PART IX.

SOME HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS.

Disease is the result of the operation of natural law--don’t dread

it. Don’t treat symptoms; treat the fundamental cause. Pain is

Nature’s danger signal. Prevention is better than cure. The elements

of prevention. Importance of a knowledge of physiology. The body, the

vehicle of expression for the mind. The strenuous life. Tear worse

than wear. The importance of reserve energy. The effect of the mind

on the body. The human body as a bank. The importance of a daily

balance. Cultivate cheerfulness. The habit of happiness. The folly

of squandering health. Medicine and surgery compared. What children

should be taught. The final word.....214

MASSAGE, SHEET-PACKS, ETC.

Instructions for massage. How to use the stomach bath by three

different methods. How to improvise the Turkish Bath in your own home,

without apparatus. How to use the wet-sheet pack. How to care for the

“Cascade”.....209

THE ROYAL ROAD TO HEALTH.

PART I.

DRUGGING PROVED UNSCIENTIFIC.

It is one of the most profound mysteries of our civilization, and has

been one of the most perplexing and discouraging phenomena of human

existence, that, while the world at large has maintained an ever

increasing “medical profession,” whose members are popularly supposed to

be competent to deal with all the ills that flesh is heir to; still

there has always been a long list of what are termed “incurable

diseases.” But the immense strides made, in recent years, in every

branch of modern science, has led the thinking public to consider such a

condition of things as an outrageous libel on the God of Nature, and to

question whether there can be such a thing as an _incurable_ disease.

Health is such an inestimable blessing, that the individual who shall

devise means to preserve it, or to restore it, when lost, is deserving

of all the thanks and honors that a grateful community can bestow.

Unfortunately, there are very few who estimate life at its true value,

until they are confronted with the grim destroyer, Death. No one can

fully appreciate the priceless blessings of health, until they feel that

it has slipped from their grasp. The oft quoted phrase, “Health is

Wealth,” is truly a concrete expression of wisdom, for without the

former, the latter is well nigh an impossibility. But its interference

with the activities of life is one of the least evils of sickness, for

_perfect health_ is the very salt and spice of life; without it,

existence is “weary, stale, flat and unprofitable.”

But let none despair, for it is my purpose to show how those who enjoy

the blessing of robust health may preserve it indefinitely, and how

those who have lost it may regain it--with access of vigor, and once

more feel that life is _indeed_ worth living. In presenting a new system

of medication, it is necessary to attack the existing systems, and

hence, I am placed in a delicate position, for of all the problems ever

presented for the ingenuity of man to solve, undoubtedly the most

difficult is, how to present new facts so as not to offend old errors;

for individuals are very prone to regard arguments levelled against

their opinions as direct attacks upon their personality; and not a few

of them mistake their own deeply-rooted prejudices for established

certainties.

I shall endeavor to show that the practice of administering drugs to

cure disease is a fallacy, and in so doing, I am bound to incur the

condemnation of my brother practitioners, who prescribe drugs, and the

druggists who vend them.

It may safely be asserted that the drug system of treating disease

would be destroyed if it were to be critically examined; in fact, to

defend it is provocative of unmistakable damage to it. If it is once

subjected to the analysis of calm reason its defects become palpable to

the meanest understanding.

There are three principal schools of medicine, each with a distinctive

title, but they are all one in essential principles. They may differ in

unimportant details, but in the main premises they are a unit. They all

believe in the principle of “curing one disease by producing another.”

In other words, their practice is, to induce a drug disease to cure a

primary one, for this is exactly what is done when drugs are

administered, in pathological conditions as we shall prove later on by

testimony from authorities on medical practice.

The materia medica of the schools, to-day, includes upwards of two

thousand substances--the number increasing daily--and when viewed

dispassionately it presents what? A list of drugs, chemicals,

dye-stuffs, all subversive of organic structures. They are all

antagonistic to living matter: all produce disease when brought in

contact in any manner with the living domain--as a matter of fact, all

are poisons. Now, what logical standing can a system have, that employs,

as remedies for diseases, those things that produce disease in healthy

persons? No advocate of the drug system has ever advanced a reason that

would bear one moment’s scientific examination, why poisonous substances

should be administered to the sick, and no one will ever be able to give

a satisfactory explanation of the theory that underlies the practice,

for none exists. When once the public fully grasps the true import of

this glaring anomaly, the days of the drug system will be numbered.

Physicians of ability and long experience, who have devoted their lives

to the relief of suffering humanity, both in this and other countries,

have declared after close observation, that they were fully and

thoroughly convinced that medicines do not cure patients, that they do

not assist Nature’s process of cure, so much as they retard it, and,

that they are more hurtful than remedial in all diseases. A still larger

number have reached the same conclusion with regard to certain

complaints, such as _scarlet fever_, _croup_, _pneumonia_, _cholera_,

_rheumatism_, _diphtheria_, _measles_, _small-pox_, _dysentery_, and

_typhoid-fever_, and that in every case where they have abandoned all

medicine, abjured all drugs and potions, their success has been

marvellously increased.

Professor B. F. Parker, of the New York Medical College, once said to a

medical class: “I have recently given no medicine in the treatment of

measles and scarlet fever, and I have had excellent success.”

Dr. Snow, Health Officer of Providence, R. I., reported for the

information of his professional brethren, through the Boston _Medical

and Surgical Journal_ that he had treated all the cases of small-pox,

which had prevailed endemically in that city, _without a particle of

medicine_, and that all of the cases--some of which were very grave

ones--recovered.

Dr. John Bell, Professor of Materia Medica in one of the Philadelphia

Colleges, and also in the Medical College of Baltimore, testified in a

work which he published (“Bell on Baths”), that he and others had

treated many cases of scarlet fever with bathing, and without medicines

of any kind, and without losing a patient.

Dr. Ames, of Montgomery, Alabama, some years since published in the New

Orleans _Medical and Surgical Journal_, his experience and observation

in the treatment of pneumonia. He had been led to notice for many years,

that patients who were treated with the ordinary remedies--bleeding,

mercury, and antimony--presented certain complications which always

aggravated the malady, and rendered the convalescence more lingering and

recovery less complete. Such patients were always liable to _collapses

and re-lapses_; to “run into typhoid”; to sink suddenly, and die very

unexpectedly.

He noticed particularly that patients who took calomel and antimony were

found, on _post-mortem_ examinations, to have serious and even fatal

inflammation of the stomach and small intestines, attended with great

prostration, delirium, and other symptoms of drug poisoning. These

“complications” were nothing more or less than drug diseases. And Dr.

Ames found, on changing his plan of treatment to milder and simpler

remedies, that he lost no patients.

The late Professor Wm. Tully, M.D., of Yale College, and of the Vermont

Academy of Medicine at Castleton, Vt., informed his medical class, that

on one occasion the typhoid pneumonia was so fatal in some places in the

valley of the Connecticut River, that the people became suspicious that

the physicians were doing more harm than good; and in their desperation

they actually combined against the doctors and refused to employ them at

all; “after which,” said Professor Tully, “no deaths occurred.” And I

might add, as an historical incident of some pertinency in this place,

that regular physicians were once banished from Rome, so fatal did their

practice seem, so far as the people could judge of it.

The great Magendie, of France, who long stood at the very head of

Physiology and Pathology in the French Academy--which, by the way, has

claimed to be, and perhaps is, the most learned body of men in the

world--performed this experiment. He divided the patients of one of the

large Paris hospitals into three classes. To one he prescribed the

common remedies of the books. To the second he administered only the

common simples of domestic practice. And to the third class he gave no

medicine at all. The result was, those who took less medicine did better

than those who took more, and those who took no medicine did the best of

all.

Magendie also divided his _typhoid fever_ patients into two classes, to

one of whom he prescribed the ordinary remedies, and to the other no

medicines at all, relying wholly on such nursing and such attention to

Hygiene as the vital instincts demanded and common sense suggested. Of

the patients who were treated the usual way, he lost the usual

proportion, about one-fourth. And of those who took no medicine, he lost

none. And what opinion has Magendie left on record of the popular

healing art? He said to his medical class, “Gentlemen, medicine is a

great humbug.”

In the face of such damaging testimony from prominent representatives

of the medical profession, it becomes exceedingly difficult to place any

reliance on the drug remedies prescribed by them.

The melancholy truth is, that drug medication has become an integral

part of our domestic economy. At no time in history has the consumption

of drugs even approximated the present rate. Enormous sums of money are

invested in manufacturing and distributing them, and the physicians of

the various schools, being educated to prescribe them, a mutual bond of

interest has grown up between doctor and druggist, which is not at all

surprising. The medical profession, as a whole is, and ever has been

eminently conservative, and this fact, in connection with its

traditional predilection for drugs causes its members to resolutely set

their faces against any remedial process that runs counter to the

theories they imbibed at college. They look askance at all such things

and regard them as dangerous experiments, and assert that their dignity

will not permit them to recognize any irregular practice, or any form of

quackery.

Dignity! When was dignity ever known to save a life? Most humanity

continue to suffer because the medical profession (blindly following in

the rut of custom) fail to see anything superior to the antiquated

system of treating disease by drugging, which many of its ablest members

condemn as unreliable?

It is with all schools of medicine as it is with each individual

practitioner of the healing art--the less faith they have in medicine,

the more they have in Hygiene; hence those who prescribe little or no

medicine, are invariably and necessarily more attentive to Hygiene,

which always was, and ever will be, all that there is really good,

useful, or curative in medication. Such physicians are more careful to

supply the vital organism with whatever of _air_, _light_,

_temperature_, _food_, _water_, _exercise_, or _rest_, etc., it needs in

its struggle for health, and to remove all vitiating influences--all

poisons, impurities, or disturbing influences of any kind. This is

hygienic medication, the natural and rational method of cure, and the

more closely it is examined, the more strongly it will commend itself to

reason.

It is a lamentable fact that the preservation of health is not taught in

the medical schools, neither is it explained in their books, and judging

from general practice not much regard is attached to it in their

prescriptions. But when the inevitable typhoid or malaria appears as an

inevitable consequence of neglected precautions, the physician can drug

without mercy, and, as we contend, on most illogical grounds.

Who imagines for one instant, that quinine is a poison? Who is not aware

that arsenic _is_ a deadly poison? And yet physicians and medical

journals calmly and gravely assert that arsenic is the better article of

the two, and recommend it as a substitute for quinine. Can any

intelligent person believe that a comparatively harmless tonic, and an

intense poison are perfect equivalents for each other?

It is stated on reliable authority, that during the civil war, hundreds

of sick soldiers implored the nurses to throw away their medicine. They

feared drugs worse than bullets, and not without reason.

It is a curious fact that young physicians prescribe more medicine than

the older ones.

Said the venerable Professor Alexander H. Stevens M.D., of the New York

College of Physicians and Surgeons: “Young practitioners are a most

hopeful class of community. They are sure of success. They start out in

life with twenty remedies for every disease; and after an experience of

thirty years or less they find twenty diseases for every remedy.” And

again: “The older physicians grow, the more skeptical they become of the

virtues of medicine, and the more they are disposed to trust to the

powers of Nature.”

The effect of drugging a person, is to lock up the actual causes of the

disease in the system; thus producing permanent and worse diseases. It

is in accordance with common sense that they should be expelled, not

retained. What is known as disease, is nothing more or less than the

struggle of Nature, to cast out impurities, and this remedial effort

should be regulated, and assisted, not obstructed by administering

drugs, which only complicate the situation, by producing more disease.

No man can fight two enemies better than one, and, to give drugs to a

system already struggling to regain its normal condition, is like tying

the hands of a man who is beset by enemies. The truth is, that the real

nature of disease is misapprehended by the popular schools of medicine,

and until broader views obtain a lodgment among them, it is useless to

hope for any alteration or improvement in the antiquated system of

drugging. “Who shall decide, when doctors disagree?” is an oft quoted

sentence, and, the following conflicting opinions from prominent

physicians show conclusively how little is actually known of the action

of drugs upon the human system, by those who administer them right and

left.

Says the “United States Dispensatory,” “Medicines are those articles

which make _sanative_ impressions on the body.” This may be important

_if_, true. But, _per contra_, says Professor Martin Paine, M.D., of the

New York University Medical School, in his “Institutes of Medicine”:

“Remedial agents are essentially _morbific_ in their operations.”

But again says Professor Paine: “Remedial agents operate in the same

manner as do the remote causes of disease.” This seems to be a very

distinct announcement that remedies are themselves causes of disease.

And yet again: “In the administration of medicines we cure one disease

by producing another.” This is both important _and_ true.

Professor Paine quotes approvingly the famous professional adage, in

good technical Latin,

“_Ubi virus, ibi vitus_,”

which, being translated, means, “our strongest poisons are our best

remedies.”

Says Professor Alonzo Clark, M.D., of the New York College of Physicians

and Surgeons: “All of our curative agents are poisons, and as a

consequence, every dose diminishes the patient’s vitality.”

Says Professor Joseph M. Smith, M.D., of the same school: “All medicines

which enter the circulation _poison the blood_ in the same manner as do

the poisons that produce disease.”

Says Professor St. John, of the New York Medical College: “All medicines

are poisonous.”

Says Professor E. R. Peaslee, M.D., of the same school: “The

administration of powerful medicines is the most fruitful cause of

derangements of the digestion.”

Says Professor H. G. Cox, M.D., of the same school: “The fewer remedies

you employ in any disease, the better for your patients.”

Says Professor E. H. Davis, M.D., of the New York Medical College: “The

_modus operandi_ of medicines is still a very obscure subject. We know

that they operate, but exactly how they operate is entirely unknown.”

Says Professor J. W. Carson, M.D., of the New York University Medical

School: “We do not know whether our patients recover because we give

medicines, or because Nature cures them.”

Says Professor E. S. Carr, of the same school: “All drugs are more or

less adulterated; and as not more than one physician in a hundred has

sufficient knowledge in chemistry to detect impurities, the physician

seldom knows just how much of a remedy he is prescribing.”

The authors disagree in many things; but all concur in the fact that

medicines produce diseases; that their effects are wholly uncertain, and

that we know nothing whatever of their _modus operandi_.

But now comes in the testimony of the venerable Professor Joseph M.

Smith, M.D., who says: “Drugs do not cure diseases; disease is always

cured by the _vis medicatrix naturae_.”

And Professor Clark further complicates the problem before us by

declaring that, “Physicians have hurried thousands to their graves who

would have recovered if left to Nature.” And again: “In scarlet fever

you have nothing to do but to rely on the _vis medicatrix naturae_.”

Says Professor Gross: “Of the _essence_ of disease very little is known;

indeed, nothing at all.” And says Professor George B. Wood, M.D., of

Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia (“Wood’s Practice of Medicine”):

“Efforts have been made to reach the elements of disease; but not very

successfully; because we have not yet learned the essential nature of

the healthy actions, and cannot understand their derangements.”

On the other side of the Atlantic the claims of the existing medical

schools to popular favor, do not appear to rest upon any surer basis

than they do here, if we may judge from the following opinions expressed

by some of the most eminent authorities in the British Kingdom:

“The medical practice of our days is, at the best, a most _uncertain_

and unsatisfactory system; it has _neither philosophy nor common sense_

to commend it to confidence.”--DR. EVANS, Fellow of the Royal College,

London.

“There has been a great increase of medical men of late, _but_, upon my

life, _diseases have increased in proportion_.”--JOHN ABERNETHY, M.D.,

“The Good,” of London.

“Gentlemen, ninety-nine out of every hundred medical facts are _medical

lies_; and medical doctrines are, for the most part, _stark, staring

nonsense_.”--Prof. GREGORY, of Edinburgh, author of a work on “Theory

and Practice of Physic.”

“It cannot be denied that the present system of medicine is a _burning

shame_ to its professors, if indeed a series of vague and uncertain

incongruities deserves to be called by that name. How rarely do our

medicines do good! How often do they make our patients _really worse_! I

fearlessly assert, that in most cases the sufferer would be _safer

without a physician_ than with one. I have seen enough of the

_mal-practice_ of my professional brethren to warrant the strong

language I employ.”--Dr. RAMAGE, Fellow of the Royal College, London.

“The present practice of medicine is a _reproach_ to the name of

Science, while its professors give evidence of an _almost total

ignorance_ of the nature and proper treatment of disease. Nine times out

of ten, our miscalled remedies are _absolutely injurious_ to our

patients, suffering under diseases of whose real character and cause we

are most culpably ignorant.”--Prof. JAMEISON, of Edinburgh.

Assuredly the uncertain and most unsatisfactory art that we call medical

science, is _no science at all_, but a jumble of inconsistent opinions;

of conclusions hastily and often incorrectly drawn; of facts

misunderstood or perverted; of comparisons without analogy; of

hypotheses without reason, and theories not only useless, but

_dangerous_.”--_Dublin Medical Journal._

“Some patients get well with the aid of medicine; more without it; and

still more _in spite of it_.”--SIR JOHN FORBES, M.D., F.R.S.

“Thousands are annually _slaughtered_ in the quiet of the sick-room.

Governments should at once either banish medical men, and proscribe

their _blundering art_, or they should adopt some better means to

protect the lives of the people than at present prevail, when they look

far less after the practice of this _dangerous profession_, and the

_murders_ committed in it, than after the lowest trades.”--Dr. FRANK, an

eminent author and practitioner.

“Our actual information or knowledge of disease does not increase in

proportion to our experimental practice. Every dose of medicine given is

a _blind experiment upon the vitality_ of the patient.”--Dr. BOSTOCK,

author of “History of Medicine.”

“The science of medicine is a _barbarous jargon_, and the effects of our

medicines on the human system in the highest degree _uncertain_; except,

indeed, that they have _destroyed more lives_ than war, pestilence, and

famine combined.”--JOHN MASON GOOD, M.D., F.R.S., author of “Book of

Nature,” “A System of Nosology,” “Study of Medicine,” etc.

“I declare as my conscientious conviction, founded on long experience

and reflection, that if there were not a single _physician_, _surgeon_,

_man midwife_, _chemist_, _apothecary_, _druggist_, nor _drug_ on the

face of the earth, there would be _less sickness_ and _less mortality_

than now prevail.”--JAS. JOHNSON, M.D., F.R.S., Editor of the

_Medico-Chirurgical Review_.

So it comes to this, that during three thousand years remedies have been

accumulating until between two and three thousand drugs are recorded in

the archives of the medical profession, and yet we have the admission of

some of the highest authorities on the subject that the nature of

disease is still a mystery, that the “_modus operandi_” of drugs is

equally obscure, and that in consequence there is profound uncertainty

as to the relation of drugs to the diseases for which they are

prescribed.

Can one cause cure another? Can a poison expel a poison? Can the human

system throw off two burdens better than one? If such a proposition were

submitted to us in any other domain we would indignantly resent it as an

insult to our intelligence.

There can be no question but that the public are largely responsible for

the existing condition of things, for whatever they demand they can

obtain, in obedience to the inexorable law of supply and demand: which

accounts for the rapidly increasing interest in hygiene. An eminent

authority on therapeutics says:

“The medical profession holds a most false relation to society. Its

honors and emoluments are measured, not by the good, but by the evil it

does. The physician who keeps some member of the family of his rich

neighbor on a bed of sickness for months or years, may secure to himself

thereby both fame and fortune; while the other who would restore the

patient to health in a week or two, will be neither appreciated nor

understood. If a physician, in treating a simple fever, which if left to

itself or to Nature would terminate in health in two or three weeks,

drugs the patient into half a dozen chronic diseases, and nearly kills

himself half a dozen times, and prolongs his sufferings for months, he

will receive much money and many thanks for carrying him safely through

so many complications, relapses, and collapses. But if he cures in a

single week, and leaves him perfectly sound, the pay will be small, and

the thanks nowhere, because he has not been very sick!”

I know many of you will say, “_My_ physician is a very excellent man

and a good scholar--I have all confidence in him.” But what if his

system is false? Is your confidence in him or in his system? If in his

system, you are to be pitied. If in him, take his _good_ advice and

refuse his _bad_ medicine.

The Caucasian has not much to learn from the Mongolian, it is true, but

the public might safely imitate the Chinese in dealing with their

physicians. A Chinaman of rank pays his physician a retaining salary so

long as he remains in health, but, the instant he gets sick, the salary

ceases. Manifestly, it is a common-sense proceeding. The doctor has a

vital interest in preserving the health of his client, since sickness

entails a pecuniary loss; and best of all, the patient escapes having

his system drenched with drugs. There is no valid reason why there

should be any such thing as serious sickness; nor would there be if

Hygiene were taught, and practised, and the whole _materia medica_

consigned to oblivion. As Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “If all drugs

were thrown into the sea, it would be so much better for man, but so

much worse for the fishes.”

Now, the remedies of the Hygienic system, which I advocate, comprehend

everything except poisons. The drug system rejects almost everything but

poisons. My system rejects only poisons, and adopts everything else. I

welcome anything that possesses remedial value, provided it is in

accordance with the laws of Nature, and am equally ready to accept

suggestions from the laity, as from fellow practitioners. I am ready to

submit everything thus presented, to the test of experiment, and employ

it if found worthy.

In this regard I may, without vanity, lay claim to the possession of a

more progressive spirit than the members of the drug schools, for their

disinclination to adopt anything new in the treatment of disease has

passed into a proverb. It might naturally be supposed that any one who

should come forward with a discovery by which the suffering portion of

the human family would be benefited, would be welcomed with open arms by

the medical fraternity, or, that at least he would be allowed a hearing,

but unfortunately it is not so.

Even if the discoverer be one of themselves, they are apt to regard his

proposition with a certain amount of distrust, but if he happens to be a

layman they instantly stand upon their dignity--denounce all irregular

practice and raise the cry of quack.

In justice, however, it must be said that there are members of liberal,

broad-minded men in the medical profession who recognize the fact that

brains are not monopolized by physicians, and who are perfectly willing

to accord credit where it is due, as the following opinions will show.

Dr. A. O’Leary, Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia, says:

“The best things in the healing art have been done by those who never

had a diploma--the first Cæsarian section, lithotomy, the use of

cinchona, of ether as an anæsthetic, the treatment of the air passages

by inhalation, the water cure and medicated baths, electricity as a

healing agent, and magnetism, faith cure, mind cure, etc.”

Prof. Waterhouse, writing to the learned Dr. Mitchell, of New York,

says:

“I am, indeed, so disgusted with learned quackery that I take some

interest in honest, humane, and strong-minded empiricism; for it has

done more for our art, in all ages and all countries, than all the

universities since the time of Charlemagne.”

Professor Benj. Rush, of the greatest and oldest Allopathic College in

America, says:

“Remember how many of our most useful remedies have been discovered by

quacks. Do not therefore be afraid of conversing with them, and of

profiting by their ignorance and temerity. Medicine has its pharisees as

well as religion. But the spirit of this sect is as unfriendly to the

advancement of medicine as it is to Christian charity. In the pursuit of

medical knowledge let me advise you to converse with nurses and old

women. They will often suggest facts in the history and cure of disease

which have escaped the most sagacious observers of nature. By so doing,

we may discover laws of the animal economy which have no place in our

system of nosology, or in our theories of physic. The practice of physic

hath been more improved by the casual experiments of illiterate nations,

and the rash ones of vagabond quacks, than by all the once celebrated

professors of it, and the theoretic teachers in the several schools of

Europe, very few of whom have furnished us with one new medicine, or

have taught us better to use our old ones, or have in any one instance

at all, improved the art of curing disease.”

Dr. Adam Smith says:

“After denouncing Paracelsus as a quack, the regular medical profession

stole his ‘quack-silver’--mercury; after calling Jenner an imposter it

adopted his discovery of vaccination; after dubbing Harvey a humbug it

was forced to swallow his theory of the circulation of the blood.”

Professor J. Rodes Buchanan, Boston, says:

“Mozart, Hoffman, Ole Bull, and Blind Tom were born with a mastery of

music, as Zerah Colburn with a mastery of mathematics, as others are

born with a mastery of the mystery of life and disease, like Greatrakes,

Newton, Hutton, Sweet and Stephens, born doctors, and a score of similar

renown.”

Professor Charles W. Emerson, M.D., the well-known president of the

Monroe Conservatory of Oratory, of Boston, says:

“The progress in therapeutics has and still continues to come from the

unlearned. Common people give us our improvements and the school men

spend their time in giving Greek and Latin names to these improvements,

and building metaphysical theories around them.”

This is a heavy indictment against the medical profession, as a body,

but truth and justice compel me to state that most of the foregoing

statements were made some years ago, and that intolerance can no longer

be charged against them as it could, even in the last generation. Nor

can we close our eyes to the fact that thousands of high-minded

physicians are devoting their time and energies to the amelioration of

disease. Scarcely a month passes in which some convention of physicians

is not held to consider the best means of dealing with some particular

malady, and a large number of the attending physicians at those

conventions contribute their time and experience at considerable

financial loss to themselves.

In the ranks of the medical body there are able and honorable men who

would adorn any profession--men who have sacrificed health, wealth and

happiness in their devotion to the cause of suffering humanity--the

pages of history are full of instances of such heroism. But of what

avail is it to have the most perfect examples of humanity for

physicians, if the system they practice is an erroneous one? It is

impossible to secure good results with bad methods. We must have a sure

foundation, if we expect to raise an abiding structure. And that is why

I am in opposition to the existing method of treating disease. Not

because of any feeling against the physician individually, but for the

reason that I consider their system based upon error--upon a false

conception of the true nature of disease, and of the relation of drugs

to the human system.

There is a tradition in the orthodox medical schools, that all curative

processes are dependent _upon_, and act only in accordance _with_, an

established law--the “Law of Cure.”

But although all the schools are a unit in believing in the existence

and operation of such a law, no two of them agree upon a definition of

it. Their theories concerning this all-important law are as

diametrically opposite as the poles. For instance, the Allopaths define

it as “contraria contrariis curantur,” which is simply the law of

opposition. But the Homeopaths take a widely different view of the

matter, their definition of it being “similia similibus curantur,” which

is, practically, the law of agreement; while the Eclectics declare that

“sanative medication” is the law.

This diversity of opinion is not by any means unique, for the tendency

to disagreement among physicians is proverbial; but the unfortunate

layman who is the person most vitally interested in the matter, is at a

loss what to believe among this conflict of definitions, and naturally

asks, Who is right?

I answer, unequivocally, not one! They are all wrong. This so-called

“Law of Cure” is a purely imaginary affair; one of the many

misconceptions peculiar to the medical schools, originating in a false

conception of the true nature of disease. There is no such thing as a

law of cure! There is a condition of cure, and that is, obedience.

Nature has provided penalties for disobedience, and is inexorable in

exacting payment; but she does not provide remedies. If there is one

thing absolutely certain in nature, it is the unfaltering sequence of

cause and effect. Nature never stultifies herself. It is impossible to

imagine nature providing penalties for violation of her laws, and then

furnishing remedies to make those penalties negatory.

It is a lamentable fact that the medical profession, as a body,

entertain a totally erroneous conception of the true nature of disease,

and its legitimate function in the economy of nature. Instead of

recognizing it as a beneficent remedial process, which, if properly

aided, will work out the salvation of the patient, they antagonize it at

every turn, and endeavor to suppress the symptoms, which are its

legitimate expressions.

The whole thing is a huge misconception, the failure to understand the

true relation between living and dead substances. According to the

United States Dispensatory, medicines are those substances that make

sanative impressions on the body.

A false definition of a word leads to a false system of remedial

practice, based upon that definition. What is an impression? Is it the

action of a dead substance, which _cannot act_ upon a living substance

_that can_? Assuredly not! Is it not rather the recognition by the

living substance of the lifeless one? The whole theory of drug action is

easily explainable on this hypothesis. Drugs--inert substances--do not

_act_ upon the living organism, but are _acted upon_, with a view to

their expulsion from the living domain. If it were not so, if drugs

_really acted upon_ the various organs, then their action should be

equally as effective _after_ death as before. But no, nature resents the

introduction of foreign substances into the human economy, and exerts

all her powers to cast out the intruders.

Now, as all substances incapable of physiological use are foreign, such

as particles of worn out tissue, the waste products of digestion, etc.,

and their presence in the animal economy inimical to the general

welfare, the depurating organs are called into active play to expel the

offending substances; and the increased physiological activity, and (in

the case of actual lesion) the increased flow of blood to the parts, for

the purpose of repair, cause a rise in temperature, commonly known as

fever, which is one of the most frequent symptoms of what is generally

recognized as disease; thus establishing the fact, indisputably, that

disease is purely and simply a remedial process, either for purposes of

repair or purification.

The practice, therefore, of increasing the deposits in the physical

system by the introduction of drugs (foreign substances) is in direct

opposition to physiological law, and has no scientific foundation

whatever.

From the countless remedies of the pharmacopœia we can select

substances that if administered to a healthy person will produce almost

any known form of disease--thus: brandy, cayenne pepper and quinine,

will induce inflammatory fever; scammony and ipecac will cause cholera

morbus; nitre, calomel and opium, will provoke typhoid or typhus fever;

digitalis will cause Asiatic, or spasmodic cholera; cod liver oil and

sulphur promote scurvy, and all the cathartic family inevitably cause

diarrhœa, the disease in each case being nothing more than the effort

of Nature to get rid of these troublesome intruders.

Drugs do not, as their advocates claim, select their special organ with

a view of _acting upon it_, but are _acted upon_ by that particular

organ for the purpose of ridding the system of the drug.

It follows, therefore, as a perfectly legitimate and logical deduction,

that, if the system of administering drugs is founded upon a wrong

conception of their relation to the human organism, then any theoretical

“law of cure” predicated upon drug action must necessarily be equally

fallacious and untrustworthy.

As stated before, the simple fact is, that there is no _law_ of cure,

only a _condition_--and that condition--obedience, by which is meant a

course of treatment in harmony with Nature.

The older physicians grow the more they rely upon the _vis medicatrix

naturae_, which is, after all, the _only_ remedial force, and one

totally beyond their control. The physician can no more perform cures

than the farmer can make his crops grow. In each case, all that can be

done is to employ all the methods that cumulative wisdom can suggest to

make the conditions as favorable as possible, and leave the rest to

Mother Nature, who is not in the habit of making mistakes, and whose

unerring methods would cure ninety per cent. of all diseased conditions,

if her beneficent intentions were not frustrated by well meant, but

nevertheless pernicious, drug interference.

PART II.

THE TRUE CAUSE OF DISEASE.

At this point the reader will doubtless be tempted to exclaim: “Well,

you have demonstrated to your own satisfaction that the medical

profession entertains erroneous opinions as to the true nature of

disease, and also that drugs are absolutely useless--nay, injurious--in

such conditions: but is this all? Having destroyed our trust in drugs,

what have you to offer in their stead?” To which perfectly natural

query, I gladly reply, I have a system of treatment to propound, a

system that has triumphantly stood the test of years, a system that must

commend itself to every intelligent reader, because it is strictly in

accordance with natural law.

But before I proceed to explain it, I desire to announce my own theory

respecting disease--a theory essentially radical in its character, and

of which I am the originator, and that is:

THERE IS ONLY ONE CAUSE FOR DISEASE.

This may sound strange, for the majority of people imagine that there

is a different and specific cause for every ailment, and physicians

generally do not combat the opinion. But as a matter of fact, there is

only one disease, although its manifestations are various, and there is

only one cause for it, and that is the retention of waste matters in the

system. These substances may be in the gaseous, liquid or solid form,

but they are foreign bodies, inimical to the welfare of the organism,

and their presence must result in derangement of bodily function.

The great need of the present day is adequate instruction in physiology

and hygiene, that humanity may not only know how to secure the

restoration of health, when lost, but by attention to physiological and

sanitary laws may retain good health indefinitely. The body is the

theatre of constant change. The processes of tearing down and building

up proceed without intermission during life. If construction exceeds

destruction, the result is health; but just as surely as destruction

exceeds repair, disease is the result. But during every moment of life

waste is being formed by the destruction of tissue, and this effete

material must be promptly removed if the individual would enjoy health.

Nature has provided adequate means for the removal of these substances

which are valueless to the economy, the retention of which obstructs and

irritates the complex mechanism of the system, the principal avenues for

its expulsion being the lungs, the skin and the intestinal canal. The

latter is infinitely more important than the others, since by it the

waste products of digestion are expelled. If it fails to promptly fulfil

its office, every vital function is interfered with; and in addition the

fluid portion of the semi-liquid waste is re-absorbed directly into the

circulation, redepositing in the very fountain of life, matter which the

system has thrown off as worthless. Should the system be exposed to a

chill, while in this condition, a congestion of the surface excretory

vessels takes place; and practically the whole work of elimination is

thrown upon the already hard-worked kidneys, frequently resulting in

uræmic poisoning and death.

The presence of a grain of sand in a watch will retard its movements, if

not arrest them altogether. What, then, must be the result of an

accumulation of impurities in the physical system? The finely adjusted

balance that is capable of weighing the thousandth part of a grain, is

carefully protected under a glass cover, for even impalpable dust would

clog its movements. Reflect, then, upon the amount of friction that must

be perpetually going on in the human organism owing to the retention of

effete matter! And since not even the most cunning product of man’s

handiwork can compare with the intricate mechanism of the body, the

importance of eliminating the waste becomes manifest. Here, in a

nutshell, lies the secret of disease.

Let us now consider how the retention of waste affects the system--how

the deleterious effects are produced. There are three factors at work in

this process, mechanical, gaseous and absorptive, the last named being

infinitely the most pernicious. We will first consider the mechanical.

Nature has beautifully apportioned the space in the abdominal cavity,

each part of the viscera having ample room for the performance of its

special function, but any abnormal increase in size of any part of the

contents of the cavity must necessarily create disturbance. Now, when

the food leaves the stomach, where it has been churned into a pulpaceous

mass, it passes into the duodenum, or second stomach, where it receives

an augmentation of liquid material from the liver and pancreas;

consequently, when it reaches the small intestine, where absorption

takes place, it is in a well diluted condition. During its passage

through the small intestine, the nutrient portion of the ingesta is

abstracted from it by the villi (small hair-like processes) with which

the small intestine is thickly studded, so that at the end of its

journey of about twenty-two feet (if digestion is normal), all that is

of value to the organism has been appropriated--the remainder being

refuse. This waste product passes into the colon, or large intestine,

and should be promptly expelled. If prompt expulsion does not take

place, this is what happens: The fluid portion of this semi-liquid waste

is re-absorbed through the walls of the colon directly into the

circulation, a percentage of the solids being deposited on the walls of

the intestine. This process of accretion goes on from day to day, week

to week, month to month, until it not infrequently happens that the

colon becomes distended to several times its natural size. Instances are

on record, where these abnormal accumulations of fæcal matter in the

colon have been mistaken for enlargement of the liver, and even

pregnancy. A surgeon in London has a preparation of the colon measuring

some twenty inches in circumference, containing three gallons of fæcal

matter, and even larger accumulations have been reported. The foregoing

instances are, of course, exceptional ones, but it is safe to assert

that seventy per cent. of the colons of the human family (living under

civilized conditions) are impacted, and some of them terribly so. It is

impossible to estimate the amount of evil caused by an engorged colon

monopolizing two or three times its allotted space in the abdominal

cavity, crowding and hampering the other organs in their work.

But the effects of direct mechanical pressure are not the only ones. The

accumulations in the colon necessarily arrest the free passage of the

product of the small intestine, and that, in turn, causes undue

retention of food in the stomach, with consequent fermentation; while

the irritation, due to pressure on the nerve terminals by the

distension, and by the encrusted matter adhering to the intestinal wall,

is simply incalculable.

The effects of gaseous accumulations in the alimentary canal are not

thoroughly understood at present--that is--the pathological effects. The

more direct effects, as manifested in abdominal distension, and the

terrible distress that frequently follows eating, are unfortunately, but

too well known. The reader does not need to be told that during the

decomposition of organic substances, gases are evolved, and no matter

where the process goes on, the results are always the same. Owing to the

causes previously mentioned, the intestinal canal usually offers special

facilities for the production of gases, owing to the retention of

partially digested food, in a medium highly favorable to fermentation. A

moderate amount of sulphuretted hydrogen, and also carburetted hydrogen

is always present in the colon, normally, to preserve moderate

distention of the walls, while the gases usually found in the stomach

and small intestine, are oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and carbonic acid.

What functional disturbances may arise from the presence of these

gaseous substances in excess in the system is, at present, largely a

matter of conjecture, but it _is_ known that a stream of carbonic acid

gas, or hydrogen continuously directed against a muscle will cause

paralysis of that structure. The expansive force of gases is too well

known to need comment, and the force with which they will at times

distend the abdominal wall points irresistibly to the conclusion that

such an amount of force exerted against vital organs cannot be otherwise

than productive of serious harm. It is not at all improbable that many

cases of hernia and uterine displacement may be due to this hitherto

unsuspected cause. That they penetrate the neighboring tissues is an

established fact, and it is quite conceivable that their action upon the

nervous system though the medium of the circulation may lie at the root

of many of the cases of neurasthenia that are now so prevalent.

But the auto-infection that results from the absorption of the liquid

waste into the blood supply is by far the most serious feature. The

blood is the life. From it the system obtains all the material for the

formation of fresh tissue, and it is a practical impossibility for good,

healthy structures to be built up from a tainted blood current. Why is

it that the vegetation on the banks of a stream, on which a

manufacturing town is located, is invariably stunted and withered?

Because the water that should nourish it is polluted by the refuse

poured into it, and no amount of deodorants or disinfectants will prove

of any avail to restore the devitalized vegetation, but will rather

aggravate the trouble. But cut off the source of pollution, and in an

incredibly short space of time the vegetation will take on a new lease

of life.

This liquid refuse in the colon is composed of substances for which the

system has no further use--it has rejected them; consequently they are

foreign bodies, and as such, are the equivalent of poisons. The colon,

in this condition, is a perfect hot-bed for the breeding of all kinds of

poisonous germs, and the action of cathartics aggravates the condition

by filling the pouched portions of the colon with a foul liquid which

facilitates the absorption of the ptomaines and leucomaines through the

mucous coat of the intestine. It is known now, that as much as

three-fourths of this foul putrid substance may be absorbed, carrying

into the system poisonous germs and excrementitious matter. Dr.

Murchison states, “that a circulation is constantly taking place between

the fluid contents of the bowel and the blood, the existence of which,

till within the last few years, was quite unknown, and which even now is

too little heeded.” And Dr. Parker says, “It is now known, that in

varying degrees there is a constant transit of fluid from the blood into

the alimentary canal, and as rapid absorption.” It is also stated on

reliable authority, “_that every portion of the blood may, and possibly

does, pass several times into the alimentary canal in twenty-four

hours_.” Prof. I. I. Metchnikoff recently stated in a lecture at Paris:

“Particularly injurious are the microbes of the large intestines.

Thence, they penetrate into the blood and impair it alike by their

presence and the products they yield--ptomaines, alkaloids, etc. The

auto intoxication of the organism and poisoning through microbes is an

established fact.”

Having shown that the average colon is a fertile breeding ground for

all kinds of poisonous germs, and that they are conveyed into the

circulation by the interchange of fluids in that organ, it may be

interesting to explain how these germs are conveyed to, and deposited in

the various organs of the body.

We have in our bodies a system of canals called arteries and veins,

having their head at the heart, which is the main pump that keeps the

blood in motion. The arterial circulation consists of those channels

which convey the blood--supposed pure blood--away from the heart to the

different parts of the body, loaded with the life-giving principle of

sustenance, invigoration and heat, while the veins or venous circulation

conveys to the heart and lungs the impure blood, loaded many times with

disease-breeding germs.

Now, in the blood, as it courses through our bodies, are myriads of

little vessels called corpuscles; these are what give the blood a red

color. There are also a smaller number of white corpuscles, that are

known as phagocytes, whose mission is to destroy micro-organisms that

are prejudicial to life. In order that you may know their use, I, for

convenience sake and to make my meaning better understood, will call

them little war vessels, loaded with soldiers, and the soldiers have in

their vessels a furnace whose fire never goes out. These vessels and

their little warriors are continually sailing through our bodies,

hunting for germs of disease, that they catch and throw into their

furnace and burn them up. Now, suppose we take a violent cold, thus

closing the pores of the skin, and that at the same time the colon is

engorged, two of the most important outlets for the filth and decayed

matter of our bodies are closed up--for the life of our bodies is one

continual process of building anew and tearing down; these two most

important sewers are now closed. These little vessels now have their

hands full, catching disease-bearing germs that nature cannot throw out

through the colon or pores of the skin--both being closed--and we call

this condition of things fever. The white corpuscle has but two dumping

places now, the lungs or kidneys. Suppose that in the colon is the

tubercular ulcer, breeding the bacillus of consumption, and they are

absorbed into the circulation. Ordinarily the white corpuscles would be

able to destroy them, but now they are so overworked that the tubercular

germ lands in the lung tissue alive and well, ready to commence his work

of destruction and death. The person developes a hacking cough, and

finally goes to the doctor, and he, if he knows his business, probably

finds tuberculosis well established. Typhoid fever has its nursery

solely in the colon, and gets possession of the citadel of life in the

same way as any other germ or contagious disease. What a terrible battle

there must be going on in us between our life-preservers and the germs

of disease.

Is it any wonder that people die of premature old age, of apoplexy,

paralysis, dropsy, consumption, and the thousand and one maladies that

scourge humanity? And is it not unreasonable to pour a few grains of

diluted drugs into the stomach to purify the blood--even granting for

the sake of argument that such a purpose could be accomplished by that

means--when occupying nearly one-half of the abdominal cavity is an

engorged intestine reeking with filth so foul that carrion is as the

odor of roses compared to it, and which is being steadily absorbed into

the circulation? If a man were to act as foolishly as that in his

business, his friends would quickly petition the courts to appoint a

guardian for him.

It may be asked, why has not this discovery been made before? In the

first place, the colon has had but scant attention paid to it in the

dissecting room, until of late years the appendicitis craze has awakened

some interest in it. Its importance was not realized-the circulatory and

nervous systems receiving the lion’s share of attention. In the second

place, in holding _post-mortems_ the organ was avoided, cut off, if in

the way, and thrown into the slop bucket. It was known to be always

full, but no one ever asked whether or not it was natural in its

fullness of fæcal matter, and as a result, probably the profession knows

the least about this important organ, of any in the human body. Strange,

is it not, that among the seven thousand physicians ground out and

polished in the mills of wisdom each year, that there was not one who

had originality enough to ask the question, Is it natural that this

scent bag of filth should always be so full of putrid matter that we

cannot abide one moment with it? And, inasmuch as it is so, is it not a

great detriment at least to our health to carry this mass of filth

around with us, from day to day, from week to week, and from year to

year-absorbing its poison back into the circulation? Strange that these

questions did not present themselves to some one of the enterprising

youths of our original young America.

The muscular fibres of the intestines are circular and longitudinal. In

the large intestine the longitudinal fibres are shorter than the tube

itself, which length permits the formation of loculi (cavities). These

become the seat of fæcal accumulations, only too often unnoticed by the

physician. It is undoubtedly a fact that the loculi of the colon contain

small fæcal accumulations extending over weeks, months, or even years.

Their presence produces symptoms varying all the way from a little

catarrhal irritation up to the most diverse, and in some instances

serious, reflex disturbances. When the loculi only are filled, the main

channel of the colon is undisturbed. The most common parts of the colon

to become enlarged are the sigmoid flexure and the cæcum (see diagram in

beginning of book), but accumulations may occur in any part of the

colon. The ascending colon is much more often filled in life than the

books would lead us to believe; indeed, it may be said that chronic

accumulations are oftener to be found in the ascending than in the

descending colon, which is also contrary to the assertions of the

authors. This is due partly to the fact that the contents of the colon

have to rise in opposition to gravity, and partly to the semi-paralyzed

condition of the muscular coat of the colon through inactivity. When the

accumulations are large, the increased weight of the colon tends to

displace it; and if in the transverse colon, that portion may be

depressed, even into the pelvis.

The mass may be so enormous as to press upon any organ located in the

abdomen, interfering with its functions; thus we may have pressure on

the liver that arrests the flow of bile; or, upon the urinary organs,

crippling their functions.

Of course, such excessive accumulations occur only exceptionally, and

it is not to these that attention is particularly drawn, because when

they are so excessive, any physician can detect them by palpation

(touch).

It is to the minor accumulations particularly, that I wish to draw

attention--the accumulations that we see in the majority of patients who

visit our offices. Such patients assure us that the bowels move daily,

but the color of their complexions, and the condition of their tongues,

are enough to assure us that they are the victims of costiveness.

Daily movements of the bowels are no sign that the colon is not

impacted; in fact, the worst cases of costiveness that we ever see are

those in which daily movements of the bowels occur. The diagnosis of

fæcal accumulations is facilitated by inquiring as to the color of the

daily discharges. A black or a very dark green color almost always

indicates that the fæces are ancient. Prompt discharge of food refuse is

indicated by more or less yellow color. It would be interesting to

inquire why fresh fæces are yellow and ancient fæces are dark.

Such patients have digestive fermentations to torment them, resulting in

flatulent distension which encroaches on the cavity of the chest, which

in excessive cases may cause short and rapid breathing, irregular heart

action, disturbed circulation in the brain, with vertigo and headache.

An over-distended cæcum, or sigmoid flexure, from pressure, may produce

dropsy, numbness or cramps in the right or left lower extremity.

The reports of the _post-mortem_ examination of the colons of hundreds

of subjects reveals a series of horrors more weird and ghastly than were

ever penned by Eugene Sue, or Emile Zola. The mind shrinks in dismay at

the appalling revelations, and shudders at the possibility of the “human

form divine” becoming such a peripatetic charnel house.

Is it any wonder that the average human system, being thus saturated

with impurities, should succumb to the first exciting cause? Is it not,

in fact, a greater marvel that the rate of mortality is not even higher

than at present?

My object in publishing this book is to point out the true cause of

disease, together with the means for its prevention and cure, and that,

too, by a simple and inexpensive method of hygienic treatment, which has

proved eminently successful in tens of thousands of cases, which is

perfectly harmless and natural in its action, and absolutely free from

even the suspicion of a drug.

PART III.

RATIONAL HYGIENIC TREATMENT.

Having striven to explain in an intelligible manner the true nature and

cause of disease, and to point out the inadequacy of the drug system of

treatment to combat pathological conditions successfully (not from any

lack of intention on the part of the drug practitioners: but from the

unreliability of their methods), I shall now proceed to lay before you

the system of treatment which it is proposed to substitute in its stead,

and I unhesitatingly affirm that it will be found so simple, so

inexpensive and so obviously based on common sense and true hygienic

principles, that the thoughtful reader cannot fail to give it his

unqualified endorsement, and will be lost in wonder that any one should

fail to adopt it, when made acquainted with its simplicity and its

marvellous results.

In an old comedy, which used to delight our forefathers, the hero,

Felix O’Callaghan, defines the practice of medicine as “the art of

amusing the patient while Nature performs the cure.” In that sentence,

the dramatist (unwittingly perhaps) embodied a great truth. Nature, and

Nature _only_, can effect a cure. Fresh air, sunlight, pure water, diet

and exercise are the great curative agents provided by Nature, and all

that the physician can do, no matter to what school he belongs, is to

remove as far as possible all existing impediments, and to see that the

hygienic conditions are made as favorable as possible. For the rest,

Nature, the marvellous builder, will, in her own mysterious way, build

up fresh tissue, and, slowly but surely, repair the ravages made by

disease. No one would dare to say that the farmer made the corn grow. He

does all that the science of agriculture tells him is needful to furnish

proper conditions for growth, but there he must stop--the rest must be

left to Nature. Then, since disease is a wasting of tissue, and recovery

a building up, it is a palpable absurdity to credit a physician with a

cure. All that he can do is to co-operate with Nature, by seeing that

none of her laws are violated, and insisting that nothing whatever shall

obstruct her beneficent functions.

Whether for the preservation of health, or the treatment of disease,

when present, the chief thing is to cleanse the colon. It is useless to

attempt to get rid of the effects while the cause is present.

If the principal drain in a dwelling becomes choked, what is the

consequence? The noxious and pestilent gases generated by the

accumulated filth having no outlet, are forced back into the building,

poisoning the atmosphere, and breeding contagion among the inhabitants.

Deodorizing and disinfecting will simply be a waste of time and

material, until the drain is cleared. The colon is the main drain of the

human body, and if it be necessary, for sanitary reasons, to keep the

house drains clean, how vitally important is it to keep the main outlet

of the physical system free from obstructions.

Or, to use another homely illustration, when your coal stove has been

run continuously for a long time, as a natural result it becomes clogged

with cinders and ashes, causing the fire to burn badly. You encourage it

with fresh fuel, rake it and shake it but without avail--the

accumulations of débris are too great. You remove a portion, but its

place is taken by more substance from above. At length you resort to the

measure you should have employed at first--you “dump the grate” and

start a fresh fire. The moral is obvious: dump the grate of the human

system--in other words, empty the colon.

It has been previously shown that an impacted colon is neither more nor

less than a prolific hot-bed for the wholesale breeding of disease

germs--microbes--those infinitesimal organisms which science has

demonstrated to be the cause of many phases of disease, or rather, the

toxins (poisons) they produce, cause disease. Of course, there are

harmless micro-organisms as well as hurtful ones; in fact, a large

proportion of them are beneficial rather than otherwise; but some of

them (notably the tubercle bacillus) are so intimately associated with

disease that it is next to impossible to doubt their responsibility.

The sphere of the microbe is absolutely without limit. He is equally at

ease in the air, the earth, and the water. He makes himself at home in

our beverages and our foods. Our mouths furnish desirable lurking places

for him, our hair, and finger-nails are favorite posts of vantage; while

he delights to disport himself in our blood. He is the active agent of

decay, and the prime cause of disease. He is the most selfish of

parasites. The world for a long time disregarded him, but now

acknowledges him as one of the mightiest of conquerers; for while other

devastators have slain thousands, millions have fallen beneath his

insidious attacks. He is a foe to be dreaded, for he is forever lying in

ambush for fresh victims.

Microbes breed in fermentation, consequently, every particle of

undigested food remaining in the stomach or intestines becomes an ideal

nursery for their propagation. It has been demonstrated that food that

has been subjected to the action of the gastric juice decomposes far

more rapidly than that which has not--hence, with imperfect digestion,

fermentation quickly takes place. If microbes are now introduced into

the system, either by contact with sick persons, inhaling impure air in

crowded public buildings, or breathing in the dust on ill-kept streets,

there is danger ahead; for if the recipient is not in a sound, physical

condition, the microbes (finding congenial lodgment), multiply with the

most marvellous rapidity, permeating every portion of the

tissue--causing, in fact, DECOMPOSITION WHILE STILL ALIVE.

Every particle of animal or vegetable matter, even if only a single

grain in weight, by exposure to the air, _putrefies_, breeds, and

attracts to itself thousands of microbes, and becomes a center of

infection. Thus, in a piece of street dirt containing organic matter, we

may find upon examination, the germs of typhoid fever, diphtheria,

scarlet fever, or consumption. When this piece of dirt is dried by the

sun and pulverized by horses’ hoofs and the wheels of vehicles, the

particles of dirt are caught up by the wind, and sent whirling through

the air, to be drawn into the lungs by those within reach. Of course,

every one who breathes in the microbes of some particular disease does

not catch it, or we should soon all be dead, but those who have not the

resisting power of sound bodies to kill these germs, before they have

time to set up their peculiar inflammation, are apt to realize the evil

effects, a week, a month, or even a year afterwards.

It is evident then that to _cure_ disease we must get rid of all

fermentation in the system, and thus prevent the further breeding of

microbes; and to _prevent_ disease we must get the system into such a

sound, healthy condition that disease germs cannot obtain a lodgment in

it.

Now, this can only be accomplished by thoroughly cleansing the colon,

and keeping it absolutely clean, thus preventing further contamination

of the blood current--the fountain of life.

The intelligent reader, recognizing the absolute correctness of the

foregoing proposition, will naturally ask, “Can such a thing be

accomplished, and how?” We beg to assure the reader, most emphatically,

that it can, but not by the means usually employed. It is perfectly

plain that the cleansing process cannot be effected by cathartics, for

at the best, they only afford temporary relief (witness the growth of

the cathartic habit), while on an impacted mass such as is commonly

present in the colon, the influence they can exert is practically _nil_.

The common experience of those afflicted with constipation is, that they

commence with a laxative, gradually increasing the quantity and

frequency of the dose until it fails to act at all. Then they resort to

a cathartic, with a similar experience, when it is exchanged for a more

powerful one, and then for another still more powerful, until at last,

it becomes impossible to move the bowels without a powerful dose.

That this is no overdrawn picture many of my readers will bear witness,

and my brother practitioners can amply corroborate the statement, for

they fully recognize the vital importance of removing the waste from the

system. The pity of it is that they still persist in employing such a

crude and ineffective method.

Do any of my readers know how a cathartic acts?

It is popularly supposed that the drug passes from the stomach into the

small intestines, rendering their contents more liquid; then passes into

the colon, producing the same effect upon its more solid contents, thus

causing an evacuation. Many people have no conception, whatever, of the

_modus operandi_ of a purgative drug, simply believing that it acts in a

certain mysterious manner, but the above described process is generally

believed to be the correct one by those who have thought upon the

matter, but lack physiological knowledge. It is a huge mistake.

Any purgative drug, whether aperient, laxative or cathartic, is

dissolved in the stomach by the action of the gastric juice--in fact,

goes through the same digestive process as the food that is eaten, that

is, it passes into the small intestines and is there absorbed into the

circulation. By its irritation of the nerves, the secretory and

excretory processes of the system are stimulated into abnormal action,

and an extra quantity of fluid is poured into the colon to dissolve the

accumulated mass; which is about as scientific a proceeding as pouring a

quart of water into a washbowl on the upper floor of a dwelling to clear

away an obstruction in the main drain of the building. And, again, as

previously stated, the action of laxatives and cathartics, especially

the variety known as hydrogo-cathartics (watery), fill the ano-rectal

cavity and the loculi, or folds of the colon, with a foul watery

solution that is a perpetual source of irritation to the sensitive

mucous surface, hastening and intensifying the process of auto-infection

by absorption, that is constantly going on.

And what about the enormous drain upon the vital forces? Who is not

familiar with the feeling of exhaustion when the reaction sets in after

the employment of such methods of relief? How can it be otherwise? These

stimulants to defecation are like the applications of the whip to the

jaded horse--they excite the system to make a supreme effort in the

required direction, but the reaction is disastrous in the extreme. With

the repeated demands upon the delicate nervous system incidental to

constant catharsis is it any wonder that we are so constantly confronted

with cases of nervous collapse? The wonder would be if it were

otherwise.

Nor are these the only objections to be urged against purgative

medication. Its effects upon the digestive functions is, in the highest

degree, destructive. It would be next to impossible to find an

individual addicted to the use of cathartics whose digestion was not,

practically, a wreck. It is true, that a large part of the digestive

disturbance in such cases is due to the obstructed condition of the

colon, and the consequent undue retention of food in the stomach, until

fermentation sets in; but no inconsiderable share of the trouble is due

to the action of the drugs, by repeated over-stimulation of the nervous

system, and perpetual irritation of the delicate absorbent vessels.

Viewed from whatever standpoint we may choose, the employment of drugs

to relieve an overcharged colon is both unsatisfactory and unscientific.

And yet there is a simple and effective method of dealing with this

trouble; of removing the accumulations, no matter how large they may be;

of thoroughly cleansing and purifying that important organ, the colon,

without the least demand upon the vital forces, and that is by

WASHING IT OUT.

In plain English, the preservation and restoration of health depends

entirely upon cleanliness, especially _internal cleanliness_, and to

attain that condition which we are told is next to godliness, there is

nothing equal to water--especially “hot water,” which is the great

scavenger of nature.

Strange, that such an obviously common-sense proceeding should not be

universal, is it not?

I do not claim to be the discoverer of this method of internal

purification, for it is in reality of ancient origin, as we have it on

good authority that it was practised by the ancient Egyptians, who, it

is believed, acquired their knowledge from observing a bird called the

Ibis, a species of Egyptian snipe. The food of this bird, gathered on

the banks of the Nile, was of a very constipating character, and it was

observed, by the earliest naturalists, to suck up the water of the river

and using its long bill for a syringe, inject it into its anus, thus

relieving itself. Pliny says this habit of the Ibis first suggested the

use of clysters to the ancient Egyptian doctors, known to be the first

medical practitioners of any nation, not excepting the Chinese. [See

Naturalis Historia, Lib. VIII., Dap. 41, Hague 1518.]

Another writer, viz., Christianus Langius, says, that this bird when

attacked with constipation at some distance from the river, and not able

to fly from weakness, would be seen to crawl to the water’s edge with

drooping wings and there take its rectal treatment, when in a few

minutes it would fly away in full vigor of regained strength.

Nor do I even claim to have rediscovered this system of treatment,

although it is a common practice in these days to revamp old theories

and discoveries, and try to foist them upon the public as entirely new

propositions. The credit for the resuscitation of this ancient remedial

practice belongs, without doubt, to Dr. A. Wilford Hall, of New York,

who practiced the treatment on himself for forty years before giving its

principles to the public, thereby fully proving its merits.

The following experience from the pen of Dr. H. T. Turner, of

Washington, affords incontestable proof of the allegation made, that the

colon is the seat of disease, and his testimony should be read with

extreme care. It is no fanciful, theoretical statement, but the ghastly

revelation of an appalling reality. While reading his statement, the

reader will do well to refer to the engraving, representing the

digestive apparatus, at the commencement of this book, as it will

greatly facilitate his comprehension of the matter.

“In 1880 I lost a patient with inflammation of the bowels, and

requested of the friends the privilege of holding a _post-mortem_

examination, as I was satisfied that there was some foreign substance in

or near the Ileo-cœcal valve, or in that apparently useless

appendage, the Appendicula Vermiformis. (See explanation of engraving.)

“The autopsy developed a quantity of grape seed and popcorn, filling

the lower enlarged pouch of the colon and the opening into the

Appendicula Vermiformis. This, from the mortified and blackened

condition of the colon alone, indicated that my diagnosis was correct. I

opened the colon throughout its entire length of five feet, and found it

filled with fæcal matter encrusted on its walls and into the folds of

the colon, in many places dry and hard as slate, and so completely

obstructing the passage of the bowels as to throw him into violent colic

(as his friends stated), sometimes as often as twice a month, for years,

and that powerful doses of physic was his only relief; that all the

doctors had agreed that it was bilious colic. I observed that this

crusted matter was evidently of long standing, the result of years of

accumulation, and although the remote cause, not the immediate cause of

his death. The sigmoid-flexure (see engraving), or bend in the colon on

the left side, was especially full, and distended to double its natural

size, filling the gut uniformly, with a small hole the size of one’s

little finger through the center, through which the recent fæcal matter

passed. In the lower part of the sigmoid-flexure, just before descending

to form the rectum, and in the left hand upper corner of the colon as it

turns toward the right, were pockets eaten out of the hardened fæcal

matter, in which were eggs of worms and quite a quantity of maggots,

which had eaten into the sensitive mucous membrane, causing serious

inflammation of the colon and its adjacent parts, and as recent

investigation has established as a fact, were the cause of his

hemorrhoids, or piles, which I learned were of years’ standing. The

whole length of the colon was in a state of chronic inflammation; still

this man considered himself well and healthy until the unfortunate

eating of the grape seed and popcorn, and had no trouble in getting his

life insured in one of the best companies in America.

“I have been thus explicit in this description, from the fact that

recent investigation has developed the fact that in the discovery

described above, I had found but a prototype of at least seven-tenths of

the human family in civilized life--the real cause of all diseases of

the human body, excepting the grape seed and popcorn. That I had found

the fountain of premature old age and death, for, as surprising as it

may seem, out of 284 cases of autopsies held of late on the colon (they

representing in their death nearly all the diseases known to our

climate), but twenty-eight colons were found to be free from hardened,

adhered matter, and in their normal healthy state, and that the 256 were

all more or less as described above, except, perhaps, the grape seeds

and popcorn. In many of them the colon was distended to double its

natural size throughout its whole length, with a small hole through the

center, and as far as could be learned, these last cases spoken of had

regular evacuations of the bowels each day. Many of the colons contained

large maggots from four to six inches long, and pockets of eggs and

maggots, while blood and pus were frequently present.”

The question is often asked, and naturally so, why this unnatural

accumulation is in the colon? The horse and ox promptly obey the call of

nature; they know no time or place, and are blessed with clean colons.

So are the natives of Africa. But the demands of civilized life insist

upon a time and place. Business, etiquette, opportunity, and a thousand

and one excuses stand continually in the way, and nature’s call is put

off to a more convenient season.

How many people are not presentable to themselves or friends, owing to

the putrid smell of their bodies, so that in polite society strong

colognes and other perfumes are used. Show me a woman who girts her

waist with corsets or any tight clothing, and I will warrant you that

the smell from her body will be sickening in the extreme. The special

reason for this is, that the lacing comes immediately where the

transverse colon crosses her body. Now, if the sigmoid-flexure becomes

loaded, because of its folding upon itself, how much more will the

transverse colon become clogged if unnaturally folded upon itself by

compression from each side folding it, as demonstrated in some

instances, almost double the whole length, into two extra elbows, where

it, if natural, is straight (see engraving on next page). Many reasons

have been given by physiologists and humanitarians, why it is injurious

for the lady to lace, but this reason outweighs them all. Wear the

clothing loose, clean out the colon and heal it up, and you will smell

sweet, and life will be a continual blessing; for if the main sewer of

the body is closed or clogged, nature has but three other outlets: the

capillaries or pores of the skin, the lungs in exhalation, or the

kidneys. If the colon is clogged, the penned-up acid permeations of the

stomach and duodenum will have to seek other outlets, which is indicated

by the putrid

[Illustration:

Normal colon. Arrows show course of fecal matter.

Abnormal colon contracted and bent into curves by pressure of corset.

Abnormal colon prolapsed. This condition may result from general low

vitality or from corset pressure.

a, caecum. b, ascending colon. c, hepatic flexure. d, transverse colon.

e, descending colon. f, f, f, sigmoid flexure. g, rectum. h, anus. i,

sphincter ani.]

smell of the body and a foul breath with finally dyspepsia, and what is

usually termed biliousness, torpid liver, etc.

The condition of the colon (the physiological sewer) in the average

adult having been demonstrated, does it need any argument to convince

the intelligent thinker that the most rational and practical manner of

dealing with this hot-bed of filth and breeding place of disease, is to

wash it out?

With me, it has passed beyond the theoretical stage, for I have in my

office fully 15,000 grateful letters from patients who have used this

process, under my direction, with the most astounding results; scarcely

a disease known to humanity, but has been relieved, and in ninety-five

per cent. of cases, cures effected; while tens of thousands of

gratifying messages have reached me from time to time; nor is the

testimony in its favor confined to the laity, for hundreds of physicians

(including some of the most prominent authorities) testify to the

wonderfully beneficial results achieved by its use.

We now come to the most important feature of the subject--the means for

putting it into practice, for it will readily be admitted that such an

admirable and common-sense method of treatment should have the most

perfect means procurable for its application, but until the present time

the available means have remained crude and undeveloped. This, however,

is scarcely to be wondered at. It is the history of all important

discoveries.

Those great natural forces, steam and electricity, although their value

was recognized, yet required the aid of inventive genius to develop

their possibilities; in fact, it has required three-fourths of a century

to bring the locomotive to its present state of perfection, while the

potentialities of electricity are as yet only surmised. This being so in

matters that offer a rich pecuniary harvest to the inventor, it is

little matter for surprise that improvement in a means of combating

disease should progress slowly. In the first place, it was a new

departure, unheralded to the world, and frowned upon by the members of

the orthodox medical schools; consequently there was no tempting bait of

a handsome profit to encourage the inventor, and until lately the

indifference to matters pertaining to health was proverbial.

When Dr. Hall commenced his famous experimentation upon himself, the

only appliance available for the purpose was the old-fashioned bulb

syringe, which is simply a flexible rubber tube with an egg-shaped

receptacle in the center. One end of the tube is inserted in the rectum,

while the other end is immersed in a vessel of water, the injection of

the fluid being accomplished by alternately compressing and relaxing the

bulbous portion. It is needless to say that the process of “flushing the

colon” copiously, _the only effectual way_, was a tedious, inconvenient

and imperfect matter with such a crude appliance. After the lapse of a

great number of years the “gravity” or “fountain” syringe was invented,

which consisted of a rubber bag with a long flexible tube attached to

its lower end. The bag was suspended from a nail or hook several feet

above the individual, the water being forced into the body by gravity,

the pressure being increased or diminished by raising or lowering the

bag. This was a distinct advance upon the bulb syringe, but it still

left a great deal to be desired. In the first place, they are both

exceedingly tedious, a serious objection in the case of weakly or

elderly people; secondly, both methods necessitate the uncovering of the

lower portion of the body, which is decidedly unpleasant; and, most

serious of all, it is impossible to prevent the admission of air into

the intestine, and that is a fruitful source of pain and discomfort. It

should, however, be borne in mind that both of these appliances were

devised for an entirely different class of operation (namely, vaginal

douching), and were only used for intestinal treatment because there was

nothing better at hand.

Another method, sometimes employed by progressive physicians, consists

in using, in connection with the fountain syringe, a tube from eighteen

to twenty-four inches in length, made of a firm but flexible variety of

rubber. This was introduced (its entire length) into the body, the

theory being that it was necessary to get behind the impacted mass and

force it out ahead of the water, which was theoretically correct, but in

practice found sadly wanting. In the first place, the opening in the eye

of the tube became clogged with the fæcal matter, and, secondly, with

the double tube employed for the return flow, the opening was too small

to allow of the passage of solid substances. The introduction of the

catheter is a process requiring considerable skill, and a perfect

acquaintance with the anatomy of the parts, so that personal use of it

is practically impossible, or, at least, attended with considerable

danger. An examination of the diagram of the digestive apparatus at the

beginning of the book will enable the reader to understand the

difficulties attending its introduction, since it has to pass the

sigmoid flexure (No. 12), and the splenic flexure--that angle of the

colon where the transverse portion turns to descend. With such a

tortuous road to travel, the risk of injury to the sensitive mucous

membrane is excessive--hence this instrument should never be used by the

patient upon himself.

The author, however, felt that there must be an easier and more

effective method of irrigating that important organ--the colon--and one

unattended with any risk, and determined, if possible, to devise some

better way. After much patient and tireless experimenting he invented

and perfected the “J. B. L. Cascade,” a mechanical appliance which

completely rids the process of all its objectionable features, and

enables young and old, weak and strong, to use the treatment without the

possibility of danger. It achieves the desired result far more

effectively than any other known apparatus, with the least possible

inconvenience to the patient, and yet so gently and easily that the

operation, so far from being distressing or disagreeable, becomes a

positive gratification.

The letters J. B. L. are the initials of the words Joy, Beauty, Life,

which aptly indicate its purpose and effects, for we confidently claim

that its use will infallibly confer these three great blessings, it

being the one safe and sanative method of regaining and preserving

health. Without health there is no joy in life, and perfect beauty

cannot possibly exist, while with health life becomes indeed worth

living.

One of the gravest objections to all the hitherto existing appliances

is the construction of the nozzle, or tube, that is inserted in the

body, and through which the water is conveyed. These are all (without

exception) made with an aperature in the end, or extreme tip, the

consequence being that a small jet of water is continuously directed

upon one spot in the delicate and sensitive mucous membrane. With water

at the necessary temperature this is a source of grave danger, and

likely to result in serious injury, by causing a separation of the

various layers of which the membrane is composed. When this separation

occurs little slits occur in the rectal lining, in which fæcal matter

lodges, ultimately forming what are known as pockets, causing, first,

irritation, then inflammation, and, finally, results in

“proctitis”--chronic inflammation of the intestinal canal. The best

authorities agree in condemning the direct jet, while rectal specialists

regard it as one of their chief aids to income.

With these facts in view, the construction of my “injection point,” or

entering tube, engaged the special attention, finally, with the result

that a most successful means of overcoming this dangerous objection has

been provided. Instead of the opening in the end, the tip is made

absolutely solid, so that the impact of the entering water is not felt

at all, while it is provided with six rows of perforations on the sides,

through which the water is evenly diffused over the walls of the rectum,

which is a most desirable thing in cases of hemorrhoids or rectal

inflammations. It is also so constructed that the natural constriction

of the sphincter muscles holds it firmly in position in the rectum, and

while affording the water free passage into the colon, it prevents the

escape of the fluid externally, thus rendering soiled garments

impossible.

But the simplicity of the operation is one of its chief advantages, for

the patient sits upon the appliance in ease and comfort while receiving

the cleansing stream, and by following the directions the time occupied

in the operation need not exceed fifteen minutes, or about one-fourth of

the time required by other methods--an unmistakably valuable saving of

time and strain to busy or weakly people. The faucet is considered by

experts as a most valuable feature, on account of the “dome” portion,

which accurately fits the natural arch formed by the limbs when the body

is in the seated position.

Many people are accustomed to use the bulb and fountain syringes in a

reclining position and some physicians recommend the patient to kneel in

the bath tub, with the body bent well forward: an irksome, disagreeable

position and quite unnecessary. The theory is, that the water will flow

into the body by gravitation, but they overlook the fact that the

ascending and descending portions of the colon, being parallel in the

body, the water, while flowing readily into the descending portions,

would have to flow uphill in the ascending portions and by the time it

reached there, the force would be exhausted. The weight of the body

furnishes greater force, which is proportioned to the size and bulk of

the patient, but is not perceptible to him, on account of the solid

construction of the tip of the “injection point,” while the steady,

uniform pressure exerted serves to distend the walls of the colon and

thus liberate adherent matter. By far the great majority of people,

however, use these crude appliances while seated over a vessel, which is

decidedly injurious. By reference to the diagram of the digestive organs

it will be seen that the “descending colon,” that portion which

terminates in the rectum, is larger than either of the other divisions

of that organ. In fact, its capacity (in the average adult) is about

three pints, equivalent to three pounds. Now this weight, in a flexible

organ like the colon, must cause a sagging down, exerting a serious

strain upon its attachments to the abdominal wall, and by its pressure

upon the sphincters will induce prolapse of the rectum. That is one

reason why so many people find it almost impossible to receive enough

water to make the treatment successful. When a physician, or trained

nurse, is administering a high enema, it is a common practice to hold a

folded towel against the rectum, to guard against this pressure and its

possible results. The “dome” portion of the faucet (previously referred

to) affords the desired support, automatically and effectually prevents

any prolapse; while the handle of the faucet, projecting forward,

between the limbs, may be manipulated with the greatest ease in

controlling the flow of water; and, being seated on a warm cushion, the

patient experiences a pleasant, soothing sensation, which completely

allays any nervousness.

Moreover, realizing the immense advantage to be obtained by attacking

the germs of disease in their chief breeding place, an antiseptic

preparation is introduced into the water used in this remedial process,

which completely and speedily destroys the germs of disease; but

although so potent in its action upon micro-organic life, it is

perfectly harmless, even though a hundred times the necessary quantity

should be forced into the intestinal canal. But it is not alone a germ

destroyer, for it possesses admirable tonic properties, which act upon

the muscular coat of the colon and speedily restores it to its normal

condition.

Defecation, or the expulsion of waste substance from the bowel is

accompanied by the contraction of the circular fibres of the said

muscular coat, but when constipation has existed for any length of time,

the accumulated matter adhering to the walls of the colon renders that

organ partially, if not wholly rigid, hence the difficulty of

evacuation; consequently, through disuse, the muscles become to a

certain extent atrophied, and require stimulation to resume their

natural function even after the colon has been cleansed. It is largely

owing to the use of this antiseptic “tonic” that the “Cascade Treatment”

has been so successful in cases of obstinate constipation, as by its use

the intestine speedily regains tone and power.

I unhesitatingly assert that if the colon be regularly cleansed and

disinfected by this means, any bacilli or bacteria that may have

obtained a lodgment in the system will be quickly destroyed and

expelled--it cannot be otherwise.

And once the germs of disease are destroyed and their chief breeding

place kept clean by this simple process, and the re-absorption of

poisonous liquid waste into the system thus prevented, Nature, the great

physician, will speedily assert itself and effect a restoration to

health.

NOTE.

If the water is not readily expelled do not attempt to force it out

by straining. Instead, flatten in the abdomen by forcibly

contracting the abdominal muscles.

PART IV.

HOW TO USE IT.

Having endeavored to show the true nature of disease, the rational

method of treating it, and the superiority of the “Cascade” over all

previously existing methods for carrying the treatment into effect, it

may be well to explain the actual manner of using the “Cascade.”

In the first place, the reservoir should be thoroughly washed out with

slightly warm water, to get rid of the factory dust. At one time it was

the practice to cleanse them all thoroughly before fitting them, but

purchasers got the impression that they had been used by other persons,

so it was decided to abandon that practice and send them out with the

dust of the factory in them, in proof of their newness.

Having cleansed the reservoir, the faucet should be shut off and a

level teaspoonful of the antiseptic tonic dissolved in a little warm

water in a cup or glass and poured into the reservoir, which should then

be completely filled with water as hot as the hand can comfortably bear;

not to simply dip the fingers in and withdraw them, but so that you can

immerse the hand and allow it to remain without discomfort. If tested

with a thermometer the water should be from 100 to 105 degrees Fahr.,

but the hand is a safer guide, as it prevents any possible danger from a

thermometer out of order, or mistaking a figure in a poor light. If

tested by the hand you are absolutely safe, since water can be used

twenty degrees hotter internally than externally, but in its passage

from the body it would be painful to the external parts. Hot water is

the best solvent for impacted fæcal matter, and, on the other hand,

water below the temperature of the body is likely to cause pain. If the

hands are impervious to heat, an excellent plan is to test the water

with the tip of the elbow, which is a most sensitive part of the body.

It is necessary that the reservoir should be absolutely full to insure

the exclusion of air, as that is also likely to cause pain, and, in

addition, its presence is likely to prevent the proper reception of the

water, as, according to an established law in physics, two bodies cannot

occupy the same space at the same time. For this reason it is advisable

to solicit the bowels before taking the treatment, as, if even no fæcal

matter is expelled, pent-up gases are frequently liberated.

The reservoir having been filled as directed and the above directions

carefully observed, the “Cascade” should be laid down and the “injection

point” screwed in. It is then ready for use. Being all ready, the stick

of rectal soap should be dipped in water--to moisten it--inserted in the

rectum and withdrawn. This is simply to lubricate the passage and

facilitate the admission of the “injection point.” Then, standing in

front of the seat on which the “Cascade” is lying (as if preparing to

sit down), pass the left hand between the lower limbs and grasp the

handle of the faucet, to guide the “injection point” into the rectum,

and then carefully sit down upon the “Cascade.” When the “injection

point” has been completely introduced and you are comfortably seated,

relax the muscles and allow the whole weight of the body to rest freely

on the “Cascade,” and turn on the faucet, partially at first, then,

after a few seconds, turn it on fully and you will readily receive the

water.

The most convenient place to use the “Cascade” is in the bathroom,

placing it on the closet seat; or you will find the ordinary bedroom

“commode” a suitable article for the purpose, but if neither of these

are available, then any firm seat, such as a wooden-seated chair, will

do, but taking care to have a vessel at hand in which to discharge the

contents of the bowel.

As soon as the faucet is turned on and the water begins to flow into the

body, proceed to practise the following movements: Commencing in the

right groin, stroke firmly but gently, right across the pelvis, or lower

edge of the abdomen, to the left groin, then directly upward with the

hands to a point just above the umbilicus, or navel, then straight

across the body and down to the right groin. These movements are

directly over and along the course of the colon, and if they are made

gently but firmly, the water will be assisted on its course. A study of

the diagram of the digestive apparatus at the commencement of the book

will be of great assistance in enabling you to understand the reason for

and the method of these movements.

It sometimes happens that after a small quantity of water has been

injected there is a strong desire to expel it, which is sometimes due to

nervousness, induced by the novelty of the operation. If this be so,

shut off the faucet at once and resist the inclination, when, in a few

minutes, the desire will have passed away, then turn on the faucet

again. Be sure to allow the full weight of the body to rest on the

“Cascade,” and have no fear. It is the weight of the body itself that

furnishes the motive power and to ease up the pressure defeats the

object.

As soon as all the water has entered that you feel it possible to

receive, turn off the faucet, rise from the “Cascade,” sit over the

closet, or vessel, and allow the contents of the bowel to escape. At the

same time repeat the stroking movement previously described, but this

time reverse it, commencing in the right groin, up, across and down to

the left groin. These movements have a three-fold object: they assist

the water in its passage backward and forward, thus shortening the time

of the treatment; they force along the accumulated matter in the colon

with the current of water, and help to dislodge adherent matter from the

walls of the colon.

As we proceed on the assumption that the colon is more or less impacted

(which experience shows), we do not anticipate that more than two quarts

will be received at the first treatment, but as the accumulations are

removed by successive treatments, the capacity of the colon is

increased, so that at the end of the second week enough should be

received to completely fill the colon. The amount of water varies, of

course, with the bulk of the individual, but the capacity of the colon,

in the average well-grown adult, is about four quarts, but even in the

case of a person below the average size, it may safely be assumed that

three quarts of water are absolutely necessary for a successful

treatment.

The presence of from three to four quarts of water in the body will

naturally distend the abdomen and produce a little discomfort, but no

apprehension of any harmful result need be entertained. Rest assured of

this: it is absolutely impossible to rupture the colon, unless you were

to use a force pump, and even then, before the point of rupture could be

reached, the pain would be so intense that you would be compelled to

desist. Again, as we have pointed out, the colon is a wonderfully

elastic organ, and it would be an impossibility to distend it with water

to the same extent that it is frequently distended by fæcal

accumulations.

Whenever pain is present during the treatment it is usually due to one

of two things: either the water has not been sufficiently hot, or the

reservoir has not been completely filled, but, if in spite of these

precautions, pain should be present, it will be found advisable, after a

small quantity of water has been injected (say from a pint to a quart)

to shut off the faucet, rise from the “Cascade” and expel it; then, upon

returning to the “Cascade,” it will usually be found that the cleansing

of the lower portions of the bowel has removed the trouble. The same

method of procedure holds good when there is any difficulty in injecting

the water. In cases where pain is persistent, even although all

precautions are taken (although such are extremely rare), a decoction of

anise seed, made by steeping a tablespoonful of the seed in a pint of

boiling water, added to the water used for flushing (omitting the

antiseptic tonic), will act as an anodyne on the intestine, and

completely subdue the pain.

The frequency with which the treatment is used will depend upon the

nature of the trouble and the length of time it has existed. In the

great majority of cases it is recommended to be used as follows when

commencing the treatment: The first week use it every night; the second

week every alternate night; after that use it twice a week, or as

occasion seems to demand it. For the simple preservation of health,

twice a week will be found amply sufficient. After using the “Cascade”

it will be found extremely beneficial to inject from a half pint to a

pint of cool water and retain it. This will be found not only a valuable

rectal tonic, but an excellent diuretic as well, as it will pass off by

way of the kidneys, cleansing and purifying those organs.

The “Cascade” should not be used within three hours after eating a full

meal, as, if both the stomach and transverse colon are distended at the

same time they press upon each other, and the stomach, being the more

sensitive of the two, nausea is likely to be produced; but although

(with the above proviso) the treatment can be used with benefit at any

period during the twenty-four hours, yet, just before retiring at night

is by far the best time to take it, for several reasons. Firstly, it is

usually the most convenient time for the majority of people. Secondly,

it invariably induces a good night’s rest; for no sleeping potion can

equal its effects in that direction. Thirdly, night is Nature’s

repairing season, when she is busy making good the ravages of the

day--replacing the waste by building fresh tissue and by putting the

system into a cleanly condition and purifying the blood current; at that

season you are co-operating with Nature and may confidently expect, and

will undoubtedly secure, the best results.

After using the “Cascade” it is quite possible that there may not be a

movement of the bowels until late the following day. This must not be

considered as evidence of constipation, but simply a lack of matter to

discharge. In a perfectly natural condition of existence there should be

at least two movements of the bowels during the day, but it must be

remembered that the human system has acquired bad habits, and it will

require some time before perfect conditions are re-established. If,

however, from a half pint to a pint of hot water is sipped in the

morning, certainly not less than half an hour before breakfast, it will

stimulate the bowels to action, even though the “Cascade” had been used

the night before, while its cleansing effect upon the stomach will

assist the digestive functions in a marked degree.

* * * * *

It may be accepted as a truism that success invariably excites envy,

therefore, it is but reasonable that the astounding results that have

attended this method of treatment should have aroused a certain amount

of antagonism. The hardy individual who dares to propose a new departure

in the method of treating disease must be prepared to hear his theories

ridiculed, his system denounced, and, possibly, his motives impugned.

Consequently, it is not surprising that the “Cascade Treatment” has some

objections urged against it.

The first objection I am confronted with is, “it is not natural.” I

willingly concede that point, and will add that neither is an obstructed

and engorged colon natural.

We are living (in a large measure) an artificial life. In his barbaric

state man obeyed the calls of nature without regard to time or place,

and it is safe to assert that under those conditions an obstructed colon

was an unknown quantity. But in deference to the demands of civilized

life we disregard Nature’s calls and defer the response until a

convenient opportunity presents itself, and for this violation of

natural law, a penalty is inflicted.

An obstructed colon, therefore, being itself unnatural, man is obviously

justified in using the brains that Nature has endowed him with to

cleanse it. An artificial limb is unnatural, but would the same

objection hold good that because a man has had the misfortune to suffer

amputation, he must, therefore, limp through life on crutches, rather

than use the mechanical substitute that man’s ingenuity has devised?

Common sense teaches us, and experience has amply confirmed the

teaching, that flushing is not only the easiest, but the most effectual

means of accomplishing this purpose; and it is unmistakably the most

harmless, inasmuch as we use Nature’s most simple and effective

cleansing agency in the process--pure water. Sickness is in itself

unnatural, and until the system can be restored to its natural condition

reason plainly shows us that we must co-operate with Nature and assist

in removing these impurities from the system, a task which our disregard

of her warnings has prevented her from accomplishing. Cathartics simply

excite the excretory processes, and stimulate Nature to a violent effort

to expel them, the unnatural exertion being followed by a feeling of

languor, for all purgative action is debilitating. Flushing, on the

contrary, acts directly on the accumulated matter in the colon (which

cathartics never do), and, instead of causing an unnatural excitation of

any of the natural processes, it induces a calm, restful feeling and a

sense of profound relief.

“It is a debilitating practice,” the objectors urge. Here, again, I join

issue. I am in a position to prove a decided negative.

I have the evidence of thousands of people to the contrary--people who

have tested the treatment, and, setting aside the weight of testimony,

even the most prejudiced mind must admit, that actual, _personal_

experience is more to be relied on than unsupported theory.

Dr. Forrest said that his patients who had used the treatment for

months, and even years, had steadily gained in strength and flesh all

the time.

Another favorite objection is that “it causes the intestines to become

weakened and dependent upon this unnatural method.” To this I reply that

it is a well-known fact that at least fifty per cent. of people in

civilized (?) communities are slaves to the purgative habit, the system

refusing to fulfil its functions without this unnatural excitation;

therefore, if dependence must be placed in something, we should

unhesitatingly give the preference to water, as against cathartics, but

the whole weight of evidence shows that the objection has no foundation

in fact.

On this subject Dr. Forrest said: “Flushing the colon does not cause a

weakening of the intestines. When this procedure is no longer necessary,

owing to restored health, the intestines have also been restored and

improved in tone and will carry on their functions unaided.”

Dr. Stevens, who has used the treatment upon himself and patients for

over twenty years, says that it in no wise interferes in his case with

the normal movement of the bowels. To test it in this respect he has

frequently discontinued its use for a week, with the result of a regular

movement, as soon as enough fæcal matter had accumulated to demand it.

He recommends flushing every two or three days as a preventive of

disease. For over twenty years he has practiced flushing upon himself as

a precaution, and, although now between seventy and eighty years old,

since beginning its use he has never known a day of sickness.

It is contended by some people, including a percentage of physicians

(who should know better), that the frequent use of this treatment will

so stretch the colon that it will remain permanently distended. This

argument is so totally opposed to physiological law, to say nothing of

experience and common sense, that it is almost laughable. The veriest

tyro in the matter of exercise knows that exercise develops a muscle;

that repeated flexion and extension of the arm, for instance, will

strengthen the muscles of that limb, not cause them to lose their

contractibility. All muscle fibres are alike in structure, except that

some are voluntary, others involuntary, but that difference is simply

due to the difference in the source of nerve supply. There is no reason

that can be shown why the muscles of the colon should lose their

elasticity through exercise in contra-distinction to all the other

muscles of the body, since they are not subjected to any extraordinary

strain, the extreme tension only lasting for a few seconds, while as

soon as the water commences to escape, relaxation follows, and, in

addition, heat acts as a stimulant. The objection does not even merit

serious consideration.

“It operates against peristalsis,” we are told. I deny it, for the

energy evinced by the intestine in expelling the water is proof of

increased peristaltic vigor, if it is proof of anything. And even if it

did suspend peristalsis for a few minutes, is it not a fact that other

natural functions can be suspended for a much longer period, only to be

resumed with unabated vigor?

Equally absurd, and destitute of foundation, in fact, is the objection

frequently advanced that the washing of the interior surface of the

colon is injurious; as it washes away the fluid that Nature secretes for

the purpose of lubrication.

Where, in the name of common sense, do they get their authority for such

a statement? Do they not know that such a contention is in direct

opposition to physiological law? Does bathing the external surface of

the body prevent the further excretion of perspiration; or bathing the

eyes destroy the functions of the Meibomian glands? Does the drinking of

water prevent any further discharge of saliva into the mouth, or of

gastric juice into the stomach? If the washing away of a secretion

destroyed the power of the secreting gland, human existence would be

brief indeed.

The truth is, that not one in ten thousand has any practical knowledge

of the subject. They may possess a smattering, and in the endeavor to

make it show to advantage, they draw upon their imagination to supply

the deficiency. On the other hand, I have been making this subject a

constant study for the past twenty years, having had experience in

thousands of cases, and, therefore, contend that my opinion is of more

value than that of the average man--whether physician or layman--and is

at least entitled to respectful consideration.

Whether the practice of the treatment is to be persisted in will, of

course, depend upon the nature and habits of the patient. If the

pernicious habits that caused the trouble are not abandoned, a constant

resort to the treatment will be necessary. If the patient is naturally

of a costive habit, and has thoroughly weakened his intestines by a

reckless and indiscriminate use of cathartics, it will require a long

persistence in reformed habits before the weakened bowels will have

gained sufficient strength to fulfil their functions normally.

It is advisable for elderly people to use it more or less continuously

throughout life, for with advancing years the bowels naturally become

less active, and this simple process offers a valuable means of

assistance to flagging nature at the cost of little, if any, exertion;

in fact, after a little experience no more will be thought of using the

“Cascade” than of taking a meal.

I would strictly impress on the minds of those who propose to give this

treatment a trial that, like every other undertaking in life,

thoroughness and persistence are absolutely indispensable to success. No

great end was ever yet achieved except by hard work, conscientiousness

and perseverance, and these three factors are in the highest degree

necessary to restore health to a system from which it has long been

estranged.

If a chronic, deep-seated disease can be cured in a year, by a home

process, so simple that a child can understand and practise it, the

individual so benefited should consider himself or herself most

fortunate; and few will deny that the end in view--restoration to

health--is a full and ample recompense for the thorough and persistent

effort necessary to attain it. If it were a question of large pecuniary

profit to the patient, it is scarcely necessary to say that every nerve

would be strained to its utmost tension to bring the coveted prize

within his grasp; yet here the reward is of infinitely greater value, a

prize compared with which riches are as dross in comparison with gold.

It is Health, without which the acquisition of Wealth, is well-nigh

impossible, and its possession as profitless to the possessor as Dead

Sea fruit.

I write thus strongly on this point because there is a large class of

people who dabble in every new system of treatment projected, and toy

with every medicinal device that is placed upon the market. They are the

class from whom the patent medicine vendor draws his enormous annual

profits. Like a bee in a garden of roses, they flit from one remedy to

another, but, unlike that energetic and acquisitive insect, _they_ do

not gather the golden reward they are in search of--health. It is the

purveyor of the nostrum that secures whatever there is of gold.

They seem to be utterly incapable of continuity of effort, and, unless

they can discern a marked improvement within a week after commencing a

fresh method of treatment, get discouraged and abandon it. To this class

of people I say, in the most emphatic manner, that if they propose to

give this great remedial process a trial and expect to derive benefit

from it, that the cure rests entirely in their own hands.

They must persevere. They must be thorough. They must not expect

miraculous results in a few days. Their diseased condition is the growth

of months, perhaps years, and it is the height of unreasoning folly to

expect to be cured in a few weeks. A merchant whose business has been

crippled and who starts in to rebuild it, will consider himself an

extremely fortunate man if, by watchful and untiring endeavor, he can

restore it to a sound and healthy condition in a few years. Growth is

necessarily slow--and this is especially the case with the human system.

Nature will not be hurried. But of one thing they may rest assured, and

that is that if they conscientiously and persistently practise this

simple hygienic treatment they will find Nature a responsive and willing

coadjutor.

“Heaven fights on the side of the strongest battalions,” is a military

aphorism, and Nature ranges herself on the side of the individual who

co-operates with her most faithfully, who, in the struggle for the

regaining of health, brings the greatest amount of determination and

perseverence to the encounter.

What these irresolute dabblers in “medical fads” need most of all is to

be inoculated with good, sound common sense, but until some method is

discovered for the accomplishment of that psychological feat, they will

continue to run hither and thither after every new remedy, dallying with

all, and deriving benefit from none.

Perseverance in the treatment will achieve results that seem little

short of miraculous to those accustomed to the “hit or miss” methods

that have so long been in use. And, best of all, the benefit attained

will be permanent, for the system being thoroughly cleansed, and kept

so, nothing but fresh, firm, healthy tissue is formed, so that after a

year’s conscientious treatment the person practising it will be

practically a new being.

IMPORTANT SUGGESTIONS.

In dealing with the subject of constipation, which is the most prevalent

of all disorders of the body, and is, in fact, the fundamental cause of

ninety per cent. of human ills: the importance of drinking freely of

water, from one to two hours after eating a meal, cannot be

over-estimated, and most essential of all is the glass of water, half an

hour before breakfast. If the digestion is faulty, the morning glass

should be hot and sipped slowly.

Dr. James C. Minor, in his clever book, “The Plan o’ the House o’ Man,

Sir,” makes an excellent suggestion which I heartily endorse, as

follows: “Never rise from rest without turning on the left side for a

few minutes (although an hour is better), to empty the contents of the

ascending colon to the transverse colon and thence to the descending

colon, which is on the left side of the body. Never lie on the left side

of the body while food, water or medicine is in the stomach.” If

attention be paid to these simple suggestions, much trouble may be

averted.

PART V.

PRACTICAL HYGIENE.

Of all the dangers by which we are menaced, none is so greatly to be

apprehended as ignorance. This is especially true with reference to

health. The majority of people fall easy victims to disease, simply

through ignorance of the fundamental principles that govern health. It

is because they do not rise superior to this ignorance concerning the

health of their bodies that they become the prey of the unscrupulous

charlatans who thrive upon the maladies of humanity, and the patent

medicine vendors whose specious advertisements beguile them of their

money. The humiliating part of it is that these same imposters (in a

large majority of cases) possess but little more knowledge of these

subjects than their dupes, but are absolutely devoid of conscientious

scruples. It behooves every intelligent individual to see that this

reproach is lifted from him. Knowledge is held to be a valuable

possession in every department of life; but in no instance will it yield

greater returns for the investment than in the field of hygiene--in

learning how to keep well.

It must not be imagined that because the treatment previously described

is such a wonderful curative and preventive of disease that nothing more

is necessary--that all other hygienic measures can be ignored. These

bodies of ours were given us for a nobler purpose than to be the sport

of our caprice or neglect. It is our duty to treat them as a divine

trust.