_"The cause of the Poor to plead on,
'twixt Deity and Demon."_
(Carlyle).
_"Child of mortality whence contest thou,
Why is thy countenance sad, and why are
Thine eyes red with weeping?"_
(Bartauld).
I have opened this chapter with somewhat startling mottos, for its
pathetic theme is Children and children's disease; and it seems to me
appropriate, in view of what it portends, to send forth in this form a
world-thought, as a harbinger of sympathy--a foreword which may set in
motion the thought-waves of pity. For of all living creatures born into
this world of pompous ignorance and maudlin solicitude to struggle for
precarious existence from the cradle to the grave, by reason of the
unnatural conditions of our vaunted hygienic and educational
systems--generously termed "civilization"--there is surely nothing quite
so "poor," so woefully devoid of practical protection, and, in its
exceptional helplessness, so weakly gushed over and little understood as
the child of frail humanity.
"The cause of the poor"--thus the legend runs--"in deity's or demon's
name." For truly, of the two angels which, we are told, attend upon the
birth of credulous mankind and the initial stages of development, the
malign influence would seem to be ever in the ascendant, irrespective of
the social status of the, more or less, pre-natally affected, innocent
reproduction wherein is focused the latent follies and delinquencies of
the race, as portrayed in the course of its long pangenesis.
Now, incredible though it may seem and deplorable though it be, the
secret which has revealed itself with absolute force and conviction to
the judicial minds of unemotional scientific observers is simply this:
that the children of the present generation are, as an incontestable
matter of actual fact, really brought into this world alive and some
attain to maturity, not through maternal intelligence, but rather, _in
spite of mothers_. This is a hard saying but none the less a truth. They
survive in spite of the idiosyncracies of their fondly irrational,
untutored mothers rather than because of any practical, efficient
effort these contribute towards the well being and survival of their
offspring. This, as a general rule, is unhappily beyond question. It is
a rule which has, naturally, many exceptions,--many brave and brilliant
ones--these however only serve to confirm it.
Comte, writing as an authority on the subject, made the assertion that
there is hardly an example on record of a child of superior genius whose
mother did not possess also a superior order of mind. As an example he
cites: The mother of Napoleon Bonaparte, high-souled, heroic and
beautiful; the mother of Julius Caesar, a singularly fine character,
wise and strong; the mother of Goethe,--affectionately termed: "The
delight of her children, the favourite of poets and princes--one whose
splendid talents and characteristics were reproduced in her son." There
are also, we know full well, unnumbered hosts of others, whose kindly
light has been shed in many an humble or secluded home, whose beloved
names have been called blessed by thousands though unrecorded in
historic page--who have lived and loved and passed on to higher
realms--to the world, to eulogy and to fame unknown.
In ancient days, when Athens was the centre of culture and of learning,
the Greek mothers were more prone to regard the significance of
pre-natal influences than are the mothers of the present day of putative
advancement. The hereditary tendencies of child-life, with all its
complexities of racial and ancestral character and the qualities
resulting from the dual source of parentage, were then perhaps better
understood, or at least more seriously considered; also the obvious but
grossly disregarded fact that the cradled infant of today may be the
responsible citizen of the future, was kept more effectively in mind and
its significance to the State more fully recognized. The wisdom of
Solomon was never more clearly demonstrated than when he said: "Train up
a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart
from it." It is a piece of world philosophy which has reigned
unquestioned throughout the ages--a policy upon which human discernment,
in Church and State, has relied with unfailing effect; "for the thoughts
of a child are long, long thoughts"--those well-remembered words, how
true; for those "long thoughts"--the mental environment of the formative
period of child-life--do inevitably determine the future character of
the individual, and the immediate result of neglect in these vitally
important stages is painfully and promptly apparent in the aggressive
and unchildlike deportment of the turbulent young neophytes of both
sexes, so disproportionately in evidence in all directions throughout
the community of the present, as to bring into ridicule and utter
contempt existing methods of control. This dire defect in individual
restraint may be largely ascribed to both physical and mental
degeneracy, of hereditary origin; and when to this is added the attempts
of parents to maintain the tranquility of the home by threats, bribery
and fatuous promises--undue severity on the one hand and undue licence
on the other--serious developments are not far to seek. It has been well
said that children who are governed through their appetites in their
infancy are usually governed by their appetites in maturity. Thus it is,
by unwise methods of control which appeal wholly to the spirit of
greed, emulation and selfishness in the child--the purely animal
instincts--with perhaps the occasional degrading influence of corporal
punishment, as a later development, that so many young lives are wrecked
and the downward path made easy which leads through duplicity to crime.
The infantile precosity of the age leaves little scope for the old-time
sentimental prudery of parents who fail to discriminate between
innocence and ignorance; but it has been stated by a well known American
authority on the subject of child-culture, whose experience of
child-life and schools is nation-wide, that only about one child in a
hundred receives proper instruction early enough to protect it from
vice. Then again there supervenes the evil of the competitive school
system which, too frequently, forces the education of a child beyond the
natural order of growth. Countless numbers of little ones are injured by
enforced premature development, thereby diverting the vital forces to
the development of the brain which should be devoted to the development
of the body.
Encompassed by such a chain of adverse circumstances as the combined
result of parental egotism and pedantic, pedagogical ignorance, is it
wonderful, I would ask, that the ghastly record of the hideous sacrifice
of child-life is what it is, and that the young lives which do by chance
escape the horrible holocaust, still reap the prevailing harvest of
prolific ills of which the coming explanation will give some adequate
conception.
Often the fondly futile questions fall from the anxious lips of maternal
foreboding: What has the future in store for me? Will my child live?
Will providence grant me this long-sought blessing? A thousand such
thoughts continually assail the heart in a mother's intense solicitude;
but not in vain will her hopes be set, if haply, she may reverently
follow the course of Mother Nature's laws and precepts, into which I
will endeavor to give you some insight.
Every thinking man must shudder to find it recorded in statistical
tables how insane asylums and prisons are overflowing, how suicides and
crimes against life and soul are but common incidents. It is not hard
for each one of us to see the demon of greed and avarice in the eyes of
those we meet, ready and eager to snatch away the very bread from the
lips of his fellow man because he, too, is hungry and lacking life's
necessities. The egotism of mankind grows constantly stronger; all are
in haste to become rich, that thus they may enjoy life before its little
span is spent. What has become of the youths exuberant in strength, who
once were wont to set out, all jubilant with song, in their heyday of
freedom, to revel in nature and bathe their lungs in its balsamic
atmosphere--to return strengthened to their sleep at early evening, and
who really sought to retain their health? They who were the pride of
their parents, the joy of their sisters, the blissful hope of a waiting
bride. Can we recognize such in the average youth of today,--the citizen
of the tomorrow--these effigies of men, degraded by the demons of
alcohol and nicotine, by the gambling passion, and by the company of
loose women, into dissipated dissolute invalids unwholesome in
themselves and a menace to the race?
Let us pass on rather to the gentler sex.
Where are the sprightly, modest maidens with cheeks rosy with healthy
blood, graceful in figure with well developed forms--the chaste, pure
spirit shining in their eyes, with witchery and common sense combined?
Where are the fathers and mothers whose good fortune it is to possess
such children as these? Can it be that they should deem these
caricatures of fashion worthy of their fond desire?--these whose days
are spent in idling, who find their pleasure in the streets, the shops,
the theatres and the like they term "society?"
Those men are old at forty years.
Those youths too often die at twenty, dissipated wrecks, holding as a
mere ceremony the marriage they expect eventually to consummate; or
married, now and then produce a single child that had far better never
have been born.
What of those mothers who cannot nourish their own offspring, but fain
would make shift with all imaginable unnatural substitutes and bring up
children in whom a predisposition to disease has already been born?
Oh nature! High and mighty mistress! A bitter penalty dost thou exact
from these thine erring progeny.
And rightly so.
Cruelly plain dost thou stamp thy mark on the tiny brow of the unborn
child to mark in what degree its parents have departed from thine
eternal ways of truth.
When a great man, recently, in his address before the body of a famous
university, solemnly asserted that mankind is growing better, day by
day, he must have had before his inner eye fair visions of a future
race--the Future of Truth, which come it must--some day--but now lies
dormant in the lap of the gods, its alluring, visionary, transcendental
form depicted, for an optimistic instant, in the fervent, hopeful heart
of a sincere but far-sighted reformer. But it is written: false prophets
must come, deceiving in respect to all things in heaven and earth.
"Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur." (The world wishes to be deceived,
therefore, let it be deceived.) The world elects to be deceived. It is
so--often on the most paltry of pretences. And here lies the fatal and
prolific cause which has ever, throughout the ages, wrought infinite
harm and impeded the progress of the world: _The world's indifference to
truth._
For the proper understanding and radical cure of any disease it is of
primary importance to have before the mind's eye a distinct picture of
its character and developments, thus tracing it back step by step to its
source, so that the therapeutic, or healing measures employed may be
properly adjusted to its various stages.
Nature has her foes, chief amongst which are ignorance, indulgence and
fear; and these foes have ever waged fierce warfare upon her from time
immemorial. But today a positive spiritual revolution is being wrought
among men, for Mother Nature is calling defaulting humanity back to
herself with no uncertain voice.
Back to Nature is now the cry.
Never before were homilies on food so manifold and the ability to profit
by them so diminished; never were remedies so abundant and conditions of
health so bad; never were deeds of charity so numerous and the poor so
discontented; never were measures of reform so prominent and their
results so meagre; never was production of commodities so enormous and
the cost of living so excessive; never were the resources of all the
world so accessible and counterfeits so plentiful; never was
enlightenment so widely diffused and sound judgment so restricted; never
were the avenues of truth so open, yet never was falsehood so
widespread, as in our time.
Our age--well named by Dr. Rudolph Weil, the Age of Nerves--has brought
to our service the most significant development of natural
forces--electricity in all its forms of application, to medicine and
industry and traffic; the expression of motive power in terms of
machinery--railroads, ocean travel, air navigation, and endless
appliances from the almost limitless scope of which, in the hands of
man, the master, not even the very wild beasts escape. Meanwhile
however--most strange anomaly--mankind degenerates in body and still
more in mind.
The race has become diseased, is suffering, cries out for a betterment
of its conditions, grows constantly more embittered and renounces its
faith in the powers, human and divine.
Epidemics of terrific proportions sweep their recurring millions into
the arms of death; diseases of stupendous mortality, such as
tuberculosis, cancer, syphilis, diabetes, and the extensive array of
so-called contagious diseases of children, are continually increasing,
in spite of doctors, hospitals, sanatoria, hydros, hygienics, asylums,
nostrums and serums, and continue to afflict humanity, taking their
ghastly toll in daily thousands, despite the vaunted but theoretical
advancement of Medical Science.
In the field of medical science the controversy rages at full blast
today.
An endless succession of hypotheses, conjectures and dogmas lies
widespread before us--a troubled sea of uncertainties--a complex
labyrinth of doubt.
The "doctors of medicine" are many but responsible physicians are few,
while disease is constantly on the increase among mankind.
It is really little that the people have to learn, for instinct has
taught them there is little to be hoped of succour from the professional
source. But the world-old habit of superstitious fear and reverence for
the "Medicine Man" fetish yet holds its grip upon the race--alike in the
savage or the Senate and, despite the knowledge of its fallacy,
humanity, still faithful, turns to it weakly, fear-driven, in its hour
of distress, knowing no self-reliance and no safer refuge.
The reader will pardon this digression, since it is better that from the
outset we should divest ourselves of all delusions and recognize
existing conditions as they really are in order that it may help to
eliminate these ignorant superstitions from the public mind and implant
therein the wholesome fact that there is _no magic in medicine_ but
simply _an ordinary problem of cause and effect_.
Existence is movement; the whole visible world is progress, development.
These are facts which, in truth, are daily becoming more generally
known. But man--even modern man--is still so stubbornly unyielding in
his faith that what he learns in an instant becomes immovably rooted in
his mind to the utter exclusion, generally, of anything new, which even
though it be a matter of demonstrated fact, it matters not if at
variance with this earlier knowledge; to him it is an impossibility.
How often the fallacy of such ultra-conservative principles has been
demonstrated has no bearing upon the case; the fact remains--irrational,
stupid though it be--that, sublimely indifferent to criticism, it
survives, with all the wrong and persecution that follows in its train.
But one of the most noticeable surprises of this description occurred in
the year 1896, when Professor Roentgen made public his discovery of the
X-rays; for through this discovery facts were disclosed such for
instance, as the permeability of solid bodies by luminous rays and the
possibility of photographic examination of bony tissues in living
creatures--facts entirely incompatible with prevailing ideas and
teachings. But these facts were not only intrinsically veracious but
were capable of occular demonstration, beyond all possibility of doubt,
and thus, as nothing could be changed or refuted, _science found itself
compelled, for once, to honour the truth in its initial stage_--to
receive them gracefully unto itself and adopt them in its teachings.
This discovery of the X-rays was followed closely by that of the N-rays,
by the two Curies, husband and wife. This further discovery was a still
greater surprise to the scientific world than the former one; for by its
aid was established nothing less than the inconstancy of matter.
Hitherto science, dealing not with knowledge, but with opinions, had
held the belief that the atom is the ultimate form of matter and that no
chemical or physical force can divide it, a teaching held to be
incontrovertible.
First, the discovery of the X-rays had markedly disturbed this belief,
and then, on the discovery of the N-rays, it soon became indubitably
clear that a constant destruction is taking place within the atom, an
uninterrupted throwing off of smaller particles.
But it is not our task to show how one discovery after another was made.
We are merely interested in knowing that, because of these discoveries,
we find today in the atom--not in the radium atom alone, but in every
atom as such--only a union of particles identical with one another, the
so-called electrons, being but special forms of electro-magnetic forces.
Professor Gruner writes as follows: "The atom is no longer the accepted,
final unit of matter, but has given place to the electron.
The atom is no longer an individual compact particle of matter, but an
aggregate of thousands of tiny bodies.
Furthermore, the atom is not indestructible; it can throw off successive
electrons or groups of electrons from its numerous contents and so keep
up a gradual, but veritable destruction."
Professor Thomson, who won the "Nobel" prize for his work on natural
science, makes these distinct assertions:
"(1) The electron is nothing more than a form of electricity.
(2) Each electron weighs 1/770th of a fluid atom. Of an atom, that
is, which, hitherto had been regarded as the smallest individual
particle.
(3) A fluid atom consists of 770 electrons and is formed of
electricity without any other material.
(4) The atoms of other elements, besides radium, are also composed
of electrons and of nothing else.
The number of electrons varies in different elements; for
instance, an atom of quicksilver is composed of 150,000 electrons.
(5) Electricity is the basis of all being."
Hitherto we have been taught to consider our bodies and their organs
from no other standpoint than that of their elements. For if we
attribute all the life of the body to the cells, these must consist only
of primary matter, like the atoms of which they are formed. But we have
now come to know that atoms, and, therefore, our bodies as well, are
formed of electrons, or we might say, of crystalized electricity,
consequently, we are compelled to recognize in the body a human machine
operated entirely under the direction of electrical forces. For
electrons cannot lose their electrical character, merely because they
are grouped together in atoms and form our bodies.
It is a well known scientific fact that atoms attract and repel each
other, just as is the case with electro-magnetic forces.
Our bodies, then, are not only formed of electrons, which unite into
atoms, but they are absolutely filled with free electrons; for every
atom is surrounded with an envelope of free electrons, or, in other
words, is the centre of a molecule of electrons, and carries its
envelope of electrons precisely as the earth carries its envelope of
air.
Thomson asserts on the basis of his latest observations that:
"Every atom forms a planetary system.
The 150,000 electrons of mercury, for instance, are arranged in
four concentric spheres, like a system about the sun."
When we arrive at a complete understanding of these facts and their
bearing upon life, we shall be able to control our bodies with perfect
success by regulating their electric forces and adjusting their
energies.
As yet the main difficulty which obstructs our comprehension comes from
the seeming dissimilarity of things within and things without man's
"passing strange, complex mortality." This apparent lack of
co-ordination presumedly stands in direct contradiction to the
similarity of electrons.
But however similar electrons may be, they still have different
vibrations, which cause the differences between various
objects,--between colors, shapes and sounds, between positive and
negative conditions.
It is only by differences of vibration in this world substance, which we
may now venture to term electrons, that we are able to perceive a
difference in objects around us.
It is a matter of primary interest that the organs of the body should
differ in this way; for in them are electrons with their inherent
electro-magnetic properties, upon which the whole bodily machinery
depends.
Within our bodies positive currents of energy flow from above downward;
for manifestly the remainder of the body is governed by the head.
The electrons of the head must consequently be arranged as in a
magnet--the positive pole above, the negative below--and they must be
always connected with their opposite pole, because the strength and the
nature of a magnet depend entirely upon such connection. Thus our heads,
under normal conditions, are cool, and our feet warm, so long as
positive electro-magnetic force flows from above downward.
In most men of the present day, on the contrary, a condition usually
exists the exact opposite of that common to normal healthy individuals.
A sense of well-being prevails in the body only so long as the
electrons are in sympathetic contact with their opposite poles, and,
because by this means they increase and extend their forces
reciprocally, there exists also throughout the entire body a feeling of
physical strength.
Life upon the earth is dependent, as we know, upon the power of the sun.
Positive electrical forces are displayed in sunlight, and we find that
the electrical forces of the soil furnish their complements. Electrical
power is manifested by both the earth and the sun--a fact unquestioned
by those acquainted with observations made in the field of
radio-activity.
As a third factor, absolutely essential, I may mention the ocean, which
I regard as the storage battery that distributes the power.
Then mark the natural contrast between these mundane and solar
forces--the one of a nature warm and vibrating quickly, the other cold
and more slow of vibration.
From this we may infer that we have before us an electrical opposition,
a polarity; and assuredly the electrical forces of the earth are those
which are negative, since they vibrate more slowly and yield to control,
while those of the sun are, on the contrary, positive, since they
possess the higher capacity for vibration and dominate the electrical
forces of the earth.
We may assert, further, that the forces of the earth are electrical,
whilst those of the sun are magnetic. In support of this assertion the
proof may be advanced that a magnet can raise a heavier load after lying
in the sunlight; for the close affinity, between magnetism and sunlight
are, in this way incontestably demonstrated.
The interchange of these principles underlies all mundane activity and
existence, and upon its cessation life would wholly disappear from the
planet.
The various organs of the body, like everything else, fall under the
immediate influence of this interchange of polar forces. The same
electric or electro-magnetic opposition exists therein as are elsewhere
apparent in nature and, for evidence of the same we have not far to
seek.
The phenomena occurring in electrolysis--the science of chemical
decomposition by galvanic action--are well known.
When a current of electricity passes through a fluid capable of
decomposition the acids gather about the positive pole and the alkalies
about the negative pole. We thus detect the exercise of separate
activities on the part of the positive and negative electrical
forces,--their polarization,--when we notice that alkalies and acids
separate upon the application of electrical forces.
Similar conditions exist in our bodies.
They occur in the mucous and serous membranes; for the serous secretions
react acid, the mucous ones, alkaline.
The contrast, in anatomical structure, between the mucous and the serous
membranes is due to the fact that they line the various organs,
respectively, within and without. It also indicates an opposition in
their electro-magnetic forces.
These membranes cover, not only the large organs, but also the small
ones, to the smallest muscular fibres.
In this way an electro-magnetic contrast exists in every part of the
body, and it is this opposition Of forces which keeps the vital
machinery of the body in working order.
Electro-magnetic attraction and resistance are the agencies which
control metabolism and the action of the organs, so long as bodily
strength and healthy blood are maintained. All internal and external
stimuli are nothing more than electro-magnetic processes.
Even our bodily temperature, as we commonly think of it under such
conditions, resolves itself into electro-magnetic force or its product.
Electricity, magnetism, light, and heat differ only in respect to
vibration, and are in the final analysis one and the same.
But since our bodies are not cold like the earth or, like its electric
forces, vibrate slowly, but are warm and of quick vibration, we are
sufficiently assured that they contain, not only the cold
electro-magnetic forces, of slow vibration, but also those that are warm
and vibrate rapidly. And thus, when a correct relation exists between
positive and negative forces--that is to say, between the forces of
electricity and magnetism, then only have we normal temperature, _then
alone are we normally healthy_.
When we come to enquire into the sources from which the body obtains
these forces, there is little to be said. They are well known, can
easily be traced, but to the keenest mind of scholarly research their
source of origin is still an unturned page.
Of things in the human economy which count, however, first in importance
are food and breath; for in every atom of food we eat and every breath
of air we breathe there are electrons which enter the body, there to be
seized by the attraction of electro-magnetic action, stored away, and
applied in vital processes.
A source of vital energy, commonly known and little recognized, is the
free, pure air, or, ether charged with the electrons of space.
Out of space, positive and negative electrons constantly pass into the
human body, their effect we feel at once; when, for instance, in a cold
room, we commence to feel chilly, or on removal to a warm room, or into
the sunlight, a comfortable feeling of warmth pervades the body and
restores its normal temperature.
Weather and local conditions have no small influence upon our state of
health. In dry and elevated positions or in warm weather the condition
of the body is more positive; in damp, low-lying places and in raw
weather the electro-magnetic forces have a negative tendency. _This is
the explanation of those disturbances of health which occasionally arise
and which we sometimes experience in the dire form of epidemics._
As an illustration, the difference of climatic conditions between the
adjoining States of Washington and Oregon are a case in point.
Among other disturbing influences which effect the electro-magnetic
forces of the body are _overfeeding_ and _underfeeding, too much_ and
_too little exercise_, particularly too much or too little
_stimulation_, or _false stimulation_, or excitement of a physical or
mental nature. Any one of these influences may produce disorder in the
relations of the electro-magnetic forces of the body. The positive or
negative electrons may be abnormally increased or diminished or their
location disturbed.
When the body contains too many negative, slowly vibrating forces, or
electrons, and its aggregate of electron vibration is consequently
diminished, the result follows that the feeling of strength--the
vitality, that is, becomes depressed; we feel weak, tired in the limbs;
we possess little warmth and easily grow cold; metabolism falls below
the normal; the skin becomes pale and so causes the overplus of negative
electrons stored in the mucous membrane to set up a morbid action of
that structure. Catarrh sets in. In short, negative diseases are the
immediate result; such, for example, as nervous debility, anaemia,
diabetes, catarrh of the stomach, intestines or air passages,
_influenza_, cholera and diphtheria. In these conditions the principles
of physiological chemistry laid down by me may well be called into
service and improvement effected by a correct adjustment of diet.
When there is an excess of rapidly vibrating, positive electrical
forces, or electrons, raising the vitality of the nerves and blood above
the normal, the sufferer becomes easily excitable; the body is hot and
inclines to inflammatory, feverish or positive diseases, which take the
form of inflammation of the lungs, measles, scarlet fever, chicken-pox,
typhoid fever, etc.
As I have already remarked, in order to understand a disease and to
undertake its cure, it is first of all necessary to form a clear mental
picture of its course and origin. With this purpose in view and a
medical library at command I have honestly tried to formulate from the
initial stages a mental picture of scarlet fever, measles, and kindred
ailments; but the entire medical literature did not advance me further
than pathological anatomy, which informs us that the original cause of
disease is certain changes in the form of the cellular elements of
different digestive organs, in the explanation of which the customary
technical terms are used, such as atrophy, degeneration and
metamorphosis.
By the aid of true physiological chemistry I have been enabled to trace
these mysterious incidences in the life current, learning that the
cellules--the smallest elements in the human system--require for their
composition alternating quantities of different chemical substances.
Which of the chemical elements these are, what mutual relations exist
between different organs of the body, and by what means they enter the
organism, it has become my intricate and absorbing task to observe.
In this investigation it was gradually made clear to me that every organ
and every tissue is dependent upon the introduction of proper nutritive
constituents into the blood.
Healthy blood formation is the one great essential requisite to the
maintenance of health or the cure of disease. And such blood must be
formed from a full supply of the requisite chemical factors, including
all of the mineral ingredients.
_Dech-Manna Diet._
This is a point commonly overlooked, and my organic nutritive cell-food
termed Dech-Manna-Diet is especially designed for the purpose of its
enforcement.
In order to obtain a clear understanding of the various forms of disease
which attack the human body, it is requisite to know more of the
condition we call inflammation. To this end we may consider successively
the following facts; namely, that electrons so fill the body as to bring
its condition to one equivalent to that of a magnet; that electron lies
ranged beside electron; and, that no alteration of location takes
place.
_Effect of Injury._
But now, suppose some part of the body is subjected to a morbid
irritation by some injury. The affected electrons are set into increased
vibration and acquire an excess of force above that of the neighbouring
electrons. For, the faster a substance vibrates, the more its force
increases--a fact with which we are familiar in the action of boiling
water and the generation of steam. In proportion as the affected part
exceeds the adjoining parts in the vibration of its electrons, it
becomes more positive than they and gradually involves these adjoining
electrons in the accelerated process of vibration. So, at the seat of
injury a centre of positive action is brought into existence which
becomes the more intense the longer it continues.
Since the electrons in this locality fall out of their regular
positions, in consequence of the general attraction and gravitate toward
their appropriate poles, they are found to exercise a reciprocally
repellent influence upon each other, by which action the vibration
naturally increases still further. This causes pain; for the pronounced
opposition of the electrons is attended by a feeling of considerable
unpleasantness. The blood, which is an efficient conductor of
electro-magnetic force, becomes involved through its ready mobility. The
affected part becomes filled with blood. It swells and becomes
inflamed;--quickened metabolism and greater warmth are produced by the
increase in blood contents and by the more rapid vibrations of the
electrons. If the inflammatory process progresses further, the tissues
finally disintegrate, partly because of blood stagnation, but chiefly
because of the supra-normal vibration of the electrons. Either the
tissues are shattered by this motion, or melt in the resultant heat.
They undergo purulent disintegration, as we may call it.
_Bacteria._
Since the cells created are formed of bacteria, that is to say, of vital
germs, as the body tissues are of cells, the destruction of the tissues
and cells of necessity sets bacteria free; these therefore are not in
reality the cause, but the result of disease.
_Febrile, or Positive Diseases._
In pronounced inflammation the disturbance of the electrons, the heat,
apart from the functional irregularities which occur in systemic
processes, is diffused through the entire body: the sickness becomes
fever. The blood is impelled with increased pressure throughout the
whole body. If during this process negative electrons hold the
preponderance in the body, the fever is of a feeble, adynamic type. But
when there are many positive electrons in the body and extensive regions
are involved in the disease process, so that pronounced cause exists for
increased vibration of electrons, there arise those conditions we
designate as scarlet fever, measles, and chicken-pox. For, just as in a
steam engine, the increased vibration of the steam exerts a strong
pressure upon the piston, so the increased vibration of the electrons in
the body finally drives the blood with a similar pressure to the skin,
where it produces stasis, or stagnation, sweats and other like
disturbances.
_Curative Process._
As to curative measures, the course to be followed is clearly
self-evident and defined. It could not be other than that of regulating
each vibratory body, of soothing the electrons quickened by morbid
conditions, and accelerating those which have been depressed.
_Law of opposites._
Since treatment can effect this end in no other way than by producing
contrary conditions it is evident that a plan of opposition must be
followed. And, just as day is the opposite of night, summer of winter,
heat of cold, the positive of the negative, so, from the changes
effected by this opposition every circumstance and every manifestation
takes its rise. This is Natural Law, fixed and immutable throughout
nature and for all time. Following this law consistently, our course is
clear and simple: in cases of innutrition we seek to increase the
nutritive faculty by means of proper food; for the overworked we
prescribe rest, for those who need exercise, work; warmth for the cold
and cooling for the feverish.
_Action of Water._
For cooling we use pure water, the most common and most serviceable of
remedies. It cools, soothes and restores equilibrium because its mineral
affinities determine its vibratory action as of lower, slower grade, and
because one of its constituents is oxygen, the most negative of all
elements.
_Action of earth or mud._
Even more opposed to inflammation than water, is earth, or mud. Mud
produces a more decided cooling effect than water; necessarily so,
since its nature is more pronouncedly negative, its vibrations slower.
Antiphlogistine, clay acetate, or mud, would be of undoubted service in
accordance with the law we have been following; But the same object may
be more easily and readily attained by the use of packs.
_Vinegar packs._
In employing vinegar in this connection, it should only be used with mud
or water. Acids are decidedly negative in their electrical action, and
therefore, have a curative effect upon inflammatory diseases. The use of
vinegar in connection with clay and water in the treatment of
inflammations and fevers is a common, old-time custom; but those who do
so, ignorantly perhaps, from force of example or hear-say, unconsciously
carry out in so doing one of the plainest scientific laws. Why so? Is it
because this liquid kills bacilli or destroys morbid products? No,
because it quiets the agitated electrons and equalizes their
distribution.
The safest plan is to take two parts water and one part of vinegar.
Vinegar prevents coagulation of the blood-cells, and in consequence,
stagnation and inflammation are avoided.
_Cooling Drinks._
For a similar reason acid drinks, such as lemonade, raspberry vinegar,
and diluted raspberry juice, are of the greatest services in
inflammations and fevers. They compose the system from within outward.
For, as soon as any electrical negative is brought into contact with the
system, streams of electricity course through the body and reduce the
inflammation. The best lemonade for this purpose is my preparation
"Tonogen," because it contains all the necessary acids, besides the
necessary constituents for inducing circulation and thereby preventing
stagnation It is easily established that patients treated according to
my method have become very much stronger and healthier than they were
before the beginning of their illness.
Formerly, the proportion of deaths among these who contracted typhoid
fever reached twenty and thirty per cent and even higher. These deaths
occurred simply because of excessive internal heat. Today, a wide
experience shows that hardly any of such cases succumb.
_Temperature Reduction._
The application of water in typhoid fever has secured for it a permanent
place in the sickroom. Not only have we been enabled by reducing the
temperature with water, to attain the very best results in the treatment
of typhoid cases, inflammation of the lungs, and all positive heat
diseases, but by the same measures, we are now able to forestall its
development with increasing certainty.
Brand kept typhoid fever away from his soldiers while it raged around
them in the severest form, by the simple specific of a daily bath of an
hour's duration in cold water.
It is easy to understand why scarlet fever, measles and chicken-pox--all
positive diseases--demand the exclusion of sunlight in their treatment.
Experience has shown that the treatment of these diseases makes a more
favorable progress when sunlight is excluded.
This fact stands in sharp contrast to all previous observations as to
the importance of sunshine in the treatment of disease.
_Negative Diseases._
Now let us leave the consideration of the febrile or positive diseases
and turn to those of negative character, as well as to disturbances
where a reduced vibration of the electrons, a preponderance of cold
negative electrical forces, and unhealthy action on the part of the
mucous membranes, constitute the condition.
_Curative Process._
In this instance, in order to initiate the curative process it is
necessary to accelerate the vibration of the electrons in the body--to
render the system positive.
The principal remedy is heat, because it engenders a higher rate of
vibration of the electrons. For this reason steam baths and other
methods of applying heat prove highly remedial in negative diseases of
the catarrhal and kindred varieties. They increase the vibration of
electrons throughout the body and consequently, stimulate metabolism.
The morbid activity of the mucous membranes is reduced and the blood
flows actively again toward the surface, so that the internal organs
experience immediate relief from abnormal pressure.
_Sun baths. Light baths._
Unquestionably in this age, marked as it is by the prevalence of
negative ailments, sun baths and electric light baths will celebrate
triumph upon triumph over disease, for they reanimate the vibration of
the electrons even more than do steam baths, and create a direct supply
of rapidly vibrating positive electrons. One can easily be satisfied on
this point by observing the result of the simple but conclusive
experiment of lying in the sunshine when cold. Baths in electric light
and in sunshine strengthen the system of one negatively sick, just as a
strong current of inductive electricity gives augmented force to a
machine operated by inadequate electric power. The responsive reaction
need cause no surprise, for every popular sea-beach shows with what
wonderful electrical results a salt water bath is attended when followed
by a sun bath in the sand.
_Exercise._
Equally important in the management of negative diseases is exercise.
Everyone knows that exercise makes us warm, and we know now that warmth
comes from a quicker vibration of ether, or rightly speaking, the
electrons of ether. So, not only is the circulation of the blood
improved and metabolism increased by exercise, above all, the vibration
of the electrons is enlivened, thus causing their character to be
changed to positivity, and the number of positive electrons in the body
to be increased. Consequently, negative diseases, which result from a
preponderance of negative electrons in the body, disappear before
systematic exercise, as the darkness of night before the rising of the
sun.
_Massage._
Massage not only removes mechanical disturbances of circulation, but
also increases the vibration of electrons in the body. It is, therefore,
an invaluable remedy in negative diseases.
In case of chronic depression, we should by no means underestimate the
importance of that comfortable feeling induced by the exercise of
electronal vibrations, which supervenes upon properly administered
massage.
_Colored Light Treatment._
A recent method of treatment is that by colored light. Sunshine,
prismatically dissected, is known to vibrate at a rate of about four
hundred million for red and eight hundred million for blue. The
different rays of sunlight therefore must have different effects upon
the world of living things, and red light must produce conditions of
less violent vibration, blue light of quickened vibration.
In scarlet fever, measles, and chicken-pox, as in all positive febrile
diseases, we have seen that there is a morbid increase of vibration in
the electrons. Here, therefore, red light is used for curative purposes
because it vibrates quietly. In lupus, chronic rheumatism, anemia, and
such diseases, a slow vibration of electrons takes place in the body;
hence, in such cases, blue light is a medium of cure.
_Internal Treatment._
These considerations of the effects of colored light bring us to the
treatment of disease by so-called internal means.
_Salts._
In a chemical sense the salts of the body are those compounds which
consists of two elements, such as water. All salts possess the
peculiarity of producing electrical excitation; consequently it is
possible for them to generate electricity when coming in contact with
carbohydrates. Now the entire structure of the human connective tissue
is nothing more or less than a combination of carbohydrates with a salt,
that is, with sulphate of lime-ammonia. In this way, natural electrical
energy of a positive character exists in the connective tissue which
forms the basis of the spleen, the lungs, the stomach, the intestines,
the muscles, in fact of the whole body. Therefore, the nervous and
arterial systems, together with the heart, are supplied, through the
medium of their basis of connective tissues, with electrical energy, by
the contact of the electro-negative oxygen which the blood furnishes and
the positive sulphate of lime-ammonia in the walls of these organs.
_Nourishment._
We now come to a consideration of nourishment. We recognize today the
truth of what was asserted years ago by Jezek; namely, that food
undergoes a kind of gaseous decomposition in our bodies--one in which
the atoms of the elements are resolved into electrons and so become the
foundation of new atomic structures. For the separation of atoms into
electrons and their entrance into new and different forms--that process
which is constantly taking place before our eyes in the external world
of Nature--must assuredly be likewise going on in like manner in the
human body.
_Food._
The world is just awakening and far more inquiry will now be made in the
future as to the chemical properties of food, and also as to its
necessary quantity and calorific value. It will then be clearly
appreciated that vegetable food has a higher value as a producer of
energy than animal food, because we find in it in more available form
the original elements of force which exists in all matter. For the
animal kingdom lives upon the vegetable kingdom and obtains every power
it has from vegetable atoms. In the vegetable kingdom the vibration of
the electrons is of an electrical character; therefore, vegetable food
is of value in the form of electrical force, through its nutritive
salts. By maintaining vital processes through its vibrations it renders
us another service of a magnetic nature. It is definitely known that
quite as much force is derived from vegetable as from animal food,
because the former is introduced into the system chiefly in the form of
a rapidly vibrating positive magnetic force. Because of its slow
vibration vegetable food manifests a lower degree of heat than animal
food, and plants possess less warmth than animals.
_Diet._
For this reason vegetable diet is distinctly appropriate in febrile
diseases. By reason of its more moderate vibration it is also the best
diet for nervous people.
_Food Standard._
The usefulness of any article of diet depends upon its adaptability for
entering into combinations within the system. This, in turn, depends
solely upon its higher or lower standing in respect to vibrations. This
is the reason why the human organism cannot subsist upon mineral food.
_Heat._
We need in our vital economy a definite amount of heat, or positive
magnetic force. This is lacking when the system neither produces enough
to meet its needs in compensation for expended energy or is not properly
supplied with food, fresh air and sunshine.
_Discretion._
For this reason it is well to remember that discretion must be used, as
any unauthorized, unwise or too rapid change to a strict vegetarian
diet may result, in certain cases, in bringing about an underfed
condition or in weakening, and even disease, so that the system may be
obliged to call in the aid of digestive tonics in order to obtain all
the material it needs for the formation of its body-cells.
Enough, however, has been said on the subject I think, to clear the
stage, as it were, of the debris of antiquated "orthodox" performances.
We of the independent and rational branch of the science of healing,
ignorantly termed "unorthodox," have devised a means of preventing
disease and curing it, when encountered, in a natural way, with
materials that regenerate and invigorate the blood, and this method is
slowly but surely fighting its way into general recognition. In time we
may hope to be able to make the so-called "inevitable" children's
complaints a matter of the past, and to raise a generation in which the
sins of the forefathers shall be extinct, so that sane and healthy
offspring will be the result. But pending such time--until the final
victory of the biological-hygienic system for the prevention of
disease--we are now prepared and able to cope with the still existing
conditions, and to heal, if proper attention is paid to our teachings.
_Diet for Children in General._
For the infant child as well as for its mother, it is naturally best
that it should be nursed by the mother. The infant should receive the
breast every three hours approximately, and no food should be given it
during the night, in order to make the feeding regular and avoid
intestinal catarrh through overfeeding.
A regular diet is necessary for a nursing mother. Hot spices and foods
producing gas, must be avoided. Tight clothes that cause degeneration of
the mammary glands, are prohibited.
If the mother is unable to nurse the child, and a wet-nurse cannot be
afforded, the child must be fed artificially, and this requires
painstaking care and attention.
The main factor is to secure good cow's milk, which is most like human
milk. Milk from cows that are kept in barns, should not be used, for
these animals constantly live in stables that lack fresh air, and under
conditions very detrimental to the milk.
The milk should be warmed carefully, thereby approximating the
temperature of the mother's milk (86° to 98.6°) before it is given to
the infant. The nursing bottle and the rubber caps must be kept
scrupulously clean. The milk should be shaken thoroughly before being
used, in order to make a perfect intermixture of milk and cream.
The newly born infant is not able to digest undiluted milk, and
therefore must receive:
1st to 5th day: 1 part milk to three parts water.
5th to 30th day: 1 part milk to two parts water.
30th to 60th day: Half milk, half water.
3rd to 8th month: I part milk, one-half part water.
Or:
1st to 3rd month, every 2 hours; 1 part milk, two parts water, with the
addition of 2 table-spoonsful milk sugar to I or 1-1/2 quarts milk.
4th to 5th month, every 3 hours: 1 part milk, 1 part water.
6th to 9th month: 2 parts milk, 1 part water.
Thereafter pure milk, with the addition of very little sugar, or gruel
made of oatmeal or something similar. Among the preparations that are
best known are Knorr's and Nestle's.
Not until the first teeth have made their appearance, should the child
begin to have thin groat soup, a few soft boiled eggs, and a little more
solid food.
Infants fed artificially must receive food frequently.
Later on, still maintaining the milk diet, light milk and flour food,
vegetables and meat gravy may be given. Infants and even older children
should, under no circumstances, receive miscellaneous delicacies, or
highly seasoned and greasy dishes. Strong tea and coffee are poison to
the nervous system of children.
In case of intestinal diseases milk must be substituted for other diet,
with decoctions of cereal flour. Furthermore, Dech-Manna chocolate and
malt-chocolate, boiled in milk, are recommended.
_Diet for School Children._
The appetite of children increases with their growth and years, and is
always a sign of good health. Much exercise in the open air is of the
greatest benefit to children. It is not, however, immaterial how
children are fed. The theory that children should receive whatever is
served on the family table, may be correct from the standpoint of
discipline, but it may bring about trouble if the food that is offered
does not agree with the stomach of the child. Food for children should
be light and display variety. It is not correct to believe that what is
eaten with aversion, has a healthy effect, and by forcing children to
eat food against which their natural instinct rebels, parents have often
seriously injured their children.
In a general way, soup, vegetables, farinaceous food or a little meat
and fruit is sufficient for the principal meal.
In the morning a cup of milk, cocoa or weak coffee (fruit or malt), with
a piece of bread; for anaemic children, butter and bread and honey.
Prepared in various forms, plenty of milk and farinaceous food, rice,
groat, oats, barley, cornmeal, fruit and cooked fruit should be eaten,
which all children like and which are superior in effect, since they are
so easily digested. Pure water with a little fruit-juice added
occasionally; in the afternoon weak tea with milk, fruit coffee, cocoa,
malt chocolate; in the summer time, cold sweet or sour milk; these
should be the drinks for growing children. Bread and butter with a
little marmalade is always welcome. When fruit is in season, some fresh
fruit and dry bread is sufficient in the afternoon; the supper should be
simple, warm or cold, but without high seasoning; potatoes with butter,
soft boiled eggs, bread and ham, cold roast meat, soup or some well
prepared farinaceous food one hour before bedtime. Food should not be
served very hot, should be well masticated and eaten with little to
drink during the meal. It is better to take a glass of water before the
meal.
Alcoholic drinks are strictly prohibited, since they produce nervous
irritation and make study much harder.
Game, when not too high and without spice is good for growing children.
Dishes prepared from internal organs, such as liver, kidneys and brains,
are usually repugnant to children, and should be avoided. Steamed
vegetables are preferable to those cooked with sauce. Salads for
children should not be highly seasoned, but should be prepared with
butter, cream and lemon juice, in which form they are of great nutritive
value. Avoid delicacies and mayonnaise dressing. Ice cream is the
delight of most children. Permit small quantities, but eaten with crisp
biscuit only, so as to avoid catarrh of the stomach.
Children should have one or two meals between the regular meals.
Greatest variety should prevail at dinner and supper, and the favorite
dishes of the various children should be served from time to time.
Taste and appetite are the means by which the intestinal organs express
what they consider most suitable for the system. That which tastes good
not only influences the health of the body, but also the mental
condition of the child. Proper food, ample time for play and much fresh
air will make the physician's visit a rare necessity. However, if a
child becomes ill, medical advice should be obtained immediately and
followed strictly, thus avoiding many sad experiences.
Nearly all forms of children's disease are combined with fever, and even
without any of the characteristic symptoms of the various forms of
disease, children are often subject to more or less intense attacks of
fever. Therefore, in the following pages I am giving an extensive
description of fever from a biological standpoint, together with its
dietetic treatment--not _cure_ for, as will be seen, _fever in itself is
not a disease, but the attempt of nature to get rid of a disease_.
This elaborate description of fever in all its phases will also serve as
a valuable illustration of the manner in which all subjects dealt with
are treated in my greater work: "Regeneration, or Dare to be Healthy."