its work in mystery, to write prescriptions in a dead language, to keep
patients in ignorance of the remedies being applied. This seems to be
necessary, probably because an intelligent discussion of allopathic
drugs, their sources and their constituent elements would, no doubt,
prove fatal to their administration. The food scientist should follow
exactly the opposite course. He should make a very careful diagnosis,
taking into account the diet, habits of exercise and exposure to fresh
air prior to the appearance of the dis-ease, as well as at the time of
treatment. By giving the patient a thorough understanding of your work,
you gain his confidence and faith, which wield a very powerful influence
over the body.
EFFECT OF MENTAL CONDITIONS
[Sidenote: Worry or fear causes stomach trouble]
A very careful examination should also be made of the mental conditions.
Worry, fear, or anxiety often produce serious digestive trouble which
is generally attributed to other causes, and which should be treated
very differently from the same trouble caused by errors in eating.
During my professional work many patients have come to me laden with
fear, caused by the thoughtless or perhaps reckless statement of some
physician. It is indeed as great a crime for a doctor to pass the
"sentence of death" upon a man who comes to him for help as it would be
for the judge of a court to pronounce the death sentence upon a prisoner
without hearing the evidence, and some day when the power of the mind or
suggestion is understood, it will be so considered.
[Sidenote: What Christian Science has done]
It is impossible to fully estimate the effects of fear on the human
body. Each year, I become more and more impressed with the fact that
fear is one of the most potent factors in the cause of dis-ease.
Christian Science has relieved thousands of people through the simple
presentation of a philosophy that induces the individual to throw off
this burden of fear. It matters not whether this burden is cast upon the
Gentle Nazarene or John Doe, the fact that it has been disposed of often
leads to relief and recovery. Christian Science has done the world a
great service--it has put out the fires of an orthodox hell by pouring
into it orthodox medicine.
With a clear knowledge of the powerful psychological law, and the laws
of human nutrition, the student has at his command two of the greatest
forces in Nature for the relief of human suffering.
PUBLICITY
[Sidenote: Value of truthful advertising]
Judicious and truthful advertising is another important factor in the
success of the food scientist. Advertising has been considered unethical
by medical men for years. It has been discredited, not because it is
wrong, or because there is any harm in telling the public the truth
about one's business, but because so many spurious nostrums and patent
medicines were exploited by "quack" doctors, that the respectable
physician deemed it best to adopt the other extreme in his effort to
keep entirely out of this class.
Advertising, however, is rapidly acquiring a more honest and upright
character. The best magazines and some weekly newspapers will no longer
accept advertisements of a questionable character, especially regarding
medical remedies. Many of these excellent publications go so far as to
vouch for and guarantee the honesty of everything exploited in their
pages. Such methods are gradually purifying the advertising atmosphere.
[Sidenote: Advertising both virtuous and necessary]
There is no logical reason why anybody who has a virtuous and useful
article, or who has discovered anything in the realm of science that
would be a benefit to humanity, as well as a profit to himself, should
not make it known as widely as possible through the instrumentality of
advertising.
In preparing advertising literature, whether for magazines, booklets, or
letters, facts and truth concerning your work are all that is necessary.
No statement should be made that can in any way jeopardize your
reputation; nothing should be stated or claimed that cannot actually be
made good.
For many years it has been my policy to keep my advertising
conservatively below the full limit of facts; in other words, the whole
truth concerning that which can be accomplished by scientific feeding
sometimes seems so startling to the lay mind that the experienced
advertiser will not state it as it really is.
A patient of mine who had been in a wheel chair for twelve years, and
afflicted for twenty years with locomotor ataxia, was so much improved
within a year's time that he walked from Brooklyn to my office in New
York City to exhibit himself. He gave me a testimonial letter and the
privilege of using it in my advertisements. I wrote up the facts in
regard to his case and submitted them to my agent, who was an expert
advertiser, and he advised me not to state the facts as they were; the
public, he contended, would not accept them as true.
BE COURTEOUS AND TOLERANT
It is almost impossible to estimate the moral effect of a broad-minded,
tolerant and courteous attitude toward others engaged in the practise of
the healing art. Medical doctors seldom agree, especially those of
different schools. They accuse each other of ignorance and
incompetence, and the public is sometimes inclined to concede that they
are right.
In certainty and in truth one has confidence and strength which is
always conducive to tolerance. The food scientist, knowing the laws of
cause and effect in regard to nutrition, and knowing the proper use of
natural methods of diet and hygiene in the prevention and the cure of
specific dis-eases, needs neither to dispute with a fellow practitioner,
nor to argue with his patient. He can afford to state his position and
quietly allow Nature to prove his claims.
LESSON XIX
EVOLUTION OF MAN
The following lessons, while they do not treat
directly of either the chemistry of food or the chemistry of the body,
are so closely allied to these subjects that this work would not be
complete without them.
LESSON XIX
EVOLUTION OF MAN
WHAT IS EVOLUTION?
If a resident of a city, who is not familiar with modern farm machinery,
should see a grain-binder at work, he would be impressed with the skill
and the ingenuity of man. In all probability he would think that the
machine was the product of one inventive mind. In this, however, he
would be mistaken. The reaper in its modern form is the result of
gradual development or growth.
[Sidenote: An example of evolution]
The earliest method of gathering grain was pulling it up by the roots.
Later, as cutting tools were invented, a rough knife was used to sever
the stalks just above the ground. An improvement upon this method was
the cycle; then came the scythe, then the cradle; and next came the
mower which was operated by horse-power. From the mower was developed
the self rake, which bunched the grain so that the hand-binders could
work with greater facility. The next improvement was a self-binding
machine. In the present machine we have all of these and many other
improvements, which give greater speed with less waste of labor and
time.
This development of the grain-binder is a process of evolution. In order
to understand a machine so as to use it intelligently, or to make
improvements upon it, it is necessary not only to know the machine as it
actually is, but also to know the history of its development up to its
present form.
[Sidenote: To know man is to know evolution]
The story of the evolution of a machine is, at best, but a crude
illustration of the evolution of man. Nevertheless, the conclusion is
the same. If we are to understand man, we must study not only his
present physical and mental state, but also the history of his
development. Yet those whose work is concerned directly with
man--whether they be teachers, guiding the growth of the child;
statesmen, formulating the laws and regulations by which men are to be
controlled in their public actions; or physicians, who are supposed to
instruct and to guide men in the care of their physical well-being--are
often densely ignorant of the most rudimentary knowledge of the
evolution of man as it is now known and understood by the leading
scientists of the world.
Our entire system of education, our ideas of health and dis-ease, our
social customs, the principles of our form of government; our ideas of
right and wrong, of rewards and punishments, are all fundamentally
concerned with the evolution of man, and when this knowledge is studied
with as much application as are the ancient languages, we may expect to
see humanity progress at a rate hitherto unknown.
[Sidenote: Significance of the term "evolution"]
The evolution of man has been very much misunderstood. The term
"evolution" is a broad one. It may refer to the growth of the
individual, or to the race. It may mean the development of strictly
physical organs, or of mental habits, of social customs, or of material
products of man's genius, as the great works of civilization in the form
of recorded learning, and the wonderful products of man's building
ingenuity as seen in modern cities.
The subject of the evolution of the human race may be grouped into three
general kinds of development or growth:
1 The development of the physical man
2 The development of the mind
3 The development of custom and of external civilization
Evolution in these three directions has taken place simultaneously. The
mind and the body depend upon each other for their life and actions;
while customs are merely the product of many minds working together and
communicating their ideas to each other.
* * * * *
The human race is but the sum of the individuals composing it. We cannot
consider the development of the individual without considering him in
his relation to the race, neither can we understand the development of
the race without understanding the growth of the individual.
[Sidenote: Difference between inherited and acquired characteristics]
One distinction too often overlooked by those who are not familiar with
physiological science is the difference between actual physical
inheritance and external customs. I wish to dwell at length upon this
distinction, because a lack of understanding upon this point has been
the source of many errors of judgment on the part of those who have been
interested in the subject of physical training and food science.
At birth the individual inherits an organism with certain tendencies,
both physical and mental, but this inheritance should not be confused
with the physical habits which the child acquires by training from its
parents and its associates. Thus, the child may inherit a brilliant
mind, a weak stomach, or a sixth finger, but the child does not inherit
a liking for broiled lobster, or a fondness for golf, or for driving an
aeroplane. These are acquired and developed as habits, the same as the
child would learn English or French, or would cultivate a fancy for
parting his hair in the middle, or on the left side.
THE THREE GREAT PROOFS OF THE EVOLUTION OF ANIMAL LIFE
At the present time scientists are agreed upon the general theory of the
evolution of man. The discussions pro and con regarding this, which
exist today, are either discussions of minor points which have not yet
been clearly worked out, or are the discussions of people who have
grasped only a portion of the idea of evolution, and who are ignorant of
its broader conception and of the facts which science has brought to the
light of day.
The three great proofs of evolution are:
1 The actual history of the past recorded as fossils in the rocks
and in the relics of pre-historic races
2 The existence in the world today of a range of animals and plants
which shows living examples of earlier types
3 The repetition of the development of man as found in the growth of
the individual
These three separate records of the development of living beings are
considered by scientists as a most conclusive proof of the truth of
evolution. Recorded as fossils in the rocks, we find the story of the
development of all life upon the earth, from its simplest to its highest
forms of plants and animals that live today, among which is man.
[Sidenote: The earliest forms of animal life]
The first forms of animal life were, in all probability, minute
one-celled organisms; these left no visible fossil remains. As soon as
animals developed hard parts in their bodies, such as shells and bones,
we find a record of their existence as fossils. The earliest recorded
forms of life were various kinds of sea-creatures, of which the modern
crustacea (lobsters, etc.), snails, clams, and various shell-fishes are
types. Later were developed boneless fishes, on the order of skates.
After these came true fishes; then amphibia (frogs, etc.); then
reptiles, birds, and, last of all, mammals, including man.
The facts are the same, whether we take the history of the successive
forms as recorded as fossils in the rocks, or the living representatives
that remain to tell the story in another form.
[Sidenote: The single cell is the nucleus]
The third proof, which is the story of evolution recorded in the growth
and development of the individual, is yet more interesting. As life
developed from simpler forms, each individual animal or plant became
more complex, or carried a little further the process of growth. But the
method of reproduction of new individuals remained fundamentally the
same. Each individual began, like its ancestors, as a single-cell being.
By the process of nutrition these single cells in each case would grow,
divide, and produce various tissues and organs, but always repeating
the general story of the development of the race.
[Sidenote: Gills in the human embryo]
The growth of the human embryo offers many proofs of evolution, which
are wholly unexplainable upon any other theory of the origin of man, and
would in themselves prove the truth of this view of man's creation were
the proofs of geology entirely lacking. A single example will serve as
an illustration. The human embryo at a certain period develops gill
slits in the neck, the same as the embryo of a fish. This formation of
unused or rudimentary organs which are afterwards outgrown, is very
common throughout the animal world. In the upper jaw of a calf there are
formed at a certain period incisor teeth, which never grow through the
gums, but are reabsorbed and disappear as the calf develops.
I will not go further into the proofs and facts of the general theory of
the evolution of animal life, but will now consider the later period of
the development of man, which will show us his relation to other
animals, and from which we can derive much valuable information
regarding his natural physiological requirements.
MAN'S ANIMAL KINSHIP
The conception of man being descended from a monkey has been the subject
of much wit and mirth.
[Sidenote: Man's relation to anthropoid apes]
The scientist is not concerned with this theory; he only claims that man
is very closely related to certain monkey-like forms known as anthropoid
apes. The proofs of this assertion are abundant and conclusive. In fact,
anthropoid apes, such as gorillas, chimpanzees and orang-outangs, are
much more closely related to man than they are to other kinds of
monkeys. This relation is shown by very close resemblance between the
anatomy of man and apes, especially as to the teeth and digestive
organs. Other facts are now known, of which Darwin and early
investigators were ignorant, which prove this relation in a much more
striking manner.
[Sidenote: Comparison of blood from man and apes]
Late studies upon the growth of the embryo of anthropoid apes have shown
that they were at certain periods almost indistinguishable from human
embryos. Another proof, quite striking and interesting, is in the
similarity of the parasites and dis-eases of men and apes. Scientists
have, within the past few years, made a series of comparative
investigations upon the blood and serum of men and apes, which have
resulted in most remarkable discoveries. There are certain accurate
tests known to the physiological chemist by which human blood may be
distinguished from the blood of all other animals, but the blood of
these man-like apes is an exception to this, and cannot be distinguished
from human blood.
[Sidenote: Difference in the development of man and apes]
From these facts it is clear that the earlier types of men were
creatures whose physical development and whose habits were not very
different from those of apes. The development that has taken place since
that time is truly very wonderful and has resulted in a widening gap
between man and apes that today seems very great. The truth remains,
however, that this gap is not so much one of anatomy and physiology as
it is one of mentality and of external habits and material aids to
living that have resulted from man's greatly developed mental faculties.
[Sidenote: Power of speech a factor in man's evolution]
Thus, when the mind of man reached the stage of development in which the
use of articulate speech became possible, the evolution of intelligence
proceeded at a very much more rapid pace than had been possible before.
He could communicate his ideas to his fellow-creatures; concerted action
became possible, and the faculty of reason, or the ability to think was
multiplied by the number of beings who could communicate with each
other.
The power of reason and the ability to communicate ideas resulted in the
formation of those habits which distinguish man from other animals. When
one primitive man learned the use of a club as a weapon, found how to
use sharp-edged stones as cutting tools, or discovered the wonders and
power of fire, he communicated his new-found knowledge to the other
members of his tribe, with the result that new ideas became common
property.
[Sidenote: Man's bad habits have kept pace with his progress]
This spreading of habits or customs took place very rapidly among men
and was the source of the various changes which distinguished civilized
life from savage life. But we must here point out that not only good
habits were so spread, but bad ones as well. The origin and the use of
opium and of alcohol, the injuries of fashionable dress and the
economic wrongs of tyrannical government originated along with the birth
of language, art, science, and all that uplifts and benefits mankind.
Clearly, then, that man is misinformed who defends a wrong by referring
to its age and reasons that, if certain things were harmful, they would
not have survived. To the young thinker the existence of harmful ideas
and habits among mankind may at first seem inconsistent with the
principles of the survival of the fittest, but this difficulty will
disappear upon further investigation.
[Sidenote: Factors that determine the survival of races]
Since the beginning of recorded history many factors have helped to
determine what kind of individuals and races should survive. War,
economic wealth and poverty, intellectual beliefs, religions, and social
institutions have all been potent factors in determining who should
survive. With wealth and conquest came the opportunity to gratify
tastes and passions of which the poor individuals of weaker races could
not avail themselves.
[Sidenote: Many habits and customs detrimental to life and health]
Many of the habits and customs which man has developed are not necessary
to life, and may be positively detrimental to health and longevity. They
have been handed down from generation to generation, not because of
their benefit to man, but in spite of their detriment.
Such condition of affairs would not be possible if man were not the
dominant animal. Man's intellectual supremacy has given him power over
the rest of nature, which has resulted in making his struggle for
existence much less severe. His use of weapons and of artificial
protection from natural destructive forces, as severe heat or cold, has
made it possible for him to live and to produce offspring in spite of
wrong habits and wrong methods of living, and the natural resistance of
life.
[Sidenote: Man's organs have a limited power of adaptation]
A prevalent error that is due to an incomplete knowledge of the facts of
evolution is the belief that organs readily change or adapt themselves
to the habits or environment of the individual. This is not true to the
extent that it is ordinarily believed. Each individual has a certain
limited power of adaptation. He may develop his lungs to a greater
breathing capacity, or train his hand for certain skilled work, but
these particular acquired habits of the individual are not inherited.
Evolution of the race proceeds by the law of natural selection. Thus, if
those who are born with great vigor and strong lungs are enabled to live
where their weak-lunged neighbors will die, the result will be that
their offspring, having greater lung capacity, will form a race with
increased lung capacity. But the individual training of the lungs, or of
the hand, or of any other organ of the body, will not of itself change
the inherited tendency, or, to use a common term of the scientist, the
germ-plasm of the race.
Organs and functions will change or become evolved by natural
selections; that is, where it is a matter of life and death. But where
the selective agencies depend upon other things, an organ may be used or
abused for thousands of successive generations, and yet the natural
inherited organ of the new-born child will be identical in development
and function to that of the remote ancestor.
[Sidenote: Acquired characteristics are not inherited]
There are abundant proofs that so called "acquired characteristics" are
not inherited. Were acquired characteristics inherited, Chinese women
would be born with small feet and the babies of the Flathead Indians
would inherit the flat head which has for generations been produced by
binding a flat stone on the soft skull of the new-born infant.
In the light of this fact we may understand how it has been possible for
man to live through the varying dietetic habits and customs that the
constantly changing ideas and tastes of civilization have thrust upon
his physical organism. Each individual has transmitted to his offspring
the same type of digestive organs and functions that he himself
inherited from his remote anthropoid ancestors.
[Sidenote: Meaning of expression "natural" diet]
Thus, such terms as "back to nature," "natural diet," etc., only mean to
the food scientist the habits of life or the dietary which is most
suited to the unperverted physical organism of man. They do not imply
the meaning that is popularly given to the term, of casting aside all
the habits and customs of civilized man, but only the adapting of these
customs to the inherited physiological organism of man.
Indeed, science may actually improve upon primitive conditions, and
still not be inconsistent with the requirements of the inherited
physiological machine. No intelligent man will dispute the advantage of
a house in a snowstorm. Yet the house is artificial. It is not "natural"
in the sense that the term is commonly used.
Or, again, man has by the aid of civilization rendered it possible for
us to use foods far removed from their source of production, or, by
preservation, to have them at seasons of the year when nature does not
provide them. These artificial results of civilization are good. They
are a part of the story of evolution, the benefit of which no one can
question.
[Sidenote: Man's dietetic development]
But the great majority of the dietetic "frills" of modern man are
actually unsuited to his physiological make-up, and exceedingly harmful.
They have been developed as have habits of drink or personal adornment
and may be in direct antagonism to the ultimate well-being of the human
race.
I have briefly reviewed the history of the evolution of man. The facts
to be remembered are:
1 That men are descended from earlier and more primitive types of
beings and are governed by the same general laws of heredity and
nutrition as are other forms of animals
2 Man, being a distinct species of animal, has particular laws that
apply only to him, and therefore we should be careful not to judge
him too closely by facts regarding other forms of animal life