The Natural Cure of Consumption, Constipation, Bright's Disease, Neuralgia, Rheumatism, - How Sickness Originates, and How to Prevent It. A Health

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Title: The Natural Cure of Consumption, Constipation, Bright's Disease, Neuralgia, Rheumatism, - How Sickness Originates, and How to Prevent It. A Health - Manual for the People.
Author: Page, Charles Edward
Language: English
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THE

NATURAL CURE

CONSUMPTION,

CONSTIPATION, BRIGHT’S DISEASE, NEURALGIA,
RHEUMATISM, “COLDS” (FEVERS), ETC.

_HOW SICKNESS ORIGINATES, AND HOW TO
PREVENT IT._

A HEALTH MANUAL FOR THE PEOPLE.

C. E. PAGE, M.D.,
AUTHOR OF “HOW TO FEED THE BABY,” ETC.

NEW YORK:
FOWLER & WELLS CO., PUBLISHERS,
753 BROADWAY.
1886.

EDWARD O. JENKINS,
_Printer and Stereotyper_,
North William Street, New York.

THE SICK AND SUFFERING,

EVERYWHERE,

THE HOPELESSLY SICK WHO WOULD DECLINE IN COMFORT,

AND

THE THOUSANDS, WHO, NOW DYING, BUT, HAVING THE WAY
POINTED OUT,

MAY PROVE THEMSELVES STILL “FIT TO SURVIVE”

I Dedicate

THIS

NATURAL CURE OF DISEASE.

PREFACE.

The inexpert,——they who can not claim sufficient acquaintance with a given
subject to enable them to _think freely_ (“free thinking” being altogether
another matter),——find it sufficiently difficult to obtain an author’s
meaning, when they are really desirous of so doing, and devote some time
and patience to the work in hand; it is impossible, often, to arrive at
just conclusions otherwise. The liability to error is increased many fold
when the subject is not merely not popular, but is, in fact, _un_-popular.
It is a prevalent custom to “skim over” a volume, and then praise or
condemn it, according to the reader’s preconceived notion.

Sick people searching for means whereby they may be made well, sometimes
fall into this error, and for want of thoroughness in their reading of a
health-book make blunders in carrying out the prescribed treatment. In
such cases, not only do the patients themselves suffer, perhaps lose their
lives, or fail in some way, but their failures exert an influence tending
to throw a sound method into disrepute. In this way it often happens that
what is termed “dieting” is either overdone, half done, or not done at all
in the manner designed by the author; “exercise” is taken under wrong
conditions, as, for example, in point of time in relation to meals, it is
conducted spasmodically or, perhaps, carried to excess, and the organism
thereby depleted instead of strengthened; if the prevailing habit of
over-wrapping the body is emphatically condemned, as is the case in the
present volume, the reader, if a convert and designing to “go by the
book,” may conclude that he is expected to go shivering about in
shirt-sleeves in all weathers; and the unfriendly critic is sure to make a
point——taking off the idea in a manner to send a chill along the spine of
an inquiring consumptive. In this way, too, has arisen the saying, as
applied to the supposed notion of food-reformers, “Whatever is good is
bad, and whatever is bad is good.” Whatever it may be worth, therefore, I
preface this volume with the simple request that the health-seeker, the
casual reader, and the critic, alike, shall examine it in a manner to get
the real meaning of the text before practicing, praising or condemning.

CHARLES E. PAGE.

BIDDEFORD, ME., _February, 1883_.
47 RUTLAND ST., BOSTON,
_February, 1884._

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION, 7

CHAPTER II.

CONSUMPTION, 28

CHAPTER III.

CONSUMPTION——(_Continued_), 50

CHAPTER IV.

CONSTIPATION, 107

CHAPTER V.

BRIGHT’S DISEASE——(ALBUMINURIA), CROUP, DIPHTHERIA, ETC., 116

CHAPTER VI.

INSOMNIA——INSANITY, 133

CHAPTER VII.

RHEUMATISM, FATTY DEGENERATION, ETC., 145

CHAPTER VIII.

BILIOUSNESS, “HAY FEVER,” NEURALGIA, ETC., 152

CHAPTER IX.

THE FLESH-FOOD FALLACY, 158

CHAPTER X.

AIR-BATHS, DYSPEPSIA, SCROFULA, ETC., 166

CHAPTER XI.

SALINE STARVATION——CAUTION, “FOSSIL LIVERS,” 177

CHAPTER XII.

WHEAT-MEAL _vs._ “ENTIRE FLOUR,” 185

CHAPTER XIII.

FRUIT, “SCROFULOUS HUMORS,” ETC., 191

CHAPTER XIV.

THE ONE-MEAL SYSTEM, 197

CHAPTER XV.

THE NATURAL DIET: ITS RELATION TO SCROFULA AND OTHER AFFECTIONS,
206

CHAPTER XVI.

MALARIA, SEWER GAS, “CHANGE OF AIR” AT HOME, ETC., 236

CHAPTER XVII.

COFFEE, MEDICINALLY AND DIETETICALLY CONSIDERED.——THE TRUE
THEORY OF STIMULATION, 243

CHAPTER XVIII.

APPETITE——CONTINENCE, 262

CHAPTER XIX.

CONCLUSION, 270

AUTHORS CITED.

ALBERTONI, PROF. 60
ARGYLE, DUKE OF 267
BEALE, SIR LIONEL, M.D., ETC. 152
BOSTWICK, DR. 21
BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL 244, 247
BRUNTON, T. LAUDER, M.D., F.R.S. 59, 138
BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN 110
COMBE, ANDREW, M.D. 20
COOPER, SIR ASTLEY. M.D., ETC. 21
DAVIS, E. H., M.D. 21
DICKINSON, W. HOWSHIP, M.D., F.R.C.P. 117
EVANS, PROF., M.D. 21
FARRAR, CANON OF WESTMINSTER 265
FOTHERGILL, J. MILNER, M.D. 63
FRANKLIN, DR. BENJAMIN 171
FROTHINGHAM, REV. O. B. 256
GOODE, J. MASON, M.D. 21
GREGORY, PROF. JAMES, M.D. 21
HALL, MARSHALL 39
HALLER, ALBRECHT VON 210
HOLMES, PROF. OLIVER WENDELL, M.D., ETC. 21
HUNTER, CHARLES D., M.D., ETC. 178
HUXLEY, PROF. T. H. 23, 97, 247
HYGIENE OF THE BRAIN 110
JACKSON, JAMES C., M.D. 9, 270
LANCET, LONDON, 52
LENNEN, M., M.D., ETC. 247
MCCLINTOCK, DR. 21
MOORE, THOMAS, M.D. 10
NAGEL, RICHARD. M.D. 218
NICHOLS, JAMES R., M.D. 171
NICHOLS, T. L., M.D. 156, 205
OSWALD, FELIX L., M.D. 29, 45, 47, 49, 51, 70, 188
PARKER, PROF. WILLARD, M.D. 21
POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 243
PITCHER, ————, M.D. 69
PRESCOTT, PROF. ALBERT B. 243
RICHARDSON, PROF. B. W., M.D. 171, 240
RUSH, ————, M.D. 133
SARGENT, PROF. DUDLEY A. (HARVARD) 261
SAVAGE, M. J. 156, 157
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 239
SCHLEMMER, DR. 212
SCHMIDT-MÜHLHEIM, PROF. 60
SHAPTER, LEWIS, M.D. 244
STEVENS, A. H., M.D. 21
THOMPSON, SIR HENRY 53, 54, 55, 56
VIREY, JULES, M.D. 202
WELCH, PROF. (YALE) 51
WOOD, PROF. CASEY A., M.D. 145

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

Although it is evident to my mind that the world is growing more healthy
and more moral with every generation——speaking of civilized nations——it is
still, as all agree, in a most pitiful state as regards both moral and
physical health. The two are indissolubly associated, notwithstanding the
glaring exceptions which are, indeed, more apparent than real, and it is
difficult to appreciate which leads——whether man grows more healthy as his
moral tone improves or more moral as his physical state is exalted. Both
are, in fact, constantly acting and reacting upon each other. Few people
withdraw themselves from the influence of disease-producing habits, who do
not first come to hate disease as a symptom of disobedience to the laws
governing their organism. The pain of an aching head is not sufficient,
generally, although it may discount the tortures of the damned, to
determine the sufferer to live a better life; but when he comes to know
the fact that the disorder is needless, brought upon himself by violation
of law, and that it is the normal office of pain to warn of danger; then,
if he be conscientious, instead of cursing his suffering, he will feel
ashamed of his sin, and endeavor to learn the laws of life and obey them.

“In days gone by and not far away, there was a very general impression
with the people that sickness and the death which so often follows it were
of divine origination and ordainment. No person who might be sick blamed
himself for it; certainly no one was held by the community of which he was
a member, as in any sense responsible or blameworthy because of his death
by sickness. It was believed that for reasons thoroughly justifiable, but
incomprehensible to the mind of man, the Supreme Ruler saw fit to manifest
His modes and methods of government, either providential or punitive, by
taking away the health or the life of those who became sick, or who being
sick died of their sickness.

“This notion, though not so prevalent as formerly, still lingers in the
popular mind and lies hidden away in the select circles of religious
people, occasionally to be brought forth and urged upon public
consideration with emphasis, when some person is taken sick and remains
for many months and perhaps years an invalid, or when one taken sick
suddenly dies.

“There is no basis in science nor in religion for this impression. It
never rose, it never can rise, to the dignity or worthiness of an idea; it
must always dwell, no matter who entertains it, on the low level of
irrational impression. Its basis is error, not knowledge; its
superstructure is superstition. By and by, when mankind shall reach such a
degree of rational development as to understand that human life has its
laws, and that human health is but the legitimate outcome of the operation
of these laws, and that every human being of every tribe and kindred and
tongue, is born to live on earth under such minute and careful
providential arrangements as to hold within him, at his starting, great
securities and guarantees of the very highest order, for the continuance
of his life up to a definite period, and that by reason of this inherent
capability, he is entitled to live to the full measure of his endowment,
this foolish, I may say wicked, notion, that God kills people will
disappear. When it shall be abandoned, the sickness which now is so common
everywhere, and the deaths which now so frequently result, will cease, and
human beings will live from birth to death by old age, casualties, and
accidents one side, as surely as the seasons come and go.”[1]

[Footnote 1: “The Absurdity of Sickness,” by James C. Jackson, M.D.]

Few people have any just conception of the prevalence of disease even in
their own midst——among their own kindred; and this is simply because it
never absurdly happens that all those who are subject to illnesses are
“attacked” at the same time. When any large proportion are down at once,
the doctors call it an _epidemic_, and it is attributed to a “wave”——an
epizootic or influenza wave, for example, according as the victims are
horses or men (the poor animals depend upon the elevated race for their
habits, and never have disease except these are unphysiological),——when,
in fact, the so-called epidemic, whether it be scarlet or yellow fever,
diphtheria, or what not, is the result chiefly of the uniformly bad living
habits of our people and their consequent predisposition to sickness. I do
not ignore the influence of contagion in certain disorders, but assert
that no person in _prime physical condition_ is ever made sick by
transient contact with the so-called contagious diseases.

“There can be no doubt,” says Dr. Moore, “of the inherent effort of the
system to preserve its integrity and to resist and overcome the effects of
morbid influences. And when the system is properly organized and perfect
in its physiological functions, it has the power to accomplish this
(unless these obnoxious influences are so overwhelming as to destroy life
at once) in a prompt and complete manner, unaided by any external
influences whatsoever, so that health will be maintained and all injurious
action of disease-producing causes unconsciously and successfully averted.
But if instead of such a properly organized and healthy system, we have
formed an incomplete and inferior grade of structural organization, and
consequently an enervated nervous system, resulting from imperfect and
deficient nutrition, such as evidently exists in the scorbutic diathesis
(the effect of deficiency in vegetable food), or as must result from
habitual or frequent digestive disturbances, this endeavor to resist or
avert disease, will be necessarily so enfeebled that it will be impossible
for the system, by its own inherent and unaided energy, either to ward off
or to overcome the effects of disease-producing agents. This protective
and restorative effort, if not sustained by a high character of
structural organization and active nervous energy, must be followed,
therefore, as a natural consequence, by an exhaustion of vital power; in
which condition there would be evidently an increased susceptibility to
all morbific influences, and a marked predisposition to any exciting
causes of disease which might be brought to bear upon it.

“It is well known that certain individuals are more severely affected by
any ascertained cause of disease than others; and also that the same
exciting cause may at one time produce serious disturbance of health,
while at another, and under precisely the same conditions, as far as
known, no injurious effect is produced. How frequently do we observe
during the same epidemic, as, for instance, scarlet fever, measles,
diphtheria (and even of sporadic forms of disease), a marked difference in
the character and severity of individual cases. Even in members of the
same family, under apparently similar conditions, some are stricken down
with the most malignant form of one of these diseases, while others may,
at the same time, be but slightly affected by it, or perhaps entirely
escape an attack. It can not be that they who are the most severely
affected receive a larger or a stronger dose of the morbific agent which
has produced the disorder, than the others, and that the disease-producing
influence, in consequence of larger quantity or greater strength and
power, acts with more severity and force on one than on another. For,
leaving out of consideration all effects of existing predisposition, we
know that a person unprotected by a previous attack or by vaccination,
would be, in all probability, just as severely affected by the contagious
influence of a case of small-pox, whether he was exposed for a few moments
or for several hours; and besides, it would make no difference whether the
case happened to be a mild one or of a more malignant form.

“It is, therefore, difficult to account for this variable operation of
disease-producing agents, unless we admit the existence of such a latent
predisposition as that already mentioned, and acknowledge that the system,
at the time of exposure to disease-producing causes, is thereby made more
or less susceptible to their effects in proportion to the development of
such a predisposition. The less the power of resistance and the greater
the degree of impressibility, the more aggravated will be the character of
every disease which affect the system while it is thus predisposed; or, in
other words, the severity of the disease will be proportionate to the
degree of departure from the standard of health.”[2]

[Footnote 2: “Predisposition and Typhoid Tendency,” by Thomas Moore, M.D.
Philadelphia.]

Predisposition is that state of susceptibility produced by the continued
operation of the predisposing cause. _Exciting causes_ are those which
tend to the immediate development of diseases, especially in a system
already having a predisposition thereto.

But in my opening remarks, I had in view, particularly, the common
sicknesses that prevail among us, and which are not classed as
contagious. Not one in the thousand of our population _so lives_ as to
feel an assurance of absolute health for, say, a single month, much less
for the coming twelve months. There are, however, among the class I shall
hold up as examples to my readers, further on, individuals who would be
willing to stake their lives on their ability to meet any engagement
depending upon a mental and physical state, equal to that enjoyed at the
present moment, on any day, week, or month, during the next year or ten
years; and every ordinarily healthy person, who can fairly be called a
free agent, ought to be able to feel such an assurance in his own case;
and if he be at middle-age, or under, and afflicted with ailments, other
than organic and incurable, he should be able to count with certainty on
being a better man, physically as well as morally, ten years hence than he
is to-day.

But how is it in practice? Why, even our national salutation (which is,
also, about the same among all civilized nations) is significant in this
connection, as we shall observe, further on: if sickness was the exception
and not the rule, health would not be the stock question everywhere and
always——the principal theme of conversation——as it is now. People seem to
delight in a subject that they know nothing about, like a good old
Methodist preacher I once knew, who said on one occasion, at
prayer-meeting: “I love to talk about religion——I have so little of it.”

We talk about enjoying good health, and some of my readers would, I dare
say, make the claim for themselves, although too well aware of occasional
lapses, and indeed the great proportion of our people, in spite of
heredity, might obtain, and rest secure in, a high state of health; but,
living as they do, a truly sound person is almost the rarest thing in the
world.

“How are you?” is the question on meeting an acquaintance. “First-rate,
although I have my old sick headaches occasionally.” Another replies,
“Pretty well, _now_——have just had a touch of neuralgia——you know I always
had that now and then.” Another has a “bad cold in the head.” Smith enjoys
good health, although “troubled a good deal with dyspepsia, constipation,
etc.,” which means that he is constantly annoyed by symptoms inseparable
from his disease. Jones is “tip-top,” with an occasional “attack” of
cholera-morbus, or a bilious spell. Brown “never was better in his life,”
but could tell you of a fearful sickness last spring——“like to have died,”
and no wonder——he had three drug doctors and a gallstone! Robinson is
“tough as a knot”——just now——since getting cleaned out by erysipelas——an
eruption of the accumulated poison resulting from his bad habits. It was a
fearful “attack,” as he says! “The doctor called it the worst case he ever
saw——my head was swelled so I couldn’t see for weeks——used up a bushel of
cranberries in poultices, when I had counted on having cranberry sauce all
winter——did not get a spoonful.” Of course Robinson exaggerates about the
quantity of cranberries.

Tom, one of the healthiest-looking specimens, recently had typhoid fever
and came near dying. Mrs. Dick had “slow fever” the past summer and
managed to keep it a-going for three months. She says it was a dreadful
“attack”; and she tries to explain it by saying that several years ago,
she had it every summer for three summers, and “it generally leaves the
seeds in the system!” Harry’s wife had stoppage and inflammation of the
bowels——a deadly sickness for six months, entailing infinite distress on
the large family that needed her about so much. “The doctor’s big bill
isn’t paid yet,” she mourns, “and mercy only knows when it will be.” She
has always been a well woman, so-called, has always seemed pretty well
until this terrible disease “attacked” her.

The list is endless, of the so-called healthy ones who have been from time
to time “attacked” with one disorder or another and recovered,——while the
mortality reports from week to week tell the final story of the premature
taking off of thousands of men, women, and children who, although always
regarded by themselves and friends as healthy, have suffered the
death-penalty after a longer or shorter imprisonment.

How often we hear such remarks as this: “I never was so surprised in my
life as I was to hear of Miss Blank’s death——perfect picture of
health——fat, hearty, red-cheeked——the last person in the world I would
have thought of dying.” This shows how much the people know about health.
Ninety-nine in a hundred would have called this young lady a specimen of
health, when, in fact, any expert would have known that she was a typhoid
subject——almost sure to be down with it sooner or later, and, with her
whole physical conditions so against her, that recovery would be almost a
miracle, _under the prevailing system of treatment_. Just recall the
scores of cases where you, my dear reader, have been surprised at the
death of this or that friend, “always so strong and well.” In fact, this
is so common that we expect to be surprised continually, and are not much
surprised when we are!

How many healthy-born infants die before their first year is
reached——babies that for months are mistakenly regarded as pictures of
health——“never knew a sick day until they were attacked” with
cholera-infantum, scarlatina, or something else. They are crammed with
food, made gross with fat, and for a time are active and cunning, the
delight of parents and friends——and then, after a season of constipation,
a season of chronic vomiting, and a season of cholera-infantum, the little
emaciated skeletons are buried in the ground away from the sight of those
who have literally _loved them to death_. This is the fate of one-third of
all the children born. As a rule, babies are fed as an ignorant servant
feeds the cook-stove——filling the fire-box so full, often, that the covers
are raised, the stove smokes and gases at every hole, and the fire is
either put out altogether, or, if there is combustion of the whole body of
coals, the stove is rapidly burned out and destroyed. With baby,
“overheating” means the fever that consumes him, and, in “putting out the
fire,” too often the fire of life goes out also.[3]

[Footnote 3: For a thorough discussion of this question see the author’s
work on Infant Dietetics, entitled “How to Feed the Baby” New York: Fowler
& Wells.]

“For the preservation of life God has ordained certain laws to be
observed, the neglect of which necessarily brings disease and premature
death.” Hence it is that if any of us are sick——except from accidents or
congenital causes——it is our own fault. If we have dyspepsia, and the
endless afflictions resulting from this parent of diseases, it is our own
fault——either of ignorance or carelessness. If neuralgia, “sciatica,”
rheumatism, gout, or sick-headache afflicts us, we can thank ourselves;
for the simple question is——whether it will “pay” to keep clear of them?
It is all very fine to bowl along without thought; to eat, drink, and
breathe, without using our brains or consciences, and to shun the best
products of the brains of others who make this subject the study of their
lives, and when the inevitable sickness comes shift the responsibility on
to the Lord. It is rank blasphemy, nevertheless.

In the struggle of life, when so many of His children are engrossed in the
vital question of bread-winning; when to obtain the mere necessities of
life, or, at most, these and the ordinary comforts, requires all the time,
early and late, of so large a portion of the human family, it is not to be
supposed that the Creator designed that the due and proper care of the
body——its development and the maintenance of a healthy state——should be a
matter of such complications as to be beyond the comprehension of ordinary
mortals, or require the expenditure of an amount of time that would prove
embarrassing to all, and totally impossible to many. Nor should Christians
conclude that an “all-wise, all-merciful, and all-powerful Father”
designed that the creatures formed in “His own likeness” should alone, of
all created beings, be necessarily subject to the multifarious forms of
disease, that in fact, under present conditions, do so continually afflict
them. Happily such conclusions are not borne out by rational experience;
for, in practice, it is found that not only is less trouble and expense
required to keep well, than to pursue a course that is promotive of
disease; and to get well when disease is really fastened upon us, than to
continue the general regimen that has worked the mischief, and seek to
counteract it by poisonous drugs; but in fact it has been clearly shown by
innumerable living examples, that neither much time, trouble, or expense
is necessary to maintain the body in a state of absolute health——perfect
ease and comfort——when once this state has been reached, or to restore to
comparative health a large proportion of “miserable sinners” who, without
a radical change in their mode of life, must continue to suffer from their
self-inflicted pains.

It requires no more time to breathe pure than impure air——and no more time
or expense to obtain it: it is as free as air, and will fill our homes,
without money and without price, unless we seal them against its
admission. The poorest factory-operative that goes by the bell, can with a
pint of water and a single towel, if need be, take a three-minute bath any
or every morning, if he appreciates its importance and is conscientious in
his living. It costs no more to eat enough than to over-indulge the
appetite, as is the universal rule, high and low, until nausea and lack
of appetite compel abstinence or moderation. It costs money to poison the
system with beer or tobacco, and thus shorten one’s life and impair its
usefulness, and transmit evil moral and physical tendencies to his
offspring, but it is a ten-fold saving to keep clear of these evils. And
so it proves throughout the list: it is cheap to keep well, and dear to
get sick.

“So to observe Nature as to learn her laws and obey them, is to observe
the commandments of the Lord to do them. It has so long been the habit to
exalt the mind as the noble, spiritual, and immortal part, at the expense
of the body, as the vile, material and mortal part, that, while it is not
thought at all strange that every possible care and attention should be
given to mental cultivation, a person who should give the same sort of
careful attention to his body would be thought somewhat meanly of. And yet
I am sure that a wise man who would ease best the burden of life, can not
do better than watchfully to keep undefiled and holy——that is,
healthy——the noble temple of his body. Is it not a glaring inconsistency
that men should pretend to fall into ecstasies of admiration of the
temples which they have built with their own hands, and to claim reverence
for their ruins, and, at the same time, should have no reverence for, or
should actually speak contemptuously of, that most complex, ingenious, and
admirable structure which the human body is? However, if they really
neglect it, it is secure of its revenge——no one will come to much by his
most strenuous mental exercises, except upon the basis of a good
organization; for a sound body is assuredly the foundation of a sound
mind.” (Maudsley).

That there is need of a radical change in the study and practice of
medicine, is well known among those who have examined the subject with any
degree of thoroughness. A prominent defect is thus described by the
eminent Dr. Combe: “The little regard,” he says, “which has hitherto been
paid to the laws of the human constitution, as the true basis on which our
attempts to improve the condition of man ought to rest, will be obvious
from the fact, that, notwithstanding the direct uses, to which a knowledge
of the conditions, which regulate the healthy action of the bodily organs,
may be applied in the prevention, detection, and treatment of disease,
there is scarcely a medical school in this country (Great Britain)[4] in
which any special provision is made for teaching it.... The prominent aim
of medicine being to discriminate, and to cure _diseases_, both the
teacher and the student naturally fix upon that as their chief object, and
are consequently apt to overlook the indirect (!) but substantial aid,
which an acquaintance with the laws of health is calculated to afford, in
restoring the sick as well as in preserving the healthy from disease.” The
use of the word “indirect,” in this connection shows how far Dr. Combe,
himself, was from having a true comprehension of the importance of
hygienic knowledge. Although individuals, here and there, finally work out
this knowledge for themselves, it is generally late in life, when long
years of blundering practice have forced it upon them. Hear what some of
the wise old heads say on this point:

[Footnote 4: Some advance has been made in this direction of late, but the
outlook is far from satisfactory; there is scarcely a college lecture-room
but in deficient ventilation, or a lecturer whose living habits, and,
consequently, personal health, do not cry aloud, “Physician, heal
thyself.”]

A. H. Stevens, M.D.: “The older physicians grow, the more skeptical they
become in the virtues of their own medicines.” Prof. Willard Parker: “Of
all sciences, medicine is the most unreliable.” Prof E. H. Davis: “The
vital effects of medicine are little understood.” J. Mason Goode, M.D.:
“The science of medicine is a barbarous jargon.” Dr. Bostwick, author of
“History of Medicine”: “Every dose of medicine is a blind experiment.”
Prof. Evans, M.D.: “The medical practice of the present day is neither
philosophy nor common sense.” It was the well-known remark of Dr. James
Gregory, who added as much reputation to the medical school of the
University of Edinburgh, as any other individual——that, “ninety-nine in
the hundred medical ‘facts’ are medical lies, and that all medical
theories are stark, staring nonsense.” Dr. McClintock: “Mercury has made
more cripples than all wars combined,” and he might have added that the
abuse of soda or potassa in its present various forms is destroying
myriads of stomachs every year beyond redemption. Sir Astley Cooper, the
most famous physician and surgeon of the age: “The science of medicine is
founded on conjecture and improved by murder.” Oliver Wendell Holmes said
before a medical class in 1861: “The disgrace of medicine has been that
colossal system of self-deception, in obedience to which mines
have been emptied of their cankering minerals, the vegetable kingdom
robbed of all its growth, the entrails of animals taxed for their
impurities, the poison bags of reptiles drained of their venom, and all
the conceivable abominations thus obtained thrust down the throats of
human beings, suffering from some fault of organization, nourishment, or
vital stimulation.”

That the practice of medicine to-day is not what it should be, is due
largely to the position of the laity on this point——their aversion to
taking advice instead of medicine. They will consider the question of
prevention, in the shape of anti-bilious pills, for example, but not at
the expense of their lawful follies. If indeed physicians, generally, knew
enough about the natural laws to retain their own health, how could they
all derive an income from teaching the simple method by which all their
neighbors would remain well? A patient, for example, is suffering pain,
and sends for the doctor, who comes, examines, and finally says, “I find
nothing serious here——this pain in the head will soon leave you——just keep
about if you can; if not, remain quiet. Coming in from the fresh air, I
observe that your room is very close, sufficient of itself to give you the
headache——change the air and keep it pure; eat nothing more to-day: you
are ‘ahead of your stomach,’ withal; in fact, that is the chief trouble.
Take a quick sponge bath on retiring, and you will find yourself all right
in the morning——you need no medicine.” Do you fancy he would get another
call from her, or from her friends through her influence? Her _head
aches_, and she is incensed at such heartless nonsense. She sends for
another doctor, who will probably be sharp enough to treat her
_disposition_, and endeavor to “control the symptoms” instead of teaching
her to remove the disease by removing its cause; he gives her a “quieting
medicine”——something to deaden her senses; she has several days’ illness,
he gets several fees——as he ought, to be sure——and the good-will of the
family; and so he rises in the profession, while the other falls into the
shade unless he drops his hygienic nonsense. Thus, we observe, a premium
on shrewdness and a tax on sincerity.

“It is notorious that in proportion to people’s ignorance of their own
constitutions and the true causes of disease, is their credulous
confidence in pills, potions, and quackish absurdities, and while this
ignorance continues, there will, of course, be plenty of doctors who will
pander to it. And not the least of the benefits likely to follow the
better diffusion of physiological and sanitary information will be the
protection of the community from the numberless impostures of
charlatanism, and a better discrimination of the qualifications of
competent physicians.”[5]

[Footnote 5: “Physiology and Hygiene,” Huxley and Youmans.]

I take it that all are agreed as to the desirability of good health,
although it is often said of a certain class of chronic invalids, that if
they were to be deprived of the pleasure of croning over and detailing
their symptoms, life would have no charms for them. But this is a
provision of nature to prevent the meanest life from becoming altogether
an unmitigated burden: when a person becomes so disordered physically that
he has nothing else to enjoy, a certain depraved condition of mind is
induced which enables him to extract a little satisfaction from dwelling
upon and recounting his miseries! In contrast to such cases how gloriously
shines out the example of the old lady who, on being interviewed by the
minister, thus related her experiences: her husband had been long dead,
leaving her with eight children, whom, through her own labor, she reared
and educated. One after another all had died after lingering
illnesses——the last, a son, the only support of her old age, had been
recently buried; and, to crown all, the remnant of the little property
left by her husband, had just passed from her possession——the uninsured
buildings by fire, and the land by the foreclosure of the mortgage. “But,”
concluded the dear old soul, while her brow lightened and her eye kindled
with enthusiasm, “thank the Lord, I have two teeth left, and praise and
bless His holy name, they are opposite each other!” I pause to note an
important lesson——the influence upon health, of prevalent good nature, and
the habit, which may be cultivated, of looking on the bright side of
things. “People ask me,” says Old Sojourner Truth, “how I came to live so
long and keep my mind, and I tell them that it is ‘because I think of the
great things of God, not little things.’ I don’t fritter my mind away in
caring for trifles.”

It has been elsewhere noted——the propensity of people in general for
preferring medicine to advice. If the world were convinced that the writer
possessed an unfailing remedy——a “medicine” that would cure every physical
ailment and prevent disease, it would be demanded faster than it could be
manufactured, though every gin-mill in the land were transformed into a
laboratory for its production. No price would be deemed exorbitant, and,
though the mixture were black as ink, and more nauseating than the vilest
drug in our vile Materia Medica, it would still be gulped down as a child
demolishes bon-bons, if it never failed in its efficacy.

We have only to look over the newspaper advertising columns to find scores
of articles claiming to accomplish this, at the very reasonable price of
50 cents to $1.00 per bottle, “large bottles cheapest,” and very agreeable
to the taste; and evidence abounds in the shape of letters purporting to
have been written by such as have, although given up by the doctors, been
withdrawn from the grave (regardless of the rights of the heirs and
undertakers)——restored to the busy walks of life——“and no change of diet
necessary.” Thousands upon thousands of otherwise sensible people are
gulled into the belief that a few bottles of somebody’s pretended
“discovery,” advertised in a yellow-covered almanac, will cure whatever
ails them. There is something so fascinating about such literature that I
would almost as soon place a package of Paris-green within reach of a baby
as to put, say, a medical almanac, and more particularly a cookery-book
with fancy dishes and medical lies alternating, in the hands of the
average adult. There isn’t one in fifty proof against them. Let the most
robust Congressman spend one half-hour reading one of these “messages”,
with the endless variety of symptoms therein given, and the hundreds of
letters of the blest——fabricated in the proprietor’s office, or, at best,
written by his victims during a temporary suppression of the
symptoms——and, comparing his own feelings with those described, the
chances are that he would soon be pouring down the medicine——convinced
that it hit his case exactly. Why is this possible? Why, indeed, do we
have a drug-store on every other corner, with shelves packed with the
infamous “regular” and irregular remedies, simple and compound? Simply
because ninety-five in the hundred men, women, and children so treat
themselves that they do have, from day to day, or week to week, various
symptoms more or less severe, all indicative of derangement of the bodily
functions. And because of this the medicine-makers know that he who is the
keenest and boldest in prostituting the art of printing, will reap the
richest harvest, by reason of the ignorance and disease-producing habits
of the people.

I will conclude these introductory remarks with the beautiful and
impressive language of Professor Maudsley, the eminent English physician,
especially celebrated in connection with the treatment of mental
disorders, and who, as shown by the paragraph already quoted, emphasizes
in the strongest manner, not only the intimate connection between the mind
and the body——their interdependence the one with the other——but, also,
the moral obligation of the _man_ to learn and obey the laws which tend to
exalt both:

“Notably the best rules for the conduct of life are the fruits of the best
observations of men and things; the achievements of science are no more
than the organized gains——orderly and methodically arranged——of an exact
and systematic observation of the various departments of Nature; the
noblest products of the arts are Nature ennobled through human means, the
art itself being Nature. There are not two worlds——a world of Nature and a
world of human nature——standing over against one another, in a sort of
antagonism, but one world of Nature, in the orderly evolution of which
human nature has its subordinate part. Disease, hallucinations,
idiosyncrasies of whatever sort, are the product of disobedience to
law——discordant notes in the Divine harmony, which result from an
unskillful or careless touch. It should, then, be every man’s steadfast
aim, as a part of Nature, his patient work, to cultivate such entire
sincerity of relations with it, so to think, feel, and act, always in
intimate unison with it, that when the summons comes to surrender his
mortal part to absorption into it, he does so, not fearfully, as to an
enemy who has vanquished him, but trustfully, as to a mother who, when the
day’s task is done, bids him lie down to sleep.”

CHAPTER II.

CONSUMPTION.

Among the causes of consumption it is usually held that inherited tendency
is one of the most efficient. Considering, however, the fact that this is
a matter beyond our control; that is, a cause that we can not remove, it
is hardly worth while to devote further space, just here, to its
consideration. We can not create a new constitution; neither the mischief
of a defective inheritance, nor of years of disobedience to the laws of
life, can be atoned for——the future only is ours; the balance of vital
capital can be expended judiciously, good health regained, often, and life
made easy and extended to the utmost limit. Leaving the question of the
influence of the spiritual over the physical nature for later
consideration (see Conclusion), we have, practically, to take the body as
we find it, and aim to conserve its vitality and to improve its condition;
and when affected by disease, whether inherited or acquired, to seek its
removal by building up the constitution, so to say, by every means in our
power.

Notwithstanding the prevalent belief among physicians and laymen to the
contrary, a belief based upon the result of a form of treatment as
irrational as it is uniform and universal, I agree with Dr. Oswald, who,
in his new work——the most entertaining, as well as the soundest
health-book extant——asserts that “_Pulmonary consumption_, in its early
stages, is perhaps the most curable of all chronic diseases. The records
of the dissecting-room prove that in numerous cases lungs, wasted to
one-half of their normal size, have been healed, and, after a perfect
cicatrization of the tuberculous ulcers, have for years performed all the
essential functions of the sound organ. Still, the actual waste of tissue
is never perfectly repaired, and fragmentary lungs, supplying the
undiminished wants of the whole organism, must necessarily do double work,
and will be less able to respond to the demands of an abnormal exigency.

“But the lungs of a young child of consumptive parents are sound, though
very sensitive, and, if the climacteric of the first teens has been passed
in safety, or without too serious damage, the problem becomes reduced to
the work of preservation and invigoration: the all but intact lungs of the
healthy child can be more perfectly redeemed than the rudimentary organs
of the far-gone consumptive; the phthisical taint can be more entirely
eliminated and the respiratory apparatus strengthened to the degree of
becoming the most vigorous part of the organism. The poet Goethe,
afflicted in his childhood with spitting of blood and other hectic
symptoms, thus completely redeemed himself by a judicious system of
self-culture. Chateaubriand, a child of consumptive parents, steeled his
constitution by traveling and fasting, and reached his eightieth year.

“By a relapse into imprudent habits, however, the latent spark, which
under such circumstances seems to defy the eliminative efforts of half a
century, may at any time be fanned into life-consuming flames; but in
ninety-nine out of a hundred cases it will be found that the first
improvement followed upon a change from a sedentary to an outdoor and
active mode of life.”[6]

[Footnote 6: Oswald’s “Physical Education.”]

Anything that constitutes a _tax_ upon the system beyond its ability to
extract an ultimate good therefrom——for we know that, within certain
limits, taxing the powers, the mental, physical and emotional, tends to
exalt them——or to put it squarely: anything that overtaxes the system in
any direction, tends to induce that state or condition commonly recognized
as consumption. No greater error can be made than that of considering this
disease as primarily affecting the lungs. The lungs are readily affected
by disorder of the digestive organs. While it may not at first be plain to
the ordinary reader how catarrh, sore throat, bronchitis and even
congestion of the lungs[7] could originate in this manner; it is
nevertheless true that they not only can and do thus originate, but this
is in fact the most available and constantly operative source of
respiratory affections. They may be affected directly by continuity of
tissue, or indirectly through the sympathetic system. All understand
something about the practical working of the telegraphic system, by which
a touch of the wire at Boston, for example, may not only be felt at any
point in our own country, but even in England or Europe. How often, in joy
or affliction, the wire constitutes a sympathetic connection between
friends, families, nations. The nervous system forms a sympathetic
connection between the different parts throughout the organism, only it is
more complete, ten thousand times over, than the telegraphic or telephonic
system. If in these cases the wires were to take on disease,——become
inflamed and so affected as to cause the same states, emotions, or
disasters, at the point where an unhappy message is received as at the
point of departure,——it would constitute for the nation and the world what
the sympathetic nervous system does for the animal organism. Should we
not, then, deplore its existence, and grieve that we are so “fearfully and
wonderfully made”? Nevertheless, it is directly a great boon, and but for
this intimate connection between the different portions of the body——for
want of this most efficient set of safety valves, so to say——the organs
primarily affected would more often become fatally diseased and life
speedily terminated. Indeed, in spite of this most wonderful provision of
nature, the violations of law are so constant and severe, or so
overwhelming upon occasion, that life is often destroyed with but a moment
of warning, as in apoplexy, “heart disease,” and sunstroke, so called.
Strictly speaking, however, even in these cases there have been
premonitions without number, dating afar back (see Bright’s Disease),
which would have prevented the disaster if only they had been known and
heeded.

[Footnote 7: This disorder, which is supposed often to _cause_
consumption, is rather a disease of indigestion, and is especially apt to
attack patients _already in consumption_, because of their chronically
disordered nutritive and respiratory organs.]

Says Professor J. C. Zachos (_Studies in Science_):

“... Such is the present system of telegraphing which if it were
multiplied so as to include every town and hamlet in the country, yea,
even be within the reach of every individual as an operator, would convey
but a feeble illustration of the complication, the number, the power, and
the perfect unity of a similar system in the human body.

“We have first in each individual cell a galvanic battery. There are
countless millions of such cells in the human body, whose united force has
never been estimated, but doubtless a million of tons would not
approximate to the force they are exerting at any one instant of time.
Each of these cells is provided with two nerves; an afferent and an
efferent nerve, a carrier to, and a carrier from, that center; each,
endowed with different functions by reason of the duality of force
generated in each cell: a force of motion and a force of sensation. A
number of such cells and nerves may be combined and at a certain point of
the circuit they make there, a concentration and accumulation of power by
a plexus and convolution of these nerves, around a central substance
called ‘neureline’——a granulated collection of particles that seem to take
the place of the soft iron in the helix, for they are always found in the
midst of these convoluted masses of nerves; these masses are called
_ganglia_; they are the centers of nervous power and intelligence,
connected each with some special group of functions; associated by
connecting nerves with each other, and having their central and common
connection in the largest ganglion, called the brain.

“No part of the system fails to be visited by these nerves, and although
they are not discoverable in every tissue, yet their presence is inferred,
because their function is there——sensation or motion, or both.[8]

[Footnote 8: Is it possible to overestimate the importance of perfect
nutrition by which only this wonderful system can be preserved in health?
(See “Saline Starvation.”)]

“We can not at present enter into details in enumerating the number, the
structure, the special functions of these several ganglia, which might
well be called the telegraphic stations of the body; they vary from the
size of a grain of sand, to that of the brain which fills the cavity of
the skull.

“But what shall we say of that principle of intelligence which pervades
every part of this complicated system; which dwells in each of the
thousand millions of cells, where the chemical laboratories are furnishing
out of the crude materials of the food, the wonderful organisms of every
part of the body? Intelligence and contrivance reign in every cell;
combination and co-operation are carried on through the instrumentality of
the nervous system. At the centres of co-operation and power there seem to
be placed higher forms of intelligence that govern the whole of the
subordinate functions by some unitary plan governing thus the functions
of the heart, or the liver, or the lungs. Finally, for the moral and
social exigencies of man, there is provided an enormous centralization of
co-operative intelligences and powers, that seem to have their seat in the
brain; but it is a republic and not a monarchy; every individual cell in
the body has its representative there, mediately or immediately; every one
contributes to the welfare of the whole, and can not be denied its rights,
or be neglectful of its duties, without injury, in that proportion, to the
whole republic.

“There is a subtle and indefinable health beyond that of the stomach and
muscular powers; a man may be torpid in moral brain and intellectual
functions, who yet has an excellent appetite and can do the work of an
ox.[9] This is not usually regarded as sickness, or needing any
physiological treatment. But it is as much so as the grossest form of
sickness. A man’s temper and disposition may be the only evidence that his
liver is out of order. A paroxysm of rage may come from a diseased spleen,
and many a murder, arson, and suicide, I doubt not, come from a defective
hygiene.

[Footnote 9: Others, again, are physically as well as mentally impotent,
while eating enormously, “the digestion and excretion of superfluous food
almost monopolizing the vital energy.”]

“Physiology is an integral part of theology. Sanitary reforms lie at the
foundation of moral reforms. Christianity is health, and the means of
escaping from disease.

“No delusion is so vain as to suppose that this world is ever to be
Christianized, society purified and exalted, man saved and brought to the
divine likeness, while a thousand forms of disease prey upon his vitals,
cloud his moral perceptions, enfeeble or exasperate his will, overwhelm
him with pain and confusion, even in the midst of his noblest designs; and
all this, because he knows not, or respects not sufficiently, the laws of
his physical nature; the subtle powers and mechanism of which are as
divine in their origin and inflexible in their character as any that
govern the soul.”

It is not necessary to know, precisely, how this sympathetic or
telegraphic system operates in the conservation of health, but all of this
knowledge that is essential to us is the understanding of the main fact,
to know the nature of a message and from whence it comes, or its probable
origin when doubt arises. It is owing to an imperfect knowledge of this
law which causes so general a belief in the theory that the internal
organism takes on disease readily from the action of cold upon the surface
of the body. But, in fact, the skin was especially designed to be played
upon by extremes of heat and cold, wind and wet; and human beings are not
necessarily such pitiable creatures as they are made to appear from the
general supposition that a transient exposure to a current of pure air,
whether wet, dry, cold or hot, is likely to bring on disease. “The
immediate effects of a displacement of blood from the surface, and its
determination to the internal organs, are not,” says the _Lancet_, “as was
once supposed, sufficient to produce the sort of congestion that issues
in inflammation. If it were so, an inflammatory condition would be the
common characteristic of our bodily state. When the vascular system is
healthy, and that part of the nervous apparatus by which the calibre of
the vessels is controlled performs its functions normally, any disturbance
of equilibrium in the circulatory system which may have been produced by
external cold will be quickly adjusted.” Nothing so readily promotes
disorder of the vascular system, and of the nervous apparatus which
controls it, as to interfere with the nutrition of the nervous system; and
in turn, no cause is more effectual, and none more speedy, among the
ordinary vicissitudes of life, in depriving the nerves and tissues of
their appropriate aliment, than an excessive or otherwise unwholesome diet
and the consequent disturbance of the organs of nutrition; and the excess
is increased relatively, and the disorder intensified, in proportion as
the body is sweltered with clothing and defrauded of the “breath of
life”——outdoor air. It is a very significant comment on the cold-air
fallacy, that people of all ages, sexes, occupations and social positions,
and in all conditions of _general_ health, catch cold, say to-day, from
the slightest exposures, often, indeed, they are totally at a loss to
account for them except upon one surmise or another, like that of the old
lady who “caught her death o’ cold _taking gruel out of a damp basin_”;
while next month, or next week, perhaps, the same individuals endure the
most extreme exposure, as, for example, riding for hours in face of a
driving rain or snow-storm, until wet and chilled through and through; or,
perhaps, being turned out at night in bitter cold, half clad, to find
their way from their burning dwelling to a distant neighbor’s——in short,
they may suffer the most taxing exposures and yet “catch” nothing more
than a good appetite for a warm dinner or a cheery fireside. The boy who,
as was supposed, caught a fearful cold one warm day last week, from merely
stepping to the door bareheaded, stole away yesterday, when the _mercury_
was _twenty or thirty degrees lower_, and bareheaded and barefooted,
paddled in the frog-pond until his clothes were wet through and his lips
blue with cold, and yet he turned out this morning without a trace of
disease! Can we learn nothing from constantly occurring instances of this
character? The simple fact is, in such cases, in the first instance the
victims were in bad condition, they had found the end of their rope, so to
say, _i.e._, they had reached a point where from continued bad living the
system could no longer contain the accumulated impurities and the overflow
had to come, and come it would, sooner or later (and the later, the more
severe), without even the influence of the slightest current of air, or
any form of exposure. If a slight chill was experienced it arose from the
internal fever, and not, as was foolishly supposed, from the puff of pure
air that was felt _co-incidently_. But in the second instance, the “cold”
of last week had _cleansed the system_ more or less completely, and now,
owing to the improved condition, the really severe exposures give rise to
no symptoms of disease——the temporary inconvenience from the wet or the
cold is all.

Personally, I have been a life-long sufferer from colds, and as with
every one (how many pass a year without “a cold” of some sort?) they came
in a variety of forms, from the “snuffles” of crammed infancy and the “hay
fever” of adult age, to neuralgia, rheumatism, and the like. No matter
what name may be settled on, finally, to describe the disease, whether
rheumatism, neuralgia, sick headache, kidney complaint, bilious fever, or
what not, the victim is sure to say: “I caught a severe cold some way, and
it settled”——wherever the uneasy symptoms are felt.[10] “A succession of
colds” is the commonly-named _excuse_, and the honestly-believed-in
_cause_ of lung affections, including consumption; but as the phrase is
usually understood, it is the veriest blunder——the most pernicious blunder
possible. Hence the space devoted to this subject. Some years ago I made a
change in my habits as to diet and clothing: I quite abruptly abandoned
the use of heavy-weight garments, heavy flannels, and the practice of
“bundling up” upon occasions of exposure, and I gave up the three-meal
system, and the fish, flesh, and fowl, and most of the accompaniments of
the flesh diet, and have since lived mainly on vegetable food. I eat twice
a day, nominally, but invariably skip a meal if there is any sign of
indigestion, or whenever I think I should be better off without eating. I
eat on an average about a dozen meals a week, each less in amount, though
more nutritious than formerly. This keeps my appetite always perfect, but
I am never “hungry,” as when I ate three meals every day, “work or play.”

[Footnote 10: And so with non-healing wounds, cuts, bruises, “cold-sores,”
etc. Those people who have their bodies built up of impure material, who
are unsound through and through, always “catch cold in it” when they have
a wound of any kind or a sore; and their flesh is easily wounded and sores
come often, more or less mysteriously, and the most trifling wound that
would, in the case of a healthy man, woman, or child, heal readily, and in
a few days be entirely well, in their case “festers,” and may be
troublesome for weeks or months, perhaps necessitating the amputation of a
finger, hand, or a limb, or even causing death. Healthy people have no
occasion for sores, boils, etc; but if filth exists in the system, these
little volcanoes tend to eliminate it, and to the prevention of other
diseases. The suppression of catarrhal or diarrhœal discharges often
results in dangerous sicknesses, even fatal sicknesses, unless their cause
is first removed. (See Bright’s Disease.)]

I was formerly hungry before every meal, and if any one of them was
delayed for a single hour there was sure to be a faint and languid
feeling——a disinclination for, and a seeming inability to, labor——which,
however, would usually disappear if I kept on working! From this I finally
learned a most valuable lesson, viz: that the craving appetite that tempts
one to forestall the regular meal hour is a species of “poison-hunger,”
akin to that which torments the inebriate if his customary dram is not
forthcoming. In either case, whether the congested stomach _seems_ to
crave solid or liquid stimulants, the only wise thing is to abstain,
remove or relieve the inflammatory state of the stomach by giving it rest
from digestive labor, and by judicious drinking of pure water, and then
eat and drink so as to prevent a recurrence of the disorder. So universal
is this disagreeable feeling with three-meal-flesh-and-pastry eaters and
coffee-drinkers that Marshall Hall, evidently himself ignorant of its
nature and cause, refers what he styles the “temper disease” to the
_mauvais quart d’heure_ before dinner!

Since adopting the new plan I can truly say that when I live up to it, as
do most of the time, I _never_ have any of the symptoms of what is
commonly known as cold, nor, indeed, any kind of physical inconvenience
whatever. And yet, only twelve years ago, my physical condition was such
that I bade fair to follow my mother, an aunt, an uncle, a sister, and a
brother, all of whom died of tubercular consumption under the prevailing
general regimen and medical treatment, both of which I design in this
treatise to unqualifiedly denounce.

In order, however, to see if I could, by exposure, cause the well-known
symptoms of cold, I have made many experiments, some of which I will name:
I have walked in snow and slop with low shoes until both shoes and socks
were soaked through, and have sat thus for an hour or more; after wearing
all-wool flannels during moderate weather, I have, upon the approach of
_colder weather_, removed my under-garments, and have then attended to my
outdoor affairs, minus the overcoat habitually worn; I have slept in
winter in a current blowing directly about my head and shoulders; upon
going to bed, I have sat in a strong current, _entirely nude_, for a
quarter of an hour, on a very cold, damp night in the fall of the year; I
have worn a flannel gown, and slept under heavy-weight bed-covers one
night, and in cotton night-shirt and light-weight bed-clothes the next.
These and similar experiments I have made repeatedly, and have never been
able to catch cold. I become cold, sometimes quite cold, and become warm
again, that is all. On the other hand, changing the form of my
experiments, returning to my old way, the prevalent style of living——a
“generous diet” and a full meal every five or six hours through the day——I
have found no difficulty in _accumulating_ a cold; and within a reasonable
length of time could count upon it, although, now, a part of the programme
consisted in taking the most extreme care to avoid what are commonly
reckoned as exposures——keeping my feet ever warm and dry, paying strict
attention to wraps,[11] etc. This is not simply my own individual
experience, but, also, of others who, either of their own accord or
through my suggestion, have carefully studied the matter; while rational
hygienists, generally, attest to the main fact, that they endure all the
ordinary vicissitudes of life without often being troubled with this most
disagreeable complaint.

[Footnote 11: Said an observing friend to me: “I am apt to catch cold when
I _put on_ my winter flannels; why is that?” With those who may happen to
be already near the brink, this effect is likely to follow the addition of
an extra layer of flannel to the ordinary dress, unless they leave out a
layer of food, so to say, or the weather happens to be enough colder on
that day, to counteract the extra clothing.]

In the course of my experimentation, whenever I have fed my cold as far as
I wished or dared to go, I have, in every instance, banished the disease
by abstaining from food and indulging in extra rations of outdoor
air——rain or shine. I have never known this remedy to fail of “breaking
up” a common cold in twenty-four to forty-eight hours, whatever the age,
sex, or occupation of the individual, and regardless of the supposed
origin of the disease. Of course the size of the “dose” must bear some
relation to the severity of the disorder. Whenever I have chosen to
prolong one of these experiments by continuing to eat heartily, as is
customary with people in general, I have found my experience identical
with that of others: the symptoms would increase in severity, and to acute
catarrh, headache, slight feverishness, and languor, would be added sore
throat, perhaps, with pressure at the lungs, hoarseness, increased fever,
and entire indisposition for exertion. In this case two, perhaps three,
days’ fasting (one, maybe two, in bed) would be required, with a little
extra sponging of the skin, to reduce the fever and completely restore the
balance. I have, to be sure, never been reckless enough to subject my
system to the influence of impure air——to the quality of air, for example,
that is the daily and nightly reliance of ninety and nine families in the
hundred, rich or poor, in the city or country——this I would never do; and
for this reason my “colds” would be less severe, other things equal, than
those of my neighbors, and more readily amenable to “treatment”; but the
principle holds good in all cases. There are all degrees of obtuseness
observable in the mental efforts of our fellow-creatures: I have had
persons reply to this, that they “couldn’t agree” with me entirely in my
position, for they had “tried the remedy,” when, in fact, as they would
more or less hesitatingly admit, they had kept up their three-meal
feeding, even after the appetite had passed the craving stage and the
fitful stage; and even after food became loathsome they had punished
themselves more or less _gruelly_; but, finally, driven to the wall, and
eating little or nothing for a few days or weeks, because it was
physically impossible to eat more, they have the assurance to declare, or
the sublime stupidity to believe, that they have tried the fasting-cure,
and that while “it might cure some,” it wouldn’t answer for them! And they
usually add——of all aphorisms the most foolish and misleading——“one’s
meat, another’s poison.”[12] It results, in such cases, that, if the
individual recovers, he does so as the effect of seven-eighths starvation,
involuntarily practiced, and extending over a period of weeks or months,
when a few days of total abstinence early enough in the contest, before
the appetite declined, would have saved the system from the depletion of a
long-continued strain.

[Footnote 12: Were I to summarize the arguments against the saying, that
“what is meat for one is poison for another,” I would put it something
like this: Its author, and the people, have been deceived in that one
person can _bear_ what another can not. Some constitutions have withstood
the worst habits——violations of all the known laws of life——gluttony,
intemperance to the degree of almost constant drunkenness, the grossest
and most constant immorality in departments the most exhausting, until
passed what we call old age——and still have rounded out a full century of
life. Many, on the other hand, of frailer make, have, by reason of a tithe
of such misconduct, been swept into premature graves, at middle-age, early
manhood, or even in youth. Others, again, like the last named, and rapidly
following them to destruction, have been kept back, put on the mending
hand, and have lived fairly long lives, from renouncing their immoral
practices, or, perhaps, simply their “unhealthy” practices as to diet,
when these have been their only faults. As elsewhere remarked, thousands
of lives have been saved and robust health regained, or gained for the
first time, from adopting the vegetarian, as against the prevailing
“mixed,” diet. I believe that the reverse of this will not be even claimed
by any one who has a _right_ to claim expert knowledge. It may be relied
upon that no substance that is positively wholesome for one person, is,
_in and of itself_, injurious——speaking with relation to food. To this
rule, it must be admitted, there are a few, isolated and, as yet, not
fully explained exceptions——but the rule holds good; and it is equally
certain that whatever is, _in and of itself_, harmful for one person to
eat or drink, smoke, snuff, or chew, whether animal, vegetable, or
mineral, food or medicine, is not good, certainly not _best_, for any
other person to eat, drink, absorb, or take into the system in any manner.
It is true that there are many things transpiring before our eyes every
day which, to the superficial observer——and only the well-informed upon a
given subject can see beneath the surface——form apparent exceptions to
this rule——even to the degree of seeming to cast it aside as not a rule;
nevertheless, no rule holds more uniformly true than this.]

Lest it be inferred that I design to intimate that any one could at once
imitate my cold air experiments with impunity, immediately upon changing
his method of living, I hasten to say that not all could do this, any more
than they could imitate the muscular feats of an athlete. As the depraved
muscular system has to be built up by degrees and by long practice, so the
life-long sweltered skin can become accustomed to extreme changes of
temperature only by a somewhat gradual change of habit. Besides, it takes
some time for the general system to come under the influence of a pure
diet; and, again, the best of remedies have to be graduated in amount to
the present condition of the patient. However, I am sure that most persons
who will accustom themselves to an out-door life and to light clothing,
have only to reform their eating-habits to make themselves virtually
disease proof; while _all_ classes may derive great benefit from a
rational application of the principle.

That certain symptoms, popularly called cold, are often _excited_ by
exposure to fresh air, damp air, draughts, and the like, is true enough;
and we should be devoutly thankful for this provision of Nature. But it
is likewise true that these “exposures” do not, and can not, _originate_
the disease that _in its exit_ manifests the well-known symptoms. _That_
already exists, and has been for months, perhaps, accumulating in the
system; and now, an unusual amount of fresh air in the lungs and in
contact with the skin, has so _invigorated the organism_ as to enable it
to institute measures for thrusting out the real disease; hence catarrh,
cough, expectoration, _fever_——for the name, cold, is a complete misnomer,
and based upon a misconception as to the real nature of the disorder: the
patient may be never so chilly, but the thermometer placed under the
tongue at once shows that the temperature is above the normal standard.
Says Dr. Oswald:[13] “Rightly interpreted, the external symptoms of
disease constitute a restorative process that can not be brought to a
satisfactory issue till the cause of the evil is removed. So that, in
fact, the air-hater confounds the cause of his recovery with the cause of
his disease. Among nations who pass their lives out-doors, catarrh and
scrofula are unknown; not fresh air, but the want of it, is the cause of
countless diseases, of fatal diseases where people are in the habit of
_nailing down_ their windows every winter to keep their children from
opening them. The only objection to a ‘draught’ through a defective window
is, that the draught is generally not strong enough. An influx of fresh
air into a sick-room is a ray of light into darkness, a messenger of
Vishnu visiting an abode of the damned. Cold air,” he continues, “is a
disinfectant, and under the pressure of a high wind a modicum of oxygen
will penetrate a house in spite of closed windows. This circumstance alone
has preserved the lives of thousands whom no cough syrup, or cod-liver oil
could have saved.”

[Footnote 13: “Physical Education,” by F. L. Oswald. M.D. New York: D.
Appleton & Co.]

Referring once more to the sympathetic telegraph, we find, for instance,
that a small wound in the foot may produce lock-jaw; a blow on the elbow
makes the fingers tingle; touch the soft palate with the finger and the
stomach offers up its contents; and in the same manner, substantially,
irritation or congestion of the stomach or intestines will give rise to
tickling in the throat, itching of the nose,[14] etc., etc.; and if the
primary disease be severe or constant, or of frequent occurrence, acute or
chronic disease of the lungs may result. Indeed, I am led to the
conclusion that the lungs seldom become disordered in any other manner.
The pneumogastric nerve with its various branches forms a close “sympathy”
between the brain and the larynx, bronchi, lungs, liver, heart and
stomach. Is there, in reason and common sense, any necessity for argument
to prove that of all the organs the stomach is the most abused; or rather,
that of all our abuses of this wonderful temple of the body those
inflicted by the medium of the alimentary system are the most flagrant
and most constant?

[Footnote 14: It is not from _habit_, simply, that children pick the nose,
and half the occupants of a drawing-room car, even, devote a sly moment to
the same inspiring occupation! Observe the prevalence of red noses,
enlarged nostrils, etc., among coffee drinkers and dyspeptics, as well as
liquor drinkers.]

Consider for one moment that the food taken from day to day should be
plain and simple, and that in quality and quantity it should bear a close
relation to the following circumstances or conditions, viz.: (1) to the
season and the climate; (2) to the purity of the air habitually breathed;
(3) amount of clothing worn; (4) amount of mental and physical labor
performed; (5) the existing physical condition as to (_a_)
appetite——whether normal or abnormal, as for example, ravenous, fitful or
none at all; (_b_) strength——whether full, or exhausted from fatigue: (6)
mental state——whether the mind is at ease, or from one or another cause
distressed, as with grief, anger,[15] etc.; (7) the natural
constitution——whether delicate or robust. How many, let me ask, in any
community consider _any_ of these conditions, or are to any extent
influenced by them? Not that the question is, after all, as complicated as
would at first sight appear; on the contrary, it is very simple, indeed.
We have only to clothe ourselves in loose and comfortable garments; keep
clean; breathe out-door air——whether we are indoors or out, day and
night;[16] lead an active, useful life, rest when tired, never eat
without a good relish, nor, as a rule, when there is “gnawing” at the
stomach, nor when the body is exhausted with fatigue or the mind in a
badly disturbed state. Eat but twice daily and of the simplest and purest
food, _i.e._, the cereal grains, vegetables and fruits. Ordinarily, a
little animal food——unaccompanied by greasy or stimulating
condiments——will not affect a robust person seriously; but it is not
essential to health, speaking generally, and in depraved conditions of the
system it may be set down as detrimental; although lean beef or mutton,
plainly cooked, and served without “seasoning,” is doubtless preferable to
bolted flour or impoverished vegetables, whose dissipated salts are
mistakenly supposed to be “restored” in the form of artificial salt (see
“Saline Starvation.”)

[Footnote 15: Few causes are more readily promotive of indigestion than
the indulgence of such emotions, and none presents a greater obstacle to
the recovery of a consumptive patient than the habitual subjection of the
mind to unhappy reflections of whatsoever character. It is especially
important for both patient and all who approach him to avoid, so far as
possible, every disquieting influence.]

[Footnote 16: “Azotized air affects the lungs as the substitution of
excrements for nourishing food would affect our digestive organs:
corruption sets in; pulmonary phthisis is, in fact, a process of
putrefaction.

“No ventilatory contrivance can compare with the simple plan of opening a
window; in wet nights a ‘rain-shutter’ (a blind with large, overlapping
bars) will keep a room both airy and dry. In every bedroom, one of the
upper windows should be kept open night and day, except in storms,
accompanied with rain or with a degree of cold exceeding 10° Fahr. In warm
summer nights open every window in the house and every door connecting the
bedroom with the adjoining apartments. Create a thorough draught. Before
we can hope to fight consumption with any chance of success, we have to
get rid of the _night-air superstition_. Like the dread of cold water, raw
fruit, etc., it is founded on that mistrust of our instincts which we owe
to our anti-natural religion. It is probably the most prolific single
cause of impaired health, even among the civilized nations of our
enlightened age, though its absurdity rivals the grossest delusions of the
witchcraft era. The subjection of holy reason to hearsays could hardly go
further.

“‘Beware of the night-wind; be sure and close your windows after dark!’ In
other words, beware of God’s free air; be sure and infect your lungs with
the stagnant, azotized, and offensive atmosphere of your bedroom. In other
words, beware of the rock spring; stick to sewerage. Is night-air
injurious? Is there a single tenable pretext for such an idea? Since the
day of creation that air has been breathed with impunity by millions of
different animals——tender, delicate creatures, some of them——fawns, lambs,
and young birds. The moist night-air of the tropical forests is breathed
with impunity by our next relatives, the anthropoid apes——the same apes
that soon perish with consumption in the close though generally
well-warmed atmosphere of our northern menageries. Thousands of soldiers,
hunters, and lumbermen sleep every night in tents and open sheds without
the least injurious consequences; men in the last stage of consumption
have recovered by adopting a semi-savage mode of life, and camping
out-doors in all but the stormiest nights. Is it the draught you fear, or
the contrast of temperature? Blacksmiths and railroad-conductors seem to
thrive under such influences. Draught? Have you never seen boys skating in
the teeth of a snow-storm at the rate of fifteen miles an hour? ‘They
counteract the effects of the cold air by vigorous exercise.’ Is there no
other way of keeping warm? Does the north wind damage the fine lady
sitting motionless in her sleigh, or the pilot and helmsman of a
storm-tossed vessel? It can not be the _inclemency_ of the open air, for,
even in sweltering summer nights, the sweet south wind, blessed by all
creatures that draw the breath of life, brings no relief to the victim of
aërophobia. There is no doubt that families who have freed themselves from
the curse of that superstition can live out and out healthier in the heart
of a great city than its slaves on the airiest highland of the southern
Apennines.”——(“Physical Education.”)]

CHAPTER III.

CONSUMPTION——(_Continued_).

The country boor says he must have meat to make muscle; and all
the while his vegetarian team is twitching him and his plow
along the furrow. Where does he suppose they get their muscles?--
THOREAU.

Stupidly ignorant, or unmindful, of the fact that there are, in this
country and Europe, hundreds of thousands of people of all ages, sexes and
social positions, who live year in and year out mainly, and a large
proportion strictly, on the vegetarian diet, and live in health, not only,
but found perfect health by abandoning the common mixed diet and coming
nearer to first principles——notwithstanding all this, still the farce goes
on among the scientists of “proving” by chemical analyses, pretty theories
and specious arguments, that man “can not subsist in health on a
vegetarian diet.”[17]

[Footnote 17: Jules Virey estimates that four-tenths of the human race
subsist exclusively on a vegetable diet, and that seven-tenths are
practically (though not on principle) vegetarians. Virchow estimates the
total number at eighty-five per cent.——OSWALD.]

“The matter is this: in a cold climate we can not thrive without a modicum
of fat, but that fat need not come from slaughtered animals. In a colder
country than England, the East-Russian peasant, remarkable for his robust
health and longevity, subsists on cabbage-soup, rye-bread, and vegetable
oils. In a colder country than England, the Gothenburg shepherds live
chiefly on milk, barley bread, and esculent roots. The strongest men of
the three manliest races of the present world are non-carnivorous: the
Turanian mountaineers of Daghestan and Lesghia, the Mandingo tribes of
Senegambia, and the Schleswig-Holstein _Bauern_, who furnish the heaviest
cuirassiers for the Prussian army and the ablest seamen for the Hamburg
navy. Nor is it true that flesh is an indispensable, or even the best,
brain-food. Pythagoras, Plato, Seneca, Paracelsus, Spinoza, Peter Bayle,
and Shelley were vegetarians; so were Franklin and Lord Byron in their
best years. Newton, while engaged in writing his ‘Principia’ and
‘Quadrature of Curves,’ abstained entirely from animal food, which he had
found by experience to be unpropitious to severe mental application. The
ablest modern physiologists incline to the same opinion. ‘I use animal
food because I have not the opportunity to choose my diet,’ says Professor
Welch, of Yale; ‘but, whenever I have abstained from it, I have found my
health mentally, morally, and physically better.’”——(“Physical
Education.”)

With regard to the muscular vigor of vegetarians: if they have not become
noted as “winners of rowing, walking, or boxing matches,” it is chiefly
because they are rarely sporting men; besides, they are as yet in this
country——although their numbers are quite rapidly increasing——in a very
small minority; but, of late, since this objection has been so frequently
raised, vegetarians have entered the lists, notably in England, in
bicycle races, and have distanced their meat-eating rivals in long races,
showing greater staying powers.

Says the London _Lancet_: “In the summer of 1872, it became necessary to
shift the rails on upwards of 500 miles of permanent way on the Great
Western line, from the broad to the narrow gauge, and there was only a
fortnight to do it in. The work to be got through was enormous. About
3,000 men were employed, and they worked double time, sometimes from four
in the morning till nine at night. Not a soul was sick, sorry, or drunk,
and the work was accomplished on time. What was the extraordinary support
of this wonderful spurt of muscular strength and energy? Weak oatmeal
gruel. There was no beer, spirits, or alcoholic drink in any form. Here,”
continues the _Lancet_, “is a very old and well-known agent, cheap enough,
and easily procured, capable of imparting ‘staying power’ better,
probably, than anything else, which is not employed to anything like the
extent it might be with advantage.”

The principal part of the ration allowed in the above case was one and
one-half pounds of oatmeal. In view of the immense labor performed by
these men on that quantity of this cereal, can it be wondered at that the
sedentary dyspeptic who essays to “diet” on three full meals of such food
comes to grief? For him a single moderate meal of grain food, with fruit,
would be a generous ration.

To very many the term “vegetarian” seems almost to imply one who is
restricted to a diet of turnips and water. But Epicurus, the god of
gluttons, was himself a vegetarian, for while he regarded pleasure as the
_summum bonum_, and placed the pleasures of the table first, still, he
knew that a simple fare was most conducive to health and comfort in this
life. As to variety: “with five kinds of cereals, three legumina, eight
species of esculent roots, ten or twelve nutritive herbs, thirty to forty
varieties of tree fruits, besides berries and nuts, a vegetarian might
emulate the Duc de Polignac, who refused to eat the same dish more than
once per season.”

In view of the constant violations of natural law as to quality, quantity
and frequency of meals, I would say that it is from the nature of the case
impossible for people living in the prevailing manner to avoid digestive
disorders;[18] in practice I find _none_ altogether exempt from them,
except the very small class of abstemious vegetarians referred to——an
individual or a family, or two, in each community——all others are more or
less dyspeptic, and _dyspepsia_ is _incipient consumption_. Thousands of
dyspeptics are oblivious as to the true nature of their disorder, simply
because the most marked symptoms in their cases, _now_, are affections of
the throat and lungs. The popular ignorance in this direction amply
accounts for the appalling fact that respiratory diseases destroy the
lives of about one-third, and consumption alone one-fifth of all who die
in this country. When dyspepsia has blossomed into consumption, unless the
primary disease——that of the stomach and intestines——is removed——an
impossibility except by a radical change from the evil dietetic habits
that have caused it——nature is powerless to heal the lungs, because (1)
the inflammation is being perpetually propagated, and (2) the entire
nutritive system is becoming more and more hopelessly diseased.

[Footnote 18: “I think I shall not be far wrong if I say that there are
few subjects more important to the well-being of man than the selection
and preparation of his food. Our forefathers in their wisdom have
provided, by ample and generously endowed organizations, for the
dissemination of moral precepts in relation to human conduct, and for the
constant supply of sustenance to meet the cravings of religious emotions
common to all sorts and conditions of men. In these provisions no student
of human nature can fail to recognize the spirit of wisdom and a lofty
purpose. But it is not a sign of ancestral wisdom that so little thought
has been bestowed on the teaching of what we should eat and drink; that
the relations, not only between food and a healthy population, but between
food and virtue, between the process of digestion and the state of mind
which results from it, have occupied a subordinate place in the practical
arrangements of life. No doubt there has long been some practical
acknowledgment, on the part of a few educated persons, of the simple fact
that a man’s temper, and consequently many of his actions, depends on such
an alternative as whether he habitually digests his food well or ill;
whether the meals which he eats are properly converted into healthy
material, suitable for the ceaseless work of building up both muscle and
brain; or whether unhealthy products constantly pollute the course of
nutritive supply. But the truth of that fact has never been generally
admitted to an extent at all comparable with its exceeding importance. It
produces no practical result on the habits of men in the least degree
commensurate with the pregnant import it contains. For it is certain that
an adequate recognition of the value of proper food to the individual in
maintaining a high standard of health, in prolonging healthy life (the
prolongation of unhealthy life being small gain either to the individual
or to the community), and thus largely promoting cheerful temper,
prevalent good-nature, and improved moral tone, would require almost a
revolution in the habits of a large part of the community.

“The general outlines of a man’s mental character and physical tendencies
are doubtless largely determined by the impress of race and family. That
is, the scheme of the building, its characteristics and dimensions, are
inherited; but to a very large extent the materials and filling in of the
framework depend upon his food and training. By the latter term may be
understood all that relates to mental and moral and even to physical
education, in part already assumed to be fairly provided for, and
therefore not further to be considered here. No matter, then, how
consummate the scheme of the architect, nor how vast the design, more or
less of failure to rear the edifice results when the materials are ill
chosen or wholly unworthy to be used. Many other sources of failure there
may be which it is no part of my business to note; but the influence of
food is not only itself cardinal in rank, but, by priority of action,
gives rise to other and secondary agencies.

“The slightest sketch of the commonest types of human life will suffice to
illustrate this truth.

“To commence, I fear it must be admitted that the majority of infants are
reared on imperfect milk by weak or ill-fed mothers. And thus it follows
that the signs of disease, of feeble vitality, or of fretful disposition,
may be observed at a very early age, and are apparent in symptoms of
indigestion or in the cravings of want manifested by the ‘peevish’ and
sleepless infant. In circumstances where there is no want of abundant
nutriment, over-feeding or complicated forms of food, suitable only for
older persons, produce for this infant troubles which are no less grave
than those of the former. In the next stage of life, among the poor the
child takes his place at the parents’ table, where lack of means, as well
as of knowledge, deprives him of food more suitable than the rough fare of
the adult.... On the whole, perhaps he is not much worse off than the
child of the well-to-do, who becomes a pet, and is already familiarized
with complex and too solid forms of food and stimulating drinks which
custom and self-indulgence have placed on the daily table. And soon
afterward commence in consequence——and entirely in consequence, a fact it
is impossible too much to emphasize——the ‘sick-headaches’ and ‘bilious
attacks,’ which pursue their victim through half a lifetime, to be
exchanged for gout or worse at or before the grand climacteric. And so
common are these evils that they are regarded by people in general as a
necessary appanage of ‘poor humanity.’ No notion can be more erroneous,
since it is absolutely true that the complaints referred to are
self-engendered, form no necessary part of our physical nature, and for
their existence are dependent almost entirely on our habits in relation to
food and drink. I except, of course, those cases in which hereditary
tendencies are so strong as to produce these evils, despite some care on
the part of the unfortunate victim of an ancestor’s self-indulgence.
Equally, however, on the part of that little-to-be-revered progenitor was
ill-chosen food, or more probably excess in quantity, the cause of
disease, and not the physical nature of man.

“The next stage of boyhood transfers the child just spoken of to a public
school, where too often inappropriate diet, at the most critical period of
growth, has to be supplemented from other sources. It is almost
unnecessary to say that chief among these are the pastry-cook and the
vender of portable provisions, for much of which latter that skin-stuffed
compound of unknown origin, an uncertified sausage, may be accepted as the
type.

“After this period arise the temptations to drink, among the youth of all
classes, whether at beer-house, tavern, or club. For it is often taught in
the bosom of the family, by the father’s example and by the mother’s
precept, that wine, beer, and spirits are useful, nay, necessary to
health, and that they augment the strength. And the lessons thus
inculcated and too well learned were but steps which led to wider
experience in the pursuit of health and strength by larger use of the same
means. Under such circumstances it often happens, as the youth grows up,
that a flagging appetite or a failing digestion habitually demands a dram
before or between meals, and that these are regarded rather as occasions
to indulge in variety of liquor than as repasts for nourishing the body.
It is not surprising, with such training, that the true object of both
eating and drinking is entirely lost sight of. The gratification of
acquired tastes usurps the function of that zest which healthy appetite
produces; and the intention that food should be adapted to the physical
needs of the body and the healthy action of the mind is forgotten
altogether. So it often comes to pass that at middle age, when man finds
himself in the full current of life’s occupations, struggling for
pre-eminence with his fellows, indigestion has become persistent in some
of its numerous forms, shortens his ‘staying power,’ or spoils his
judgment or temper. And, besides all this, few causes are more potent than
an incompetent stomach to engender habits of selfishness and egotism. A
constant care to provide little personal wants of various kinds, thus
rendered necessary, cultivates these sentiments, and they influence the
man’s whole character in consequence.”

“But it is necessary to say at this point, and I desire to say it
emphatically, that the subject of food need not, even with the views just
enunciated, be treated in an ascetic spirit. It is to be considered in
relation to a principle, in which we may certainly believe, that aliments
most adapted to develop the individual, sound in body and mind, shall not
only be most acceptable but that they may be selected and prepared so as
to afford scope for the exercise of a refined taste, and produce a fair
degree of that pleasure naturally associated with the function of the
palate, and derived from a study of the table. For it is certain that
nine-tenths of the gormandism which is practiced——for the most part a
matter of faith without knowledge——is no more a source of gratification to
the eater’s gustatory sense than it is of digestible sustenance to his
body.”——“FOOD AND FEEDING,” by Sir Henry Thompson.]

The stomach, more especially after long years of abusive treatment, is
one of the least sensitive organs. “If it had nerves as sensitive as our
finger-tips, our attention would be so much taken up with the ordinary
digestion of food that we could not properly attend to our work or
studies.” At first, in infancy, it is more sensitive, and any excess of
food is thrown off, but ere many months the disorder grows worse and
deeper-seated, and in the course of years stomachs become so diseased as
to give no sign, except when unusually outraged. It may have sores without
knowing it. Dr. Beaumont saw sores in St. Martin’s stomach after the
latter had drunk liquor, but they occasioned no pain. “Cold sores,”
chapped lips, parched or pimpled tongue or mouth, furred tongue, etc.,
etc., are but signs of serious disease of the stomach and intestines, and,
consequently, of the entire organism.

I have classed as one of the most natural and effective measures for the
preservation of health or the cure of disease, _rest_; for diseased
organs, rest[19] and light tasks; for the healthy person who desires to
keep well, I have said, “rest when tired.” Unfortunately many people, and
more especially consumptives, never know when they are tired, but work
habitually, until they are exhausted. With the latter, this is usually set
down to willfulness or lack of judgment. “She won’t listen to reason,”
says the anxious husband. “She is always overdoing,” says another.
Jockeys, describing horses thus affected, call them “pullers”: it is the
same disease——indigestion. Reason being dethroned by the poisoned
circulation in the brain, Nature, through muscular action, essays to
excrete the toxic elements. This is _stimulation_ (see “Coffee.”)

[Footnote 19: The various excretory organs, as the bowels, kidneys, liver,
as well as the digestive apparatus, are relieved by fasting, or
diminishing the food ration.]

It is the stimulus imparted by the thrice daily ingestion of so many
unnatural and indigestible articles that compose the mixed diet, which
prevents so many from resting when they are tired. With others, however,
the effect is quite the reverse: some are always complaining of a “tired
feeling.” There is a genuine lack of vital force occasioned by lack of
nourishment. When this feeling is experienced on rising, it is usually,
almost invariably, at least in part, the effect of close sleeping-rooms.
Many persons,——some who are fat, and called healthy, others, perhaps,
lean,——are called “lazy” who are positively weak, too weak to work without
great effort such as lookers-on know nothing about, although most people
may have had similar feelings occasionally——the “after-dinner laziness.”
This special form of disease has previously been spoken of. (See p. 34).

Nutrition is the grand factor in the prevention or cure of disease. It may
be said, truly enough, that the blood-_aerating_ capacity remains
throughout equal, often superior, to the blood-_making_ capacity; and
consumption may be appropriately described as _dyspeptic starvation_. (See
“Saline Starvation.”) In those instances where the capital stock (of
vitality) is exhausted the victims of this disease must die; but thousands
of cases pronounced after a long course of medication and stimulation,
hopeless, have been restored by a simple diet and an out-door life. Even
hygienic institutes have failed to apply this principle in its entirety
when brought face to face with cases that demanded “heroic treatment;”
influenced in some measure, possibly, by the popular distrust of their
methods, especially the deep prejudice against a restricted diet——now,
however, rapidly disappearing——they have hitherto erred continually on the
side of excess. Nevertheless, they restore to health, or greatly benefit,
ninety per cent. of the broken down invalids who come to them, usually, as
a last resort.

I desire here to note particularly the change now going on in the minds of
the most eminent and practical physicians in this and European countries,
concerning the use of beef-tea. It is found by chemical analysis to be
almost identical with “chamber-lye”——the favorite prescription of our
grandmothers——and although more agreeable to the taste than urine, even
when the latter is drowned in treacle, it is, in my opinion, always
injurious, especially in sickness, when, of course, the excretory system
is already taxed to the utmost. Most people, even in health, have more
than they can well do to excrete their own, once, without swallowing any
portion of the waste of animals!

Says Dr. Brunton:

“We find only too frequently that both doctors and patients think that the
strength is sure to be kept up if a sufficient quantity of beef-tea can
only be got down; but I think it a question whether beef-tea may not very
frequently (?) be actually injurious, and whether the products of muscular
waste which constitute the chief portion of beef-tea, beef-essence, or
even the beef itself, may not, under certain circumstances, be actually
poisonous.”

“In many cases of nervous depression we find a feeling of weakness and
prostration coming on during digestion, and becoming so very marked about
the second hour after a meal has been taken, and at the very time when
absorption is going on, that we can hardly do otherwise than ascribe it to
actual poisoning by digestive products absorbed into the circulation. From
the observation of a number of cases, I came to the conclusion that the
languor and faintness of which many patients complained, and which
occurred about eleven and four o’clock, was due to actual poisoning by the
products of digestion of breakfast and lunch; but at the time when I
arrived at this conclusion I had no experimental data to show that the
products of digestion were actually poisonous in themselves; and only
within the last few months have I seen the conclusions to which I had
arrived by clinical observation, confirmed by experiments made in the
laboratory. Such experiments have been made by Professor Albertoni, of
Genoa, and by Dr. Schmidt-Mühlheim, in Professor Ludwig’s laboratory at
Leipsic.”

“Professor Albertoni and Dr. Schmidt-Mühlheim independently made the
discovery that peptones prevented the coagulation of the blood in dogs,
and the latter, under Ludwig’s direction, has also investigated their
action upon the circulation. He finds that, when injected into a vein,
they greatly depress the circulation, so that the blood-pressure falls
very considerably; and when the quantity injected is large, they produce a
soporose condition, complete arrest of the secretion by the kidneys,[20]
convulsions, and death. From these experiments it is evident that the
normal products of digestion are poisons of no inconsiderable power, and
that if they reach the general circulation in large quantities they may
produce very alarming, if not dangerous symptoms.”

[Footnote 20: See “Bright’s Disease.”]

“Instead of trying to keep up the strength, as it is termed, by loading
the stomach with food, the exhausted brain-worker should rather lean
toward abstinence from food, and especially toward abstinence from
alcoholic liquors.[21] The feeling of muscular weakness and lassitude,
which I have already had occasion to mention as frequently coming on about
two hours after meals, is not uncommonly met with in persons belonging to
the upper classes who are well fed and have little exercise. It is perhaps
seen in its most marked form in young women or girls who have left school,
and who, having no definite occupation in life, are indisposed to any
exercise, either bodily or mental. I am led to look upon this condition as
one of poisoning, both on account of the time of its occurrence, during
the absorption of digestive products, and by reason of the peculiar
symptoms——viz., a curious weight in the legs and arms, the patient
describing them as feeling like lumps of lead. These symptoms so much
resemble the effect which would be produced by a poison like curare, that
one could hardly help attributing them to the action of a depressant or
paralyzer of motor nerves or centers. The recent researches of Ludwig and
Schmidt-Mühlheim render it exceedingly probable that peptones are the
poisonous agents in these cases; and an observation which I have made
seems to confirm this conclusion, for I found that the weakness and
languor were less after meals consisting of farinaceous food only. My
observations, however, are not sufficiently extensive to absolutely
convince me that they are entirely absent after meals of this sort, so
that possibly the poisoning by peptones, although one cause of the
languor, is not to be looked upon as the only cause.”[22]

[Footnote 21: See chapter on Coffee.]

[Footnote 22: “Indigestion as a Cause of Nervous Depression.” By T. Lauder
Brunton. M.D., F.R.S., in _Practitioner_.]

I am able to vouch for a number of cases of consumption, and marasmus, in
which, under tonic treatment and frequent meals, the patients were
steadily declining, but which yielded, finally, to the influence of the
one-meal-a-day system: comparative rest of the diseased alimentary organs,
and consequent improvement in the digestive and assimilative functions
proved the needed “stimulant.” The Boston _Journal of Chemistry_, of
February, 1882, gives the history of a well-authenticated case, of an old
man of 70 years, who had been declining with pulmonary consumption for
three years, and who was pronounced incurable, who was made convalescent
by a voluntary and absolute fast of 43 days——taking water freely, however,
during the time——and, following this with the “bread and fruit” diet, was
restored to health.

Let us contrast this method of _restoring_ the nutritive organs with that
of “curing” them by medication:

J. Milner Fothergill, M.D., truly says (in the _Practitioner_), that “it
is more important to study the tongue than to go over the chest with a
stethoscope, and that attention to the stomach and bowels is just as
essential as the treatment of night sweats. When the tongue is covered
with thick fur it is nearly or quite useless to give iron or cod-liver
oil; for the tongue is the indicator of the state of the intestinal canal,
and absorption through the thick layer of dead epithelial cells is
impossible.” And then Dr. Fothergill gives us his method of _rasping off
the coating_, so to say, with “a compound calomel and colocynthe pill
every second night, and a mixture of nitro-hydrochloric or phosphoric
acid, with infusion of cinchona three times a day until the tongue
clears.” I would suggest that _nitro-glycerine_ would act more speedily
and reduce the suffering to a minimum! The point, however, to dwell
upon,——and it is one worthy of the deepest consideration,——is that the
state of the alimentary canal, so aptly described by the authority quoted,
and which forbids the absorption of iron and oil, also prohibits the
absorption of wholesome substances. Not only this; the secretion of the
digestive fluids (even supposing for the moment that these fluids are
present in normal amount and quality in the circulation, which is, of
course, far from the truth in this as in most disorders) is in great
degree prevented by this same physical obstruction, the “thick layer of
dead epithelial cells;” and, moreover, the secretion of fecal matters by
the glands of the colon is, in like manner and degree, prevented. (See
chapter on “Constipation.”)

What have we, then, in summing up, as the effect of this conservative
effort of nature to “iron-sheathe and copper-fasten” this most abused
alimentary tract, if I may thus characterize the coat which has resulted
from the maltreatment of the digestive organs, and but for which the
individual would, we may reasonably suppose, have died long ago from some
plethoric disease? First: the digestive fluids, being scant and scantily
secreted, it results that (2) only a small quantity at best, of the most
wholesome food, can be by them digested, and (3) absorption from the small
intestines is equally difficult, even supposing that the appropriate
“small quantity” of food possible to be digested has not been exceeded,
which, in ordinary practice, is anything but a supposable case. Excess is
the invariable rule, and therefore (4) the undigested and fermenting food
substances, excepting a portion which is absorbed in this poisonous
condition, make their sluggish course along the intestines, collect in
great masses in the lower bowel, and, finally, (a) either by aid of
purgative medicines, or the ordinary stimulating drinks indulged in, (b)
the irritating effects of these abnormal accumulations themselves, or (c)
by means of injections, the lower bowel is more or less frequently
emptied. These extraordinary evacuations are often described by the
patient or friends as “exhausting.” That such excreta is not composed of
true fecal matters, we may reasonably conclude from the fact that (1)
digestion and assimilation are but poorly performed, and but a very small
proportion, therefore, of the quantity swallowed (often enough
consumptives continue large eaters, gauged by any standard, and,
relatively speaking, this is invariably the rule with them)——but a small
proportion, I repeat, is absorbed into the circulation, and, therefore,
undigested food must form the chief share of the so-called fecal matters,
and (2) owing to the heavy fur-coat, lining the colon, the secretion of
waste matters from the blood is, as just stated, well nigh prohibited.

Hence it results that under the ordinary treatment the consumptive patient
is hurried out of the world by a relative, and, often enough, by an
actual, exaggeration of the very practices which originated his disorder.
Referring once more to Dr. Fothergill’s, which is, to be sure, the regular
drug plan: having scoured off the fur, so to say, with drastic purgatives,
which have, possibly, cut a little too deep; or when, from whatever cause,
instead of the furred coat, “the tongue is raw, bare, and denuded of
epithelium, the patient should,” he says, “take a mixture of _bismuth_
with an _alkali_ and use a milk diet. Seltzer water and milk will often
agree when the milk alone is found to be too heavy and constipating.” Here
we have a case analogous to that of the robust gourmand whose dinner of a
dozen courses is carried on and out by the aid of his “dinner pill,” or
the free use of filthy mineral waters: A cup or two of cow’s milk (which,
at best, is only a natural aliment for the calf, and which is too often
drawn from a creature herself suffering from tuberculosis), is, to the
depraved consumptive, even more “heavy and constipating” than the grossest
diet indulged in ordinarily, to supposably healthy Christians, not to
speak of such occasions as church festivals or society “breakfasts.” One
secret of the difficulty which besets the hygienist in his efforts to
prevail upon a consumptive patient to persist in a course of “natural
medication,” after having once fairly entered upon it, lies in this: There
is naturally a letting down, at first, from the stimulated condition, and
this is often discouraging; the craving for the customary stimulants is
almost as unappeasable as that of the rum-dyspeptic; and what makes the
matter worse with the consumptive than with the drunkard, everybody who
approaches the former seeks to tempt the appetite: or, in any event, the
sight, smell, and hearing of the “good things” renders abstinence from
such most difficult; and then, again, after leaving off many objectionable
articles of food and drink, and having abstained from them for a few
months, we will say, the transient resumption, always imminent, of the use
of forbidden fruit operates with renewed force, and the patient finds
himself, as he thinks, “gaining a little,” and he is thus encouraged to
fall back, more or less gradually, into all his old practices. Coffee, for
example,——which originally proved constipating, after its first
(laxative) effects ceased,——having been abstained from for some months, is
now found to “agree” with and even “help” the patient, who, beginning with
a single small cup at breakfast, works up finally to two at each meal;
and, altogether, things go on swimmingly for a time. Again, after a period
of abstinence from flesh-food, pastry, spices, etc.——to guard against
which nature has put the fur-coat upon the intestines, or, perhaps, it
should be said that the wear and tear occasioned by all unwholesome
articles introduced into the stomach, have produced an effect somewhat
analogous to the thickened cuticle resulting from the constant chafing of
an ill-fitting shoe, for example,——as the intestinal tract begins to
acquire something of its normal condition, there is a point when the
resumption of a “generous” diet, in which the aforesaid substances figure
largely, will seem to give the patient a fresh impulse healthward: they
once more, perhaps, produce the laxative effects simulating that most
desirable state of the bowels called “regular.” And so on to the end of
the chapter, the patient, friends, and perhaps the medical adviser, are
misled as to the real state of affairs, until, finally, the end
approaches, and the patient who was “improving so nicely” grows worse,
and, after a period of intense suffering, which weans him from all desire
to live, and reconciles his friends to the change, dies. “He catched cold,
it settled on his lungs, and in his weak state”——etc., etc.

Speaking in round terms, the consumptive’s digestive ability is about on a
par, usually, indeed, inferior to his muscular powers; and it is as
irrational to expect him to digest and assimilate several meals a day, as
to expect him to saw several cords of wood in the same length of time.
Both are alike impossible. The fact that the food disappears, or that
there is a craving for it, even, or, again, that it “seems to agree with
the stomach,” does not change the case. A little food of the simplest sort
may be assimilated, a little muscular exercise may be taken, and both
prove curative. In common practice, however, the alimentary system is
taxed to its own exhaustion and the impairment of the entire organism,
while the voluntary muscular system deteriorates by reason of _non-use_ as
well as from the general lack of nutrition.

A very grave error, however, is sometimes made——of taking too much
exercise; that is, of beginning the change too abruptly. Whatever the
state of one’s general health, he can only do with advantage _about_ what
he has _habitually done_. If he has all along lived a very active life and
is in his usual health, he can take a good deal of exercise without harm,
even with advantage; if, on the other hand, his life is sedentary, but
little can be taken——beyond the current amount——without doing more harm
than good. In either case, however, there may be a gradual increase of
muscular exercise, and for many of the latter class this would prove life
conserving, (if persisted in as a habit of life), but spasmodic efforts at
building up a muscular system will always fail; nature does nothing in
that fashion. The rule should be to exercise a little short of fatigue,
and it should be increased little by little each day, “until the labor of
working accommodates itself to easy habits.” This rule would leave for
some consumptive patients, at first, only the passive exercise of having
their muscles pressed by their attendant’s hand, or a gentle walk for a
short distance, and so on.

“Combined with a hectic flush of the face, night-sweats, or general
emaciation, shortness of breath leaves no doubt that the person thus
affected is in the first stage of pulmonary consumption. If the patient
were my son, I should remove the windows of his bedroom, and make him pass
his days in the open air——as a cow-boy or berry-gatherer, if he could do
no better. In case the disease had reached its _deliquium_ period, the
stage of violent bowel-complaints, dropsical swellings, and utter
prostration,[23] it would be better to let the sufferer die in peace; but,
as long as he were able to digest a frugal meal and walk two miles on
level ground, I should begin the outdoor cure at any time of the year, and
stake my own life on the result. I should provide him with clothing enough
to defy the vicissitudes of the seasons, and keep him outdoors in all
kinds of weather——walking, riding, or sitting; he would be safe: the fresh
air would prevent the _progress_ of the disease. But _improve_ he could
not without exercise. Increased exercise is the price of increased vigor.
Running and walking steel the leg-sinews. In order to strengthen his
wrist-joints a man must handle heavy weights. Almost any bodily
exercise——but especially swinging, wood-chopping, carrying weights, and
walking up-hill——increases the action of the lungs, and thus gradually
their functional vigor. Gymnastics that expand the chest facilitate the
action of the respiratory organs, and have the collateral advantage of
strengthening the sinews, and invigorating the system in general, by
accelerating every function of the vital process. The exponents of the
movement-cure give a long list of athletic evolutions, warranted to widen
out the chest as infallibly as French-horn practice expands the cheeks.
But the trouble with such machine-exercises is that they are almost sure
to be discontinued as soon as they have relieved a momentary distress,
and, as Dr. Pitcher remarks in his ‘Memoirs of the Osage Indians,’ the
symptoms of consumption (caused by smoking and confinement in winter
quarters) disappear during their annual buffalo-hunt, but reappear upon
their return to the indolent life of the wigwam. The problem is to make
outdoor exercise pleasant enough to be permanently preferable to the _far
niente_ whose sweets seem especially tempting to consumptives. This
purpose accomplished, the steady progress of convalescence is generally
insured, for the differences of climate, latitude, and altitude, of age
and previous habits, almost disappear before the advantages of an habitual
outdoor life over the healthiest indoor occupations.”——(“Physical
Education.”)

[Footnote 23: The fasting consumptive referred to on page 62 had already
approached this condition.——AUTHOR.]

I would not be understood, by any means, as advising every consumptive
patient, or every one who supposes himself to be suffering from this
disease, to immediately and without advice stop eating; but this much I
do say: in all cases of progressive emaciation, that is to say, where the
organs of digestion and assimilation have become so impaired that the body
is not nourished, but is steadily declining, the attending physician
should _consider_ the question of temporary rest for the alimentary
organs, so far as the ingestion of food is concerned. The presence even of
a craving appetite should be treated as a morbid symptom, and should weigh
in favor of abstinence. It should also be borne in mind that the earlier
this remedy is applied the smaller will be the “dose” indicated, and the
more speedy and complete the relief. Had Mr. Connolly, for example——whose
cure by fasting I have already alluded to——at any time during his first
few months of “pressure at the lungs, with cough and expectoration,”
fasted for a week or ten days,[24] perhaps, under the care of a physician
sufficiently intelligent to judge of his needs in this direction, and had
he thereafter lived on the plain diet which he now finds so complete, he
would in all probability have escaped the illness which followed, and
would have enjoyed uninterrupted health to the present day. Again, if he
had changed his manner of living five years earlier——from three “mixed”
meals[25] of stimulating food, as flesh and the irritating condiments
invariably associated with animal food; pastry, white flour, and
stimulating drinks, as tea and coffee——to two meals composed of the
cereals, vegetables and fruits, prepared in the simplest and plainest
manner, there would have been no call for a fast. I have the means of
knowing of over five thousand families in this country alone who have made
this change for preventive and curative purposes, and with the happiest
results. I would say that any person who finds his appetite failing or
fitful——sometimes poor, sometimes craving——and who has reason to fear the
decline of his nutritive powers, will do well to make a radical change in
his habits of living; and the sooner the better. The most pernicious
custom of which I have any knowledge, yet one almost universal in the care
of the sick, is that of “tempting the appetite,” concocting fancy or
especially toothsome dishes, when nature is saying in the plainest manner
that feeding has already been overdone. Such preparations are a severe tax
upon even robust persons——they are fatal to consumptives. It is infinitely
worse than bribing an exhausted laborer, who can scarcely move a muscle,
to rouse himself to fresh tasks. He will do more and better work by reason
of present and absolute rest; and the same is true of the sick stomach:
there will be a relish for the coarsest article of diet——aye, it will be
delicious——and digestion will wait on appetite, when the nutritive organs
shall have been restored by sufficient rest. The experiments of Tanner at
New York, Griscomb at Chicago, and now of Terrence Connolly (the
consumptive faster) at Newton, N. J., have, I believe, demonstrated the
fact that, in health or in sickness, in all cases of abstinence from all
food, saving only water and pure air, of whatever disease the subject may
die, it will not be for want of food, _so long as there remains any
considerable amount of flesh[26] on his bones_. By the light of these
experiences we shall do well, too, to study more closely the functions of
the lymphatic system: human flesh, by absorption, constitutes a most
appropriate diet in certain conditions of disease (see article on
rheumatism). The absorption and excretion of diseased tissues is, under
some circumstances, the only work that nature can with safety undertake,
and in these cases no building up can be accomplished until a solid
foundation is reached and the _debris_ removed; and _not then unless,
while this good work is going on, the nutritive organs are given an
opportunity to virtually renew themselves_.

[Footnote 24: It is evident that such a fast, _then_, would have proved,
so far as the danger of starvation is concerned, a mere bagatelle, since
three years later, as we have seen,——years of decline and emaciation,——he
endured, and, with advantage, a fast of over six weeks.]

[Footnote 25: A return to his old diet now would probably make short work
of this subject, and should I hear of his early death, my first inquiry
would relate to this point.]

[Footnote 26: The amount “consumed” in the case of Mr. Connolly from day
to day, was very slight indeed, scarcely more than before he left off
eating; that is, it was observed that his emaciation was no more rapid
during the fast than immediately prior thereto; before the fast his food
was not being digested nor assimilated, and he was taking purgatives
continually for torpid bowels.]

Dr. Tanner, in his forty days’ fast, lost about fifty pounds in weight.
Mr. Griscomb lost a little more than that in his fast of forty-five days;
and although moving about, taking more exercise every day than many
sedentary people, and attending to a large correspondence, etc., was still
able to say to the audience assembled to see him break his fast: “Ladies
and gentlemen, you see now a man who has swallowed no food, except water,
for forty-five days, and yet I can assure you that I am neither faint nor
hungry; but I shall soon convince you that I have an excellent appetite,”
and, so saying, he proceeded to partake of a very moderate dinner, and in
moderate fashion. It is commonly supposed that these are uncommon men:
they are uncommon only in possessing a knowledge as to the power of the
living organism to withstand abstinence from food, and in having the
courage of their opinions. And yet, when discussing the advantages of the
two-meal system, uninformed people talk about “getting faint if they go so
long” without nourishment! They speak from the three-meal-fish-flesh-fowl
and pickle stand-point; accustomed to applying a hot poultice to a
gnawing, sick stomach every few hours, they do get faint if the time runs
over a single hour.

These various fasts, with the lessons to be drawn from them, must prove,
finally, of inestimable value to science in the treatment of disease,
where it may be desirable to rest all the viscera, or any portion thereof,
concerned in digestion,[27] or to “close the bowels” for certain surgical
operations, without resorting to injurious medication, and also——a very
important consideration——in cases of enforced abstinence, as in time of
famine or shipwreck, to prevent death from fright and discouragement,
which have heretofore killed scores where actual starvation has one.

[Footnote 27: An eminent Maine statesman has recently died, who might have
recovered and lived for years, but for the mistaken theory that food is a
daily need under all circumstances: To constantly feed an irritated
stomach is like kicking a man when he is down. And yet this is being done
with fatal effect constantly all over the world. In certain cases, and
especially with aged patients, this system is as surely fatal as
strychnine, if less speedy. There are many besides myself who believe that
President Garfield died from fatty degeneration, chronic dyspepsia, and
constant feeding during his illness, rather than from the effects of the
bullet. True enough, he might have lived on for years in his disordered
physical condition but for the wound; still, on the other hand, it is
equally probable that he might have lived, and that his sickness would
have restored him to health even, but for the constant tampering with his
stomach, which needed rest as much as the great and good man himself. No
rest for the stomach, no rest for the man, is an axiom which I would
submit to my brother practitioners, as one worthy of all acceptation. It
is being constantly proved right before their own eyes, and yet very few
have learned the lesson it teaches.]

As illustrating the influence of an out-door life, with partial or
transient fasting, I will cite

THE CASE OF MR. VICKERS.

Joseph Vickers, born and raised in England, but now of Biddeford, Me.,
whose home is near my own, and the man himself well known to me, was very
“low with consumption” at one time, when in his twenty-second year. His
disease was attributed, and without doubt justly, to a severe chill
resulting from wading the river on one of his hunting bouts, and being
compelled to dry his clothes on his back——a feat he had previously
performed repeatedly, except that on this occasion, being very much
fatigued, and night coming on, instead of continuing vigorous exercise
while his clothes were drying, he “went into camp” and “shivered
throughout the night in his soaked garments.” Declining very rapidly, with
every symptom of pulmonary consumption, his case was considered hopeless
by his friends. Medicine seeming to him useless, he gave up taking it, and
his physician consequently gave him no encouragement or hope of recovery.
His digestion was very imperfect——as he put it, “Nothing I ate seemed to
do me any good”——and to the disgust of his parents and friends he often
refused to eat anything for an entire day. Able to be up and dressed a
good portion of the time, he would spend as much of the day outdoors as
possible, and at night “never slept without a window open in the
bed-room.” Gaining a little strength, and being “badgered,” as he says,
“all the time, when at home, about eating,” and being very fond of
hunting, and not sleeping well, he would rise very early, take his gun
and, as he expressed it, would “crawl off to the woods,” and sit or lie
down until rested, and then “travel a bit and rest again,” and so spend
the entire day, taking no lunch, and eating nothing, drinking from a brook
or a spring when thirsty, returning at night, often as late as seven or
eight o’clock, when he would eat a little coarse food after resting, and
then go to bed. “A couple of weeks” of this sort of life sufficed to bring
him home at night with an “appetite for a side of sole-leather,” and he
would eat a hearty supper——always of the plainest food——and soon go to
bed. From this point his recovery was as rapid as his decline had been.
His diet has always been of the plainest sort, mostly vegetable (a large
proportion of coarse bread and fruit),——“My drink is always cold water,
and I let the rest of the family eat all the fancy stuff,” he remarked.
Mr. Vickers,——who is a devout Christian man, and his story corroborated
in every feature by others as reliable,——is now sixty-six years old,
though he appears like a robust, well-preserved man of fifty.

Excepting under very aggravated conditions, as for example, the case of
Mr. Vickers, given above, rarely does any creature ever _begin_ to have
consumption with a sound stomach, liver, and intestines. Nor can the
digestive organs become diseased, ordinarily, so long as the diet and
general regimen are even approximately correct. If we thought more of what
would “tickle” the stomach and intestines than the palate, simply, we
would banish most of our disorders; pure air, active exercise, a _clear
conscience_, and the cultivation of a spirit of cheerfulness, kindliness,
and contentment, would send the balance a-flying. Upon the importance of
cheerfulness, a recent writer, a physician with a large practice, and a
man of keen perceptions, says: “One of the most important directions of
all is personal and subjective. Cultivate with the utmost force possible
the habit of cheerfulness. No words can put this out with the strength and
weight which I should be glad to give to it. Its value is utterly beyond
estimation. The difference between meeting the common, or uncommon, trials
of life with cheerfulness or with despondency, and perhaps complaint and
grumbling, is often just the difference between life and death.”

The appetite for “sweets”——candy, syrup, sugar, and fancy dishes deluged
with sweet sauces——encouraged to an abnormal degree from infancy, and the
gratification of this appetite throughout life are prolific aids in
establishing the phthisical diathesis. There is a natural appetite for
_sweet fruits_ and this demand may be safely met by such forms of food,
but never by the unbalancing artificial sweets, or _proximate principles_
of food, as cane or beet sugar and the “bon-bons” formed from them.

Victor Hugo,——that grand man who gave us “_Les Miserables_,”——in the first
volume of the series, puts this bit of physiological wisdom into the mouth
of the witty libertine, Tholomyés, who uses it, to be sure, in a double
sense, which I need not here explain: “Now, listen attentively!” says this
oracle of the “four.” “Sugar is a salt. Every salt is desiccating. Sugar
is the most desiccating of all salts. It sucks up the liquids from the
blood through the veins; thence comes the coagulation, then the
solidification of the blood; thence the tubercles in the lungs; thence
death. And this is why diabetes borders on consumption.” I commend the
above thought to consumptives, and to the parents of fat children——the
consumptives of the future. Every grain of artificial sugar swallowed,
constitutes a tax upon the system——upon the lungs and kidneys, more
particularly——a tax upon the individual’s vitality.

Among the prolific causes of consumption in after life, is that of the
involuntary cramming and fattening of infancy, followed up during
childhood and youth by a somewhat less excessive gluttony, which is taught
inferentially by the conversation and example of the elders, as by
constantly dwelling upon the delights of the palate, arranging
entertainments which are feasts of the body, rather than of the mind, in
advance of which all classes discuss with excess of interest the palatal
pleasures of the coming “good time,” and at which all unite, if not in
gorging themselves, at least in feeding themselves for pleasure to the
disregard of the true requirements of their bodies for nutriment.

As a result of all this, sedentary persons become, like stall-fed oxen,
degenerated with fat; and this, as just remarked about children, is a
predisposing cause of consumption. A very large proportion of
consumptives, most of them, in fact, are first thus diseased; and when any
person is round and plump, or even fairly covered, so to say, and is yet
lacking in muscular power——“easily tired”——it is _prima facie_ evidence
that the muscular system is degenerated in the manner described; and if
the muscles, then the vital organs within, also. Thus we observe that
grossness is by no means essential to fatty degeneration, although all
obese persons are, of course, thus affected.

The salary of a fireman (“coal heaver”) depends upon his intelligence in
the matter of fuelling up his engine with a view to its “health,” power
and longevity; that of the cook or caterer, upon his ingenuity in devising
means to accomplish the reverse of all this in the case of the human
engine placed at his mercy.

“A well-spread board” should be described as one at which the youngest
child (whose teeth are cut) may exercise his will without let or
hindrance until, at the first indication of dallying, or “loafing,” over
his food, it is evident that he has had enough; and at which the
consumptive may eat without being tempted to overindulge, but, paying heed
to the first intimation of satiety, rise from the table with the assurance
of having performed an agreeable duty, in that he has eaten in quantity
and quality, what he can digest and assimilate. The consumptive starves,
not for want of food, but for want of digestion and assimilation. It is
impossible to emphasize this fact too strongly.

The _Scientific American_ of June 3, 1882, in an article entitled
“Tubercle Parasite,”[28] considering Dr. Koch’s theory, says: “According
to Dr. Salisbury, this disease (consumption) is one arising from
‘continued unhealthy alimentation, and must be treated by removing the
cause. This cause is fermenting food and the products of this
fermentation, viz.: alcoholic yeast and alcohol, vinegar yeast and acetic
acid, carbonic acid gas, embolism, and interference with nutrition.
Consumption of the bowels can be produced at any time in the human subject
in from fifteen to thirty days, and consumption of the lungs inside of
ninety days, by special, exclusive, and continued feeding upon the diet
that produces them——that is, food containing starch and sugar in alcoholic
and acetic acid fermentation.’” Dr. Salisbury had found this embryonic
form of the vinegar yeast in the blood, sputa, and excretions of persons
suffering with consumption. In the blood the plant forms masses by itself,
grows inside the white corpuscles, causes the fibrin filaments of the
blood to be larger in size and stronger, the red corpuscles to be ropy,
sticky, adhesive, making small clots or “thrombi,” which become “emboli”
or plugs, and block up the capillaries and blood-vessels. The growth of
the vinegar yeast in its embryonal stage, combined with the mechanical
interference with nutrition, causes abnormal growths in the substance of
organs, called tubercle; and the concurrent inflammatory results, in
addition to the chemical action of the vinegar or acetic acid, causes the
death and breaking down of the organs invaded——the lungs, for example.
That this is not opinion only is shown by the fact that over 246 swine
were, at his instance, destroyed by feeding on farinaceous food in a state
of alcoholic and vinegar fermentation, the vinegar yeast traced in the
blood, found in the excretions, and 104 of the dead swine were subjected
to _post-mortem_ examinations and their lungs found broken down and
diseased as in ordinary consumption. The same experiment was tried on a
number of men, “all healthy, and with no vegetations in the blood. They
were given plenty of exercise in the open air,” but within three months
these men had consumption of the lungs. “Certainly,” says the _Scientific
American_, “we think the evidence submitted shows that Dr. Salisbury has
come nearer to the real intimate nature of consumption than Dr. Koch or
any one we know. There is a simplicity, directness, breadth, and
positiveness rarely seen in the treatment of a medical subject. Indeed, it
is doubtful if there have been experiments so conclusive and extensive
before or since.” It must be evident to even the crudest thinker that this
fermenting process must ultimately produce the same effects when _begun in
the stomach_, and described as indigestion; and no more efficient means of
initiating this process can be imagined than that of swallowing
indigestible substances——the most wholesome food-substances may be
prepared in such a manner as to render them indigestible——or eating in
excess of the needs of the organism, and therefore of the capacity for
digestion. Thousands upon thousands of so-called healthy people are in
this way approaching the point of decline, more or less slowly, but
surely, utterly unconscious of their danger, simply because in their
ignorance they can not recognize the premonitory symptoms, of which
chronic constipation, for example, is one, and a very grave one. (See
article on this subject.)

[Footnote 28: Microscopic examination reveals the presence of a
multiplicity of fatty crystals throughout the substance of the lungs of
persons who have died of consumption. At a recent meeting of the New
Orleans Pathological Society, its President, Dr. H. D. Schmidt, whose
researches have been extended and minute, made an important microscopical
demonstration to disprove Prof. Koch’s so-called discovery as to the
bacilli of tuberculosis. Prof. Schmidt claimed to demonstrate that the
so-called bacilli, thought by Dr. Koch to be the cause of consumption,
were simply fatty crystals. Connecting with this the fact that Prof. Koch
really found certain minute living organisms which he propagated
artificially for several generations, it becomes evident to my mind (1)
that the “bacillus” is simply a natural scavenger enveloped in the
diseased tissue——the fatty crystal, or the tubercle——and (2) that its
office is really, under the circumstances, conservative to life. Nor is
this conclusion disproved by the alleged fact that the inoculation with
the bacilli, of _supposably_ healthy animals, produced the disorder: In
the first place, the little domestic pets, such as were thus operated
upon, are always, owing to their artificial surroundings, predisposed to
the disease in question, frequently falling victims to it without the aid
of inoculation, and (3) this being the case, their inoculation with a
liberal reinforcement of greedy vermin,——or, supposing that, as yet, none
were generated, their premature introduction,——would naturally tend to a
speedy and fatal termination. It makes no difference to a dead man whether
his lungs were devoured by bacilli, or simply broken down from fatty
degeneration; but to the living, it is a matter of the utmost importance
to learn the true condition of things in the premises. The idea of being
eaten alive by myriads of little vermin from which there is supposably no
escape, is enough to strike terror to the mind of a patient; but let him
know that his disease is of such a nature that (with the _aid_ of the
bacilli, perhaps,) a radical change in his manner of living affords great
assurance for the hope of its entire eradication, and he has at once an
all-sufficient motive for reform.

Dr. J. Milner Fothergill, in a letter to the _Philadelphia Medical Times_,
referring to Koch’s theory of the origin of tuberculosis, remarks, half
jocosely: “Talk of the bitterness of death! It is nothing to the shadowy
danger which overhangs us of a tubercle-bacillus getting into one’s
pulmonary alveoli in an unguarded moment, and when one’s ‘resistive power’
happens to be impaired. Shadowy in the sense of invisible, not unreal! Is
this what is meant by ‘the doom of a great city’? Is the bacillus a
relative of the poison-germ which slew Sennacherib’s host in a night? We
do not yet know the little creature intimately enough to say. But, really,
the horrors which the mind conjures up of the dangers of the bacillus in
the future are demoralizing. Suppose, now, that some change of the human
constitution should favor the bacillus, just as the potato-field did the
Colorado beetle, who had been happily quiet in his dietary of the leaves
of the deadly nightshade, but who went on the war-path when the leaves of
the other members of the Solanaceæ came within his reach. The imagination
fails to conceive what may be the fate of man,——to be slain by a foe more
remorseless than any of the plagues of Egypt. Suppose, now, that the
bacillus took such a new departure, and got ahead of our ‘resistive
power.’ Why, man would be swept off the face of the earth! What an
ignominious end, too! Man, in the plenitude of his power over the forces
of nature, slain by an insignificant little bacillus!”]

After all, excess in diet is, usually, only another term for lack of fresh
air and exercise, without which no one can become, or continue, robust.
While it is true that to command health and muscular vigor one must be
well fed, still no amount of food alone can make the right arm like that
of a blacksmith. But we can make the muscles grow on ample exercise
and——food enough; always, however, considering a constant supply of oxygen
as an essential element in the ration. The muscular system wastes——with
many is never even tolerably developed——the powers wane, because of
sedentary habits. “Inaction contravenes the supreme design of the human
constitution, and is therefore adverse to its health.”——HUXLEY. The lungs
begin to take on disease, often, because the individual does nothing to
make him _breathe deep_; exercise is not frequent and vigorous[29] enough
to cause frequent deep inspirations; the remote air-cells are in many
instances seldom, and with corset-wearers _never_, inflated, and,
consequently, the tendency is to grow together, so to say, or, rather, to
fester and slough off, as useless appendages. To form the habit of taking
long breaths in the open air, occasionally, throughout the day, would do
much to maintain the integrity of lung-tissue, aerate the blood and
prevent or cure consumption; but, after all, Nature designs that creatures
who inhabit this earth shall be “fit” for something besides drawing their
own breath.[30] To be “fit to survive” one must be of use in the world;
hence there must be employment that taxes the mental, moral, and physical
forces sufficiently to stimulate their growth and development. This, and
nothing short of this, is health, in the complete sense of the term.
_Robust health_, if one would secure it, demands that one should be much
in the open air and exposed, often, to a low temperature while taking a
great deal of vigorous exercise. To be _long-lived_, on the other hand,
requires rather that the diet be restricted to correspond with abstinence
from labor and cold, some degree of exercise in the open air, however,
being essential. The robust often wear out faster than the brain workers,
whose lives are rather on the quiet order. Worry kills ten where work
kills one.

[Footnote 29: In a badly vitiated atmosphere _inaction_ is the only
palliative; muscular exercise causes a demand for an increased supply of
oxygen, and increases the amount of carbonic acid to be eliminated,
neither of which conditions can be met except by means of pure air.]

[Footnote 30: See note 1 in Appendix, p. 275.]

The best illustration of the natural means of preventing, or curing,
consumption——in fact, of promoting and maintaining health, under any
circumstances——I have ever seen, is given in the following true story of

HOW A YOUNG GIRL CURED HERSELF.

“Then you are surprised to learn that I came within six weeks of dying of
consumption, thirty years ago, are you, doctor?” The questioner was a
bright, healthy little woman of fifty who, in the course of a consultation
about a consumptive niece, had expressed herself as having little hope of
her recovery, “because she wouldn’t do as I did when I had the
disease——and she isn’t nearly as sick as I was.” Straight as an arrow,
active and merry, looking more like forty than fifty, Mrs. E. was the last
person that any one would select as belonging to a “consumptive family,”
or of having suffered with the disease, in her own person, and yet her
mother died of it when this daughter was about 19, and the latter’s
decline was attributed to inherited tendency and long confinement in the
sick-room, during the last year of her mother’s life. “Yes, I have told
Lettie how I cured myself after the doctors gave me up, but she will not
undertake it——not now, at least——perhaps she may when she gets where I
was. Do you want me to give you my recipe for the cure of consumption,
Doctor? Tell you the whole story? Well, the way is simple, and the story a
short one, and if it will help any one I shall be very glad. I needn’t
tell you all about mother’s case——hers was the old-fashioned consumption;
she was sick a good many years, but the last year she was almost helpless
and would have no one but me to take care of her. Well, I bore up until
she died, and then I gave out; I could not go to the grave——I was in bed
during the funeral. I had not realized——none of the family had——how poorly
I had become; but now it was plain enough. I kept my bed most of the
time——could not get rested. I had been sick several weeks when my brother
was brought home ill, was taken with typhoid fever, and there was no one
to nurse him. I roused myself up and declared that I was able to do it;
and I carried the point, in spite of all father could say. Well, he was
sick nine weeks, but I gave up before he recovered. I carried him through
the worst of it, however, before I took my bed; and then I was very sick
indeed. For a while they thought I could live but a few weeks, but I
rallied and got more comfortable. I raised a great deal, and for several
months remained about the same, apparently; but the autumn came, and when
we began to shut the house up I seemed to grow worse; my cough was still
very bad, but I couldn’t ‘raise’ much, and I suffered terribly for breath.
The doctor who had been attending me——the one who had tended mother——at
last said he could do no more for me, and for some months we had no
physician, and then father called a new one——a young doctor who was
fitting himself for practice in our village. He came to see me, examined
my lungs, and I fainted away in the effort. He went out——leaving no
medicine——and had a talk with father. He said that he did not care to take
the case; that there was no hope for me; my lungs were badly ulcerated,
and I had but few weeks to live. ‘She can’t live over six weeks,[31] Mr.
B., and she may die any day. I am young, just commencing practice, and it
will injure me to have her die on my hands; and I can not help her.’ ‘At
least,’ said father, ‘give her something to relieve her suffering.’ They
did not know that I could hear them; but spring-time had come again, the
day was quite warm, and I had asked to have the window raised at the head
of my bed, and so it happened that I could hear all they said. I heard
the doctor returning, and I resolved not to take any of his soothing
drops; I had taken all I meant to. ‘Well,’ said I, ‘what have you come
back for, doctor?’ ‘Your father wished me to prescribe for you,’ said he.
‘Never mind,’ I said, firmly, ‘I shall take nothing more. You say I have
six weeks to live: I will spend them in getting rid of the medicines I
have taken the past year,’ and he went away. Soon father came in, seeming
much disappointed and grieved, and in answer to his questioning, I told
him why I had determined to take no more medicine, and what I had resolved
to do; and now I will tell you what I did, and how I came to do it. I had
read in an old English almanac——not a medical one, like the ones strewn
about everywhere now, but there was a good deal of useful information in
it——a ‘Sure Cure for Consumption,’ and it was so different from what I had
been doing, and appealed so strongly to my judgment, that I had been
thinking that if I could only make a start there might be a chance for me;
but the effort required was so great that I doubt if I should have had
courage enough to undertake it but for my resentment, upon overhearing
that conversation——to think that the doctors had given me nothing but
medicine, and that I had been eating in such a way——without any appetite,
except for some of the ‘rich’ things they were always making because I
couldn’t relish anything else. The recipe explained that the disease was
caused by lack of fresh air, outdoor exercise, and appropriate food; but I
will only tell you what I did, and you will understand all about the
reasons for it. First, I told father and the rest of the family that as I
had but six weeks to live, they must let me have my own way in everything,
and must do as I said. I could not move from the bed alone, but I had them
carry me on a comforter out on the lawn and lay me down there. ‘How was
_I_ to take exercise——when I could scarcely turn myself in bed?’ was the
question. Well, I did turn myself on one side, and, with a stick, begun to
dig a little in the ground. It looked then as though I should not do much
damage to the nice sod father had taken so much pains to make; but I dug a
little hole as large as my fist, and then rested. After a while I turned
over on the other side and dug another little hole, filled it up, and
rested again. It seemed good to rest and I felt a little better; for the
outdoor air, and the exertion I had put forth, ‘loosened’ my cough a
little, and I begun to ‘raise.’ At night they carried me back to bed. My
bed-room windows had been wide open all day, and I wouldn’t have them shut
now; but in answer to their fears about the night air and catching cold, I
said, ‘Give me clothes enough, and I will risk the night air——I’m going to
breathe pure air the next six weeks——if I live so long.’ They all felt
terribly——they thought I was shortening my life, even then——but they
yielded, finally, in everything, even to not asking me ‘if I couldn’t eat
a little of this, or that, if they would make it for me?’ I had replied:
‘No, when I feel like eating a piece of Graham bread or a potato, without
butter or salt, I will eat something——not before.’ This had occurred in
the morning, and that very night I asked for a slice of bread and ate a
little bit——as big as my two fingers, perhaps. I had them put a
teaspoonful of cayenne pepper[32] in a dish and turn warm water on it——a
quart——and let it stand overnight, and in the morning was sponged all over
in that water——the dregs turned off. I had them bathe an arm and then dry
it with a coarse towel, and rub me with it as hard as I could bear (not
very hard, to be sure), then a leg, and so on.[33] It seemed to give the
dead skin a little life; then they carried me out to my ‘work’ again! I
felt like resting after the bath, but after a while I turned over and dug
a larger hole than on the day before, filled it——partly with what I raised
from my lungs, and such stuff as it was! I could take longer breaths, too;
and after digging a minute or so I would _have_ to stop and take a long
breath, and then go on again.[34] I was thirsty a good deal, and would
drink water——all I wanted. I ate a piece of stale coarse bread and some
fruit that morning after I was rested from my first digging, and then I
kept on resting for some hours, after which I dug a little more. In the
middle of the day, when the sun came down too hot, I had an old umbrella
put over me and fastened. At night a little bit of bread and a small
potato: I ate as much as I could relish, but not a mouthful more. In this
way I kept on, day after day, and they began to see that I was gaining.
Father, who could not believe the gain was real, but rather the temporary
effect of my will, yet joked me about ruining the lawn: ‘I shall have to
turf it all over again, Lucia,’ said he, even before I could dig a hole
large enough in a day to bury a cat in, and he tried to laugh at his
little joke. I remember that I did laugh, and came near strangling in a
coughing fit in consequence, but that was a help; what I _needed_ was to
cough and raise the stuff up——those old ulcers that the doctor said my
lungs were covered with——and I found fresh air, flavored with a little
exercise, a better ‘expectorant,’ as you doctors say, than those I had
been taking. I began to feel hopeful——the novelty of the idea——digging for
my life! I took a desperate view of it——six weeks to live——‘I’ll die
fighting,’ I said to myself. It seemed almost droll——droll enough, at any
rate, to interest my mind, and I would say funny things to the others to
make them laugh, and this seemed to make them try to be cheerful and to
cheer me on. The third day, I remember that I ate the same kind of a
breakfast——just a little——and at night asked them to boil a beet! I would
have only one vegetable at a time, lest I might be tempted to overeat and
lose my appetite, and so spoil everything.[35] I was impressed with the
idea of ‘earning my living’ at outdoor work——‘by the sweat of my
brow’——and not to eat more than I earned by the exercise. I had renounced
my coffee and tea; I ate no grease of any kind, nor meat——bread, fruit,
and vegetables only——no salt or spices, pastry, pie, puddings, nor cake,
nor ‘sweets’ of any sort, except the natural, _whole_ sweet furnished by
nature, in the form of vegetables and sweet fruits. The prescription said
that some people ate too much soft food,——bread and milk, puddings, and
the like,——and that while such dishes were better than many others in
common use, still they were not the best, especially for sick people with
weak stomachs, but that dry (farinaceous) food was every way better; and
so I ate bread, or unleavened biscuit, which, after a little practice, the
girl could make very nice,——just the meal and water well mixed and moulded
stiff and baked in a hot oven,——and I ate them very slowly, chewing each
mouthful thoroughly. You can tell, perhaps, doctor, just why this should
make a difference:[36] I only know that it seemed to agree with my stomach
better. They bathed me every morning in the same way, only after a while
they did not have to work so slowly and cautiously. I could exercise more
and more, from day to day, and with less and less fatigue, and I laughed
to myself that father’s joke would prove something more than a joke; I was
bound to undo all his nice work; and I knew he wouldn’t care, so that I
could get well. After a while I could raise myself up and sit erect, and
dig a little, first on one side and then on the other; and by the time my
‘six weeks’ were up——and I told father so one day——I could dig a pretty
good grave for myself, if they wanted to bury me; only, it wouldn’t be
quite deep enough to hold me down——for I had actually raised myself to my
feet, stood alone, and walked a few steps without help. On the eighth week
I could walk about——would walk off a dozen steps, come back, sit
down——perhaps lie down. The more I did, the more I could do——always taking
care not to exhaust myself——and the more I could eat; but I took even more
care not to overeat than not to overwork: I found that the real thing was
to eat little enough——not to see how much I could eat——so that I could
increase the amount regularly, rather than to lose my appetite and eat
nothing some days, or eat without an appetite, and next day eat
enormously, perhaps, as mother used to; I wouldn’t have them ‘fix up’
anything——I was afraid of being put back. I ate but twice a day, and
sometimes my breakfast was nothing but fruit——two or three oranges or as
many apples, or a huge slice of watermelon——this was food and drink, both.
I wore the least possible weight of clothing——often removing my stockings
as well as shoes, and going barefooted and bare-armed when the weather was
very warm. I had lost all fear of taking cold, though I kept comfortable
always——throwing off clothing when too warm, and putting it on, as any
great change in the temperature made it necessary, but to the extent of my
increasing strength I endeavored to keep warm by exerting my muscles. One
day, after some months of self-treatment, and when it had become evident
that I was really convalescent, I asked brother to call Dr. Osgood (the
young doctor who refused to take my case). ‘Why, sis,’ said he, ‘you are
not in earnest?’ ‘Yes, I am,’ said I, ‘I want to tell him how to cure
consumption! You tell him I want to see him, but don’t say what for.’ He
had been away somewhere, and had forgotten all about me, of course, but
when brother spoke to him about me, he was astonished to find that I was
alive. ‘It was amazing’ he said. ‘Yes, if there is any chance of saving(!)
her I will call’——and he came. He expressed his pleasure at finding me so
well, and I suppose he thought I had come to a point where I felt the need
of his advice and a ‘tonic,’ perhaps; but I just made him listen to the
story of my self-cure, and asked him if he couldn’t advise others to do
the same way, and so do his patients more good. He was inclined to be
vexed, at first, but finally he laughed and said: ‘Really, Miss B————, I
have come here at your request, and you have prescribed for me, instead of
I for you, and I thank you for it——will pay you for it, if you will name
the price——but I could not practice in that way. Why, how many
consumptives would act upon my advice, if it was of that character? How
many, indeed, would have the second visit from me, or recommend me to
others? They would even denounce me to their friends——to every one they
saw, and I would have to go to digging in the ground myself, or leave for
other parts. No, Miss B————, you learned the true secret, and you were
“fit” to “survive” because you worked out your own salvation: you have
taught me something——a valuable lesson, I may say, and one that I shall
profit by as I have an opportunity; but we could never set up such a
reform——one doctor, nor two, nor three, alone——the time is not ripe for
it, physicians are not ripe for it, and it can only come, if it is ever to
come, by just such independent action as your case represents.’ And so he
went away, and I continued my ‘treatment.’ The next summer I had a little
flower garden of my own, watered and tended it, and, a little later,
helped about the kitchen-garden, besides taking care of my own room; and
so I went on, gaining steadily, until, within two years, I was
well——better than I had known myself since my romping days, and I have
scarcely had a real sick day since——never a serious illness from that day
to this, nearly thirty years.” “How do I keep well?” you ask. “Why, by
pursuing the same principle that cured me——the same, in fact, that would
have prevented my decline, in the first place. I never breathe ‘indoor’
air, winter nor summer, day nor night; I eat only the simplest food, and
in moderation——yet I will, sometimes, eat a little more than I need——some
meals or some days——and will have a little headache, or, perhaps, an old
tooth will ache, or there may be a little disturbance in the stomach; but
whatever it is, I eat more moderately——sometimes go without a meal; and if
anything more serious than I have named presents itself——lack of appetite,
or a bad feeling at the stomach, or a bad headache——I go all day without
eating, and keep about my work, as usual, or take a walk outdoors, and
this plan always works a cure. You see, I _dress_ right——loose garments,
no corsets, no heavy skirts hanging to my waist or hips, no smothering
flannels, except the lightest, and those only in the coldest weather; I
keep busy about something most of the time; take a good deal of exercise;
go out when I can, and bring outdoors in when I can’t go out——by having
every part of my house well ventilated and as light and ‘sunshiny’ as need
be (you see, doctor, I am not whimsically afraid of flies nor of fading
the carpet); I think of my escape, of my good health, and this makes me
cheerful. I feel sure of not getting sick——I have no anxiety on that
score,——and I try to do what good I can, in my small way, and all this is
as it should be——it is ‘healthy,’ and, all things being so, there is only
one other chance to err, and that is in eating, and so when anything
troubles me, I know what it is. So many people go wrong in all these
things——dress bad, breathe bad air, feel languid in consequence and lie
about doing nothing, indoors; eat worse food than I do, and eat more and
oftener——no wonder they are always ailing, nor that so many die. But,
Doctor, this will not cure my niece——our talking——and I don’t suppose I
have taught you anything, as I did the young doctor, so many years ago;
but if, as you say, you can tell the story for the benefit of others, I
shall be very glad indeed to see it in print. You will send me a copy of
the paper, won’t you? ‘A dozen copies?’ Well, all the better, I will send
them to my friends; they will wonder how the ‘old story’ got into the
papers.” And that is the way this history of a “Natural Cure” came to be
printed.

[Footnote 31: It is, of course, idle to speculate as to whether Miss B.
was within six weeks, or six months, of a fatal termination of her disease
under the usual treatment. Her physician expressed his honest opinion,
certainly; though had he been catechised closely, he would doubtless have
modified it somewhat, as, by saying that while she was liable to be taken
off at any time, still, she might linger along several months, or until
severe cold weather in winter, the season usually so fatal to this class
of patients,——not because it is impossible, or even difficult, to keep the
sick-room at any desired temperature, but because this end is sought to be
accomplished, largely, by shutting out “the breath of life,” and by
retaining the vitiated air, to breathe which would “chill” the healthiest
subject. “To retain foul air for the sake of its warmth is expensive
economy.”]

[Footnote 32: It was, in the author’s opinion, the _bath_ rather than the
_pepper_ which proved so beneficial.]

[Footnote 33: In practice, it will often prove that quick sponging, all
over, and brisk drying, followed, perhaps, by thorough hand-rubbing, will
be more useful than the “piece-meal” bath: with water at a comfortable
temperature, and the work quickly and skillfully performed, while it might
seem likely to occasion a severe shock to the patient, still, it is but
one “shock” instead of many, and is really far less trying, with many
patients, than the more prolonged process with its oft-repeated local
shocks. If rightly managed, the reaction from the full bath makes it
altogether the most agreeable. It is of vital importance, to secure this
warm “reaction,” and if, in any instance, there is failure in this
direction, the instant application of warming appliances——hot-water
bottles to feet, warm flannel wraps, extra blankets, etc.——is imperatively
demanded. Baths which are succeeded by chilliness are depleting, and if of
common occurrence are destructive to life; far better not bathe at all.]

[Footnote 34: See note 6 in Appendix, p. 284.]

[Footnote 35: One element which aided immensely in this remarkable cure,
was the absence of great variety in the food. Indigestion is _the_ enemy
to be overcome; and he must be “killed dead.” _Variety_ is this enemy’s
right-hand man——encouraging excess and the indulgence in questionable
articles; and, above all, prohibiting the _adaptation_ of the digestive
organs to any class of all the ailments thrust upon them. (See foot-note,
p. 213.)]

[Footnote 36: The “difference” is in the digestibility, and in guarding
against excess: Overeating is, of itself, a positive guarantee of
indigestion.[A] The advantages of the hard bread and “dry diet” are
manifold: (1) thorough mastication——calling the muscles of the mouth into
action, and while this tends to make the cheeks plump and full, the
exercise affects the various glands, and aids in the secretion of the
salivary fluids essential for the digestion of starch;[B] (2) it causes
one to eat slowly, so that each mouthful entering the stomach; is not only
thoroughly insalivated and thus prepared for stomach-digestion, but can be
thoroughly manipulated in the stomach and impregnated completely with the
gastric juice: this must be deemed a very important feature, when we
reflect that in very depraved states the digestive fluids are not as
abundant nor as readily secreted as in health. (3) Chewing strengthens the
gums and the teeth,——tends to preserve them and fit them for their
legitimate work: decaying teeth are a source, as well as a symptom, of
disease.]

[Footnote A: In accordance with a universal law of nature,——“the
conservation of energy,”——“gastric juice,” upon which digestion depends,
“is secreted from the blood by the glands of the stomach, in proportion to
the needs of the organism for food, and not in proportion to the amount of
food swallowed.” There is, therefore, a normal dyspepsia for whatever of
excess is taken. Moreover, in such cases, none of the food is well
digested.]

[Footnote B: _Ptyalin_, a vegetable matter contained in healthy saliva,
has very peculiar properties: “if mixed with starch and kept at a moderate
warm temperature, it turns that starch into grape-sugar. The importance of
this operation becomes apparent when one reflects that starch is
insoluble, and therefore, as such, useless as nutriment, while the sugar
formed from it is highly soluble, and readily oxidizable.”——HUXLEY.]

Note the special elements tending to insure success in the case of
self-treatment just given: The courage, prevalent good temper (so rarely
found in these cases), and determination to win (equally rare), did much,
very much, toward conquering her disease; but it is more than doubtful if
these alone would have sufficed: her success in winning the family over to
her radical views, or, at least, in gaining their entire co-operation, was
a marked feature looking toward a final victory. None of them ventured to
discourage her,——all joined heartily in the work. Had she sat at an
ordinary table, one crowded with “good things”; and had her friends
persisted in entreating her to eat this, that, and the other thing, it is
probable that her good resolutions would have failed, sooner or
later,——her life paying the forfeit. And this leads me to mention a most
important feature of what has come to be known as the “Salisbury
Treatment”: “Meals are to be taken at regular intervals, and the patient
should eat either alone or with those who are using the same diet, and not
sit down at a table where others are indulging in all kinds of food. He
should take a good draught——one or two cupfuls——of warm water an hour
before each meal; a sponge-bath two or three mornings,[37] and a
_comfortable_ full bath once a week. For the latter use a little pure
Castile soap, but rinse thoroughly. Air-baths and sun-baths are also of
great importance. (See ‘Air-baths,’) Flannel worn next the skin [I should
say, that the year round, cotton underwear is far better], and the
clothing frequently changed and aired. As much open-air exercise as can be
borne without fatigue, or thorough rubbing and pounding of the body [or
squeezing of the muscles of the entire body, with a firm grasp of the
attendant’s hand] morning and evening for those too weak to take
exercise.”

[Footnote 37: If desirable, this bath may be taken later in the day; but
it should _never_ occur within one hour before, nor until at least three
hours after any meal. The temperature of the water should be agreeable
with sensitive patients, but gradually lowered from day to day, until
_cool_ water becomes agreeable.]

It is the prevalent belief that hot food is desirable especially for
feeble persons, inclined to chilliness; but while smoking-hot dishes
produce a temporary feeling of warmth and comfort, this is usually
succeeded by a “reaction,” producing a still greater degree of chilliness:
the congestion excited by the presence of the hot food or drink, soon
subsides, leaving the stomach anæmic, delaying digestion, perhaps
preventing it altogether. Cool food, properly masticated, acquires in the
mouth a normal temperature, and thus enters the stomach without producing
the unnatural stimulation which arises from the ingestion of hot food, and
which is likely, in the case of feeble persons, to cause, secondarily,
most mischievous effects. A single mistake of this sort may excite
congestion of the lungs, and undo the good work of weeks of right living.
This can not seem incredible, in view of the fact that a single excessive
meal often excites an attack of congestion of the lungs in the case of
robust persons. True, in these instances the disorder is usually
attributed to “a sudden cold,” whether the victim can or can not recall
any exposure, but the fact is as I have stated. I have had many instances
like the following: A business man, accustomed to an outdoor life, rises
in the morning after a good night’s sleep, feeling as well as usual; eats
a hearty breakfast, dons his overcoat, walks briskly to his place of
business, and entering the _hot, close office_, perhaps within thirty
minutes from the time of rising from the breakfast-table, he finds himself
so hoarse that he can hardly make himself understood, and feels a pressure
at the lungs indicating a great degree of congestion. There is but one way
to explain this: a predisposition; a hot meal, rapidly eaten; active
exercise taken immediately thereafter, and while the stomach is engorged
with food——what more is needed? The wonder is, not that this man is
suddenly made sick, but, rather, that he is not oftener so.

The consumptive will often derive great benefit from a full stomach-bath
daily, consisting of about a pint of tepid water rapidly swallowed, on
rising or an hour before breakfast. This will not create nausea or excite
vomiting, unless there is occasion for these symptoms, arising from the
presence of undigested food; but it will prove healing, prevent thirst and
the necessity for drinking with, or directly after, meals——although,
whenever there is thirst, the patient should drink pure cool water,
moderately, but to his satisfaction, finally. It is better, however, as a
rule, to drink regularly, an hour or so before each meal, such an amount
as suffices to _prevent_ thirst, while not causing a feeling of discomfort
soon after drinking. A little practice, with careful observation, will
soon enable the patient to judge how much to take.

OPEN-MOUTH BREATHING.

I am not going to recommend the consumptive, nor any person, well or ill,
to do all or much of his breathing through the mouth; on the contrary, I
agree that the nostrils were designed to warm and filter the air, and that
in general this is necessary. But there are times when the atmosphere does
not require to be _filtered_ and when it had better not be _warmed_; and I
wish to do away with all fear of danger from casual or occasional
open-mouth breathing, especially in the _open air_, and in winter, or at
any season when there is freedom from dust, and regardless of the weather,
and the time of day or night. For “sore” or irritated throat and bronchi,
or oppressed lungs, I have found persistent open-mouth breathing of pure
cold air curative in its tendency; and have myself, upon occasion, gone
out on a winter’s night, to walk and breathe in this manner by the hour.
Consumptives are often subject to attacks of dyspnœa (difficult
breathing), but rarely, if ever, do they come on out of doors; it is
rather, when, having been vouchsafed a little pure respiratory food, the
lungs are again forced to respire the hot, poisoned, make-believe air of
the home, that the congestion takes place. And this may be set down as the
only danger in the premises, viz.: the return from the fresh, pure and
bracing atmosphere without, to the over-heated and under-ventilated
living-rooms. The remedy, then, for an attack under such circumstances
would be found in throwing open the doors and windows——keeping well
wrapped or warm in bed——rather than in sealing the crevices and piling
on fuel. Even _pneumonia_, most dreaded of “diseases,” in which the
lungs are congested to engorgement, is now being successfully treated
on this principle——the persistent open-mouth breathing of out-door
air, if in the winter, or the same, drawn through an ice-packed
refrigerator——(scrupulously clean and profusely ventilated), if the
weather be warm; the patient, meanwhile, being _warm_ in bed, though
never sweltered with wraps [the aim being to balance the temperature,
by cooling the head, heating the feet, and exposing and sponging the
feverish surface, as may be indicated], and supplied with a proper
face-piece to which is attached a flexible tube, through which the
cold air is passed direct to the lungs; this manner of breathing to be
_constant_ and _uninterrupted_, hour after hour, and throughout the
night, if necessary (_never_ remittent), until the temperature of the
patient, as indicated by the thermometer placed under the arm, is
reduced to about the normal point (98.2° F.), and the pressure at the
lungs relieved. The philosophy of this treatment is as evident as is
that of the playing of an engine upon the hottest part of a fire.

A WORD ABOUT THE BED.

The bed and its covering constitute the night-clothes, and for the
bed-ridden patient day-clothes as well. Therefore, we can hardly place too
much importance upon the bed and its appointments. And yet, in view of all
that has been said relating to cleanliness and wholesomeness, in a
general way, but few words are necessary to tell the story. The bed may be
of straw, even, and still, if full, fresh, and well-made, be every way
sufficient for comfort and health,——better, indeed, than a poor or
long-used mattress of any sort;——a mattress of hair, cotton, or wool makes
a complete bed. A feather bed is the worst of all. Whatever the bed may
be, it should remain open and airing whenever the patient is out of it for
any length of time; hence the bed-room should not be the sitting-room when
avoidable. Patients confined to the bed altogether, should, if possible,
have two——one for day the other for night use——each kept airing during all
the time it is unoccupied, and, when practicable, placed in the open air
and in the sunshine a portion of the day; the more the better. After the
cotton or linen sheets, the covering (of as little weight as is consistent
with comfort) should, in place of the common “comfortables,” consist of
woolen blankets, which, being porous, are less “stifling” to the body (see
foot-note, p. 171), and permit of being readily cleansed and dried; and
they should be thus treated as often as once in three or four weeks, at
least, and oftener if the thorough airing recommended is not given them.
The “sick-room” should be the “healthiest” room in the house——bright,
sunny, and made as “cheery” as possible. No “long-faces” should enter it;
there should be no “croning about”——no constant “how-do-you-feel-to-days,”
nor subdued looks or airs. Carry along a happy, cheery face and tone, or
keep out of the sick-room altogether. Above all, no mind-pictures about
eating, eating, eating——unless, the patient is past hope!

THE POSITION IN BED.

As well as when up and about, is a matter of importance to the sick or
well. With the sick, the habit of “rounding up” to the disease is every
way prejudicial. Consumptives are especially inclined to seek present ease
to their ultimate hurt. It should be one of the aims, in “lung
difficulties,” to increase the breadth of the chest in order to give more
room for the expansion of the lungs; and this demands increased efforts to
expand the lungs, and to push the shoulders back——gradually, very
gradually, never to the extreme, but with steady persistence. No radical
and immediate change must be looked for; none can be accomplished, in any
direction, whether in the shape of the body, quality of lung tissue, or
breathing power; but a gradual transformation may be inaugurated, and
ensured by means of persistent effort, as the general health improves. It
is best to lie, at least much of the time spent in bed, as nearly flat
upon the back as possible, slightly inclining toward the side, or
alternating between the two positions, with the head low; arms and legs
“at ease,” the latter not drawn or “curled” up, but slightly relaxed. If
the general regimen is strictly hygienic, the position as thus described
will, so far from working any harm, prove of advantage——favoring free
breathing, as well as the fullest rest of the body. Where there is
shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing, the patient is inclined
to cultivate the habit of narrowing the shoulders, and so bolstering
himself in bed as to still further shorten the breath, thus temporarily
easing the difficulty, but finally increasing the disease. He needs to
courageously take the opposite course (never rashly, however), and meet
the consequences, which are likely to be manifested in some increase of
coughing and raising——the very things he needs to do, but which he is apt
to shrink from as much as possible. In avoiding natural “expectorants,”
the necessity for artificial ones seems to arise. In the one case he
raises with some effort what, in his present state, may be described as
the normal amount of mucus; in the other, expectoration is easier because
there is more to raise. The former is curative; the latter tends to
fatality.

Well knowing that sexual indulgence constitutes one of the most fruitful
causes of this disease——of decline, in short, however exhibited——I will
conclude by saying, that the consumptive should _never_ depart from the
rule of strict continence. (See Appetite.) No language can exaggerate the
importance of this injunction for a person who is even threatened with
decline, if he means to eradicate his disease. The sexual and the nervous
systems (including the brain) act and react upon one another, keeping both
abnormally alert, and these upon the digestive and assimilative, through
the sympathetic, altogether making a quadrangular fight well calculated to
impair——to break down, indeed——the strongest constitution; while with the
less vigorous (often the most lascivious; or, maybe, the victim of a
libidinous but otherwise considerate companion) the case is hopeless,
unless the true remedy is applied. The patient should sleep alone, if
possible, not even the husband or wife sharing the bed——a rule which, from
every point of view, is of importance to both the patient and the
attendant.

* * * * *

NOTE.——The underlying principle of this work prohibits the idea
of a specific and exclusive treatment for this, that, and the
other _disease_ mentioned; for these are named simply in order
that we may make a beginning toward understanding the term
_sickness_: the entire volume, from preface to finis, is a
treatise on the origin of sickness, its prevention and cure. In
view of this, we can not leave the consumptive here, while the
dyspeptic, the rheumatic, or the _douloureux_-tic is invited to
a consideration of his peculiar symptoms,——for these, in large
measure, are mere accidents, since the rheumatic of to-day may
be the paralytic of to-morrow, and the dyspeptic of this year
the consumptive next, and so on. But all classes, and all who
wish to inform themselves as to what makes pain and sickness,
and what ends these symptoms, should study carefully the various
chapters, omitting none.

CHAPTER IV.

CONSTIPATION.

Temporary non-action of the bowels as excretory organs, is entirely normal
under certain conditions, as (1) following diarrhœa or looseness, whether
caused by indigestion or physic, (2) throughout the period of a fast, (3)
for the mother, several days (varying from 3 to 10), at confinement,[38]
and (4) at such other times as “Nature finds it necessary to muster all
the energies of the system for some special purpose, momentarily of
paramount importance,” as in alarming sicknesses where, accompanied by
lack of appetite, the bowels remain closed for a considerable period of
time. In none of these circumstances should there be continued efforts to
excite action. In the last-named instance the lower bowel may need a
clearing out by free injection at the _beginning_, and whenever there are
fecal matters to remove; but when convalescence is established, the
appetite and strength have returned, food is taken and digested, the
bowels will act of their own accord. The practice of forestalling nature
in this matter by using physic or injections is often the cause of much
mischief——it is an impertinent interference in nature’s plans, and is
seldom useful. If the sufferer is never fed, except at convalescence and
when a _natural appetite_ has returned, and then only with plain,
wholesome food,——restricting the quantity to the present capacity for
digestion and absorption,——the evacuation of the lower bowel may be
awaited without any feeling of anxiety or alarm at its seeming tardiness.
Returning strength is the only needed physic.

[Footnote 38: The very common practice of administering purgatives or
injections a few days after confinement is not only unnecessary——it is
fraught with mischief and often with disaster. I have known of instances
where robust women were kept sick, and dangerously so, in bed for weeks in
consequence of the free use of oil administered by the physician
(according to his invariable practice) on the third and succeeding days.
At her next confinement, one lady who had suffered as above, having lived
hygienically during the gestation period, suffered very little pain, was
on her feet, washed and dressed her baby, and had a natural movement on
the second day. In another case purgation was attempted on the third day
and, oil not acting promptly, the total results of profuse injections at
intervals for the next three days, was, on the _sixth_ day, to bring away
about a _teaspoonful of strawberry seeds_, the residue of berries eaten on
the previous day. It is evident that the food was well digested and
absorbed into the circulation, and that no fecal matters were secreted;
hence no occasion for the bowels to “move,” in the common understanding of
the term. In cases where women approaching confinement are troubled with
constipation (entirely unnecessary if they will live properly), the lower
bowel should be evacuated by the aid of free injections prior to delivery;
but succeeding that event nature may well be left to herself for a time.
Nature, however, does not have a fair chance where patients of this class
are overfed; hence, and hence only, the necessity for “aiding” her in
moving the bowels.]

In case of severe constipation, injections——internal baths, so to say——may
be employed in emergencies, but infrequently and with extreme care, lest
they aggravate the evil and provoke others. Although in no sense as
injurious as purgative medicines, which inevitably impair the nutritive
organs, still enemas should never be depended on for daily movements.
Next to a correct dietary, with liberal exercise in the open air, one of
the best aids in promoting regular action of the bowels is, in my opinion,
passive exercise——kneading of the bowels for say five minutes or more
before each meal——and the more active exercise of, say, imitating for a
few minutes the arms-and-body swinging motions of a mower in the
hay-field; spending another few minutes in hopping up and down, twice on
each foot alternately, while “keeping time” by slapping the thighs and
swaying the body to the right and left; stooping and rising, bending
forward and back, etc.; twisting the body around, first one way and then
the other, with the hips as the pivotal point (at stool this last greatly
facilitates the ejective process), etc., etc. Sedentary persons, and all
who feel “chilly” at times, will find, upon trial, that a few minutes
devoted to such exercise, occasionally, or whenever the need is felt, will
be far more satisfactory than extra garments, or hovering about the fire:
it sets the blood a-tingling in the veins and warms a body up.[39] (See
Consumption, for general regimen as to diet, air, exercise, clothing.) If
for a time the bowels are willful in the matter of demanding rest to
complete a process of healing going on in the diseased glands when there
has been distention and irritation, or until a reformed dietary shall have
strengthened the general system when, from any cause, it has been
under-nourished, and there is, consequently, no action for two, three, or
even four days at a time, it need occasion no alarm, and the novice will
be surprised to see how natural a movement will finally reward his or her
patience in awaiting the call of nature, instead of badgering her into
unnatural activity. It must be remembered that it is _good health that
ensures daily movements_, and not _daily movements good health_. Indeed,
when produced by hook or crook, as is often the rule with infants, and
adults, even, they do much harm. Daily purgations or injections are made
necessary only by gross feeding; and if the latter abuse be persisted in
it may be best to move the bowels frequently at all hazards. Under the
influence of this combination, however, the small intestines are often so
disordered as to impair, even destroy, their power of assimilating food,
and together with the colon, or large intestine, become so torpid as
almost to require the use of dynamite to move them.

[Footnote 39: William Cullen Bryant,——a most worthy model, mentally,
morally, and physically——thus explains how he had “reached a pretty
advanced period of life without the usual infirmities of old age.” Next to
his abstemious and mostly vegetable diet, and pure moral life, we may well
agree with him in the belief that his wonderful preservation was largely
due to his custom of going to bed early and early rising, and “for a full
hour, immediately upon rising, with very little encumbrance of clothing,
taking a series of exercises, designed to expand the chest, and at the
same time call into action all the muscles and articulations of the body,”
followed by a bath “from head to foot.”——_Hygiene of the Brain_: $1.50[C]
New York, M. L. Holbrook.]

[Footnote C: This most valuable work contains letters from a score or more
of eminent men and women who have lived to advanced age, descriptive of
their living habits. The similarity of their mode of life is a feature
worthy of remark.]

STRAINING at stool is, beyond a slight degree, abnormal, or is made
necessary only by abnormal conditions, which render defecation difficult;
it tends to perpetuate and increase the difficulty, and should not be
practiced ordinarily. The congestion and engorgement of the blood-vessels
in the region of the rectum and anus from various causes, as retained
fecal matters, or irritation and congestion of the genital organs (which
two causes act and react upon each other), produce hemorrhoids (piles),
and this complaint is aggravated by the straining referred to. In such
cases resort must be had to cool or tepid injections for a time. One
effect of deep breathing, from either exercise or habit——filling the lungs
in such a manner as to press the diaphragm downward——is to cause regular
pressure on the bowels, which aids in exciting their vermicular motion,
and facilitates the action, both of the small intestines as digesters, and
of the lower bowel in its secretory and excretory functions. The
“movement,” when natural, consists of _waste matters secreted from the
blood_ by the glands of the colon, and not, as is popularly supposed, of
food substances, at least not to any considerable degree. When it does
(and I am bound to say that this is the rule, rather than the exception),
it is because the person has eaten at least _that much_ more than he
ought. A good rule for many who suffer tortures of mind because of
constipation would be: mind your own business and let your bowels mind
theirs. Strive not to _have_ movements, but rather to _deserve_ them. That
is, attend to the general health by living hygienically, and the bowels
will, if given _regular opportunity_, move when there is anything to move
for! With infants or young children, a little excess of food will, at
first, occasion a little looseness, or increased action, usually;
deficiency in diet would cause constipation. The remedy in either case is
plain: a little less food in the one case, a little more in the other. The
first symptom, looseness, could not result from deficiency in diet, that
is, if the deficiency related to quantity solely——the quality being plain
and digestible. Tanner had no movement during his fast; Griscomb’s
experience was similar, and Connolly, the consumptive, who fasted
forty-three days, had no movement for three weeks, and then the temporary
looseness was occasioned by profuse water-drinking, which in his case
proved curative. In common life, it is rare indeed that constipation is
the result of a deficient diet, although it often arises from lack of
nourishment consequent upon excess, or an unwholesome variety of food, or
both. Usually it may be regarded as the “reaction” from over-action. The
not uncommon experience, in regular order, is this: Excess in diet,
diarrhœa, constipation, physic or enema, purgation, worse constipation,
more physic, and so on. The term reaction here means simply that the
organs involved having been irritated by undigested food, and having by
means of increased action cleared away the obstructions, now seek
restoration by the most natural method, as the name itself implies——rest.
What are commonly called diseases are in reality cures; and the common
practice, with drug doctors, of

“CONTROLLING THE SYMPTOMS,”

is like answering the cries and gesticulations of a drowning man with a
knock on the head. If when these intestinal disorders arise, or have
become serious, their chief cause——over-feeding——be kept up, the next of
nature’s remedies may be inflammation of stomach or bowels, or both,
followed, perhaps, by _dysentery_, which is the most serious phase of
constipation. These are very alarming symptoms, and demand entire
abstinence from food until they are considerably abated; pure water should
be given freely, and, when possible, exercise to some degree in the open
air; tepid water injections, followed by gentle kneading of the bowels for
a few minutes, occasionally, to promote the circulation in that region,
thus favoring the cleansing and healing process. The appearance of a
little fresh blood, even, following this treatment, should not excite
alarm; on the contrary, it is, _per se_, a favorable symptom. This special
phase of the subject is treated more at length in the author’s work
entitled “How to Feed the Baby.”

A very common mistake with the laity, and often enough made by physicians
in diagnosing this complaint, is that of considering a comfortable daily
movement conclusive proof that the bowels are not constipated. Few people
have tongues that are entirely clean, and a coating there indicates,
unmistakably, a worse one of the stomach and intestines.[40] The
daily——perhaps semi-daily——action is the result of purgation often, though
they would scorn the idea of taking physic——the quantity or quality of
their food being such as to cause a degree of indigestion and consequent
irritation sufficient to produce purgative effects. While this condition
can be endured, all seems to be going along well. There is, to be sure,
more or less of acidity, sour stomach, eructations of acrid matters (see
the Salisbury theory in article on Consumption), flatulence, headache,
neuralgic or rheumatic pains——more or less in number of the scores of
ailments so common as to be considered almost normal——but not immediately
any serious or alarming complaint. But, after a time, longer or shorter,
according to the constitution of the individual, the movements become less
satisfactory——irregular and not as profuse as common, and are passed with
some difficulty, perhaps. Next to the mistake of resorting to drugs in
these cases, is the quite common one of swallowing special kinds of food
for the same purpose, and there, is some question as to which of the two
evils is the least. An excessive quantity of rye mush, wheaten grits, or
oat groats, with a generous dressing of butter, syrup, milk, or honey to
wash it down in abnormal haste, will often purge the bowels like the most
drastic poison. Active exercise in the open air, taken in conjunction with
a proper diet, would prove curative; but in default of this the case goes
from bad to worse, until in spite of all the efforts made, the
constipation becomes more and more obstinate, various symptoms increasing
in degree and new ones appearing, until there almost certainly follows a
severe “attack” of some sort: whether this be typhoid, bilious, rheumatic,
or scarlet fever, erysipelas, diphtheria, or what not, depends upon the
age, surroundings, and diathesis of the patient.

[Footnote 40: See chapter on Consumption.]

All such attacks may be called Nature’s kill-or-cure remedies when, as a
last resort, she is forced to adopt “heroic treatment”; but aid her in the
Natural Cure and she is most kind.

* * * * *

NOTE.——Attention is called to the notes following Consumption,
and Bright’s Disease.

CHAPTER V.

BRIGHT’S DISEASE (ALBUMINURIA).

In its later stages, this is one of the worst forms of disease. It is
often said to be caused by “cold.” There can be no doubt but what a person
whose kidneys are already badly diseased, and, consequently, his whole
system depraved, may have a violent illness excited by extreme exposure to
wet and cold. The same may be said in case of one reduced by any
exhausting form of disease; but sound-bodied men, living hygienically,
could never have this disease, whatever the degree of cold they might have
to endure. On the contrary, this disease is not known among the residents
of the polar regions; our own explorers among the ice-fields of the north
do not have it, although exposed for long periods to a temperature at 40°
to 60° F. below zero, and to changes of so extreme a character that our
temperate climate affords no parallel to them. “In the accounts of Arctic
expeditions, though the most intense cold was often endured, under
circumstances of great fatigue, by men previously weakened by disease and
hardship, this is not among the diseases from which they suffered. Dr.
Kane’s men, though enduring extreme cold, exposed on one occasion for
seventy-two hours at a mean temperature of 41° below zero, suffered
fearfully from frost-bite and scurvy, but not from any renal affection.
Other travelers within the Arctic circle bear the same testimony, and I
have been informed by those familiar with the cold districts of North
America, that there renal dropsy is unknown.”[41] “The travelers in the
frigid zone are exposed to far greater and more sudden transitions of
temperature than are ever felt in our changeable but temperate climate.
Capt. Parry states that his men often underwent a sudden change of 120°,
in passing from the cabin of the vessel to the outer air, and yet none but
the most trifling complaints resulted. Here we have all the circumstances
from which experience would lead us to anticipate renal disease, viz.:
great preceding depression, intense and protracted cold suddenly
applied.... Extreme cold,” continues Dr. Dickinson (ibid.) “though it may
stop cutaneous exhalation, probably does not allow the material that would
cause renal inflammation to accumulate. Cold increases the action of
oxygen and gives rise to increased combustion of the solids and fluids of
the body. This condition, as I have emphasized elsewhere repeatedly,
occasions a demand for a large amount of food daily, to supply the waste,
and exalts the digestive powers correspondingly. The moral of all this,
for those who, living in a temperate climate, would avoid these
disorders——all physical disorders, indeed——is that _here the above
conditions can not obtain to the extent of rendering possible the
digestion_ and _absorption_ of _three full meals a day_. Only under
exceptional circumstances are _two_ such meals ever thoroughly digested
and assimilated——they can never be, unless needed; and this fact is not
disproved simply because inexperts do not recognize the symptoms of
indigestion which everywhere prevail among themselves. Some of the most
incorrigible workers, with both brain and muscle, known to me, take but
_one meal a day_,[42] and this because they found the change necessary in
order to enable them to perform their arduous labors and preserve their
health. Others similarly situated divide this meal into _two
halves_——taking a small meal morning and night, or, better than the
latter, a lunch in the morning, and at night, after ample rest, the
principal meal. No person ever tried this plan and found any need of a
change because of lack of nourishment.[43] I mention this last point to
meet the stock objection of people who essay to escape from the logic of
the position——the necessity for the modification of their own dietetic
habits——behind the old dogma, ‘one’s meat is another’s poison.’ (See p.
43.) It is entirely probable that a robust man (a frail one would succumb
to the exposure, with or without food) exposed for days together, and for
the entire twenty-four hours, to the extreme cold of winter, exercising
vigorously meantime, could eat three full meals a day and escape digestive
disorder. The habit of approximating as nearly as possible to this diet,
in a temperate climate, or while the bodily warmth is maintained by
artificial heat, originates the greater proportion of our ailments; while
lack of exercise, and the folly of attempting to oxygenate this excessive
quantity of food with air that is breathed over and over again——a process
which one writer likens to eating one’s own fœces——amply accounts for the
balance.

[Footnote 41: “Treatise on Albuminuria,” by W. Howship Dickinson, M.D.,
F.R.C.P., etc., p. 54.]

[Footnote 42: See note on The One-Meal System.]

[Footnote 43: The fact is——and it can not be made too
prominent——ninety-nine in the hundred, of all classes of people, eat in
excess of their needs, and the “small eater,” eating without appetite,
eats, relatively speaking, more excessively than the gross-feeder whose
appetite never fails.]

“By cold the respiratory function is exalted, and the excretion of urea is
diminished. With the intense cold of the North Pole (and in the _open
air_), the introduction of oxygen by the lungs is probably so great, and
the oxidation in the body so active, that all material susceptible of such
action becomes oxidized, as much of it as can be converted into carbonic
acid passing out with the breath. The kidneys, therefore, are not liable,
as in temperate climates, to be irritated by excrementitious matter, for
the stress of excretion falls upon the lungs.” (Ibid.) The practical
question then is, What can we do, in this particular climate, that shall
tend to give us exemption from a disease that can not exist at the poles,
where the cold is intense enough to require a man to eat all he can, nor
at the tropics, when the heat is met with a diet of juicy fruits?[44] (See
article on Fruits.) Simply this, and nothing more; so regulate the diet
as to forbid indigestion, or, in other words, eat according to our needs,
as governed by work and weather; and all that has been said about the
cause and prevention of “colds” (see C.) is applicable right here.

[Footnote 44: Sojourners from the North, at the tropics, are exempt from
disease so long as they live on the fruits of the soil; but a beef and
brandy regimen makes short work with them.]

Winter weather (inoperative, however, for those who spend their time in
close, warm rooms), scant clothing, much exercise, fresh air——these
conditions, so far as present, and to the extent of a man’s subjection to
them, require a larger quantity of food than could be digested under
opposite conditions, and tend to mitigate the effects of over-indulgence
as to amount and quality. In our climate, however, not one person in ten
thousand lives, even in the coldest weather, sufficiently under these
influences to require the diet necessary at the poles, viz., three full
meals of mixed food, largely composed of fat. Hence, the only palliatives
a person can resort to, who adheres to the prevalent mode of living, as to
diet, are those conditions that approach as nearly as possible to those
obtaining in the frigid zone; but these conditions can not be, at least
are not, enjoyed here, to a point rendering exemption from disease
possible even for the most robust. But when we reflect upon the fact that
our people are not, as a rule, robust (although this would be otherwise
but for the unbalanced circumstances under consideration), that they live
in warm rooms, wear heavy clothing even within doors, and don thick wraps
on going out, work as little as possible (all tending to the need of
abstemiousness), and that in the face of all this they do not, at least to
any appreciable extent, voluntarily restrict their appetites, but do, in
fact, even in summer, imitate the blubber-eaters of the North, nearer than
they do the fruit-eaters of the South; that Sabbath morning finds the New
Englander, for example, gorging himself with pork and beans, hot brown
bread dripping with butter, hot, strong coffee, etc.; Tuesday, roast-beef,
with plenty of gravy; Wednesday——“boiled mutton, with caper sauce,” and so
on to Saturday’s boiled dinner, of corned-beef, greasy cabbage, etc. (the
diet of the poor differing chiefly in the quality, or price per pound),
and this just the same during the warmest week in winter as during the
coldest, and regardless of any of the possibly varying circumstances, as
hard work out of doors, or light work, or none at all, within; and that
this same folly runs into and becomes greater folly in the spring and
summer even, except so far as nausea or lack of appetite cause an
involuntary modification,——in view of all this we need not look
altogether, nor indeed at all, to heredity to account for the wretched
disorders to which we, as a people, are subject, and which prevail to an
extent almost transforming our literary and art periodicals into indirect
partnership-relations with the manufacturers of quack “remedies” for all
forms of sickness; this class of advertisers _pay_ too liberally to
exclude their flaunting lies. I look almost in vain for even a religious
journal that refuses to devote any portion of its space to medical
advertisements. Do our religious editors themselves believe in, and take,
the “pills” they advertise?

Bright’s Disease is one that never attacks those who live on coarse food,
live abstemiously, and drink water chiefly. It is rather a disease of
“high livers.” But a man does not need a large income to ensure this
affection: any one who can get all he wants to eat and drink, and who eats
and drinks all he “wants” (even without indulgence in wine, or alcohol in
any form, which is a prolific cause of this disorder), may safely reckon
on some of the symptoms, if not upon the worst form of the disease; and
whether it be the understood cause of his death or not, it will surely be
a contributing cause. The possession of typically healthy kidneys is a
rare circumstance in this climate. The excessive micturition so universal
in infancy, occasioned by excess in diet, is the beginning of renal
disease.

Dr. Bright immortalized his name by discovering the fact that, when a
man’s last sickness is attended with a certain class of symptoms, as
albumen in the urine, final suppression of the urine, and uremic
poisoning, they are occasioned by a peculiar disease or degeneration of
the kidney. From a practical stand-point we care nothing about the kind of
change taking place in the kidney, but rather ask what kind of change in
our habits will keep this, and all the organs of the body, in a healthy
condition? The former study is all well enough for those who desire it,
but if _too much time_ is devoted to it, and to the _relation of drugs
thereto_, by an individual, he may be, probably will be, the very least
fitted to advise an inquirer who desires to know what he can do to be
saved from disease and the supposed necessity of taking medicine. Says Dr.
Dickinson (ibid., chap. VI.): “There are few disorders which are more
under the influence of medicine than is the catarrhal inflammation of the
kidneys.” And the very next sentence is one worth pondering on by those
who are accustomed to take medicine whenever they come to grief through
ignorance or neglect of the laws of life: “Under some plans of treatment,”
says this celebrated authority, in continuing, “plans which formerly were
almost universally adopted, and _still have their advocates_, the disorder
is one of heavy mortality. Under other circumstances the danger is so
small, that if once the complaint be recognized, a recovery may be
reckoned upon in a large _proportion_ of cases. Without treatment of any
kind there is reason to suppose that a large _majority_ of the subjects of
it would recover.” (The italics are my own.) From this it will be observed
that it depends on one’s luck whether he shall fall into the hands of a
practitioner who belongs to a class still adhering to the plan ensuring a
“heavy mortality,” or of one whose modified form of treatment is less
fatal; and upon his good sense, whether he shall come under the influence
of either, or adopt the methods indicated herein, viz., the abandonment of
disease-producing, and the adoption of _ease_-producing, habits, which
would be an immense gain over the “no treatment” plan which, according to
a rational interpretation of Dr. Dickinson’s language, is the safest of
the three referred to by him. From the three-hundred-page treatise before
me, which is fresh from the mint (1881), and is a most valuable book for
those who wish to study the pathology of the disease (Bright’s), but which
is little calculated to aid any one healthward, except he be already
pretty well informed in hygienic matters, I cull, in addition to the
paragraphs already quoted, the following little nugget of pure gold: “We
must avoid the use of any drugs which, under the name of stimulating
diuretics, might exasperate the existing congestion; and we must enforce
such diet as to reduce to a minimum that nitrogenous excess which finds
its way out chiefly by the kidneys, and provides in many shapes effective
means of irritation. Physiological repose is to be sought, not by
debarring the gland of the harmless and necessary solvent, but by cutting
off the materials of urea and uric acid.” How naturally, then, do we look
for the continuing sentiments: “‘Spare diet and spring water clear’ may
often be found sufficient though simple remedies. _Of all diuretics water
is the best._”[45] But how can we reconcile, with such counsel, the
treatment that he himself commonly adopts?

[Footnote 45: Ibid., p. 86. The italics are my own, and I am amazed to
find that this best diuretic is rarely the one used, and never fairly
tested by this authority, who seems almost to exhaust the _materia medica_
in the treatment of even infants of tender age.]

In one case noted by him, and in which, as he says, “the attack was
slight,” and “the boy became convalescent,” but later, although under the
doctor’s own eye at the hospital, with “no evidence of his having taken
cold,” he became worse, went on to a fatal termination, “the urine
becoming loaded with albumen and abounding with fibrinous
casts——convulsive attacks——death!” It seems to me easy enough, however, to
reconcile the unfavorable turn and the fatal termination with the
treatment he adopted, viz., digitalis instead of “the best diuretic”
(water); “fluid diet,” consisting chiefly of beef-tea——a non-nutritive
fluid whose solid constituents are mainly urea, kreatine, kreatinine,
isoline, and decomposed hæmatine, exactly the animal constituents of the
urine, except that there is but a trace of urea.[46]

[Footnote 46: London _Lancet_.]

As the little fellow grew worse, “a little brandy was given to counteract
the depressing effect of the digitalis.” “On the 27th, the pulse had
fallen to 52, and was not quite regular; the brandy was therefore
increased to two ounces daily,” with digitalis every six hours; later, a
“diuretic draught composed of scoparium, acetate of potash, and nitric
ether; on the 29th, this diuretic mixture was changed by the addition of
nitre and squills; on the 30th, as was anticipated, he was seized with
eliptiform convulsions, a succession of which came on, accompanied with
foaming and biting of the tongue, and caused his death in two hours and a
half.”[47] The next case reported was that of a child eighteen months old,
treated at the hospital by the same physician, and described:
“Dropsy——persistent diarrhœa——peritonitis——death.” “The child,” says the
celebrated practitioner and author, “was frequently fed with pounded meat
and milk; a little brandy was given, and opiates and astringents were
prescribed to check the diarrhœa.” As he went on to his fate, he was made
to swallow the following remedies: “opium, dilute sulphuric acid, tincture
of the sesquioxide of iron, acetate of lead. The quantity of brandy was
increased to three ounces daily. The child became paler and had a sunken
look,” etc. “The child sunk a week after admission.” I make mention of
these cases for the reason that up to this day the same horrible treatment
is being practiced. Although these, and many even worse cases contained in
this new work, transpired some years ago and were recorded in the first
edition, still they remain in the new edition unaccompanied by any note of
warning; and young or old medical students pore over and imitate the
examples here set before them.

[Footnote 47: The case of Thomas Vallance, 9 years old. Oh, wise
physician: the fatal symptoms came along “as anticipated!”]

I quote another paragraph from the treatise of Dr. Dickinson, which, if it
has, as would seem evident, thrown little light about the doctor’s own
pathway, as regards the appropriate treatment of the disorder, will prove
instructive to some of my readers, and bear favorably upon my theory of
disease. In the early pages (p. 29) of the treatise, Dr. Dickinson says:
“It may be generally stated that this inflammatory disease arises from
unnatural stimulation of the kidneys. The blood is charged with [food]
material excessive in quantity or unnatural in quality, which these
glands take upon themselves to remove. Their own proper elements of
secretion are poured upon them in sudden and excessive amount, or matter
is thrown upon them which is foreign to their usual habit. As a
consequence of overwork, or of work to which they are not adapted, they
take on a turbulent and abnormal activity. They become congested, the
tubes get choked up with epithelial growth, and the disease is
established.”

Many of the symptoms in the following list are more or less frequently,
some of them invariably, present in the case of supposably healthy
infants, and are commonly considered as entirely normal. Fairly
considered, however, they are the effects of excess in diet. To the
greatest possible extent the superfluous water contained in their gross
diet passes off by the kidneys, causing immediately a diseased condition
of those organs from overwork; the cellular tissue becomes loaded and
distended with the fatty matters, and also with much water, unrecognized
as dropsy until it reaches immense proportions; what really amounts to
purging is so universal as to be regarded as the normal state of an
infant’s bowels, and this is, sooner or later, often very early, succeeded
by the reaction termed constipation. The back-aching that results from all
this is none the less terrible because the little sufferers can not talk
and tell where the pain is; peevishness, general _malaise_, and crying,
tell of suffering, not of (their) perversity. Among the

SYMPTOMS OF KIDNEY DISEASE

are the following: frequent and copious micturition (wetting the bed or
getting up at night); later the excretion of urine is scant, passed
frequently, or, may be, suppressed altogether. Fat; later——emaciation.
Heat and dull pain in the loins[48] (small of the back), increased by
pressure; slight or considerable “puffing” about the eyes, noticeable only
at times, or it may be constant and unrecognized as a symptom of disease;
it may be diminished at times, as the secretion of urine becomes modified,
or the condition of the system happens, temporarily, to improve. And it
increases often when the secretion of urine diminishes, or is passed less
freely. The countenance is more or less pallid, and may have a brownish
tinge. Croupy breathing accompanies œdema of the larynx. “With children,
inflammation of one or other of the organs of respiration is the most
fatal tendency of the disease. Not only are they liable to pleurisy,
pneumonia, and bronchitis, but, also, to membranous croup.” Constant
tendency to irritability of manner, easily angered, unreasonableness,
petulance; with infants——constant fretting, crying, nothing will interest
or amuse them.

[Footnote 48: Of all portions of the body, this should be lightly covered,
never sweltered with wraps, bindings, or weight of garments.]

Diphtheria is, I believe, only a phase of albuminuria. Says Dr. Grasmuck,
treating of diphtheria, and other physicians have observed the fact:
“Another peculiarity of the scourge is its fondness for children of a
certain condition——the fat, sleek, soft, tender, ‘well-fed’ children so
generally admired——such children can offer but slight resistance to this
disease; being, in fact, chronically diseased, they are predisposed to
‘attacks’ of all kinds; and, living to adult age, furnish the greater
proportion of cases of tuberculous disease. On the other hand,” he
continues, “I do not know of a single instance where the disease proved
fatal to——rarely attacking——a child of the _genus_ ‘Street Arab’——children
who spend most of their time out of doors, are thinly clad, sleep in cold
rooms, have a spare diet, and who have no one to pamper them unwisely.”

Dr. Dickinson treats of albuminuria under three heads, viz., tubular
nephritis, granular degeneration, and lardaceous disease. He designates,
also, such other diseases as are likely to result in consequence of this
disorder; and finds some of these peculiar to, or more apt to afflict,
sufferers from one or the other forms. He says: “It is seen (from the
table presented) that nephritis is a disease of infancy and youth, causing
most deaths in the first decade coincidentally with the prevalence of
scarlatina; many in the third when the toils and exposures of active life
are perhaps the most prolific of evil. Granular degeneration belongs to
middle and advancing life, and is most fatal between fifty and sixty. The
one flourishes upon the febrile accidents [!] of childhood and the
susceptibilities of youth; the other develops when _the habits of life
begin to tell_ and the effects of old age begin to appear. The lardaceous
disorder has little to do with either extreme of the mortal course; it is
chiefly associated with the _vices of early maturity_, and with tubercle
and struma, disorders more incident to the young than the old, and in
their suppurative form to youth rather than childhood.” Among the
diseases resulting, or likely to result, from one or other forms of the
disease, Dr. Dickinson names the following: dropsy, pneumonia, pleurisy,
peritonitis, bronchitis [before mentioned]; pericarditis, endocarditis,
hypertrophy of the heart, with cardio-vascular thickening, [heart
“diseases”]; hemorrhagic accidents [bursting of blood-vessels——apoplexy]
depending as they do upon structural changes of the vessels; diarrhœa.

SOME OTHER SYMPTOMS.

Nasal catarrh; the radical suppression of this discharge is likely to be
followed by serious if not fatal kidney disease.[49] (To remove the former
by removing its cause, thus rendering the discharge unnecessary, is quite
another thing). Hence the danger of using so-called catarrh remedies, or
of adopting any specific local treatment: they are either inert or
injurious.

[Footnote 49: As illustrating this point I will mention the case of M. K.,
of Troy, N. Y.,——a case of successful (?) self-treatment for catarrh. This
patient had for a dozen or more years suffered with nasal catarrh, and had
tried most of the advertised “specifics” without avail; in fact, the
disorder steadily increased. At last, the twice daily snuffing of slightly
soapy water, for some weeks, “cured” him, as he said; but simultaneously
with the suppression of the catarrhal discharge there resulted (without,
however, any thought of connecting the two events, in the mind of the
patient) an excessive flow of urine, extreme thirst, etc., etc.; in short,
true diabetes. In this case great relief was experienced from an exclusive
diet of skim-milk for five months, the patient swallowing nothing else for
that length of time, except two tablespoonfuls, daily, of wheat-bran
thoroughly chewed, “for the bowels.” At the end of the five months the
patient weighed 210 lbs. This he realized as excessive, and my attention
being directed to the case at this point, the patient at my suggestion
adopted the bread and fruit diet——discontinuing the skim-milk and
bran——and gradually reducing his weight by moderate diet and increased
exercise, went on to a complete recovery.]

Erysipelatous inflammation of the dropsical limbs; “vomiting may happen at
any stage, even the earliest; it is often incontrollable.” Head symptoms,
which occur in the more prolonged forms of the complaint, are usually of a
convulsive kind, whereas, in acute cases, coma is apt to set in without
any such prelude. Epileptic seizures may be preceded by pain in the head,
drowsiness, or peculiarity of manner, or may occur without any premonitory
sign.

Says Dr. Dickinson: “The gouty habit, from whatever circumstance it arise,
is one of the more obvious and immediate conditions to which granular
disease of the kidneys can be traced.” ... “The disease is a frequent
result of gout; this is by far the most important fact in its etiology. It
is one of the results of the gouty diathesis (see Rheumatism), and may
precede or follow the external manifestations.... It is scarcely necessary
to insist ... that the gouty condition comes first.” The fact is that
there is a process of degeneration going on throughout the entire
structure of the man, even to the last tissue, and the symptoms are all
indicative of this; and this is more or less strictly true of all
disorders. The naming and classifying of “diseases” is calculated to
mystify and mislead: sickness is the proper term for describing them all;
self-abuse, in the broadest sense of the word, is the cause of them; and
obedience to law, the only means of prevention or cure.

I hold that the gouty, the rheumatic, the strumous, the “colds,” and all
other diatheses, are practically unimportant distinctions. The technical
difference is, of course, well understood and admitted. In any event, it
is certain that the course of living best suited to prevent one, is also
best adapted to prevent or remove all. For all practical purposes,
however, they may be classed together; and whoever desires, either for
themselves or their children, exemption from, or the alleviation of,
suffering, have only to adopt a pure mode of living in order to escape, or
emerge from, the _disease diathesis_.

* * * * *

NOTE.——The limits of this work forbid an extended consideration
of the influence of this or that occupation in promoting this
disease; nor is it, in my estimation, essential. The trades must
go on, regardless of their influence upon health. There must,
for example, be painters, plumbers, compositors, tin-workers,
etc., even though the absorption of lead does tend to produce
the gouty condition and, so, a predisposition to renal disease.
A sufficient degree of care in other directions would enable
this class to outlive the more favored ones who neglect the laws
of life.

See note 2 in Appendix, p. 276.

CHAPTER VI.

INSOMNIA——INSANITY.

Sleeplessness is often referred to as a cause of insanity, but it would be
much nearer the truth to say that insanity causes sleeplessness. Dr. Rush
says: “A dream is a transient paroxysm of delirium, and delirium a
perpetual dream.” Not every dreamer becomes insane, in the common
understanding of the term, nor every person who is distressed by
wakefulness; nor do all those persons who dream dreams of a strange,
droll, startling, heart-rending, exhausting character, become inmates of
lunatic asylums, although all such are fit subjects for a rigid hygiene;
and not a few out of this large number of bad dreamers——who are likewise
afflicted with insomnia——but could with advantage place themselves under
the charge of an expert in diseases of the brain, or even in an asylum, if
either the former, or the physicians in charge of the latter, were in all
regards thoroughly equipped for their work——a rare circumstance indeed.
Normal sleep is dreamless; in default of this total oblivion, sleep is
only partial——it is not perfect nervous repose. No person who suffers
severely from indigestion but is also troubled with much dreaming, and,
more or less, with wakefulness; and no person who has these last-named
symptoms but can safely set them down; at least in great measure, to
digestive disorder; and as, almost invariably, removable by improved
habits.

Some very wise men have stated as their belief, that no man living is
really of sound mind, any more than of sound body, in the strictest
application of the term; all have their crazy aspects——their “weak spots,”
as we say; and the anxious, brooding man, who fears the loss of his
reason, may take courage from the thought that his symptoms are only a
little worse than his neighbor’s, and only demand of him to diminish his
dyspepsia if he would become normally insane! To attack insomnia as a
disease instead of a symptom, is sure to result in discomfiture in the
great majority of cases, and is in every instance unsound in principle.
Once established, this condition of wakefulness tends to perpetuate
itself; but this would be otherwise with an absolutely natural regimen. A
man is wakeful at night because under his present physical condition he
ought to be——just as in diarrhœa, the looseness is doing its work of cure.
So with all symptoms. _Pain_ has its office, and this is coming to be
better understood; is already well known to thoughtful, well-informed
people; and the _wakefulness_ of which so many complain, and which, in
some cases, is of the most distressing, painful character, is as truly
normal, considering the present physical state of the sufferer’s brain, as
is pain following a cut. As an aid in the removal of this symptom, next to
a radical reform in one’s living habits, which is the only possible cure
for the disease, the above reasoning is one of the most effectual.

When a man is wounded severely his anxiety is not increased by the pain;
it causes no additional alarm, because he knows that it is entirely
natural; let him know that sleeplessness is an analogue of pain, and he
will, or may, bear it philosophically, and thus tend to its removal. He
has a poverty-stricken mind, indeed, who can not, under such
circumstances, pass an hour, or several of them, in comparative comfort,
knowing that sleep will come in good time. But, thinking all the while
that it is sleep only that he needs, his sleeplessness distresses him,
causes him to be more and more alarmed, and, consequently, has the effect
to postpone the oblivion so devoutly prayed for, but so little earned. To
_deserve_ sleep is to _have_ it. Let the insomniac read the concluding
article of this volume, and by the light of it review the hints on diet,
air, exercise, etc., in the body of the article on consumption, so as to
know what he has to do to become a _good man_, physiologically; and go to
bed at about the same hour every night, if possible, or at any rate when
he does lie down to sleep it should be after a quiet hour or half-hour
devoted to peaceful and thought-steadying occupations, never exciting
mental exercise, whether amusing or instructive; and when he draws the
blankets about him, let it be with a sublime indifference as to whether he
shall or shall not go to sleep promptly. “As to the subduing of the
senses, the attempt to shut out external impressions by deafening the
ears, closing the eyes, and lowering the sensibilities generally, is in
itself a frequently recognizable and always possible cause of persistent
wakefulness. The effort to compose the mind (after lying down) and subdue
the activity of the senses is made by the higher mental faculty, a part or
function of the organism which, of all others, needs to be itself restful
in order that the physico-mental being may sleep. It is, therefore,
obvious that an _endeavor_ to go to sleep is a mistake.”[50]

[Footnote 50: J. Mortimore Granville, M.D., in _Good Words_.]

Rather let me, when staring out into the darkness,——for to attempt to shut
out the sense of sight by closing the eyes is always to render the
inner-mental sense increasingly acute: “the field of sight is soon crowded
with grotesque and rapidly changing images——a phantasmagoria, the worrying
effect of which is only a too familiar experience of the sleep waiter,”
and all the mental senses are in like manner stimulated, and their
acuteness intensified, by the endeavor to lower the sensibility of the
sense organs; and, worst of all, to narcotize them with drugs or
sleeping-draughts is irrational and its effects injurious, and if long
continued, fatal;——rather, I repeat, having ears to hear, let me hear, and
eyes to see, see; and a brain, let me think. Let the brain, the ears, and
the eyes “forget their cunning,” only when the eyelids droop in sleep
because I am sleepy. Meantime, not self-abasingly, but calmly and
dispassionately, would I philosophize thus: Well, I am in for it again! I
would like to sleep promptly, soundly, and long; why do I not? I suspect
that I am not running this physico-mental machine even in a fairly
physiological manner; I cause it to run at an abnormal rate during the
day, and keep up intense mental excitement through stimulation of one sort
or another, prolonging excessive mental activity too far on toward the
night; and because of this, and the lack of a fair degree of muscular
exercise, I only half breathe; of my fifteen or sixteen inspirations per
minute, not one distends the air cells of my lungs to half their capacity.
[Thus it transpires that the organism suffers in two ways, viz.: (1) the
circulation is not sufficiently oxygenated for its general purposes; and
(2) the waste matters are not “_pumped out_” of the substance of the
brain,[51] as effectually as need be]. My coffee was strong and nice this
morning; it stimulated me very satisfactorily throughout the day; and,
what I had not bargained for, I am still feeling the spur (see article on
Coffee). That new brand of cigars is exquisitely flavored; but, upon the
whole, a perfect night’s sleep would be far more exquisite; at least, just
now I am in the mood to think so. I sneered at that food-reformer who told
me he was never a good sleeper until his present simple, natural habits
made him so; but now, just at this moment, it seems as if it would be a
good trade to exchange some of my favorite dishes for coarse food and
balmy sleep! Oh, if I only could get “balmy” that way every night! I “got
the best” of ———— yesterday morning on those ———— stocks, and spent an
hour, bent over my desk, figuring to see how I could get hold of some more
at that price, before its holders had time to ascertain its real value. I
will tell the widow ———— in the morning, what it is worth, instead of
trying to buy hers under-price as I contemplated doing. And so I would con
over and look through myself and my habits, feeling sure that my eyelids
would droop, and sleep would come before I should have completed the work
of reform; and I am sure that every sufferer will find that a real
reform——a permanent reform——will unfailingly lead on to _health_, and so
to sweet and satisfactory sleep.

[Footnote 51: “As stimulation of the brain causes dilatation of its
vessels, and increases the flow of blood through them, mental action of
itself not only attracts more blood to the brain, but provides to some
extent for the removal of waste products. Hence sleeplessness is normal
for a clogged brain. The movements induced by the cardiac pulsations are
not so extensive as those caused by the respiratory movements or by
muscular exertion, and therefore, when the brain is overworked and the
respiratory and muscular movements are restricted, the cerebral nutrition
will be diminished by the imperfect removal of waste from its substance.
But if, in addition to this, the cerebral cells and fibers are actually
poisoned by the circulation within the vessels which supply them, of
noxious substances due to imperfect digestion or assimilation, matters
will become very much worse.”——T. L. BRUNTON, M.D., F.R.S. (ibid.)]

“Let no sleepless person be discouraged. Maintain hope under all
circumstances. Remember that there are many worse cases of suffering than
your own in the world, although to you it seems impossible. Keep up your
general health by all sanitary means possible; walk much in the open air,
if you can walk; ride, if you can not walk. Above all measures, keep the
functions of the skin in prime condition; cleanliness is antagonistic to
sleeplessness. Dry friction over the body by the use of the hand, or
better by the use of the French hair mitten, twice a day, we have found of
great service. The air-bath should not be neglected. A few minutes after
the employment of friction over the body, walk about without clothing in a
cool room, and if possible let the sun strike upon the body. Do not
remain uncovered too long, so as to become chilled. Keep the digestion
good; eat only such forms of food as suit the digestive organs. Surround
yourself with cheerful company if possible, read such books as do not tax
or weary the mind, and life will cease to be a burden, even if you do not
sleep as others do. Avoid above all things constant dosing; throw into the
ditch, or into the sea, all nostrums that may fall into your hand.”

Comparatively few, even of the so-called hopelessly insane, but might in
the early stages of their disease be completely restored; and at any
period, so long as there is great vital force, or what would commonly pass
for robust physical health, no case need be set down as hopeless. But
while the present system of treatment prevails (it is not worthy the
appellation of “system,”) the present small proportion of “cures” will
continue to be the rule. The inmates are confined more or less closely,
often in imperfectly ventilated apartments, deprived of the exercise in
the open air they so much need, to the lack of which in their own homes
is, in part, attributable their present condition; they are fed
generously, even to plethora; and this, through the fault of the ignorance
of their attending physicians, although, if these were wise enough to know
when and how their patients needed “dieting,” the friends of these
sufferers would never submit to anything bordering upon a strictly
abstemious diet in their treatment. In visiting lunatic asylums in this
and other countries, I have been struck with the appearance of groups of
patients——the similarity of their _physique_, as compared with the men and
women seen on our streets every day——fat or lean, seldom medium——all
exhibiting clearly the physical characteristics of disease, as emaciation,
obesity, lack of, or ravenous, appetite, usually the latter. Meal-time
comes every five or six hours, and if the appetite is good, all are
permitted to eat very much in excess of their needs; they are urged to eat
when they desire to fast; and food is forced into their stomachs if they
are inclined to abstain for any length of time. It is not uncommon to find
patients who upon entering an asylum begin to fatten, though already in an
abnormal condition in this regard, their symptoms becoming more and more
discouraging as their weight increases, although neither physician nor
friends connect the two facts in any way. The latter feel thankful that
“poor dear J———— gets enough to eat!” In this connection I introduce an
incident of recent occurrence, not as indicating that a compulsory fast
for an extended period should be resorted to generally, nor my own belief
that it is a specific for all mind-troubles, by any means, but as a fact
of great significance which all interested in this question may well pause
a moment to contemplate.

[Dispatch from Philadelphia to the New York _Herald_].

TANNER’S RECORD BEATEN.

AN INSANE ASYLUM PATIENT ABSTAINS FROM FOOD
FOR FORTY-ONE DAYS.

One of the most extraordinary cases of an insane man attempting to restore
his reason by voluntary starvation was discovered recently at the ————
County Insane Asylum. The case presents an interesting study for medical
men generally. ————, aged forty years, a well-known resident of ————, who
has been confined in the institution for the last two years, has abstained
absolutely from all food except water, for the space of forty-one days.
From the forty-second day of his fast until the fifty-first day he drank
one pint of milk daily, and from then began eating strawberries and milk.
This diet was maintained for three weeks, and was then succeeded by
oatmeal gruel and milk. The case is a matter of careful record at the
institution and under circumstances that prevented deception. Therefore,
there is not the slightest doubt as to the extraordinary performance
having been genuine. Mr. ————, when he first came to the asylum, was very
violent at times, but, like many insane persons, he was a ravenous eater.
His insanity is supposed to be hereditary. Occasionally he has had lucid
intervals, and during these brief periods he frequently expressed the
belief that there existed some method by which the insane might have their
affliction alleviated if not entirely done away with. To Mrs. ————, the
matron of the asylum, he took a great fancy, and, while averse to having
anything to do with any other of the officials, he confided in her
thoroughly and often expressed the wish that his mind might be restored to
him and that he could be released. “For forty-one days,” said Mrs. ————,
“nothing passed his lips but water, and tepid water at that. Of this fact
I am thoroughly positive, knowing as I do the continuous efforts made
every day to induce him to eat. When he began the fast he had been living
on the same diet as the rest of the patients. He came to me and said,
seemingly in a perfectly rational manner, that he was anxious to be cured,
and that he thought abstinence from food for a time might benefit him. Mr.
———— said he did not intend to carry his experiment to extremes, but that
the moment he felt it would be proper for him to break the fast he would
do so. On the second day ———— again refused to eat, and did not go out of
his room. On the third day he drank a small cupful of water. At the end of
the seventh day he had drank about six pints of water, and the natural
functions of the body had then ceased. All of the attendants were
instructed to use every possible means to induce the man to partake of
nourishment, and a man was with him constantly through the day.”

“Could he not have obtained food at night?” was asked.

“It would have been impossible,” replied Mrs. ————. “All the rooms are
locked, and none of the patients have access to other parts of the
building after sundown. We would have been only too glad had he taken
food. About the 20th day he began to get thin and haggard-looking about
the face, and seemed to be feeble. He said that his head felt better, and
that he did not intend to eat anything as long as he felt so well. On the
35th day he became so weak that he had to go to bed, and remained there
until he broke the fast. I had told him that whenever he wanted to eat to
send me word, no matter what hour of the night or day it happened to be,
and I would see that he was provided with anything he might fancy. On the
afternoon of the 41st day since Mr. ———— had ceased eating,” continued
Mrs. ————, “he sent up word by an attendant that he should like to have a
cup of coffee.[52] I hastened to comply with the request at once, and had
a cup of very strong Java prepared. Mr. ———— drank it, and followed it up
an hour later with a cup of nice, rich milk. He stuck to the milk for a
week, I think, and then added strawberries. This low diet was kept up, oh,
for a long time, probably a month, then he gradually began eating oatmeal
mush and gruel, which has been maintained up to to-day.”

[Footnote 52: One of the worst moves be could have made; but it is
significant that this was his last attempt to return to his coffee habit.
In his renewed state it proved no longer enticing!]

“And you are perfectly positive, Mrs. ————, that Mr. ———— fasted
absolutely, with the exception of water, for forty-one days?”

“Perfectly satisfied,” replied Mrs. ————; “in fact, I know it. There can
be no possible doubt, inasmuch as the attendants were only too anxious to
force the man to eat.”

“Do you think the fast has made any change in Mr. ————’s condition?”

“Well,” replied Mrs. ————, “he will probably be discharged as cured at the
next meeting of the board of freeholders in August.”[53]

[Footnote 53: It is a matter of regret to me that this book goes to press
before I can ascertain the final result. Judging from the above account,
however, I should expect a thoroughly successful ending, unless it should
transpire that, true to their instincts, the attendants prevailed upon the
patient to abandon the simple regimen, which he adopted after the fast,
and resume the ordinary stimulating diet; in which case I should
confidently expect a complete relapse.

As a hint regarding the effect of a stimulating and excessive diet upon
persons of unsound mind, I subjoin a brief note taken during the trial of
the most celebrated lunatic of modern times: “Guiteau’s appetite is quite
as remarkable as his insolence. He has breakfast served in his room at the
court-house about nine o’clock, and usually consumes at this meal a pound
of steak, nine buckwheat cakes, three roasted potatoes, and five cups of
coffee. Then, at half-past twelve, he gorges himself on roast beef and
mutton.”]

A certain class of wakeful patients are benefited by the practice of
eating shortly before bedtime, when this right has been earned by
sufficient restriction during the day. To make this the fourth, or even
the third meal, however, is almost certain to increase the difficulty at
last. The victim of sleepless nights often finds himself quite overcome
with drowsiness after his midday meal. If then he could throw himself upon
the bed he would have no time to “count,” or even think of such a device
for putting himself to sleep. He was wide awake before lunch, and but for
the habit of taking it, could have finished the day better without than
with this out-of-season sleeping potion. Let him take the hint, eat his
second and last meal, a sufficient one of plain food, in the evening after
fully rested, and, thus equipped, go to bed directly, or after an hour or
two of agreeable, but non-taxing, social converse. He must avoid every
form of artificial stimulation——tea, coffee, wine, beer, tobacco. To
breathe the atmosphere of an office, hotel, or smoking-car, for any
considerable period, is no better, may be worse, than a moderate
indulgence at first-hand in the open air.

CHAPTER VII.

RHEUMATISM, FATTY DEGENERATION, ETC.

Casey A. Wood. M.D., Professor of Chemistry in the Medical Department of
Bishop’s College, Montreal, in an article entitled “Starvation in the
Treatment of Acute Articular Rheumatism” (Canada _Medical Record_), gives
the history of seven cases where the patients were speedily restored to
health by simply abstaining from food from four to eight days, and he says
he could have given the history of forty more from his own practice, but
thought these would suffice. In no instance did he find it necessary to
extend the fast beyond ten days. His patients were allowed to drink freely
of cold water, or lemonade in moderate quantities, if they preferred, and
simple sponging with tepid water was resorted to when indicated by
feverishness of the surface. In no case did this treatment fail. No
medicine was administered. The cases reported “included men and women of
different ages, temperaments, occupations, and social positions.” He
further says: “From the quick and almost invariably good results to be
obtained by simple abstinence from food, I am inclined to the idea that
rheumatism is, after all, only a phase of indigestion, and that, by
giving complete and continued rest to all the viscera that take any part
in the process of digestion, the disease, is attacked _in ipsa radice_.”
In chronic rheumatism he obtained less positive results, but did not
venture to try fasts of longer duration. Dr. Wood concludes by saying that
“this treatment, obviating as it does, almost entirely, the danger of
cardiac complications, will be found to realize all that has been claimed
for it——a simple, reliable remedy for a disease that has long baffled the
physician’s skill; and the frequency with which rheumatism occurs will
give every one a chance of trying its efficacy.” As elsewhere remarked,
nearly all patients continue eating regularly, until food becomes actually
disagreeable, even loathsome, often; and, after this, every effort is
exhausted to produce some toothsome compound to “tempt the appetite.”
Furthermore, and often worst of all, after the entire failure of this
programme, the patient can, and usually does, take to gruel or some sort
of “extract,” which he can drink by holding his breath. All this tends to
aggravate the acute symptoms, and to fasten the disease in a chronic form
upon the rheumatic patient, or to insure rheumatic fever; and the same
principle holds in nearly all acute disorders, it is well to remember. So
inveterate is this mania for eating, even when to continue is like turning
coals upon the dead ashes and clinkers of an expired fire, that, in
ordinary practice, it is well-nigh impossible to induce any class of
patients to abstain from food at the beginning of an attack, or to give
the fasting cure a fair trial at any stage of the disease. The term
frequently applied——“starvation cure”——is both misleading and
disheartening to the patient: in fact, he is both _starved_ and _poisoned_
by _eating_ when the hope of digestion and assimilation is prohibited, as
is, in great measure, the case in all acute attacks, and more especially
when there is nausea or lack of appetite; and he can only escape from the
danger by abstaining temporarily. Dr. Wood’s prestige in the natural
treatment of acute rheumatism was obtained in hospital practice, where it
is comparatively easy to “control the symptoms” by withholding the cause,
or, in other words, where the physician——providing the nurse is
honest——can regulate the diet of his patients, absolutely. After such
experience, it was less difficult for Dr. Wood to introduce this remedy
among the most intelligent of his patients in private practice; for he
could recommend it as in no sense an experiment, but as a remedy of
positive advantage and, in fact, indispensable, if the best results were
to be effected. My own experience, so far as it goes, has been similar to
that of Dr. Wood. Moreover, in chronic cases——cases of long standing——the
best results may be hoped for——in fact the best possible results have
invariably followed——from an abstemious (_frugivorous_) diet, together
with simple bathing, as special symptoms may indicate,——and an improved
general regimen, as to fresh air, exercise (inaugurated gradually),
beginning, perhaps, with passive exercise, as rubbing, etc., by the
attendant. A chronic disease usually implies chronic provocation: Nature
has simply commuted the extreme penalty of the law; or, it may be likened
to the reprieve of a convict under sentence of death, with an assurance of
full liberty upon complete reform.

Among the disorders radically and safely removed by fasting, is

OBESITY,

or any degree of excess in weight. Time, from ten days up. The weight, in
this disorder, will diminish under the influence of fasting——by the waste
and excretion of _material that can best be spared_ (fat)——at the rate of
from one to three pounds, or more, a day, which rate of progress can be
increased, happily, by exercise in the open air. Entire abstinence from
food will cause the fat to disappear, but there can be no regeneration of
the muscular system——on the contrary, it must continue to
deteriorate——without exercise. It is better, therefore, to keep up a good
degree of exercise, and to eat a limited amount of food daily. It is not
that the fat person eats or digests more than the lean one (he may not eat
nearly as much in fact), but he excretes less. Exercise in the open air
favors the excretion of waste matters which otherwise would be deposited
in the cellular tissues. The fatty degeneration so much admired in
infancy, aids in the production of emaciation and consumption at adult
age.

A fat person, at whatever period of life, has not a sound tissue in his
body; not only is the entire muscular system degenerated with the fatty
particles,[54] but the vital organs——heart, lungs, brain, kidneys, liver,
etc.——are likewise mottled throughout, like rust spots in a steel
watch-spring, liable to fail at any moment.

[Footnote 54: A slice of steak from the loin of a stall-fed ox exhibits
this disease very clearly: mark its “well mixed” appearance (a token of
praise to the ignorant or reckless epicure), where the muscular tissue has
given place to the globules of fat which denote unexcreted excess in diet,
and deficient nutrition, from lack of exercise.]

The gifted Gambetta, whom M. Rochefort styled a “fatted satrap,” died (far
under his prime) because of this depraved condition: a slight gun-shot
wound, from which a “clean” man would have speedily recovered, ended this
obese diabetic’s life. Events sufficiently similar are constantly
occurring on both sides of the water; every hour men are rolling into
ditches of death because they do not learn how to live. These ditches have
fictitious names——grief, fright, apoplexy, heart disease, kidney troubles,
etc., etc.——but the true name is _chronic self-abuse_.

Says an agricultural journal: “The eggs of most fowls are infertile from
too much pampering and too little exercise. It is not wise to fatten any
animal intended for breeding purposes.” The principle here involved does
not relate simply to the fertility of the ovum, but to the health and
stamina of all living creatures: fat is disease. Very fat women can not
conceive, or, if they do, their children can not be born alive; and those
who are to any degree degenerated in this manner can not endow their
offspring with the full measure of vitality to which they are justly
entitled; while too often they are foredoomed to sickly lives and
premature deaths.

I can in no way better illustrate the relation of fat to health and
strength, than by repeating the remarks of an intelligent and observing
young farmer. “I fatten my cattle,” said he, “because it pays——the market
demands fat creatures; so I have my barn very snug and warm, and feed
high. My neighbor, on the other hand, is what would be called a ‘poor
farmer’; that is, his buildings are not of the best, his barn has broad
cracks all around, which gives them pure air, and his cattle are never
fat. He works his oxen hard, gives them enough to eat to keep them in full
health and vigor, but nothing for adipose. Mornings, in winter, when he
turns his oxen out into the yard, they prance out like a lot of colts,
kick up their heels and shake their horns like healthy creatures as they
are; while mine will almost tumble down over the door-sill! His cows never
give as much milk nor make as much butter as mine; but they are never
sick, while mine are sometimes, and I lose one now and then with
‘milk-fever,’ or some other disease resulting from high feeding; but I am
farming for profit, and my heifers bring an extra price by reason of the
great milk and butter record of their mothers, and I can afford to have a
sick or even a dead cow occasionally, providing I keep the fact quiet——not
advertise the danger of the process necessary to ‘drive the milk out of
them.’”

[Obesity being a disease peculiar to, and (terminating in cholera infantum
or some zymotic disease) especially fatal in, infancy, the author has
endeavored to treat the subject exhaustively in his work entitled “How to
Feed the Baby.” He would merely observe, in this connection, that in
plant life or animal life, the universal law is a _lean, lank infancy_:
those creatures and those slips which thrive continuously and reach a
healthy maturity are _never_ fat or stocky during the period of growth.
The human infant only is sought to be made an exception to this rule; with
what success the mortality reports fully attest.]

CHAPTER VIII.

BILIOUSNESS, “HAY FEVER,” NEURALGIA, ETC.

Regarding this ridiculous (because unnecessary) disorder, Sir Lionel
Beale, a recognized authority, says: “The bilious ‘habit’ seems to be due
to an unusually sensitive, irritable stomach and liver, which will
discharge their functions fairly in a moderate degree, but which can not
be made to do more than this without getting much out of order, [unless, I
would remark, the _needs_ of the system be augmented and, consequently,
the digestive powers exalted, by means of increased exercise, less
pampering, more outdoor air, the use of lighter clothing, etc.] Most of
the organs” he goes on to say, “taking part in the digestion and
assimilation of food seem to strike work when the bilious attack comes on.
[It would seem more accurate to say that the ‘strike,’ resulting from
overtaxation——excessive and unwholesome alimentation——constitutes the
‘attack’]. If food be taken, the suffering becomes greater. The fact seems
to be, that the digestive organs require rest for a time, and if, when an
attack comes on, this rest is given, the bilious state passes off, and the
patient then feels extremely well, perhaps for a considerable time.
Persons of the ‘bilious habit’ should not [who should?] eat ‘rich’ foods,
fatty matters, fried dishes, etc., etc., and should shun alcohol.” He
advises little or no meat; commends the vegetarian diet, fruits, and a
good proportion of whole-meal bread——corn, rye, and wheat. The free use of
milk promotes biliousness, in many cases. Skim-milk often “agrees” when
whole milk can not be taken in any quantity without causing much
disturbance. Milk can not be called a natural food for man, and, indeed,
many are obliged to relinquish its use altogether; besides, as remarked
elsewhere, there is much disease among cows, owing to the unnatural manner
of feeding them, and in such cases the milk is impure. It is a safe rule
for bilious subjects to abstain from milk altogether; while butter, cream
and cheese are still more objectionable.

In the following complaints the benefit derived from temporary abstinence
from food are most marked; the acute symptoms, as catarrhal discharges,
feverishness, or pain, shortly disappear (when the fast may be broken),
and the disorders themselves may be eradicated by a wholesome regimen such
as would, in the first instance, have prevented them: acute catarrh,
“rose,” or “hay” fever, influenza, feverishness, fever (one to six days,
or until convalescence), neuralgia (including headache and toothache). The
list might be extended somewhat, but enough has been said to illustrate
the principle that “fresh air, fasting, and exercise is Nature’s triple
panacea” for the pain and discomfort experienced in a wide range of
disorders where the necessity exists for excreting poisonous elements,
and resting the viscera concerned in alimentation. “This exasperation of
irritation _in the viscera_, and for the most part in the ganglionic
network about the stomach and liver,” says an eminent medical author, “is
an invariable concomitant and cause” [of neuralgia, and all chronic nerve
aches].

HINTS AND APHORISMS.

A well-knit frame never “drops a stitch.”——A chilly person is a sick
person: good health, not good clothes, nor artificial heat, keeps a man
feeling warm.——A rear guard: “I shall bring him out of this all right,”
says the doctor,——“if no new complication arises”; and then he prescribes
a drug or a compound of drugs, which tends to provoke the complication.
For hundreds of years it has been, and, in general practice, still is the
aim in sickness, to excite the organism to greater exertion in this, that
or the other direction, _by giving it more to do_; the new gospel teaches
that the true theory is, to enable Nature to put forth her energies in the
most life-saving manner, albeit in her own fashion, by giving her more to
do _with_: fresh air, sunshine, cleanliness, water,——the latter _pure_,
_i.e._, without the everlasting drug which constitutes the “more to do.”
It is a hackneyed expression, that “a man is either a fool or his own
physician at forty”; but if he then find himself neither whole nor
mending, he is a fool if he does not seek advice. Stomach digestion
demands a period of leisure; hence the rule, “Never eat till you have
leisure to digest.”——Assimilation and nutrition demand peace of mind, to
ensure the best results; in sickness, especially, “the balance of power”
often lies in this direction.

NOTE.——It should be understood that aside from the above hint,
the foregoing disorders are to be considered by the reader in
connection with the teachings of this volume as a whole. (See
concluding paragraph in the chapter on Bright’s Disease.)

Having studied the subject well and with all practicable aid, settle upon
a regimen, let it become second nature, and never worry about diet or
think of your stomach; but if that organ persists in making itself _felt_,
adopt a more abstemious regimen still, and go on again.

Maria Giberne——artist and vegetarian, of whom at the age of fifty, Mozley
said: “She is the handsomest woman I ever saw,” and who “now at near
eighty has the same flowing locks, though they are white as snow, and her
talk and her letters are as bright as ever”——ascribed her wonderful
preservation and unfailing health to her observation of the fasts [she was
a Catholic] and her general abstemiousness. “Her diet consisted chiefly of
bread and fruit, mostly apples. One apple in the middle of a long day she
spoke of as a great refreshment. She had never to complain of the heat.”

We call it a disorder when Nature is really putting things to
rights——bringing the order of health out of the chaos of disease: it is
like “house-cleaning,” where the mistress has let things run at loose ends
for a long time——sweeping the dirt under the stove, behind the door,
etc., and making unnecessary dirt——instead of _keeping_ the establishment
in order and thereby avoiding any occasion for a general upsetting.

Says one of Boston’s eloquent preachers, the Rev. M. J. Savage: “In nine
cases out of ten, men and women might fairly be called to account for
being sick”; and Dr. T. L. Nichols, the eminent hygienist of London, says
the same thing, only in slightly different language: “In nine cases out of
ten, if people, when they found themselves becoming sick, would simply
stop eating, they would have no need of drugs or doctors.”

A certain class of temperance reformers sign pledges to be moderate in
their indulgences, and not to “treat” or be “treated.” This rule would be
a hundred-fold more life-saving applied (rationally) to food than to
drink. It is quite generally the custom to urge our friends to eat to
repletion, when they partake of our hospitality.

Given a natural mode of life and natural food, the appetite also would be
natural, and the stomach would not accept more than it could digest.

Nature appears, often, to be a lenient creditor, but she never neglects to
collect her little bill, finally, with interest and costs of suit: “In the
physical world there is no forgiveness of sin.”

The mandate, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, has, in my
opinion, a physiological basis: a man can eat with advantage only an
amount corresponding to the exertion he puts forth,——a modicum being
allowed, of course, for the physiological labor of the organism.

“Do not think these are unimportant things [questions of diet, etc.], not
dignified enough to be spoken of in the pulpit. I tell you they reach to
your mind and to your morals; they reach to your theology; they reach
clear to heaven, so far as you are concerned, and are of fundamental
importance, touching your religious and moral life a good deal more,
sometimes, than what you think about the Bible, Sunday, or any other
religious institution whatever.”——SAVAGE.

“Nothing hurts me——I eat everything.” (Next year): “Nothing agrees with my
stomach——I can’t eat anything.” Thus the dyspeptics’ ranks are kept full
with recruits from those who “don’t want any advice about diet.”

“Indigestion is charged by God with enforcing morality on the
stomach.”——THOLEMYÉS.

Every appetite held in check, aids in restraining every other——making
_all_ serve the man, instead of the man them; while every one let loose,
tends powerfully to give free rein to all.

CHAPTER IX.

THE FLESH-FOOD FALLACY

[See Chapter III.]

demands more than the passing notice accorded to it in the chapters on
Consumption: The facts of chemistry are eternal and indisputable, as are
all the truths of science; but, as between two kinds of aliment, or two
substances which are being considered as to their adaptation to the
purpose of nourishing the body, while chemistry accurately points out
which contains the greatest amount of this or that constituent, and is
often of service, as affording data for a presumption, in the absence of
definite knowledge, she often fails to discover——despite the chemist’s, or
rather his blind pupil’s dogmatic assertion to the contrary——which is
really the _most natural_, and consequently the _best adapted_ for the
purpose of alimentation. In nothing do we observe this more strikingly
than in a comparison between flesh and vegetable foods. A three-column
criticism of a former work (How to Feed the Baby), in one of our leading
magazines, and which sums up its merits by “hoping the book will be read
by all on whom devolves the important duty, the care of children; for it
is an effort to institute the correct principle of feeding ‘the baby,’”
contains the following upon the subject of animal _vs._ vegetable food:
“We discover,” says the critic, “on page 98 that our author is a
vegetarian, after all. In speaking of a nutritious diet whereby to enrich
the breast milk, he makes the following startling statement: ‘Unleavened
bread, or mush, made from the unbolted meal of wheat, rye, or corn, has
_very much more nutriment_, pound for pound, than is contained in beef or
mutton, notwithstanding the fallacy that classes the latter as hearty
food.’ This is only a declaration without proof, contrary to all authority
on foods. We take the following table from Prof. Johnston’s ‘Chemistry of
Common Life’:

Lean beef. Wheaten bread.

Water and blood 77 40
Myosin or gluten 19 7
Fat 3 1
Starch 0 50
Salt and other mineral mat. 1 2

“From which is deduced the fact, that ordinary flesh is about three times
as rich in myosin or gluten as ordinary wheaten bread, or, in other words,
a pound of beefsteak is as nutritious as three pounds of wheaten bread. In
a second edition of Dr. Page’s book, we hope he will correct this great
error.”

It should be stated that bread made from whole, _i.e._, unbolted and
_unsifted_, meal, is much richer in gluten and certain invaluable salts,
than shown in the figures here given.

Because the most careful observation on the part of intelligent and
conscientious men who have had the best opportunities for ascertaining the
relative merits of these two classes of foods, viz.: nutrients proper, and
the stimulo-nutrients, or, in other words, foods which are naturally
adapted to the human organism, and those substances (as, for example, the
flesh of animals) which, along with a great deal of nourishment, contain
elements which, being of an excretory and noxious character, _excite_ or
_stimulate_ the organism, and are, consequently, to that degree
injurious——because, I would repeat, the proof is, in my estimation,
overwhelmingly in favor of vegetable food, more particularly the cereals
and fruits, so far from contemplating the “correction of this great
error,” I desire to reassert, most emphatically, as a fundamental truth in
dietetics, and in no sense an error, that, pound for pound, the cereal
grains are not only more nutritious (speaking of their effects upon the
human organism) than flesh, but, physiologically speaking, they are free
from the impurities which abound in the latter, and which are often
rendered still more noxious by the presence of actual disease among
animals _fattened_ for human food.

The advocates of flesh-food have a marvelous faculty for misrepresenting
some facts, and for the non-presentation of others which should appear if
the discussion is for the purpose of deciding the question on its merits.
To illustrate: I find in Johnson’s Encyclopedia (Article on Hygiene, by a
prominent physician) the following: “It must be admitted that men can,
under favorable circumstances, exist through long periods without meat.
This is shown in the instances of many tribes in Asia and Africa, who live
almost entirely on rice and other grains, and also by many of the
peasantry of Continental Europe, and the Scotch Highlanders who are
confined to a diet containing very little animal food. Yet it is equally
true that men can exist on meat alone, as is done by the Indian riders of
the South American pampas, for months together.” But the writer of the
above (from ignorance of the fact, doubtless,) does not add, that those
races who live upon a well-selected vegetable diet excel in every
way——mentally, morally, and physically——those races or tribes who subsist
entirely on flesh. What would the above authority call “favorable
circumstances” such as would enable men to “exist” without meat? Was he
thinking of the French officers, prisoners of war, who were fed, for a
year or more, on rice and Indian corn exclusively, with water for their
only drink, to return to their commands in improved health, to receive
promotion by reason of vacancies occasioned by the death of comrades who
had been favored with an abundance of meat? Or of the muscular Japanese,
hard-working men and finely developed women of whom a recent sojourner in
Japan says: “The quantity of food they eat is astonishingly small when
compared with the food devoured by meat-eaters from the Western world....
Seemingly their frames are as tough as steel, not susceptible of cold or
intense heat——going thinly clad in freezing weather, and not shrinking
from the sun in its most oppressive season.... They are a marvel of
strength, and illustrate the lesson that health, strength, and endurance
may exist on a light and scanty diet of rice and vegetables, together with
fish. The Rikisha men are not so heavily molded, being of much slighter
build, but they are also full of muscle, though not so prodigally
developed [as with the class of laborers before referred to]. The fatigue
these men undergo and withstand can be partially estimated when it is
remembered that it is not considered an extraordinary feat for them to
travel forty miles a day with their seated passenger. No matter how hot it
may be, while the passenger is complaining of the heat, he is being
whirled along and protected by his umbrella from the rays of the sun, and
the motive power never flags. This Rikisha man keeps up a pace like a
deer, his body generally bare to the sun, being guiltless of clothing that
could inconvenience the free movement of the body or limbs. He takes but
the slightest quantity of refreshment while on the road——a cup of tea and
a modicum of rice being the extent of his gormandizing during the travel.
And they repeat these exploits day after day, never eating meat.” Of the
women this writer remarks: “With beautifully rounded arms and limbs, with
smallest of feet and hands, and small-boned, they present the spectacle of
what the human form should be in its natural grace and finish.... The
women, young and old, are seen bearing loads upon their backs that the
uninitiated in such work would not be able to stand up under. They will
travel miles laden this way with a speed that would suffice to tire an
average Western woman if entirely unincumbered. In fact few of our women
could at all walk the distance the old women do here while bearing heavy
loads. And all this is performed on an abstemious vegetable diet.” Thus it
would seem that “the most favorable circumstances,” to use the language of
Johnson’s contributor, to enable men and women to live “without meat,” are
plenty of hard work in the open air,[55] and a somewhat restricted diet;
for it must be remembered that the people of whom we have been speaking,
are from necessity the least able to indulge in unlimited quantities of
their peculiar food of all the people in the land.

[Footnote 55: It is very generally agreed by the most eminent medical men
of all schools of practice, that in the absence of free exercise in the
open air, animal food _must_ be abstained from.]

As to the moral aspect of the question, I grant that a man can not sin
without knowledge. If he believes it necessary and right for the higher
animals, elevated human beings, to slaughter and feast upon the lower——the
gentle, mild-eyed creatures who serve and minister unto us so patiently,
so faithfully, and, indeed, so lovingly——then to kill and devour is, for
him, no crime. But if men were as ready to learn from their instincts, as
they are to yield to their artificial cravings, the natural loathing which
all, or most people, feel at the sight of bloodshed, and which so many
experience at the bare thought of taking life, would teach us the
unnaturalness and therefore the harmfulness of a flesh diet. (See
Appetite.)

Finally, there remains to be answered, one argument, the most rational of
all that are put forward in favor of the continued use of flesh-food,
viz.: heredity and habit, and a “second nature” resultant therefrom. Even
some hygienic writers argue stoutly the necessity of recognizing this law,
as particularly applicable to this question, and declare the absurdity of
the position assumed by those who demand the abandonment of flesh-food for
all who would insure to themselves the blessing of health. While affirming
that the vital organism may in a few years, even, become accustomed to the
_use_ of almost anything, no matter how repugnant or destructive it
naturally is, as opium, liquor, tobacco, etc., provided the process be
gradual enough, they still hold that with regard to animal food, a
substance acknowledged by them to be unwholesome, the organism can not
become accustomed to its _non-use_ until generations of better habits have
remodeled the organism to suit the conditions. Theoretically, it would
seem grossly absurd to say that when, as is the known fact, cats, dogs,
bears, and the like, can thrive perfectly on a strict vegetarian diet (I
have, myself, tried this successfully with the first two), that _man_
alone has no hope this side the grave of being able to abandon animal
food! In practice, it is found that the only thing required is to convince
the mind of an individual of the unnaturalness and unwholesomeness of
flesh-food; _then_ if he be conscientious the battle is won, and it only
remains to furnish him with a diet suited to his needs, (the selection and
preparation of which, many hygienists, however, are far from comprehending
fully; hence the only reason I can find for the continuance of the mixed
diet in any case). But if he be either unconvinced or lacking in moral
force, he can not be harmed by the presentation of the vegetarian
_theory_, for he will continue his flesh-eating and take the consequences.
So long, however, as any hygienist favors even a moderate indulgence in
animal foods as a necessity for most people throughout their lives, his
followers will take it upon themselves to decide as to what constitutes
moderation, just as is the case with coffee, liquor, and tobacco-users,
only the former (by reason of their ignorance as to what constitutes
health and symptoms of disease) have no such means of recognizing the
symptoms of excess, as have the latter. The truth is that “abstinence from
_all_ unwholesome practices, only, is easier than temperance.”

* * * * *

NOTE.——This chapter is particularly recommended to the notice of
members and friends of the American Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals.

CHAPTER X.

AIR-BATHS.

With a view to the exaltation of the condition of the entire organism, as
well as simply that of the digestive and assimilative system——and in
addition to the reform already suggested as to clothing, _i.e._, a
reduction in the number and weight of garments habitually worn, when these
have been superabundant,——I would say to all classes, sick or well, that
great advantage will be derived from habituating themselves to transient
exposure of the entire surface of the body to the air. Often enough, we
observe persons sitting heavily clad, in a warm room and close to the
fire, and yet feeling “shivery” and sure of having “caught cold.” To throw
off all clothing would banish such chills _instanter_, especially if the
person begins to give himself a brisk hand-rubbing. The skin is sweltered,
and is numb for want of circulation in the capillaries. In the case
supposed the person has _prevented_ a “cold.” Next to the water-bath,
which is, of course, or ought to be, an air-bath and water-bath combined,
the simple air-bath is invaluable as a prophylactic or a curative; and in
very many instances, say for several mornings in each week, and whenever
the usual water-bath is not convenient, the air-bath will prove an
excellent substitute. In place of _dodging_ from the sweltering bed into
his heavy day-clothing, the _robust_ man will be far more likely to
maintain his vigorous condition by doffing his night-shirt and indulging
for the space of, say, five minutes or less, in brisk hand-rubbing all
over, however cold his sleeping-room, and again on going to bed; while the
delicate ones should, with due caution, inaugurate the same system (some
_will-power_ has to be exerted), but graduated, as to temperature and
duration, to their special conditions——advancing as their physical
condition improves under its influence until they are no longer members of
that immense army——the victims of “aërophobia.” Patients themselves too
weak for even the exercise of self-rubbing will still derive great benefit
from the air-bath, in a temperature, say, of 65°, with an attendant to rub
them briskly from neck to heels. Set in practice in a rational manner this
custom will never injure the most delicate person, but on the contrary
will always prove beneficial. It will not bring the dead to life, nor,
indeed, “cure” the moribund; but it is one of Nature’s most efficient
aids——it is Nature herself, in very truth——and I have seen patients who
were thought to be hopelessly ill, begin to take on what seemed to be
renewed life, largely through this new use of fresh air, and the
_dismissal_ of the _unnatural dread of it_. For example:

CHRONIC DYSPEPSIA CURED BY FASTING AND FRESH AIR.

A patient, Mrs. T., of New Hampshire, a very bright lady indeed, and one
who appreciated the necessity of fresh air, had yet, through a very deep
decline, in addition to a life-long invalidism, become hyper-sensitive to
cold, wrapping and over-wrapping to guard against chilliness, fearful of
the least current of air. Both relatives and friends were discouraged as
to her recovery——it even being urged, after I had taken the case, that if,
as it seemed, there were no hopes of her getting well, she ought to have
some “medicine to ease her pathway to the grave.”[56] This was in the
month of October of the year 1882, when she came under my care. I induced
her to leave off eating, since eating was particularly disagreeable, and
only served to keep up the chronic inflammation of the entire digestive
and neighboring viscera, causing her a great deal of suffering and
threatening her with starvation. [Referring to her first letter (written
by her sister), describing her condition, I find such expressions as
these: “My physician, who feared heart disease, as my mother and one
sister had died of it, becoming alarmed at my symptoms, desired a
consultation, and Dr. ————, Professor of Cardiac Diseases at ———— ————
College Hospital, was called. He said heart was all right, but lungs weak.
I was well drugged, but when they stuffed me on cod-liver oil and
beefsteak I would have inflammation of the stomach and liver and, of
course, grew worse, with such a terrible ache at the base of my brain....
Was brought to N. H. (from Brooklyn, N. Y.) in May, and had congestion of
the liver shortly after. My physician, here, ordered iron and strychnine,
but it did no permanent good. All my friends say I am starving to death,
and unless you can advise me, I fear that I shall, for I am terribly
emaciated even now.... My æsophagus, stomach, and liver are in an
irritated condition,... am sore all over,——can not sleep at night; have
taken chloral by physician’s advice. My flesh has a yellow-purple
color——arms and hands grow quite purple at times,” etc., etc.] I directed
her to throw away her medicine——iron and strychnia, aconite and
chloral——_bottles and all_,——as the first step, telling her that whether
she was to live or die, she should be made more comfortable without, than
with medicine. For the exhausted digestive organs, I directed entire rest,
as before stated; and for seven days she swallowed nothing but _cool_ or
_hot_ water.[57] _For the first three or four days many of her symptoms
increased in severity_——not a bad sign. At the same time I succeeded in
removing from her mind the dread of air-currents, improving the
ventilation of both the sleeping and sitting room, and she, furthermore,
begun the system of air-bathing here enjoined. On the seventh day she
reported by letter that she felt as though something “more nourishing than
water would be very acceptable,” that she had some very nice pears and
Delaware grapes, and would like to try them. I directed her to take a
breakfast of fruit every morning; and, at night, a dinner of two or three
unleavened gems (made from _unsifted_ wheat-meal and mixed stiff with cold
water), with a very little fruit, and a cupful of skimmed milk (no butter,
cream, or any kind of animal fat), beginning with a single gem; the milk
to be taken last, by itself, and each swallow to be held for a moment in
the mouth. Under this treatment she is making excellent progress——not
rapid and fictitious, as we often enough witness under a stimulating
regimen, but a real, natural growth healthward. She rides out in all
weathers, walks a mile or two every day to and from the neighbors, aids in
the work about the house, and on December 9th, about two months after she
began the “natural cure,” she reports by postal as follows: “I am still on
the hygienic tack and growing stronger, though I still have some aches to
assure me that I am mortal. I ‘sleep beautifully,’ with window open in all
weathers. I enjoy my air-baths every morning in the hall (a portion of the
time), with the mercury at zero!” (She is now in robust health.)

[Footnote 56: Her disease was chronic dyspepsia: the stomach was so
irritable that it could seldom retain anything——at least a portion of even
the smallest ordinary ration would be ejected——the liver was very much
congested and enlarged; the bowels were obstinately constipated; there was
extreme emaciation, and but little strength, though, generally, great good
nature and cheerfulness in spite of her ailments. Had been taking chloral
for wakefulness, and iron and strychnine as a tonic. She took no medicine
after becoming my patient.]

[Footnote 57: See note 3 in Appendix, p. 279.]

Benjamin Franklin had observed the invigorating effects of this practice
and would often, in moderate weather, rise from bed in the morning and,
entirely nude, write for an hour or more, and then dress for breakfast.
When wakeful at night, the great philosopher found that by throwing off
the bed-coverings for a few minutes he could then re-cover and fall asleep
and sleep soundly.[58] Finally, so deeply was Franklin impressed from his
own experience and observation in this direction that he proposed to cure
all diseases by means of the air-bath, combined with plain and abstemious
living. His idea concerning the most popular of all disorders may be
inferred from the following: “I shall not attempt to explain why ‘damp
clothes’ occasion colds rather than wet ones, because I doubt the fact. I
imagine that neither the one nor the other contributes to this effect, and
that the causes of colds are totally independent of wet and even of cold.”
(Essays, p. 216.)

[Footnote 58: One may be partially stifled and made wakeful by confined
air about the skin, as well as asphyxiated with bad air in the lungs. The
eminent Dr. B. W. Richardson, of London, lays great stress upon the
necessity, and has himself devised a means, of ventilating the space about
the person in bed——a very gradual change of the air being insured. Next to
any special mechanical device for the accomplishment of this object, and
perhaps all sufficient generally, comes the use of loosely woven sheets
and blankets, instead of heavy linen or cotton sheets and “comfortables”
which are well-nigh airtight.]

Dr. James R. Nichols, of Boston, the well-known scientist, thus emphasizes
the importance of this form of bath:

“One of the most sagacious, far-seeing men this country has produced was
Doctor Franklin. He was in all that he did and said far in advance of his
age and of his opportunities, and his wisdom was of that rare kind which
does not grow old. His discoveries and devices were not partial and
imperfect, but such as have needed little revision or improvement.

“The lightning-rod he devised is to-day the best form we have, and his
method of applying it to buildings needs no special modification. His
open-fireplace stove is still largely in use, no better one having been
devised. His philosophical theories and speculations were so rounded out,
so clearly and sagaciously developed, that many of them stand to-day as
fixed facts in philosophy and science. Among his important discoveries was
the ‘air-bath,’ a sanitary or curative agent which is of the highest
consequence to the welfare of mankind. It may be said that he did not
present the matter in much practical detail, but he suggested it, used it,
and gave reasons for believing in its high importance.

“We have made the air-bath a matter of careful study, and wish to call the
attention of the readers of the _Journal_ to it, as a means of securing
and preserving health, which is of the first importance. It is impossible
for physicians or individuals of ordinary sagacity to fail to see that a
large proportion of invalids and semi-invalids do not bear well the
application of either cold or tepid water to the body. A man or woman must
naturally be of strong constitution and in robust health to arise in the
morning, in cold climates, and stand under the icy streams which come from
a shower-bath, without breaking down in health at an early day. The
sponge-bath is less injurious, but it saps the vitality of many to a fatal
extent, and feeble persons are rarely in any degree benefited by its use.
The tepid bath, as a curative means, constantly followed weakens rather
than strengthens, and many can not continue it for the space even of a
week. Bathing, beyond the needs of perfect cleanliness, is not generally
to be recommended. Mankind are not aquatic animals, like ducks and geese;
they are not born on or in the water, and nature never designed that they
should be splashing about in that element within the lines of the
temperate or frigid zones....

“The air-bath is a means of recuperation which needs to be intelligently
and carefully adopted, and like all other good things must not be abused.
There are hundreds of thousands of people of both sexes, in this country,
who lead miserable lives, and yet they are not in bed, not perhaps
confined to their dwellings; they suffer from nervous prostration, from
imperfect digestion and assimilation, from worry, from overwork, from the
care of households, etc. A vast number in the mighty army of invalids are
not themselves to blame for their physical weaknesses; their
idiosyncrasies of organization come by inheritance....

“Now, the air-bath comes to the feeble and physically impoverished as a
kind and good friend; and let us see how we can obtain from it the highest
good. Nearly all semi-invalids are inclined to sedentary habits, and as
the circulation is languid the body in winter is under a persistent chill.
In the morning, upon getting out of bed, the clothing can not be too
quickly adjusted, as the body is in a shiver; and the air of a cool room
is a thing to be dreaded.

“The morning is the time for the air-bath, and all that is required is a
hair-cloth mitten [a towel, or even the bare hand alone will answer,
however,] and a moderately cool room. When the invalid steps from the bed
to the floor in the morning, let the hair glove or mitten be seized, and
without removing the night-clothes proceed to rub gently all parts of the
body, at the same time walking about in the room until a feeling of
fatigue is experienced; then drop the glove, and gently pass the hand over
all parts of the body before resuming the clothing. [Unless the nude body
is extremely sensitive to cold, it may be exposed to the air for a few
moments, even on the first morning]. The next morning jump out of bed in a
moderately cool [never a ‘close,’ but always a ventilated] room, and go
over the same process as before, remaining a little longer exposed to the
air after the rubbing. The third morning repeat this treatment; and on the
fourth, or at the end of a week, take off all the night-clothing, and
briskly apply the hair glove, first with the right hand and then with the
left, all the time walking about. Follow up this, as the degree of
strength permits, morning after morning, until the body is so rejuvenated
and the blood so attracted to the surface, that the cool air is felt to be
a luxury. Let the body be entirely nude, no socks upon the feet, no scarf
about the chest. At first, or after the first week, perhaps, the exposure
to the pure cool air may be three or four minutes; soon increase the
exposure, until, after a month or two, the air-bath may continue for
twenty minutes or half an hour. Do not fail to walk about during the first
month, using the hands in polishing the skin. After the first month the
patient may sit in the air of the room part of the time, but constant,
gentle exercise is best.

“Now, another most important curative agent connected with the air-bath is
_sunlight_. In summer, sunlight is accessible, but in winter only the late
risers can secure its benefits. [There is no reason why morning should be
regarded as the only appropriate time for this skin-airing. On the
contrary, some will find midday even better, though morning is for most
persons the most convenient time. Many can not devote any other hour to
this work; others will not have the energy, _i. e._, the good sense to
disrobe for an air or sun bath during the day.] If possible, sit and walk
in the sunlight during the bath. It is astonishing what the direct actinic
rays of the morning sun can do for an invalid, when the whole nude body is
brought under its influence.”

SCROFULA.

A sick niece of the Mrs. T. whose case is reported on p. 168, living in
New York, learning of her aunt’s “miraculous cure,” resolved to renounce
medication and come home for hygienic treatment. Her disease is scrofula,
and her condition was such that her friends had well-nigh abandoned all
hope of her recovery. With non-healing ulcers, increasing in number on
body and limbs; weak, languid, with neither strength nor ambition to move
about; emaciated from 120 to 88 pounds——it did seem as though her case was
a most critical one, indeed. Nevertheless, on the clean, pure, nutritious
diet which had restored her relative——largely “natural,” wholly
abstemious, and free from all animal fats (see foot-note, page
232)——modified to suit her particular needs——taken morning and night with
appropriate air and water baths, etc., she soon began to show signs of
improvement. After two months’ trial, her aunt writes that her niece is
certainly gaining. This gain must be real instead of fictitious, since it
is impossible to attribute it to any artificial stimulation. The sores are
beginning to heal; her strength is increasing, by exerting it
daily——drawing, at first moderately, but increasing her drafts from day to
day, upon the “reserved force,” each draft being overpaid, so to say, by
subsequent rest, food, sleep, etc., thus daily increasing her physical
bank account,——there now seems every prospect that this young wife will
ere long be restored to her home as good as new. [Both aunt and niece take
their meals in their private rooms, alone, the total quantity and variety
to be taken at each meal only appearing on the table; there is, therefore,
no temptation for “trying a little more” of this, that, and the other
thing, which almost inevitably leads to excess, and consequent impairment
of appetite; no taxing of the sick brain to be “agreeable” to a “tableful”
of healthy persons, to interfere with the digestion.]

CHAPTER XI.

SALINE STARVATION——CAUTION.

The danger to which I am about to allude——a real danger, as I
believe——does not refer to abstinence from artificial salt, but rather to
the loss of certain essential elements contained in the grains, fruits,
and vegetables, owing (1) to their being cooked at all, and (2) to bad
cooking. Vegetables form a large proportion of the food of even those who
live on the “mixed diet”; and unless cooked (see Natural Diet) in the best
manner, a large part of certain of their elements may be lost, and a
degree of starvation result therefrom. For example: potatoes, when peeled
and over-boiled, lose nearly one-half of their potash. So, too, when they
are kept boiling until the skins break open——the “mealy” potato, often
preferred,——more especially if they are permitted to remain in the water
any length of time thereafter, a large additional percentage of valuable
matters must be dissolved and turned away with the water. The chief aim
should be to retain all the elements contained in the food articles,
whether the cereals, vegetables, or fruits. Hence all of those substances
that are acceptable in a raw state should be thus eaten; and when any of
them are cooked, it should be (referring particularly to vegetables) done
upon the principle adopted by well-informed cooks in boiling meat; they
put the meat into _boiling_ water, let it boil vigorously for a sufficient
length of time (say ten or fifteen minutes) to “close the pores,” as they
say, and confine the juices within the meat, and then the kettle is set
back where the water will keep hot, just “simmering,” until the work is
completed (four to eight hours, according to size of the piece of meat).
The same plan should be used in cooking vegetables, except as to
time——they are “done” when the fork passes through them easily. The
impoverishment of vegetables, as sometimes cooked, is poorly compensated
for——not at all, in fact, except in flavor——by the use of artificial salt;
while this substance, so universally used, is altogether unnatural and
injurious, in proportion to the amount swallowed. The loss of the natural
salines, in the manner referred to, is especially observed by vegetarians
who dine at ordinary tables, where exclusion of animal food and white
bread is the only selection they can make. It is of vital importance for
food-reformers to understand and guard against this danger——not that they
will suffer more than those who take the mixed diet, for in fact the
reverse is true (their whole-meal bread being a great aid)——but being, as
it were, on exhibition before the world, it is important for them to
obtain and enjoy all the advantages pertaining to the system they
advocate.

Says Dr. Hunter:

“It is an old and a cruel experiment, that of the French academicians,
who fed dogs on washed flesh-meat until they died of starvation. The poor
animals soon became aware that it was not food, and refused to eat it.
Were our instincts as natural, no charming of the eyes or tickling of the
palate by our cook would persuade us to swallow those washed and whitened
foods that deceive us into weakness.

“Analysis of the liver and other important vital organs after death, show
that in some diseased states these organs contain only one-half of certain
saline matters that are invariable in the healthy organ. And not only so,
but that in proportion to this deficiency the organ is useless for its
work. In fact, as the organ changed its tissue (as does every part of the
body every three or four years), and was compelled to renew itself in the
absence of sufficient potash and phosphates, it did its best to preserve
its form and structure much as a fossil does. It rebuilt itself as best it
could of such material as would make tissue with the minimum of potash;
but such tissue, whilst useful and conservative in retaining the form,
elasticity and contractility of the organ, is as useless for secretion and
excretion as a fossil liver.”

The want of knowledge, not only on the part of the laity, but medical men
as well, regarding such questions, and health matters in general, is
exhibited in the utterances heard on every hand: “The doctor says the
trouble is with my liver,” explains one who hasn’t a sound tissue in his
entire body. “My blood is bad——so the doctor says.”[59] “‘He’ gave me
something for my blood”——or my appetite, or my kidneys as the case may
be——it might as well be “_for my grandmother_.” “The first thing to be
done,” says an eminent physician, after citing an hypothetical case, “is
to clear out the liver”; and then, after apologizing for “what might seem
to be an unscientific expression,” he continues: “I have already explained
the way in which certain purgatives may be said to have the effect of
clearing out the liver, and first among these we must reckon
_mercurials_.” The italics are my own. He then offers a generous dose of
blue-pill “every night, or two or three grains of calomel either alone or
combined with extract of hyoscyamos or conium, and this,” he continues,
“should be followed next morning by a saline draught.” Mercury, to poison
and exasperate the entire organism, and then a saline potion in the hope
of getting rid of the mercury! And then he offers a grain of sense——a
homœopathic dose, indeed, but drowned in a deluge of something vastly
worse than sugar and water: “But even with all this care in food and
drink, with all this attention to what is to be taken and what avoided,
how are we to keep the liver in order _without exercise_?” Again, the
underlining is the author’s. How, indeed, without attention to all the
simple laws of life——“so simple,” says Schopenhauer, “that we refuse to
understand them!”

[Footnote 59: Strangely enough the belief prevails, generally, that the
blood is a fixed quantity; whereas, in fact, it is constantly changing,
second by second, used up and cast out, and replaced from the food; so
that if one’s blood is impure to-day, he may at once begin to make a
better article, by making it of better material,——not by “tinkering it up”
with drugs or so-called “blood-purifiers.”]

Dr. Hunter continues:

“Not only the liver, but the kidney, spleen, and brain, and the small
blood-vessels in every part of the body share in this degeneration of
tissue; and strangely enough (and not unlike the French experiment), this
amyloid, waxy, or lardaceous tissue is indigestible by the gastric juice.
It is _washed flesh_ made inside the body, and is good for nothing either
dead or alive.

“The washed flesh fed to those poor dogs contained abundance of nitrogen
and carbon; but these alone, as Liebig remarked, were as useless as stones
in the absence of saline matters——_not of common salt, be it remembered,
for that is found in excess in the fossil organs mentioned_. The essential
salines that can be readily washed out of food are chiefly two——potash
salts and alkaline phosphates. These are also the two that are found
deficient, about 50 per cent. in the waxy form of degenerated tissue. This
is the type most common in atrophied children, and in persons suffering
from consumption[60] and other wasting diseases; but it is not uncommon in
the capillaries and small arteries of many who _seem_ in health.

[Footnote 60: See chapters on “Consumption.”]

“When vegetables are soaked in cold water to keep them fresh, when they
are blanched in hot water to please our eye, or when they are well boiled
and their essence drained off that we may eat the depleted residue, those
soluble salines are almost entirely extracted. And what are left? Chiefly
the less soluble salts of lime and magnesia——just those elements so
abundant in the cretaceous degeneration of blood-vessels.

“Potash is the alkaline element of formed tissue; its absence is one great
cause of scurvy, as well as of the waxy and perhaps the cretaceous types
of degeneration.[61] A little examination of our modern commoner foods
will show how deficient they are in this element.

[Footnote 61: See chapter on “Bright’s Disease.”]

“Bread was, I suppose, at one time, the ‘staff of life,’ but it could
hardly have been white bread. Of it, one pound contains about seven grains
of potash, or nearly twenty grains less than a pound of brown bread.
Potatoes, if peeled, steeped and boiled in plenty of water, contain only
about twenty-one grains in the pound, as against thirty-seven if boiled in
their skins. The skins surpass the center about four-fold in salines.
Cabbages and all leafy vegetables lose much more, as the water gets right
through every portion of them.

“Arrowroot, cornflour, and most of those prepared foods are more deceitful
than the washed flesh of the French academicians. Stewed fruits, as made
by some cooks, are also guilty of the wash. Even porridge, haricot beans,
pease, etc., are by some cooks soaked when raw (this water being thrown
away), and thus much depleted.” After simple washing, all vegetables,
including beans and pease, if soaked at all, should be boiled in the water
in which they are soaked; and, finally, the water from which the cooked
vegetables are withdrawn, should be used as “soup stock” thickened with
bread, rice, or sliced vegetables, and seasoned with meat, if meat is used
at all. Containing as it does a large percentage of the salts from the
vegetables, this water supplies the necessary “seasoning” far better than
artificial salt. Turnips, instead of being sliced before boiling, should
be boiled whole. Onions are every way better boiled before peeling. At
first, the taste, accustomed to the flavor (!) of depleted vegetables,——or
rather to the condiments with which they are prepared, has to be educated
to the real flavor of _whole_ food. And, again, such food being more
nutritious, less in amount must be eaten, upon pain of indigestion. “No
wonder if this generation finds itself degenerating. Like a ship built of
rotten timber, a man fed on depleted food goes all very well in good
weather and with a light load; but when one can neither bear an average
load, nor undergo unusual fatigue, let him cross-question his cook.”[62]

[Footnote 62: Charles D. Hunter, M.D., F.C.S., in _Herald of Health_.]

The truth is that, to a very great degree, we build our bodies out of
blood made from impure materials: (1) in part from food depleted by
cooking or improper cooking, (2) in part from substances which, as all are
agreed, can be “indulged in” only to a limited extent (who can define the
limit?), (3) in great measure, from fermented, instead of well-digested
food;——and having thus built up “fossil” bodies (still more fossilized by
the use of unnatural drinks which “prevent the waste of tissue”), there
must be sickness. There is no escape from it, except by a “right about
face.” The zymotic, and the various acute diseases, so called, are in
point of fact acute _remedies_ for chronic _disease_.

CHAPTER XII.

WHEAT-MEAL VS. “ENTIRE FLOUR.”

Without doubt, certain brands of “whole-wheat flour,” so called, are a
great improvement over the article in universal demand among poor and rich
alike, the white flour of commerce, in this: they are, when made by honest
manufacturers, less impoverished than the white flours. In public and in
private, I have advised their use instead of white flour, but solely upon
the ground that the wheat is _less_ robbed of certain of its invaluable
constituents in the former; but I can not conceive it possible to separate
the hull from the kernel without real loss, even if the hull were, in
itself, objectionable, which, so far from being true, is, in my opinion, a
mistake and a very serious one. The theory upon which the objection to the
outside coat of the grain rests, is that this coat is composed of woody
fiber, entirely indigestible and devoid of nutritive matters, and, worst
of all, say these honest objectors, the hulls are coarse, sharp-edged, and
irritating to the stomach and intestines, and therefore injurious in their
action, especially in the case of “sensitive and delicately organized
individuals.” I will not stop to discuss the question as to the propriety
of the phrase _sensitive and delicately organized_, as applied to the
class of poor, suffering wretches who by reason of their gross habits——and
I mean simply the dietetic habits of the people, not the mechanic, the
artisan, the small trader, nor yet the factory hand, nor the wretched
poor, but the _human race_, from the kings, queens, and presidents all
along the line——who by reason, I repeat, of the universal system of diet,
have become dyspeptic. I can not, however, forbear the remark, that the
most sensitive and delicately organized individuals, among the most noble
of all animals next to man,——and in some aspects far superior to him,——the
horse, in his finest and most delicate state, finds a perfect food in the
whole grain, chewing it himself. I may be, in the minds of some, weakening
my argument by comparing the digestive apparatus of man with that of the
horse, but I am desirous of impressing upon the minds of my readers the
well-known but imperfectly considered fact, that our horse-fanciers,——who
dote on their hundred-thousand-dollar animals, and who would place before
them the most costly and complicated dishes, certainly would feed them on
the finest and whitest of flour,——“Imperial Granum” even, at drug-store
prices, if it were desirable, or even not pernicious in a health point of
view,——really keep their dearest pets on _bread and water_; and that,
because of this, and the absence of all the hot, stimulating articles,
solid or fluid, indulged in by their owners, and their regular and
moderate diet of _uncooked_ food, and their superior hygiene in certain
essential matters, our thorough-bred horses are generally saved from
becoming fat, sick, mean, wheezy, or dyspeptic, like their masters and
mistresses, men, women, and children.

We know that the microscope shows up the ragged edges of the hulls and
gives them a fearful aspect; but if the microscope could reason, and if it
was given to arguing all questions submitted to it, I fancy it would
speedily silence these objections to wheat-meal, so far as they rest upon
the matter of the coarseness and the irritating capacity of the hull, by
asking the microscopist to take a little glance at the stomach itself: an
internal view of the digestive tract would disclose the fact that, even in
the case of the most “sensitive and finely organized” subject, the lining
of the stomach, for example, bears a stronger resemblance to a _quartz
mill_ than do these terrible hulls to sticks and stones. The trouble has
been with those who seek to improve too much over Nature’s methods, and
especially is this the case in the question under discussion, they have
reasoned mainly from one side of the question. Machinery has accomplished
no end of good things, and without doubt has even greater victories yet in
store, in its legitimate field; but that field is not in the line of
improving on the food that Nature provides for us humans. It can and does
improve over the old methods of sowing, reaping, threshing, and cleansing
the various grains——no one desires to dispute this; but when the ripe,
clean kernel of wheat, for instance, is placed before us, the office of
machinery is ended, except so far as crushing the grain for those whose
teeth or temper will not admit of chewing it. A shrewd though illiterate
stable keeper said to me, in advocating whole, instead of cracked corn for
horses and cattle, “it gets the juice of their teeth, and does them twice
as much good. Give them meal, or cracked corn, and they don’t have to chew
it long enough to get the right action of the saliva.”

People who neglect the most obvious hygienic rules, thereby bringing upon
themselves sickness and pain, and search for special articles of diet that
may seem to promise relief, remind me of a junk-dealer who would pass by
old stoves, pots, kettles, and crowbars, and search for a needle in a
hay-stack! The theory of the anti-wheat-meal men seems plausible at first
sight, and it has been held, temporarily, by some very sound men; but one
after another these have dropped it as untenable. To be sure, the ranks
are kept full by new recruits, who join faster than the _thinkers_ fall
out. There are a thousand dyspeptics for every discerning man, and, in any
event, all such——all persons, in fact, are to be congratulated when they
adopt a compromise in the shape of fine flour which claims to give them
all the essential elements of the wheat, and yet save their “delicate” and
sensitive stomachs needless labor and irritation. But I find that the
class who are _saving lives_ constantly, hold to the entire meal as the
only means of securing perfect bread——the staff of life.

Says Oswald: “We can not breathe pure oxygen. For analogous reasons bran
flour [whole meal] makes better bread than bolted flour; meat and
saccharine fruits are healthier than meat extracts and pure glucose. In
short, artificial extracts and compounds are, on the whole, less wholesome
than the palatable products of nature. In the case of bran-flour and
certain fruits with a large percentage of wholly innutritious matter,
chemistry fails to account for this fact, but biology suggests the mediate
cause: the normal type of our physical constitution dates from a period
when the digestive organs of our (frugivorous) ancestors adapted
themselves to such food——a period compared with whose duration the age of
grist-mills and made dishes is but of yesterday.”

This doctoring of the cereals can never prove of service in the end,
except to the manufacturers and dealers; these “preparations,” however
honestly made, and supposing for argument’s sake that the machinery
accomplishes what the manufacturers intend, will never, in and of
themselves,——_i. e._, except so far as they take the place of _white
flour_——prove beneficial to mankind, and least of all to sick people,
valetudinarians, and the sedentary classes,——the very ones who need the
best. Imagine a constipated dyspeptic, with a heavy fur coat on his
tongue, and, of course, a heavier one on the lining of his stomach——his
entire alimentary canal so covered with this morbid growth that digestion
and absorption are well-nigh prohibited——alarmed lest the microscopic
particles of wheat-hulls should injure his delicate and sensitive inwards!
“Delicate!” “sensitive!” why, it takes half a cupful of salts to move
them, and that but faintly, while a pint of strong coffee makes no
impression; when if they were even normally sensitive a tablespoonful of
the former, or a single cup of the latter, would purge them violently.
Sensitive! they are _dead_, or at least dying. Why, for this class of
patients, I would sooner _add the straw_ than remove the hull, as better
calculated, by all odds, to meet the necessities of their condition. On
the other hand, when the disease assumes the opposite form——when the
tongue is raw, and the intestinal tract acutely inflamed, and from any
cause preternaturally sensitive——there is but one thing in the Materia
Medica of Nature that is absolutely fit to swallow, and that is _pure
water_. (See Chronic Dyspepsia.) It matters not what else is comforting,
temporarily,——medicine, gruel, beef-tea, milk, or what not,——the comfort
and advantage are derived solely from the water, which constitutes
three-fourths to nine-tenths of the whole; the other elements being
injurious, and, often enough, fatal, preventing as they do the healing of
the inflamed mucous membrane.

CHAPTER XIII.

FRUIT.

It is with difficulty that one who comprehends the question can restrain
his impatience when people talk about the danger of indulging in fruit in
summer or at any other season. “Better leave an order on the doctor’s
slate,” says the would-be wit, when his friend passes with a watermelon or
some early apples or peaches. As spring and summer come along, fruit is
altogether natural, even if it does come from a little further South. That
is one of the advantages of having railroads. These unwise people who dare
not eat fruit, or eat it sparingly, while they stick to their winter diet
of meat, grease, pastry, coffee, etc., are the ones who have the cholera
morbus and other equally ridiculous things. It sometimes happens that
these good people have had a “scare” in this fashion: one eats an
excessive meal of fat and lean meats, old vegetables, with _plenty of
gravy_, etc., all hot and heating, and calculated to create a febrile
condition of the system, and insure an “attack” of indigestion. He has
also eaten a piece of watermelon or other fruit——the only pure, natural
substance appropriate for the time he has swallowed for the day. If,
under these circumstances, he is routed at midnight, he declares he will
never eat another piece of melon as long as he lives! It may be that the
fruit, if he ate liberally of it, was the exciting cause of the _clearing
out_ that otherwise might not have taken place just then; if so, he should
congratulate himself that he has been saved a later attack that might have
cost him his life. Had he eaten double the quantity of fruit on an _empty
stomach_, providing his system was in decent condition, there would have
been no startling consequences. The stomach which refuses to accept raw
fruit, or with which it does not “agree,” is like that of the drunkard
which rebels against pure water. When anyone has become diseased to that
degree the sooner he begins to reform his habits the better. In 1863 I was
captured by the Confederates and marched out of Brazier City, La., and
taken to Shreveport. When captured, I had diarrhœa——the result of a
flesh-food diet, wine, and all the “good things of life.” The disease
became chronic, and I was near dying. The melon season was on (it was in
July), and in sheer desperation, ignorant of the benefits to result from
it, rather expecting disaster, I ate freely of watermelon. For eight or
ten days I took no other food or drink, but with this I filled myself
twice a day, and a return to perfect health was the result; all trace of
bowel trouble had disappeared. I have since had many opportunities for
observing the benefit arising from the use of watermelon and _nothing
else_, in diarrhœa, upon various persons, young and old, and I have never
observed any harmful results from its use; though it is often made the
scapegoat, as indicated above.

In a certain little borough in a neighboring State there was little or no
fruit, not even apples, to any amount. There was a great deal of sickness
every summer——diarrhœa, dysentery, fevers, etc. One enterprising resident
planted an orchard——a generous one in size——and its owner was generous
also. He didn’t watch the neighbors’ children very closely——not as closely
as he did his own——and true to boys’ instincts they hooked apples, green
apples, little bits of apples, hard and sour, and they ate them freely.
The children of the owner of that orchard did not eat green apples, for
their father, although believing in fruit, thought it must be ripe to be
“healthy.” His children had the regularly recurring summer complaints, but
the little apple-stealers did not. Without doubt fruit is more truly
wholesome ripe than green; and I would here remark, that the craving for
vegetable acids which these boys had, and which most children experience,
would not be felt if they were properly fed at home. Still, one may eat
too much even of fruit: “gold in the morning, silver at noon, and lead at
night,” might better be changed to diamonds, gold, and silver; and but for
other considerations, unappreciated by those who fancy that it is “heavy”
at eve, there would be a restriction in almost anything at the last meal
sooner than in fruit. Careful observers have remarked that fruit is a
prophylactic, and is also curative, taken on an empty stomach, but is
likely to promote indigestion if added to a hearty meal of mixed
food.[63] This is one way of saying: after having already over-eaten, or
having eaten enough, eat nothing more. Surely any kind of fruit added
would be less injurious than to swallow another plate of the soup, fish,
or meat. The old Roman gluttons used to take an emetic after dinner; and
in this country it has been the custom in times past with some, and it is
not altogether obsolete even now, to take a “dinner-pill” before or after
the principal meal. The morning draught of “seltzer” or other laxative, so
common at the present day, serves the same purpose; and those people who,
after obstinate constipation, feel comparatively happy over a violent
purging from some form of artificial physic, are the ones who warn against
using much fruit, because, upon some occasion, it may have performed a
similar service, though without any of the injurious effects of the drugs.
In warm weather the diet may well consist largely of fruit and succulent
vegetables. Scrofulous children, especially, might live solely on fruit
for days together, with great advantage. Such children should live in the
open air as much as possible, and their sleeping-rooms should have the
most thorough ventilation. If their noses and ears run in consequence of
“exposure,” never forget that these poisonous matters are better out than
in, and that whatever aids in their elimination is curative. A simpler and
purer diet will prevent the formation of catarrhal or scrofulous matters.
Any degree of restriction in the matter of air and exercise can only be
counteracted by a corresponding restriction in diet; but a generous
allowance of all three is the safest rule. Sedentary persons, loiterers at
the mountains or by the sea, can not easily make the proportion of fruit
too large, even if during a torrid wave they eat little else. It should be
taken at the regular meal hour only, to insure the greatest degree of
health and comfort, should be thoroughly masticated, and the quantity may
be just short of causing pressure at the kidneys, or flatulency, yet
enough to prevent thirst. Three meals might then be indulged in with
safety. The heavy dishes——meats, gravies, greasy articles, hot condiments,
pastry, hot stimulating drinks——things that even in winter, in this
climate, are only tolerated, and that but poorly, are deadly now, as the
mortality reports, and lists of those who are said to have succumbed to
the heat, attest. Moreover, for every one who pays the penalty with his
life, tens of thousands are lying or sitting about, suffering the tortures
of the damned, often; and all for a few minutes extra palate-tickling, or
unnatural indulgences, rather,——for, leaving out the really unseasonable
articles and condiments, they might revel in ripe fruits with comparative
impunity. He is a poor student in dietetics, a thoughtless observer, even,
who can not so regulate his eating as to regard summer as the most
agreeable season of the year,——the most comfortable,——who can not bid
defiance to the heated term and laugh at the danger of “sunstroke” though
running a foot-race under the noonday sun. Calorific food, superadded to
the predisposition already existing, is the real source of these strokes
in every instance, the external heat furnishing, to be sure, the “last
straw.”

[Footnote 63: As before intimated, only the stomach disordered and
enervated from the use of hot and stimulating kinds of solid and liquid
food, spices and condiments, refuses to “agree” with pure, ripe fruits.
Such a stomach requires a fast day, followed by the plainest and most
abstemious diet, with a gradually increasing proportion of fruit as the
stomach recovers “tone.” In all cases fruit requires to be thoroughly
masticated, and reduced as nearly as possible to a fluid state before
being swallowed.]

CHAPTER XIV.

THE ONE-MEAL SYSTEM.

In this note I propose to do little more than record a few instances, out
of many, of persons who have lived for longer or shorter periods, and
continue to live, on one meal a day, and let my readers draw their own
inferences, merely remarking that these cases have a very great
significance as bearing upon the question of the _quantity of food_ best
suited to nourish the body and promote health. Dr. Abernethy, a celebrated
English physician, affirmed that “one-fourth of all a man eats sustains
him; the balance he retains at his risk”; but his countrymen eat four
meals, at least.

The case of Mrs. Solberg, an emaciated dyspeptic, whose restoration to
health was accomplished by the one-meal vegetarian diet and “a change of
air” (at home), is mentioned in the chapter on Malaria.

S. N. Silver,[64] of Auburn, Me., a hard-working mechanic, has, for
upwards of three years, lived on the one-meal-a-day plan. He eats at
night, after resting sufficiently from his day’s work. He never eats more
than seven meals per week, not even so much as an apple between meals; and
on Sundays, unless he takes considerable exercise, his “meal” consists of
fruit only——three or four apples, for example. He is a typically healthy
young man, and has not in three years experienced a moment of physical
inconvenience. He is a vegetarian, and lives wholly on simple, pure food,
chiefly bread and fruit.

[Footnote 64: Mr. Silver is 30 years old and is 6 feet, 2 inches in
height. On the three-meal system his greatest weight was 137 pounds. For
two years past, on the new plan, he has weighed from 150 to 160 pounds,
according to his work. When he works hard he eats more, and gains in
weight; when his work is light he eats light and his weight falls off
correspondingly. This illustrates a truly physiological diet. It should
always be thus with man and the domestic animals alike. In practice,
however, the reverse is the rule: the weight increases during leisure and
decreases when hard work is done. Both our athletes and race-horses are
permitted to fatten between times, and are fitted for sharp work by
reducing their weight by exercise. In other words, they are allowed to
become diseased, and then they are “cured.” This process is apt to result,
finally, in premature death, or at least so exhausts the vital forces as
to render former accomplishments impossible, at an age when the individual
should be in his prime.]

Mrs. Wieman, a sister of the above, has, for upwards of a year, taken but
one meal a day, although she prepares three hot meals for her husband and
several boarders. She does the entire household work for her family, which
during the past summer consisted of nine adults. Her one meal (taken at
noon because the regular dinner is at that hour and furnishes a better
variety) is no more in amount than her dinner formerly, when she took
breakfast and supper in addition. She is a perfect specimen of robust
health, and finds that she can now perform with ease an amount of labor
which formerly would have been a severe tax, even if possible to
accomplish. Her diet is mainly vegetarian; she eats but little meat, and
that only because it is constantly before her; and she avoids white flour
and most forms of pastry altogether, as well as hot stimulating drinks,
condiments, spices, etc., although her table is bountifully supplied with
all such things.

Still another of this family, a busy milliner, has lived in this manner
for several months, and finds herself improved in health by the means.

Aside from the immense amount of knowledge gained through
vivisection——through dead animals, I may say——the _lives_ of the lower
animals teach us what to do, in some respects, as well as what to avoid.
Alas, for humanity——claiming such superiority——in both classes there are
important lessons which are not generally learned and practiced. As
bearing upon the one-meal system, I will let Capt. B., an old hunter, tell
his experience with his fox-hound: “The old fellow,” said the Captain,
“knows when I am going on a tramp as well as my wife does——when I turn out
for a hunt, in the morning——and he won’t touch a mouthful of food.[65] I
used to try and ‘fool’ him, by acting as if I wasn’t going out at all, and
sometimes I could get him to eat breakfast. But I never try that game now,
for I noticed, after a while, that when he fixed himself, he did better
work than when I managed to get a breakfast into him.” “How so?” I asked.
“Why, he is a better dog; he runs better, scents better, barks better,
and comes in at night in better shape. And then, if we walk home, he gets
pretty well rested and has his ‘breakfast’ before a great while; or, if we
ride, he has it as soon as we get home; and (if it is cold weather) I let
him lie in the sitting-room an hour or two after he eats, and then he will
go to his kennel and sleep all night, and _without trembling_; and he
turns out next morning in good shape for another tramp, if called on.” “Do
you ‘fix’ yourself in the same manner?” I could but ask. “Not _much_,” he
replied; “I eat before I start, and take a lunch along; but I don’t know
but the old dog has the best of it, after all.” As a matter of fact, the
aged dog is like a sprightly youth still, while his master, at middle-age,
is a decrepit old man.

[Footnote 65: This is a characteristic of most hunting dogs——not the
exception. It is not that they know more about dietetics than their
masters, for I do not think they do, but, gluttons as they are, they
“rather hunt than eat.”]

The importance of rest after meals has never been fully appreciated by
people in general. Even those who advocate the need of it, have
usually,——perhaps because of the difficulties in the way of demanding
more,——asked for only a half, or a whole hour; while it is the popular
belief that “exercise after eating promotes digestion,” and the fact is
cited that Sunday is, to the laborer, the worst day of all the week,——a
day of leisure, affording ample time for digestion, if that is all that is
required. But that is not all. The “bad feeling” which comes on after the
second meal on Sunday——the “Sunday headache,” of which so many
complain——results from the radical change of habit from the six days of
hard labor: accustomed as he is to digesting a large part of his three
meals together, at night, after he has _earned_ them, physiologically
speaking,——that is, after his labor has provided the digestive fluids in
the blood, by means of which his food is dissolved, and made ready for
absorption into the circulation,——when Sunday, with its leisure, and
possibly even more than usually excessive indulgence, comes, instead of
having the blood diverted to the general muscular system, as the result of
active labor, it is called to the stomach and the circulation becomes
overcharged with nutritive material. Hence lethargy, tendency to sleep,
headache, etc.

The fact is,

EXERCISE AFTER EATING

by _preventing_ digestion, often delays or modifies the ill-feeling which
would otherwise be experienced shortly after over-indulgence at the table.
Hence gentle exercise in the open air will prove the least of two evils;
an emetic, the best of all remedies. The liquids[66] being to a great
extent absorbed, plethora is prevented or delayed because the solids
remain undigested in the stomach! But this solid residue, favored by the
internal temperature, begins to ferment, after a time, and causes more or
less irritation and congestion of the mucous lining of the stomach, which
gives rise to the sensation popularly called “hunger”; and thus every few
hours, and when the patient impatiently awaits the call to dinner and
thinks himself most in need of food, he is, in fact, in the very worst
condition to take it. Ninety-five persons in every hundred have this
disease (for it is nothing less than chronic dyspepsia) throughout life.
The fact that the meal affords immediate relief argues nothing against
this position; it is the seventy-five or eighty per cent. of water
contained in and taken with the meal that relieves the congestion. It
forms a poultice, so to say, for the congested mucous membrane of the
stomach; but unfortunately it can not, as when applied externally upon a
throbbing sore thumb, for example, be removed when it becomes dry. We see
this disease at its worst in infancy, when meals are most frequent and
excessive.

[Footnote 66: In case of an ordinary “mixed meal,” water composes
something near four-fifths of all; solids, pure and simple, one-fifth.
Even roast beef is about three-fourths water, and vegetables the same.]

Jules Virey settled the question, as it seems to me, regarding the effects
of work after eating. He took two dogs of same size, age, and general
_physique_; gave both a fast-day, and then treated them to a square meal,
alike in quantity and variety. One was sent to his kennel, while the other
was permitted to follow the carriage which conveyed the doctor on his
rounds. After the coach-dog had had two hours and a half of (not vigorous,
but gentle) exercise, and immediately on his return, the doctor had both
dogs slain and dissected. The kennel-dog had thoroughly digested his
breakfast,——not a trace of it was found in his stomach,——while with the
other, the work of digestion had not even begun; the mutton cubes and
potato chips remained intact, precisely as when first eaten. It is evident
from this that the rule, “Never eat until you have leisure to
digest,”[67] is a good one, and that for a hard-working person (what man
or woman works as hard as the enthusiastic hunting-dog?) the
one-meal-a-day system would often prove the best,——indeed, in some
instances, this would be the only means of preventing sickness. We may not
know in how many instances the laborer digests his breakfast, dinner, and
supper together (or about all that he does digest) after he is in bed for
the night. Any approach to such a state is provocative of disease.

[Footnote 67: It by no means follows that the man of all leisure, or the
“loafer,” can, because of abundant rest after meals, digest the large
quantity of food he may be tempted to swallow. On the contrary, he
probably does not digest one-fourth of it. The balance is assuredly
retained to work him injury at last. No man really _digests_, speaking
strictly, in excess of the physiological needs of his organism; the fact
that one man “carries off,” so to speak, an immense amount of food without
apparent or immediate inconvenience, argues simply that he has greater
excretory capacity——perhaps was endowed originally with a greater degree
of vitality——than another who is constantly troubled though eating less
and working more. Persons of the latter class still exceed their normal
amount; hence their digestive troubles.]

The dyspeptic’s dreams, which disturb his sleep, rob him of needed rest,
and often cause him to wake more tired than when he went to bed, would be
banished, or at least favorably modified, if, at the close of his day’s
work, after sufficient rest from the fatigues and cares of the day, he
were to take his well-earned ration, and, after a period of recreation, if
there still remained time for this, go to his bed.

Another instance I will mention, that of the man who may almost be called
the father of hygiene in this country. He says: “I have tested the
sufficiency of eating once in twenty-four hours [he has himself lived on
this system for eleven years, and continues so to live; and has, besides,
tested its advantages upon patients in certain forms of disease] and have
done work enough to put a much younger man to his trumps if he had to do
it. My food is very simple; I do not eat more at one meal than almost any
person eats who takes three meals a day; I keep my body well built up in
flesh and in vigor of muscle, considering that incurable organic
difficulties render great muscular activity impracticable. I keep up my
own strength, and have held in check my constitutional conditions so that
I have reached old age” [72 years].

I could mention a score or more of similar instances; and, as stated
elsewhere, no person ever tried the plan and found occasion for abandoning
it, except from considerations utterly remote from health. In fact, under
certain circumstances, as in travelling, this system is a most beneficent
one; it makes a person independent of railway restaurants and
lunch-counters; for at some time during the day, usually, as at night in a
good hotel, one can obtain, if not always a really hygienic meal, still a
comparatively good one.

With reference to the amount of food to be taken at the single meal, I
have observed this: those who would be termed hearty eaters, on the
three-meal system, will usually eat no more at their one meal than
formerly at dinner alone; some, indeed, find much less than this suffices
to sustain them in the best manner. This is largely due, however, to the
superior quality of their diet, since people of this class invariably
become, practically, vegetarians and, withal, use a large proportion of
bread, a pure nutrient, instead of flesh, a nutro-stimulant. The amount of
food taken, under any circumstances, will depend largely upon one’s views
as to the true office of eating.

In the case of a certain class of dyspeptics who, while going to the table
three times every day, yet do not eat, all told, a single satisfactory
meal; who in the entire year, perhaps, scarcely know the comfort of eating
a full meal, and who live on in this manner year after year, the one-meal
system would banish their nausea and lack of appetite within a reasonable
time, and, in some instances, such persons would eat, and with a relish
long unknown to them, more food every day than they now force down at
their three or more attempts at eating. There would also result a
corresponding improvement in their general health, more especially if this
reform were accompanied by others, when needed, as to fresh air and
exercise.

Says Dr. Nichols, of London, who speaks with knowledge, from having tested
it: “The one-meal-a-day system will largely increase any person’s working
capacity.”

* * * * *

NOTE.——One item well worth considering, especially by the
laboring classes who find it so difficult to support a little
family on $8 or $10 per week, while imitating the dietetic
habits of their employers: Dr. T. L. Nichols, named above,
experimenting as to cost of living, has lived week in and week
out, in London, at a cost (for food) of sixty or eighty cents
per week (taken two meals then), maintaining full vigor, and
weight, and performing arduous literary labors, combined with a
somewhat active mode of life. Personally, the author was never
more vigorous or better fitted for hard work,——in short, better
nourished,——than when living for several months on the 1-meal
plan and on a diet of unleavened Graham gems and fruit, the
total cost of which was less than ten cents per day.

CHAPTER XV.

THE NATURAL DIET.[68]

As the result of personal experience, my mind having been called to the
subject by the successful experiment——if, indeed, it can be regarded as an
experiment,——of a very intelligent and worthy family in Southern
California, I am convinced that the “natural diet,”——uncooked cereals[69]
and fruit,——is the diet _par excellence_, as regards strict purity,
digestibility, and efficiency. Not only is much less of it required to
maintain the normal weight and strength, but it is in other regards
superior. One thought I will suggest, in this connection, and one which is
more significant, I believe, than many persons would at first consider:
raw grain, as all are aware, will “keep” indefinitely under fair
conditions; while cooked, it “spoils” in a day or two. The former is more
readily and more thoroughly preserved from undesirable changes in the
alimentary canal; hence less liability of indigestion. Such portions of
whole grain as may be swallowed without mastication, will pass on and out
without danger of the putrefactive changes which result from an excess, or
deficient mastication of cooked food. Regarding the gustatory pleasure to
be derived from a diet of this sort, while it is less seductive to the
abnormal appetite, still, even here, no individual really needing food
would find this disagreeable, though reference were made solely to whole
wheat, masticated with the aid of good teeth; or to the meal, mixed with
nice fruit juices or the fruits themselves, when, from unnatural living,
the teeth are badly decayed. Our teeth would not fail us if, from
childhood, we _used_ them, and our food furnished the material to build
and maintain them.

[Footnote 68: This subject having been treated in a most masterly manner
by Prof. Schlickeysen, of Germany——considering fully the chemical and
anatomical theories, and presenting the anthropological, the
physiological, and the dietetical arguments so clearly and convincingly——I
design here merely to give a few practical tests illustrating the
advantages of a truly natural and pure diet, while recommending every
devout student of this subject, every conscientious and thoughtful person
to procure the work, entitled Fruit and Bread,——translated from the German
by Dr. Holbrook, and published by M. L. Holbrook & Co., New York,——and
read it for himself.]

[Footnote 69: Even as late as the time of the Roman republic, the baking
or other cooking of grain was regarded as injurious. When the grains are
first broken, but not finely ground, they may be eaten with fruit, if one
gradually accustom himself to it. Let it not be said that this is going
too far, for in the recognition and application of truth we can not go too
far; rather have those gone too far who have deviated from this method.
The difference between pure cracked wheat and the bread is always
considerable. The bread consumes in its digestion [a part of] the power
which itself supplies, while the wheat not only nourishes, but, like fresh
fruit, _increases the vital strength_.——_Fruit and Bread_, p. 163.

“The vitality stored up in uncooked plants and fruits is greatly impaired
by all our culinary processes.”——_Ibid._, p. 116.

“Animals in a state of nature, subsisting upon their own chosen foods, are
capable of fully digesting the nutritive elements, leaving only an
inoffensive residue, while the unsuitable character of human foods is
sufficiently indicated by the horrible and disease-breeding product which
they yield.——_Ibid._”

“Uncooked fruits, especially, excite the mind to its highest activity.
After eating them we experience an inclination to vigorous exercise, and
also an increased capacity for study and all mental work; while cooked
food causes a feeling of satiety and sluggishness.”——_Ibid._]

Were I to enumerate the foods at present eaten raw by all of our millions
of people, less surprise would be felt by my readers at the suggestion of
restricting one’s diet to such articles as are agreeable in their natural
state. Take, for example, apples, pears, peaches, grapes, oranges, etc.;
all of the plums; bananas, dates, figs, raisins; cabbage, lettuce, celery,
radishes, etc.; and to this list might well be added sweet corn, and the
common variety of green corn, and peas; few people but find the latter
delicious to their taste, and the corn is as much more crisp and juicy and
wholesome raw than cooked, as are peaches or pears. I know individuals who
were never fond of corn, would never eat it until happening to try a fresh
young ear _au naturel_, who now use it freely every summer. This would be
the case with very many, if not most people, if their prejudices were cast
aside. I have named only a few articles of a few classes, but any one can
extend the list at pleasure, adding walnuts, almonds, filberts, etc., etc.
Unfortunately these raw foods have been commonly used as _surfeit dishes_,
delicious articles that we can eat after having already over-eaten, and
when more steak, potatoes, and gravy, or pastry, would, perhaps, send a
shudder throughout the frame, and, often enough, when an emetic would be a
more wholesome dessert than even walnuts and raisins. Let any one, first
arranging for a clean stomach by skipping supper the previous night, try a
breakfast consisting of a couple of bananas, one or two dozen walnuts (or
any sort preferred), with a handful of nice raisins,——both the nuts and
raisins being thoroughly masticated, the latter to the point of well
crushing the stones,——ending, or beginning, the _seance_ with oranges,
and, at night, the second and last meal, of favorite fruits, beginning
with a small portion of “oat groats” or wheat, (of course any other choice
may be made, a dozen, or a score, indeed, from week to week,) taking care
to exercise enough to “earn” his food,[70] and see if this principle of
alimentation will not cure his disorders, whatever they may be. It would
end the wretched business of “colds” and “hay-fever” which, according to
the _Boston Herald_, a noted American divine says, “will make a man forget
his God, the Bible, and everything else——but his disease.” Even the common
hygienic diet, so called, and abstemious living, would make such blasphemy
impossible, and would make a better man of the great London preacher, for
example,——Mr. Spurgeon,——who recently wrote to a friend, and, apparently
without the least shamefacedness: “My old disorder has come upon me like
an armed man and laid me low. I can not walk or even stand, and the pain
renders it difficult to think consecutively upon any subject.” And this
with reference to a disorder (the gout) caused by eating and drinking
unwholesomely——the injury being augmented, directly and indirectly, by the
use of tobacco or wine. Mr. Spurgeon’s weight is fifty, if not
seventy-five pounds greater than is normal for him, considering fully his
natural _physique_, and the use he makes of his muscular system. He may be
in the habit of restricting his appetite; he may eat much less than most
of his associates, and even be esteemed a small eater and very abstemious;
nevertheless his form is gross, and he has the gout——two unimpeachable
witnesses to the truth of my position.

[Footnote 70: “Live on sixpence a day and earn it,” was the “favorite
prescription” of a famous London physician.]

“We can not doubt,” says Dr. Oswald, “that the highest degree of health
could only be attained by strict conformity to Haller’s[71] rule, _i.e._,
by subsisting exclusively on the pure and unchanged products of Nature.
This view is indorsed (indirectly) in the writings of Drs. Alcott,
Bernard, Schlemmer, Hall, and Dio Lewis, and directly by Schrodt, Jules
Virey, and others. In the tropics such a mode of life would not imply
anything like asceticism: a meal of milk and three or four kinds of sweet
fruits, fresh dates, bananas, and grapes, would not clash with the still
higher rule, that eating, like every other natural function, should be a
pleasure and not a penance. Heat destroys the delicate flavor of many
fruits, and makes others indigestible by coagulating their albumen. But,”
continues this authority,——and I am not disposed to dispute the soundness
of the position, speaking generally (as, indeed, Dr. Oswald, himself, was
speaking),——“in the frigid latitudes, where we have to dry and garner many
vegetable products in order to survive the unproductive season, the
process of cooking [some classes of] our food has advantages which fully
outweigh such objections.” To the very rational assumption that, “few men
with post-diluvian teeth would agree with Dr. Schlemmer that hard grain is
preferable to bread,” I would reply, that for people who could not or
would not grind their own grist, as do our most robust animals——well
nourished, but hard-working draught or road horses——the whole-wheat meal,
freshly and coarsely ground, with a light dressing of rich milk,[72] or,
more wholesome still, eaten with nuts and thoroughly masticated, is more
delicious than bread, even if made from the same quality of Graham. If the
Graham be taken dry, with a few raisins at each mouthful, it would require
a fine taste to distinguish between this and the walnuts and raisins so
generally acceptable to epicures. If the milk dressing is used, it should
simply be poured over the (unsifted) Graham, and not made into a batter.
With a dish of Graham as described, and such fruit as can usually be
obtained all the year round, either fresh or (in winter) dried, as apples,
raisins, dates, figs,[73] prunes (the last, like dried apples, peaches,
etc., soaked not overmuch, but until tender), one may make a meal
sufficiently delicious, and at the same time absolutely pure——if the
_milk_ is derived from a healthy creature. And here I would remark, that
although cow’s milk is a strictly natural food for the calf only, still,
if the cow be properly fed (not “driven,”[74] as is the custom in dairies)
and the milk properly cared for——kept free from air vitiated by the
emanations of decaying vegetables, meats, or other source of impurity, but
_open_[75] in a pure atmosphere——few need abstain altogether from this
most delicious food. Nevertheless, no one may feel at liberty to _drink_
milk copiously, as water: calves, babies, etc., whose natural food it is,
take it slowly and “chew” it thoroughly! We may well take a hint from
this. (See Biliousness.)

[Footnote 71: Albrecht Von Haller, M.D., F.R.S., the father of the science
of physiology, born at Berne, Oct. 18, 1708; ... practiced medicine with
great applause at Berne, 1729-36; ... became physician to the King of
England 1739. He was a voluminous writer on physiology, anatomy, botany,
surgery, and practical medicine; author of ... almost an incredible number
of reviews and scientific papers. His hypotheses were ... admirable for
their scientific spirit, and for the great stimulus which they gave to
physiological study throughout Europe.——_Encyclopedia._]

[Footnote 72: See note 4 in Appendix, p. 280.]

[Footnote 73: These three——raisins, dates, figs,——containing as they do in
their natural state, about 14, 58 and 62 per cent., respectively, of
sugar, require no addition of saccharine matters to “preserve” them; and,
accordingly, they constitute, as we find them in the market, a perfectly
natural and wholesome food, taken in due proportion, with grain and the
various nuts.]

[Footnote 74: A phrase used to describe the process of feeding excessively
to produce an abnormal flow of milk. Under this practice the cows soon
become tuberculous (“consumptive”); and it is said that they become
useless after three or four years, on an average: they are “driven to
death,” unless disposed of just prior to their decline. Nursing mothers
often suffer from this disease, while the infant fattens and becomes sick
from overfeeding.]

[Footnote 75: Kept in a close vessel, milk soon becomes foul; and after
being thus enclosed requires considerable stirring to aerate it, when it
again acquires its normal flavor. Cistern water treated to an occasional
deep stirring will remain sweet; and when the water in a cistern has
become devitalized for want of air simply, it can be reclaimed readily in
the above manner.]

In making the change from cooked to uncooked food, the unassisted novice
will experience more or less inconvenience, usually; and this will arise
from one of three causes; perhaps two or even all three causes will
combine to create the uneasiness (and indigestion, even, sometimes)
experienced: (1) the stomach, adapted, so far as possible, to the
digestion of cooked foods, requires some time (and experience or practice)
to adapt itself to the new order of things,[76] hence indigestion, varied
in extent according (_a_) to the abruptness of the change, and (_b_) the
quantity of the new food taken; (2) accustomed to distention from the
bulky character of the old diet, if only a physiological ration of the
pure and more nutritious food be swallowed, the stomach misses the
stimulus of distention: time will be required (in some cases) for the
stomach to remodel itself as regards _size_——unless a large proportion of
fruit[77] is used in conjunction with the cereals. Some dyspeptics, to be
sure, by their “mincing” diet occasioned by nausea and lack of appetite,
seem to have reduced the size of their stomachs, even below the normal
dimensions of that organ; (3) the uncooked grain being more nutritious
than the bread formed from it (and especially than bread made from wheat
_starch_——“white bread”), one may readily take an overdose if the wheat
_meal_ be used and dressed with milk; but if the whole grain be employed
he will be content with a modest ration; the new exercise of
chewing——putting the teeth to their normal use——soon wearies the muscles
of the face, and he will be tempted to pass to the “second course”——the
fruit——quite early in the engagement. The amount of grain food necessary
to thoroughly nutrify the body, is comparatively small. In the form of
bread, we are apt to eat altogether too much. But given pure food, and
each individual may be safely left to decide the proportion of grain,
fruit, and water to suit his own case; the point is to maintain strength
and avoid flatulence, and all other symptoms of indigestion.

[Footnote 76: It has been observed that cows are temporarily affected
adversely by _any_ change from their established diet——give less milk, _at
first_, when grain is _added_ to their pasture rations, as well as when
they are deprived of an accustomed feed of grain. “The effect is due to
the action of the stomach, to adapt its character to the digestion of an
established food. The food may change suddenly, but the action of the
stomach can only change slowly, and hence defective digestion
follows.”——(_National Live Stock Journal_). With humans, as has been
already remarked, a change from a very unwholesome to the purest system of
diet may, at first, result in defective digestion; but if the change be
made discreetly the final result will assuredly be as satisfactory as that
which follows a favorable modification of the cow’s diet.]

[Footnote 77: Whenever, in making the change under consideration,
flatulency or pressure at the kidney follows the use of fruit, the
quantity habitually taken should be lessened. There is a temptation always
to continue the habitual distention of the stomach by the use of too much
fruit at first. The system accustomed to a small amount of fruit, can not
immediately adapt itself to an unusual quantity: _all_ changes should be
somewhat gradual, not necessarily by the continued use of any unwholesome
substance, but with relation to the _manner of adopting the new regimen_.]

At the world-famed “Grape Cures” (for dyspepsia and its sequel,
consumption), the diet during “the season,” consists almost exclusively of
ripe grapes: the patients stroll about the vineyards, and pick and eat.
During the balance of the year the diet is composed chiefly of fruit, with
a portion of cooked cereals. But we may obtain a more definite lesson from
the experience of Mr. and Mrs. Hinde and their children.

For nearly five years, this family, consisting of father, mother, and four
children, have lived on this truly natural diet. They are very
intellectual and refined people. Their home is in Southern California.
They have enjoyed typical health during these five years; the mother,
indeed, recovered her health by means of this diet, having failed, under
medical treatment, to obtain relief from serious disorders which would be
popularly and medically described as “incident to her sex,” but which,
when they exist, are everywhere and always incident to _violation of law_.
Every trace of her disorder disappeared during this lady’s first year of
living on uncooked food and outdoor air, and no vestige of her
“weaknesses” has returned. The members of this family all live very active
lives; they take two meals,——morning and afternoon,——a small amount of the
cereals, and a large proportion of fruit of various kinds. Our national
pastime-luncheon, the ubiquitous peanut, forms a part of their regular
dietary. It is a very nutritious vegetable, and, certainly, if agreeable
enough, as we know it is, to take a prominent part in the sensual
enjoyment of a very large class, who feel that life is not worth living
unless much of their leisure time is spent in palate-tickling, it can not
be sneered at as “one of the ‘messes’ of those peculiar people,” (formerly
a common remark about hygienists, some of whom have, without doubt,
advocated an unnatural asceticism.) I will make a few brief extracts from
letters written by the lady in question, at, and after the time I was
living on uncooked food. As will be seen, the work was altogether new to
me, and I went astray at first, regarding the proportions of grain and
fruit: “Your cupful of grain,” she writes, “is more than double what my
husband takes, and I use still less; but we eat very much more fresh
fruit than you do.” ... “I had intended to say in my last letter, that
some people object to so much cold food, especially in the morning. I did
not at all like it myself, at first, being always used to ‘a good cup of
tea’ the first thing; however, use soon becomes second nature, and I
prefer it now. In winter, when the apples or melons seem really cold, I
bring them to a moderately cold temperature by warming slightly——the same
with tomatoes: of these last, quite a lot have ripened up, although it is
mid-winter, (Feb. 6, ’81.) We find that _too much nut_-food causes
indigestion,[78] and it is better to combine a little vegetable-food
always, if possible.” ... “One little incident in our lives here, may
interest you: our oldest daughter, aged 13, has just been on a visit to
some friends——the family of a doctor of the old school. His wife remarked
one day that she liked the uncooked food very much, and would always use
it, only she ate ‘what the others did, to keep them company.’ Alice
replied (and you may imagine how proud I felt when it was repeated to me
by the doctor’s daughter), ‘I am sure you do not understand the importance
of it, then!’ You would be surprised to see how firm the children are:
they could not, by any kind of bribery, I believe, be induced to swerve
one iota from the true principles upon which we live, and they have been
severely tested, too.” I regret to say that a year after the above was
written, these people decided to test once more the influence of cooking
their food; although it may furnish valuable evidence, and I predict their
return to the natural diet with renewed faith. Now (Sept. 1, 1882), after
a few months’ use of artificially prepared food (their diet is still very
simple; they use no animal food, nor fancy dishes, no pastry, nor _hot_
drinks), such sentences as the following are quite significant: “Well,
both my husband and myself think it possible there may be more ‘ailments’
from the use of cooked food, but there is more enjoyment too, and we shall
have to take the bitter and the sweet together.” ... “I know it [uncooked
food] increases the spiritual perceptions greatly.”[79]... “I still
believe it would be a sure preventive of disease; but few, however, are
prepared to adopt such an extreme mode of living.” Once more: “The
experiment has done us good, I am sure; and I feel glad of the lessons I
have learned through it. I don’t think I shall ever be what I was before
using it.” [_i. e._, sickly]. Of this we can, of course, judge better
later on. From an earlier letter, written in January (the 30th), 1881, and
while they were enjoying the natural diet for the fourth year, I make a
few extracts: “Its effects are truly wonderful, and far exceed my
expectations.... The sequel has proved that it not only ensures health to
those already healthy, but eradicates former weaknesses when these exist;
for instance, rheumatism and ‘sciatica,’ from which I used to suffer——both
have left me, I think never to return. The children frequently suffered
with toothache, and occasionally with earache; now they are never
troubled. I believe the hot food destroys the teeth, and renders the body
generally more susceptible of taking colds. I used to take cold on the
slightest exposure; now I don’t know what it is to have one. And sore
throat was sure to follow a cold; now I am quite exempt, and have been for
two years.”[80]

[Footnote 78: The oily nuts are nutritious, and a small proportion, only,
should be eaten; except in cold weather.]

[Footnote 79: I desire to call the attention and fasten it for a moment
upon this feature of the case.]

[Footnote 80: With reference to the prophylactic and curative effects of
this diet I quote from “VEGETARIAN LIFE IN GERMANY: _A Paper, by a Lady
Member of the German Vegetarian Society, read 15th Jan., 1881, at
Manchester England, and reprinted by request_.”

“Others, especially those whose occupations afford little or no exercise,
as writers, artists, official persons, etc., prefer from time to time to
live upon fruits alone, in order to clear their blood and thus prevent
illness. Dr. Richard Nagel, of Burman, was one of the first to try such a
cure, and with brilliant success. As he is a learned man, and his health
rules are accepted by most German vegetarians, I take the liberty to give
you an abridged translation of them:

“I. Take often during the day a drink of pure cool fresh water; rain-water
is best. Vegetarians who live plainly and upon fruits only, have very
little thirst.

“II. Wash the whole body with cool fresh water every morning before
breakfast; poor-blooded persons may use in winter a little warm, but never
hot water.

“III. All kinds of sweet fruits and roots are to be commended in an
uncooked form. These are so nourishing that we can live upon fruit alone.
(Dr. Nagel, himself, so lived in 1871, from February 25th to April 7th,
that is during forty-one winter days, and you know that our German winter
is much colder than yours. During this time he was extremely well, and
worked hard as a physician and writer).”]

Further on, and after describing the two-years-old baby’s remarkable
health and perfect appetite: “He never causes me the least trouble; is
always ready to eat a good breakfast, taking just what we do, and is truly
a marvel of sweet infant life.” After a brief reference to the
persecutions received from their neighbors at the first: ... “But that is
nothing; we have lived it all down, and we are in better health to-day,
all of us, than any family about, for many a mile. Why, they are all
complaining of _colds_ now, and yet we have the loveliest climate and the
most delightful atmosphere under the sun. We never have any colds, or
neuralgia, or rheumatism. Whatever may be said in derision of our diet,
and, of course, there are more or less remarks, we have the best of it
anyway; and, oh, the load of expense, labor and care and anxiety that is
removed! The children are harmonious and happy, devoting their spare time
to useful pursuits——we all have so much more spare time now,” etc., etc.

From another letter:

“... But I must hasten to answer your queries. 1st. As to how we prepare
our food in winter. We have apples, raisins, oranges, and figs, which need
no preparation. Wheat and rye we grind first in a large mill and finish
off in a spice mill, and usually eat it dry with juicy fruits. I can eat
rye, apples, nuts, and raisins, and make a good meal. We confine ourselves
to what we raise here, chiefly because we think it best. We raise our own
peanuts, and if you will take them _unroasted_, and grind with your grain,
you will get a very palatable, strengthening food, alone or with raisins;
they contain a very sweet oil which, as we learn, is beginning to be
appreciated in England. I prefer the peanuts in this form because they
need to be very finely masticated. I can work longer after such a
breakfast and not feel hungry than anything else I have tried. We have
delicious musk-melons now, also water-melons, but the latter are
deteriorating, being out of season. Our ripe tomatoes are nearly over;
after these are gone we shall use our dried peaches, pears, and apples,
merely soaked in cold water until soft——not sloppy. We use rain-water in
winter. I make a salad for dinner, often, as follows: lettuce washed and
cut small, a few ripe tomatoes peeled and cut up, and one or two green
peppers cut fine; pouring over a dressing of raisin syrup, made by soaking
black raisins for twenty-four hours, and straining. This salad I vary by
substituting celery for lettuce. I assure you it is a most healthful dish,
and so sweet and nice with rye. We use oatmeal soaked for twelve hours in
just enough water to soften it, and then well beaten; with either raisins
[grapes] or dried fruits it is very delicious. I did not at first like
rye, but after a little we all came to regard it the sweetest grain we
have. The children are very fond of cauliflower——just the flour part——and
green pease, fresh-picked are a great dish with us. Some like radishes and
garden cress and a few things of that nature. I prefer fruits with my
grain, and we can have them fresh, of some sort, all the year round.
Strawberries come in about March——indeed, we have a few even now
[February]. I’m going to make a ‘natural fruitcake,’ this week, for our
little girl’s birthday. I shall send a piece by post to Mrs. Page, with
full directions for making it. We had one at New Year’s, and even those
who live on cooked food pronounced it ‘as good as they ever tasted.’ But
very little of our time, however, is taken up, usually, with the
preparation of our food; only, on special occasions, we amuse ourselves a
little in such ways, for the children’s sake. At all times, however, we
have a good variety of food; in fact, too much, I sometimes think. We eat
more in quantity than others, but a large proportion is fruit, which
furnishes all our liquid food except fresh water. We all enjoy our food
_thoroughly_; the children never ask for anything between meals [two meals
only], only baby comes as regularly as possible for an apple at half-past
eleven——of course he gets it.”

The following letter from a veteran hygienist refers to the family whose
history I have been relating.

MY DEAR DR. PAGE:

Your letter of February 13th, enclosing letters from Mr. and
Mrs. Hinde for us to read and to make extracts from for _The
Laws_, came duly to hand. I have read them with great interest,
for they do but add to my conviction that, as yet, the divinely
ordained mode of living for man on earth has received, in the
minds of so-called hygienists, small conception, and in the life
of the best of us comparatively poor illustration, and,
therefore, just such experience as these dear people are having
in their search for better methods of realizing, developing, and
making serviceable spiritual power are of great interest to me.
They always have been.

It has been a matter of great regret with me, that being an
incurably diseased man, and being shut up to the necessity of
working up, to the best degree possible for me, a revolution in
the thought and conduct of people at large, in matters
pertaining to their life on earth, I have not been able
physically nor circumstantially to carry out my life as I have
wanted to do. I have done some things, but always under
circumstances that endangered my available power to live and
work, while making such transitions as I was determined to make.

I have settled several principles which enter as constituent
elements into the philosophy of life of the human organism.
Among them I may mention two: One is, the changes from bad to
good, or from worse to better, can never be made
reconstructively, except under the policy which governs
construction. Now, as all growth of any living organism, or any
part of it, is, relatively speaking, slow, so all reparation of
any injured part in such organism relatively has to be slow.
Reconstruction, therefore, is slow if according to law. This of
itself speaks condemningly of the system of drug medication,
because everywhere do drug doctors seek to produce changes from
bad to good, or from worse to better, rapidly. This is
unphilosophical, and, therefore, can be, on the whole, only open
to criticism as being bad practice.

Another is, that where morbid conditions have existed until they
have become chronic, and the organism has become adjusted
thereto, changes from the abnormal to the normal can not be made
without aggravation of those conditions. I have never known a
person to go from chronic derangements of any organ in his body
to normal conditions of it, without passing through an acute
stage,[81] and this acute stage is critical in its nature,
subjecting the organ to added liability for the time, may be
subjecting the whole organism to it. Thousands of persons die
every day under medical treatment in this country from
badly-managed critical changes through which they have to pass.

[Footnote 81: This was illustrated in the case of Mrs. Hinde,
who says of her first experience: “I fully expected suffering as
a consequence, and so there was for a time; but it proved a
blessing in disguise.”——AUTHOR.]

Thirdly, I am satisfied that of all the diseases with which
doctors have to deal, and of which persons die, ninety-five per
cent. of them have their origin in bad dietetic indulgence, and
in deviations from right way of living, caused directly by, and
to be attributed to, bad habits of eating and drinking. If you
take a hundred diseases, as they are called, and study the
predisposing and the provoking causes to their production, you
will find that at least ninety-five per cent. have their origin
in derangements of the stomach and the organs that are in direct
sympathy with it.

I take it upon me to say on my platform very frequently, and I
repeat the same as I would repeat it from any public platform if
I were talking to a public audience: Give me the right and the
power, by and with the consent of any given population, whether
one thousand or one million, to control their dietetic
conditions, and I will take care of their diseases, and, in less
than the life of a generation, will banish from their midst
seven-eighths of all the diseases now common to physicians in
their practice; will stop the diseases, and deaths that grow out
of a prevalence of these diseases and their methods of
treatment; will put an end to the vices and the crimes
everywhere extant, and which it is so difficult for society and
government to manage, and thoroughly revolutionize the physical
and moral status of such people.

We have to go to the bottom of things in order to get to the top
of things, for the home of the eternal righteousness is so high
that no ladder can reach it, unless its lower end rests on
bed-rock. Who builds his house on quicksand runs the risk of his
life. Who climbs to the skies by any false means of ascent that
he may seek to establish, will find his fate foreshadowed in the
simple fact that he does not commence his ascent from a secure
foundation.

Yours very truly,
JAMES C. JACKSON.

Mr. Isaac B. Rumford, and son, hard-working farmers, of Bakersfield, Cal.,
have lived strictly on the “natural diet” for upwards of two years. Mr.
Rumford has been a chronically-diseased man for many years; now, however,
he is so far improved as to be able to do, as he says, “a good day’s
work.” “It is doing for me,” he writes, “what I have been seeking and
sorrowing after, vainly until now, for twenty years——giving me health. My
son also finds it a perfect diet, and would not readily exchange it for
any other; indeed, we both enjoy our food more than formerly on the old
system. By another year,” he adds, “I shall be able to give you still more
information on this subject, as others are beginning to be impressed with
the advantages of this regimen.” (See Appendix.)

A. R. B., of New York city, has lived chiefly on uncooked grain and fruit
for upwards of a year; and his young wife, also, has tried it to a
considerable extent. Two years ago Mrs. B. was threatened with
consumption, and was told by her physician that unless she changed her
diet (she was then beginning the vegetarian regimen) she would certainly
not live a year. She “needed meat and milk in abundance,” he said. But she
only lived the more abstemiously, and on coarse bread, with fruit,
chiefly, and, during the past year, has eaten considerable uncooked
“bread,” and all symptoms of her disease have disappeared. Mr. B. had
nasal catarrh; but this has disappeared, and he now finds himself
thoroughly nourished and better able than ever before to perform his
duties. His diet consists of two meals,——7 A.M. and 6 P.M.,——and with but
little variation, the two combined make about a half cupful each, wheat
and oat groats, with five or six nice apples. His appetite has become
sufficiently normal to enable him to enjoy this diet fully. This is in
winter. In summer less grain and more fruit.

As bearing upon the supposed difficulties in the way of introducing the
natural diet, should any choose to adopt it, I can not forbear relating a
little incident of recent occurrence: For some weeks past, I have been
living exclusively, and with great satisfaction, upon this diet. In a
conversation upon the subject, a friend expressed, along with some
surprise at my statements as to the gustatory pleasures of this diet and
its completeness for nutrifying the body, a curiosity to know just how it
would seem to sit down to a meal without a single dish of cooked food, nor
any odor of smoking viands about. “Very good,” I said, “dine with us
to-morrow, and bring the children.” This he promised, and on the following
day, Sunday, he came up with his two children, a boy of seven and a girl
of three years. Nothing was said to them by their father before, nor by
any one after their arrival, as to the kind of food to be set before them,
they were simply invited out to dinner, and anticipated a good time. The
injudicious comments, or “chaffing,” of parents and friends, will very
easily “set” children against what would naturally be their own
inclinations if given a fair chance, without having their minds
prejudiced, I mean, by the notions, or the dyspeptic idiosyncracies of
their elders. At 4 P.M. the table was set, but with no extras on account
of company, although here “extras” would imply no additional trouble nor,
perhaps, expense. There were dates,——“Persian,” or the kind which are in
regular tiers and handled comfortably,——walnuts, filberts, raisins, a
variety of apples, and, for bread, a fruit-dish containing “oat groats.”
The latter was served as the first course, the children eating of this
natural bread with every appearance of satisfaction, as did all the
company, a few teaspoonfuls each. All united in calling it sweet and good.
Then came walnuts and raisins; some added filberts, others took only the
latter, after which, dates, and then, for dessert, apples; of these, one
or two each were eaten. In the midst of the nuts and raisins, I may add,
and what surprised my visitor more than all else, both children _asked_,
voluntarily, for “a few more oats,” which they received and ate with a
gusto! As we arose from the table, my friend (a banker, by the way, and a
“good liver,”) said, “There, I can truly say that I have never eaten a
more satisfactory dinner; taken all in all, this has been a model meal.”
“How about the children?” I asked, of him, but they answered; “I have had
a splendid dinner,” said the boy. “I’ve had a splendid dinner,” chorused
the little three-year-old. The father added (what was in my own mind),
that he enjoyed the meal all the more because of the non-necessity for
restricting the children in any manner: there was no occasion for
caution——no “mustn’t eat so fast,” no “I’m afraid you are not chewing your
food thoroughly,” “No, dear, no more of the preserves,——they will hurt
you,” nor any nuisance of the sort; nor any risk in consequence; and I
remarked, with my friend’s entire acquiescence, that, often as I had
observed them, both in their home and at my own table, never had I seen
them so apparently satisfied in every respect, from the beginning to the
end of a meal; that, in fact, they had never enjoyed a meal in so utterly
unrestricted a manner; and at the same time, they arose from the table
with no indication of surfeit——no heaviness, nor succeeding sleepiness or
peevishness, as we often witness with children after an ordinary dinner.

Here was a delicious and ample midwinter dinner for six at a total cost of
less than the meat alone for a mixed meal,——with no brewing, baking or
fuming-up the home, or heating up and using up its mistress in the
preparation, and clearing away of the meal, not to mention the other
injurious effects of an ordinary “company dinner.” A few weeks later, in
response to an invitation from my little guests, I had the pleasure of a
return-dinner of the same sort, and a Christmas (1882) dinner at that, at
which a larger company assembled, and all pronounced it complete; and the
servants did not complain of being overworked——nor underfed. One of these
was overheard to say, “_Dessert_’s good enough for me!”

I would ask all prudent parents, Are you not often disturbed about the
little ones’ diet——about the pie, cake, pudding, etc., and are they not
frequently made ill by “over-indulgence,” as it is called, in these
things? How can you expect a little, growing child, with an appetite like
that of a shark (if hot, melting viands, or artificial sweets are before
them), with no sort of physiological knowledge, in fact a normal and
proper disgust for anything of the sort, no idea of prudence, but only a
dread of your frequent and necessary cautions,——how can you expect a
child, with mouth full of hot bread,——or any bread,——with butter, milk, or
sauce, or mashed potatoes, garnished with gravy turkey, stuffing, and
cranberry, all melting in his mouth, to “chew” what requires no chewing
and can not be made wholesome by chewing, and “hold” what will rush away
into the stomach as though impelled by an all-controlling force? It can
not be done, you can not do it yourselves, and as for the young ones, it
is the refinement of cruelty to attempt it;——it means dissatisfaction,
discomfort, and, often, the destruction of what should be a happy season,
to be perpetually badgering them about it; it is unnatural and wrong. Give
your children the sort of food you think best for them, and let them enjoy
it. If this can not be done with safety, the fault is with the food, not
with them.

The best way to effect a change in an obnoxious law, as has been well
said, is to enforce the law. The same principle holds in diet: If you find
that you are furnishing a sort of food which, eaten unrestrictedly and in
their own way, makes your children sick or endangers their health, give
them something better. At the meal of which I have been speaking, there
was no restraint, no cautions, nor occasion for any: the food was of that
strictly natural sort which, while requiring to be well masticated, itself
enforced the law. The sharp teeth of the children cut the oats perfectly;
there was no stimulation, nor temptation to hurry the food into the
stomach without masticating it, no feverish appetency, as with hot,
highly-seasoned viands——all wanted to chew the food as much as it “wanted
to be” chewed, and, consequently, no appreciable amount of it entered the
stomach unprepared for stomach-digestion. For the first time in the lives
of these children, since they were weaned, could this be said of them. It
can not be said of a single child in America, or elsewhere, who sits at a
table supplied with ordinary food. What results from this unnatural manner
of alimentation? Indigestion, inevitably, indicated by various symptoms,
as, for example, flatulency which is popularly regarded as entirely
natural, the odorous emanations from the younger fry being considered
evidence of indiscretion instead of what it really is——disease. And what
from this? Blood-poisoning, as surely; with aches, pains, feverish spells,
with influenza (popularly called “a cold”), which, as can not be too much
emphasized, is, strictly speaking, instead of a disease, the effort of
Nature to “cure” a disease which otherwise would become so deep-seated as
to demand a “run of fever” to eliminate it, and all manner of physical
ailments.

I am often asked, What constitutes the scrofulous diathesis, so called, or
the scrofulous “taint” supposed to be the inheritance of so many of the
children of our times? My reply is this: Scrofulous persons are those,
mainly, perhaps it should be said wholly, who from current bad habits (as
to diet, air, and all the requirements, or any part of them, which are
necessary for the maintenance of health), manufacture bad, instead of pure
blood. Such persons become more and more depraved, and incapacitated for
bequeathing to their offspring great vital power. In consequence the
children of such parents are endowed with a feeble organism; that is, an
organism incapable, at least until virtually, or nearly as possible made
over new, of putting forth in any direction a great degree of force,
whether of the voluntary muscular system, the brain, the digestive or
excretory systems, or what not. Children of this stamp may, they often do,
exhibit precocity in one or another direction——being unbalanced, so to
say——and may evince much alertness, both in muscle and brain, but they
soon tire: it will always be found that they are incapable of prolonged
effort in any direction, without exhaustion. They may develop a fondness
for study and for play, but in neither direction have they any staying
power: they are _called_ over-ambitious, often; they _are_ undernourished
always. And this, not because they do not swallow a large quantity of food
(though some children are kept so surfeited as to have little relish for
food, and may, consequently, eat but little, being all the time a few days
ahead of their stomachs, so to say), but generally because, of all the
food swallowed, not enough is digested and assimilated to sustain them,
and keep them in a vigorous state. They are, like all animals, when not
suffering from nausea or lack of appetite through somebody’s fault, very
ambitious in the way of eating; having——not inherited——but rather, I
should say, _acquired_ during the involuntary cramming of infancy——that
special school for gluttony, which graduates near thirty per cent. of its
pupils into premature graves before their first year is ended——and the
injudicious feeding of the survivors in childhood, a full, perhaps rounded
measure of appetency, especially for the very things which scrofulous
children, of all born children, should not have. They may be greedy for
study and for food (though often enough, excess of the latter makes them
listless and unfit for either study or play), but have for neither,
sufficient capacity for digestion and assimilation, to make them either
learned or strong. It follows, if they are fed like their robust fellows
who can bear up under the burden, that by reason of quality, frequency,
and amount of food eaten, no portion, not even such wholesome articles as
fruit, vegetables, etc., as they may have in abundance,——no portion of
their food is properly digested and assimilated. It is unnatural in
variety, is prepared and eaten unnaturally, and, as has been said, there
ensues, as surely as any effect is simultaneous with its cause,
indigestion, blood-poisoning, and the _current, daily manufacture_ of
“scrofulous humors,” if people choose to call them by that name; and but
for its misleading tendency, as at present interpreted, this name would
answer as well as any. Of _pure food_, these children can digest and
assimilate a given amount——an amount, indeed, suited to their peculiar
needs; the balance, including _all_ unwholesome substances,[82] is so much
for influenza, catarrh, “scrofula,” measles, “nervousness,”
fractiousness, (“measly disposition” was not originally a slang phrase by
any means) scarlet fever, skin, scalp, and all other so-called diseases.
The remedy, then, for the disorders of children of scrofulous, or any
other diathesis, is plain: stop feeding them unnaturally, and feed them
naturally. And the earlier in their lives this is done, and the more
faithfully it is attended to, the more likely they will be to “outgrow
their inheritance.” I do not hesitate to say that, of those weakly-born or
“tainted” children who die in infancy or childhood, or live sickly lives,
in a very large proportion of cases they could, by right treatment,
chiefly as to fresh air and diet, be built up above the plain of disease,
_i.e._, placed upon the highest level possible to _them_, and enabled to
live fairly long lives, a comfort to themselves and a benefit to the
world. And this, too, in a majority of instances, on a rigidly abstemious
vegetable diet, reserving the “natural diet” for the most critical cases,
or the most conscientious persons.[83]

[Footnote 82: I include cream among the forbidden animal fats, especially
for scrofulous subjects, for the reason that in practice I have never
observed other than ultimately injurious effects from its use. I can
account for this only upon the ground that if _milk_ is a proper food for
man, _whole_ milk——like whole wheat, whole apples, whole grapes, whole
beets, instead of white flour, cider, wine and sugar——only can be thus
classed. The fact that many, even robust persons, can not use milk at all,
and a still larger proportion cream, whereas skimmed milk is well borne by
them and in some instances seems to produce lasting good effects, may be
accounted for, perhaps, in the following manner: As our cows are bred and
fed, their milk is abnormally loaded with fatty matters, and when skimmed,
after sitting twelve or more hours, still contains, as compared with
_natural_ cows’ milk, a full proportion of cream. Therefore, by removing
the excess of cream, which is of an excretory nature, we are doing all in
our power to “restore the balance,” or to make the milk natural. Let those
who choose make use of this delicious scum; but its administration to sick
people, though often, like drugs, producing stimulating, and apparently
beneficial effects, will, in the end, like every form of stimulation,
hinder, if not prevent recovery. (See Stimulation.)]

[Footnote 83: See note 5 in Appendix, p. 281.]

Finally, to add so large a line of proper foods to our dietary by a
correct understanding of their real office and value——taking them out of
the category of mere pastime-lunches——should, from any point of view, be
accounted a great gain. We are made by that much more independent, in
being elevated above the otherwise some-time-necessity of eating
unmitigatedly bad, or badly-prepared food, or of going without any; for
almost any corner grocery will furnish a better bill-of-fare than one
often finds at poor hotels or restaurants; besides, this class of foods
may be taken along better than any other: they are the most comfortable to
transport and to handle _en route_, and will “keep.” Moreover, they demand
less time for “preliminary digestion” after eating; if, indeed, one may
not, after a judicious meal of them, resume ordinary mental or muscular
labor with impunity. The effect of a light lunch of fruits, is really,
when one is once accustomed to their use, exhilarating to both the brain
and the muscular system——stimulating, not as with a spur, but, rather, a
“push behind”; or, more truly, by increase of actual strength through
pabulum supplied to the blood, of a character, as I am convinced, unlike
that of any form of cooked food.

Note.——In concluding this theme, while expressing the belief that this
will be the diet of the future——that advancing civilization will demand
it, on the score of economy, as relates to time, care, and health, no less
than the comparatively trifling consideration of money cost (and yet what
an item even this would be to the toiling millions!), and above all in
view of the emancipation of woman from the serfdom of the kitchen, where
she now exhausts herself to the injury of the family, her incessant
kitchen labors tending especially to unfit her for the production of
robust children——yet I would not chill the health-seeker of to-day, by
insisting upon the vital importance of _every_ one’s breaking away
abruptly from _all_ present customs as regards the selection and
preparation of food. To a considerable degree the usage of generations
has, beyond question, adapted our systems to the use of cooked foods——has
even rendered them somewhat unadapted to the _instant_ use of uncooked
foods——so that a radical and complete change, abruptly made, would result
in temporary digestive disturbance, which (however advantageous the
results of the change, finally, if persisted in with faith and courage)
would render it impracticable for some persons, more especially since this
temporary physical inconvenience would be added to the social
inconvenience arising from placing oneself so markedly at variance with
all about him. No one can form a just opinion of this last item until he
attempts a radical change in his dietetic habits: it presents the greatest
check imaginable to rapid progress in this direction.

A reform, however, which is at the same time feasible and, in most
instances, sufficient, speaking generally,——and which, as elsewhere
remarked, already has its hundreds of thousands of adherents in this
country alone,——would be the adoption of the “fruit and bread,” or the
ordinary vegetarian diet even——banishing all doubtful dishes, condiments,
spices, hot drinks——stimulants all——making a lunch (or two, even) in the
course of the day, of fruit, with a biscuit or two at one of them,
perhaps; and at eve, when the tired ones are rested, a regular “full
meal,” consisting of various bread dishes——wheat, corn, rye and oatmeal,
with various admixtures of the same, which may well furnish a different
flavor (several, indeed) for every day in the month——fruit, milk (for
those with whom it “agrees”), vegetables and nuts. Following _this
direction_, and aiming constantly, but _comfortably_, to maintain the
balance between diet and labor——between the food eaten and the needs of
the organism for nutriment——one may not only enjoy, as he ought, the
pleasures of the table, but, in very many cases, absolutely and largely
increase these pleasures, in the aggregate, considering, more especially,
his exemption from sickness with its occasional involuntary fasts, and
with many, the quite frequent periods of slight, or non-satisfaction,
through nausea and lack of appetite arising from an injudicious dietary.
This regimen lessens by one-half the housewife’s burdens, as well as the
cost of living, while it adds immeasurably to her health and that of her
household.

CHAPTER XVI.

MALARIA——SEWER GAS.

These are very vicious companions, and cause a deal of mischief. The
scientists have much to say of the prevalence, and of the deleterious
effects of sewer gas, from faulty plumbing, etc.; but they do not insist
upon, scarcely indeed mention, the plain fact, that if this insidious
destroyer can, as is now known, get into a dwelling through a foot of
stone or brick wall, it can and will _get out through an open window_; and
that, in any event, if there be abundant ventilation there will be such
dilution of these gases as to render them comparatively innoxious. It is
not so much the letting in of bad air, but rather the confining of it——the
breathing of it, “pure and unadulterated”——that causes disease. There is
more _malaria_ in a close bedroom in the most favored mountain-region, and
in the alimentary canal of a constipated or drug-swallowing dyspeptic,
than about the swamps and bayous of Louisiana or the dreaded Roman
Campagna, where wrapped in a single blanket, the author has slept night
after night——to prove his faith in the theory, as well the theory itself.
The “Roman fever,” so alarming to visitors of the holy city, is the joint
product of stuffy hotel bedrooms and a diet better suited to the climate
of Iceland than Italy.

* * * * *

“I have lately spent a summer in a country place whose delicious air is a
just source of pride to its inhabitants,” says an observing writer, in
_Our Continent_. “They told me how doctors sent their patients there from
a distance, and how even consumptives had had their fell disease arrested
by the tonic effects of the pure air and invigorating breezes, and then I
found the very people who thus glorified in them shutting out every breath
of air and every ray of sunshine from their houses because of flies! In
returning the calls of neighbors, I was struck the moment I entered their
houses with that close, unwholesome, ‘stuffy’ smell which we generally
associate with the homes of the ignorant and unneat classes alone, but
which is often to be noticed in those of a class far above them. As I
looked at the outside of the different houses in the place, it was
difficult to realize that they were really inhabited. Every blind was
carefully closed, and not one sign of life visible; and yet,
unfortunately, life was going on behind those closed windows——life which
needed every advantage to make it healthy and enjoyable. Does it never
occur to you, you housekeepers whose minds recoil from soiled house-linen,
fly-specks on paint, and every species of uncleanliness——does it never
occur to you, you so-called neat women, that there is one thing absolutely
_dirty_ in your cleanly-swept and carefully-dusted houses, and that is
their very air? You who would blush with shame at the idea of anything
unclean worn on your person, or taken into your mouth, do you not know you
are taking in uncleanliness with every breath you draw; and that unclean
air is making your blood, and through its means, your entire bodies
impure?... Many a woman is regretting this summer that she is unable to
have a change of air for herself and children by going to the seaside, the
country, or the mountains. Why not try the effect of change of air at
home? If air makes such a difference to your health as you admit, why not
let it do its best for you wherever you are?”

It would be hard to find, in any community, a person so ignorant as not to
know that the lungs require good air. “Oh, yes, of course, I know we must
have pure air.” Yes, indeed. Nevertheless, ninety-five families in every
hundred, in city and country, though always ready to say this, suffer
every day of their lives for want of it. This arises from a lack of
definite knowledge (1) as to the true office of air——of the fact that it
supplies the major portion of the body’s nourishment, since an ordinary
person could live six weeks or more without eating, and as many days
without liquids of any sort; while as many _minutes_ without oxygen is
certain death; and (2) as to what constitutes “pure air in the home.” Says
Prof. Huxley: “But the deprivation of oxygen, and the accumulation of
carbonic acid, cause injury long before the asphyxiating point is reached.
Uneasiness and headache arise when less than one per cent. of the oxygen
of the air is replaced by other matters; while the persistent breathing of
such air tends to lower all kinds of vital energy, and predisposes to
disease. Hence the necessity of sufficient air, and of ventilation for
every human being. To be supplied with respiratory air in a _fair state_
of purity, every man ought to have at least eight hundred cubic feet of
space to himself, and that space ought to be freely accessible, by direct
or indirect channels, to the atmosphere.”

A room ten feet square, and eight feet high, if “freely accessible” to the
outer air during the entire 24 hours, will, according to the high
authority quoted, supply the necessary respiratory rations, so to say, for
one adult person. In so far, then, as this space _per capita_ is
diminished, its accessibility to the outer air must be increased; that is,
the ventilation (which should in all cases be constant) must be freer, in
proportion as the size of the room is diminished or the number of its
occupants increased. No room built with hands will ever be large enough to
supply the “breath of life,” in default of free communication with the
outer air.

WINTER VENTILATION.

The true theory of ventilation is to obtain a perpetual and sufficient
change of air without sensible draught. The following simple plan, as I
have proved by years of experience, perfectly fulfills these requirements,
and leaves nothing to be desired. The _Scientific American_ endorses the
plan, and places it above many, in fact most of the elaborate and
expensive devices. The eminent Dr. B. W. Richardson, of London, also, is
on record in favor of the plan, and it is already in use in thousands of
homes in this country. A three-inch strip placed beneath the lower sash of
each window has the effect to “mismatch” the sashes, causing them to
overlap each other in the middle. The stream of air thus admitted is
thrown directly upward, and slowly mixes with the heated air in the upper
part of the room. As several windows in each room are thus provided, the
vitiated air is constantly passing out at one or another of the
ventilators. The strip being perfectly fitted or listed, no air can enter
at the sill, and all can be so nicely finished as in no manner to mar the
appearance of the most elegant drawing-room. A dwelling thus ventilated
will never smell “close” to the most sensitive nose upon re-entering, even
after a prolonged stay in the open air——a test that would condemn, as
unfit for occupancy, ninety in the hundred sitting and sleeping rooms, as
well as churches, halls, etc., the world over. The purity of the air is by
no means measured by the temperature. Cold air is often very impure by
reason of stagnation (as stagnant water), or the exhalations from the
lungs, etc., while, on the other hand, the temperature may be maintained
at 70° F., or upwards, without fatally lowering its quality, if a
sufficient and perpetual change is going on between the outdoor and indoor
air.

Whether in Maine or California, Florida or Kansas; whether in a “malarial
district” or in a region celebrated for its salubrity,——whatever the
locality,——the only standard, the purest air attainable for the
inhabitants of any town or hamlet, is the outdoor air. Apropos of this I
make a brief extract from the letter of a patient, a delicate lady, under
treatment for chronic dyspepsia, and other troubles, who, under date of
September 5th, says: “I have tried to follow your directions, and the
result is very satisfactory. I live out of doors as much as possible
through the day, and for weeks have even slept out on the porch at night.
I have enjoyed this very much,——never slept so soundly nor felt so fresh
on waking. Of course my friends predicted malaria from sleeping out of
doors so near the fogs from the river, but I haven’t had even a sniffle! I
exercise a great deal and have grown very much stronger. It seemed pretty
hard at first to live on one meal a day and exercise too, but I persevered
and feel better for it. Every one here is astonished at my progress and
increase of strength. At first I think they rather resented my not coming
to the table, and they openly declared the foolishness of living without
meat; but they have ‘sick spells’ which now I never do, and they can not
endure heat or cold as I can. I think I can dimly see your position, and
begin to realize the simplicity of certain problems generally regarded so
complicated.”——(Mrs. S., Washington, D. C., writing from Wadley’s Falls,
N. H.)

I feel that my readers will absolve me from the charge of egotism in thus
introducing the testimony of this poor lady, the victim of malpractice in
the first instance, who, after passing through course after course of
drug medication at the hands of eminent, and so-called skillful
physicians, at last begins, not dimly, as she herself says, but clearly,
as I believe, to see the simplicity of the health question; and especially
ought I to be pardoned when I here distinctly remark that I claim to be
only the contemporary of thousands upon thousands, physicians and laymen,
who have become converts to Hygienic Medicine; being convinced that the
proposition is as true as it is simple, that, in general, substances which
are injurious for healthy persons to swallow, are even more deleterious to
the sick.

CHAPTER XVII.

COFFEE, MEDICINALLY AND DIETETICALLY CONSIDERED.——THE
TRUE THEORY OF STIMULATION.[84]

“The chief constituent of the coffee berry, the alkaloid _caffeine_——in
chemical analysis recognized as identical with that of the tea plant,
_theine_——when separated from the other constituents, ... so as to be seen
in its perfect purity, appears in snow-white, silky, filiform crystals,
flexible and fragile, without odor, but having a mildly bitter taste....
But it remains an important consideration that this crystallized
constituent ... is built on the chemical type of the alkaloid, a class of
bodies which nature forms in plants, but not in food-plants——bodies that
include narcotics, stimulants, hypnotics, deliriants, poisons, tonics;
some of them affecting the whole nervous system, one to excite and another
to depress; and others influencing only parts of the nervous system, for
special functions of the body.”[85]

[Footnote 84: This paper first appeared in the Boston _Journal of
Chemistry_ and _Popular Science Review_, May and June, 1882.]

[Footnote 85: Professor Albert B. Prescott, in _Popular Science Monthly_,
Jan., 1882, “Chemistry of Tea and Coffee.”]

“Medically speaking, this theine has a totally distinctive action from the
infusions of which it forms a part. In the form of an infusion of tea or
coffee, we have to deal with a large proportion of astringent matter, in
the form of tannic acid, and with the presence of the essential oil, which
is an excitant to the nervous system, and is the substance to which must
be ascribed disorders of the nervous system which result from tea and
coffee drinking, such as palpitation of the heart and sleeplessness. The
theine, upon the other hand, of which there is about one-tenth of a grain
in an ordinary cup of tea, is the restorative agent to the nervous system,
and is opposed, in its therapeutic properties, to the action of the
essential oil. The infusion, therefore, of tea or coffee may induce
palpitation in a heart liable to excessive or incoordinate action; but
theine, on the contrary, may be looked to, therapeutically, to quiet
palpitation. The infusion, by being an excitant, may prevent sleep.
Theine, by being a restorative and an indirect sustainer and regulator of
the circulation, may induce sleep. Individual medical investigators have,
more than this, attempted, from time to time, to show that the action of
theine is allied to that of quinine.”[86]

[Footnote 86: “Tea and Coffee as Nervines,” by Dr. Lewis Shapter, in
_British Medical Journal_.]

It can not be questioned that the administration of coffee, in the form of
an infusion or otherwise, is entirely in accord with the theory and
practice of medicine at the present day. It is, however, a fact well known
to practitioners, and indeed generally to “laymen,” that the constant and
long-continued use of any medicine transforms its “remedial” influence
into one promotive of disease that may perhaps demand the curative aid of
some other drug.

A strong infusion of _café noir_ (administered, it is to be presumed, to
one not an habitual user) has been recently claimed by a celebrated French
physician as an effectual antidote for the blood-poison that exists in
typhus, typhoid, and yellow fevers. While this may be true, I am sure that
there are, on the other hand, good grounds for the belief that the
habitual use of coffee as an article of diet aids materially in the
accumulation of the poison, and in the production of that abnormal
condition or quality of the tissues of the body which the vital forces
seek to rectify by means of the expulsive efforts which constitute the
symptoms of typhoid and other fevers. Indeed, Dr. Segur, who evidently
regards coffee as the nearest approach to the Elixir of Life, claims, as
one of the _benefits_ resulting from its use, that “it lessens the waste
of tissue, and therefore renders less food necessary.” Now, to interfere
with or hinder any of the normal processes of the organism, especially
those most vital to the economy, as, for example, that of the constant
breaking down and excretion of the tissues, is not only to invite, but the
impairment of these functions in and of itself constitutes, disease. He
further says, “After a heavy meal, it relieves the sense of oppression and
helps digestion.” What it really accomplishes, however, in such cases, is
this: it mitigates the immediate effects of excess by diluting and washing
away a portion of the food (of course unprepared for intestinal
digestion), and, after the first congestive effects have subsided, by
producing anæmia of the stomach, thereby _hindering_ digestion, it
relieves temporarily, but at great cost ultimately, the sense of
oppression produced by a gluttonous meal. By hindering digestion, in this
or in any other manner, as, for example, by resuming muscular or mental
labor directly after eating, we may prevent or delay plethora——the
surcharge of the blood with nutritive material that results from the rapid
absorption of an over-full meal;[87] but later on there will take place in
the alimentary tract more or less fermentation of its undigested contents,
which, with the foul and noxious gases generated thereby, will, to a
greater or less degree, be absorbed into the circulation. Thus we observe
the two-fold effect of this most delicious and seductive beverage: by
“lessening the waste,” it prevents the body from remaining sound in its
tissues, (see index: “fossil bodies”) and causes blood-poisoning from
indigestion. For if, by reason of anæmia of the stomach and intestines,
the digestive fluids are not secreted in sufficient amount to preserve it,
“the food rapidly undergoes chemical decomposition in the alimentary
canal, and often putrefies.”[88] This accounts for the gas coming from the
stomach and bowels of persons troubled with indigestion and constipation,
who frequently complain of a rotten-egg taste in the mouth. “This gas, in
its poisonous effect, is similar to hydrocyanic or prussic acid, only not
so powerful. It is a very destructive agent in its interference with those
vital processes concerned in ultimate nutrition, robbing the blood
corpuscles of vitality, and preventing the transformation into tissue of
the nutriment conveyed by the circulation, and of worn-out tissue into
waste, thus poisoning the blood and nervous centers, and disturbing the
whole animal economy.” In view of this state of things, need we search
with microscopes for the causes of sickness, go outside of our own bodies
for “malaria,” or look to any extraordinary circumstance as essential to
generate the most deadly diseases? According to the recent experiments (on
dogs) of M. Lennen, communicated to the Paris Society of Biology, coffee
does produce “anæmia of the stomach, retards digestion, and, the anæmia
repeating itself, ends by bringing on habitual increased congestion of the
stomach, which, according to M. Lennen, is synonymous with dyspepsia.”

[Footnote 87: As explained elsewhere (p. 201), gentle exercise in the open
air, after such a meal, though not the best, is nevertheless a remedy.]

[Footnote 88: Effects of Excess in Diet, “Physiology and Hygiene,” p. 402,
Huxley.]

It is not difficult, then, to comprehend why the final effect of coffee
must be especially injurious, if not disastrous, to asthmatics and
“consumptives,” the head and front of whose disease is dyspepsia, pure and
simple. (See “Consumption.”) The _British Medical Journal_, after noting
the experiments of M. Lennen, and favoring his conclusions, goes on to
say: “It is well known——and English physicians have laid great stress upon
this point——that the abuse of coffee and tea often brings on gastralgia,
dyspepsia, and, at the same time, more or less disturbance of the
_apparatus of innervation_.” The question naturally arises, What
constitutes an “abuse” of a medicine? I should say its daily use as a
beverage.

Coffee is a _purgative_——a very agreeable form of breakfast pill——but, as
with all purgative medicines, an increasing dose is necessary, and its
final effect is constipation, with no end of possibilities as a result of
the retention of waste matters in the blood. Constipation, however
produced, is a _predisposing_ cause, and the continuance of the habits
that have produced and now maintain it constitutes a sufficient _exciting_
cause, of such diseases as neuralgia, rheumatism, erysipelas, fevers of
various sorts (including scarlet fever and “head cold,”) and, with the aid
of sewer gas _insufficiently diluted with outdoor air_——by means of
ventilation——diphtheria, or any of the zymotic “diseases.” Worst of all,
those more terrible maladies (because more permanent and enduring, and
unrecognized as symptoms of disease), as nervousness, peevishness,
irritability, and general unreasonableness, are due, in great measure, to
impoverishment of the blood; the nerves are insufficiently nourished, and
the brain is “set on edge” by the poisoned circulation.

Professor Prescott makes this very interesting remark with regard to the
chemistry of coffee and tea: “But the change of guanine into theine is
easily accomplished. It is perfectly practicable to bring guano material
to the laboratory, and send away the same atomic elements transformed into
the snow-white, silky crystals of theine. Given only sufficient demand for
the pure stimulant principle of tea and coffee, and a market high enough
above the cost of its vegetable sources, and it might then safely be
predicted that not many months would elapse before companies with
thousands of capital stock would engage successfully in the chemical
manufacture of theine from guano. Then, very likely, rival companies would
establish the claim to manufacture a still purer article from certain of
the waste substances of the world——articles more accessible than guano.”

As to the nutritive properties of coffee, although the food constituents
of the _berry_ are considerable in quantity, yet so deficient are they in
digestibility that, in the infusion especially, it is more than doubtful
if they are of advantage in supporting life, under any circumstances;
indeed, I have no doubt that the poisonous effects of the alkaloid and
tannin far outweigh any gain from the nutrients. At any rate, he would be
a bold man, indeed, and I doubt not a defeated one in the end, who should
attempt to imitate Mr. John Griscomb’s fast of forty-five days (which was
attended by no discomfort even), substituting coffee infusion for pure
water.

Coffee interferes with digestion, and, consequently, with nutrition, aside
from its specific or general effects upon the digestive organs, by the
manner in which it is usually taken: a mouthful of food and then a draught
of the beverage prevents the necessity of chewing[89] and prohibits the
secretion of the saliva and its admixture with the starchy elements of
the cereals and vegetables, so essential to the preparation of this class
of food for digestion further on. The first process in the transformation
of starch into blood, is its conversion into grape sugar, and we know that
saliva fulfills this function; and while it is believed that the
intestinal juices also act in the same manner, still, we are not at
liberty to suppose that the preliminary change designed to be begun in the
mouth is unnecessary. Or, if it be in a measure true that this fluid,
being constantly secreted and swallowed, _thus_ performs its legitimate
function, it is certain that the salivary glands are injured, their
functions impaired, and the quality and quantity of their secretions
modified by the ingestion of hot, astringent fluids; and this must
certainly be one of the injurious effects of tobacco-chewing or smoking.
No one would suppose for one moment that the glands of the liver, or
kidneys, for example, could continue their offices satisfactorily in face
of constant contact with a poultice of tobacco, corresponding in size to
an ordinary quid, which would, in the mouth of a novice, produce purgative
effects, often within one minute from its application. In fact, it may be
relied upon that the ingestion into the mouth or stomach of any substance
that causes the bowels to “act,” in the common understanding of this term,
whether the dose be in solid or liquid form——tends to, and the constant
or frequent use of such devices will, impair and permanently injure the
entire alimentary tract, from mouth to anus, and all its secreting and
excreting glands.

[Footnote 89: The prevalence of “bad teeth” is in my opinion referable
chiefly to three causes: (1) innutrition resulting from the use of
impoverished or indigestible food substance, (2) the use of hot drinks,
(3) _non-use_ of the teeth; dental exercise is the best dentifrice.
Observe the quality, whiteness and clean condition of the dogs’ teeth:
from early youth their “tooth-brushes” are bones, which they are
constantly gnawing. Bread-crusts, or wheat-kernels, would do the business
for our young growing children, replacing “candy,” for instance.]

Coffee is a _diuretic_, and hence its habitual use promotes disease of the
kidneys. “Very warm drinks are in themselves debilitating to the stomach,
but the addition of the properties of tea, coffee, or other herbs, burdens
the kidneys and urinary apparatus with an unnatural amount of labor
continually. (See Bright’s Disease.) These organs, kept constantly
over-excited, must become debilitated, and preternaturally irritable, and
this condition of debility and irritability extends sympathetically to all
the surrounding viscera; finally, the abdominal muscles themselves become
relaxed, and, with the general nervous exhaustion produced by the active
nervine and narcotic properties of the herb throughout the system, a
foundation is laid for the whole train of maladies, displacements of
organs, disordered functions, and ‘weaknesses,’ which are so general at
the present day.”

Again, coffee is often referred to as a respiratory food. It does, in
small doses, and at first, have the effect to excite abnormally the nerves
governing the respiratory movements, as well as those of the heart,
stomach, etc.——stimulates them; hence the tendency, finally, to sluggish
action of these organs, and even paralysis: a peculiar type of “nightmare”
often met with among coffee and tobacco users, illustrates this well,
although the connection is not usually comprehended,——a feeling of
suffocation, following one of pressure, or “rushing feeling,” at the base
of the brain, as it is often described; usually observed at night just as
the individual is dropping off to sleep, seemingly at the very moment of
“losing” himself, and very naturally, too, at this particular moment:
prior thereto there had been somewhat of a constrained feeling, perhaps,
unobserved by the victim, who, while awake, would continue the process of
breathing by means of an unconscious, but still real, degree of voluntary
effort. In sleep, the suffocation which ensues causes the victim to wake
with a start and with a violent palpitation of the heart; or he may not
succeed in rousing himself: this means death. In fact, all stimulants and
poisons, as tobacco, coffee, distilled liquors, etc., _tend_ to local and
general paralysis.

Coffee is styled the drink, _par excellence_, of the brain-worker. Cases
like the following are by no means rare: Under the influence of two or
three cups of strong coffee the brain of an essayist works satisfactorily,
perhaps for hours; the hands and feet meanwhile growing cold and clammy,
and the entire surface “chilly,” while the brain throbs with congestion,
until, finally, the mind becomes confused, strange mistakes are made,
words are repeated or misspelled, and although the over-stimulated but now
clogged and exhausted brain can see, dimly outlined within itself, pages,
whole chapters perhaps, that must be written now or be forever lost——or at
least his diseased imagination thus pictures it——still he finds it
impossible to proceed, and with a martyr spirit, or perhaps despairingly,
he ceases from his labors. A night of disturbed sleep (see article on
Insomnia) almost surely follows, and during its waking intervals the brain
often does its best work, which is worse than lost, unless the sufferer
rises in (what should be) “the dead hours of the night” to record his
brilliant thoughts. This effort he is often loath to make: he can think,
or rather can not stop thinking, but he feels too weak to rise. Imperfect,
however, as may be his repose, still, he may, with the aid of fresh
stimulation, be enabled to take up his work again for the day. This may go
on indefinitely, but with less and less satisfactory results from month to
month,——neuralgic pains, “nervous headaches,” or other evidence of
visceral irritation, meantime adding to the sufferings to be
endured,——until, after a time, becoming alarmed, he feels the need of a
long vacation. If, however, in spite of all premonitions of danger, he
keeps on denying himself the “rest” (from stimulation as well as from
labor) he so much needs, it is like pulling a heavy load up-hill, and a
little later he finds himself utterly prostrated. Whether, now, he dies
speedily of paralysis, “heart disease,” or “nervous prostration”; fails
gradually and dies of “consumption”; or recovers some degree of health,
after a long illness, the cause of his disease is believed by himself,
friends——and physician, perhaps——to have been “overwork.”[90] In fact, it
is the effect of _stimulation_ inciting to excessive brain, to the
neglect of physical, exercise; the brain is clogged by its own unexcreted
waste, and the entire system unbalanced and unstrung. It is in such cases
that a resort to “tonic treatment,” beef-tea, or a “generous diet” of
flesh-food——for which, perhaps, a fictitious appetite is created by the
use of “regular” or irregular bitters——often destroys the patient’s last
chance for recovery. “It is,” says Professor Brunton, “piling on fuel,
instead of removing ash.”[91]

[Footnote 90: The same amount of the stimulant alone (coffee, tobacco,
wine, or what not), _without_ the hard work that tended to aid in its
elimination, would have made quicker work of it. What such a person
requires under these circumstances is to give his brain rest from severe
mental application. Nor is it, in my opinion, sound doctrine to say that a
weary-brained man may rest by rushing at muscular exercise, or _vice
versa_. To a certain extent the rule holds good; but the exhausted or very
tired man requires a period of absolute rest, before taking up any form of
work. At the proper time, however, he will be improved by taking up active
exercise in the open air, and performing daily such regular muscular and
literary work as he can comfortably, however little this may be, without
any sort of stimulation other than that derived from simple, nutritious
food and pure air. (See article on Consumption for hint as to exercise.)]

[Footnote 91: “Indigestion as a Cause of Nervous Prostration,” _Popular
Science Monthly_, January, 1881.]

The illustration here given is one of the worst cases, but such instances
are frequently observed among the class usually designated as brain
workers, not only, but among business men, whose work, scheming, mishaps,
and unnatural habits altogether, bring them to sick-beds and premature
graves; while mild forms are met with constantly everywhere.

Whatever degree of eminence our brain-workers may hope to attain under any
form of stimulation, before their lives shall be prematurely ended, all
may rest assured that by obeying the laws of life and building up a
healthy body they will, in the long run——the “run” made longer thereby——do
more and better work without than with artificial aid. The stimulus of
good health is far better than that derived from any stimulating drink.
The most brilliant productions of the brain, under stimulation, may,
strictly speaking, be called _premature births_.

Professor Proctor, in the paper before alluded to, further says:
“Notwithstanding the adoption of theine-containing beverages by mankind at
large, we can not hesitate to commend that robust habit which discards all
dependence on adventitious food, even on so mild a stimulus as that of the
tea-cup, and preserves through life the fresh integrity of full nervous
susceptibility. And probably there was never a time when there were so
many persons as now who are disposed, by conviction and by a desire for a
stalwart physical independence, to refuse to fix any habit that holds the
nervous system.”

Dr. Segur asserts that “habitual coffee-drinkers generally enjoy good
health and live to a good old age.” We find, however, that a very large
proportion of those coffee-drinkers who are observing and conscientious
freely confess to the ill effects of the beverage: It makes them “nervous,
irritable, or gives them headache frequently,” they say; and it is quite
common to hear them declare that they would leave it off if they could,
but they “depend on it——it is the principal part of breakfast.” Often
enough it is all the breakfast taken. It prevents hunger or appeases it by
rendering the stomach anæmic, and its stimulating effects are mistaken for
added strength. And it is even worse where the coffee-drinker is at the
same time a full-feeder; for, are we not told that this beverage “lessens
the waste of tissue and renders less food necessary?” Quite a percentage
of even robust people, beginning to feel, or to recognize after having
long felt, the twinges of dyspepsia do, either on their own judgment or by
the advice of the family physician, give up the habit, and find great
benefit from the change; and but for clinging to other unnatural
practices, they might often bid adieu to all their physical ills.

A few, comparatively, of the most vigorous men and women, it can not be
denied, do “enjoy good health and live to a good old age,” in spite of
many injurious practices, including the habitual use of the stimulant
coffee. But even these have their intervals of suffering, more or less
severe——“attacks” that better habits would prevent. Of the latter class,
out of scores whom I might mention, the experience of O. B. Frothingham is
noteworthy. He says: “Although no positive ill effect has been traceable
to either of them [tea and coffee] or wine, all of which have been used
sparingly, yet, were my life to live over again, I should accustom myself
to abstinence from all three. It seems to me now, on looking back, that
something of dullness and languor, something of exhaustion and dreaminess,
something of lethargy, something too of heat and irritability, may be
chargeable to a practice not in any grave degree harmful or blameworthy.
The faculties have been less keen and patient than they would have been
under a strictly natural regimen.”

It might, perhaps, in this connection, be profitable to ask,

WHAT IS A “STIMULANT”?

In reply I would say that any poisonous or unnatural substance ingested
into the living body, in amount within the ability of the vital organism
to _readily_ expel it; or even of the most wholesome food substance in
excess of the _needs_ of the organism, and yet, again, not so excessive as
to depress the vital forces instead of spurring them to increased efforts
to thrust it out, is a stimulant. In short, anything of an injurious
nature, by reason of quality, amount, or the conditions under which it is
administered, may produce stimulating effects. But the inevitable
“reaction” of stimulation is depression; although, from natural causes,
convalescents often make sufficient progress to overwhelm, or at least
obscure, the evidence of the secondary effects.

Speaking with direct reference to the effect of alkaloids in general,
Professor Prescott says, “While a certain portion stimulates the nervous
system, a large portion acts as a sedative, so that a difference in
quantity of the potion causes a difference in kind of its effects.” It
should ever be borne in mind that the increased action under stimulation
is simply the extra effort forced upon the vital organism to expel an
intruder——the intruder being the stimulant itself. If this be the case, it
necessarily follows that stimulants deplete, and can never replenish the
vital exchequer. Instances have been noted of children who were observed
to be unusually active and jubilant immediately prior to an “attack” of
diphtheria. In such case——and a true history of every case might
establish this as the rule——the diphtheritic poison acts as a stimulant;
nature is trying to thrust it out, and all the life forces are abnormally
active. We can not know in how many instances she succeeds in these
efforts, nor yet how often her defeats are due to the administration of
poisons, and food that for want of digestion becomes a poison, altogether
so adding to the toxic condition that nature finally ends an evil she can
not cure. After a vigorous expulsive efforts, for example, the system,
temporarily quiescent, gathering fresh strength for a renewal of the
conflict to dislodge the enemy, or, possibly, having already accomplished
the main work, now rests in the stage preceding convalescence——is supposed
to require the aid of a stimulant, and food also must be given at frequent
intervals “to prevent the patient from sinking;” but alas, this proves the
weight about his neck that carries him to the bottom——“supported” to
death. In comparing the stimulation of the vital organism, in sickness, to
the spurring up of a tired or lazy animal to greater exertion, there is
always this grand difference: the former will every time, and always,
exert its entire force, that is, will exert it better, more savingly to
life, without, than with, stimulation. “Self-preservation is the first law
of nature;” and no other circumstance possible to imagine, better
illustrates this law, than the living organism in sickness.

Coffee makes the timid or diffident man brave——gives him confidence in
himself; but, by “reaction,” this fictitious bravery gives place to
nervousness. Many persons experience a certain undefinable dread of
approaching danger, a veritable “can’t-sleep-for-fear-of-burglars” sort
of wakefulness, which leaves them after a few weeks’ abstinence from
coffee-stimulation. Hot coffee or tea makes one warm——the very finger-tips
tingle with warm blood; but later, in default of another dram——perhaps in
spite of it——he feels chilly, even in a warm room; there is a
“can’t-get-warm-any-way” sort of feeling, to be accounted for, he fancies,
only upon the theory that he has “caught cold!” He is suffering from
coffee poisoning.

Although personally a dear lover of coffee, and, by reason of an
exceptionally robust habit of body, at present, able to indulge in its use
with less apparent harm than I find, upon long and careful inquiry and
observation, is the case with most people, yet, nevertheless, I stand
condemned by the eulogy of Abd-el-Kadir Anasari Dgezeri Hambali, son of
Mahomet: “O coffee! thou dispellest the cares of the great; thou bringest
back those who wander from the paths of knowledge. Coffee is the beverage
of the people of God, and the cordial of his servants who thirst for
wisdom. When coffee is infused into the bowl, it exhales the _odor of
musk_, and is of the _color of ink_. The truth is not known except to the
wise, who drink it from the foaming coffee-cup. God has deprived fools of
coffee, who, with invincible obstinacy, condemn it as injurious.”

According to Professor Prescott, “the administration of theine in small
portions, to animals or to man, quickens the circulation and effects some
degree of mental exhilaration and wakefulness. In final result, the
excretion of carbonic-acid gas is diminished, and the flow of blood
through the capillaries is retarded.” “Larger portions,” he continues,
“prove poisonous, causing painful restlessness, rigidity of the muscles,
and general exhaustion. Not more than three or four grains at once can be
properly taken for medicinal or experimental purposes.” As often prepared
for old coffee-tipplers, two cupfuls (about 16 oz.) of the infusion will
contain this quantity of the alkaloid. As usually taken, of course, the
proportion of the alkaloid is much less. In conclusion, I would repeat
that it may with propriety be claimed for coffee that its administration
as a medicine is as legitimate as that of any other, and no more so;
certainly its daily use as an article of diet is as inconsistent and
contrary to reason, as the similar use of any drug in the materia medica.

* * * * *

NOTE.——In the foregoing I have not considered the question of
the influence of tea and coffee upon the “temperance movement.”
One of the keenest observers of human nature, as well as one of
our soundest _thinkers_, Dr. Oswald, from whose Physical
Education I have freely drawn in the chapters on Consumption--
and his view in this matter is endorsed by many very able
physiologists and sociologists——says (p. 64): “The road to the
rum-cellar leads through the coffee-house. Abstinence from _all_
stimulants, only, is easier than temperance.” Everywhere do I
find temperance reformers essaying to lead rum-drinkers back _by
the road they came_, viz: back through the coffee-house——taking
a drink _en route_. I think that, in the long run, they will do
better to try to conduct them from the “gin-mill” squarely into
the street, and thence home. While not desiring to furnish
arguments for the opponents of temperance (I would that _all_
stimulants were done away with), I cannot forbear pointing out
what seems to me a glaring inconsistency among my co-laborers in
reform. Of course all must admit that, in many respects, there
can be no comparison drawn between liquor-drinking and tea and
coffee-drinking: Other things equal, the man who drinks “rum” to
excess, works vastly more misery in the world than the coffee
toper; though, individually, if the latter were to indulge as
copiously as does his spirit-drinking contemporary, he would
suffer as much, probably more, in his health——would die more
speedily. Of course we know that few coffee and tea-drinkers
indulge to this extreme; but when we consider the almost
universal use of these beverages——by women and growing children,
as well as by men, it is more than doubtful whether they do not,
_per se_, from a health point of view (considering, moreover,
the influence of disease upon morals) aggregate more harm than
their _more_ “ardent” rivals. Added to this, the fact that the
use of one stimulant often leads to the use of others and
stronger (as we have always argued that beer and wine lead on to
whisky and brandy), the friends of true reform may well ask
themselves whether, in their own indulgence in tea and coffee,
and in the effort to increase their use among the people, they
are not hitting wide of the mark? I am well aware that
wine-drinkers, and those who indulge moderately in stronger
drink, often pertinently reply to temperance workers, “When all
the temperance reformers leave off _their_ favorite stimulants
we will leave off ours.” Says Dr. Dudley A. Sargent, Professor
of Physical Culture at Harvard College, “I am convinced that
coffee works more injury to mankind than beer.”

CHAPTER XVIII.

APPETITE——CONTINENCE.

Appetite, in a general sense, means a natural degree of hunger (not
craving), sufficient to give relish for any kind of wholesome food. “We
often hear people say they have no taste for this or that article of plain
food, although many such have an insatiable appetite for all the dainties
of the table. Morbid appetites are thus engendered by continuous habits of
indulgence. Natural appetites are first enfeebled and then vitiated;
health of body is slowly and insidiously impaired, until, by and by,
innate nobility and hopeful youth and strength become effeminate,
fastidious, weak, irascible, and selfish; and though outwardly, perhaps,
refined and delicate, the person inwardly becomes inactive, apathetic, and
unhelpful to himself and to the world. The natural sun of heat and life
within the body and the soul, being overcast by the clouds and exhalations
of unhealthy organs, often leads the victim of self-indulgence to seek
externally for artificial stimulants to keep up an appearance of genial
warmth within——but this can only be apparently successful for a time; and
soon the penalty of the transgression of the laws of nature must be paid
in full, and with, a large additional amount of costs. It is of great
importance, therefore, to watch the appetites of body and of mind; to
study the laws of healthy equilibrium; and, above all, to learn to know
and understand the dangers of prolonged self-indulgence of the appetites
of pleasure in mere animal sensation and wild imagination. Appetite,
properly so called, apprises man of the natural wants of the organism, and
compliance with these internal promptings is rewarded by the double
pleasure of the sense of taste in eating, and the feeling of comfort
within, arising from the food supplied to the digestive system. But where
the mind is weak and the delights of bodily sensation strong, the
pleasures of taste or the charm of varied sensations in the palate dwell
on the imagination and excite it to renewed indulgence of physical
sensations, irrespective of the wants of the internal organism, and this
even notwithstanding its declining health and manifest debility.” The
morbid cravings of the sense of perverted taste, or any other sense, must
not be confounded, therefore, with the natural appetite excited by the
wants of the internal organism. “In the bear tribes there is a marked
preference for honey manifested, which reveals a sense of taste that works
on the imagination, and leads him to incur the risk of being stung to
death by an infuriated swarm of bees rather than forego the sensual
delights of plundering the hive and licking out the honeycomb when he is
master of the spoils. The swollen head and face and ears are nothing to
the charm of sensual indulgence.” When I observe the sufferers from
sick-headache or neuralgia (see Rheumatism), with swollen face and
bandaged head, I am forcibly reminded of the honey-loving bear.

No expert can observe the habits of the people and fail to account for all
the diseases that afflict the human family. Victims of disobedience to the
natural laws——they have done the things they ought not to have done, and
have left undone the things they ought to have done, and (consequently)
there is no health in them. Diseases——how slowly we accept their
teaching——how blind we are to their warning voice! The word itself is not
understood. The term disease is popularly applied only to the most serious
forms, such as have been named, when it is properly applicable to any
condition other than the normal condition of the body——perfect ease.
Acidity, heartburn, flatulence, slight pains in the head, uneasy
sensations of whatever sort——so little regarded until too late——are they
not dis-ease? They speak plainly of indigestion,——the causes of which are
recited elsewhere;——they are to the body what the degree-points are to the
thermometer, and require only to be conscientiously considered to ensure
freedom from disturbance.

Other appetites there are which become morbid and too often control the
individual, instead of being themselves under entire subjection to him.

The unnatural habits of our civilization have caused the race to depart
from the natural instinct of

CONTINENCE

which, to the minds of many, is as essential to the moral and physical
health of the race after, as to its “virtue” before, marriage; and which,
but for the inflammatory nature of the diet in general use, and the
disorders arising therefrom, might easily be practiced by all
conscientious and thoughtful people. A radical modification of the
prevailing dietetic practices would lessen, immeasurably, the constant
warfare between the moral desires and the animal propensities, to which
both the married and the single are subjected, and which results in
disaster in so many instances. “Marital excesses often produce in the
offspring sexual precocity and passions which, under the influence of an
unwholesome and stimulating dietary, are rendered ungovernable, and entail
a vast deal of shame and sorrow throughout the lives of those who are
‘more sinned against than sinning.’ Verily the sins of the parents shall
be visited upon the children even to the third and fourth generation of
them that hate Him and violate His law.”[92]

[Footnote 92: Chapter on “Health Hints” in “How To Feed The Baby.”]

“Ah! my friends,” said the Rev. F. W. Farrar, Canon of Westminster Abbey,
“how vast a part of human disease results, not only from the ignorance but
also from the folly and sin of man. Typhoid, leprosy, small-pox, and
jail-fever are not by any means the only diseases which might be almost,
if not quite, eliminated from among us. We talk with deep self-pity of the
ravages of gout and cancer and consumption and mental alienation. _Alas!
how many of these might in one or two generations cease to be, if we all
lived the wise and temperate and happy lives which Nature meant us to
lead!_ And the voice of Nature, rightly interpreted, is ever the voice of
God. Even the simplest of us are superfluous in our demands, and the vast
majority of men so live as, more or less, habitually to pamper the
appetite by wasteful extravagance and weaken the health by baneful
luxuries. By unwholesome narcotics, by burning and adulterated stimulants,
by many and highly-seasoned meats, by thus storing the blood with
unnatural elements which it can not assimilate, they clog and carnalize
the aspirations which they should cherish, and feed into uncontrollable
force the passions which they should control. Hence it is that millions of
lives are like sweet bells jangled out of tune; and millions of men in
these days, like the Israelites of old, are laid to rest in _Kibroth
Hattaavah_——the graves of lust!

“And the sad thing is that this heavy punishment ends not with the
individual. It is not only that the boy when he has marred his own
boyhood, hands on its moral results to the youth; and the youth when he
has marred them yet more irretrievably hands them on to the man that he
may finish the task of that perdition;——but alas! the man also hands them
on to his innocent children, and they are born with bodies tormented with
the disproportionate impulses, sickly with the morbid cravings, enfeebled
by the increasing degeneracy, tainted by the retributive disease of guilty
parents.”

We must remember, says Albert Leffingwell, quoting the above in “Laws of
Life,” that he who speaks thus is no obscure Boanerges, vaguely ranting
over abstract sin, but one of the few great preachers in the Church of
England, speaking in the most venerable religious edifice in Protestant
Christendom.

The most persistent and thorough cramming of our youth with high moral
precepts avails but little, after all,——we observe this constantly,——to
counteract the fierce impulses of an unbalanced physical state.

Says the Duke of Argyle: “The truth is, that we are born into a system of
things in which every act carries with it, by indissoluble ties, a long
train of consequences reaching to the most distant future, and which for
the whole course of time affect our own condition, the condition of other
men, and even the conditions of external nature. And yet we can not see
those consequences beyond the shortest way, and very often those which lie
nearest are in the highest degree deceptive as an index to ultimate
results. Neither pain nor pleasure can be accepted as a guide. With the
lower animals, indeed, these, for the most part tell the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth. Appetite is all that the creature has,
and in the gratification of it the highest law of the animal being is
fulfilled. In man, too, appetite has its own indispensable function to
discharge. But it is a lower function, and amounts to nothing more than
that of furnishing to Reason a few of the primary data on which it has to
work——a few, and a few only. Physical pain is indeed one of the
threatenings of natural authority; and physical pleasure is one of its
rewards. But neither the one nor the other forms more than a mere
fraction of that awful and imperial code under which we live. It is the
code of an everlasting kingdom, and of a jurisprudence which endures
throughout all ages.” ... “It is no mere failure to realize aspirations
which are vague and imaginary that constitutes this exceptional element
(the persistent tendency of his development to take a wrong direction) in
the history and in the actual conditions of mankind. That which
constitutes the terrible anomaly of his case admits of perfectly clear and
specific definition. Man has been and still is a constant prey to
appetites which are morbid——to opinions which are irrational, to
imaginings which are horrible, and to practices which are destructive. The
prevalence and the power of these in a great variety of forms and of
degrees is a fact with which we are familiar——so familiar, indeed, that we
fail to be duly impressed with the strangeness and the mystery which
really belong to it. All savage races are bowed and bent under the yoke of
their own perverted instincts——instincts which generally in their root and
origin have an obvious utility, but which in their actual development are
the source of miseries without number and without end. Some of the most
horrible perversions which are prevalent among savages, (and which to a
greater or less degree affect all civilized peoples), have no counterpart
among any other created beings, and when judged by the barest standard of
utility, place man immeasurably below the level of the beasts. We are
accustomed to say of many of the habits of savage life that they are
‘brutal.’ But this is entirely to misrepresent the place which they really
occupy in the system of Nature. None of the brutes have any such perverted
dispositions; none of them are ever subject to the destructive operation
of such habits as are common among men. And the contrast is all the more
remarkable when we consider that the very worst of these habits affect
conditions of life which the lower animals share with us, and in which any
departure from those natural laws which they universally obey, must
necessarily produce, and do actually produce, consequences so destructive
as to endanger the very existence of the race. Such are all those
conditions of life affecting the relation of the sexes which are common to
all creatures, and in which man alone exhibits the widest and most
hopeless divergence from the order of Nature.”

CHAPTER XIX.

CONCLUSION.

While the more important material agencies and conditions, closely related
to the processes of life, are air, food, clothing, etc.; and while the
reader’s attention has been, throughout, mainly directed to these; it
would, from the author’s point of view, constitute a serious defect of the
work, to omit the special consideration of the moral nature——its mighty
influence over the physical state. In no better way can I impress this
thought than by quoting the language of that veteran hygienist and
reformer, Dr. James C. Jackson:

“But while a human being has a physical organization, and has, therefore,
physical laws, he is dual, possessing also a spiritual nature; and to
treat him for any disease he may have as though it originated in his body
and did not relate itself at all to his soul or spirit, is to treat him,
in ninety-nine cases in a hundred, unphilosophically and therefore
unscientifically. Our observation and experience go to satisfy us that the
majority of sick persons become disturbed and disordered in spirit before
they show disorder or derangement of body.

“To illustrate: a man never comes to be a dyspeptic until he has a false
spiritual conception of the true relations which he should hold to the use
of food; he is conceptively sick before he is physically dyspeptic; he
turns things right around in his mind; he lives to eat instead of eating
to live; he is spiritually depraved before he becomes physically diseased.
Take the methods of life common to our people. It is largely through these
that they become sick. They eat badly, drink badly, dress unhealthfully,
work without reference to their power to recover from the fatigue which
work imposes, do not get sleep enough, are in a fret, or in a worry, or in
a strife, or are under strain in their work. They work selfishly or for
their own good only, and often as against the good of others; they seek to
thrive at others’ unthrift; they buy and sell with the view in their minds
of living gainfully at others’ loss; they have a false conception, a
perverse view, of the relationships which they should hold to others, and
under this spiritual perversity they put forth their energies. As they are
inwardly wrong they become outwardly disordered, and when this disorder
develops into actual sickness it has a spiritual or wrong moral basis.
Having violated the higher law of their natures, in selfishness of thought
and feeling, they are compelled to take the reflex effects in and upon
their bodies. Living without sympathy, they become sympathetically
diseased; the sympathetic forces in their nature, lacking proper
expression or use, become debilitated and deranged, as shown in the
abnormal condition of the sympathetic nervous structure.

“For instance: a man with his liver functionally deranged appears before a
physician: The pulse shows the circulation to be disturbed; the excretory
system has become largely inactive——the skin, bowels, kidneys, and lungs
each working inefficiently or compelled to overdo. The doctor concludes
that a good dose of calomel and jalap, which enter into the allopathic
practice; or some sitz-baths, skin-rubbing, packs, or injections, which
would be the hydropathic practice; or regulation of diet, connected with
some mild alterative, which belong to the eclectic practice; or some
little pills, which would be the homœopathic practice, are what the man
needs. He is a glutton, or a wine-bibber, or he drinks whiskey, or he
lives bodily not only, but morally and spiritually on the line of
self-indulgence. He lives as he pleases, and this not merely in his animal
life. He lives spiritually as he pleases; his spirit is selfish and
lawless. Order and righteousness are not in all his thoughts. His
conscience is asleep; his intelligence is not at all on the alert; he has
no inspirations, or aspirations; he simply has unhallowed desires, and his
life consists largely in efforts to gratify these, and there he
is——disturbed, disordered, deranged, diseased, sick.

“When one thus affected comes to us, what do we do with him? We bring him
to judgment; we summon him up into the presence of the truth. We say: You
are at fault for this sickness of yours; it is not necessary for you to be
sick; you may be a healthy person, you should be. You may be free from
aches and pains, you ought to be. There is no defectiveness in your
organization; it is made to run successfully; that it does not, is your
fault, not the fault of your circumstances. What you need is right
perception and a good conscience to back it; a willingness, not only, but
a thorough will to do right. In you is ample vital force to set your liver
right, make your bowels work, make your skin carry on its insensible
perspiration, your blood circulate healthfully, and have everything done
according to law. All that is necessary is that you put your spirit, your
responsible consciousness on the throne, and make your body its servant.
When you resolve to do this and begin to do it, you will begin to get
well. You do not need medicine; you need nothing done for you in order to
get well, except to do judiciously, and, in your conditions, discretely,
what if you had done all the while would have kept you well.

“The first thing to do is, not to consult doctors: not to hunt for some
wonderful curative; but to get right ideas of life, and then begin, though
in a feeble manner, to conform yourself to that way spiritually. _Love_
the thing you are going to do; get your whole nature into a glow toward
it. If it be to eat simple food, love to do it——not do it wishing you had
not to do it. Look at the thing kindly, joyfully, comfortingly. Put away
your evil habits, one after another, because they are evil, not simply
because they hurt you. Get up a rebellion in your spirit against wrong
ways of living. Resolve that you will not live wrongly; characterize that
way as it should be characterized, as an improper, unmanly, mean, or
unbefitting way for you. Say: I will not smoke; I will not drink; I will
not make my body an instrument of gluttony; and so go through your whole
round of habits, putting away all those that you can get along without.
Reduce your artificial wants to a minimum. Throw yourself over on the line
of order and law, and regularity and propriety. Then you will get well.”

APPENDIX TO SECOND EDITION.

1 [NOTE ON DEEP BREATHING.]

A GOOD HOBBY.——On pages 84, 111, and 137 I have barely touched upon this
subject. I wish now to call attention to it as a matter worthy of greater
consideration than might perhaps be gathered from what has been said.
Personally, I begun the practice, when I was about sixteen years old, of
taking long, deep breaths occasionally, at odd times during the day, from
reading a little slip explaining its usefulness in “strengthening” the
lungs, and increasing their capacity. At the age of eighteen, I remember,
upon being examined for a life insurance policy, the examining surgeon
expressed great surprise at the unusual “swell” or expansion of my
chest——about five inches increase when my lungs were fully inflated, over
chest-measure when I had forced out as much air as I could conveniently.
Upon explaining, that for a number of years I had made a practice of
throwing my shoulders back, taking very deep inspirations slowly, holding
my breath a moment, and then as slowly “breathing out”——doing this the
first thing every morning on rising, and in a sleeping-room which was
never close, again on going out, and occasionally during the day,——the
doctor said: “A good plan that accounts for it.” In all cases of weak
lungs, whether chronic or from “taking cold” (see pp. 40 to 45 for a
consideration of the colds delusion), when it is difficult to take a full
breath on account of “cramps,” catches, or pain in the lungs, this
practice will be found of great value, if persisted in. In many instances
it seems impossible to take a long breath——is, indeed, impossible; but a
little gain may be made every day, by crowding down “one notch,” so to
say, at each trial. Quite a large percentage of all persons will find on
trial that there is more or less of tenderness upon first making the
attempt, or at one time or another, whenever there is any degree of
irritation of the stomach. The patient, or experimenter, should inspire a
little, however little, beyond the point which seems all that he can do,
and persist in this treatment every day. There can be no doubt but we have
here a most important aid in the treatment of consumption, not only, but
of all ill-conditions of the physical man. But the deep, full breathing
that comes from having exercised vigorously is best of all (see page 84).

2 [NOTE ON BRIGHT’S DISEASE.]

HOW TO EAT MEAT.——In the chapter on this subject, I have taken the
position that Albuminuria results from: (1) excess in diet; (2) the use of
foods that can not, or are not properly masticated and insalivated, as
mush, or bread wet and washed down with any sort of artificial fluids,
gravy-drowned vegetables, etc.; (3) stimulating drinks, as beer, spirits,
tea, coffee, etc.; (4) excess of animal food. To this I must add meat
eaten in a manner totally different from that in vogue with all
carnivorous animals, viz.: hashed, or tender and well chewed, instead of
being, as it should be, swallowed in pieces of convenient size——a rational
modification in the premises, surely. Dogs, wolves, cats, and the like,
are gourmands, to be sure, but this is not the fundamental reason for
their manner of gulping their natural food whole. It has been shown by
experiments that dogs fed on hashed meat suffer from indigestion, a
portion of their food passing undigested, while if fed the same quantity
of meat in chunks, no part of it appears in the excreta, but all is
perfectly digested.

Grain-eating animals teach us how to eat grain; or at least, how to
masticate farinaceous food. We may well learn from the carnivore an
analogous lesson——not, however, necessarily dispensing with knife and
fork, napkin or finger-bowl, nor any other improvement over their
primitive fashions!

THE POINT IS THAT FLESH-FOOD,

unlike starchy foods, requires stomach digestion only (as against any
change in the mouth), and only when taken in the natural manner, that is,
substantially as meat-eating animals take it, is it retained in the
stomach for a sufficient length of time to be dissolved by the gastric
juice; but much of it passes on into the intestine prematurely
(explaining, in great measure, the many cases of inflammation of the
bowels, as well as the frequent lesser disturbances), and doubtless a
considerable proportion is absorbed in a more or less fermented state,
adding thereby impure elements to the blood, and predisposing the
individual to inflammatory disease. On the contrary, if meat is swallowed
in pieces of moderate size, each piece being acted upon at the surface
gradually dissolves from the outside, and so is perfectly changed by the
gastric juice before leaving the stomach. In personal experiments I find
much less inconvenience from eating flesh-food in this manner than results
when I treat it as we have always been taught to. It may be well to
caution against eating a large portion of meat in this manner at first; it
would give the stomach a new experience and likely enough create
disturbance. One-half the usual amount, taken naturally, would yield as
much nourishment as the full ration, perhaps; at any rate the change
should be made gradually (see pp. 50-158, for further consideration of the
animal food question). The following from the _Practitioner_, corresponds
(as far as M. Semmola carries the point) with my view of the matter
entirely, as regards the nature of the malady. Albuminuria, or excess of
albumen (that is, unappropriated albuminoids in the circulation, and which
are consequently excretory matters), must necessarily result from any or
all of the causes I have named——causes of indigestion. Says the
_Practitioner_:

“At a recent meeting of the Paris Academy of Medicine, M. Semmola, of
Naples (‘Progrès médical,’ June 9, 1883), brought forward a new theory
with regard to the causation of Bright’s disease. This malady he regards
as not essentially renal, but as consisting in a general morbid alteration
of nutrition, and observes that albumen in such cases is not passed by the
urine only, but by all the secretory organs. This alteration [or, rather,
I should say, the lack of alteration by digestion] deprives the albuminoid
materials of the blood of their power of being assimilated, and so causes
their excretion by the emunctories. The renal lesions he ascribes to
mechanical irritation of the tubules of the kidney by the constant passage
of albumen through them. Albuminuria is therefore a cause, not a result,
of renal disease.[93] M. Simmola founds these views on a series of
experiments on animals. He injected into the blood-vessels various
substances containing albumen, as white of egg, milk, and blood-serum,
with the result of inducing artificial Bright’s disease. White of egg was
most active in this way.”

[Footnote 93: And this only one of the hundred and one instances, in
medical practice, of “cart before the horse,” which may make the
difference of life or death with every patient under treatment!]

3 [NOTE TO PAGE 169.]

WATER AS MEDICINE AND FOOD.——There is no royal road to health once deeply
diseased. In certain cases, and for a limited period even in these, hot
water is invaluable. But if long continued——used as a constant beverage
instead of a temporary expedient to aid in removing the slime and “gurry”
from stomachs deeply coated[94]——the effect will be to keep this organ
weak, as a number of Turkish baths every day would enfeeble, in time, the
strongest man. One valid objection to tea, chocolate, and coffee is, that
they are usually taken hot (see “Coffee, etc.”).

[Footnote 94: Such patients require a more or less extended fast. This is
always safe, and in desperate cases the only means by which the necessary
absorbing and healing process can be assured (see pp. 62-71-73-169). The
stomach of a healthy creature is, when simply rinsed, absolutely clean and
free from offensive matters; but the constipated dyspeptic, or the
consumptive, and many acutely diseased persons, have stomachs which
resemble that of an old, stall-fed ox, which has to be scraped by the hour
before the meanest tripe-eater would buy it, or place it upon his table at
any price. Yet a great deal of this kind of tripe is eaten by stall-fed
people every day. The flesh of healthy cattle finds no place in our
markets nor on our tables. Beef creatures are fed for fatness and
tenderness, which is disease.]

_Warm_ water is about the most effectual remedy known to me for acute
dyspepsia. It should be drunk profusely, even to stomach distension, with
finger exploration, if necessary, to produce vomiting; then a few cupfuls
to retain, to wash away any residue of undigested food, dilute the blood,
etc. But cool, fresh water is the beverage _par excellence_ for all the
year round (see pp. 76-90-100).

4 [NOTE ON “NATURAL DIET.”]

With regard to the suggestion, on page 211, of using milk to wet
farinaceous foods, in place of depending solely upon the natural
mouth-juices, I wish to say that it was felt by me, at the time, to be
entirely unphysiological, and by no means the best way to manage. I now
wish to urge that in so far as any one chooses to test the advantages of
this regimen he will not depart from a truly natural way, so far as the
natural way is possible; but rather use the whole grain, or the whole meal
dry, and take the milk (if indulged in at all) by itself, and fruit
likewise——after the grain. Several remarkable cases have occurred since
this book was first issued, in which the curative powers of this diet have
been displayed in a most marked manner. I take occasion to mention one.
Mrs. L., of Lee, N. H., had been suffering for eight years, during which
she had been able to walk but little. She was growing worse, and finally
was pronounced by her physician incurably diseased with “ovarian tumor.”
After six months’ use of uncooked food——a breakfast of fruit only, with
dinner at night composed of unsifted wheat meal (from one-third to
one-half cupful, at first, the amount increased later with increased
exercise); dry, followed with a little fruit——she is up and about the
house, aiding in the housework, and the past week did the entire family
ironing. She has been for eight years a great sufferer, but all her pains
have been banished, and her strength and general health are steadily
improving under a continuance of the diet as above described, together
with light, loose clothing, much fresh air, air-baths, self hand-rubbing,
and gradually increasing exercise from very small beginnings.

5 [NOTE TO PAGE 232.]

THE LONG-SOUGHT PRINCIPLE.-It is confessedly a standing disgrace to our
profession that, after all the boasted “progress in medicine” during
these hundreds of years of research and experimentation, not one great
principle has been established by means of which the people can be, even
if disposed (and it can hardly be said that they are, generally), guided
toward perfect health. It is charged that vegetarianism, even, has failed
to speedily make sound, bright-eyed, clear-skinned, healthy and therefore
handsome men and women, out of life-long “sinners” against the laws of
life; and it must be admitted that not all its promises are verified in
practice, although it seldom fails to greatly improve all who adopt the
regimen (imperfect as it is——and it is very imperfect) as practiced at the
various hygienic Cures at home and abroad. The trouble is that
food-reformers have only undertaken to modify, with half-way measures——to
change a very bad diet for one far from good, one form of “mush” for
another less harmful, but by no means physiological. I would assert here
as the one all-sufficient principle, so far as physical health is
concerned, looking to the rearing of children, that if we were to take a
thousand new-born infants——good, bad, and indifferent, as to
inheritance——and give them pure cow’s milk, avoiding the cramming that is
universally practiced; say, give them two full meals, or three moderate
ones a day (the quantity altogether gauged by the individual’s digestive
capacity); and, as they should arrive at suitable age (_i. e._, as teeth
began to develop), feed them on strictly natural food——the natural
diet——fruits, and grains (in winter, soaked twelve hours in little
water[95]), the fruit in large proportion; give them a chance to develop
normally, such as other young animals have——_i.e._, give them freedom from
holding, tending, baby-carting, and the like, except in the smallest
measure; dress them lightly, keep them free from foul air, by sufficient
ventilation of all living rooms; give them the utmost freedom of the lawns
or the ground——outdoor exercise——give them this sort of treatment, and not
five per cent. would die under five years of age, nor, with fair regard
for the known laws of life, would many fail to reach old age in health.
The at present supposably-inevitable “diseases of infancy and childhood”
could not exist. The influence of the constant tending and holding to
which all infants are subjected is disastrous in a twofold degree: (1) for
many months they are prevented from taking much voluntary exercise, and
(2) this makes the involuntary cramming relatively more excessive; hence
they grow fat and disordered in every way, and predisposed to all manner
of sicknesses. Children scarcely ever have occasion to use their teeth.
The food in use requires no chewing. Little demand is made upon the
salivary glands (for food is hot, moist, and “goes down itself”); hence
these glands, which consequently fail to develop normally, become at some
time acutely diseased, or finally almost if not entirely useless. Hollow,
sunken cheeks result from this cause. It was never designed to remedy this
defect with fat. The parotid glands and the cheek muscles should be
developed and maintained by physiological eating. The teeth for want of
use fail, as the muscular system declines through indolence. Unnatural
food, fast eating, overeating, poor teeth, dentists, “mumps,” plethora,
and febrile diseases, or chronic dyspepsia, and all manner of
ailments——this is the present order of things (see advertisement of “How
to Feed the Baby”).

[Footnote 95: This treatment restores the flinty grain (wheat, rye,
barley, maize, sweet corn) to its natural plumpness and masticability.
There should be little or no liquid to turn off.]

6. TIRED FROM INACTION: TOO MUCH “REST.”

The person who works to-day and gets tired, perhaps almost exhausted,
feels sure from former experiences that he will rise next morning well
able to work again; and providing he does not overdraw the account
continually, the more he does the more he can do. It is upon this
principle that our athletes acquire and maintain condition.

But the consumptive, the delicate person, who, as is the case generally,
has grown weaker and weaker from doing less and less (and this is in
accordance with natural law), becomes at last “tired” in such a manner,
that without an entire change——a right about face——there is no such thing
as getting rested this side the grave. This exhaustion from indolence must
be changed for the tiredness resulting from physical exertion, or there is
no hope of “cure.” Friends must learn the error of their ways; they must
cease the eternal discouragement of the loved one; there must be no more
of the incessant, “Now, Jenny, sit right down——you will get too tired”;
“There, now, let me do that——you know how little it takes to tire you”;
“You are crazy to think of going outdoors such a day as this,” etc., etc.
(see page 85). However kindly meant all this is, it is, in practice,
“hitting a man when he is down”; while the usual encouragement to eat
(digestion or no digestion)——to eat (appetite or no appetite——the inaction
often forbidding all desire for food) is, to use a sporting phrase, a
companion “slugger” that finally knocks the weakling off the stage. This
is what produces the phlegm as fast as the poor victim can cough it up.
Because he has nothing to do——because he does nothing——but ponder over his
condition, eat, manufacture phlegm and “raise” it, he lowers himself more
and more, until he gets to the bottom. He has “raised” about everything;
only the frame, the skeleton, is left to bury (see pp. 72, 78, 92, 97,
104).

* * * * *

A FEW OF THE MANY NOTES FROM READERS OF THE FIRST
EDITION OF “NATURAL CURE.”

J. RUSS, Jr., Haverhill, Mass., says: “Dr. Page’s explanation of the
‘colds’ question is alone worth the price of a hundred copies of the
book——it is, in fact, invaluable, going to the very root of the cause of
sickness.”

Mrs. W. O. THOMPSON, 71 Irving Place, Brooklyn, N. Y., says: “I wish every
friend I have could read it, and, only that hygienists never harbor
ill-feeling, that my enemies might not chance to find it. I owe much to
the truths made clear in ‘Natural Cure’; more, indeed, than to all the
health literature I have ever read (and I had read much, because I had
much need); and it is certain that my sister-in-law owes her life and
present robust health to the professional attendance of its author.”

FROM A TEACHER.

Mrs. S. S. GAGE, teacher in the Adelphi Academy, Brooklyn, N. Y., says:
“My friend, Mrs. Thompson, recommended this book (‘Natural Cure’) to me.
Thanks to her and ‘the book,’ my old headaches trouble me no more; I am
cured of catarrh and partial deafness, and, in fact, am better in every
way. I never could accomplish so much and with so little fatigue; and I am
sure that all my intellectual work is of better quality than it ever was
before.”

FROM A HUSBAND.

D. THOMPSON, Lee, N. H., says: “Through following the advice in ‘Natural
Cure’ my headaches, which have tortured me at frequent intervals for forty
years, return no more. Formerly I could not work for three days at a time,
now I work right along. For this, as well as for the restoration of my
wife to health, after we had given her up as fatally sick, I have to thank
Dr. Page and ‘The Natural Cure.’”

FROM THE WIFE.

Mrs. S. E. D. THOMPSON, Lee, N. H., says: “I can not well express my
gratitude for the benefit I have received from this book and the author’s
personal counsel. Condemned to die, I am now well. It is truly wonderful
how the power of resting is increased under the influence of the regimen
prescribed. I have distributed many copies of this book, and have known of
_a life-long asthmatic cured, biliousness removed, perennial hay fever
banished_ for good, and other wonderful changes produced, by means of the
regimen formulated in ‘Natural Cure.’ A friend remarked: ‘It is full of
encouragement for those who wish to live in clean bodies.’ Another said:
‘It has proved to me that I have been committing slow suicide.’ Our
minister says: ‘I have modified my diet and feel like a new man.’”

To this Mrs. Thompson adds, for the author’s first book, “HOW TO FEED THE
BABY”: “I have known of a number of babes changed from colicky, fretful
children to happy well ones, making them a delight to their parents, by
following its advice.”

* * * * *

WILLIAM C. LANGLEY, Newport, R. I., says: “While all would be benefited
from reading it, I would especially commend it to those who, from
inherited feebleness, or who, like myself, had declined deeply, feel the
need of making the most of their limited powers. I may add, that this work
bears evidence that the author has had wide range and extensive reading,
together with a natural fitness for physiological and hygienic research,
keen perception of natural law and tact in its application.”

SOLOMON ALEXANDER, No. 252 East Fifty-second Street, New York, says: “I
have been greatly benefited by Dr. Page’s treatment for inflammatory
rheumatism and Bright’s disease, and am now steadily improving under his
direction.” July 27, 1883. (Now well, November, 1883.)

Mrs. Dr. DENSMORE, 130 West 44th Street, New York, says: “You can judge of
my opinion of ‘Natural Cure’ when I tell you that I am buying it of the
publishers by the dozen to distribute among my patients.”

THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY for September, 1883, says: “The author gives
several remarkable examples of wonderful cures which he knows of having
been effected by following the principles he lays down——principles which
may be followed with profit, and the following of which may relieve many
cases regarded as desperate; and he has given the public a most valuable
manual of hygiene.”

THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY for August, 1883, says: “An effort at impressing
common-sense views of preserving and restoring health.”

_Several hundreds_ of most flattering notices from secular and religious
journals, on file at the publishers’ office, indicate how this work is
being received by the public.

SPECIAL NOTE.

It is evident from the nature of the press notices of “The Natural Cure,”
that the prefatorial request has been very generally complied with, and
that not only have critics managed to obtain an understanding of the
author’s position as regards the only certain means for physical
improvement from low conditions, but they are disposed to sustain him in
that position. Here and there one, however, as was to be expected, from
ignorance of natural law, from personal preferences or notions, from faith
in the old way (which has so long been on trial and so signally failed),
has failed to comprehend the matter. Diving into the middle of the book,
selecting some chapter or paragraph which forbids a consumptive or any
frail patient, while _doing_ nothing, to eat like a woodchopper or a
railroad hand, and especially warns such from eating worse kinds of food
than the man of mighty strength who might, through the influence of active
outdoor pursuits, get rid of considerable coffee, pie, cakes, pickles,
etc., and (providing his diet included plenty of coarse food) even thrive
in spite of a good deal of such material (for we know that many indoor
loafers, even, are too tough to be speedily killed by such a
diet)——carping critics, we mean to say, selecting some special paragraph
have held the advice up as “too radical in theory.” But no person of sound
mind can read this book _through_ with even a fair degree of care, and not
learn that its chief aim is to teach people who are now starving, or who
are at best poorly nutrified, and, next to these, the well ones who mean
to keep on the safe side, the way to live in order to be well nourished
and free from the pains, aches, and sicknesses which cover the land with
wrecks of human beings——dying——who might better _live_ in clean, sound,
and easy bodies.

INDEX.

Advantages of Deep Breathing, 84, 111

Albuminuria (Bright’s Disease), 116

Animal Food, Injurious Effects of, 51, 60, 61

Animal Food Unnecessary, 50, 158
Stimulating, 160

Acute Stage in the Cure of Chronic Disease, 222

Appetite, Tempting the, Mischievous, 66, 157, 262, 267

Appetite and Insanity, 141, 144

Apoplexy, 149

Air-Baths, 166, 171, 172
and Dyspepsia, 168

Apples and Summer-Complaint, 193

Bad Blood, 180

Bacillus Theory, The, of Consumption, 80

Blood, Bad, 180

Bathing, 90, 98, 166, 171, 172

Bed, A word About the, 102

Bowels, Consumption of the, 81
Forced Movement of the, Unhygienic, 110

Baths, Sun, 175
Air, 166, 171, 172
Injurious Forms of, 172

Biliousness, 152
and “Rich” Food, 153

Bright’s Disease (Albuminuria), 116
Symptoms of, 125, 127, 130

Breathing, Deep, 84, 111, 137
Careless, 137
Open-mouth, 101
Difficult, how Relieved, 101

Beef-tea Fallacy, The, 60, 61, 254

Brain, Pumping away the Effete Matters from the, 137

Bran (Wheat Hulls) Under the Microscope, 187

Brain Workers and Stimulation, 252

Bears, Honey-loving, 263

Continence, Influence of Diet in the Matter of, 265

Continence for Consumption, Essentiality of, 105

Credulity and Ignorance, 22

Cold Air not necessarily Pure, 240

Colds, 35, 36, 37, 41, 45, 171, 218
Influence of Diet on, 40, 218
Natural Cure of, 41
the Name a Misnomer, 45
Franklin’s Idea of, 171
Absurdity of, 40, 41, 42

Clothing, Day, 120
Night, 103

Constipation, 65, 107, 248
at Child-birth, 107

Consumption, 28
Curability of, 29

Congestion of the Lungs, How Produced, 99

Congestion of the Lungs from Indigestion, 99

Cheerfulness, Importance of, 77, 98

Carpets and Health, 97

Consumption, Out-door Life Essential to the Cure of, 30, 48

Consumption, Dyspepsia the Parent of, 54

Consumption from Fatty Degeneration, 79

Constipation, when “Closed Bowels” are not, strictly speaking, 65, 107

Constipation from Deficient Diet, 112

Chilliness, How to Remove, 109

Controlling the Symptoms, Folly of the Theory of, 112

Cures, Some Natural, 75, 85, 114, 168, 175

Climate, A Cold, Influence on the Kidneys, 116, 117

Croup as a Symptom in Albuminuria, 128

Catarrh, 153
Specific Treatment for, Danger of, 130

Catarrh, Suppressed and Diabetes, 130

Caffeine allied to Quinine, 244

Coffee, 243
and Indigestion, 251
and Insomnia, 139
and Health, 255
a Diuretic, 251

Cleanliness and Insomnia, 138

Cooking Vegetables, some Hints about, 177

Cooking, Injurious Effects of, 207, 210

Cost of Living, 206

Cure, The Raw-Food, 217

Chronic Diseases usually the Result of Chronic Provocation, 147

Child-birth, Constipation at, Normal, 107

Cistern Water, Stagnant, How to Renovate, 212

Christmas Dinner, A “Natural”, 227

Change of Air at Home, 237

Cream, Unwholesomeness of, 231

Caffeine, Artificial, How Manufactured, 248

Coffee and Courage, 258
and Tea more Injurious than Beer, 261

Coffee and Alcohol, Physiological Effects of, Similar, 259

Conclusion, 270

Cramming the Sick, Mania for, 59, 66, 76, 146

Diet, The Natural, 207
Various Hints about, 88, 153
Abstemious, for Consumptives, 89, 90, 92

Diet, Prevailing, Unwholesome, 227
Excessive, Promotes Consumption, How, 81, 82, 83

Diet, Influence of, on Health, 48, 59, 66, 81, 88, 99, 112, 113, 122,
126

Diet, A Physiological, 197
and Virtue, 265

Diabetes from Suppressed Nasal Catarrh, 130

Diabetes, Treatment for, 130

Death, Sudden, Accounted for, 31, 32, 149

Death Penalty, The, Nature’s Commutation of, 147, 148

Disease, The Temper, 39
Hunger a, 39
Providence and, 8, 9, 17
Prevalence of, 9, 14
Exciting Causes of, 11, 12
Predisposing Causes of, 11, 12, 35, 40

Diseases Arising from Renal Disorder, 130

Dyspepsia, 168

Doctors, A Prescription for, 95

Dry Diet, Advantages of, 93

Degeneration, Fatty, 78, 79, 80, 148, 150

Digestive and Muscular Capacity Compared, 68, 230

Dysentery, A Hint Concerning, 113

Diathesis, The “Disease”, 132
Unimportance of the Question of, 132

Dyspepsia and Dreams, 133

Diphtheria a Phase of Albuminuria, 128
The Class of Persons most Subject to, 128

Diuretics, The Best of All, 124

Diuretic, Coffee a, 251

Diseases, The True Interpretation of, 133

Dyspeptics are Recruited, How, 157

Diarrhœa, Chronic, Cured with Watermelons, 192

Driven Cow’s Milk Unnatural, 212

Digestion, Primary, in the Mouth, 93

Eating Alone Sometimes Useful, 176

Eating at Bed-time for Sleeplessness, 144

Error, A Common, 113

Exercise, Passive, 113

Exercise, The True Problem About, 70

Exercise for Consumptives, 69

Exercise, 68, 89, 90, 109, 119

Expectorants, Natural, 89, 91, 105

Exercise, Lack of, How to Counteract, 195

Exercise After Eating, 201, 202

Fruit _vs._ Fish, Flesh, Fowl & Co. in Hot Weather, 191

Fruit in Winter, 211

Food Poisonous Unless Digested, 246

Food and Virtue, 53, 265

Fæces, Source of the, 111

Foul Air, Poor Economy to Save, 87

Food, The Natural, of Man, 48, 72, 207

Food, “Rich,” Injurious, 88, 153
Hot or Cold?, 99

Fasts, Professional, Value of, 74

Fasting, Notable Instances of, 72, 73, 140, 168

Fasting, Constipation Normal during, 107, 112

Fasting Cure, The, 42, 43, 145, 153, 168

Food as a Purgative, 113, 114, 194

Fatty Degeneration, 79, 80, 148, 150
Obesity not a Requisite of, 79

Fever, 153

Food, Raw, and Health, 17, 223, 224

Flies and Health, 97

Fruit, 94, 191, 194

Food, The Quantity of, Relation of Climate to, 117

Fruit _vs._ Physic, 194

Fossil Bodies, 24, 183, 246
Livers, 179

Fasting and Insanity, 140

Flesh-food Fallacy, The, 158
and Bread Compared, 159
Often Diseased, 160
Question, Moral Aspect of the, 163

Flesh-food and Heredity, 164
Unfairness of the Advocates of, 160

Franklin’s Idea of “Colds”, 171

Gastric Juice, Proportion of, Secreted, 93

Gout, 131, 209

Gouty Habit, The, a Symptom of Bright’s Disease, 131

Guiteau’s Appetite, 144

Grape-Cure, The, 214

Guano and Coffee, 248

Gnawing Stomach a Disease, 39

Hogs, Experiments on, 82

Hay-fever, 153, 209

Health Easily Secured, 18
Robust, how Promoted, 85, 96
A Duty, 19, 27, 35
Relation of, to Morals, 7, 54, 265, 270

Health the Safeguard against Contagion, 10, 11, 12

Heart Disease, 149

How to Keep Well, 96

Hints and Aphorisms, 154

House-cleaning in the “Living Temple”, 155

Hulls, Wheat, Under the Microscope, 187

Hunger Disease, The, 201

Hot Air may still be Pure, 240

Heart, Palpitation of the, from Coffee-drinking, 244

Hot Water as a Medicine, 98, 100

Herb Drinks and Female Weakness, 251

Insomnia and Air-bath, 138
a Symptom only, 134

Ignorance and Credulity, 22, 23

Insomnia and Coffee, 137

Insomnia, 133

Indigestion a Phase of Rheumatism, 145

Indigestion a Cause of Congestion of the Lungs, 99

Indigestion from Excess in Diet, 93

Intemperance, How Propagated, 55, 56, 261

Insanity and Fasting, 140

Insane? Who Are and Who are Not, 134

Insane, The, Usually Ravenous Eaters, 141

Infants are “Loved” to Death, How, 16

Japanese, Muscular, how fed, 161

Kidney Disease Unknown at the Arctics, 116, 117

Koch’s Theory of Consumption, 80

Kitchen-Curse, The, 233

Laziness a Disease, 34, 58

Liver Complaint, 168

Livers, “Fossil”, 179

Liver, Mercury “to Clear Out” the, 180

Lungs, Congestion of, from Indigestion, 99

Long Faces to the Rear, in Sickness, 103

Long Life, How Promoted, 85

Milk not a Natural Food for Adults, 153

Morality and Digestion, 157

Malaria, 236, 241, 247

Model Meal, A, 226

Meals, Number of, for Health, 48, 62, 72, 197

Mercury, to “Clear Out” the Liver, 180

Milk Fever from Excessive Diet, 150

Muscular Japanese, How the, are fed, 161

Milk and Biliousness, 152

Milk, 65, 152, 212

Mastication, Importance of Thorough, 92, 93

Moral Torpor a Disease, 34

Medicine, Hot Water as a, 98, 100
Why the Nostrum-makers Thrive, 25, 26

Natural Diet, The, 207

Nature Defeated by “Treatment”, 258

Nightmare from Using Tobacco, 251

Neuralgia, A Hint Concerning, 153

Nervous Prostration, A Hint Concerning, 253

Normal Constipation, 107

Night-air Superstition, The, 48

Nutrition the Grand Factor in Prevention or Cure, 58

Nausea and Hot Water, 100

Open Windows for Consumptives, 89
for Sewer Gas, 236

Obesity, Natural Cure of, 148

One-meal System, The, 62, 197

Organs, How all the Vital, become Degenerated, 181

Passions, Influence of Diet upon the, 265

Passive Exercise for Consumptives, 99
Constipation, 109, 113

Piles, How, are Produced, 111

Premature Deaths, 16, 230

Pneumonia, 102

Poison, “One’s Meat Another’s”, 43
How Food becomes, 61, 246
Providence and Disease, 8, 9, 17

Practice, the Reform, Obstacles to, 66, 95

Physiology a Part of Theology, 34

Physic, Good Health the Best, 108
Bad Effects of, 107
Fruit the Best, 194

Pain, the Office of, Friendly, 134

Pure Air, Popular Ignorance Concerning, 237

Pure Air, How to Ensure it, 239

Physical Independence, 255

Prejudice, Popular, against Reform, 234

Purgative, Tobacco as a, 250

Purgative, Food as a, 113, 114, 194

Quinine and Caffeine Closely Allied, 244

Roman Fever, The Cause of, 236

Race Horses are Injured, How, 198

Reform, A Rational, 234

Reformed Practice, Obstacles to the, 22, 66, 95

Rest after Meals, 200, 202

Regimen, The Traditional, 121

Rheumatism, 145
A Phase of Indigestion, 145
Chronic, Treatment for, 147

Rich Food a Cause of Biliousness, 153

Supportive Treatment, The, 258

Salisbury Theory, The, of Consumption, 81

Saline Starvation, 177

Scorbutic (Scurvy) Condition Predisposes to Zymotic Diseases, 10

Sedentary Life, Effects of a, 78, 84

Scrofula, Something About, 175, 194, 229, 231

Sickness, The Absurdity of, 9

Scrofulous Humors, How Manufactured, 231

Self-cure, Mrs. E.’s Story of her own, 85

Sewer-gas, 236

Straining at Stool Injurious, 110

Stimulation of the Kidneys Unnatural, 126

Skin, The Adaptability of the Skin to Sudden Changes of Temperature, 35

Sympathetic Nervous System, The, 31, 46

Starvation, Eating Sometimes Hastens, 72

Starvation, Saline, 177

Starvation Dyspeptic, 58, 66

Stomach, The, the most abused of all the Organs, 46

Sugar, Artificial, Injurious, 78

Stomach Baths, 100
Signs of Disordered, 57

Stomachs, Sensitive, and Wheat Hulls, 189

Sleeping Alone, 106

Sleep, Efforts to Induce, Self-defeating, 135, 136

Sun-Baths, 171

Sunday Headaches, Cause of the, 200

Symptoms, Controlling The (!), 112

Stimulation from Diphtheritic Poison, 258

Stimulation, The true Theory about, 257

Sleeplessness Cured by Late Eating, 144
an Analogue of Pain, 135

Sunstrokes, Cause of, 196

Sleep, Regular Hours for, Necessary, 135

Summer Tortures, How avoided, 195

Traditional Regimen, The, 121

Treatment, The “Supportive”, 258

Tobacco and Insomnia, 137
as a Purgative, 250

Treating in Eating, 156

Teeth, One Cause of Poor, 207, 249

Typhoid Subject, A, 15

Telegraph System, Wonders of the Human, 31, 46

Table, A Well-furnished, 79

Toothache, 153

Thirst, How to Prevent, 98, 100

Tongue, The Story Told by the, 63

Unnaturalness of the Prevailing Diet, 227, 265, 266

Variety in Food not desirable, 92, 213

Virtue, Influence of Diet on, 53, 265

Valance, Poor Thomas, 125

Vegetarian Diet and Quantity, 161

Vegetarians, Some Noted, 51, 161

Vegetarianism and Endurance, 162

Vegetable Food, 48, 51, 52, 72, 158, 161

Vegetables Spoiled by Cooking, How, 177

Vinegar Yeast in the Blood, a Cause of Consumption, 81, 82

Ventilation, 47, 48, 97, 236, 238, 239

Vickers, The Case of Mr., 75

Watermelons, A Stale Joke about, 191
for Bowel Troubles, 192

Water as a Medicine, 98, 100, 113, 190

Weakness from Hot Drinks, 251

White Flour, Concerning, 49

Worrying, Effects of, 85

Waves of Disease!, 9

Wheat-meal vs. “Entire Flour”, 184

JUST PUBLISHED.

THE MAN WONDERFUL

THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL.

AN ALLEGORY.

TEACHING THE PRINCIPLES OF PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE, AND THE EFFECTS
OF STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS.

FOR HOME READING.

=Also adapted as a Reader for High Schools, and as a Text-book
for Grammar, Intermediate, and District Schools.=

BY CHILION B. ALLEN, A.M., LL.B., M.D., AND MARY A. ALLEN, A.B., M.D.

=Fully Illustrated, Extra Cloth, 12mo, Price $1.50.=

* * * * *

A work almost as wonderful as the subject of which it treats. The motive
is to teach that the most beautiful, and, at the same time, the most
wonderful thing in nature is man; and no one can read these chapters
without feeling that the authors have accomplished their task.

The book is an allegory in which the body is the “=House Beautiful=,” and
its inhabitant the “=Man Wonderful=.” The building of the house is shown
from foundation to roof, and then we are taken through the different
rooms, and their wonders and beauties displayed to us, and all this time
we are being taught——almost without knowing it——Anatomy, Physiology, and
Hygiene, with practical applications and suggestions.

We are then introduced to the inhabitant of the house, “THE MAN
WONDERFUL,” and learn of his growth, development, and habits. We also
become acquainted with the guests whom he entertains, and find that some
of them are doubtful acquaintances, some bad, and some decidedly wicked,
while others are very good company. Under this form we learn of food,
drink, and the effects of narcotics and stimulants.

The Table of Contents by Chapters has these striking subjects:

The “Foundations,” which are the bones. The “Walls” are the muscles, while
the skin and hair are called the “Siding and Shingles.” The head is an
“Observatory” in which are found a pair of “Telescopes,” and radiating
from it are the nerves compared to a “Telegraph” and “Phonograph.” The
communications are kept up with the “Kitchen,” “Dining-Room,” “Butler’s
Pantry,” “Laundry,” and “Engine.” The house is heated by a “Furnace,”
which is also a “Sugar Manufactory.” Nor is the house without mystery, for
it contains a number of “Mysterious Chambers.” It is protected by a
wonderful “Burglar Alarm,” and watched over by various “Guardians.” A pair
of charming “Windows” adorn the “Façade,” and a “Whispering Gallery”
offers a delightful labyrinth for our wanderings.

In fact, the book is more wonderful than a fairy tale, more intensely
interesting than a romance, and more replete with valuable truths than any
book of the present day.

The authors——husband and wife——are both regular physicians, and besides
graduating in the best schools of America, spent three years under the
best instructors in Vienna, Paris, and London.

They have been teachers and know what will aid both teacher and scholar,
and have kept in mind the fact that many teachers will be called upon to
teach these subjects who will feel the need of aids, which they will find
in the questions, which are so arranged with exponents in the text that
the lessons are easily comprehended.

The book will be sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price, $1.50.
Agents wanted, to whom special terms will be given. Address

=FOWLER & WELLS CO., Publishers,
753 Broadway, New York.=

NOW READY. FIFTH EDITION, REVISED.

HOW TO FEED
THE BABY,

TO MAKE HER HEALTHY AND HAPPY. With Health
Hints. By C. E. PAGE, M.D. 12mo, paper. 50 cts.; ex. clo., 75 cts.

Dr. PAGE has devoted much attention to the subject, both in this country
and in Europe, noting the condition of children, and then making careful
inquiries as to the feeding, care, etc., and this work is a special record
of experience with his own child. We know this manual will be welcomed by
many mothers in all parts of the land, as one of the most vital questions
with parents is How to feed the baby, to promote its health, its growth,
and its happiness. In addition to answering the question what to feed the
baby, this volume tells _how_ to feed the baby, which is of equal
importance.

That the work may be considered worthy of a wide circulation may be seen
from the following, selected from many

=NOTICES OF THE PRESS.=

“The book should be read by every person who has the care of
children, especially of infants, and those who have the good
sense to adopt its suggestions will reap a rich reward, we
believe, in peace for themselves and comfort for the babies.”--
_Boston Journal of Commerce._

“We wish every mother and father too could read it, as we
believe it is founded on common-sense and the true theory of
infantile life.”——_Eve. Farmer_, Bridgeport, Conn.

“His treatise ought to be in the hands of young mothers
particularly, who might save themselves a deal of trouble by
studying it.”——_Brooklyn Eagle._

“Should interest mothers; for it is a really scientific and
sensible solution of the problem of health and happiness in the
nursery.”——_Buffalo Courier._

“‘How to Feed the Baby’ ought to do good if widely read; for
there can be no doubt that thousands of babies die from
ignorance on this very subject.”——_American Bookseller._

“It is as odd as its title, and is funny, interesting,
entertaining, and instructive.”——_Times_, Biddeford, Me.

“We know this manual will be welcomed by many mothers in all
parts of the land, as one of the most important questions with
parents is how to feed the baby, to promote its health, its
growth, and its happiness.”——_Christian Advocate_, Buffalo, N.
Y.

“Our author makes plain how infantile diseases may, in great
measure, be avoided, and infantile life made as free and joyous
as that of the most fortunate among the lower animals.”--
_Central Baptist._

“Dr. Page is a benefactor of this age, in having made it a
special study——the care and feeding of the infant.”——_People’s
Journal._

“If mothers would read this book, we think fewer infants would
‘make night hideous’ with their cries.”——_Homestead._

“‘How to Feed the Baby’ should be taken home by every father to
the mother of his children, if he values quiet nights, and is
not inclined to pay heavy doctors’ bills, or bring up sickly
children.”——_Food and Health._

“It is safe to say that in proportion as this book is circulated
and its teachings followed, will the rate of infant mortality
decrease.”——_Christian Standard._

Will be sent by mail, post-paid, to any address on receipt of price 50
cts.

Address

=FOWLER & WELLS CO., Publishers,=
753 Broadway, New York.

AN IMPORTANT WORK.

=HORSES:=

THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET.

A Manual of Horse Hygiene, invaluable for the Veteran or the
Novice, pointing out the Causes Of “Malaria,” “Glanders,” “Pink
Eye,” “Distemper,” etc., and How to Prevent and Counteract Them.
By C. E. PAGE, M.D., author of “How to Feed the Baby,” “Natural
Cure,” etc., with a Treatise and Notes on Shoeing by Sir George
Cox and Col. M. C. Weld. Illustrated with Pictures of many
Famous and Thoroughbred Horses. Nearly 200 pages. 12mo, paper,
50 cents; extra cloth, 75 cents.

The value of the most of horses to their owners is measured by the amount
and length of service that can be secured, and therefore all information
relative to his care is very important. This book gives in a condensed
form much that is valuable on the care of horses, that has not before been
published. The subject is considered from a new and original stand-point,
and stated in a plain, practical, common-sense manner, showing how by
proper care we may add many valuable years of life and usefulness to our
horses. Unlike many books issued on this subject, it does not advertise
any medicines.

PARTIAL LIST OF CONTENTS.

Foul Air and Disease in Stable and Home; Blanketing a Steaming
Horse; How to Transform a “Seedy” Horse; “Condition” in Horses;
Why they go Lame Suddenly; Flesh vs. Fat; A Soft Horse; Fatty
Degeneration; Hint to Would-be Race-Winners; Two-meal System;
Extra Feed; When Injurious; Dyspepsia or Indigestion, Symptoms
and Cause; Cause and Cure of “Pulling”; The Human Puller;
“Colds”: What this Disorder really Is, and How Caused;
Prevention of the “Distemper,” Its Cure; Cold Air not
Necessarily Pure; Hand-Rubbing _vs._ Drugs; Danger of
Medication; Concerning the Use of Blanket; Clipping; Eating and
Digesting——the Difference; Kind of Treatment; Over-driving;
Over-work: A Safe Remedy; Chest Founder; Chronic Disease, Cause;
Hints relating to Food and Drink; Sore Back; Scrofula; Glanders;
Kidney Complaints; Relation of “Condition” to Reserved Force or
Staying Power; Quantity of Food; The Best Feed, Corn on the Cob;
Flatulence; Cribbing; “Grassing Out”; About the Appetite;
Feeding of Road Horses; What a Father-in-Law Learned; How a
Truckman Avoided Lost Time, and Improved the Condition of his
Horse; Trying to “Make a Horse Laugh”; First-class Stables; The
Eternal “Mash”; Veterinary Practice; Founder “Counter
Irritation” with a Vengeance; Eating the Bedding; Rules that may
be Safely Tried; Check Rein; Blinders.

SHOEING.——Ignorance, not Cruelty, to Blame for the Horse’s
Premature Decay; Value of Horse Property; Normal Age of the
Horse; Chief Source of the Horse’s Suffering; One Cause and Cure
of Swelled Legs; Unnecessary Work; Value of Brakes; Effect of
Shoe Nails; “Inconceivable Cruelty,” as defined by Mr. Mayhew;
Running Barefoot over Rocky Hills; Direct and Indirect Benefit
of Reform; Everybody but the Blacksmith Benefited; Adequacy of
the Natural Foot for all Demands; Independence of the Unshod
Horse; French and English and Mexican Army Experiences; Col.
Weld’s Experience; The Experience of Others; Speeding without
Shoes; The Training and Character of Horses.

To a new edition just published has been added, as plates, a number of
portraits of famous and thoroughbred horses, including “Jay-Eye-See,”
“Parole,” “Alcantara,” “Miss Woodford,” “Estes,” etc.

It is safe to say that to every owner of a horse this book would prove
most valuable. AGENTS WANTED, to whom Special Terms will be given. The
price is only 50 cents in paper covers, or handsomely bound in extra
cloth, 75 cents. By mail, post-paid. Address

FOWLER & WELLS CO., Publishers, 753 Broadway, N. Y.

JUST PUBLISHED.

_The Diet Question_:

GIVING THE

=REASON WHY=.

FROM

HEALTH IN THE HOUSEHOLD, BY MRS. SUSANNA W. DODDS, M.D.
12mo, PAPER, 25 CENTS.

In this the “Reason Why” of Hygienic Cookery is given, with tables showing
the constituents of food products; the effects of different articles of
food on intellect, morals, and physical development; food combinations, or
what kinds may be used together to the best advantage; wheat and other
cereals, fruits, and vegetables, and how to use them; meat as an article
of diet; the use of milk, butter, eggs, etc.; is salt injurious? pepper
and other condiments; two meals or three; hints on cooking; dietetic
rules, etc.

All who are interested in the “Reason Why” for rules of diet, and all who
would eat for health and strength should read this valuable treatise. Sent
by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price. 25 cents.

* * * * *

Health in the Household,

HYGIENIC COOKERY.

BY SUSANNA W. DODDS, M.D.

This work is divided into three parts; the first part, giving the “=Reason
Why=,” is published separately as above.

PART SECOND contains the “=Hygienic Dietary=.” Here we have directions for
the preparation of food, recipes for cooking, etc., in what the author
considers a strictly healthful manner; including breads of all kinds, the
preservation of fruits, vegetables, etc.

PART THIRD is what the author calls “=The Compromise=,” containing
directions for preparing food, not strictly in accordance with the
Hygienic way, but in such a manner as to render it more plain and
healthful than it is ordinarily found; and it will prove helpful and
suggestive to many who find it difficult, on account of surrounding
circumstances, to adopt the more strict Hygienic cookery.

Complete in one large volume, 600 pages, extra cloth or oil-cloth binding,
price by mail, post-paid, $2.00. Agents wanted, to whom special terms will
be given. Address

FOWLER & WELLS CO., Publishers,
=753 Broadway, New York=.

A NEW BOOK.

HEALTH IN THE HOUSEHOLD;

OR,

HYGIENIC COOKERY

=By SUSANNA W. DODDS, M.D.=

One large 12mo vol., 600 pp., extra cloth or oil-cloth. Price, $2.00.

The author of this work is specially qualified for her task, as she is
both A physician and a practical housekeeper. It is unquestionably the
best work ever written on the healthful preparation of food, and should be
in the hands of every housekeeper who wishes to prepare food healthfully
and palatably. The best way and the reason why are given. It is complete
in every department. To show something of what is thought of this work, we
copy a few brief extracts from the many

=NOTICES OF THE PRESS.=

“This work contains a good deal of excellent advice about
wholesome food, and gives directions for preparing many dishes
in a way that will make luxuries for the palate out of many
simple productions of Nature which are now lost by a vicious
cookery.”——_Home Journal._

“Another book on cookery, and one that appears to be fully the
equal in all respects, and superior to many of its predecessors.
Simplicity is sought to be blended with science, economy with
all the enjoyments of the table, and health and happiness with
an ample household liberality. Every purse and every taste will
find in Mrs. Dodds’ book, material within its means of grasp for
efficient kitchen administration.”——_N. Y. Star._

“The book can not fail to be of great value in every household
to those who will intelligently appreciate the author’s
stand-point. And there are but few who will not concede that it
would be a public benefit if our people generally would become
better informed as to the better mode of living than the author
intends.”——_Scientific American._

“She evidently knows what she is writing about, and her book is
eminently practical upon every page. It is more than a book of
recipes for making soups, and pies, and cake; it is an educator
of how to make the home the abode of healthful people.”——_The
Daily Inter-Ocean_, Chicago, Ill.

“The book is a good one, and should be given a place in every
well-regulated cuisine.”——_Indianapolis Journal._

“As a comprehensive work on the subject of healthful cookery,
there is no other in print which is superior, and which brings
the subject so clearly and squarely to the understanding of an
average housekeeper.”——_Methodist Recorder._

“In this book Dr. Dodds deals with the whole subject
scientifically, and yet has made her instructions entirely
practical. The book will certainly prove useful, and if its
precepts could be universally followed, without doubt human life
would be considerably lengthened.”——_Springfield Union._

“Here is a cook-book prepared by an educated lady physician. It
seems to be a very sensible addition to the voluminous
literature on this subject, which ordinarily has little
reference to the hygienic character of the preparations which
are described.”——_Zion’s Herald._

“This one seems to us to be most sensible and practical, while
yet based upon scientific principles——in short, the best. If it
were in every household, there would be far less misery in the
world.”——_South and West._

“There is much good sense in the book, and there is plenty of
occasion for attacking the ordinary methods of cooking, as well
as the common style of diet.”——_Morning Star._

“She sets forth the why and wherefore of cookery, and devotes
the larger portion of the work to those articles essential to
good blood, strong bodies, and vigorous minds.”——_New Haven
Register._

The work will be sent to any address, by mail, post-paid, on receipt of
price, $2.00. AGENTS WANTED, to whom special terms will be given. Send for
terms. Address

FOWLER & WELLS CO., Publishers, 753 Broadway, New York.

WORKS PUBLISHED BY

FOWLER & WELLS CO., New York.

PHRENOLOGY AND PHYSIOGNOMY.

American Phrenological Journal and Science of Health.——Devoted to
Ethnology, Physiology, Phrenology, Physiognomy, Psychology, Sociology,
Biography, Education, Literature, etc., with Measures to Reform, Elevate,
and Improve Mankind Physically, Mentally, and Spiritually. Monthly, $2 a
year; 20 cents a number.

Bell (Sir Charles).——Expression: its Anatomy and Philosophy. With the
original Notes and Illustrations by the author, and additional Notes and
Illustrations by Samuel R. Wells. $1.25.

Boardman (Andrew, M.D.)——Defence of Phrenology; Containing an Essay on the
Nature and Value of Phrenological Evidence; A Vindication of Phrenology
against the Attack of its opponents. $1.25.

Bray (Charles).——The Education of the Feelings and Affections. Edited,
with Notes and Illustrations, by Nelson Sizer. Cloth, $1.50.

This work gives full and definite directions for the cultivation or
restraining of all the faculties relating to the feelings or affections.

Combe (George).——A System of Phrenology; With One Hundred Engravings.
Cloth, $1.50.

————Constitution of Man; Considered in Relation to external objects. The
only authorized American edition; with twenty engravings, and a portrait
of the author. $1.50.

The “Constitution of Man” is a work with which every teacher and every
pupil should be acquainted.

————Lectures on Phrenology; with Notes, an Essay on the Phrenological Mode
of Investigation, and an Historical Sketch, by A. Boardman, M.D. $1.50.

These are the lectures delivered by George Combe in America.

————Moral Philosophy; or, the Duties of Man considered in his Individual,
Domestic, and Social Capacities. $1.50.

Uniform Edition, 4 vols., extra cloth, $5.00. Library Edition, 4 vols.,
$10.

————On Education.——Papers on Educational Subjects. One vol. 8vo, Edinburgh
Edition. Cloth, $5.00.

This volume consists of valuable Essays written by Mr. Combe, and should
be found in the library of every teacher.

————The Life of. By Charles Gibbon. 2 volumes, 8vo, with two portraits.
London Edition. $5.00.

These two works are not published in this country, but we can furnish from
our stock, or import to order.

Capen (Nahum, LL.D.)——Reminiscences Of Dr. Spurzheim and George Combe, and
a Review of the Science of Phrenology from the period of its discovery by
Dr. Gall to the time of the visit of George Combe to the United States,
with a new portrait of Dr. Spurzheim. 12mo, extra cloth, $1.50.

Drayton (H. S., A.M.), and McNeil (JAMES, A.M.)——Brain and Mind; or,
Mental Science Considered in Accordance with the Principles of Phrenology
and in Relation to Modern Physiology. Ill. $1.50.

This is the latest and best work published. It constitutes a complete
text-book of Phrenology, is profusely illustrated, and well adapted to the
use of students.

Drayton (H. S., A.M.)——The Indications Of Character, as manifested in the
general shape of the head and the form of the face. Illustrated. 25 cents.

————How to Study Phrenology.——With Suggestions to Students, Lists of Best
Works, Constitutions for Societies, etc. 12mo, paper, 10 cents.

Fowler (O. S.)——Education and Self-Improvement Complete; Comprising
“Physiology, Animal and Mental,” “Self-Culture and Perfection of
Character,” “Memory and Intellectual Improvement.” One large vol.
Illustrated. $3.50.

————Self-Culture and Perfection of Character; Including the Management of
Children and Youth. $1.25.

One of the best of the author’s works.

————Physiology, Animal and Mental: Applied to the Preservation and
Restoration of Health of Body and Power of Mind. $1.25.

_Sent by Mail, post-paid._
Fowler & Wells Co., 753 Broadway, N. Y.

WORKS ON PHRENOLOGY.

Fowler (O. S.)——Memory and Intellectual Improvement, applied to
Self-Education and Juvenile Instruction. $1.25. The best work on the
subject.

————Maternity; or, the Bearing and Nursing of Children, including Female
Education and Beauty. $1.25.

————Matrimony; or, Phrenology and Physiology applied to the Selection of
Congenial Companions for Life, including Directions to the Married for
living together Affectionately and Happily. 50c.

————Love and Parentage. Applied to the Improvement of Offspring; including
Directions to Lovers and the Married, concerning the strongest ties and
the most sacred relations of life. 50 cents.

————Hereditary Descent; Its Laws and Facts applied to Human Improvement.
Illustrated. $1.25.

————Amativeness; or, Evils and Remedies of Excessive and Perverted
Sexuality; including Warning and Advice to the Married and Single. 25
cents.

————Phrenology Proved, Illustrated, and Applied. Embracing an Analysis of
the Primary Mental Powers in their Various Degrees of Development, and
location of the Phrenological Organs. The Mental Phenomena produced by
their combined action, and the location of the faculties amply
illustrated. By the Fowler Brothers. $1.50.

————Self-Instructor in Phrenology and Physiology. With over One Hundred
Engravings and a Chart for Phrenologists, for the Recording of
Phrenological Development. By the Fowler Brothers. Paper, 50 cts.; cloth,
75 cts.

————Synopsis of Phrenology, and Charts for Describing the Phrenological
Developments, for the use of Lecturers and Examiners. Paper, 10 cents.

Fowler (L.N.)——Marriage, its History and Ceremonies, with a Phrenological
and Physiological Exposition of the Functions and Qualifications for Happy
Marriages. Illustrated. $1.25.

Redfield’s Comparative Physiognomy; or, Resemblances Between Men and
Animals. Illustrated. $3.00.

Sizer (Nelson).——Choice of Pursuits: or, What to Do and Why. Describing
Seventy-five Trades and Professions, and the Temperaments and Talents
required for each. With Portraits and Biographies of many successful
Thinkers and Workers. $1.75.

————How to Teach According to Temperament and Mental Development; or,
Phrenology in the School-room and the Family. Illustrated. $1.50.

————Forty Years in Phrenology; embracing Recollections of History.
Anecdote and Experience. $1.50.

————Thoughts on Domestic Life; or, Marriage Vindicated and Free Love
Exposed. 25 cents.

————Catechism of Phrenology.——Illustrative of the Principles of the
Science by means of Questions and Answers. Revised and enlarged by Nelson
Sizer. 50c.

Spurzheim (J. G., M.D.) Education; its Elementary Principles Founded on
the Nature of Man. $1.50.

————Natural Laws of Man.——A Philosophical Catechism. Sixth Edition.
Enlarged and improved. 50 cents.

Weaver (Rev. G. S.)——Lectures on Mental Science. According to the
Philosophy of Phrenology. Delivered before the Anthropological Society.
Illustrated. $1.25.

Wells (Samuel R.)——New Physiognomy; or, Signs of Character, as manifested
through Temperament and External Forms, and especially in the “Human Face
Divine.” With more than One Thousand Illustrations. In one 12mo volume,
768 pages, muslin, $5.00; in heavy calf, marbled edges, $8.00; Turkey
morocco, full gilt, $10.

Phrenological Bust.——Showing the latest classification and exact location
of the Organs of the Brain. There are two sizes; the largest, not
mailable, price $1. The smaller, 50 cents.

The Science of Mind applied to Teaching. By M. J. Hoffman. A special work
for teachers. Price $1.50.

Heads and Faces, and How to Study Them. A Manual of Phrenology and
Physiognomy. By Nelson Sizer and H. S. Drayton. 200 octavo pages and 200
illustrations. Paper, 40 cents; cloth, $1.

_Sent by Mail, post-paid._
FOWLER & WELLS CO., 753 _Broadway, New York_.

PHRENOLOGY AND PHYSIOGNOMY.

Wells (S. R.)——How to Read Character.——A New Illustrated Hand-book of
Phrenology and Physiognomy, for Students and Examiners, with a Chart for
recording the sizes of the different Organs of the Brain in the
Delineation of Character; with upwards of 170 Engravings. Paper, $1.00;
Cloth, $1.25.

————Wedlock; or, The Right Relations of the Sexes. Disclosing the Laws of
Conjugal Selections, and showing Who May Marry. $1.50; gilt, $2.00.

————New Descriptive Chart, for the Use of Examiners in the Delineation of
Character. 25 cents; cloth, 50 cents.

Harmony of Phrenology and the Bible, including the Definitions. 10 cts.

How to Study Character; or the True Basis for the Science of Mind.
Including a Review of Bain’s Criticism of Phrenology. By Thos. A. Hyde.
Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.

The Phrenological Miscellany; of, Illustrated Annuals of Phrenology and
Physiognomy, from 1865 to 1873 combined in 1 volume, the nine containing
over 400 illustrations, many portraits and biographies of distinguished
personages. $1.50

Comparative Physiognomy; or, Resemblances Between Men and Animals. By J.
W. Redfield, M.D. Octavo volume, illustrated. Price, $2.50.

Phrenology and the Scriptures.——Showing the Harmony between Phrenology and
the Bible. 15 cents.

The Annuals of Phrenology and Health Almanac for 1874 to ’83. $1.

Phrenological Chart or Map. A Symbolical Head 12 inches across,
Lithographed in Colors, on paper 19 × 24 inches, mounted for hanging on
the wall, or suitable for framing. Price $1.00.

Phrenology, its History and Important Principles. By T. Turner. 10c.

WORKS ON MAGNETISM.

There is an increasing interest in the facts relating to Magnetism, etc.,
and we present below a list of Works on this subject.

Practical Instructions in Animal Magnetism. By J. P. F. Deleuze.
Translated by Thomas C. Hartshorn. New and Revised edition, with an
appendix of notes by the Translator, and Letters from Eminent Physicians,
and others. $2.00.

History of Salem Witchcraft.——A review of Charles W. Upham’s great Work
from the _Edinburgh Review_, with Notes by Samuel R. Wells, containing,
also, The Planchette Mystery, Spiritualism, by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe,
and Dr. Doddridge’s Dream. $1.

Fascination; or, the Philosophy of Charming. Illustrating the Principles
of Life in connection with Spirit and Matter. By J. B. Newman, M.D. $1.00.

Six Lectures on the Philosophy of Mesmerism, delivered in Marlboro’
Chapel, Boston. By Dr. John Bovee Dods. Paper, 50 cents.

The Philosophy of Electrical Psychology, in a course of Twelve Lectures.
By the same author. 12mo, cloth, $1.25.

The Library of Mesmerism and Psychology.——Comprising the Philosophy of
Mesmerism, Clairvoyance, Mental Electricity.——Fascination, or the Power of
Charming. Illustrating the Principles of Life in connection with Spirit
and Matter.——The Macrocosm, or the Universe Without: being an unfolding of
the plan of Creation, and the Correspondence of Truths.——The Philosophy of
Electrical Psychology; the Doctrine of Impressions; including the
connection between Mind and Matter; also, the Treatment of
Diseases.——Psychology; or, the Science of the Soul, considered
Physiologically and Philosophically; with an Appendix containing Notes of
Mesmeric and Psychical experience, and illustrations of the Brain and
Nervous System. 1 vol. $3.50.

How to Magnetize; or, Magnetism and Clairvoyance.——A Practical Treatise on
the Choice, Management and Capabilities of Subjects, with Instructions on
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Household Remedies.——For the Prevalent Disorders of the Human Organism. By
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Foreordained.——A Story of Heredity and Special Pre-natal Influences, by an
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Dodds (Susanna W., M.D.)——Health in the Household; or, Hygienic Cookery.
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Graham (Sylvester).——Science of Human Life, Lecturer on the. With a
copious Index and Biographical Sketch of the Author. Illustrated, $3.00.

————Chastity.——Lectures to Young Men. Intended also for the Serious
Consideration of Parents and Guardians. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents.

Gully (J. M., M.D.)——Water-Cure in Chronic Diseases. An Exposition of the
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Digestive Organs, Lungs, Nerves, Limbs, and Skin, and of their Treatment
by Water and other Hygienic means. $1.50.

For Girls; A Special Physiology, or Supplement to the Study of General
Physiology. By Mrs. E. R. Shepherd. $1.00.

Page (C. E., M.D.)——How to Feed the Baby to make her Healthy and Happy.
12mo. Third edition, revised and enlarged. Paper, 50 cents; extra cloth,
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This is the most important work ever published on the subject of infant
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————The Natural Cure of Consumption, Constipation, Bright’s Disease,
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Originate, and How to Prevent Them. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.

Horses: Their Feed and Their Feet.——A Manual of Horse Hygiene. Invaluable
to the veteran or the novice, pointing out the true sources of disease,
and how to prevent and counteract them. By C. E. Page, M.D. Paper 50 cts.,
cloth 75 cts.

The Diet Question.——Giving the Reason Why, from “Health in the Household,”
by Mrs. S. W. Dodds, M.D. 10c.

The Health Miscellany. An important Collection of Health Papers. Nearly
100 octavo pages. 25 cents.

Gully (J. M., M.D.) and Wilson (James, M.D.)——Practice of the Water-Cure,
with Authenticated Evidence of its Efficacy and Safety. Containing a
Detailed Account of the various Processes used in the Water Treatment, a
Sketch of the History and Progress of the Water-Cure. 50 cents.

Jacques (D. H., M.D.)——The Temperaments; or, Varieties of Physical
Constitution in Man, considered in their relation to Mental Character and
Practical Affairs of Life. With an Introduction by H. S. Drayton, A.M.,
Editor of the _Phrenological Journal_. 150 Portraits and other
Illustrations. $1.50.

————How to Grow Handsome, or Hints toward Physical Perfection, and the
Philosophy of Human Beauty, showing How to Acquire and Retain Bodily
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and Deformities of Age. New Edition. $1.00.

Johnson (Edward, M.D.)——Domestic Practice of Hydropathy, with Fifteen
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White (Wm., M.D.)——Medical Electricity.——A Manual for Students, showing
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the different Combinations of Electricity, Galvanism, Electro-Magnetism,
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The Man Wonderful in the House Beautiful. An Allegory. Teaching the
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Smoking and Drinking. By James Parton. 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.

The Diseases of Modern Life. By B. W. Richardson, M.D. Ex. clo., $1.50.

The Parents’ Guide; or, Human Development through Pre-Natal Influences and
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Pereira (J., M.D., F.R.S.)——Food and Diet. With observations on the
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Controlling Sex in Generation: A Treatise on the Laws Determining Sex, and
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Shew (Joel, M.D.)——The Family Physician.——A Ready Prescriber and Hygienic
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Tobacco: its Physical, Intellectual, and Moral Effects on the Human
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Sober and Temperate Life.——The Discourses and Letters of Louis Cornaro on
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Taylor (G. H., M.D.)——The Movement Cure. The History and Philosophy of
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The Science of a New Life. By John Cowan, M.D. Extra cloth, $3.00.

Mothers and Daughters.——A Manual of Hygiene for Women. By Mrs. E. G. Cook,
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Philosophy of the Water-Cure. By John Balbirnie. M.D. 50 cents.

Chronic Diseases.——Especially the Nervous Diseases of Women. 25 cents.

Consumption, its Prevention and Cure by the Movement Cure. 25 cents.

Notes on Beauty, Vigor, and Development; or, How to Acquire Plumpness of
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Tea and Coffee.——Their Physical, Intellectual, and Moral Effects on the
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Heredity.——Responsibility and Parentage. By Rev. S. H. Platt. 10 Cts.

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Uterine Diseases & Displacements. A Practical Treatise on the Various
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The Hygienic Hand-Book.——Intended as a Practical Guide for the Sick-Room.
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Illustrated Family Gymnasium.——Containing the most improved methods of
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The Hydropathic Cook-Book, with Recipes for Cooking on Hygienic
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Fruits and Farinacea, the Proper Food of Man.——Being an attempt to prove
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and Best Diet of Man is derived from the Vegetable Kingdom. By John Smith.
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Digestion and Dyspepsia.——A Complete Explanation of the Physiology of the
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The Mother’s Hygienic Hand-Book for the Normal Development and Training of
Women and Children, and the Treatment of their Diseases. $1.00.

Popular Physiology.——A Familiar Exposition of the Structures, Functions,
and Relations of the Human System and the Preservation of Health. $1.25.

The True Temperance Platform.——An Exposition of the Fallacy of Alcoholic
Medication, being the substance of addresses delivered in the Queen’s
Concert Rooms, London. Paper, 50 cents.

The Alcoholic Controversy.——A Review of the _Westminster Review_ on the
Physiological Errors of Teetotalism. 50 c.

The Human Voice.——Its Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Therapeutics, and
Training, with Rules of Order for Lyceums. 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.

The True Healing Art; or, Hygienic _vs._ Drug Medication. An Address
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Water-Cure for the Million.——The processes of Water-Cure Explained,
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Hygeian Home Cook-Book; or, Healthful and Palatable Food Without
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A New Theory of the Origin of Species. By Benj. G. Ferris. $1.50.

Man in Genesis and in Geology, or, the Biblical Account of Man’s Creation
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The Carriage Painter’s Illustrated Manual, containing a Treatise on the
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How to Keep a Store, embodying the Experience of Thirty Years in
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How to Raise Fruits.——A Hand-book. Being a Guide to the Cultivation and
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* * * * *

TRANSCRIBER’S AMENDMENTS

Transcriber’s Note: Blank pages have been deleted. Footnotes have been
coalesced and moved so as to follow the referencing paragraph. Except in
the index, page references have been updated to reflect the new positions
of the footnotes. Paragraph formatting has been made consistent. The
publisher’s inadvertent omissions of important punctuation have been
corrected.

The following list indicates any additional changes made. The page number
represents that of the original publication and applies in this etext
except for footnotes and illustrations since they may have been moved.

Key: {}[]:

Page Change

5 Brunton, T. Lauder, M.D., F.R.S. 59, {137}[138]
5 Bryant, William Cullen {109}[110]
5 Huxley, Prof. T. H. 23, {93}[97], {246}[247]
6 SCHMIDT-{MUHLHEIM}[MÜHLHEIM], PROF.
49 without “seasoning,” is doubtless {preferaable}[preferable]
119 “By cold the {repiratory}[respiratory] function is exalted
132 and, so, a {predispostion}[predisposition] to renal disease
167 the victims of “{aerophobia}[aërophobia].” Patients themselves
240 or the {exhaiations}[exhalations] from the lungs,
246 the first {conjestive}[congestive] effects have subsided
249 dental exercise is the best {dentrifice}[dentifrice]
255 by rendering the stomach {anaemic}[anæmic],
270 become disturbed and {disorded}[disordered] in spirit
273 {yon}[you] need nothing done for you in order

* * * * *

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