are
reinhaled and reabsorbed by people congregating in closed rooms or sleeping in unventilated
bedrooms.

  Who would think of keeping plants or animals continuously covered up, away from the air
and light? We know they would wither and waste away, and die before long.

  Nevertheless, civilized human beings have for ages hidden their bodies most carefully from
sun and air, which are so necessary to their well-being. Is it any wonder that the human cuticle
has become withered, enervated and atrophied, that it has lost the power to perform freely and
efficiently its functions of elimination and absorption? Undoubtedly, this has much to do with the
prevalence of disease.

  In the iris of the eye the atrophied condition of the skin is indicated by a heavy, dark rim, the
so-called scurf rim. It signifies that the skin has become anemic, the surface circulation sluggish
and defective, and that the elimination of morbid matter and systemic poisons through the skin is
handicapped and retarded. This, in turn, causes autointoxication and favors the development of all
kinds of acute and chronic diseases.

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 The Importance of the Skin as
an Organ of Elimination

  Of late physiologists have claimed that the skin is not of great importance as an organ of
elimination. Common experience and the Diagnosis from the Eye teach us differently. The black
rim seen more or less distinctly in the outer rim of the iris in the eyes of the majority of people
has been called the scurf rim, because it was found that this dark rim appears in the iris after the
suppression of scurfy and other forms of skin eruptions and after the external or internal use of
lotions, ointments and medicines containing mercury, zinc, iodine, arsenic or other poisons which
suppress or destroy the life and activity of the skin.

  Therefore, when we see in the iris of a person a heavy scurf rim, we can tell him at once:
"Your cuticle is in a sluggish, atrophied condition, the surface circulation and elimination through
the skin are not good and as a result of this there is a strong tendency to autointoxication, you
take cold easily, and suffer from chronic catarrhal conditions." Therefore, a heavy scurf rim
frequently indicates what is ordinarily called "a scrofulous condition."

  This certainly shows the great importance of the skin as an organ of elimination and the
necessity of keeping it in the best possible condition. It explains why an atrophied skin has so
much to do with the causation of disease and why in the treatment of both acute and chronic
ailments air and cold water produce such wonderful results.

  The favorite method of diagnosis employed by Father Kneipp, the great water cure apostle,
was to examine the skin of his patients. If the "jacket," as he called it, was in fairly good
condition, he predicted a speedy recovery. If he found the "jacket" shriveled and dry, weakened
and atrophied, he shook his head and informed the patient that it would take much time and
patience to restore him to health. He, as well as other pioneers of the Nature Cure movement,
realized that elimination is the keynote in the treatment of acute and chronic diseases.

When Air Baths Should Be Taken

  On awakening in the morning and several times during the day, if circumstances permit,
expose your nude body to the invigorating influence of the open air and the sunlight.

  During the hot season of the year and in tropical countries the best time for taking air and
sun baths is the early morning and the late afternoon.

  Persons suffering from insomnia or nervousness in any form are in nearly every case greatly
benefited by a short air bath taken just before retiring, either preceding or following the evening
sitz bath, as may be most convenient.

Where Air Baths Should Be Taken

  If at all possible, air baths should be taken out of doors. Every house should have facilities
for air and sun baths, that is, an enclosure where the nude body can be exposed to the open air and
the sunlight.

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   If the air bath out of doors is impracticable, it may be taken in front of an open window. But
indoor air, even in a well-ventilated room, is more or less stagnant and vitiated, and at best only a
poor substitute for the open air.

  It is the breezy, moving outdoor air, permeated with sunlight and rich in oxygen and
ozone, that generates the electric and magnetic currents which are so stimulating and
vitalizing to everything that draws the breath of life.

  This is being realized more and more, and air-bath facilities will in the near future be
considered as indispensable in the modern, up-to-date house as is now the bathroom.

  We predict that before many years the roofs of apartment houses will be utilized for this
purpose and people will wonder how they ever got along without the air bath.

  Our sanitarium has two large enclosures on its roof, open above and surrounded on all sides
by wooden lattice work, which allows the air to circulate freely, but excludes observation from
neighboring roofs and windows and the streets below. One compartment is for men and one for
women, each provided with gymnastic apparatus and a separate spray room.

How Air Baths Should Be Taken

  At first expose the nude body to cool air only for short periods at a time, until the skin
becomes inured to it.

  Likewise, unless you are well used to the sun, take air baths of short duration, say from ten
to twenty minutes, until your skin and your nervous system have become accustomed to the
influence of heat and strong light. Prolonged exposure to the glaring rays of the noonday sun
might produce severe burning of the skin, aside from a possible harmful effect upon the nervous
system.

  The novice should protect head and eyes against the fierce rays of sunlight. This is best
accomplished by means of a wide-brimmed straw hat of light weight. In cases where dizziness
results from the effect of the heat upon the brain, a wet cloth may be swathed around the head or
placed inside a straw hat.

  It will be found very pleasurable and invigorating to take a cold shower or spray off and on
during the sun bath and to allow the air to dry the body. This will also increase its
electromagnetic effects upon the system.

The Friction Bath

  While taking the air bath, the skin may be rubbed or brushed with a rough towel or a flesh
brush in order to remove the excretions and the atrophied cuticle. The friction bath should always
be followed by a spray or a cold-water rub.

  At the time of the air bath, practice breathing exercises and the curative gymnastics
appropriate to your condition. (See Chapters Twenty-Eight and Thirty on "Correct Breathing" and
"Physical Exercise.")

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   If the air bath is taken at night, before retiring, the less active breathing exercises, as
numbers 1, 3, 7 and 13, may be taken with good results, but all vigorous stimulating movements
should be avoided.

  As the plant prospers under the life-giving influence of water and light, so the cuticle of the
human skin becomes alive and active under the natural stimulation of water, air and sunlight.
From the foregoing paragraphs it will be seen why the air and light baths are regarded among the
most important natural methods of treatment in all the great Nature Cure sanitariums of Germany.

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 Correct Breathing
 The lungs are to the body what the bellows are to the fires of the forge. The more regularly
and vigorously the air is forced through the bellows and through the lungs, the livelier burns the
flame in the smithy and the fires of life in the body.

  Practice deep, regular breathing systematically for one week, and you will be surprised at
the results. You will feel like a different person, and your working capacity, both physically and
mentally, will be immensely increased.

  A plentiful supply of fresh air is more necessary than food and drink. We can live without
food for weeks, without water for days, but without air only a few minutes.

The Process of Breathing

  With every inhalation, air is sucked in through the windpipe or trachea, which terminates in
two tubes called bronchi, one leading to the right lung, one to the left. The air is then distributed
over the lungs through a network of minute tubes, to the air cells, which are separated by only a
thin membrane from equally fine and minute blood vessels forming another network of tubes.

  The oxygen contained in the inhaled air passes freely through these membranes, is absorbed
by the blood, carried to the heart and thence through the arteries and their branches to the
different organs and tissues of the body, fanning the fires of life into brighter flame all along its
course and burning up the waste products and poisons that have accumulated during the vital
processes of digestion, assimilation and elimination.

  After the blood has unloaded its supply of oxygen, it takes up the carbonic acid gas which is
produced during the oxidation and combustion of waste matter and carries it to the lungs, where
the poisonous gases are transferred to the air cells and expelled with the exhaled breath. This
return trip of the blood to the lungs is made through another set of blood vessels, the veins, and
the blood, dark with the sewage of the system, is now called venous blood.

  In the lungs the venous blood discharges its freight of excrementitious poisons and gases,
and by coming in contact with fresh air and a new supply of oxygen, it is again transformed into
bright, red arterial blood, pregnant with oxygen and ozone, the life-sustaining elements of the
atmosphere.

  This explains why normal, deep, regular breathing is all-important to sustain life and as a
means of cure. By proper breathing, which exercises and develops every part of the lungs, the
capacity of the air cells is increased. This, as we have learned, means also an increased supply of
life-sustaining and health-promoting oxygen to the tissues and organs of the body.

Bad Effects of Shallow Breathing

  Very few people breathe correctly. Some, especially women, with tight skirtbands and
corsets pressing on their vital organs, use only the upper part of their lungs. Others breathe only
with the lower part and with the diaphragm, leaving the upper structures of the lungs inactive and
collapsed.

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   In those parts of the lungs that are not used, slimy secretions accumulate, irritating the air
cells and other tissues, which become inflamed and begin to decay. Thus a luxuriant soil is
prepared for the tubercle bacillus, the pneumococcus and other disease-producing bacilli and
germs.

  This habit of shallow breathing, which does not allow the lungs to be thoroughly permeated
with fresh air, accounts in a measure for the fact that one-third of all deaths result from diseases
of the lungs. To one individual perishing from food starvation, thousands are dying from oxygen
starvation.

  Lung culture is more important than other branches of learning and training which require
more time and a greater outlay of time, money and effort. In the Nature Cure regimen, breathing
exercises play an important part.

Breathing Exercises

General Directions

  The effectiveness of breathing exercises and of all other kinds of corrective movements
depends upon the mental attitude during the time of practice. Each motion should be
accompanied by the conscious effort to make it produce a certain result. Much more can be
accomplished with mental concentration, by keeping your mind on what you are doing, than by
performing the exercises in an aimless, indifferent way.

  Keep in the open air as much as possible and at all events sleep with windows open.

  If your occupation is sedentary, take all opportunities for walking out of doors that present
themselves. While walking, breathe regularly and deeply, filling the lungs to their fullest capacity
and also expelling as much air as possible at each exhalation. Undue strain should, of course, be
avoided. This applies to all breathing exercises.

  Do not breathe through the mouth. Nature intends that the outer air shall reach the lungs by
way of the nose, whose membranes are lined with fine hairs in order to sift the air and to prevent
foreign particles, dust and dirt, from irritating the mucous linings of the air tract and entering the
delicate structures of the lungs. Also, the air is warmed before it reaches the lungs by its passage
through the nose.

  Let the exhalations take about double the time of the inhalations. This will be further
explained in connection with rhythmical breathing.

  Do not hold the breath between inhalations. Though frequently recommended by teachers of
certain methods of breath culture, this practice is more harmful than beneficial.

The Proper Standing Position

  Of great importance is the position assumed habitually by the body while standing and
walking. Carelessness in this respect is not only unpleasant to the beholder, but its consequences
are far-reaching in their effects upon health and the well-being of the organism.

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   On the other hand, a good carriage of the body aids in the development of muscles and
tissues generally and in the proper functioning of cells and organs in particular. With the weight
of the body thrown upon the balls of the feet and the center of gravity well focused, the
abdominal organs will stay in place and there will be no strain upon the ligaments that support
them.

  In assuming the proper standing position, stand with your back to the wall, touching it with
heels, buttocks, shoulders and head. Now bend the head backward and push the shoulders
forward and away from the wall, still touching the wall with buttocks and heels. Straighten the
head, keeping the shoulders in the forward position. Now walk away from the wall and endeavor
to maintain this position while taking the breathing exercises and practicing the various arm
movements.

  Take this position as often as possible during the day and try to maintain it while you go
about your different tasks that must be performed while standing. Gradually this position will
become second nature, and you will assume and maintain it without effort.

  When the body is in this position, the viscera are in their normal place. This aids the
digestion materially and benefits indirectly the entire functional organism.

  Persistent practice of the above will correct protruding abdomen and other defects due to
faulty position and carriage of the body.

  The following breathing exercises are intended especially to develop greater lung capacity
and to assist in forming the habit of breathing properly at all times. The different movements
should be repeated from three to six times, according to endurance and the amount of time at
disposal.

(1) With hands at sides or on hips, inhale and exhale slowly and deeply, bringing the entire
respiratory apparatus into active play.

(2) (To expand the chest and increase the air capacity of the lungs.)

  Jerk the shoulder forward in several separate movements, inhaling deeper at each forward
jerk. Exhale slowly, bringing the shoulders back to the original position.

  Reverse the exercise, jerking the shoulders backward in similar manner while inhaling.
Alternate the movements, forcing the shoulders first forward, then backward.

(3) Stand erect, arms at sides. Inhale, raising the arms forward and upward until the palms
touch above the head, at the same time raising on the toes as high as possible. Exhale, lowering
the toes, bringing the hands downward in a wide circle until the palms touch the thighs.

(4) Stand erect, hands on hips. Inhale slowly and deeply, raising the shoulders as high as
possible, then, with a jerk, drop them as low as possible, letting the breath escape slowly.

(5) Stand erect, hands at shoulders. Inhale, raising elbows sideways; exhale, bringing elbows
down so as to strike the sides vigorously.

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 (6) Inhale deeply, then exhale slowly, at the same time clapping the chest with the palms of
the hands, covering the entire surface.

  (These six exercises are essential and sufficient. The following four may be practiced by those
who are able to perform them and who have time and inclination to do so.)

(7) Stand erect, hands at sides. Inhale slowly and deeply, at the same time bringing the hands,
palms up, in front of the body to the height of the shoulders. Exhale, at the same time turning the
palms downward and bringing the hands down in an outward circle.

(8) Stand erect, the right arm raised upward, the left crossed behind the back. Lean far back,
then bend forward and touch the floor with the right hand, without bending the knees, as far in
front of the body as possible. Raise the body to original posture, reverse position of arms, and
repeat the exercise. Inhale while leaning backward and changing position of arms, exhale while
bending forward.

(9) Position erect, feet well apart, both arms raised. Lean back, inhaling, then bend forward,
exhaling, touching the floor with both hands between the legs as far back as possible.

(10) Horizontal position, supporting the body on palms and toes. Swing the right hand
upward and backward, flinging the body to the left side, resting on the left hand and the left foot.
Return to original position, repeat the exercise, flinging the body to the right side. Inhale while
swinging backward, exhale while returning to position.

Diaphragmatic Breathing

  The diaphragm is a large, flat muscle, resembling a saucer, which forms the division
between the chest cavity and the abdominal cavity. By downward expansion it causes the lungs to
expand likewise and to suck in the air. The pressure of air being greater on the outside of the
body than within, it rushes in and fills the vacuum created by the descending diaphragm. As the
diaphragm relaxes and becomes contracted to its original size and position, the air is expelled
from the body.

(11) (To stimulate the action of the diaphragm)

  Lie flat on floor or mattress, the head unsupported. Relax the muscles all over the body, then
inhale deeply with the diaphragm only, raising the wall of the abdomen just below the ribs
without elevating either the chest or the lower abdomen. Take about four seconds to inhale, then
exhale in twice that length of time, contracting the abdomen below the ribs.

(12) (Internal massage)

  Lie on your back on a bed or couch, knees raised. Relax thoroughly, exhale and hold the
breath after exhalation. While doing so, push the abdomen out and draw it in as far as possible
each way. Repeat these movements as long as you can hold the breath without straining, then
breathe deeply and regularly for several minutes, then repeat the massage movements.

  Next to deep breathing, I consider this practice of greater value than any other
physical exercise. It imparts to the intestines an other abdominal organs a "washboard" motion
which acts as a powerful stimulant to all the organs in the abdominal cavity. Internal massage is
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especially beneficial in chronic constipation. This exercise may be performed also while standing
or walking. It should be practiced two or three times daily.

Breathing Exercises to Be Taken in Bed

(13) With hands at side, inhale slowly and deeply, as directed in Exercise Number (1), filling
and emptying the lungs as much as possible, but without straining. Practice first lying on the
back, then on each side.

(14) Using one- or two-pound dumbbells, position recumbent on back, arms extended
sideways, dumbbells in hands. Raise the arms with elbows rigid, cross arms over the chest as far
as possible, at the same time expelling the air from the lungs. Extend the arms to the sides,
inhaling deeply and raising the chest.

(15) Lie flat on the back, arms at sides. Grasping the dumbbells, extend the arms backward
over the head, inhaling. Leave them in this position for a few seconds, then raise them straight
above the chest, and lower them slowly to the original position. Exhale during the second half of
this exercise.

  As a variation, cross the arms in front of the body instead of bringing to sides.

Rhythmical Breathing

  It is a fact not generally known to us western people (our attention had to be called to it by
the "Wise Men of the East"), that in normal, rhythmical breathing exhalation and inhalation take
place through one nostril at a time: for about one hour through the right nostril and then for a like
period through the left nostril.

  The breath entering through the right nostril creates positive electro-magnetic currents,
which pass down the right side of the spine, while the breath entering through the left nostril
sends negative electro-magnetic currents down the left side of the spine. These currents are
transmitted by way of the nerve centers or ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system, which is
situated alongside the spinal column, to all parts of the body.

  In the normal, rhythmical breath exhalation takes about twice the time of inhalation. For
instance, if inhalation require four seconds, exhalation, including a slight natural pause before the
new inhalation, requires eight seconds.

  The balancing of the electro-magnetic energies in the system depends to a large extent upon
this rhythmical breathing, hence the importance of deep, unobstructed, rhythmic exhalation and
inhalation.

  In order to establish the natural rhythm of the breath when it has been impaired through
catarrhal affections, wrong habits of breathing, or other causes, the following exercise, practiced
not less than three times a day (preferably in the morning upon arising, at noon, and at night), will
prove very beneficial in promoting normal breathing and creating the right balance between the
positive and the negative electro-magnetic energies in the organism.

The Alternate Breath

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   Exhale thoroughly, then close the right nostril and inhale through the left. After a slight
pause change the position of the fingers and expel the breath slowly through the right nostril.
Now inhale through the right nostril and, reversing the pressure upon the nostrils, exhale
through the left.

  Repeat this exercise from five to ten times, always allowing twice as much time for
exhalation as for inhalation. That is, count three, or four, or six for inhalation and six, eight, or
twelve, respectively, for exhalation, according to your lung capacity. Let your breaths be as
deep and long as possible, but avoid all strain.

  This exercise should always be performed before an open window or, better yet, in the open
air, and the body should not be constricted and hampered by tight or heavy clothing.

  Alternate breathing may be practiced standing, sitting, or in the recumbent position. The
spine should at all times be held straight and free, so that the flow of the electro-magnetic
currents be not obstructed. If taken at night before going to sleep, the effect of this exercise will
be to induce calm, restful sleep.

  While practicing the "alternate breath," fix your attention and concentrate your power of
will upon what you axe trying to accomplish. As you inhale through the right nostril, will the
magnetic currents to flow along the right side of the spine, and as you inhale through the left
nostril, consciously direct the currents to the left side.

  There is more virtue in this exercise than one would expect, considering its simplicity. It has
been in practice among the Yogi of India since time immemorial.

  The wise men of India knew that with the breath they absorbed not only the physical
elements of the air, but life itself. They taught that this primary force of all forces, from which all
energy is derived, ebbs and flows in rhythmical breath through the created universe. Every living
thing is alive by virtue of and by partaking of this cosmic breath.

  The more positive the demand, the greater the supply. Therefore, while breathing deeply and
rhythmically in harmony with the universal breath, will to open yourself more fully to the inflow
of the life force from the source of all life in the innermost parts of your being.

  This intimate connection of the individual soul with the great reservoir of life must exist.
Without it life would be an impossibility.

Warning

  While the alternate breathing exercises are very valuable for overcoming obstructions in
the air passages, for establishing the habit of rhythmic breathing and for refining and
accelerating the vibratory activities on the physical and spiritual planes of being, they must be
practiced with great caution. These, and other "Yogi" breathing exercises, are powerful means
for developing abnormal psychical conditions. They are therefore especially dangerous to those
who are already inclined to be physically and mentally negative and sensitive. Such persons must
avoid all practices which tend to refine excessively the physical body and to develop prematurely
and abnormally the sensory organs of the spiritual body. The most dangerous of these methods
are long extended fasting, raw food diet, that, is, a diet consisting of fruits, nuts, oils and raw
vegetables and excluding the dairy products, "Yogi" breathing, and "sitting in the silence." That
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is, sitting in darkness, in seclusion or in company with others, while keeping the mind in a
passive, receptive condition for extraneous impressions. These practices tend to develop very
dangerous phases of abnormal and subjective psychism, such as clairvoyance, clairaudience,
mediumship and obsession.

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 Physical Exercise
Aside from breathing, gymnastics in general--or in the case of illness or deformity, special
corrective and curative exercises--should be taken every day.

  Physical exercise has similar effects upon the system as hydrotherapy, massage and
manipulative treatment. It stirs up the morbid accumulations in the tissues, stimulates the
arterial and venous circulation, expands the lungs to their fullest capacity, thereby increasing
the intake of oxygen, and most effectively promotes the elimination of waste and morbid
materials through skin, kidneys, bowels and the respiratory tract.

  Furthermore, well-adapted, systematic physical exercises tend to correct dislocations of

spinal vertebrae and other bony structures. They relax and soften contracted and hardened
muscles and ligaments and tone up those tissues which are weakened and abnormally relaxed.
Regular physical exercise means increased blood supply, improved nutrition and better drainage
for all the vital organs of the body.

  By means of systematic exercise, combined with deep breathing, the liberation and
distribution of electromagnetic energies in the system are also greatly promoted.

  Most persons who have to work hard physically are under the impression that they need not
take special exercises. This, however, is a mistake. In nearly all kinds of physical labor only
certain parts of the body are called into action and only certain sets of muscles exercised, while
others remain inactive. This favors unequal development, which is injurious to the organism as
a whole. It is most necessary that the ill effects of such one-sided activity be counteracted by
exercises and movements that bring into active play all the different parts of the body, especially
those that are neglected during the hours of work.

  Systematic physical exercise is an absolute necessity for brain workers and those following
sedentary occupations. They not only need breathing gymnastics and corrective movements
mornings and evenings, but should take regular daily walks, no matter what the condition of the
weather. Unless they do this faithfully, their circulation will become sluggish and their organs of
elimination inactive. The cells and tissues of their bodies will gradually become clogged with
morbid encumbrances, and this will inevitably lead to physical and mental deterioration.

General Rules

a. Weak persons and those suffering from malignant diseases, such as cancer, tuberculosis,
heart trouble, asthma, or from displacements and ruptures, or who are liable to apoplectic
seizures, etc., should not take these or any other vigorous exercises except under the
supervision of a competent physician.
b. At least twice a day all parts of the respiratory apparatus should be thoroughly exercised
(see Chapter Twenty-Eight on Breathing Exercises). Deep breathing should accompany
every corrective movement, whether it be a special breathing exercise or not.
c. Begin your exercises each day with light movements and change gradually to more
vigorous ones, then reverse the process, ending with light, relaxing movements.
d. When beginning to take systematic exercise, do not make the separate movements too
vigorous or continue them too long. If any of them cause pain or considerable strain, omit
them until the body becomes stronger and more flexible. The muscular soreness often
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 resulting from exercise at the beginning is, as a rule, of little consequence and disappears
before long. The different movements should be practiced in spite of it, because that is
the only way to relieve and overcome this condition.
e. Stop when you begin to feel tired. Never overdo; you should feel refreshed and relaxed
after exercising, not tired and shaky.
f. Do not take vigorous exercise of any kind within an hour and a half after eating, nor
immediately before meals. It is a good plan to rest and relax thoroughly for about fifteen
minutes before sitting down to the table.
g. Whenever practicable, exercise out of doors. If indoors, perform the movements near an
open window or where there is a current of fresh air.
h. Exercise undressed, if possible, or in a regular gymnasium suit that gives free play to all
the muscles. If dressed, loosen all tight clothing. Ladies should wear their garments
suspended from the shoulders by means of shoulder braces, or so-called reform waists,
the skirts being fastened to these.
i. Always relax physically and mentally before taking exercise.
j. Apparatus is not necessary to produce results. However, dumbbells, wands or Indian
clubs may be used, but they should not be too heavy. One-pound dumbbells are
sufficiently heavy in most cases. The exercises described here are intended for muscular
control, flexibility, improvement of the circulation and increased activity of the vital
functions rather than for mere animal strength.

  In the following paragraphs we offer a selection of corrective movements, graduated from
the more simple to those requiring considerable agility and effort.

  In practicing these exercises, it is best to alternate them, that is, to select, say, six or seven
movements, suited to individual conditions with a view to secure all-around general development
and special practice for those parts and organs of the body that need extra attention. The time at
your disposal will also have to be considered.

  Practice these exercises daily for a week. For the following week select six different
exercises, then six more for the third week, and so on, supplementing the list here given as may
be required by your particular needs. Then start over again in a similar manner.

  This is better than doing the same stunts every day. It promotes all-around development of
the body and keeps the interest from flagging.

Corrective Gymnastics

(1) Raise the arms forward (at the same time beginning to inhale), upward above the head,
and backward as far as possible, bending back the head and inhaling deeply. Now exhale slowly,
at the same time lowering arms and head and bending the body downward until the fingers touch
the toes. Keep the knees straight. Inhale again, raising arms upward and backward as before.
Repeat from six to ten times.

  For exercising the muscles between the ribs and the abdominal muscles in the back:

(2) Inhale slowly and deeply, with arms at side. Now exhale, and at the same time bend to the
left as far as possible, raising the right arm straight above the head and keeping the left arm
close to the side of the body. Assume the original position with a quick movement, at the same

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time inhaling. Exhale as before, bending to the right and raising the left arm. Repeat a number of
times.

  For making the chest flexible. Also excellent for the digestive organs:

(3) Chest Stretcher: This exercise must be performed vigorously, the movements following
one another in rapid succession:

  Stand erect. Throw the arms backward so that the palms touch (striving to bring them higher
with each repetition), at the same time rising on the toes and inhaling. Without pausing, throw the
arms forward and across the chest, the right arm uppermost, striking the back with both hands on
opposite sides, at the same time exhaling and lowering the toes. Throw the arms back
immediately, touching palms, rising on toes and inhaling as before, then bring them forward and
across the chest again, left arm upper most. Repeat from ten to twenty times.

  An excellent massage and vibratory movement for the lungs.

(4) Exercises for filling out scrawny necks and hollow chests:

a. Stand erect. Without raising or lowering the chin and without bending the neck, push
the head forward as far as possible, then relax. Repeat a number of times. Push the head
straight back in similar manner, making an effort to push it farther back each time. Do not
bend the neck. Repeat.
b. Stand erect. Bend the head toward the right shoulder as far as possible, then relax. Do not
rotate the head. Repeat.

Bend the head to the left shoulder in a similar manner, then alternate the two movements.

c. Stand erect. Bend the head forward as far as possible, making an effort to bring it down
farther each time. Relax.

  Bend the head backward as far as possible.

  Bend the head first forward, then backward. Repeat.

(5) For exercising the muscles of the chest and the upper arm.

  Stand erect, elbows to sides, hands closed on chest, thumbs inward. Thrust out the arms
vigorously and quickly, first straight ahead, then to the sides, then straight up, then straight
downward, then backward. Repeat each movement a number of times, then alternate them, each
time bringing arms back and hands to the original position quickly and forcefully.

  As a variation, raise the elbows sideways to shoulder height with fists on shoulders, then
strike vigorously as before, opening the palms and stretching the fingers with each thrust. Repeat
from ten to twenty times or until tired.

(6) Stand erect, hands on hips. Keeping the legs straight, rotate the trunk upon the hips,
bending first forward, then to the right, then backward, then to the left. Repeat a number of times,
then rotate in the opposite direction.

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   Especially valuable to stir up a sluggish liver:

(7) Lie flat on your back on a bed or, better still, a mat on the floor, hands under head.
Without bending knees, raise the right leg as high as possible and lower it slowly. Repeat a
number of times, then raise the other leg, then alternate. As the abdomen becomes stronger, raise
both legs at once, keeping knees straight. It is important that the legs be lowered slowly.

  For exercising the abdominal muscles and strengthening the pelvic organs. This and the
following exercise are especially valuable for remedying female troubles:

(8) Lie flat on back, arms folded on chest. Place the feet under a chair or bed to keep them in
position. Raise the body to a sitting posture, keeping knees, back and neck straight. Lower the
body slowly to its original position. Repeat from five to ten times, according to strength.

Supplementary Exercises

(9) Stride-stand position (feet about one-half yard apart). Raise the arms sideways until even
with the shoulders, then, without bending the back, rotate the trunk upon the hips, first to the
right, then to the left.

  As a variation of this exercise, rotate from the waist only, keeping the hips motionless.

  An excellent massage for the internal organs:

(10) See-saw motion:

  Stride-stand position, arms raised sideways. Bend to the right until the hand touches the
floor, left arm raised high. Resume original position. Repeat several times, then bend to the left
side, then alternate.

(11) Chopping exercise:

  Stride-stand position. Clasp the hands above the left shoulder. Swing the arms downward
and between the legs, bending well forward. Return to position and repeat a number of times,
then repeat with hands on right shoulder, then alternate.

(12) Cradle rock:

  Clasp hands over head, elbows straight. Bend the trunk to the right and left side alternately
and without pausing a number of times.

(13) Stand erect, feet together. Jump to the stride-stand position, at the same time raising
arms sideways to shoulders, jump back to original position and lower arms. Repeat from ten to
twenty times.

(14) Lie flat on back, arms at side, legs straight. Raise both legs till they are at right angles
with body. From this position sway legs to the right and left side alternately.

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 (15) Lie flat on back, arms extended over head. Swing arms and legs upward simultaneously,
touching the toes with the hands in midair, balancing the body on the hip bones and lower part of
spine. Return to original position and repeat.

  This is a difficult and strenuous exercise, and should not be attempted at first:

(16) Lie flat on stomach, hands under shoulders, palms down-ward, fingers turned
inward, about six inches apart. This will give free play to the muscles of the chest. Raise the
upper half of the body on the hands and arms as high as possible, keeping the body straight.
Return to position and repeat until slightly fatigued.

(17) Same position as before. Raise the entire body on hands and toes, keeping arms and
legs straight. Return to relaxed position and repeat the exercise.

As a variation, sway forward and backward while in the raised position.

(18) Lie flat on stomach, arms extended in front. Fling the arms upward and raise the
upper part of the body as high as possible, keeping the legs straight. Return to position and
repeat, but avoid excessive strain.

(19) Same position as before, but hands on hips or clasped in back. Raise upper part of
body without assistance from hands or arms.

(20) Rocking chair motion:

  Sit on a mat or bed, legs straight, arms at side. Recline so that the upper part of the body
almost touches the mat, at the same time swinging the legs upward. Return to original position
and repeat without any pause between the movements, rocking back and forth until slightly tired.

  As you get stronger, clasp the hands behind the head. As a variation, rock with the knees
bent, hands clasped below them.

Special Exercises for Reducing Flesh and

Strengthening the Abdominal Organs

(21) Lie flat on stomach, heels and toes together, hands stretched out in front. Fling head and
arms upward, at the same time raising the legs, knees straight. Avoid straining.

(22) Same position, hands clasped on back, feet together. Roll from side to side.

(23) Lie flat on back, seize a bar (bed rail or rung of chair) just behind the head. Keeping the
feet close together, raise the legs as high as possible, then swing them from side to side. As a
variation, swing legs in a circle without flexing the knees.

(24) Same position. Raise and lower the legs up and down without letting them touch the
floor, keeping the knees straight.

(25) Lie flat on the back, fold the hands loosely across the stomach. Raise and lower the
upper body without quite touching the floor.

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 (26) Stand erect, heels together, arms raised above the head. Bend forward and downward,
endeavoring to place the palms of the hands on the floor in front of the body without flexing the
knees. Return slowly to original position and repeat.

(27) Stand erect, hands on hips. Keeping the body motionless from the hips downward, sway
the upper part of the body from side to side and forward and backward, and in a circle to right and
left.

(28) Stand erect, raise the arms above the head. Rotate the trunk upon the hips with extended
arms, bending as far as possible in each direction, but avoiding undue strain. These are strenuous
movements and should not be carried to excess or performed very long at a time.

Physical Exercises for Invalids

  Persons who are very weak and unable to be on their feet for any length of time need not,
for this reason, forego the benefits to be derived from systematic physical exercise.

  A low chair, with straight or very lightly curved back and no arms, or a rocking chair of
similar construction with a wedge placed under the rockers in such a manner as to keep the chair
steady at a suitable angle, is well adapted to the practice of a number of corrective movements,
such as rotating of hips and waist, forward and sideward bending of the trunk, the various arm
and neck exercises, bending and twisting of feet and toes, the internal massage (Exercise Number
12) and "Breathing Exercises to be Taken in Bed," in previous Chapter.

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 Manipulative Treatment Massage 
Massage has very much the same effects upon the system as the cold-water treatment. It
accelerates the circulation, draws the blood into the surface, relaxes and opens the pores of the
skin, promotes the elimination of morbid matter and increases and stimulates the electromagnetic
energies in the body.

  We have learned that one of the primary causes of chronic disease is the accumulation of
waste matter and systemic poisons in the tissues of the body. These morbid encumbrances clog
the capillaries, thus obstructing the circulation and interfering with or preventing the normal
activity of the organs of elimination, especially the skin.

  The deep-going massage, the squeezing, kneading, rolling and stroking, actually squeezes
the stagnant blood and the morbid accumulations out of the tissues into the venous
circulation, speeds the venous blood, charged with waste products and poisons, on its way to the
lungs and enables the arterial blood with its freight of oxygen and nourishing elements to flow
more freely into the less-obstructed tissues and organs.

  Through manipulation of the fleshy tissues, the blood is drawn to the surface of the body
and in that way the elimination of morbid matter through the relaxed and opened pores of the skin
is greatly facilitated.

  Very important are the electromagnetic effects of good massage upon the system. The
positive magnetism of the operator will stir up and intensify the latent electromagnetic energies in
the body of the patient, very much like a piece of iron or steel is magnetized by rubbing it with a
horseshoe magnet. The more normal and positive, morally and mentally as well as physically, the
operator, the more marked will be the good effects of the treatment upon the weak and negative
patient.

Magnetic Treatment

  The beneficial effect of magnetic treatment is not so much due to the actual transmission of
vital force from operator to patient as to the arousing and stimulating of the latent, inactive
electromagnetic energies of the latter, the polarizing of his magnetic forces.

  The horseshoe magnet does not impart its own magnetism to the piece of iron which is
rubbed with it, but the electromagnetic energies in the magnet arouse to vibratory activity the
latent electromagnetic energies in the iron. This is proved by the fact that both magnet and iron
will remain magnetic as long as they are used for magnetizing other substances, but through
disuse both will lose their magnetic qualities.

  I am often asked by my operators and others: "How can I best develop my magnetism?" and
"Is there danger of losing my vitality and becoming 'negative' by treating the sick in this way?" It
is true that manipulative work, like everything else, can be overdone and produce harmful effects
upon the operator. But within reasonable limits, massage and magnetic treatments will not deplete
the person giving them, providing he keeps his system in good condition. His own vibrations
must be harmonious on all planes of being, the physical, mental, moral and spiritual. He must be
inspired and actuated by the faith that he CAN heal, by the positive will to heal, and by
sympathy for the one he is trying to benefit.
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   Such an operator makes himself the instrument for the transmission of life force, which is
healing force, from the Source of all life. "As he gives, so he receives"; for this is the basic law of
the universe, the Law of Compensation. If he gives the treatments in the right spirit, he will gain
vital force instead of losing it. He will actually feel his own intensified life vibrations and after
treating he will experience a feeling of buoyancy and elation which nothing else can impart to
him. "He who loses his life shall find it."

  Like a musician who tunes up (puts in harmonious vibration) the relaxed strings of his
instrument, so the magnetic healer tunes up and harmonizes the weakened and discordant
vibrations of his patient.

Good massage will produce electromagnetic effects even though the operator is not aware of
it and does not understand the underlying laws; but his work will gain in power and effectiveness
in direct proportion to the conscious efforts he makes to benefit his patients by the influence of
these higher and finer forces.

  I have frequently noticed in my own manipulative work how much the conscious and
concentrated effort of the will has to do with its effectiveness. Often, when I had given the usual
massage or osteopathic treatment and the patient still complained of pain in a certain locality of
the body, I would lay my hands on the affected area and concentrate my will upon dissolving the
congestion in that particular part or organ and upon harmonizing its discordant vibrations. Very
shortly, usually within a few minutes, the congestion would be relieved and the pain would
subside.

  The electromagnetic energies of the organism can be controlled by the will and either
concentrated to or sent away from any part of the body, just as the circulation of the blood can be
controlled. The latter I saw done by a hypnotist who made the blood flow into and out of the arms
and hands of one of his subjects simply by the power of his will.

  While this was accomplished by means of a destructive process, it taught me a most

valuable lesson regarding the power of the will to control physical conditions.

  Try it yourself. Next time when you have one of your annoying headaches, recline
comfortably in a chair or on a couch, relax completely and then Will the blood to flow away
from the brain in order to relieve the congestion and the attendant pain. Many of my patients
have learned to treat themselves successfully in this way.

  It is obvious that magnetic treatment will not remove pain permanently if the latter is due to
irritation caused by a subluxated bone or by some foreign body or by local accumulation of
morbid matter and poisons in any part or organ. In all such cases the local cause of the irritation
must be removed before the pain can subside or disappear.

Spinal Manipulation and Adjustment History

  In many European countries "bonesetters" have, in a crude way, been treating strains and
sprains of the spinal column since time immemorial. These bonesetters usually belong to the
peasantry and the art has been transmitted in the same families from father to son for many
generations.

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   Incidentally, these simple people observed that their treatment relieved not only sprained,
tired and painful backs--the result primarily aimed at--but frequently exerted a favorable
influence upon disease processes in remote organs and parts. This empirical discovery has
gradually led to a wider application of this method of treatment.

  The various modern systems of spinal manipulation, namely, osteopathy, chiropractic,

naprapathy, neuropathy, spondylotherapy and our own neurotherapy, are all of distinctly
American origin.

  During the last quarter century millions of Americans through personal experience have
become staunch adherents to one or more of these systems of treatment. This fact has been
instrumental in directing the attention of numerous sincere and scientific investigators to the
spinal column with its associated structures as a mechanism through which to apply therapeutic
measures. It therefore behooves every health seeker to acquaint himself with the theories and
claims of these various systems of manipulative treatment.

Osteopathy

  The autobiography of Dr. A. T. Still contains the following interesting statement:

  "In the year 1874 I proclaimed that a disturbed artery marked the beginning to an
hour and a minute when disease began to sow its seeds of destruction in the human body.
That in no case could it be done without a broken or suspended current of arterial blood,
which by Nature was intended to supply and nourish all nerves, ligaments, muscles, skin,
bones and the artery itself. … The rule of the artery must be absolute, universal and
unobstructed or disease will be the result. I proclaimed then and there that all nerves
depend wholly on the arterial system for their qualities such as sensation, nutrition and
motion, even though by the law of reciprocity they furnish force, nutrition and motion to
the artery itself."

  It may be argued that as early as 1805 the Ling System of Swedish Movement was founded
on the same principle, namely, "permanent health through perfect circulation." The evidence at
hand, however, strongly suggests that the founder of osteopathy arrived at his conclusions
independently.

  The further claims of Dr. Still as to the cause and cure of disease are briefly as follows:
Partial displacements of any of the various bones of the body exert pressure on neighboring blood
vessels, thereby interfering with the circulation to the corresponding organs. These
displacements, called "bony lesions," are best "reduced" by manipulations called osteopathic
"moves."

 Chiropractic

  In 1895, Dr. D. D. Palmer put forth the following claims as to the cause and cure of
diseases: Sprains of the spine result in partial displacement of one or more of the vertebrae which
go to make up the spinal column, thus exerting pressure on the neighboring nerves. This shuts off
the vitality of the organs supplied by the affected nerves, hence disease results. These
displacements, called "vertebral subluxations," are best "adjusted" by means of manipulations in
the form of chiropractic "thrusts."

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   As soon as osteopathy and chiropractic were properly established, the more broad-minded
exponents of both systems began mutual investigation and amalgamation. As a result, we find
that only seven years after the birth of chiropractic, osteopathic literature began to mention
vertebral subluxations as pressing on nerves, thereby causing disease. On the other hand,
advanced chiropractors soon began to realize the importance of relaxing tense muscles prior to
delivering their thrusts. They also began to pay attention to the bony lesions other than those
occurring in the spine. Many of the chiropractic principles and much of its technique of today has
been gleaned from osteopathy, while the reverse statement holds equally true.

Naprapathy

  The "connective tissue doctrine of disease" was first proclaimed by Dr. Oakley Smith in
1907. It may be briefly stated as follows: A vertebra does not become misplaced without being
fractured or completely dislocated. What is called a bony lesion by the osteopath and a
subluxation by the chiropractor, is in reality a "ligatight," that is, a shrunken condition of the
connective tissue forming the various ligaments that bind the vertebrae together.

  Ligatights are best "corrected" by means of naprapathic "directos." These differ from
chiropractic thrusts in that they aim not at adjusting subluxated vertebrae but at stretching definite
strands of shrunken connective tissue. Ligatights occur not only in the spine but also in other
parts of the body.

Neuropathy

  This system of manipulative treatment was originated in 1899 by Drs. John Arnold and
Harry Walter of Philadelphia. Their claims may be briefly stated as follows: Morbid matter,
poisons and irritants of various kinds, acting upon the vasomotor nerves which control the blood
vessels, produce abnormal changes in circulation which, if perpetuated, finally lead to disease
manifestations. The nerve impulses coming from diseased parts travel to the spinal cord and, like
all other nerve impulses, are transmitted along those branches of the spinal nerves which supply
the structures (muscles, blood vessels, etc.) along each side of the spine. Here these impulses
bring about abnormal circulatory changes similar to those found in the diseased organs or parts.

  Since nerve impulses are transmitted from diseased organs to the spine, it is evident that
they can be made to travel also in the reverse direction. Neuropathic treatment, therefore, consists
of manipulations and thermal applications which aim at correcting the abnormal circulatory
changes as found in the spine, thereby correcting corresponding abnormal processes in the organs
or parts supplied by the nerves coming from that region of the spine.

  These men also emphasized the fact that the circulation within the blood vessels, being
propelled by the heart, needs less attention during disease than the circulation of the fluids in the
spaces between the cells and through the lymph vessels and glands. Neuropathy, therefore, also
lays great stress on applying manipulation and thermal applications to the lymphatic system.

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 Neurotherapy

  While the exponents of the above systems of spinal manipulation differ widely in their
theories as to the cause of disease and the means of removing such cause, their methods of
treatment furnish considerable evidence of satisfactory results. This seems to suggest that there
must be some real value in each system and that a great deal of the difference between these
apparently opposed methods of treatment lies in the claims of their exponents. It will be shown
presently that, in their final analysis, the osteopathic spinal lesion, the chiropractic subluxation
and the naprapathic ligatight represent one and the same thing.

  Natural Therapeutics is broad enough to embrace all methods of treatment, no matter what
their source, provided they harmonize with the fundamental laws of cure.

  Gradually, therefore, after having gathered the constructive elements from all the various
methods of manipulation, after considerable spinal dissection and, above all, after close
observation of the results obtained in hundreds of obstinate acute and chronic cases, we of the
School of Natural Therapeutics have evolved our own system of spinal manipulation and have
named it neurotherapy.

The Relation of Neurotherapy to

Other Manipulative Systems

  Osteopathy, chiropractic, naprapathy, neurotherapy and spondylotherapy, as we have

learned, are various systems of maipulative treatment which have been devised mainly to correct
spinal and other bony lesions, shrinkage and contracture of muscles, ligaments and other
connective tissues.

  Important as these methods are in the treatment of acute and chronic diseases, by themselves
they are not all-sufficient because they deal only with the mechanical causes of disease, not with
the chemical, thermal or with the mental and psychical. The most efficient spinal treatment
cannot make good for the bad effects of an unbalanced diet which contains an excessive
amount of poison-producing materials and is deficient in the all-important mineral elements or
organic salts. Just as surely as mental therapeutics and a natural diet cannot correct bony lesions
produced by external violence, just so surely is it impossible to cure dementia praecox,
monomania or obsession, or to supply iron, lime, sodium, etc., to the system by correcting spinal
lesions.

  The trouble with the manipulative schools and their graduates is that they adhere too closely
to the mechanical theory and treatment of disease; that they reject practically all natural methods
of treatment aside from manipulative and that so far as the osteopathic school is concerned its
practitioners show a strong tendency to fall back upon the "Old School" methods of drugging and
of surgical treatment. This is due to the fact that in many types of diseases manipulative treatment
by itself has proved insufficient to produce satisfactory results.

  In order to do justice to our patients and not neglect our responsibilities toward them we
must use in the treatment of disease all that is good in all the natural methods of healing. In
serious chronic cases any single one of these methods, whether it be pure food diet, hydrotherapy,
massage, spinal treatment, mental therapeutics or homeopathy, is not by itself sufficient to
achieve satisfactory results or to produce them fast enough.

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   To use an illustration: Suppose a wagon full of freight requires the combined strength of six
horses to move it and suppose that number of horses is available, would it not be foolish to try to
move the load with one, two, three, four or even five horses? Would not common sense suggest
the saving of time and effort by putting all six horses to work at once?

  In Natural Therapeutics every one of the various methods of treatment is

supplemented and assisted by all the others.

  The manipulative schools of healing maintain that practically all disease is caused by
mechanical abnormalities of the spinal column or of muscles, ligaments and other connective
tissues, due to abnormal strain or injury. The philosophy of Natural Therapeutics, on the other
hand, points out that a large percentage of such spinal and other mechanical lesions are secondary
manifestations of disease, not primary causes; that acute or sub acute inflammatory conditions in
the interior of the body may cause nervous irritation and thereby contraction of muscles and
ligaments and, as a result of these, subluxations of vertebrae or of other bony structures.

  The naprapathic theory of disease postulates that it is the shrinkage and contraction of the
connective tissues, which serve as a support and protection for the nerve matter contained in the
nerve trunks and filaments, that cause interference with the normal nerve supply of cells and
tissues and thereby abnormal function and disease.

  The philosophy of Natural Therapeutics points to the fact that this shrinkage and contraction
of the connective tissues surrounding and permeating the nerve trunks and filaments is caused by
certain acids and other pathogenic materials which are produced by faulty diet and defective
elimination and that the same causes produce accumulation of waste and morbid matter in the
tissues of the body which, all through the system, interfere just as effectually with nutrition,
drainage and innervation of the cells and tissue as do spinal lesions and ligatights.

  While the other systems of manipulative treatment confine themselves almost entirely to the
correction of bony and other connective tissue lesions, to "pressing the button," as it is called,
neurotherapy, besides this, aims at other very important results.

  In disease the tissues are either in an abnormally tense and contracted or in a weak, relaxed
condition. The functional activities are either hyperactive as in acute inflammation, or sluggish
and inactive as in chronic atonic and atrophic conditions. These extremes can be powerfully
influenced and equalized by manipulative inhibition, relaxation or stimulation.

  During an acute attack of gastritis, for instance, the neurotherapist would exert strong
inhibition on the nerves which supply the stomach. This is accomplished by deep and persistent
pressure on the nerves where they emerge from the spinal openings (foramina). This diminishes
the rush of blood and nerve currents to the inflamed organ and thereby eases but does not
suppress the inflammatory process and the attending congestion and pain.

  In case of extreme tension in any part of the system, relaxation of the shrunken tissues can
be brought about by gentle but persistent stretching of the nerves and adjacent muscles and
ligaments, in a manner similar to that of the naprapathic directos.

  When the vital organs and their functions are weak and inactive or when nerves, muscles,
ligaments and other connective tissues are in a relaxed, atonic or atrophic condition, certain

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stimulating movements applied to the nerves where they emerge from the spinal column will
energize the vital functions all through the system.

  Many patients imagine that such manipulative treatment is superficial. To them it is just
"rubbing" and seems all alike. They do not realize that manipulative stimulation applied to the
nerves near the surface of the body travels all along their branches and filaments like electricity
along a complicated system of copper wires and thus reaches the innermost cells and organs of
the body, making them more alive and active. This internal stimulation of vital activities is
attained also by good massage through energizing the nerve endings all over the surface of the
body.

The Fundamental Difference Between Neuratherapy

and Other Manipulative Systems

  The following paragraphs will explain the fundamental difference between neurotherapy
and the older systems of manipulative treatment. The older systems, the same as the allopathic
school of medicine, look upon acute diseases as destructive processes dangerous to health and
life; therefore they endeavor to check or suppress them as quickly as possible by their various
methods.

  Neurotherapy so far is the only system of manipulative treatment that bases its work on the
fundamental laws of Natural Therapeutics. According to these laws every acute disease is the
result of a purifying, healing effort of Nature. Therefore neurotherapy would not suppress acute
processes by manipulative treatment any more than by drugs, ice, antitoxins, surgery or any other
suppressive method.

  To illustrate: Supposing that spontaneously or as a result of natural living and treatment a
patient suffering from chronic constipation, indigestion, etc., develops a vigorous purging, which
we of the Nature Cure school would consider a splendid healing crisis. Under allopathic as well
as under the treatment of other manipulative schools such an acute reaction would be
immediately suppressed. This can be accomplished very easily by a few manipulative moves, but
it would mean the suppression of a purifying healing crisis and this would result in throwing the
patient back into his old chronic condition. The underlying causes of disease must be removed
before we can cure chronic disease and bring about a normal condition of the organism.

  Suppose manipulative treatment should succeed in stopping a fever instantaneously. This

would suppress Nature's purifying, regenerating efforts, the patient would continue to "load up"
more morbid materials (especially since these schools do not teach the importance of natural
living) and it would only be a matter of time until the morbid accumulations in the body would
excite new acute reactions, necessitating more adjustments. This may be all right for the
practitioner; but what about the patient? In the long run it can only have one result, and that is
chronic disease.

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 Legitimate Scope and Natural Limitations
of Mental and Metaphysical Healing
During the last generation people have perceived more or less clearly the fallacies of "Old
School" medicine and surgery. They have grown more and more suspicious of orthodox theories
and practices. From allopathic "overdoing" the pendulum has swung to the other extreme of
metaphysical nihilism, to the "underdoing" of mental and metaphysical systems of treating human
ailments.

  Some of these systems and cults of metaphysical healing have met with success and wide
popularity and this is looked upon by their followers as a proof that all the claims and teachings
of these cults and isms are based upon absolute truth.

  However, a thorough understanding of the fundamental Laws of Cure, as I have explained

them in this volume, will reveal in how far their teachings and their practices are based upon truth
and in how far they are inspired by erroneous assumptions.

  Let us then apply the yardstick and the weights and measures of Nature Cure philosophy in
testing the true value of the claims of metaphysical healers.

  For ages people have been educated in the belief that almost every acute disease will end
fatally unless the patient is drugged or operated on. When they find to their surprise that the
metaphysical formulas or prayers of a mental healer or Christian Scientist will "cure" baby's
measles or father's smallpox just as well as, and possibly better than, Dr. Dopem's pills and
potions, they are firmly convinced that a miracle has been performed in their behalf and
straightway they become blind believers in and fanatical followers of their new idols.

  They simply exchange one superstition for another: the belief in the efficacy of drugs and
surgical operations for the belief in the wonder-working power of a metaphysical formula, a self-
appointed savior or a reason-stultifying and will-benumbing cult. They have not been taught that
every acute disease is the result of a healing effort of Nature and therefore fail to see that it is
vital force, the physician within, that, if conditions are favorable, cures measles and smallpox as
easily as it repairs the broken blade of grass or heals the wounded deer of the forest.

  "That is exactly what we say," exclaim healer and scientist. "Have unlimited faith in the
God within and all will be well."

  True, faith is good, but faith and works are better. Though we cannot heal and give life, we
can in many ways assist the healer within. We can teach and explain Nature's Laws, we can
remove obstructions and we can make the conditions within and around the patient more
favorable for the action of Nature's healing forces.

  When the Great Master said: "Go forth and sin no more, lest worse things than these befall
you," he acknowledged sin, or the transgression of natural laws, to be the primary cause of
disease, and made health dependent upon compliance with the Law. The necessity of complying
with the Law, in all respects and on all the planes of being, is still more strongly emphasized in
the following:

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   "For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of
all."

  The skeptic and the superficial reader may reply: "This saying is utterly unreasonable.
Stealing a penny is not committing a murder; overeating does not break the law of chastity; how,
then, is it possible to break all laws by breaking any single one of them?" There is, however, a
deeper meaning to this seeming paradox which makes it scientifically true.

Self-Control, the Whole Law

  Obedience to all laws on all planes of being depends primarily on self-control. Self-control
is, therefore, in a sense, the whole law, for man cannot break any one law unless he breaks first
this fundamental Law of all Laws. This implies that the demoralizing effect of sinning or law-
breaking, on any one of the planes of being, does not depend so much upon the enormity of the
deed as upon the loss of self-control. Continued weakening of self-control in trivial things may
therefore, in the end, prove more destructive than a murder committed in the heat of passion. If
there is not self-control enough to resist a cup of coffee or a cigar, whence shall come the will-
power to resist greater temptations?

  Truly, lack of self-control in small things is the "dry rot" of the soul. Is it not, then,
somewhat unreasonable to expect God or Nature to strain and twist the immutable laws of Nature
at the request of every healer in order to save us from the natural consequences of overeating, red
meat eating, whisky drinking, smoking, tobacco chewing, drugging and a thousand and one other
transgressions of natural laws?

  In spite of the finest-spun metaphysical sophistries, we continue to burn our fingers in the
fire until we know enough to leave it alone. Herein lies the corrective purpose of that which we
call evil—suffering and disease. The rational thing to do is not to deny the existence of Mother
Nature's punishing rod, but to escape her salubrious spankings by conforming to her Laws.

What about the "Cures"?

  As in medicine, so also in metaphysical healing, men judge by superficial results, not by the
real underlying causes. The usual answer to any criticism of Christian Science or kindred
methods of cure is: "That may be all right; but see the results! Nobody can deny their wonderful
cures," etc.

  Let us see whether there really is anything wonderful or supernatural about these cures or
whether they can be explained on simple, natural grounds.

  In another chapter we explain the difference between functional and organic disease and
show how in diseases of the functional type the life force or healing force, which always
endeavors to establish normal conditions and the perfect type, may work unaided up to the
reconstructive healing crises and through these eliminate the morbid encumbrances from the
system and reestablish normal structure and function.

  It is in cases like these that metaphysicians attain their best results simply because Nature
helps herself.

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   On the other hand, in cases of the true organic type, where the vitality is low and the
destruction of vital parts and organs has progressed to a considerable extent, the system is no
longer able to arouse itself to self-help.

  In such cases, faith alone is not sufficient to obtain results. It must be backed and assisted by
all the natural methods of treatment at our command.

Healers Work with Laws that

They Do Not Understand

  In our critical analysis of "Old School" methods we found that by far the greater part of all
chronic ailments is due to drugging and to surgery. People commence doctoring for little troubles,
which are aggravated by every dose of medicine and every surgical operation until they end in big
troubles.

  Is it marvelous that such patients improve and that many are cured when they are weaned
from drugs and the knife?

  Metaphysical healers unwittingly do their best and most beneficial work because they
induce their followers not to suppress acute diseases and healing crises by drugs and surgical
operations, thus allowing them to run their natural course in harmony with the fundamental law
of Nature Cure, which states that every acute disease is the result of a cleansing and healing effort
of Nature. People will refrain from the suppressive drug treatment under the influence of
metaphysical teachings, which appeal to the miracle-loving element in their nature, when they
cannot be convinced by common sense Nature Cure reasoning.

  Thus metaphysicians assist Nature indirectly by noninterference and directly by soothing

fear and worry, by instilling faith, hope and confidence. Frequently they also aid Nature by
prohibiting the use of tobacco, alcohol and pork, and by regulating otherwise the life and habits
of their followers.

  Let us consider the problem from another point of view. Let us assume, for argument's sake,
that the average person passes in the course of a lifetime through a dozen different diseases. He
recovers from eleven of these, no matter what the treatment. It is only the twelfth to which he
succumbs. Yet, whosoever happened to treat the first eleven diseases claims to have cured them
and, perhaps, to have saved the patient's life when, as a matter of fact, he recovered very often in
spite of the treatment and not because of it.

  These explanations account for the seemingly miraculous results of metaphysical healing. If
healers and Christian Scientists were to explain their cures by the laws and principles of Nature
Cure philosophy, mystery and miracle would be taken out of their business.

"Faith Without Works" Is Dangerous

  To believe that God or Nature will overcome the natural effects of our ignorance, laziness
and viciousness by wonders, signs and metaphysics, or to deny the existence of sickness, sin and
suffering, must lead inevitably to intellectual and moral stagnation and degeneration. I am a
thorough and consistent optimist and New Thought enthusiast, but I do not overlook the fact that
in this, as in everything else, there lurks always the danger of overdoing and of exaggerating
virtue into fault.
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   The greatest danger of this revulsion from old-time pessimism to modern optimism lies in
the fact that the Higher Thought enthusiast may cut from under his feet the solid ground of
reality; that he may become a dreamer instead of a thinker and doer; and that he may mistake
selfish, emotional sentimentalism for practical charity and altruism.

  This unhealthy "all-is-good, there-is-no-evil" emotionalism leads only too often to

weakening of personal effort, a deadening of the sense of individual responsibility and thereby to
mental and moral atrophy; for any of our voluntary functions, capacities and powers which we
fail to exercise will in time become benumbed and paralyzed. Unprejudiced observers who come
in close contact with metaphysicians cannot help perceiving the pernicious effect of their subtle
sophistries on reason and character.

  A chronic invalid who had been under the treatment of a faith healer for several years
exclaimed, when we gave her our various instructions for dieting, bathing, breathing exercises,
etc.: "How glad I am that you give me something to do! I fear I have been imposing too long on
the goodness of the Lord, expecting Him to do my work for me." Often afterwards, while
recovering from lifelong ailments, she expressed her happiness and contentment in that she
herself was doing something which in her opinion was rational and helpful because it assisted
Nature's healing efforts.

  We believe firmly and fully in the influence of mind over matter, in the fact that vibrations
of the physical plane by continuity create corresponding vibrations on the mental and psychical
planes and vice versa. We know that, in accordance with this law, anything which affects the
mind or the moral life of a person affects also his physical condition; but instead of hypnotizing
the minds of our patients by law-defying, reason- and will-benumbing dogmas and formulas, we
strengthen and harmonize their mental vibrations by appealing to reason, by teaching and
explaining natural laws instead of obscuring and denying them.

  The more intelligent the patient, the more amenable he will be to such normal suggestions
based on scientific truth and on the dictates of reason and common sense.

  While nonresistance to Nature's healing efforts is better than suppression by drugs or the
knife, there is something more helpful and rational than the negative attitude toward disease on
the physical plane assumed by metaphysical healing cults. That "something" is intelligent
cooperation with Nature's cleansing and healing efforts.

  Where the Old School fails by sins of commission, the Faith Schools fail by sins of
omission. Many patients are sacrificed daily through fanatical inactivity, when their lives might
be saved by a wet pack or a cold sponge bath, by an internal bath, rational diet, judicious fasting,
scientific manipulation or some other simple yet powerful remedy of natural healing. To permit a
patient to perish in a burning fever, depending solely upon the efficacy of prayers, formulas and
mental attitude, when wet packs and cold sponging would in a few minutes reduce the
temperature below the danger point, is manslaughter, even though it be done in the name of
religion.

  Incidents like the following are common in our practice: A little girl in the neighborhood of
our institution was taken with diphtheria. The mother, an ardent Christian Scientist, called in
several healers of her cult, but the child grew worse from day to day, until the false membranes in
the throat began to choke her to death.

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   A boarder in the house, who was a follower of Nature Cure, finally induced the mother to
call upon us for advice by threatening to notify the City Health Department. Within an hour after
the application of the whole-body packs and the cold ablutions, the blood was sufficiently drawn
away from the local congestion in the throat into the surface of the body, so that the child
breathed easily and freely, and from then on made a splendid recovery.

  Another instance: A man had been suffering from sciatic rheumatism for fifteen years. He
had swallowed poisonous drugs to no avail. For several years he had been under Mental Science
treatment, but the suffering had grown more intense.

  When he applied to us for help, we found that the right hip bone (the innominate) had
slipped upward and backward. A few manipulative treatments replaced the bone where it
belonged, and the sciatic rheumatism was cured.

  In this case, the combined concentration and prayers of all the metaphysical healers on earth
would not have succeeded in replacing the dislocated hip bone, which required the full strength of
a trained manipulator.

  Metaphysicians could not have accomplished this feat any more than they could have
moved, by their mental efforts, a hundred-pound weight from one place to another. Mechanical
lesions of that kind (and there are many of them) require mechanical treatment.

  Another factor which makes converts to metaphysical healing cults by the hundreds and
thousands is the get-rich-quick instinct in human nature, the desire to get something for nothing,
or with as little effort as possible. Herein lies the seductive pull of old-time drugging and of
modern metaphysics. "It does not matter how you live; when you get into trouble, a bottle of
medicine or a metaphysical formula will make it all right." That sounds very easy and promising,
but the trouble is--it does not always work.

  Our forefathers were too pessimistic; higher thought enthusiasts are often too optimistic.
While the former poisoned their lives and paralyzed their God-given faculties and powers by
dismal dread of hell's fire and damnation, our modern healers and Scientists have drifted to the
other extreme. They tell us there is no sin, no pain, no suffering. If that be true, there is also no
action and reaction, no Law of Compensation, no personal responsibility, no need of self-control,
self-help or personal effort.

  The ideal of the faith healer is the ideal of the animal. The animal trusts implicitly, it has
absolute faith; guided by instinct, God, or Nature, it follows the promptings of its appetites and
passions without worrying about right or wrong. It acts today as it did ten thousand years ago.

  In man, reason has taken the place of instinct; we must think and manage for ourselves. We
are free and responsible moral agents. If we deny this, we deny the very foundations of equity,
justice and right. It behooves us to use the talents which God has given us, to study the laws of
our being and to comply with them to the best of our ability, so that enlightened reason may take
the place of animal instinct and guide us to physical, mental and moral perfection.

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 The Difference Between Functional
and Organic Disease
 Much confusion concerning the curability of chronic diseases by the various methods of
treatment arises because people do not understand the difference between functional and organic
chronic disease.

  For instance, there is a close resemblance between pseudo- and true locomotor ataxy. Often
it is difficult to distinguish functional lung trouble from the organic type of the disease. In our
practice, several cases of mental derangement which had been diagnosed as true paresis proved to
be of the functional type and under natural treatment recovered rapidly.

  Functional diseases may present a very serious appearance and may be labeled with awe-
inspiring Greek or Latin names, and yet yield readily to natural methods of living and treatment.

  In diseases of an organic nature, however, right living and self-treatment are usually not
sufficient to obtain satisfactory results. In such cases all forms of active and passive treatment
must be applied, and even then it is frequently difficult and sometimes impossible to produce a
cure.

  Chronic diseases of a functional nature develop when an otherwise healthy organism

becomes saturated and clogged with food and drug poisons to such an extent that these
encumbrances interfere with the free circuation of the blood and nerve currents, and with the
normal functions of the cells, organs and tissues of the body.

  Such cases resemble a watch which is losing time because its works are filled with dust. All
that such a waste-encumbered watch or body needs, in order to restore normal functions, is a
good cleaning. Pure food diet, fasting, systematic exercise, deep breathing, cold bathing and the
right mental attitude are usually sufficient to perform this physical housecleaning and to restore
perfect health.

  Functional disorders yield readily to the various forms of metaphysical treatment. Remove
such patients from the weakening and destructive effects of poisonous drugs and of surgical
operations, supplant fear and worry by courage and faith, and the results often seem miraculous to
those who do not understand the power of the purifying and stimulating influence of clean living
and of the right mental attitude.

  In diseases of the organic type, however, good results are not so easily achieved. A body
affected by organic disease resembles a watch whose mechanism has been injured and partly
destroyed by rust and corrosive acids. If such be the case, cleaning and oiling alone will not be
sufficient to put the timepiece in good working order. The watchmaker has to replace the
damaged parts.

  This is easy enough in the case of the watch, but it is not so easily accomplished in the
human body. Besides, in many instances the corroding acids are the very medicines which were
given to cure the disease and the injury and destruction of vital parts and organs is only too often
the direct or indirect result of surgical operations.

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   The watchmaker may remove those parts of the watch which are suffering from organic
trouble, and replace them by new ones. This the surgeon cannot do. He can extirpate, but he
cannot replace. Operative treatment leaves the organism forever after in a mutilated and therefore
unbalanced condition, and often prevents and frustrates Nature's cleansing and healing crises.

The Limitations of Metaphysical Healing

  In the writings of metaphysical healers we often meet the assertion that they can cure
organic diseases as easily and quickly as functional ailments. If they understood better the
difference between functional and organic disorders as explained in the foregoing pages, they
would not make such deceptive and extravagant claims. They would then realize the natural
limitations of meta-physical healing.

  °I do not underestimate the great value of mental, metaphysical and spiritual healing
methods. Of these I shall speak more fully in subsequent chapters. But I do claim that we can and
should aid Nature's healing efforts not only by the right mental attitude and the prayer of faith,
but also by natural living and many different methods of physical treatment.

  Mental attitude alone will not clean the watch. To concentrate on the work of housecleaning
without using broom, soap and water is not sufficient. Reason and common sense teach us that
the removal of physical, material encumbrances can be, to say the least, accelerated by the use of
physical or physiological agents. Anyone who has observed or himself experienced the efficacy
of natural diet, cold-water treatment, massage and osteopathy in dealing with the morbid
accumulations in the system will never again underestimate the practical value of these "brooms."

  In our study of the nature and purpose of acute diseases we have found that Nature tries to
purify the system from its morbid encumbrances through inflammatory, febrile processes (acute
diseases) and that these cleansing efforts of Nature are generally prevented, checked and
suppressed by allopathic methods of medical and surgical treatment, and thus changed into
chronic disease conditions.

  The metaphysical healers do away with these suppressive methods of treatment and allow
Nature's acute cleansing and healing efforts to run their natural course. Thus they profit by the
fundamental laws of cure without understanding them. The acute disease, whose very existence
they deny, is in reality the cure.

  Furthermore, rational mental and metaphysical treatment supports Nature's efforts actively
by supplanting the weakening and paralyzing fear vibrations with relaxing and invigorating
vibrations of hope, confidence and faith in the supremacy of Nature's healing forces. Under these
favorable conditions, the organism will arouse itself to the purifying and constructive healing
crises (the chemicalizations of Christian Science) and through these eliminate the morbid
encumbrances and restore normal structure and functions.

°While functional disorders, in nearly every case, yield readily enough to the natural methods
of living and of treatment and to the right mental attitude, it is different with organic diseases.

  When waste matter, ptomaines or poisonous alkaloids and acids produced in the body as a
result of wrong diet and other violations of Nature's laws have brought about destruction and
corrosion in vital parts and organs--when dislocations and subluxations of bony structures, or new
growths and accumulations in the forms of tumors, stones or gravel obstruct the blood vessels and
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nerve currents, shut off the supply of the vital fluids and thus cause malnutrition and gradual
decay of the tissues--when, in addition to this, the organism has been poisoned or mutilated by
drugs and surgical operations, then its purification and repair becomes a tedious and difficult task.

  Not only must the mechanism of the body be cleansed and freed from obstructive and
destructive materials, but the injured parts must be repaired, morbid growths and abnormal
formations dissolved and eliminated and lesions in the bony structures corrected by manipulative
treatment.

  In organic diseases, the vitality is usually so low and destruction so great that the organism
cannot arouse itself to self-help. Even the cessation of suppressive treatment and the stimulating
influence of mental and metaphysical therapeutics are not sufficient to bring about the
reconstructive healing crises. This can only be accomplished by the combined influences of all
the natural methods of living and of treatment.

  It is in cases like these that metaphysical healing and hygienic living find their limitations.
Such organic defects require systematic treatment by all the methods, active and passive, which
the best Nature Cure sanitariums can furnish. It may be slow and laborious work to obtain
satisfactory results, and if the vitality is too low or the destruction of vital parts and organs has
too far advanced, even the best and most complete combination of natural methods of treatment
may fail to produce a cure.

  However, this can be determined only by a fair trial of the natural methods. The forces of
Nature are ever ready to react to persistent, systematic effort in the right direction and when there
is enough vitality to keep alive there is likely to be enough to purify and reconstruct the organism
and in time to bring about improvement and cure.

  This, then, explains why, in the organic types of diseases, metaphysical methods of
treatment alone are insufficient. At least one-half of the patients that come to the Nature Cure
physician have faithfully tried these methods without avail, but the failures are easily excused by
lack of faith, wrong mental attitude or something wrong with the patient or his surroundings.

  In our experience with patients who had formerly tried metaphysical methods of healing
faithfully, but without results, we sometimes come face to face with a curious and amusing phase
of human nature. As our patients improve under the natural regimen and treatment, they gradually
return to their first love and ascribe the good effects of natural treatment to a better understanding
of "the Science." As health and strength return, they say: "Formerly I did not know just how to
apply the Science, but now I know, and that is why I am growing better."

  I suppose this form of self-deception which we have frequently observed is due to the fact
that people feel flattered by the idea that Providence has taken a special interest in their case and
cured them by miraculous intervention. It is so much more interesting to be cured by some occult
principle than by diet and cold water.

  Undoubtedly it is this miracle-loving element in human nature that makes metaphysical

healing so much more popular than plain, commonsense Nature Cure.

  Not long ago Professor Münsterberg investigated the claims of Christian Scientists that they
were constantly curing diseases of the organic type. He reported his findings in a series of articles
in McClure's Magazine (1908), stating that he inquired personally into one hundred cases said to
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have been cured by Christian Science and found that ninety-two of them had been of the
functional type, while eight were claimed to have been organic, but that in no instance could this
be proved beyond doubt.

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 The Two-fold Attitude of Mind and Soul
The following is an extract from a letter sent to me by a reader of my articles in The Nature
Cure Magazine.

  "Sometimes you say we must rely on our own personal efforts and at other times
you teach dependence upon a higher power. This, to me, is contradictory and confusing. I
cannot understand how, consistently, we can do both at the same time. Which is right? Is
it best to rely upon our own power and our personal efforts or upon the 'Higher Power'?"

  Similar inquiries have come from other friends. I shall now endeavor to answer these and
other questions.

  There is nothing contradictory or incompatible in the teachings of the Nature Cure

philosophy concerning the physical and metaphysical methods of treating human ailments. Both
the independent and the dependent attitudes of mind and soul are good and true and may be
entertained at the same time. It is necessary for us to rely on our own personal efforts in carrying
out the dictates of reason and of common sense. But this need not prevent us from praying for and
confidently expecting a larger inflow of vital power and intuitional discernment from the Source
of all intelligence and power in the innermost parts of our being.

  This two-fold attitude of mind and soul is justified not only by reason and intuition, but also
by the anatomical structure of the human organism and its physiological and psychological
faculties, capacities and powers.

  The activities of the human organism are governed by two different systems of nerves, the
sympathetic and the motor. The sympathetic nervous system is the conveyor of vital force to the
organs and cells of the body. Just what this vital force is and where it ultimately comes from, we
do not know. It is a manifestation of that which we call God, Nature, Life, the Higher Power or
the Divine Within.

  Heart action, the circulation of the blood, respiration, digestion, assimilation of food,
elimination and all other involuntary activities and functions of the human organism are
controlled by means of the sympathetic nervous system. The nature of the controlling force itself
is not known to us. We do know that it is supremely powerful, intelligent and benevolent.

  The more we study the anatomy, physiology and psychology of the human organism, the
more we wonder at its marvelous complexity and ingenuity of structure and function. Every
moment there are enacted in our bodies innumerable mechanical, chemical and psychological
miracles. Who, or what, performs these miracles? We do not know. Yet every moment of our
lives depends upon the infinite care and wisdom of this unknown intelligence and power.

  Why, then, should we not trust the One so faithful? Why should we not ask aid from One so
powerful? Why not seek enlightenment from One who is so wise and so benevolent?

  However, not all of the human entity is dependent upon a controlling power, nor are all its
functions involuntary. Within the house prepared by the Divine Intelligence, there dwells a
sovereign in his own right and by his own might. He is endowed with freedom of desire, of

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choice and of action. He creates in his brain the nerve centers which control the voluntary
activities of the body and from these brain centers he sends his commands through the fibers of
the motor nerves to the voluntary muscles and makes them do his bidding; some he commands to
walk, others to laugh, to eat, to speak, etc.

  This independent principle in man we call the ego, the individual intelligence. It imagines,
desires, reasons, plans and works out, by the power of free will and independent choice, its own
salvation or destruction, physically, mentally, morally and spiritually. By means of the motor
nervous system, this thinker and doer directs and controls from the headquarters in the brain all
the voluntary functions, capacities and powers of the human organism.

  This part of the human entity can evolve and progress only through its own conscious and
voluntary personal efforts.

  In this, Man differs from the animal creation. The animal is able to take care of itself shortly
after birth. It inherits, already fully developed, those brain centers for the control of the bodily
functions which the newborn human must develop slowly and laboriously through patient and
persistent effort in the course of many years.

  Of voluntary capacities and powers the newborn infant possesses little more than the
simplest unicellular animalcule, that is, about all it can do is to scent and swallow food. Its
cerebral hemispheres are as yet blank slates, to be inscribed gradually by its conscious and
voluntary exertions. Before it can think, reason, speak, walk or do anything else, it must first
develop in its brain special centers for each and every one of these voluntary faculties and
functions.

  Through these persistent personal efforts, reason, will and self-control are gradually evolved
and developed; while the animal, being hereditarily endowed with the faculties and functions
necessary for the maintenance of life, has no occasion for the development of the higher faculties
and powers and therefore remains an irresponsible automaton, which cannot be held accountable
for its actions.

  To recapitulate: Freedom of choice and of action distinguish the human from the animal. In
the animal kingdom, reasoning power and freedom of action move in the narrow limits of
heredity and instinct, while Man, through his own personal efforts, is capable of unlimited
development physically, mentally, morally and spiritually, both here and hereafter. We say
physically advisedly, for in the spiritual realms, in the life after death, the physical (spiritual-
material) body also is capable of deterioration or of ever greater refinement and beautification.

  Through the right use of his voluntary faculties, capacities and powers, Man is enabled to
become the master of himself and of his destiny.

  Thus we find that the human organism consists of two distinct parts or departments, the one
acting independently of the ego and deriving its motive force from an unknown source and the
other under the conscious and voluntary control of the ego.

  This two-fold nature of the human entity justifies the two-fold attitude of mind and soul, on
the one hand the prayerful and faithful dependence upon that mysterious power which flows into
us and controls us through the sympathetic nervous system and on the other hand the conscious

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and voluntary dominion over the various faculties, capacities and powers with which Nature has
endowed us.

  It is our privilege and our duty to maintain both attitudes, the dependent as well as the
independent. The desire and the will to plan, to choose and to perform are ours, but for the power
to execute we are dependent upon a Higher Source.

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 The Symphony of Life
Human life appears to me as a great orchestra in which we are the players. The great
composition to be performed is the "Symphony of Life," its infinitude of dissonances and
melodies blending into one colossal tone picture of harmony and grandeur. We players must
study the laws of music and the score of the Great Symphony and we must practice diligently and
persistently, until we can play our part unerringly in harmony with the concepts of the Great
Composer. At the same time we must learn to keep our instrument, the body, in the best possible
condition; for the greatest artist, endowed with a profound knowledge of the laws of music and
possessed of the most perfect technique, cannot produce musical and harmonious sounds from an
instrument with strings relaxed or overtense, or with its body filled with rubbish.

  The artist must learn that the instrument, its material, its construction and its care are just as
subject to law as the harmonics of the score.

  In the final analysis, everything is vibration acting in and on the universal ethers, which are
held to be the primordial substance. Possibly the ethers themselves are modes of vibration.

  That which is constructive is harmonious vibration. That which is destructive is

inharmonious or discordant vibration.

  Against this it may be urged that devolution has its harmonics as well as evolution, that
every symphony is made up of dissonances as well as of harmonies. To this I answer:
"Unadulterated harmony may, solely for lack of change, become monotonous; but discords alone
never create melody, harmony, health or happiness."

  As the artist seeks vibratory harmony between his instrument and the harmonics of the
universe of sound, so the health-seeker must endeavor to establish vibratory unison between the
material elements of his body and Nature's harmonics of health in the physical universe.

  The atoms and molecules in the wood and strings of the violin, as well as the sounds
produced from them, are modes of motion or vibration. In order to bring forth musical and
harmonious notes, the vibratory conditions of the physical elements of the violin must be in
harmonious vibratory relationship with Nature's harmonics in the universe of sound.

  The elements and forces composing the human body are also vibratory in their nature, the
same as the material elements of the violin. They also must be kept in a certain well-balanced
chemical combination, mechanical adjustment and physical refinement before they can vibrate in
unison with Nature's harmonics in the physical universe and thus produce the harmonies of health
and strength and beauty.

  If our instrument is out of tune, or if we ignorantly or willfully insist on playing in our own
way, regardless of the score, we create discords not only for ourselves, but also for our fellow
artists in the great orchestra of life.

  Sin, disease, suffering and evil are nothing but discords, produced by the ignorance,
indifference or malice of the players.Therefore we cannot attribute the discords of life to the
Great Composer. They are of our own making and will last as long as we refuse to learn our parts

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and to play them in tune with the Great Score. For in this way only can we ever hope to master
the art and science of right living and to enjoy the harmonies of peace, self-content and
happiness.

The Three-fold Constitution of Man

The following diagram and accompanying explanations will serve to illustrate "Three Planes
of Being," the corresponding "Three-fold Constitution of man," and their analogy tothe artist and
his instrument.

The Three-fold Constitution of Man

Planes of Three-fold Analogy
Being Constitution
of Man
Psychical Soul Music, Laws of
or Moral Harmony
Mental Mind Player
Material Bodies Violin
(Physical and
Spiritual)

  Man lives and functions on three distinct planes of being: the physical-material and
spiritual-material, the mental and the soul (psychical or moral) planes.

  He may be diseased upon any one or more of these planes. The true physician must look for
causes of disease and for methods of treatment upon all three planes of being.

  The purely materialistic physician concentrates all his study and effort upon the physical-
material plane of being. To him, mental, spiritual, psychical, and moral phenomena are merely
chemical and physiological actions and reactions of brain and nerve substance. He has nothing
but contempt and derision for the man who believes in or knows of a spiritual body or a soul.

  He is like an artist who says: "My violin is all there is to music. The musician's art consists
in keeping his instrument in good condition. Technique and the laws of harmony are a matter of
imagination and of superstitious belief."

  On the other hand, mental healers, Christian Scientists and faith healers concentrate all their
efforts upon either the mental or the soul plane, frequently making no distinction between the
two. In the treatment of disease, they ignore the conditions and needs of the physical body, and
some of them even deny its existence.

  These metaphysicians are like the artist who devotes all his time and energy to the study and
practice of technique, counterpoint and harmony, neglecting his instrument and taking no heed
whether its mechanism is out of order or its interior filled with rubbish. His knowledge of the
laws of harmonics and his execution may be ever so perfect; but with his instrument out of tune
and out of order he will produce discords instead of harmony.

  The true artist realizes that MIND, the player, must study SOUL, the harmonics; and that
the mind must also have its instrument, the BODY, in perfect condition in order to interpret

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perfectly and artistically the harmonies of the symphony of life. Likewise, the Nature Cure
physician will look for causes of disease and for means of cure upon the material, mental and
psychical planes of being.

  Thus will higher civilization and greater knowledge lead back to the natural simplicity of
primitive races, where physician and priest are one.

  After all, physical health is the best possible basis for the attainment of mental, moral and
spiritual health. All building begins with the foundation. We do not first suspend the steeple in
the air and then build the church under it. So also, the building of the temple of human character
should begin by laying the foundation in physical health.

  We have known people who had attained high intellectual, moral and spiritual development
and then suffered utter shipwreck physically, mentally and in every other way, because ignorantly
they had violated the laws of their physical nature.

  There are others who believe that the possession of occult knowledge and the achievement
of mastership confer absolute control over Nature's forces and phenomena on the physical plane.
These people believe that a man is not a master if he does not miraculously heal all manner of
disease and raise the dead.

  If such things were possible, they would overthrow the Laws of Cause and Effect and of
Compensation. They would abolish the basic principles of morality and constructive spirituality.
If it is possible in one case to heal disease and to overcome death through the fiat of the will of a
master, then it must be possible in all cases. If so, then we can ignore the existence of Nature's
laws, indulge our appetites and passions to the fullest extent, and when the natural results of our
transgressions overtake us, we can go to a healer or master and have our diseases instantly and
painlessly removed, like a bad tooth.

  I say this with all due reverence for, and faith in, the efficacy of true prayer and with full
knowledge of the healing power of therapeutic faith, but I do not believe that God, or Nature, or a
master or metaphysical formulas can or will make good in a miraculous way for the inevitable
results of our transgressions of the natural laws that govern our being.

  If such miraculous healing were possible and of common occurrence, what occasion would
there be for the exercise of reason, will and self-control? What would become of the scientific
basis of morality and constructive spirituality?

  All this leads us to the following conclusions:

  "If there is in operation a constructive principle of Nature on the ethical, moral and spiritual
planes of being, with which we must align ourselves and to which we must conform our
conscious and voluntary activities in order to achieve self-completion, self-content, individual
completion and happiness, then this constructive principle must be in operation also in our
physical bodies and in their corelated physical, mental and emotional activities. If the
constructive principle is active in the physical as well as in the moral and spiritual realms, then
the established harmonic relationship of the physical to the constructive law of its being must
constitute the morality of the physical; and from this it follows that the achievement of health on
the physical plane is as much under our conscious and voluntary control as the working out of our
individual salvation on the higher planes of life."
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   To recapitulate:

First, our well-being on all planes and in all relationships of life depends upon the
existence, recognition and practical application of the great fundamental laws and
principles just explained.

Second: Physical health, as well as moral health, is of our own making. We are
personally responsible not only for our own physical and mental health, but we are also
morally responsible for the hereditary tendencies of our offspring toward health or
disease.

Third: The attainment of physical health through compliance with Nature's laws is
just as much a part of the Great Work as our ethical, moral and psychical development.

The Unity and Continuity of the Law

  That which we call God, Nature, the Creator or the Universal Intelligence is the great central
cause of all things and the vibratory activities produced by or proceeding from this central or
primary cause continue through all spheres of life, in like manner as the light waves of the sun,
moon and fixed stars penetrate through the intervening spheres of life to our plane of earth.
Therefore all powers, forces, laws and principles which manifest on our plane proceed and
continue from the innermost Divine to the most external plane in physical nature. This explains
the continuity, stability and correspondence on all planes of being of that which we call Natural
Law. In other words, "Natural Law is the established harmonic relationship of effects and
phenomena to their causes and of all particular causes to the one great primary cause of all
things."

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 Mental Therapeutics
The new psychology and the science of mental and spiritual healing teach us that the lower
principles in Man stand or should stand under the dominion of the higher. The physical body,
with its material elements, is dominated and guided by the mind. The mind is inspired through the
inner consciousness, which is an attribute of the soul. The soul of man is in communion with the
Oversoul, which is the Source of all life and all intelligence animating the universe.

  Wherever this natural order is reversed, there is discord or disease. Too many people think
and act as though the physical body is all in all, as though it is the only thing worth caring for and
thinking about. They exaggerate the importance of the physical and become its abject slaves.

  The physical body is the lowest and least intelligent of the different principles making up
the human entity. Yet people allow their minds and their souls to become dominated and terrified
by the sensations of the physical body.

  When the servants in the house control and terrify the master, when the master becomes
their slave and they can do with him as they please, there cannot be order and harmony in that
house.

  We must expect the same results when the lower principles in Man lord it over the higher.
When physical weakness, illness and pain fill the mind with fear and dismay, reason becomes
clouded, the will atrophied and self-control is lost.

  Every thought and every emotion has its direct effect upon the physical constituents of
the body. The mental and emotional vibrations become physical vibrations and structures.
Discord in the mind is translated into physical disease in the body, while the harmonies of hope,
faith, cheerfulness, happiness, love and altruism create in the organism the corresponding health
vibrations.

  Have you ever noticed how the written or printed notes of a tone piece or the perforations on
the paper music roll of an automatic player are arranged in symmetrical and geometrical figures
and groups? Dry sand strewn on the top of a piano on which harmonious tone combinations are
produced shows a tendency to arrange itself in symmetrical patterns.

  In this you have a visual illustration of the translation of harmonious sound vibrations,
which express the harmonics of the soul's emotions, into correspondingly harmonious
arrangements and configurations in the physical material of the paper roll.

  A jumble of discords of sound, if reproduced on a music roll, would present a chaotic
jumble of perforations.

  Thus the purely mental and emotional is translated into its corresponding discords or
harmonies in the physical.

  As the perforations on the paper music roll arrange themselves either symmetrically or
without symmetry and order, in strict accordance with the harmonies or discords of the
composition, so the atoms, molecules and cells in the physical body group themselves in normal

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or abnormal structures of health or of disease in exact correspondence with the harmonious or the
discordant vibrations conveyed to them from the mental and emotional planes.

  Another Illustration: Two violins, as they leave the shop of the maker, are exactly alike in
material, structure and quality of tone. One of the two instruments is constantly used by beginners
and persons incapable of producing pure notes. The other passes into the hands of an artist who
understands how to use the instrument to the best advantage and who draws from it only musical
tones that are true in pitch and quality.

  After a few years, compare the two violins again. You will find that the one used by the
tyros in music has deteriorated in its musical qualities, while the one in the hands of the artist has
greatly improved in quality and purity of tone. What is the reason? The atoms and molecules in
the wood of the two instruments have grouped themselves according to the discords or the
harmonies that have been produced from them.

  If this rearrangement of atoms is possible in dead wood, how much easier must be this
adjustment of atoms, molecules and cells to discordant or harmonious vibratory influence in the
living, plastic and fluidic human organism!

  What harmony is to music, hope, faith, cheerfulness, happiness, sympathy, love and altruism
are to the vibratory conditions of the human entity. These emotions are in alignment with the
constructive principle in Nature. They harmonize the physical vibrations, relax the tissues and
open them wide to the inflow of the life force.

  Swedenborg truly says: "The warmth of life is the heat of the divine love permeating and
animating the universe." The more we possess of hope, faith, love and their kindred emotions, the
more we open ourselves to the inflow and action of the vital energies. The good-natured, cheerful,
sympathetic person is more alive than the crabbed, morose or selfish individual.

  It has been proved over and over again by everyday experience that mental and emotional
conditions positively affect the chemical composition of the tissues and secretions of the
body. The destructive emotions of fear, worry, anger, jealousy, revengefulness, envy, etc.,
actually poison the fluids and tissues of the body. The bite of an angry man may cause blood-
poisoning and prove as fatal as the bite of a mad dog. Sudden fear, anger or any other destructive
emotion in the nursing mother may cause illness or even death of the infant.

  In psychological laboratories it has been found by scientifically conducted experiments that
under the influence of destructive mental and emotional conditions, the secretions and excretions
of the body show an increase of morbid and poisonous elements.

  Selfishness, fear and worry contract and congeal the blood vessels, the nerve fibers, and the
other channels through which the life forces are conveyed from the innermost source of life to
different parts and organs of the physical body. The flow of the life currents is impeded and
diminished. Such are the actual physiological effects of fear, anxiety and egotism on the physical
organism.

  A man under the influence of great fear and one exposed to freezing present the same
outward appearance. In both cases death may result through the congealing of the tissues and the
shutting out of the life currents. The person afflicted with the worry habit may not die suddenly
like the one overcome by great and sudden fear. Nevertheless, the fear and worry vibrations
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maintained constantly will surely obstruct and diminish the inflow of the life force, lower the
vitality and therewith the resistance to the encroachment of influences inimical to the health of
the organism.

  The cells in the body are negative, or, at least, they should be negative to the positive
mind. The relationship of the mind to the cell should be like that of hypnotist to subject. If the
mind could not exert such absolute control over the cells and cell groups, it would be impossible
for us to walk, talk, write, dodge danger, etc., with almost automatic ease.

  The cells are not able to reason upon the truth or untruth of the suggestions conveyed to
them from the mind. They accept its promptings unqualifiedly and act accordingly.

  Thus, if the mind constantly thinks of, say, the stomach as being in a badly diseased
condition, unable to do its work properly, the mental images of weakness and disease with their
accompanying fear vibrations are telegraphed over the efferent nerves to the cells of the stomach
and these become more and more weakened and diseased through the destructive vibrations sent
to them from the mind.

  I often advise my patients to procure a book on anatomy and physiology and to study and
keep constantly before their mind's eye the normal structure and functions of a healthy stomach or
liver or whatever organ may be involved in any particular case.

Positive Affirmations

  This explains why affirmations of health are justified in the face of disease. The health
conditions must be first established in the mind before they can be conveyed to and impressed
upon the cells.

  The well-being of the human body as a whole depends upon the health of the billions of
minute cells which compose it. These cells are so small that they have to be magnified several
hundred times under a powerful microscope before we can see them. Yet they are independent
living beings which grow, assimilate food, multiply and die like the big cell, Man.

  These little cells are congregated in communities which form the organs and tissues of the
body and in these communities they carry on the complicated activities of citizens living in a
large city. Some are carriers, bringing food materials to the tissues and organs or conveying waste
and morbid matter to the excretory channels of the body. Other cells manufacture chemical
substances, such as sugar, fats, ferments, hormones etc., for the production of which man requires
complicated factories. Still others act as policemen and soldiers which protect the commonwealth
against bacteria, parasites and other hostile invaders.

  The marvelous work performed by these little organisms, as well as observations made in
the dissecting room and under the microscope, strongly indicate that these cells are endowed with
some sort of individual intelligence. They do their work without our aid or conscious volition.
But, nevertheless, they are greatly influenced by the varying conditions of the mind. While their
activities seem to be controlled through the sympathetic nervous system, they stand in direct
telegraphic communication with headquarters in the brain and every impulse of the mind is
conveyed to them.

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   If there be dismay and confusion in the mind, this condition is telegraphically conveyed
over the nerve trunks and filaments to every cell in the body, and as a result these little workers
and soldiers become panic-stricken and incapable of rightly performing their manifold duties.

  The cell system of the body resembles a vast army. The mind is the general at the head of it.
The cells are the soldiers, divided into groups for special work.

  Much of the work of an army is carried on through different well-established departments,

as the commissariat, the hospital service, the scouts and pickets, etc. Though the life and the
activities of the army are so well regulated that they seem automatic, nevertheless much depends
upon the commander.

  The vital processes of the human organism, digestion, assimilation, elimination, respiration,
the circulation of the blood, etc., are going on without our volition, whether we be awake or
asleep. These involuntary activities are impelled by the sympathetic nervous system, while the
voluntary functions of the body are controlled through the motor [voluntary] nervous system.
This division, however, is not a sharp one, and the two departments frequently overlap one
another.

  The sympathetic nervous system resembles the commissarial department of the army, which
attends to the material welfare of the soldiers, while the motor nervous system, with headquarters
in the brain, corresponds to the commander with his executive staff, the nerve centers in the
spinal cord and other parts of the body being the subordinate officers in the field.

  While the physical well-being of the army depends upon the almost automatic work of its
different departments, its mind and soul is the man commanding it. He determines the spirit, the
energy and the efficiency of the vast organization.

  If the commander-in-chief lacks insight, force and determination, the discipline of the army
will be lax and its efficiency greatly impaired. If he is a craven, without faith in himself and in the
cause he represents, his lack of courage, his doubt and indecision will communicate themselves to
the whole army, resulting in discouragement and defeat.

  The most successful commanders have been those who were possessed of absolute
confidence in themselves and in the efficiency of their army, who in the face of gravest danger
and discouraging situations pressed on to the predetermined goal with dogged courage and
resolution. Determination and pertinacity of this kind create the magnetic power which imparts
itself to every individual soldier in the army and makes him a willing subject, even unto death, to
the will of his commander.

  When the plague was invading Napoleon's army, that great general entered the hospitals
where the victims of the plague were lying, took them by the hand and conversed with them. He
did this to overcome the fear in the hearts of his soldiers, and thus to protect them against the
dread disease. He said: "A man whose will can conquer the world, can conquer the plague."

  To my mind, this was one of the greatest deeds of the Corsican. At a time when "New
Thought" was practically unknown, the genius of this man had grasped its principles and was
making them factors in his apparent success. "Apparent" because, while we admire his genius, we
deplore the ends to which he applied his wonderful powers.

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   At times when the battle seemed lost, Napoleon would go to the front where the danger was
greatest; and by the mere sight of him the hard-pressed soldiers under his command were inspired
to super-human effort and final victory.

  As long as the glamour of invincibility surrounded him, Napoleon was invincible, because
he infused into his soldiers a faith and courage which nothing could withstand. But when the
cunning of the Russian broke his power and decimated his ranks on the ice-bound steppes, the
hypnotic spell was broken also. Friends and enemies alike recognized that, after all, he was but a
man, subject to chance and circumstance; and from that time on he was vulnerable and suffered
defeat after defeat.

  The power of the mind over the physical body and its involuntary functions (the functions
which are regulated and controlled through the sympathetic nervous system) may be illustrated by
the demonstrated facts of hypnotism. Through the exertion of his own imagination and his will-
power, the hypnotist can so dominate the brain and through the brain the physical body of his
subject, as to influence not only the sensory functions, but also heart action and respiration. By
the power of his will the hypnotist is able to retard or accelerate pulse and respiration, and even to
subdue the heart beat so that it becomes hardly perceptible.

  If it is possible thus to control by the power of will the vital functions in the body of another
person, it must be possible also to control these functions in our own bodies. Many a Hindu fakir
and yogi have developed this power of the mind over the physical body to a marvelous extent.

  Here lies the true domain of mental therapeutics. We can learn to dominate and regulate the
vital activities and the life currents in our bodies so that they will do their work intelligently and
serenely even under the stress of illness or of danger. We can, by the power of will, direct the
vital currents to those parts and organs which need them most and we can relieve congested areas
by equalizing the circulation, by drawing from the surplus of blood and nerve currents and
distributing the vital fluids over other parts of the body.

  We must be careful, however, to use our higher powers in conformity with Nature's intent;
that is, we must not endeavor to suppress Nature's cleansing and healing efforts. It is possible to
do this by the power of will as well as with ice bags and drugs.

  Mentally and emotionally, as well as physically, we must work with Nature, not against her.
When we understand the fundamental laws of disease and cure, we cannot well do otherwise.

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  HOW SHALL WE PRAY?
  SHALL we say: "Father, give me this Father, do for me that!"? Or shall we say: "Behold, I
am perfect! Imperfection, sin and suffering are only errors of mortal mind!"?

  Or shall we pray: "Father, give me of Thy strength that I may live in harmony with Thy law,
for thus only will all good come to me!"?

  The first way is to beg, the second, to steal, the third, to earn by honest effort.

  "Father, give me this!"--"Father do for me that!" Thus prayed our fathers, not
understanding the great law of compensation, the law of giving and receiving, which demands
that we give an equivalent for everything we receive. To receive without giving is to beg.

  The lily, in return for the nourishment it receives from the soil and the sun, gives its beauty
and fragrance. The birds of the air give a return for their sustenance by their songs, their beauty of
plumage, and by destroying worms and insects, the enemies of plants and men. Every living thing
gives an equivalent for its existence in some way or other.

  With Man, the fulfillment of the law of service and of compensation becomes conscious and
voluntary, and his self-respect refuses to take without giving.

  "Behold, I am perfect! Imperfection, sin, and suffering are only errors of mortal
mind!" Such is the prayer of certain metaphysical healers.

  To assume the possession of goodness and perfection without an earnest effort to develop
and to deserve these qualities, means to steal the glory of the only Perfect One. The assumption of
present perfection precludes the necessity of striving and laboring for its attainment. If I am
already all goodness, all love, all wisdom, and all power, what remains for me to strive for?

  Herein lies the danger of metaphysical idealism. While it may dispel pessimism, fear, and
anxiety, it inevitably weakens the will power and the capacity for self-help and personal effort.

  The ideal of the metaphysician is the ideal of the animal. The animal does not worry about
right or wrong, nor, with few exceptions, does it make provision for the future. Its care and
forethought extend only to the next meal. But this perfect, ideal, passive trust in Nature's bounty
causes the animal to remain animal and prevents its rising above the narrow limitations of habit
and instinct.

  The inherent faculties, capacities, and powers of the human soul can be developed only by
effort and use. The savage, living in the most favored regions of the earth, depending for his
sustenance in perfect faith and trust on Nature's never-failing bounty, has remained savage.
Through ages he has risen but little above the level of the beasts that perish.

  The great law of use ordains that those faculties and powers which we do not develop
remain in abeyance, and that those which we possess weaken and atrophy if we fail to exercise
them.

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   The Master, Jesus, emphasized this law of use in many of his parables and sayings.

  "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but
whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath."

  What does this mean? Those who have the desire and the will to work out their own
salvation, acquire greater knowledge and power in exact proportion to their well-directed efforts;
but those who have neither the desire nor the will to help themselves, lose their natural
endowments and the possibilities and opportunities which these would have conferred upon them.

  The anatomy and physiology of the human brain reveal the fact that for every voluntary
faculty, capacity, and power of body, mind, and soul which we wish to develop, we have to create
new cells and centers in the brain. In this respect, Nature gives us no more and no less than we
deserve and work for. If we "try to cheat" by usurping the perfection and the power which we
have not honestly earned and developed, then sometime, somewhere we shall have to "square the
balance. " 

The Right Way to Pray

  After all, the only true prayer is personal effort and self-help. This does not mean that we
should not invoke the help of the Higher Powers, of those who have gone before us, of the Great
Friends and Invisible Helpers, and of the Great Father, the giver of all life, all wisdom, and all
power. But we should pray for strength to do our work, not to have it done for us. The wise
parent will not do for the child the home tasks assigned him at school. Neither will the powers on
high or the Great Friends perform our allotted tasks for us.

  This life is a school for personal effort. If it were not so, life would be meaningless. From
the cradle to the grave,, our days are one continuous effort to learn, to acquire, to overcome
difficulties. Only in this way can we develop our latent faculties, capacities, and powers. These
cannot be developed by having our tasks done for us, nor by assuming that we already know and
possess everything.

  The athlete must do his own training. No one else can do it for him. The assumption of
superiority over his opponent will riot develop his suppleness of body and strength of muscle. To
be sure, faith and courage are essential to -victory, but they must be backed by careful and
persistent training. Vainglorious boasting alone will not win the contest.

  So in the battle of life, the more faith we have in God, in the Great Friends, and in our own
powers, the wider do we open ourselves to the inflow of wisdom and strength from all that is
good and true and powerful in the universe. But through persistent and welldirected effort alone
can we control the powers and fashion the materials which Nature has so lavishly bestowed upon
us.

  The creative will, actuated by desire and enlightened by reason, brings order and harmony
out of chaotic forces and materials. And yet certain metaphysicians tell us that we ourselves must
do nothing to overcome weakness, sin, and suffering, that we must depend entirely upon the
efficiency of metaphysical formulas, that the deity and the powers of Nature are jealous of our
personal efforts, that we must not try to help ourselves lest we forfeit their good will.

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   Is it not blasphemous to assume that God would blame us and withhold his aid because we
dared to use the faculties, capacities, and powers with which he has endowed us? You say,
"Nobody is foolish enough to claim such things." But this is the teaching of a powerful healing-
cult. Its members are forbidden, on penalty of expulsion, to use in the treatment of human
ailments the most innocent natural remedies. The giving of an enema, or the common-sense
regulation of diet are regarded as sufficient to nullify the power of their metaphysical formulas
and to prevent the working of Nature's healing forces.

  One of our patients who had been under such treatment until she was in a dying condition,
told us afterwards that her bowels often did not move for a week, and that, when she complained
to her "healer" about this condition and asked permission to take an enema, he answered her:
"Pay no attention. The Lord is taking care of that in some other way."

  The man who said this had been a prominent allopathic physician before he turned "healer."
He, too, like so many others ignorant of Nature's simple laws, had swung from one extreme to the
other, from allopathic overdoing to metaphysical underdoing. In this instance, the Lord "took
care" of the patient's bowels until she was taken down with a severe attack of appendicitis and
peritonitis.

  Amidst all the extremes, Nature Cure points the common-sense middle way. Basing its
teachings and its practices on a clear understanding of the laws of health, disease, and cure, it
refrains from suppressing acute diseases with poisonous drugs or the knife, realizing that they are
in reality Nature's cleansing and healing efforts. Neither does it sit idly by and expect the Lord, or
metaphysical formulas, or the medicine bottle and the knife, to do our work and to make good for
our violations of Nature's laws.

  Understanding the Law, Nature Cure believes in cooperating with the law; in giving the
Lord a helping hand. It teaches that "God helps him who helps himself," that He will not become
angry and refuse His help if His children use rightly the reason, the willpower, and the self-
control with which he has endowed them, so that they may achieve their own salvation.

  Nature Cure from beginning to end is one grand, true prayer. It teaches The Law on all
planes of being, the physical, the mental, the moral, and the spiritual; and it insists that the only
way to attain perfect health of body, mind, and soul is to comply with the law to the best of our
ability. When we do that, we place ourselves in allgnment with the constructive principle in
Nature, and in exact proportion to our intelligent and voluntary co-operation with the laws
of our being, all good things will come to us.

  Therefore we pray: "Father, give me of Thy strength that I may live in harmony with Thy
law, for thus only will all good come to me."

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 Scientific Relaxation and Normal Suggestion
 Under the strain of work-a-day hurry and worry, your nerve vibrations are apt to become
more and more intense and excited. They run away with you until, as the saying goes, "you are
flying all to pieces."

  A good illustration of this condition of the nervous system may be found in a team of horses
shying at some object in their path. The driver, panic-stricken, has dropped the reins, the
frightened horses have taken the bits between their teeth and are dashing headlong down the road,
until their master regains control, checks the animals in their maddened course, and compels them
to resume their ordinary pace.

  So the high-strung, oversensitive individual must gain control over his nervous system and
must subdue his runaway mental and emotional activities into restful, harmonious vibrations.

  This is done by insuring sufficient rest and sleep under the right conditions and by
practicing scientific relaxation at all times.

  The "nervous" person gets easily excited. Comparatively little things will cause an outbreak
of intense irritation or emotional hyperactivity.

  Usually, the victim of unbalanced nerves is of the high-strung, sensitive type, naturally
inclining to more rapid vibrations on all planes, capable of greater achievement than the stolid,
heavy, slow-vibrating person who doesn't know that he has any nerves, but he is also in greater
danger of mental and emotional overstrain and physical depletion as a result of the excessive and
uncontrolled expenditure of life force and nervous energy.

Relaxation while Working

  At first glance this expression may seem paradoxical, but experience will teach that it is not
only possible, but absolutely necessary that we perform our work in a relaxed and serene
condition of body and mind. The most strenuous physical or mental labor will then not cause as
much exhaustion as light work done in a state of nervous tension, irritability, fretfulness or worry.

  Relaxation while working necessitates planning and system. Most nervous breakdowns
result not so much from overwork as from the vitality wasted through lack of orderly procedure.
Therefore, take some time to plan and arrange your work and form the habit of doing certain
things that have to be done every day as nearly as possible in the same way (making sure that it is
the right way) and at the same time of the day. Such orderly system will soon become habitual
and result in saving much valuable time and energy.

  Always cultivate a serene and cheerful attitude of mind and soul, taking whatever comes as
part of the day's work, doing your best under the circumstances, but absolutely refusing to worry
and fret about anything. Do not cross a bridge before you get to it, and do not waste time
regretting something that cannot be undone.

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 Relaxation while Sitting

  Sit upright in a comfortable chair without strain or tension, spine and head erect, the legs
forming right angles with the thighs (the chair should be neither too high nor too low), feet
resting firmly upon the floor, toes pointing slightly outward, the forearms resting lightly upon the
legs with the hands upon the knees. This must be accomplished without effort, for effort means
tension.

  Dismiss all thoughts of hurry, care, worry or fear and dwell upon the following thoughts:

  "I am now completely relaxed in body and mind. I am receptive to Nature's

harmonious and invigorating vibrations--they dispel the discordant and destructive
vibrations of hurry, worry, fear and anger. New life, new health, new strength are entering
into me with every breath, pervading my whole being."

  Repeat these thoughts mentally, or, if it helps you, say them aloud several times, quietly and
forcefully, impressing them deeply upon your inner consciousness.

  After practicing relaxation in this manner, lie down for a few minutes' rest—if
circumstances permit--or practice rhythmical breathing (see Chapter Twenty-Eight). Then return
to your work and endeavor to maintain a calm, trustful, controlled attitude of mind.

  If you are inclined to be irritable, suspicious, jealous, fault-finding, envious, etc., dwell on
the following thought pictures:

  "I am now fully relaxed, at rest and at peace. The world is an echo. If I send forth
irritable, suspicious, hateful thought vibrations, the like will return to me from other minds.
I shall think such thoughts no longer. God is love, love is harmony, happiness, heaven. The
more I send forth Love, the more I am like God; the more of love will God and men return
to me; the more shall I realize true happiness, true health, true strength and true success."

Relaxation Before Going to Sleep

  When ready to go to sleep, lie flat on your back, so that as nearly as possible every part of
the spine touches the bed, extend the arms along the sides of the body, hands turned upward,
palms open, every muscle relaxed. Dismiss all thoughts of work, annoyance or anxiety. Say to
yourself: "I am now going to sleep soundly and peacefully. I am master of my body, my
mind and my soul. Nothing evil shall disturb me. At .... A. M., neither earlier nor later, I
shall awaken rested and refreshed, strong in body and mind. I shall meet tomorrow's tasks
and duties promptly and serenely."

  Simple as this formula may seem, it has helped cure many a case of persistent insomnia and
nervous prostration. Having thus set your mental alarm clock, with a few times, practice you will
be able to wake up, without being called, at the appointed time and to demonstrate to yourself the
power of your mind over your body.

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   The quality of your sleep and its effect upon your system depend on the character of the
mental and psychic vibrations carried into it. If you harbor thoughts of passion, worry or fear,
these destructive thought vibrations will disturb your slumbers and you will awaken in the
morning weak and tired. If, however, you repeat mentally a formula such as the above, suggesting
harmonious, constructive thoughts, until you lose consciousness, you will carry into your
slumbers vibrations of rest, health and strength, producing corresponding effects upon the
physical organism.

  After a perfectly relaxed condition of body and mind has been attained, it is not necessary to
remain lying on the back. Any position of the body may then be assumed which seems most
restful.

  My patients frequently ask what position of the body is best during sleep. It is not good to
lie continuously in any one position. This tends to cause unsymmetrical development of the
different parts of the body and to affect unfavorably the functions of various organs. It is best to
change occasionally from one position to another, as bodily comfort seems to indicate and
require.

  Many persons fret and worry if sleep does not come as quickly as desired. They picture to
themselves in darkest colors the dire results of wakefulness. Such a state of mind makes sleep
impossible. If persisted in, it will inevitably lead to chronic insomnia.

  Instead of indulging in hurtful worry, say to yourself: "I do not care whether I sleep or not!
Though I do not sleep, I am lying here perfectly relaxed, at rest and at peace. I am strengthened
and rested by remaining in a state of peaceful relaxation."

  However, the "I do not care" must be actually meant and felt, must not be merely a
mechanical repetition of words.

  Nothing is more conducive to sleep, even under the most trying circumstances, than such an
"I-don't-care" attitude of mind. Try it, and the chances are that just because you do not care, you
will fall fast asleep.

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 Conclusion
Our critics say: "If Nature Cure is all that you claim for it, why is it not more generally
accepted by the medical profession and the public?"

  The greatest drawback to spreading the Nature Cure idea is the necessity of self-control
which it imposes. If our cures of so-called incurable diseases could be made without asking the
patients to change their habits of living, without the demand of effort on their own part, Nature
Cure sanitariums could not be built fast enough in this country.

  No matter how marvelous the results of the natural methods--when investigators learn
that the treatment necessitates the control of indiscriminate appetite and self-indulgence and the
persistent practice of natural living and all that this involves, they exclaim: "The natural regimen
may be all right, but who can live up to it? You are asking the impossible. You are looking for a
perfection which does not exist. Your directions call for an amount of willpower and self-control
which nobody possesses."

  Fortunately, however, this is not true. Human nature is good enough and strong enough to
comply with Nature's laws. Furthermore, the natural ways must be the most pleasant in the end or
Nature is a fraud and a cheat. True enjoyment of life and happiness are impossible without perfect
physical, mental and moral health and these depend upon natural living and natural treatment of
human ailments.

Strengthening of Will-Power and Self-Control

  If I were asked the question: "What do you consider the greatest benefit to be derived from
the Nature Cure regimen?" I should answer: "The strengthening of willpower and self-
control."

  This is the very purpose of life. Upon it depends all further achievement. Self-control is the
master's key to all higher development on the mental, moral and spiritual planes of being; but
before we can exercise it on the higher planes, we must have learned to apply it on the lower
plane, in the management and control of our physical appetites and habits. When we have learned
to control these, higher development will come easy.

  A good method for strengthening the willpower is autosuggestion. The most opportune
moments in the twenty-four hours of the day for practicing this mental magic are those before
dropping to sleep. At this time there is the least disturbance and interference from outside
influences, the mind is most passive and susceptible to suggestion and impressions made under
these favorable conditions upon the "phonograph records" of the subconscious mind are the most
lasting and the most powerful to control physical, mental and moral activities.

  When thoroughly relaxed, at rest and at peace, say to yourself: "Whatever duties confront
me tomorrow, I shall execute them promptly, without wavering or hesitation. I shall not give in to
this bad habit which has been controlling me. I shall do that only of which reason and conscience
approve."

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   In order to be more specific and systematic and to obtain results more surely and quickly,
concentrate upon one weakness at a time. When that has been overcome, take up another one,
until in this way you have attained perfect control over your thoughts, feelings and actions.

  Suppose you have acquired the habit of remaining in bed and dozing after your mental alarm
clock has given its signal to arise and you dread the effort of going through your morning
exercises and ablutions. Then, the night before, impress upon the subconscious mind deeply and
firmly the following suggestions: "Tomorrow morning, on awakening, I shall jump out of bed
without hesitation and go through my morning exercises with zest and vigor."

  Or, suppose you are subject to the fear and worry habit. Say to yourself: "Tomorrow or any
time thereafter when depressing, gloomy thoughts threaten to control me, I shall overcome them
with thoughts of hope and faith, and with absolute confidence in the Divine power of the will
within me to overcome and to achieve."

  In this manner you may give the subconscious mind suggestions and impressions for
overcoming bad habits and for establishing and strengthening good habits.

  If a serious problem is confronting you, and you are unable to solve it to your satisfaction,
think upon it just before you are dropping off to sleep and confidently demand that the right
solution come to you during the hours of rest. The inner consciousness is always awake. It is the
watchman who awakens you at the appointed time in the morning. It will work upon your
problem while your physical brain is asleep. In this lies the psychological justification for the
popular phrase: "Before I decide the matter I'll sleep over it."

  In the practice of mental magic, as in everything else, success depends upon patience and
perseverance. It would be entirely useless to go through these mental drills occasionally and in a
desultory fashion; but if persisted in faithfully and intelligently, they will prove truly magical in
their effects upon the development of willpower and self-control, and on these depend the
mastery of conditions within and without, the conquest of fate and destiny.

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 PAIN'S SOLILOQUY
By C. J. Buell, President Minnesota Health League

I am Pain--most people hate me,

Think me cruel, call me heartless,
Study ways to bribe and fool me,
Try by every means to slay me,

Dope themselves with anaesthetics,

Fill themselves with patent nostrums,
Call the doctor with his poisons,
Seek the Christian Science healer,

Beat the tom-tom of the savage,

Build the altar, burn the incense,
Seek to sate the wrath of devils,
Pray to saints, and Gods, and angels;

Not to cure the ills within them,

Not to cleanse and purify them,
Just to calm the pain that hurts them,
Just to-kill the guide that warns them.

Pain am I, but when you know me,

When you once have learned my secret,
How I come to help and bless you,
Warn you, guide you, teach and lead you

When you know my loving nature,

How at first I gently twinge you,
Lightly twinge you as a warning,
Hoping thus, by kind reminder,
You will bear my voice and listen--

Sure am I that when you know me,

You will gladly then embrace me,
Call me friend and give me welcome,
Call me friend and ask my message.

This the message I would bring you,

This the reason for my visits,
This the warning I would give you,
This the secret I would teach you:

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 When you learn to live as Nature
In her great and boundless mercy,
In her tender, loving kindness,
In her wisdom and her goodness
Meant that men should live and labor,

When you learn to shun the by-ways

Leading off to vicious habits,
When you learn to keep your body
Strong and clean and pure and active,

Give it work in right proportion,

Give it air, and food, and water,
Fit to build its every member,
Fit to nourish every function,

When you teach your mind and spirit

Pure and noble thoughts to harbor,
Drive out fear, and hate, and malice,
Cherish love and kindly motive,

When you learn these things I've told you,

When you know them, when you do them,
Then I will depart and leave you,
Then no more will Pain be needed.

This is, then, the truth I bring you,

That I hurt you but to warn you,
Not to harm you but to heal you,
That I come to guide and teach you.

I am God's most blessed angel,

Sent to point the way to virtue,
Sent to teach the noblest manhood,
Sent to fill the mind with wisdom,
Sent to rouse the soul to action.

Love me, trust me, heed my message;

I will bring you peace and bless you!

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