(After Goethe.)
But let us weigh this long list of symptoms and estimate their
respective significance by the light of physiological perception.
The ever present fever is due to stagnation of the blood. Swelling of
the spleen is caused by catabolism of the Malpighian bodies. Albuminuria
is the result of cold in the Plexus renalis; Perspiration is due to
numbness in the nerve fibrils. The inclination of the mucous membranes
to Hemorrhage is explained by congestion of blood in the capillaries,
due to lack of vigor in the nerve fibrils. When the nerve fibrils fail
to act, the capillary circulation stops and the blood overloaded with
carbonic acid presses against the walls until they burst.
The complications and after effects are explained in the following
manner:
Complications in the respiratory system are all due to failure to
properly treat the acute stage of the disease, and where the resistance
of the patient has been sapped they usually end fatally. Complications
in the circulatory system are subject to the same explanation as fever.
Digestive complications are due to impaired metabolism brought on by
loss of energy in the Vagus nerve. Complications in the nervous system
are consequent upon the degeneration of the whole Vagus tract. Sensory
complications are due to the disease attacking the "minoris
resistentia," the point of least resistance in the patient.
This explanation of the real significance of the symptoms of Influenza
should make it sufficiently apparent that its cause is fundamental,
widespread and deeply rooted in the organism--a menace not to be lightly
and tentatively treated with impunity. That the disease is not one that
may be met--with any prospect of success--with febrifuges, drugs, serums
and specifics--to say nothing of whisky and the like futilities, to use
no harsher term, such as are said to have characterized the
prescriptions of a very considerable proportion of the Regular Medical
Profession and with such terribly disastrous results. What the liquor
statistics show on our side of the line I am at the moment unable to
say, but I see it reported in the press of an adjoining province that
under nominally strict "Prohibition" the sale of liquor had increased no
less than 900 per cent, largely upon doctors orders, and that the sales
from the Government stores in one city, during the past month had
totaled $50,000--as compared with $6,000 for the corresponding period of
the previous year.
The Professor's elaborate diagnosis, from a physiologico-chemical point
of view seems rather to point to a meaning which he has missed--to
indicate a latent, more remote possibility behind the shy bacillus, as
the primary cause of the disease.
Let us endeavor to read the riddle rightly. On scientific contemplation
it at once becomes apparent that the symptoms as defined by
Kuhnemann--and indeed all other observers--are confined to the regions
traversed by the _Vagus_ (wandering) or _Pneumogastric_ nerve--a nerve
of comprehensive scope and bi-functional activity, _physical and
psychic_ and in operation, remarkably in accord with the manifestations
of Influenza.
Concisely stated, the physiological function of the _Vagus nerve_ is to
regulate the process of breathing, tasting, swallowing, appetite,
digestion, etc.; and the result of its failure to function would create
coughing, choking, indigestion--separately or in combination. Its mental
functions include the expression of shame, desire, disgust, grief,
torture, depression and despair.
The following is its academic description:
_Vagus_ or Pneumogastric nerve (tenth cranial); function--sensation and
motion; originates in the floor of the fourth ventricle (the space which
represents the primitive cavity of the hind-brain; it has the pons and
oblongata in front, while the cerebellum lies dorsal), and is
distributed through the ear, pharynx, larynx, lungs, esophagus, and
stomach; possesses the following branches--auricular, pharyngeal,
superior and inferior laryngeal, cardiac, pulmonary, esophageal,
gastric, hepatic, communicating, meningeal.
It is interesting to compare the scope and characteristics of the Vagus,
as here defined with the details of Prof. Kuhnemann's diagnosis of
Influenza and to draw conclusions.
In order to establish more unmistakably the symptomatic sympathetic
connection between the Vagus and Influenza, it may be well to touch
briefly upon the initial processes of metabolism and nerve production.
An inherent impulse in the ovum (protoplasm or egg cell) serves to
separate the albuminous substance into groups of an opposite nature.
Water is chemically separated from one portion, which results in
thickening the albumen from which it was extracted, while the liberated
water aids in liquifying another portion of the albuminous matter. Thus,
on one side slender threads arise, termed fibrine or filaments, and on
the other lymph fluid appears, which receives the particles of salts
freed from the filaments during their chemical separation. When the
fibrine and lymph are organized from the protoplasm, the remaining
albumen is absolutely unchanged and ready to furnish material for the
growth of either.
It is the function of salts to increase the electrical tension of the
lymph. All salts possess the property of being electrically positive or
negative. The more concentrated a saline solution, the greater its
electrical energy.
That the function of the lymph is to assist in the formation and
nutrition of the nerves is apparent when the nature of lymph and the
composition of nerve substances are compared. The contrast which exists
between fibrine and lymph, and the similarity of lymph to nerve fat when
taken together, justify the conclusion that the nerve substance
lecithin, was formed from lymph in the first instance.
The whole process of life consists of an electro-chemical combustion.
This is clearly shown in the case of lecithin, which serves to control
both motion and sensation. In the presence of oxygen it burns up,
forming a new chemical combination, and throwing off minute quantities
of carbonic acid and water in the process. _Every movement and process,
both voluntary and involuntary, and every thought and emotion, depends
upon oxidation, which consumes muscular tissue and nerve substance._
The greater our physical exertion the more muscular tissue must be
consumed. The higher our emotional state, the more we think or agitate
ourselves, the greater must be the quantity of nerve substance burned
up. All of the substance burned up in labour, in worry and in thought,
must be replaced or the flame will flicker out!
The metabolism of muscular tissue is not in question at the moment. We
are concerned here with nerve metabolism alone.
This occurs in the following manner: In response to the demand for new
material created by the chemical combustion of lecithin, new oil flows
down the axis cylinders of the nerve fibrils, which are arranged
somewhat in the manner of lamp wicks. The average duration of the flow
of this oil is about eighteen hours. When the cerebro-spinal nerves
refuse to perform their function any longer, because the supply of oil
is running low, fatigue and sleep ensue, and the blood descends from the
brain to the intestines. Thus the cerebro-spinal system is permitted to
relax and rest. In the meantime the sympathetic nervous system has taken
up the task of directing the renewal of worn tissues, which draw their
supply of necessary materials from the digestive canal, with a new
supply of phosphatic oil. For the carrying out of these processes, which
prepare the brain and spinal nerve system for the demands of another
day, the magnetic blood current acts as distributor of supplies.
Through the fact that this supply is directly dependent upon nutrition,
three possibilities inevitably present themselves:
(1) That any radical change of diet may result in an insufficient
supply of the various elements necessary for the production of
lecithin in the requisite quantities.
(2) That strenuous and unaccustomed physical and mental exertion
may involve a consumption both of nerve substance and muscular
tissue, greater than the outcome of the ordinary diet is able to
compensate.
(3) That a protracted term of emotional strain and agitation may
adversely affect both appetite and digestion while rapidly
consuming the substance of the nerves.
In discussing the causes of disease Julius Hensel lays great stress upon
the emotions. He goes so far as to say that they "_undoubtedly occupy
the first place amongst the factors causing disease_, and we must not
evade the consideration of them. _We shall find that their action also
amounts to an electro-chemical process._" I would not for an instant be
understood to contend that the emotions alone are sufficient to explain
the origin of disease--not at all. There are other factors--jointly or
severally dominant--diet, occupation, changes of weather, climate, or
conditions.
In the matter immediately under review, however, the world-wide pandemic
of "Spanish Influenza," there can remain no shadow of doubt in the mind
of any unbiased observer who follows the question fairly along the lines
of electro-chemical biology, but that the general emotional
disturbances incident upon the war conditions of the world, combined
with the chaotic dietetic position with its anxieties and privations
under strenuous and unwonted physical demands, do undoubtedly afford a
sound and reasonable explanation of the cataclysmal outbreak which has
recently fallen upon the nations.
The brazen blast of war, in 1914, with all its ruthless wreck and
carnage, shook the universal fabric of the sphere. Fear, fraud and
famine were met together, duplicity and greed had kissed each other.
Short rations and with some, starvation, were soon the order of the day.
The corners of the earth were swept of stale forgotten stores and
profiteers waxed fat and prices soared, whilst the vitals of the working
world were vastly underfed. The ranks of labour, depleted of its men,
were filled by females uninured to toil and dangerous nerve racking
environments. Relentless time brings its revenges fast; but still they
worked and suffered while malnutrition sapped the life-blood of the
race. In the homes of the fighting men fear reigned supreme--ever the
sword of Damocles suspended at the hearth. And then the death lists came
and the world was wet with human tears and all the furies flew the
earth--grief, hatred, revenge, love, pity and remorse, but the wail of
mourning was throughout all lands in all the "sable panoply of woe"
attending fast lowering vitality, bred by force of pain and hope
deferred. Pliny well said: "Dolendi modus, non est timendi"--Pain has
its limits, _apprehension none_--and now as in his day, the latter bore
the palm.
Such was the position when two years ago the world first felt the impact
of the pestilence and millions withered up like blighted corn.
The Vagus nerve with which we have been dealing, is concerned with the
expression of emotions such as these; and being so, was burned up
rapidly with fervent heat--the flames of sorrow still with fasting fed.
In the majority of human lives such was the case, while the sources of
nutritive reserve force were depleted by lack of things of universal use
and foreign substitutes for normal food. Small wonder then the once
steady nerves soon buckled with the strain; that sickness followed
swiftly with disaster in its train and that the death rate rose
enormously, beyond recorded precedent. And then when seeming good
succeeds the storm of ills a plethora of new-born cares arose and worse,
more fatal still, reaction from the strain which with relaxing energy
demands its deadly share. Here in America we meet our troubles with
serener front, unawed by State-fed sacerdotal superstitions; but in
England how the scourge has wrung from dire depression its full toll of
death. There for the first time deaths exceed the births and for the
final quarter of 1918, the deaths exceed those of the former term by
127,000 of which Influenza claimed one hundred Thousand dead. Similar
conditions, it would appear, have been more or less general throughout
the European and indeed all other Continents and the title "Pandemic"
has been richly earned; but the term which would seem to me more
descriptive still would be _"Panasthenia"--the general loss of
vitality_.
The human organism is, as we know, electro-magnetic. The effect upon the
fabric of abnormal disturbance is registered with infinite exactitude by
electrons--atoms of electricity--which rise and fall in numerical
vibration according to the positive or negative tone of the whole; and
excessive manifestations in one direction or the other, indicate
respectively, a condition of positive or negative disease.
When the slowly vibrating negative electrons outnumber the rapidly
vibrating positive atoms the electronic vibration of the whole body is
lowered. As a result, we become depressed, weak, tired and retain little
bodily warmth. Digestion is upset, metabolism falls far below normal,
and the skin becomes pale, because of the morbid action set up in the
mucous membrane by the excess of negative electrons. Catarrh supervenes.
This is the condition in which negative disease thrives best: Influenza,
nervous debility, anaemia, sleeping disease, cholera, diphtheria and the
rest, in all varied forms of negative disease.
The Vagus, or Wandering Nerve, permeates every vital section of the
body, as the accompanying plate will show. It controls, as has been
shown, all the highest functions, both mental and physical of human
life--that life which depends for its well-being upon electro-chemical
combustion, metabolism, and the fuel supply we designate as food. It is
the first postulate of healthy vitality in the human frame that
metabolism and catabolism--intake and output--shall go hand in
hand--that the body must receive continually such fresh nutrition as may
replace what it consumes in the process of muscular action and the
exercise of mental and emotional activity, and we are consequently
brought to the conclusion that such bonds of safety and provision being
rudely and suddenly severed, all physical resistance must be quickly
broken down, the latent reserve energy is used and disappears, psychic
resolution--the immunity of mind--soon abdicates its throne and the
depleted organism, robbed of all defense, falls victim to contagion when
it comes to kill.
_Treatment._
As regards the treatment, actual and preventive, applicable to Spanish
Influenza, the methods employed under the Hygienic-Dietetic System of
Healing have been already defined in a previous chapter on the subject
of negative disease in general. Instruction, however, devoted to
Influenza alone may be found in Chapter VI of the special pamphlet
issued in that connection under the title: "Influenza, Cause and
Cure,"[E] and also in my greater work: "Regeneration or Dare to be
Healthy," now in course of completion.
* * * * *
And now, one final word in conclusion, for the purpose of drawing
together, as it were, the multiplicity of threads which constitute the
complex skein of causes and effects, with their remedial measures which
cover the wide range of human life's vicissitudes--the interruptions of
its would-be harmonies--which take the forms, all too common in these
times of stress, of physical disturbance and of mental strain which
come to us in the combined and threatening guise of suffering and
disease.
That these forms are more pronounced, more virulent today than ever
before in the records of the race, is surely great Nature's manner,
crude and masterful, of pressing her mandate home--right home upon the
plastic film of evanescent shadows and ephemeral shades we proudly call
our consciousness.
How many, let me ask, how many of us, in the absorbing round of life's
futilities, have paused to really recognize the sinister "hand writing
on the wall?"
The phase of the world's history through which we pass complacently is
of no light portent, its happenings no casual concern, but, in point of
crucial fact, a virtual "rending of the sphere"--a cosmic upheaval such
as never yet before has racked the tense life sinews of the world,
confounding the wisdom of the wise and wrecking in one fell climax of
contempt the moral precepts of two thousand years.
The greatest human struggle the world has ever known synchronizes
strangely, yet logically with the world's greatest pestilence which has
swept successive millions to their doom without exacting from the
residue even the sentimental tribute of a tear.
The official brains of the entire globe are leagued in self-protective
unison "to make the world safe for democracy;" but Demos dies, by
violence and disease, ere yet salvation comes. It appeals to its
old-time standards for relief,--they are gone; to its pastors--they are
mute; to its masters--they are impotent; to its doctors--they are
baffled, helpless and aghast, whilst vainly searching earth and air for
some frail pretext of unreal enlightenment, some fragile figment of
belief. And yet in hypnotized complacency the masses stand; for
meanwhile commerce reaps its costly gains and labour draws in enhanced
increment the wages of the living and the dead.
Less serious visitations have, in former times, left their eternal
imprint on the age. They served to point the moral of widespread
reform--to emphasize the practice of hygiene and sanity. For all such
scourges are but signs of Nature's trust betrayed, her sacred laws
defied in the wild rush for gain, oblivious of the Law of Compensation's
cost, with its inevitable reckoning.
Thus, to the discoverer of the lost initiative, what prospect does the
future hold in store?
Pandemics, such as this, repeat themselves; and other forms of dread
disease are following the footsteps of mankind. Arterio sclerosis,
(hardening of the arteries), with its kindred complaints, for instance,
now threatens to become a standing feature of the race through ignorance
of the physiological functions of the nerves, their tissue exhaustion
and supply.
With such impending dangers are our men distressed; and yet there seems
but grudging, slight encouragement for those who seek to stay the
onslaught of the foe, by scientific measures of precaution and hygiene.
What the nation needs is now a practical and nation-wide awakening. Let
the people realize the danger of their risk; let them rally to the call
and loyally support those who thus offer them the safeguard of knowledge
as a refuge from the impending storm. Then will so-called "incurable
disease" be relegated to the limbo of the past and, among other
prophylactic means, this, my latest great discovery--the cause of
Influenza, its prevention and its cure, a discovery which must rank
amongst the great scientific achievements of the day--will mitigate the
force of epidemics on mankind. It should also give to the reader of this
little book a fair assurance of what immunity it is possible to secure
by careful study and practice of its truths and should prove to the
thinker the nucleus of a lesson which can nowhere be better learned than
in the teachings and the precepts of the Hygienic-Dietetic School.
"But to the hero, when his sword
Has won the battle for the free,
Thy voice sounds like a prophet's word
And in its hollow tones are heard
The thanks of millions yet to be"