The True Scope of Medicine
Anyone able to read the signs of the times cannot help observing the
powerful influence which the Nature Cure philosophy is already
exerting upon the trend of modern medical science. In Germany the
younger generation of physicians has been forced by public demand to
adopt the natural methods of treatment and the German government has
introduced them in the medical departments of its army and navy.
In English-speaking countries, the foremost members of the medical
profession are beginning to talk straight Nature Cure doctrine, to
condemn the use of drugs and to endorse unqualifiedly the Nature
Cure methods of treatment. In proof of this I quote from an article
by Dr. William Osler in the ~Encyclopedia Americana,~ Vol. X, under
the title of "Medicine":
Dr. Osler on Medicine
"The new school does not feel itself under obligation to give any
medicines whatever, while a generation ago not only could few
physicians have held their practice unless they did, but few would
have thought it safe or scientific. Of course, there are still many
cases where the patient or the patient's friends must be humored by
administering medicine or alleged medicine where it is not really
needed, and indeed often where the buoyancy of mind which is the
real curative agent, can only be created by making him wait
hopefully for the expected action of medicine; and some physicians
still cannot unlearn their old training. But the change is great.
The modern treatment of disease relies very greatly on the old
so-called natural methods, diet and exercise, bathing and
massage--in other words, giving the natural forces the fullest scope
by easy and thorough nutrition, increased flow of blood and removal
of obstructions to the excretory systems or the circulation in the
tissues.
"One notable example is typhoid fever. At the outset of the
nineteenth century it was treated with 'remedies' of the extremest
violence--bleeding and blistering, vomiting and purging, and the
administration of antimony and mercury, and plenty of other heroic
remedies. Now the patient is bathed and nursed and carefully tended,
but rarely given medicine. This is the result partly of the
remarkable experiments of the Paris and Vienna schools in the action
of drugs, which have shaken the stoutest faiths; and partly of the
constant and reproachful object lesson of homeopathy. No regular
physician would ever admit that the homeopathic preparations,
'infinitesimals,' could do any good as direct curative agents; and
yet it was perfectly certain that homeopaths lost no more of their
patients than others. There was but one conclusion to draw--that
most drugs had no effect whatever on the diseases for which they
were administered."
Dr. Osler is probably the greatest medical authority on drugs now
living. He was formerly professor of materia medica at the Johns
Hopkins University of Baltimore, U. S., and now holds a
professorship at Oxford University, England. His books on medical
practice are in use in probably every university and medical school
in English-speaking countries. His views on drugs and their real
value as expressed in this article should be an eye-opener to those
good people who believe that we of the Nature Cure school are
altogether too radical, extreme, and somewhat cranky.
However, what Dr. Osler says regarding the "New School" is true only
of a few advanced members of the medical profession.
On the rank and file, the idea of drugless healing has about the
same effect as a red rag on a mad bull. There are still very few
physicians in general practice today who would not lose their bread
and butter if they attempted to practice drugless healing on their
patients. Both the profession and the public will need a good deal
more education along Nature Cure lines before they will see the
light.
In the second sentence of his article, Dr. Osler admits the efficacy
of mental therapeutics and therapeutic faith as a "curative agent,"
and ascribes the good effects of medicine to their stimulating
influence upon the patient's mind rather than to any beneficial
action of the drugs themselves.
With regard to the origin of the modern treatment of typhoid fever,
however, the learned doctor is either misinformed or he
misrepresents the facts. The credit for the introduction of
hydropathic treatment of typhoid fever does not belong to the
"remarkable experiments of the Paris and Vienna schools." These
schools and the entire medical profession fought this treatment with
might and main. For thirty years Priessnitz, Bilz, Ruhne, Father
Kneipp and many other pioneers of Nature Cure were persecuted and
prosecuted, dragged into the courts and tried on the charges of
malpractice and manslaughter for using their sane and natural
methods. Not until Dr. Braun of Berlin wrote an essay on the good
results obtained by the hydropathic treatment of typhoid fever and
it had in that way received orthodox baptism and sanction, was it
adopted by advanced physicians all over the world.
Through the Nature Cure treatment of typhoid fever, the mortality of
this disease has been reduced from over fifty percent under the old
drug treatment to less than five percent under the water treatment.
But the average medical practitioner has not yet learned from the
Nature Cure school, that the same simple fasting and cold water
which cure typhoid fever so effectively, will just as surely and
easily cure every other form of acute disease, as, for instance,
scarlet fever, diphtheria, smallpox, cerebrospinal meningitis,
appendicitis, etc. Therefore, we claim that there is no necessity
for the employment of poisonous drugs, serums and antitoxins for
this purpose.
Referring to the last two sentences of Dr. Osler's article,
homeopaths have, as a matter of fact, lost less patients than
allopaths. The effect of homeopathic medicine, moreover, is not
altogether negative, as Dr. Osler implies. The discovery of the
minute cell as the basis of the human organism on the one hand and
of the unlimited divisibility of matter on the other hand explains
the rationality of the infinitesimal dose. Health and disease are
resident in the cell; therefore, the homeopath doctors the cell, and
the size of the dose has to be apportioned to the size of the
patient.
When Dr. Osler says that most drugs have no effect whatsoever, he
makes a serious misstatement. While they may not contribute anything
to the cure of the disease for which they are given, they are often
very harmful in themselves.
Almost every virulent poison known to man is found in allopathic
prescriptions. It is now positively proved by the Diagnosis from the
Eye that these poisons have a tendency to accumulate in the system,
to concentrate in certain parts and organs for which they have a
special affinity and then to cause continual irritation and actual
destruction of tissues. By far the greater part of all chronic
diseases are created or complicated on the one hand by the
suppression of acute diseases by means of drug poisons, and on the
other hand through the destructive effects of the drugs themselves.
Dr. Schwenninger, the medical adviser of Prince Bismarck, and later
of Richard Wagner, the great composer, has published a book entitled
~The Doctor.~ This work is the most scathing arraignment and
condemnation of modern medical practice, especially of poisonous
drugs and of surgery. Dr. Treves, the body physician of the late
King Edward of England, is no less outspoken in his denunciation of
drugging than Drs. Osler and Schwenninger.
Just a few men like these, foremost in the medical profession, who
have achieved financial and scientific independence, can afford to
speak so frankly. The great majority of physicians, even though they
know better, continue in the old ruts so as to be considered ethical
and orthodox, and in order to hold their practice. It is not the
medical profession that has brought about this reform in the
treatment of typhoid fever and other diseases. They have been forced
into the adoption of the more advanced natural methods through the
pressure of the Nature Cure movement in Germany and elsewhere.
Dr. Osler's statements, made with due deliberation in a contribution
to the ~Encyclopedia Americana,~ are certainly a frank declaration
as to the uselessness of drug treatment, and on the other hand, an
unqualified endorsement of natural methods of healing.
But it seems to me that Dr. Osler pours out the baby with the bath
water, as we say in German. That is, I am inclined to think that his
opinion regarding the ineffectiveness of drugs is entirely too
radical. There is a legitimate scope for medicinal remedies insofar
as they build up the blood on a natural basis and serve as tissue
foods.
Many people who have lost their faith in "Old School" methods of
treatment have swung around to the other extreme of medical
nihilism. In fact, Dr. Osler himself stands accused of being a
medical nihilist.
Many of those who have adopted natural methods of living and of
treating diseases have acquired an actual horror of the word
medicine. However, this extreme attitude is not justified.
It also appears that some of the readers of my writings are under
the impression that we of the Nature Cure school absolutely condemn
the use of any and all medicines. This, however, is not so.
The Position of "Nature Cure" Regarding Medicinal Remedies
We do condemn the use of drugs insofar as they are poisonous and
destructive and insofar as they suppress acute diseases or healing
crises, which are Nature's cleansing and healing efforts; but on the
other hand we realize that there is a wide field for the helpful
application of medicinal remedies insofar as they act as foods to
the tissues of the body and as neutralizers and eliminators of waste
and morbid materials.
In every form of chronic disease there exists in the system, on the
one hand, an excess of certain morbid materials, and on the other
hand, a deficiency of certain mineral constituents, organic salts,
which are essential to the normal functions of the body.
Thus, in all anemic diseases the blood is lacking in iron, which
picks up the oxygen in the air cells of the lungs and carries it
into the tissues, and in sodium, which combines with the carbonic
acid (coalgas) that is constantly being liberated in the system and
conveys it to the organs of depuration, especially the lungs and the
skin. In point of fact, oxygen starvation is due in a much greater
degree to the deficiency of sodium and the consequential
accumulation of carbonic acid in the system (carbonic acid
asphyxiation) than to the lack of iron in the blood, as assumed by
the regular school of medicine.
Foods or medicinal remedies which will supply this deficiency of
iron and sodium in the organism will tend to overcome the anemic
conditions.
The great range of uric acid diseases, such as rheumatism, calculi,
arteriosclerosis, certain forms of diabetes and albuminuria, are
due, on the one hand, to the excessive use of acid-producing foods,
and on the other hand, to a deficiency in the blood of certain
alkaline mineral elements, especially sodium, magnesium and
potassium, whose office it is to neutralize and eliminate the acids
which are created and liberated in the processes of starchy and
protein digestion.
In another chapter I have explained the origin and progressive
development of uric-acid diseases. Our volume on Natural Dietetics
will contain additional proof that practically all diseases are
caused by, or complicated with, acid conditions in the system.
Any foods or medicines which will provide the system with sufficient
quantities of the acid-binding, alkaline mineral salts will prove to
be good medicine for all forms of acid diseases.
The mineral constituents necessary to the vital economy of the
organism should, however, be supplied in the organic form. This will
be explained more fully in subsequent pages.
From what I have said, it becomes apparent that it is impossible to
draw a sharp line of distinction between foods and medicines. All
foods which serve the above-named purposes are good medicines, and
all nonpoisonous herb extracts, homeopathic and vitochemical
remedies that have the same effect upon the system are, for the same
reason, good foods.
The medical treatment of the Nature Cure school consists largely in
the proper selection and combination of food materials. This must be
so. It stands to reason that Nature has provided within the ranges
of the natural foods all the elements which Man needs in the way of
food and medicine.
But it is quite possible that, through continued abuse, the
digestive apparatus has become so weak and so abnormal that it
cannot function properly, that it cannot absorb and assimilate from
natural foods a sufficient quantity of the elements which the
organism needs. In such cases it may be very helpful and indeed
imperative to take the organic mineral salts in the forms of fruit,
herb and vegetable juices, extracts or decoctions. Among the best of
these food remedies are extracts of leafy vegetables such as
lettuce, spinach, Scotch kale, cabbage, Swiss chard, etc. These
vegetables are richer than any other foods in the positive mineral
salts. The extract may be prepared from one or more of these
vegetables, according to the supply on hand or the tolerance of the
digestive organs and the taste and preference of the patient. They
should be ground to a pulp in a vegetable grinder, then pressed out
in a small fruit press, which can be secured in any department
store. One or two teacups per day will be sufficient to supply the
needs of the system for mineral salts. This extract should be
prepared fresh every day.
Then there are the Kneipp Herb Remedies. Most of these are the
Hausmittel [home remedies] of the country population of Germany
which have proved their efficacy since time immemorial. Their
medicinal value lies in the organic mineral salts which they contain
in large quantities and in beneficial combinations.
The homeopathic medications, as will be explained at length in
another chapter, produce their good results because they work in
harmony with the Laws of Nature.
We never hesitate, therefore, to prescribe for our patients
homeopathic medicines, herb decoctions and extracts, and the
vitochemical remedies which assist in the elimination of morbid
matter from the system and in building up blood and lymph on a
normal basis, that is, remedies which supply the organism with the
mineral elements in which it is deficient in the organic, easily
assimilable form. Herein lies the legitimate scope of medicinal
remedies.
All medicinal remedies which build up the system on a normal,
natural basis and increase its fighting power against disease
without in any way inflicting injury upon the organism are welcome
to the adherents of the Nature Cure methods of treatment.
On the other hand, we do not use any drugs or medicines which tend
to hinder, check or suppress Nature's cleansing and regenerating
processes. We never give anything in the least degree poisonous. We
avoid all anodynes, hypnotics, sedatives, antipyretics, laxatives,
cathartics, etc. Judicious fasting, cold-water applications and, if
necessary, warm-water injections in case of constipation will do
everything that is claimed for poisonous drugs.
Inorganic Minerals and Mineral Poisons
For many years past, physicians of the different schools of
medicine, diet experts and food chemists have been divided on the
question whether or not mineral substances which in the organic form
enter into the composition of the human body may safely be used in
foods and medicines in the inorganic form.
The medical profession holds almost unanimously that this is
permissible and good practice, so that nearly every allopathic
medical prescription contains some such inorganic substance, or
worse than that, one or more virulent mineral poisons, as mercury,
arsenic, phosphorus, etc.
So far, the discussion about the usefulness or harmfulness of
inorganic minerals as foods and medicines was largely theoretical
and controversial. Neither party had positive proofs for its
contentions.
But Nature's records in the iris of the eye settle the question for
good and for ever. One of the fundamental principles of the science
of Diagnosis from the Eye is that "nothing shows in the iris by
abnormal signs or discolorations except that which is abnormal in
the body or injurious to it." When substances which are uncongenial
or poisonous to the system accumulate in any part or organ of the
body in sufficient quantities, they will indicate their presence by
certain signs and abnormal colors in the corresponding areas of the
iris.
In this way Nature makes known by her records in the eye what
substances are injurious to the body, and which are harmless.
Certain mineral elements, such as iron, sodium, potassium, calcium,
magnesium, phosphorus, sulphur, etc., which are among the important
constituents of the human body, may be taken in the organic form in
fruits and vegetables, or in herb extracts and the vitochemical
remedies, in large amounts, in fact, far beyond the actual needs of
the body, but they will not show in the iris of the eye, because
they are easily eliminated from the system.
If, however, the same minerals be taken in the inorganic form in
considerable quantities, the iris will exhibit certain well-defined
signs and discolorations in the areas corresponding to those parts
of the body in which the mineral substances have accumulated.
Obviously, Nature does not intend that these mineral elements should
enter the organism in the inorganic form, and therefore the organs
of depuration are not able to neutralize and eliminate them.
Thus, for instance, any amount of iron may be taken in vegetable or
herb extracts, or in the vitochemical remedies, but this will not be
seen in the eye. Whatever is taken in excess of the needs of the
body will be promptly eliminated.
If, however, similar quantities of iron be taken for the same length
of time in the inorganic, mineral form, the iron will accumulate in
the tissues of stomach and bowels, and begin to show in the iris in
the form of a rust brown discoloration in the corresponding areas of
the digestive organs, directly around the pupil.
In similar manner sodium, which is one of the most important mineral
elements in the human body, if taken in the inorganic form, will
show in a heavy, white rim along the outer edge of the iris. Sulphur
will show in the form of yellowish discolorations in the area of
stomach and bowels. Iodine in the medicinal, inorganic form,
prepared from the ash of seaweeds, shows in the iris in well-defined
bright red spots. Phosphorus appears in whitish streaks and clouds
in the areas corresponding to the organs in which it has
accumulated.
An interesting exception to this rule is our common table salt
(sodium chloride), which is an inorganic mineral combination. So
far, diagnosticians from the eye have not discovered any sign in the
iris for it. There seems to be something in its nature that makes it
akin to organic substances or, like other inorganic minerals and
their combinations, it would show in the iris.
This might explain why salt is the only inorganic mineral substance
which is extensively used as food by humanity in general. Also
animals who, guided by their natural instincts, are the finest
discriminators in the selection of foods and medicines, do not
hesitate to take salt freely (salt licks) when they would not touch
any other inorganic mineral.
Nevertheless, we do not wish to encourage the excessive use of salt,
either in the cooking of food or at the table. Taken in considerable
quantities, it is undoubtedly injurious to the tissues of the body.
Before the days of canned goods, scurvy was a common disease among
mariners and other people who had to subsist for long periods of
time on salted meats and were deprived of fresh vegetables. The
disease manifested as a breaking down of the gums and other tissues
of the body, accompanied by bleeding and much soreness. As soon as
these people partook of fresh fruits and vegetables, the scurvy
disappeared.
The minerals contained in these organic salts foods furnished the
building-stones which imparted tensile strength to the tissues and
stopped the disintegration of the fleshy structures.
The Nature Cure regimen aims to provide sodium chloride as well as
the other mineral elements and salts required by the body in organic
form in foods and medicines.
When the use of inorganic minerals is discontinued and when the
proper methods of eliminative treatment, dietetic and otherwise, are
applied, these mineral substances are gradually dislodged and
carried out of the system. Simultaneously with their elimination
disappear their signs in the iris and the disease symptoms which
their presence had created in the organism.
In this connection it is a significant fact that those minerals
which are congenial to the system, that is, those which in their
organic form enter into the composition of the body, are much more
easily eliminated if they have been taken in the inorganic form,
than those substances which are naturally foreign and poisonous to
the human organism, such as mercury, arsenic, iodine, the bromides,
the different coal-tar preparations, etc.
This is proved by the fact that the signs of the minerals which are
normal constituents of the human body disappear from the iris of the
eye much more quickly than the signs of those minerals which are
foreign and naturally poisonous to the system.
The difficulty we experience in eliminating mineral poisons from the
body would seem to indicate that Nature never intended them to be
used as foods or medicines. The intestines, kidneys, skin, mucous
membranes and other organs of depuration are evidently not
constructed or prepared to cope with inorganic, poisonous substances
and to eliminate them completely. Accordingly, these poisons show
the tendency to accumulate in certain parts or organs of the body
for which they have a special affinity and then to act as irritants
and destructive corrodents.
The diseases which we find most difficult to cure, even by the most
radical application of natural methods, are cases of drug-poisoning.
Substances which are foreign to the human organism, and especially
the inorganic, mineral poisons, positively destroy tissues and
organs, and are much harder to eliminate from the system than the
encumbrances of morbid materials and waste matter produced in the
body by wrong habits of living only. The obvious reason for this is
that our organs of elimination are intended and constructed to
excrete only such waste products as are formed in the organism in
the processes of metabolism.
Tuberculosis or cancer may be caused in a scrofulous or psoriatic
constitution by overloading the system with meat, coffee, alcohol or
tobacco; but as soon as these bad habits are discontinued, and the
organs of elimination stimulated by natural methods, the
encumbrances will be eliminated, and the much-dreaded symptoms will
subside and disappear, often with surprising rapidity.
On the other hand, mercury, arsenic, quinine, strychnine, iodine,
etc., accumulate in the brain, the spinal cord, and the cells and
tissues of the vital organs, causing actual destruction and
disintegration. The tissues thus affected are not easily rebuilt,
and it is exceedingly difficult to stir up the destructive mineral
poisons and to eliminate them from the system.
Therefore it is an indisputable fact that many of the most stubborn,
so-called incurable diseases are drug diseases
The Importance of Natural Diet
While certain medicinal remedies in organic form may be very useful
in supplying quickly a deficiency of mineral elements in the system,
we should aim to keep our bodies in a normal, healthy condition by
proper food selection and combination. A brief description of the
scientific basis of "Natural Dietetics" will be found in the chapter
on Diet.
Undoubtedly, Nature has supplied all the elements which the human
organism needs in abundance and in the right proportions in the
natural foods, otherwise she would be a very ignorant organizer and
provider.
We should learn to select and combine food materials in such a
manner that they supply all the needs of the body in the best
possible way and thus insure perfect health and strength without the
use of medicines.
Why should we attempt to cure anemia with inorganic iron,
hyperacidity of the stomach with baking soda, swollen glands with
iodine, the itch with sulphur, ricket conditions in infants with
lime water, etc., when these mineral elements are contained in
abundance and in live, organic form in fruits and vegetables, herbs
and in the vitochemical remedies?
Unfortunately, however, a great many individuals, through wrong
habits of living and of treating their ailments, have ruined their
digestive organs to such an extent that they are incapable of
properly assimilating their food and require, at least temporarily,
stimulative treatment by natural methods and a supply of the
indispensable organic mineral salts through medicinal food
preparations.
In such cases the mineral elements must be provided in the most
easily assimilable form in vegetable extracts (which should be
prepared fresh every day), and in the vitochemical remedies.
What has been said is sufficient, I believe, to justify the attitude
of the Nature Cure school toward medicines in general. It explains
why we avoid the use of inorganic minerals and poisonous substances,
while on the other hand we find a wide and useful field for
medicinal remedies in the form of blood and tissue foods.