medical science to qualified members of the profession, just as
discoveries of mechanical science are made by men working at their
respective trades. We have sorrowfully to admit, however, that nearly
all the great achievements upon which medicine plumes herself are in
the direction of increasing the doctors' power over his patient, and
seldom of giving his patient power over disease. It is also true that
the advocacy by unorthodox members of the profession of simple and
natural remedies often involves them in a charge of charlatanism, and
subjects them to persecution by medical associations.
If the medical profession were all that it is supposed to be, it might
be good that the reformer should suffer in solitude while his
experiments and methods were subjected to adequate tests and
criticism. If the associated physicians and surgeons jealously guarded
the public from quackery while they impartially investigated every
fresh discovery, the true reformer would welcome the protection
afforded him from the "counter-currents of senseless clamour" within
the doctors' own ranks, occasioned by party and vested interests.
It may be true that "loneliness tends to save the Seer from becoming a
charlatan and to make of him a true Reformer." But it is not that
peculiar loneliness of the Seer that the medical trade unions afford
the reforming physician. That is inevitably and sufficiently accorded
him by the "unwillingness of the masses to enter into the thoughts of
the Seers."[19] An ignorant and inert people will always follow a
charlatan, because they like to do things which are mysterious and
involve no trouble on their part.
[19] The reason "Why the Prophet should be lonely" is perfectly
elaborated in a chapter under that title in _Logic Taught by Love_,
from which I have quoted.
The Seer among doctors is boycotted by his fellow medicos _after_ he
and his co-workers have tested their experiments for themselves,
weeded out what is false from what is true, and proved their methods
to be right. Not only that, but too often it turns out that it is
proper food selection, cleanliness, personal effort and restraint
advocated by doctors as substitutes for serums and drugs, which
excites the opprobrium of medical coteries. Whereas, the misguided
Serum Specialist, who ought to be saved from himself, and from whom
the public ought to be protected, is given full medical honours--and
facilities to become that most dangerous type of charlatan, the
licensed one.
There are doubtless many abstract questions of health and disease
which orthodox and unorthodox doctors alike are unable satisfactorily
to settle. But if that be admitted, then it is certainly not in the
public interest that serum treatments should be accepted as almost the
last words in medical science. More anti-social still is it to attempt
to justify the compulsory orders of Parliament that expensive
sanatoria shall be built to cope with disease that might be more
economically and more satisfactorily treated.
Is there not too little consideration given to theoretical issues
underlying practical experience of disease? Is there not too great an
anxiety to force remedies at the public expense before all the
bearings of the different questions and their phases have been
considered? All new methods savour too much of compulsion. They all
require the provision of large armies of officials to carry them out.
It is interesting to note that the successors of the men who told us
how grievously the Church has failed because she is established,
should be so anxious to more firmly establish the medical priesthood.
Modern statecraft calls out to us: 'we will appoint officials to
inquire into and decide upon what is to be done, but we will make no
inquiries into the real nature of this disease and that: we will find
out remedies which, in the form of serums to be injected into the
blood, shall counteract the effects of disease: we will also appoint,
at your expense, doctors to perform these operations: we will force
the man whose family may have the misfortune to contract a disease,
which the doctors have not told him how to prevent, to submit them to
such treatment.' But nothing is said about the desirability of
exercising government over oneself, one's body and one's mind! And
nothing is _said_ either, but it is suggested, that, if one accepts
meekly coercive treatment by official doctors, one may probably be
able to ignore the laws of life and health without having to pay the
penalty.
No sane and properly instructed citizens would be satisfied to have
State officials compel them to do what they ought to do for
themselves. It is because of this and because the suggestions and
compulsions of modern medicine are in keeping with the prevailing
philosophy that accumulates knowledge without wisdom, that we need
such counteracting influences as are afforded by journals like _The
Healthy Life._
LAYMAN.
A DOCTOR ON DOCTORS.
"I charge that whereas the first duty of a physician is to instruct
the people in the laws of health and thus prevent disease, the
tendency has ever been towards a conspiracy of mystery, humbug, and
silence."
"I charge that the general tendency of the profession has been to
depreciate the importance of personal and municipal cleanliness, and
to inculcate a reliance on drug medicines, vaccination, and other
unscientific expedients."
ALEXANDER ROSS, M.D., F.R.S.
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MODERN GERM MANIA: A CASE IN POINT.
Under the sensational heading, _Doomed to Carry Germs: Woman Typhoid
Victim for Life_, the following account appeared recently in _News of
the World_:--
Almost unique in medical history is the case of a woman typhoid
carrier, who, it is said, will carry the bacilli with her through
life. The case is described by Dr Barbara Cunningham in a report
of the Manchester Medical Officer of Health. In order that the
woman shall cease to be a source of danger--as she has been
keeping lodgers--the health authorities are giving her 7s. a
week, and that, with her old-age pension of 5s., will be
sufficient to keep her without lodgers. The case has aroused much
interest in Manchester. The principal restrictions on the part of
the Health Department are that she must not cook or wash for
anyone. Anyone can, however, cook for her. In discussing the case
Dr Martin, who for 25 years was Medical Officer of Health for
Gorton, remarked that in some cases of typhoid carriers the
infection ceased to exist for a time, but it was unusual for it
to exist year after year. "The reason for the woman referred to
carrying the typhoid bacilli with her through life is," he added,
"because of a peculiarity of constitution. There is no remedy to
be found for it at present, and no means of freeing her from the
germs, hence the reward offered by an American to anyone who can
find a remedy for such cases. The germs themselves are proof
against remedies, and they go on multiplying. The woman is
incurable, and you cannot kill the germs without killing the
woman. It is the first case, to my knowledge, where the health
authorities have taken such measures to prevent a spread of the
infection." The history of the affair is interesting. The woman's
case had been reported to the authorities, and when her lodger
became ill with typhus she was suspected, and was found to be
giving off large numbers of typhoid bacilli. She was placed in
Monsall Hospital for two months, during which time she was
treated with gradually increasing doses of vaccine prepared in
the Public Health Laboratory, York Place. When discharged, three
separate tests were made as regards the typhoid bacilli. For one
week after her discharge the organisms did not reappear, but
during the second week a few colonies were grown, and in the
third and fourth weeks the number increased. Shortly after that
her lodger developed enteric fever.
This case is instructive, because it shows very clearly the utter
futility of the modern method of treating infectious diseases by means
of drugs and vaccines.
It is well known that the infecting agent or microbe found in cases of
typhoid fever originates in man himself, that, in fact, it is
essentially a man-made disorder. Dr Budd, who was the first to fully
investigate this important subject, brought together the most
convincing considerations to show this.
We know further that impure water and milk, shellfish and certain
foods which are contaminated with sewage are capable of giving rise to
epidemics of this complaint.
This was shown in Paris in May last, when a plumber carelessly
connected a pipe along which Seine water flowed to a drinking-water
pipe. The typhoid germ is always present in Seine water and this
mistake cost the lives of twenty people.
Dr Freeman, an American doctor, who has studied the habits of the
typhoid germ, tells us that it does not survive so well outside the
human body as does the tubercle microbe, but it can, nevertheless, do
an incalculable amount of mischief when the local authorities are
careless about the matter of sewage disposal.
A great deal has been heard of late of what are termed Typhoid
Carriers. There are apparently numbers of people who, while they
appear to be in good health, yet harbour these germs and are thus
liable to infect others with them; and the problem is what to do with
them.
The orthodox authorities, as happened in the case cited above, would
like to isolate them indefinitely and even to pension them off for
life, but this seems to be a hopeless way out of the difficulty.
The remedy seems obvious to me. Let us stop the drugs and serums and
use common-sense hygiene of the body instead. This must be patent to
anyone who has any knowledge of the subject; but why the authorities
do not put it into execution I am at a loss to imagine. Surely the
right thing to do is to clear away the impurities in which the typhoid
germs live. _By depriving them of the material or soil in which they
grow and propagate we should practically starve them out of
existence._
Moreover, this seems to me to be a perfectly easy procedure. If this
woman were handed over to me for treatment I should at once place her
on an antiseptic diet consisting solely of salads, grated roots, fresh
fruits, sour buttermilk and dextrinised cereals. The effect of this
diet would be to cleanse and sterilise the entire digestive tract, and
thus break up and clear away the soil in which the microbes are
living. Supplementary to this cleansing diet other means could be
adopted to effect a general purification of the whole body. Thus
vapour baths could be used to promote skin action; beverages could be
taken morning and night, consisting of distilled water with lemon
juice or suitable herbal "teas" to promote free action of the kidneys;
and colon-flushing treatment could be used to fully cleanse the colon,
or large bowel.
By combined treatment of this rational order, I am convinced that this
woman would speedily become freed from her unpleasant visitors and
would be enabled to return to her relations without, as it were, a
stain upon her character.
H. VALENTINE KNAGGS.
BURIED TALENT COMPETITION.
The Editors of _The Healthy Life_ are convinced that there are many
men and women who can write well and interestingly on subjects
relating to health in its many aspects; and they wish to unearth this
talent.
They therefore offer a _First Prize_ of _Two Guineas_, a _Second
Prize_ of _One Guinea_, and a _Third Prize_ of _Books_ (published at
_The Healthy Life_ Office) to the value of Half-a-Guinea, for the best
ESSAY, SKETCH or SHORT STORY appropriate to the pages of _The Healthy
Life._
Please read the following Conditions carefully:--
CONDITIONS.
1. Each Essay, Short Story, or Sketch must contain _not less than
1000 words_, and _not more than 2000 words._
2. Each Essay, Short Story, or Sketch must be written (or typed)
on one side of the paper only, leaving at least one inch of
margin on which each 100 words must be indicated in figures.
3. Each attempt must be accompanied by the front cover (or top
part of cover showing date) of either the December or January
numbers. (Where more than one MS. is sent in by one contributor,
extra covers in proportion must be enclosed.)
4. The full name and address of the competitor must be written at
the foot of last page, in addition to the competitor's _nom de
plume_ (if any).
5. All Essays, Short Stories or Sketches must be sent in not
later than the 31st of January 1914, addressed _Buried Talent_,
_The Healthy Life_, 3 Tudor Street, London, E.C.
6. No one who is at present, or has ever been, a regular
contributor to _The Healthy Life_ is eligible for a prize.
7. The Editors reserve the right to publish any contribution sent
in under this Competition.
8. The decision of the Editors will be final and no
correspondence can be entered into with unsuccessful competitors.
Competitors are asked to note that legibility of handwriting will
carry weight as well as intrinsic merit.
HEALTHY LIFE RECIPES.
SOUPS.
Many cases of ill-health demand that the meals should be as dry as
possible. Having granted this, it will be admitted that there is quite
a proper place for soups in ordinary everyday food reform catering.
The chief objection to ordinary soups is that they are made on a basis
of meat stock and flavoured with one of various "meat extract"
preparations. Meat stock, meat gravy and meat extract all alike
represent the least desirable elements in flesh food, namely, the
acids and tissue-wastes of the living animal at the moment of its
death--acids and tissue-debris which were on their way to normal
excretion via the lymph channels, veins, etc.
It is therefore only common-sense to avoid such soup-bases,
especially as the most excellent soups can be made without recourse to
any animal product.
The juices of vegetables, being rich in alkaline "salts" and other
organic elements, are the natural cleansing agents in a rational diet.
Hence to obtain a maximum _remedial_ effect, vegetable soup should be
taken in the form of a clear, unflavoured broth, quite apart from the
solid meals, and preferably on retiring. But for the dinner or supper
soup, some richness of flavour and creaminess of substance are
pleasing and legitimate.
The following recipes explain, first, how to prepare vegetable
"stock," and then how to make rich, creamy nourishing soups, on the
basis of that "stock." Each recipe will, of course, suggest
variations.
HOW TO MAKE VEGETABLE STOCK.
Put any fresh vegetables in season in a large stewpot--being careful
not to include _overmuch_ cabbage or other coarse green leaves, as
these give a rather strong flavour--with a quart or more of water,
cover, and simmer gently for at least two hours. The outer leaves
discarded when preparing vegetables for the table, the stalks and
stems, and the peelings of apples, potatoes, etc., should all be used
for stock, care being taken, of course, to cleanse them well first,
cutting out any insect-eaten or decayed parts.
ALMOND CREAM SOUP.
Mix two tablespoonfuls of fine wholemeal or good "standard" flour into
a smooth paste with a little water, add this to the hot stock (as
above), and stir till soup is thickened. Just before serving stir in a
tablespoonful of Almond Cream (either "P.R." or Mapleton's).
_The addition of the almond cream gives the above a nutritive value,
apart from the tonic and cleansing elements in the stock._
NOURISHING ARTICHOKE SOUP.
Pare, scrub and cut into small pieces, 1 lb. of artichokes and put
immediately into a pan with a pint of water or milk and water. Boil
till soft, then rub through a wire sieve, using a wooden spoon. Put
back in pan, add a little more water, a little chopped parsley, and a
small piece of butter (or nut butter). Bring to the boil, stirring
well; stir in a tablespoonful of Pinekernel Cream ("P.R." or
Mapleton's), and serve at once.
LEEK AND CELERY SOUP.
Put four well-cleansed medium-sized leeks (cut up small), the outer
parts of a head of celery (chopped), a quart of water and 2 oz.
unpolished Japan rice, into a pan and simmer for two hours. Rub
through wire sieve, return to pan, bring to the boil, and serve.
_This soup is not so much nutritive as cleansing and antiseptic._
TASTE OR THEORY?
FRUIT AND THE OXALIC ACID BOGEY.
Many and varied are the creeds of Health Reformers, but all may be
included within two main camps. And the opposing battle-cries are
Instinct _versus_ Intellect, Taste _versus_ Theory, _a priori versus a
posteriori_, Motives _versus_ Purposes. Some overlapping and confusion
of creed may be found in both camps, but in the main one is filled
with lovers of Nature, the other with devotees of Science.
"We believe in simplicity," cries the Nature-lover from the meadow
where he is taking a sun-bath; "you are so complex, so artificial."
"We believe in being 'sensible,'" retorts the devotee of Science from
the cabinet where he is taking an electric light bath, "you are so
extreme."
"Not extreme--consistent. Your treatment varies every month as the
decrees of 'Science' change."
"But your treatment varies every minute as the wind and clouds change.
I can keep mine constant with mathematical accuracy, or vary the light
to a nicety by pressing a button."
And so also is it with regard to diet. The person who talks learnedly
about germs and calories (though he never saw a germ or measured a
calorie in his life) will be found in the same camp with the electric
light advocate, while this other who cultivates a taste in harmony
with Nature by consuming what he likes best of her unaltered products,
he is found arm in arm with the sun-bather. But Science will by no
means allow him to eat his uncooked food in peace. "If we all adopt
_that_ diet," her pseudo-disciples cry, "what is to become of the
potatoes?"
Now, with regard to uncooked foods, it would seem that as little fault
can be found with ripe fruit in its natural state as with any article
of diet. Yet even here "Science" holds up a warning hand and is
succeeding in scaring people away from one of the most harmless, most
wholesome and most neglected of foods.
Leaving generalities, let us come to a specific case, an actual
difficulty propounded to me by a sufferer, one who had spent her
substance till she could spend no more in having various parts of
herself examined and in learned prescriptions and processes of cure,
but who found herself as far from health as ever. Obsessed by certain
theories of "Science," this lady had acquired a dread of sugar _in
every form_. Hence her query addressed to me: "In your book, _No
Rheumatism_, you say that sugar is to be avoided. Why, then, do you
recommend fruit, which is mostly sugar?"
I replied as follows: "The reason I recommend ripe uncooked fruit--in
spite of its containing a certain quantity of sugar--is that it
contains also purifying salts, and that for most people it is the
pleasantest form in which these salts can be taken. Moreover, fruit
sugar appears to be more wholesome than that formed from starch. When
you say that 'fruit is mostly sugar,' are you not leaving the water of
the fruit out of account? As the water often amounts to 90 per cent.
this makes all the difference. Taking the fruits generally grown in
this country the average proportion of sugar is seven per cent.
[This statement is based on the following figures given in Goodale's
Physiological Botany:--
Apples contain 7.73 per cent. sugar
Pears " 8.26 " "
Plums " 3.56 " "
Strawberries 6.28 " "
Gooseberries 7.03 " "
Grapes are stated to contain 24.36 per cent, but often contain much
less and sometimes even more.]
"Now a person eating fruit _ad lib._, but allowed other foods, will
hardly ever eat more than a pound or two a day (generally less). But
suppose him to eat two pounds. Seven per cent. of this is 2+1/4 oz. If he
eats only 1 lb. he takes 1+1/8 oz. sugar. Now compare this with
the amount he gets from starchy foods, say, bread, which contains
fifty per cent. of starch and sugar. As the starch, if it is to be
assimilated, must be (and as a general rule practically all is)
converted into sugar during digestion, we get from 1 lb. of bread 8
oz. of sugar (to be exact, nearly 9 oz., because starch forms rather
more than its own weight of sugar). But the weight of bread allowed
for daily food, if no other starchy or sugary food is taken,
is--according to orthodox physiology books--1 lb., 11 oz., yielding
over 14 oz. of sugar. Now I reduce the starchy food to 8 oz. or less
(_No Rheumatism_, p. 34), yielding at most about 4+1/2 oz. of sugar. You
see, then, that the patient can now afford to take even 2 lbs. of
fruit, because this will bring his total of sugar up to only 6+3/4 oz.,
as against 14 oz. allowed by the orthodox. And if, as I recommend (p.
33), fruits containing but little sugar (especially cucumbers) are
taken, his total sugar under my regime will be even less than 6+3/4 oz.
"As so many people fail to distinguish between fruit sugar occurring
naturally in fruit and ordinary separated and concentrated cane sugar,
or even beet sugar separated by various chemicals--'shop sugar,' in
fact--I translate for you a passage from Dr Carton's _Trois Aliments
Meurtriers_[20]:--
[20] _Some Popular Foodstuffs Exposed_, translated by D.M. Richardson.
1s. net. Daniel.
"'Let us proceed now to the study of the third deadly food. The sugar
contained in vegetables and raw fruits is a living aliment,
physiologically combined with the protoplasm of the vegetable cells,
associated with ferments and with vitalised chemical salts. The
absorption of this natural sugar is effected by a harmonious contact,
by an exchange of energy between the living vegetable cells and our
living digestive cells.
"'The sugar of commerce, on the contrary, is a dead food which has
lost all association with vegetable protoplasm, with vitalised mineral
salts and with oxidising ferments which would render it physiological.
It is nothing more than a drug, a dangerous chemical, because Nature
has nowhere presented it to us in this form.... Its absorption
involves an anti-physiological irritation which over-excites the
viscera, and when repeated ends by profoundly altering them.'"
"This is all very well," cries Pseudo-Science, "but people may eat too
much fruit."
"Certainly, but then I warn them at once," quoth Taste.
"But they have an idea it is good for them, and they disregard your
warnings."
"If they 'have an idea' which runs counter to my warnings and my
penalties, to say nothing of my promises and my rewards, then they can
only get that idea from you, Mr Pseudo-Science, with your theories and
your figures and your long words."
"Why not from your relative, Unnatural Taste? Anyhow, it is my duty to
warn them."
"If they don't heed my warning, they certainly won't heed yours," says
Taste.
"But I can paint such a picture of the trouble they store up for the
future if they persist in excessive fruit eating!"
"Never mind about persisting and storing up for the future. I punish
excess in fruit eating as in everything else by prompt discomfort and
pain."
"But what do you know about oxalic acid?"
"Enough to avoid it. Like every other poison it is repugnant to me."
"Yet fruit which is so nice in the mouth may ferment in the intestines
and form that very poison. Then what are you going to do about it?"
"Take care that not too much fruit is eaten another time."
"But in the meantime the oxalic acid already formed must be
neutralised at once."
"No, no! It would be a pity to do that. Oxalic acid is the latest
fashion. What would your patients do without it? And what would you do
without your patients?"