few patent medicines, previous to the popular exposé of the subject.
(I do not vouch for the accuracy of this table at the present time,
as the manufacturers under the pressure of public opinion may have
changed their formulas):
Peruna 28%
Hostetter's Bitters 44%
Lydia Pinkham's Compound 20%
Hood's Sarsaparilla 18%
Ayer's Sarsaparilla 26%
Paine's Celery Compound 21%
Within the past few years these facts have been made public,
resulting in a heavy decline in the sale of these concoctions. The
number of good temperance people who have been innocently under the
influence of alcohol for a goodly portion of their days can only be
vaguely estimated.
CHLOROFORM, ETHER, AND CHLORAL
[Sidenote: Uses of chloroform, ether and chloral]
These drugs are chemically related to alcohol, and are typical
anesthetics, which mean that they produce temporary relief from
pain when the vapors are inhaled. They are chiefly used in surgical
operations, which is justified providing the operation is justified.
One death in three thousand occurs from the administration of
chloroform, and one in thirteen thousand from the administration
of ether. These products have been used to some extent in patent
medicines, particularly in consumptive cures, where they have been
given with the idea of relieving the cough.
POISONOUS MINERAL SALTS AND ACIDS
The mineral acids and salts of certain metals, especially of
mercury, lead, and copper, are powerful poisons. Patent medicines
are frequently labeled "Pure vegetable compounds." This statement
may be true, but it is deceptive because they are equally as
poisonous as the coal-tar products which have become so popular.
They are life-destroying in their final effects upon the human body.
MERCURY
[Sidenote: Uses of mercury and mercurial salts]
The metal mercury or quicksilver is used very extensively as a
medicine, chiefly in compounds of mercurial salts. All salts of
mercury are extremely poisonous. Calomel (mercuric chlorid) is
a standard allopathic medicine. Mercuric bichlorid or corrosive
sublimate is more destructive to protoplasm, and is used as a
germicide or disinfectant. The poisonous action of mercurial salts
is probably due to the combination of mercury with the protoplasm
of the body-cells. When mercurial compounds are taken in poisonous
doses, the antidote is the white of egg with which the mercury
combines in the stomach, thus sparing the human protoplasm. The
mercurial salts, when given in small doses, produce very remarkable
physiological disturbances, sometimes even loosening of teeth.
Because of their violent physiological action, these drugs are
generally to be condemned.
POTASSIUM IODID
Potassium iodid has a very destructive effect upon the natural
functions of the body, and for this reason it has been associated
with mercury in the treatment of syphilis, the usual method being to
alternate between potassium iodid and mercurial salts.
LEAD AND COPPER
The salts of lead and copper, like those of mercury, are poisonous.
However, these salts are not extensively used in medicines. The
mineral acids, such as sulfuric, are recognized poisons, but their
destructive effects upon the living tissue are so apparent and so
painful that they have never gained favor with physicians.
PURGATIVES AND CATHARTICS
[Sidenote: Effects of salts]
The popular term "salts" includes sodium sulfate (Glauber's salt),
and magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts). These salts cause a large
amount of watery mucus to be excreted from the mucous membrane
of the intestines, the physiological purpose of which is to wash
the offending substances from the body, thus producing a laxative
effect. Were the large doses usually taken of these salts absorbed
into the blood, death would ensue within a few hours.
The number of products that are used for the purpose of relieving
constipation is almost unlimited. Many poisons which react directly
upon the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal have a laxative
effect.
[Sidenote: Why laxatives cause loss of vitality]
Laxative drugs do not act on the body--the body acts on the drug
because it abhors a poison, and, in throwing out the drug, the food
residues of the digestive tract are also thrown out, regardless of
whether digestion is complete or not. The rapid loss of vitality and
weight while taking physic is caused by this fact.
[Sidenote: Object of this lesson]
In this lesson I have examined only a few of the many thousand
drugs in general use. I have omitted many drugs and compounds
whose properties and uses would form interesting information, but
the purpose of this book is to impart a knowledge of foods, not a
knowledge of drugs. This lesson, however, is for the purpose of
giving the reader some authentic information about the standard
drugs and medicines, so that he may form his own conclusions
in regard to the efficacy of drugs in curing dis-ease. If the
reader will secure at a public library a copy of the "National
Standard Dispensatory," the book used by practising druggists,
and scan through its two thousand pages, he can form some idea of
the limitless number of things, and the complex, uncertain, and
unscientific methods used in the prescribing and in the dispensing
of drugs.
LESSON X
IMPORTANCE OF CORRECT DIAGNOSIS AND CORRECT TREATMENT
The word "diagnosis" is derived from two Greek words, "dia," meaning
_through_, and "gnosis," meaning _knowing_. It therefore means
literally "through knowledge," "to know thoroughly," or, as we
now say, "thorough knowledge." The old form of the word is still
retained in the very common expression "to know it through and
through."
[Sidenote: Diagnosis may be a source of danger]
The primary purpose of diagnosis is to locate a difficulty, to find
an internal disorder that is causing unpleasant symptoms. It will
readily be granted that this is only desirable when, after the
internal disorder has been located, we are able to do something
to correct it; that otherwise it is of no more importance than to
learn by post-mortem examination what caused death. Indeed, to know
what the trouble is without knowing how to deal with it, is a very
grave source of danger, and has caused many a death through resort
to wrong methods. In a large percentage of cases Nature will heal,
if her processes are not interfered with, and in all cases she is
the real physician; our only proper office is to supply the right
materials, and to leave her to use them as she will.
[Sidenote: True diagnosis, merely an interpretation of Nature's
language]
Correct diagnosis is important because it is the guide--the
beginning--the primary step in the treatment of dis-ease. Wrong
diagnosis is usually followed by wrong methods of treatment, while
correct diagnosis simplifies, and points the practitioner, with
certainty, to the interpretation of Nature's language (symptoms).
With an understanding of these, the remedy, in most cases, will
suggest itself.
[Sidenote: The human body and the linotype machine compared]
The linotype machine that set the matter you are now reading is
composed of several thousand parts. The keyboard is operated by the
compositor, in much the same manner as that of a typewriter, and
the delicate mechanism produces the metal lines of type ready to
be "made up" in "forms" for the press. Where several such machines
are in use, an expert machinist is usually employed to keep them
in order. He can take them apart, study the mechanism at leisure,
and reassemble them, yet it not infrequently happens that almost
insurmountable difficulties are encountered. What would be the
difficulties, then, if the machine were enclosed in a case that
could not be opened, with only the keyboard exposed? What mechanical
engineer in all the world could then make it work if something went
wrong? One who could tell from the faulty action just what the
matter was, and correct it from without, would be looked upon as a
wizard.
[Sidenote: Belief in the magical effect of drugs]
The human body is incomparably more complex and delicate than any
machine, yet it is a widespread superstition that one skilled in
the art of locating disorders (diagnosis) can, almost invariably,
correct them by the magical effect of drug applications. This is a
superstition with no more foundation in fact than the parallel one
that a man of vicious character can be made virtuous by a magical
process. He may turn from vice to virtue in a moment, but he can
become spiritually strong and wholesome only by growth, and by
conformity to the moral law. In like manner bodily health comes not
by magic, but by right living, by conformity to the laws of health.
[Sidenote: Involuntary functions are perfectly performed]
It is literally true that "the only perfectly performed functions
of the body are the involuntary or the automatic functions."
Those that are even partly under the control of the will, such as
breathing, are almost invariably ill done. The infinite wisdom is
strikingly exemplified in the fact that the vital functions are
quite independent of our volition except for "hindrances or ruinous
urgence." We may, and we do hinder them constantly, and we subject
them to "ruinous urgence" almost continuously. These two facts are
responsible for nearly all the bodily ills from which we suffer.
[Sidenote: Nature's marvelous methods beyond our comprehension]
The marvelous metabolism by which energy is translated into life,
by Nature's processes, is not only beyond our control, but beyond
our comprehension. We should make it an invariable rule, therefore,
never to interfere in any way, but to confine our efforts to
the task of supplying Nature with material with which to do her
wonderful work, and to an observance of the common laws of health
and life.
[Sidenote: The blood-corpuscles like little workmen]
The blood-corpuscles are like millions or tens of millions of
little workmen in the body, each with a particular work to do;
each on duty and quickly responsive to call every moment. When
we recognize the fact that the body is constantly being broken
down and rebuilt; that every atom of broken-down material must
be floated away in the blood, and new atoms built in to keep the
structure from deterioration; that all the broken-down material is
poisonous, and must be eliminated from the body without delay, we
realize that the internal activities are almost bewildering. When
we consider that all the blood in the body passes through the heart
every two or three minutes, carrying food to every cell, and at
the same time carrying away the poisonous products of physical and
mental activities, disposing of them by various processes; when we
remember that the supply to every cell is delicately adjusted to
constantly varying requirements; that all this goes on so quietly
and so smoothly that we are unconscious of it--when we remember
all this, we begin to have some appreciation of the Psalmist's
exclamation, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
How faithful these little workmen are! Not for an instant do they
leave their tasks. Verily, they are the sentinels forever at the
portals. In our work, in our pleasures, they are ever active; in
our sleep, they sleep not. Not for an instant do they cease watch.
Is there a wound--be it a great rent or a tiny pin-prick, they are
there in force to repair it, to wall up the breach and to make it
whole--swarming to the rent as the Lowlanders to a break in the
dike. Has a foreign substance penetrated the structure?--instantly
they set about to expel it; but if this be impossible, they seal it
in a capsule of impervious integument that it may do no harm, or,
the least possible injury.
[Sidenote: A seeming consciousness in the automatic action of the
blood]
If these little workmen are not conscious as we know consciousness,
at least their work shows purposeful action, and when we see an
obvious purpose definitely carried out by every available agency, we
may be sure there is a consciousness back of it, whether it be like
ours or not.
But while these workmen are faithful--while they will stand to their
tasks to the end, they are limited in their power, and will break
ranks under long-continued hindrances.
[Sidenote: The human body a power-plant]
The human body is a power-plant, a combined engine and boiler,
and there is a close analogy between this conscious, self-acting
power-plant and the one that furnishes the power to generate
electricity, or to turn the wheels of a factory.
[Sidenote: Symptoms compared with electric light]
When your electric lights grow dim, and the defect is not cured
by renewing the lamps, then you are convinced that the trouble is
elsewhere. If the lights in every part of the house are dim, you
will know (if you are a skilful electrician--a good diagnostician)
that the trouble is not in the electric nervous system of the house.
It may be between your house and the electric station, but before
taking the trouble to examine the line, ask those of your neighbors
who are on a different line, whether their lights are dim. If they
are, you may go to the electric station with reasonable certainty of
finding the cause.
[Sidenote: The stomach and the lungs of this leviathan]
Suppose we have come to the station and are commissioned to locate
the difficulty. We go into the engine room and find everything in
good order. The engine is a fine piece of mechanism; it has no
loose joints, no leaky valves, yet it seems to lack power; is
overloaded. Inquiry shows there are no more lights than formerly,
while the service was satisfactory. You go at once to the boiler
room. It may also be in good order so far as appearances go, but
you look at the steam gage and find the pressure is low. "Yes,"
says the fireman, "I simply can't keep the pressure up. I shovel in
coal and keep the drafts on so that I have a roaring fire, but, in
spite of all, my steam pressure runs down." Look into the furnace
(the stomach) of this leviathan! If the grate-bars are clean; if
there is no accumulation of ashes, cinders, or clinkers to interfere
with the combustion (digestion) of the black provender fed to it,
you may close the furnace door and open another. Look into the fire
tubes (the lungs) of the laboring monster that has shown signs of
weakness! If the fire tubes are clean, free from soot and dust, the
trouble is not there.
[Sidenote: "Scale," like an irritated mucous lining]
[Sidenote: "Scale," the cause of dim light]
We have now gone almost the full course; there is but one place left
to explore and that is closed. The trouble is inside the boiler. It
is lined with scale deposited from the water evaporated in producing
steam. This scale, which may be likened unto an irritated mucous
lining of the stomach, or the intestines, forms a coating upon the
lower inside of the boiler, and the upper side of the fire tubes,
just as it is deposited on the bottom of a teakettle, and it shuts
out the heat from the water. The heat being the source of energy,
and the steam only the means of applying it, the power-plant is
crippled. Seldom does it happen that so great a thickness of scale
is to be found in a boiler as may be seen in almost every household
teakettle, yet the effects (symptoms) are found in the dimmed lights
miles away, and if the difficulty is not dealt with, it will rapidly
increase until the service becomes intolerably inefficient.
[Sidenote: Difficulty in dealing with the "scale"]
Had we found the grate-bars choked with ashes, cinders, and
clinkers, and the fire tubes (lungs) smothered with soot and dust,
we should have instructed the fireman to keep them clean and free.
This is not a difficult thing to do, requiring only careful daily
attention, but the scale inside the boiler is not so easily dealt
with. It is completely enclosed, and there is no possibility of
getting at it except by extinguishing the fire and letting the
boiler cool--by making the boiler "dead," or "killing" it, as
firemen term it.
[Sidenote: Treating the "dim light" dis-ease]
Having diagnosed this case of the lighting system, starting with the
symptoms of a dim light in a residence some miles away, and having
located the difficulty inside of the boiler of the power-plant,
we desire to treat it. The boiler can be "killed," and the scales
removed by going into the boiler. It can then be revived by
refilling it with water and rekindling the fire.
Then, too, let us assume that there are two boilers, and that we can
keep the plant alive with one; a low ebb of life, to be sure, but
not dead. We will then cool one boiler at a time, go into it, and
remove the scale, thus restoring the plant to full efficiency.
This method can be used where the boiler may be cooled, but as this
cannot be done with the human power-plant, for the sake of our
analogy, let us suppose that the steam boiler, like the human body,
must always be kept under pressure that it cannot be "killed" and
revived. What, then, shall be done?
[Sidenote: Removing the cause of the scaly deposit]
It is evident that the first thing to do is to cease the use of
water containing the solution of mineral, which causes the scaly
deposit. This will prevent the condition from growing gradually
worse, and may be accomplished by distilling the water before
introducing it into the boiler, or, by using rain-water. As to the
scale already in the boiler, it must be dissolved, and gradually
eliminated, or remain there. There are many so-called "boiler
compounds" for the purpose, and every well-informed man in charge of
such a "plant" knows how important it is to avoid using a compound
that may cause damage to the boiler itself. A "compound" that would
attack the steel, as well as the scale, would be a desperate remedy
indeed.
[Sidenote: One degree of variation in temperature indicates dis-ease]
[Sidenote: The marvelous economy of Nature]
In the human body something happens very similar to the deposit
of scale in a steam boiler. But the human body is a furnace as
well as an engine. It is so intricate and so delicate that if the
temperature rises or falls one degree above or below normal, the
condition is one of dis-ease. As food is its fuel, how can we expect
the mechanism to remain in order if we utterly disregard the body's
requirements, not only as to the character of the fuel supplied,
but also as to the quantity, especially if we so choke it with
fuel that Nature is unable to burn it up in the vital processes,
and to dispose of the resulting ashes and cinders? Nature is
resourceful--full of expedients and makeshifts! If she were not, the
span of life would be much shorter than it is. As previously stated,
she will seal up a foreign substance that cannot be expelled, and
not only will she do this with solids that have penetrated the
flesh, but she will actually build "catch basins" in the body,
called cysts--bags, somewhat like a bladder, in which the excess or
refuse that cannot be eliminated may be impounded, and the ruin of
the body postponed for months or even for years.
[Sidenote: True diagnosis locates a disorder; also the causes]
The true office of diagnosis is not only to find the disorder, but
to discover also the conditions that lead to it, or have a bearing
upon it; hence that diagnosis is faulty which comes short of this,
for the reason that even if the disorder be located and overcome, it
will recur if its cause persists, just as the scale in the boiler
will form again if the causes that produced it are not removed.
As the blood is the life, as it brings to every cell life
(nourishment), and carries away death (poisonous by-products of
vital activities in the form of dead matter to be eliminated from
the body); as it does this by its marvelously rapid circulation
through every cell, it is obvious that every part of the body will
be in a state of health if the blood itself is pure, and its supply
and circulation such that every cell is abundantly fed. The supreme
law of health, therefore, may be expressed in two statements, one
positive and one negative:
1 Feed the body correctly
2 Do not interfere with the circulation of the blood
[Sidenote: Both the storing of fat and the disposing of waste are
expensive processes]
If the blood is not a perfect building material it is because we
have not put into the digestive mill the right materials; and if it
is not properly circulated, it is because the circulation is impeded
by positive constrictions, or, as is more frequently the case,
because the composition of the blood is not perfectly suited to the
demands of the vital activities. As a result, much of the material
must be rejected as unusable, thus involving a great deal of extra
work in disposing of it. If the excessive material is wholesome,
though not at present usable, it may be packed away for future
use as fat, this being the easiest, and perhaps the only possible
way of disposing of it in the rush. The builders are not only
overworked, but literally overwhelmed with excessive and unsuitable
materials--and why?--that we may indulge perverted appetites.
[Sidenote: Corpulency considered unhealthy]
Even the excessive material packed away in the wholesome form of fat
may, merely by its bulk, become an impediment to the circulation. It
not only reduces the efficiency of the bodily mechanism, but also
is so potent a factor in shortening life that a corpulent person
is likely to be rejected by an insurance company, even though his
present state of health may be good.
[Sidenote: Defective circulation reduces efficiency]
A condition often found illustrates most forcibly the manner in
which defective circulation reduces the efficiency of the human
power-plant, even as the scaly deposit impairs the efficiency of the
steam boiler. "That tired feeling" of which so many complain, is so
called because the person thus afflicted has a sense of painful
exhaustion upon slight exertion--is tired all the time. If our
diagnosis shows a state of chronic exhaustion, and we endeavor to
increase the body-efficiency by increasing the food, we shall make
the same mistake as the fireman who shovels more coal under a scaly
boiler.
[Sidenote: Exhaustion, the accumulation of body-poisons]
Painful exhaustion in a perfectly healthy body results from violent,
or too long-continued exercise of a muscle, and if there are no
intervals of rest, excruciating pain results. The cells are broken
down more rapidly than the resulting waste can be carried away
by the circulation, hence the body-poisons and pain. The pain is
a symptom, and where the condition of which it is the index is
temporary, rest soon restores the normal condition of ease.
[Sidenote: Rest is imperative]
There would be no sense of exhaustion if the building and the
eliminating processes could be carried on with sufficient rapidity
concurrently to make good all the expenditures of mental and bodily
activities. Not only should we not need rest, but we should not
even need sleep. The only occasion to stop, then, would be to take
in more fuel (food), and if this could be taken while the body
is in action, as fuel is fed to the steam boiler, there would
be no necessity to stop. But apparently both the upbuilding and
the elimination of waste normally lay behind the demands of even
ordinary activity, so that a given muscle must have very frequent
intervals of rest (every few seconds), and the organism, as a whole,
must reduce activity to the minimum by sleep about one-third of the
time.
[Sidenote: Nature's devices to provide rest]
As some of the muscles are used with practical continuity during
the waking life, Nature resorts to some very cunning devices to
provide the necessary rest. The tension upon the muscle of the eye
is relaxed for an instant in the unconscious act of winking, but
by reason of the persistence of visual sensation, this does not
interfere with vision. Thus Nature has always used the principle
involved in the moving picture. The heart must perform its work
every instant, from the time before we are born until the end, but
each muscle rests about one-third of every second--when it relaxes,
and the chamber of the heart expands with the inrush of blood.
[Sidenote: The body a pile of mysterious atomic masonry]