Nature Cure
by
Henry Lindlahr
Part 3 out of 7
the patient, but he should be warned not to take any more than is
necessary to satisfy his thirst. Large amounts of water taken into
the system dilute the blood and the other fluids and secretions of
the organism to an excessive degree, and this tends to increase the
general weakness and lower the patient's resistance to the disease
forces.
Water may be made more palatable and at the same time more effective
for purposes of elimination by the addition of the unsweetened juice
of acid fruits, such as orange, grapefruit or lemon, about one part
of juice to three parts of water. Fresh pineapple juice is very good
except in cases of hyperacidity of the stomach. The fresh,
unsweetened juice of Concord grapes is also beneficial.
Acid and subacid fruit juices do not contain sufficient carbohydrate
or protein materials to unduly excite the digestive processes, while
on the other hand they are very rich in Nature's best medicines, the
mineral salts in organic form. Sweet grapes and sweetened grape
juice should not be given to patients suffering from acute, febrile
diseases because they contain too much sugar, which would have a
tendency to start the processes of digestion and assimilation, to
cause morbid fermentation and to raise the temperature and
accelerate the other disease symptoms.
Fasting
Total abstinence from food during acute febrile conditions is of
primary importance. In certain diseases which will be mentioned
later on, especially those involving the digestive tract, fasting
must be continued for several days after all fever symptoms have
disappeared.
There is no greater fallacy than that the patient must be sustained
and his strength kept up by plenty of nourishing food and drink or,
worse still, by stimulants and tonics. This is altogether wrong in
itself, and besides, habit and appetite are often mistaken for
hunger.
A common spectacle witnessed at the bedside of the sick is that of
well-meaning but misguided relatives and friends forcing food and
drink on the patient, often by order of the doctor, when his whole
system rebels against it and the nauseated stomach expels the food
as soon as taken. Sedatives and tonics are then resorted to in order
to force the digestive organs into submission.
Aversion to eating during acute diseases, whether they represent
healing crises or disease crises, is perfectly natural, because the
entire organism, including the mucous membranes of stomach and
intestines, is engaged in the work of elimination, not assimilation.
Nausea, slimy and fetid discharges, constipation alternating with
diarrhea, etc., indicate that the organs of digestion are throwing
off disease matter, and that they are not in a condition to take up
and assimilate food.
Ordinarily, the digestive tract acts like a sponge which absorbs the
elements of nutrition; but in acute diseases the process is
reversed, the sponge is being squeezed and gives off large
quantities of morbid matter. The processes of digestion and
assimilation are at a standstill. In fact, the entire organism is in
a condition of prostration, weakness and inactivity. The vital
energies are concentrated on the cleansing and healing processes.
Accordingly, there is no demand for food.
This is verified by the fact that a person fasting for a certain
period, say, four weeks, during the course of a serious acute
illness, will not lose nearly as much in weight as the same person
fasting four weeks in days of healthful activity.
It is for the foregoing reasons that nourishment taken during acute
disease is not properly digested, assimilated and transmuted into healthy
blood and tissues. Instead, it ferments and decays, filling the
system with waste matter and noxious gases. interferes seriously
with the elimination of morbid matter through stomach and intestines
by forcing these organs to take up the work of digestion and
assimilation. diverts the vital forces from their combat against the
disease conditions and draws upon them to remove the worse than
useless food ballast from the organism.
This explains why taking food during feverish diseases is usually
followed by a rise in temperature and by aggravation of the other
disease symptoms. As long as there are signs of inflammatory,
febrile conditions and no appetite, do not be afraid to withhold
food entirely, if necessary, for as long as five, six or seven
weeks. In my practice I have had several patients who did not take
any food, except water to which acid fruit juices had been added,
for more than seven weeks, and then made a rapid and complete
recovery.
In cases of gastritis, appendicitis, peritonitis, dysentery or
typhoid fever, abstinence from food is absolutely imperative. Not
even milk should be taken until fever and inflammation have entirely
subsided, and then a few days should be allowed for the healing and
restoring of the injured tissues. Many of the serious chronic
aftereffects of these diseases are due to too early feeding, which
does not allow the healing forces of Nature time to rebuild sloughed
membranes and injured organs.
After a prolonged fast, great care must be observed when commencing
to eat. Very small quantities of light food may safely be taken at
intervals of a few hours. A good plan, especially after an attack of
typhoid fever or dysentery, is to break the fast by thoroughly
masticating one or two tablespoonfuls of popcorn. This gives the
digestive tract a good scouring and starts the peristaltic action of
the bowels better than any other food.
The popcorn may advantageously be followed in about two hours with a
tablespoonful of cooked rice and one or two cooked prunes or a small
quantity of some other stewed fruit.
For several days or weeks after a fast, according to the severity of
the acute disease or healing crisis, a diet consisting largely of
raw fruits, such as oranges, grapefruit, apples, pears, grapes,
etc., and juicy vegetables, especially lettuce, celery, cabbage
slaw, watercress, young onions, tomatoes or cucumbers should be
adhered to. No condiments or dressings should be used with the
vegetables except lemon juice and olive oil.
Hydropathic Treatment in Acute Diseases
We claim that in acute diseases hydropathic treatment will
accomplish all the benefcial effects which the "Old School"
practitioners ascribe to drugs, and that water applications will
produce the desired results much more efficiently, and without any
harmful by-effects or aftereffects upon the system.
The principal objects to be attained in the treatment of acute
inflammatory diseases are:
To relieve the inner congestion and consequent pain in the affected
parts. To keep the temperature below the danger point by promoting
heat radiation through the skin. To increase the activity of the
organs of elimination and thus to facilitate the removal of morbid
materials from the system. To increase the positive electromagnetic
energies in the organism. To increase the amount of oxygen and ozone
in the system and thereby to promote the oxidation and combustion of
effete matter.
The above-mentioned objects can be attained most effectually by the
simple cold water treatment. Whatever the acute condition may be,
whether an ordinary cold or the most serious type of febrile
disease, the applications described in detail in the following
pages, used singly, combined or alternately according to individual
conditions, will always be in order and sufficient to produce the
best possible results.
Baths and Ablutions
Cooling sprays or, if the patient is too weak to leave the bed, cold
sponge baths or ablutions, repeated whenever the temperature rises,
are very effective for keeping the fever below the danger point, for
relieving the congestion in the interior of the body and for
stimulating the elimination of systemic poisons through the skin.
However, care must be taken not to lower the temperature too much by
the excessive coldness or unduly prolonged duration of the
application. It is possible to suppress inflammatory processes by
means of cold water or ice bags just as easily as with poisonous
antiseptics, antifever medicines and surgical operations.
It is sufficient to reduce the temperature to just below the danger
point. This will allow the inflammatory processes to run their
natural course through the five progressive stages of inflammation
and this natural course will then be followed by perfect
regeneration of the affected parts.
In our sanitarium we use only water of ordinary temperature as it
flows from the faucet, never under any circumstances ice bags or ice
water. The application of ice keeps the parts to which it is applied
in a chilled condition. The circulation cannot react, and the
inflammatory processes are thus most effectually suppressed.
To recapitulate: Never check or suppress a fever by means of cold
baths, ablutions, wet packs, etc., but merely lower it below the
danger point. For instance, if a certain type of fever has a
tendency to rise to 104 degree F. or more, bring it down to about
102 degree. If the fever ordinarily runs at a lower temperature, say
at 102 degree F., do not try to reduce it more than one or two
degrees.
If the temperature is subnormal, that is, below the normal or
regular body temperature, the packs should be applied in such a
manner that a warming effect is produced, that is, less wet cloths
and more dry covering should be used, and the packs left on the body
a longer time before they are renewed. More detailed instruction
will be given in subsequent pages.
Never lose sight of the fact that fever is in itself a healing,
cleansing process which must not be checked or suppressed.
Hot-Water Applications Are Injurious
Altogether wrong is the application of hot water to seats of
inflammation as, for instance, the inflamed appendix or ovaries,
sprains, bruises, etc. Almost in every instance where I am called in
to attend a case of acute appendicitis or peritonitis, I find hot
compresses or hot water bottles, by means of which the inflamed
parts are kept continually in an overheated condition. It is in this
way that a simple inflammation is nurtured into an abscess and made
more serious and dangerous.
The hot compress or hot-water bottle draws the blood away from the
inflamed area to the surface temporarily; but unless the hot
application is kept up continually, the blood, under the Law of
Action and Reaction, will recede from the surface into the interior,
and as a result the inner congestion will become as great as or
greater than before.
If the hot applications are continued, the applied heat tends to
maintain and increase the heat in the inflamed parts.
Inflammation means that there is already too much heat in the
affected part or organ. Common sense, therefore, would dictate
cooling applications instead of heating ones.
The cold packs and compresses, on the other hand, have a directly
cooling effect upon the seat of inflammation and in accordance with
the Law of Action and Reaction their secondary, lasting effect
consists in drawing the blood from the congested and heated interior
to the surface, thus relaxing the pores of the skin and promoting
the radiation of heat and the elimination of impurities.
Both the hot-water applications and the use of ice are, therefore,
to be absolutely condemned. The only rational and natural treatment
of inflammatory conditions is that by compresses, packs and
ablutions, using water of ordinary temperature, as it comes from the
cold water tap.
By means of the simple cold-water treatment and fasting all fevers
and inflammations can be reduced in a perfectly natural way within a
short time without undue strain on the organism.
The Whole-Body Pack
The whole-body pack is most effective if by means of it the patient
can be brought into a state of copious perspiration. The pack is
then removed and the patient is given a cold sponge bath.
It will be found that this treatment often produces a second profuse
sweat which is very beneficial. This aftersweat should also be
followed by a cold sponge bath.
Such a course of treatment will frequently be sufficient to
eliminate the morbid matter which has gathered in the system, and
thus prevent in a perfectly natural manner a threatening disease
which otherwise might become dangerous to life.
How to Apply the Whole-Body Pack
On a bed or cot spread two or more blankets, according to their
weight. Over the top blanket spread a linen or cotton sheet which
has been dipped into cold water and wrung out fairly dry. Let the
blankets extend about one foot beyond the wet sheet at the head of
the bed.
Place the patient on the wet sheet so that it comes well up to the
neck, and wrap the sheet snugly around the body so that it covers
every part, tucking it in between the arms and sides and between the
legs. It will be found that the sheet can be adjusted more snugly
and smoothly if separate strips of wet linen are placed between the
legs and between the arms and the sides of the body.
The blankets are now folded, one by one, upward over the feet and
around the body, turned in at the neck and brought across the chest,
the outer layers being held in place with safety pins.
The patient should stay in this whole-body pack from one-half hour
to two hours, according to the object to be attained and the
reaction of the body to the pack. If the pack has been correctly
applied, the patient will become warm in a few minutes.
The Bed-Sweat Bath
If the patient does not react to the pack, that is, if he remains
cold, or if, as is sometimes the case in malaria, the fever is
accompanied by chills or if profuse perspiration is desired, bottles
filled with hot water or bricks heated in the oven and wrapped in
flannel should be placed along the sides and to the feet, under the
outside covering.
This form of application is called the bed-sweat bath. It may be
used with good results when an incipient cold is to be aborted.
After the pack has been removed, the body should be sponged with
cold water, as already stated. Use a coarse cloth or Turkish towel
for this purpose rather than a sponge, as the latter cannot be kept
perfectly clean. Dry the body quickly but thoroughly, and finish by
rubbing with the hands.
In the meantime the damp bed clothing should be replaced by dry
sheets and blankets (a second cot or bed will be found a great
convenience), and the patient put to bed without delay and well
covered in order to prevent chilling and also to induce, if
possible, a copious aftersweat. The patient is then sponged off a
second time, put into a dry bed, and allowed to rest.
If the patient is too weak to leave his bed, the cold sponge may be
given on a large rubber sheet or oilcloth covered with an old
blanket, which should be placed on the bed before the pack is
applied. After removing the pack, put a blanket over the patient to
prevent chilling and wash quickly but thoroughly first the limbs,
then chest and stomach, then the back, drying and covering each part
as soon as finished. Remove the rubber sheet from the bed and wrap
the patient in dry, warm blankets, or lift him into another bed.
How to Apply the Short-Body Pack
A wide strip of linen or muslin, wrung out of cold water, is wrapped
around the patient from under the armpits to the thighs or knees in
one, two or more layers, covered by one or more layers of dry
flannel or muslin in such a manner that the wet linen does not
protrude at any place.
Similar packs may be applied to the throat,* the arms, legs,
shoulder joints or any other part of the body.
The number of layers of wet linen and dry covering is determined by
the vitality of the patient, the height of his temperature and the
particular object of the application, which may be to lower high
temperature to raise the temperature when subnormal to relieve
inner congestion to promote elimination.
If the object is to lower high temperature, several layers of wet
linen should be wrapped around the body and covered loosely by one
or two layers of the dry wrappings in order to prevent the bed from
getting wet. The packs must be renewed as soon as they become dry or
uncomfortably hot.
If the object is to raise subnormal temperature, less wet linen and
more dry covering must be used, and the packs left on a longer time,
say from thirty minutes to two hours. If the patient does not react
to the pack, hot bricks or bottles filled with hot water should be
placed at the sides and to the feet, as explained in connection with
the whole-body pack.
If inner congestion is to be relieved, or if the object is to
promote elimination, less of the wet linen and more dry wrappings
should be used.
When packs are applied, the bed may be protected by spreading an
oilcloth over the mattress under the sheet. But in no case should
oilcloth or rubber sheeting be used for the outer covering of packs.
This would interfere with some of the main objects of the pack
treatment, especially with heat radiation. The outer covering should
be warm but at the same time porous, to allow the escape of heat and
of poisonous gases from the body.
Local Compresses
In case of local inflammation, as in appendicitis, ovaritis,
colitis, etc., separate cooling compresses may be slipped under the
pack and over the seat of inflammation. These local compresses may
be removed and changed when hot and dry without disturbing the
larger pack.
In all fevers accompanied by high temperature, it is advisable to
place an extra cooling compress at the nape of the neck (the region
of the medulla and the back brain), because here are located the
brain centers which regulate the inner temperature of the body
(thermotaxic centers), and the cooling of these brain centers
produces a cooling effect upon the entire organism.
Enemas
While ordinarily we do not favor the giving of injections or enemas
unless they are absolutely necessary, we apply them freely in
feverish diseases in order to remove from the rectum and lower colon
any accumulations of morbid matter, and thus to prevent their
reabsorption into the system. In cases of exceptionally stubborn
constipation, an injection of a few ounces of warm olive oil may be
given. Allow this to remain in the colon about thirty minutes in
order to soften the contents of the rectum, and follow with an
injection of warm water.
Just How the Cold Packs Produce
Their Wonderful Results
(1) How Cold Packs Promote Heat Radiation
Many people are under the impression that the packs reduce the fever
temperature so quickly because they are put on cold. But this is not
so, because, unless the reaction be bad, the packs become warm after
a few minutes' contact with the body.
The prompt reduction of temperature takes place because of increased
heat radiation. The coldness of the pack may lower the surface
temperature slightly; but it is the moist warmth forming under the
pack on the surface of the body that draws the blood from the
congested interior into the skin, relaxes and opens its minute blood
vessels and pores, and in that way facilitates the escape of heat
from the body.
In febrile conditions the pores and capillary blood vessels of the
skin are tense and contracted. Therefore the heat cannot escape, the
skin is hot and dry, and the interior of the body remains
overheated. When the skin relaxes and the patient begins to perspire
freely, we say the fever is broken.
The moist warmth under the wet pack produces this relaxation of the
skin in a perfectly natural manner. By means of these simple packs
followed by cold ablutions, the temperature of the patient can be
kept at any point desired without the use of poisonous antifever
medicines, serums and antitoxins which lower the temperature by
benumbing and paralyzing heart action, respiration, the red and
white blood corpuscles, and thus generally lowering the vital
activities of the organism.
(2) How Cold Packs Relieve Inner Congestion
In all inflammatory febrile diseases the blood is congested in the
inflamed parts and organs. This produces the four cardinal symptoms
of inflammation: redness, swelling, heat, and pain. [Rubor, tumor,
colar and dolar.] If the congestion be too great, the pain becomes
excessive, and the inflammatory processes cannot run their natural
course to the best advantage. It is therefore of great importance to
relieve the local blood pressure in the affected parts and this can
be accomplished most effectively by means of the wet packs.
As before stated, they draw the blood onto the surface of the body
and in that way relieve inner congestion wherever it may exist,
whether it be in the brain, as in meningitis, in the lungs, as in
pneumonia, or in the inflamed appendix.
In several cases where a child was in the most dangerous stage of
diphtheria, where the membranes in throat and nasal passages were
already choking the little patient, the wet packs applied to the
entire body from neck to feet relieved the congestion in the throat
so quickly that within half an hour after the first application the
patient breathed easily and soon made a perfect recovery. The
effectiveness of these simple water applications in reducing
congestion, heat and pain is little short of marvelous.
(3) How Cold Packs Promote Elimination
By far the largest number of deaths in febrile diseases result from
the accumulation in the system of poisonous substances, which
paralyze or destroy vital centers and organs. Therefore it is
necessary to eliminate the morbid products of inflammation from the
organism as quickly as possible.
This also is accomplished most effectively and thoroughly by the
application of wet packs. As they draw the blood into the surface
and relax the minute blood vessels in the skin, the morbid materials
in the blood are eliminated through the pores of the skin and
absorbed by the packs. That this is actually so is verified by the
yellowish or brownish discoloration of the wet wrappings and by
their offensive odor.
One of the main causes of constipation in febrile diseases is the
inner congestion and fever heat. Through the cooling and relaxing
effect of the packs upon the intestines, this inner fever heat is
reduced, and a natural movement of the bowels greatly facilitated.
If constipation should persist in spite of the packs and cooling
compresses, injections of tepid water should be given every day or
every other day in order to prevent the reabsorption of poisonous
products from the lower colon. But never give injections of cold
water with the idea of reducing fever in that way. This is very
dangerous and may cause fatal collapse.
The Electromagnetic Effect of
Cold Water Applications
One of the most important, but least understood, effects of
hydropathic treatment is its influence upon the electromagnetic
energies in the human body. At least, I have never found any
allusions to this aspect of the cold-water treatment in any books on
hydrotherapy which have come to my notice.
The sudden application of cold water or cold air to the surface of
the nude body and the inhalation of cold air into the lungs have the
effect of increasing the amount of electromagnetic energy in the
system.
This can be verified by the following experiment: Insert one of the
plates of an electrometer (sensitive galvanometer) into the stomach
of a person who has remained for some time in a warm room. Now let
this person inhale suddenly fresh, cold outside air. At once the
galvanometer will register a larger amount of electromagnetic
energy.
The same effect will be produced by the application of a quick, cold
spray to the warm body.
It is the sudden lowering of temperature on the surface of the body
or in the lungs and the resulting contrast between the heat within
and the cold outside, that causes the increased manifestation of
electromagnetic energy in the system.
This, together with the acceleration of the entire circulation,
undoubtedly accounts for the tonic effect of cold-water applications
such as cold packs, ablutions, sprays, sitz baths, barefoot walking,
etc., and for the wonderfully bracing influence of fresh, cold
outside air.
The energizing effect of cold air may also explain to a large extent
the superiority of the races inhabiting the temperate zones over
those of the warm and torrid southern regions.
To me it seems a very foolish custom to run away from the
invigorating northern winters to the enervating sameness of southern
climates. One of the reasons I abandoned, with considerable
financial sacrifice, a well-established home in a Texas city which
is the Mecca of health-seekers, was that I did not want to rear my
children under the enervating influence of that beautiful climate.
I, for my part, want some cold winter weather every year to stir up
the lazy blood corpuscles, to set the blood bounding through the
system and to freeze out the microbes.
In our Nature Cure work we find all the way through that the
continued application of warmth has a debilitating effect upon the
organism, and that only by the opposing influences of alternating
heat and cold can we produce the natural stimulation which awakens
the dormant vital energies in the body of the chronic.
Increase of Oxygen and Ozone
The liberation of electromagnetic currents through cold-water
applications has other very important effects upon the system
besides that of stimulation.
Electricity splits up molecules of water into hydrogen, oxygen and
ozone. We have an example of this in the thunderstorm. The powerful
electric discharges which we call lightning separate or split the
watery vapors in the air into these elements. It is the increase of
oxygen and ozone in the air that purifies and sweetens the
atmosphere after the storm.
In acute as well as in chronic disease, large amounts of oxygen and
ozone are required to burn up the morbid materials and to purify the
system. Certain combinations of these elements are among the most
powerful antiseptics and germicides.
Likewise, the electric currents produced by cold packs, ablutions
and other cold-water applications split up the molecules of water in
the tissues of the body into their component parts. In this way
large amounts of oxygen and ozone are liberated, and these elements
assist to a considerable extent in the oxidation and neutralization
of waste materials and disease products.
The following experiment proves that sudden changes in temperature
create electric currents in metals: When two cylinders of dissimilar
metals are welded together, and one of the metals is suddenly
chilled or heated, electric currents are produced which will
continue to flow until both metals are at the same temperature.
Another application of this principle is furnished by the oxydonor.
If both poles of this little instrument are exposed to the same
temperature, there is no manifestation of electricity; but if one of
the poles be attached to the warm body and the other immersed in
cold water or exposed to cold air, the liberation of electromagnetic
currents begins at once. These electric currents set free oxygen and
ozone, which in their turn support the oxidation and neutralization
of systemic poisons.
According to my experience, however, the cold-water applications are
more effective in this respect than the oxydonor.
The Importance of Right Mental and
Emotional Attitude in Acute Disease
We have learned that in the processes of inflammation a battle is
going on between the healing forces of the body, the phagocytes and
natural antitoxins on the one hand and the disease taints, germs,
bacilli, etc., on the other hand.
This battle is real in every respect, as real as a combat between
armies of living soldiers. In this conflict, going on in all acute
inflammatory diseases, mind plays the same role as the commander of
an army.
The great general needs courage, equanimity and presence of mind
most in the stress of battle. So the mind, the commander of the vast
armies of cells battling in acute disease for the health of the
body, must have absolute faith in the superiority of Nature's
healing forces.
If the mind becomes frightened by the inflammatory and febrile
symptoms and pictures to itself in darkest colors their dreadful
consequences, these confused and distracted thought vibrations are
conveyed instantaneously to the millions of little soldiers fighting
in the affected parts and organs. They also become confused and
panic-stricken.
The excitement of fear in the mind still more accelerates heart
action and respiration, intensifies the local congestion and greatly
increases the morbid accumulations in the system. In the last
chapters of this volume we shall deal especially with the
deteriorating influence of fear, anxiety, anger, irritability,
impatience, etc., and explain how these and all other destructive
emotions actually poison the secretions of the body.
In acute disease we cannot afford to add to the poisonous elements
in the organism, because the danger of a fatal ending lies largely
in the paralysis of vital centers by the morbid and poisonous
products of inflammation.
Everything depends upon the maintenance of the greatest possible
inflow of vital force; and there is nothing so weakening as worry
and anxiety, nothing that impedes the inflow, distribution and
normal activity of the vital energies like fear. A person overcome
by sudden fright is actually benumbed and paralyzed, unable to think
and to act intelligently.
These truths may be expressed in another way. The victory of the
healing forces in acute disease depends upon an abundant supply of
the positive electromagnetie energies. In the initial chapters of
this volume we have learned that health is positive, disease
negative. The positive mental attitude of faith and equanimity
creates positive electromagnetic energies in the body, thus infusing
the battling phagocytes with increased vigor and favoring the
secretion of the antitoxins and antibodies, while the negative,
fearful and worrying attitude of mind creates in the system the
negative conditions of weakness, lowered resistance and actual
paralysis.
In the paragraphs dealing with the effects of cold-water treatment
upon the body we learned that the electric currents created in the
organism split up the molecules of water in the tissues into their
component elements (hydrogen and oxygen), thus liberating large
amounts of oxygen and ozone; and that these, in turn, support the
processes of combustion and oxidation in the system, burn up waste
and morbid matter, and destroy hostile microorganisms.
However, the electromagnetic forces in the body are not only
increased and intensified by positive foods, exercise, cold-water
treatment, air baths, etc., but also by the positive attitude of
mind and will.
The positive mind and will are to the body what the magneto is to
the automobile. As the electric sparks from the magneto ignite the
gas, thus generating the power that drives the machine, so the
positive vibrations, generated by a confident and determined will,
create in the body the positive electromagnetic currents which
incite and stimulate all vital activities.
Common experience teaches us that the concentration of the will on
the thing to be accomplished greatly heightens and increases all
physical, mental and moral powers.
Therefore the victory in acute diseases is conditioned by the
absolute faith, confidence and serenity of mind on the part of the
patient. The more he exercises these harmonizing and invigorating
qualities of mind and soul, the more favorable are the conditions
for the little soldiers who are fighting his battles in the inflamed
parts and organs. The blood and nerve currents are less impeded and
disturbed, and flow more normally. The local congestion is relieved,
and this favors the natural course of the inflammatory processes.
Therefore, instead of being overcome with fear and anxiety, as most
people are under such circumstances, do not become alarmed, nor
convey alarm to the millions of little cells battling in the
inflamed parts. Speak to them like a commander addressing his
troops: "We understand the laws of disease and cure, we know that
these inflammatory and febrile symptoms are the result of Nature's
healing efforts, we have perfect confidence in her wisdom and in the
efficiency of her healing forces. This fever is merely a good
house-cleaning, a healing crisis. We are eliminating morbid matter,
poisons and germs which were endangering health and life.
"We rejoice over the purification and regeneration now taking place
and benefiting the whole body. Fear not! Attend to your work quietly
and serenely! Let us open ourselves wide to the inflow of life from
the source of all life in the innermost parts of our being! The life
in us is the life of God. We are strengthened and made whole by the
Divine life and power which animate the universe."
The serenity of your mind, backed by absolute trust in the Law and
by the power of a strong Will, infuses the cells and tissues with
new life and vigor, enabling them to turn the acute disease into a
beneficial, cleansing and healing crisis.
In the following we give a similar formula for treating chronic
constipation.
Say to the cells in the liver, the pancreas and the intestinal
tract:
"I am not going to force you any longer with drugs or enemas to do
your duty. From now on you must work on your own initiative. Your
secretions will become more abundant. Every day at--o'clock the
bowels will move freely and easily."
At the appointed time make the effort, whether you are success-ful
or not, and do not resort to the enema until it becomes an absolute
necessity. If you combine with the mental and physical effort a
natural diet, cold sitz baths, massage and osteopathic treatment,
you will have need of the enema at increasingly longer intervals,
and soon be able to discard it altogether.
Be careful, however, not to employ your intelligence and your will
power to suppress acute inflammatory and febrile processes and
symptoms. This can be accomplished by the power of the will as well
as by ice bags and poisonous drugs, and its effect would be to turn
Nature's acute cleansing efforts into chronic disease.
The Importance of Right Mental and Emotional
Attitude on the Part of Friends and Relatives
What has just been said about the patient is true also of his
friends and relatives. Disease is negative. The sick person is
exceedingly sensitive to his surroundings. He is easily influenced
by all depressing, discordant and jarring conditions. He catches the
expressions of fear and anxiety in the looks, the words, gestures
and actions of his attendants, relatives and friends and these
intensify his own depression and gloomy forebodings.
This applies especially to the influence exerted by the mother upon
her ailing infant. There exists a most intimate sympathetic and
telepathic connection between mother and child. The child is
affected not only by the outward expression of the mother's fear and
anxiety, but likewise by the hidden doubt and despair in the
mother's mind and soul.
Usually, the first thing that confronts me when I am called to the
sickbed of a child is the frantic and almost hysterical mental
condition of the mother, and to begin with, I have to explain to her
the destructive influence of her behavior. I ask her:
"Would you willingly give some deadly poison to your child?"
"Certainly not," she says, to which I reply:
"Do you realize that you are doing this very thing? That your fear
and worry vibrations actually poison and paralyze the vital energies
in the body of your child and most seriously interfere with Nature's
healing processes?
"Instead of helping the disease forces to destroy your child, assist
the healing forces to save it by maintaining an attitude of absolute
faith, serenity, calmness and cheerfulness. Then your looks, your
voice, your touch will convey to your child the positive, magnetic
vibrations of health and of strength. Your very presence will
radiate healing power."
Then I explain how faith, calmness and cheerfulness on her part will
soothe and harmonize the discordant disease vibrations in the
child's body.
Herein lies the modus operandi or working basis of all successful
mental and metaphysical treatment.
Summary
Natural Methods in the Treatment of Acute Disease
~I. Fresh Air~
A plentiful supply of pure air in the sickroom. Frequent exposure of
the nude body to air and sun light. Patient must not be kept too
warm.
~II. Natural Diet~
The minimum amount of light food, chiefly fruit and vegetable
salads, no condiments. Only enough water to quench thirst,
preferably mixed with acid fruit juices. In serious acute febrile
conditions and during healing crises no food whatever. In diseases
affecting the digestive organs fasting must be prolonged several
days beyond cessation of febrile symptoms. Great care must be
observed when breaking fast.
~III. Water Treatment~
Cooling sprays or sponge baths whenever temperature rises. Fever and
inflammation must not be suppressed by cold-water applications, but
kept below the danger point. Neither ice nor hot applications should
be used. Wet packs followed by cold ablutions for elimination of
systemic poisons. Separate compresses over seat of inflammation,
also at nape of neck. Kind and duration of pack to be determined by
condition of patient and object to be attained. Injections of tepid
water to relieve constipation when necessary.
~IV. Medications~
No poisonous drugs, nor any medicines or applications which may
check or suppress the feverish, inflammatory processes. Homeopathic
medicines, herb decoctions and specific nutritional remedies when
indicated.
~V. Manipulative Treatment~
Osteopathy, massage or magnetic treatment when indicated and
available.
~VI. Mental Attitude~
Courage, serenity and presence of mind are important factors. Fear
and anxiety intensify disease conditions, poison the secretions of
the body and inhibit the action of the healing forces. Do not
suppress acute inflammatory and feverish processes by the power of
the will. The right mental and emotional attitude of relatives and
friends exerts a powerful influence upon the patient.
Chapter XIV
The True Scope of Medicine
Anyone able to read the signs of the times cannot help observing the
powerful influence which the Nature Cure philosophy is already
exerting upon the trend of modern medical science. In Germany the
younger generation of physicians has been forced by public demand to
adopt the natural methods of treatment and the German government has
introduced them in the medical departments of its army and navy.
In English-speaking countries, the foremost members of the medical
profession are beginning to talk straight Nature Cure doctrine, to
condemn the use of drugs and to endorse unqualifiedly the Nature
Cure methods of treatment. In proof of this I quote from an article
by Dr. William Osler in the ~Encyclopedia Americana,~ Vol. X, under
the title of "Medicine":
Dr. Osler on Medicine
"The new school does not feel itself under obligation to give any
medicines whatever, while a generation ago not only could few
physicians have held their practice unless they did, but few would
have thought it safe or scientific. Of course, there are still many
cases where the patient or the patient's friends must be humored by
administering medicine or alleged medicine where it is not really
needed, and indeed often where the buoyancy of mind which is the
real curative agent, can only be created by making him wait
hopefully for the expected action of medicine; and some physicians
still cannot unlearn their old training. But the change is great.
The modern treatment of disease relies very greatly on the old
so-called natural methods, diet and exercise, bathing and
massage--in other words, giving the natural forces the fullest scope
by easy and thorough nutrition, increased flow of blood and removal
of obstructions to the excretory systems or the circulation in the
tissues.
"One notable example is typhoid fever. At the outset of the
nineteenth century it was treated with 'remedies' of the extremest
violence--bleeding and blistering, vomiting and purging, and the
administration of antimony and mercury, and plenty of other heroic
remedies. Now the patient is bathed and nursed and carefully tended,
but rarely given medicine. This is the result partly of the
remarkable experiments of the Paris and Vienna schools in the action
of drugs, which have shaken the stoutest faiths; and partly of the
constant and reproachful object lesson of homeopathy. No regular
physician would ever admit that the homeopathic preparations,
'infinitesimals,' could do any good as direct curative agents; and
yet it was perfectly certain that homeopaths lost no more of their
patients than others. There was but one conclusion to draw--that
most drugs had no effect whatever on the diseases for which they
were administered."
Dr. Osler is probably the greatest medical authority on drugs now
living. He was formerly professor of materia medica at the Johns
Hopkins University of Baltimore, U. S., and now holds a
professorship at Oxford University, England. His books on medical
practice are in use in probably every university and medical school
in English-speaking countries. His views on drugs and their real
value as expressed in this article should be an eye-opener to those
good people who believe that we of the Nature Cure school are
altogether too radical, extreme, and somewhat cranky.
However, what Dr. Osler says regarding the "New School" is true only
of a few advanced members of the medical profession.
On the rank and file, the idea of drugless healing has about the
same effect as a red rag on a mad bull. There are still very few
physicians in general practice today who would not lose their bread
and butter if they attempted to practice drugless healing on their
patients. Both the profession and the public will need a good deal
more education along Nature Cure lines before they will see the
light.
In the second sentence of his article, Dr. Osler admits the efficacy
of mental therapeutics and therapeutic faith as a "curative agent,"
and ascribes the good effects of medicine to their stimulating
influence upon the patient's mind rather than to any beneficial
action of the drugs themselves.
With regard to the origin of the modern treatment of typhoid fever,
however, the learned doctor is either misinformed or he
misrepresents the facts. The credit for the introduction of
hydropathic treatment of typhoid fever does not belong to the
"remarkable experiments of the Paris and Vienna schools." These
schools and the entire medical profession fought this treatment with
might and main. For thirty years Priessnitz, Bilz, Ruhne, Father
Kneipp and many other pioneers of Nature Cure were persecuted and
prosecuted, dragged into the courts and tried on the charges of
malpractice and manslaughter for using their sane and natural
methods. Not until Dr. Braun of Berlin wrote an essay on the good
results obtained by the hydropathic treatment of typhoid fever and
it had in that way received orthodox baptism and sanction, was it
adopted by advanced physicians all over the world.
Through the Nature Cure treatment of typhoid fever, the mortality of
this disease has been reduced from over fifty percent under the old
drug treatment to less than five percent under the water treatment.
But the average medical practitioner has not yet learned from the
Nature Cure school, that the same simple fasting and cold water
which cure typhoid fever so effectively, will just as surely and
easily cure every other form of acute disease, as, for instance,
scarlet fever, diphtheria, smallpox, cerebrospinal meningitis,
appendicitis, etc. Therefore, we claim that there is no necessity
for the employment of poisonous drugs, serums and antitoxins for
this purpose.
Referring to the last two sentences of Dr. Osler's article,
homeopaths have, as a matter of fact, lost less patients than
allopaths. The effect of homeopathic medicine, moreover, is not
altogether negative, as Dr. Osler implies. The discovery of the
minute cell as the basis of the human organism on the one hand and
of the unlimited divisibility of matter on the other hand explains
the rationality of the infinitesimal dose. Health and disease are
resident in the cell; therefore, the homeopath doctors the cell, and
the size of the dose has to be apportioned to the size of the
patient.
When Dr. Osler says that most drugs have no effect whatsoever, he
makes a serious misstatement. While they may not contribute anything
to the cure of the disease for which they are given, they are often
very harmful in themselves.
Almost every virulent poison known to man is found in allopathic
prescriptions. It is now positively proved by the Diagnosis from the
Eye that these poisons have a tendency to accumulate in the system,
to concentrate in certain parts and organs for which they have a
special affinity and then to cause continual irritation and actual
destruction of tissues. By far the greater part of all chronic
diseases are created or complicated on the one hand by the
suppression of acute diseases by means of drug poisons, and on the
other hand through the destructive effects of the drugs themselves.
Dr. Schwenninger, the medical adviser of Prince Bismarck, and later
of Richard Wagner, the great composer, has published a book entitled
~The Doctor.~ This work is the most scathing arraignment and
condemnation of modern medical practice, especially of poisonous
drugs and of surgery. Dr. Treves, the body physician of the late
King Edward of England, is no less outspoken in his denunciation of
drugging than Drs. Osler and Schwenninger.
Just a few men like these, foremost in the medical profession, who
have achieved financial and scientific independence, can afford to
speak so frankly. The great majority of physicians, even though they
know better, continue in the old ruts so as to be considered ethical
and orthodox, and in order to hold their practice. It is not the
medical profession that has brought about this reform in the
treatment of typhoid fever and other diseases. They have been forced
into the adoption of the more advanced natural methods through the
pressure of the Nature Cure movement in Germany and elsewhere.
Dr. Osler's statements, made with due deliberation in a contribution
to the ~Encyclopedia Americana,~ are certainly a frank declaration
as to the uselessness of drug treatment, and on the other hand, an
unqualified endorsement of natural methods of healing.
But it seems to me that Dr. Osler pours out the baby with the bath
water, as we say in German. That is, I am inclined to think that his
opinion regarding the ineffectiveness of drugs is entirely too
radical. There is a legitimate scope for medicinal remedies insofar
as they build up the blood on a natural basis and serve as tissue
foods.
Many people who have lost their faith in "Old School" methods of
treatment have swung around to the other extreme of medical
nihilism. In fact, Dr. Osler himself stands accused of being a
medical nihilist.
Many of those who have adopted natural methods of living and of
treating diseases have acquired an actual horror of the word
medicine. However, this extreme attitude is not justified.
It also appears that some of the readers of my writings are under
the impression that we of the Nature Cure school absolutely condemn
the use of any and all medicines. This, however, is not so.
The Position of "Nature Cure" Regarding Medicinal Remedies
We do condemn the use of drugs insofar as they are poisonous and
destructive and insofar as they suppress acute diseases or healing
crises, which are Nature's cleansing and healing efforts; but on the
other hand we realize that there is a wide field for the helpful
application of medicinal remedies insofar as they act as foods to
the tissues of the body and as neutralizers and eliminators of waste
and morbid materials.
In every form of chronic disease there exists in the system, on the
one hand, an excess of certain morbid materials, and on the other
hand, a deficiency of certain mineral constituents, organic salts,
which are essential to the normal functions of the body.
Thus, in all anemic diseases the blood is lacking in iron, which
picks up the oxygen in the air cells of the lungs and carries it
into the tissues, and in sodium, which combines with the carbonic
acid (coalgas) that is constantly being liberated in the system and
conveys it to the organs of depuration, especially the lungs and the
skin. In point of fact, oxygen starvation is due in a much greater
degree to the deficiency of sodium and the consequential
accumulation of carbonic acid in the system (carbonic acid
asphyxiation) than to the lack of iron in the blood, as assumed by
the regular school of medicine.
Foods or medicinal remedies which will supply this deficiency of
iron and sodium in the organism will tend to overcome the anemic
conditions.
The great range of uric acid diseases, such as rheumatism, calculi,
arteriosclerosis, certain forms of diabetes and albuminuria, are
due, on the one hand, to the excessive use of acid-producing foods,
and on the other hand, to a deficiency in the blood of certain
alkaline mineral elements, especially sodium, magnesium and
potassium, whose office it is to neutralize and eliminate the acids
which are created and liberated in the processes of starchy and
protein digestion.
In another chapter I have explained the origin and progressive
development of uric-acid diseases. Our volume on Natural Dietetics
will contain additional proof that practically all diseases are
caused by, or complicated with, acid conditions in the system.
Any foods or medicines which will provide the system with sufficient
quantities of the acid-binding, alkaline mineral salts will prove to
be good medicine for all forms of acid diseases.
The mineral constituents necessary to the vital economy of the
organism should, however, be supplied in the organic form. This will
be explained more fully in subsequent pages.
From what I have said, it becomes apparent that it is impossible to
draw a sharp line of distinction between foods and medicines. All
foods which serve the above-named purposes are good medicines, and
all nonpoisonous herb extracts, homeopathic and vitochemical
remedies that have the same effect upon the system are, for the same
reason, good foods.
The medical treatment of the Nature Cure school consists largely in
the proper selection and combination of food materials. This must be
so. It stands to reason that Nature has provided within the ranges
of the natural foods all the elements which Man needs in the way of
food and medicine.
But it is quite possible that, through continued abuse, the
digestive apparatus has become so weak and so abnormal that it
cannot function properly, that it cannot absorb and assimilate from
natural foods a sufficient quantity of the elements which the
organism needs. In such cases it may be very helpful and indeed
imperative to take the organic mineral salts in the forms of fruit,
herb and vegetable juices, extracts or decoctions. Among the best of
these food remedies are extracts of leafy vegetables such as
lettuce, spinach, Scotch kale, cabbage, Swiss chard, etc. These
vegetables are richer than any other foods in the positive mineral
salts. The extract may be prepared from one or more of these
vegetables, according to the supply on hand or the tolerance of the
digestive organs and the taste and preference of the patient. They
should be ground to a pulp in a vegetable grinder, then pressed out
in a small fruit press, which can be secured in any department
store. One or two teacups per day will be sufficient to supply the
needs of the system for mineral salts. This extract should be
prepared fresh every day.
Then there are the Kneipp Herb Remedies. Most of these are the
Hausmittel [home remedies] of the country population of Germany
which have proved their efficacy since time immemorial. Their
medicinal value lies in the organic mineral salts which they contain
in large quantities and in beneficial combinations.
The homeopathic medications, as will be explained at length in
another chapter, produce their good results because they work in
harmony with the Laws of Nature.
We never hesitate, therefore, to prescribe for our patients
homeopathic medicines, herb decoctions and extracts, and the
vitochemical remedies which assist in the elimination of morbid
matter from the system and in building up blood and lymph on a
normal basis, that is, remedies which supply the organism with the
mineral elements in which it is deficient in the organic, easily
assimilable form. Herein lies the legitimate scope of medicinal
remedies.
All medicinal remedies which build up the system on a normal,
natural basis and increase its fighting power against disease
without in any way inflicting injury upon the organism are welcome
to the adherents of the Nature Cure methods of treatment.
On the other hand, we do not use any drugs or medicines which tend
to hinder, check or suppress Nature's cleansing and regenerating
processes. We never give anything in the least degree poisonous. We
avoid all anodynes, hypnotics, sedatives, antipyretics, laxatives,
cathartics, etc. Judicious fasting, cold-water applications and, if
necessary, warm-water injections in case of constipation will do
everything that is claimed for poisonous drugs.
Inorganic Minerals and Mineral Poisons
For many years past, physicians of the different schools of
medicine, diet experts and food chemists have been divided on the
question whether or not mineral substances which in the organic form
enter into the composition of the human body may safely be used in
foods and medicines in the inorganic form.
The medical profession holds almost unanimously that this is
permissible and good practice, so that nearly every allopathic
medical prescription contains some such inorganic substance, or
worse than that, one or more virulent mineral poisons, as mercury,
arsenic, phosphorus, etc.
So far, the discussion about the usefulness or harmfulness of
inorganic minerals as foods and medicines was largely theoretical
and controversial. Neither party had positive proofs for its
contentions.
But Nature's records in the iris of the eye settle the question for
good and for ever. One of the fundamental principles of the science
of Diagnosis from the Eye is that "nothing shows in the iris by
abnormal signs or discolorations except that which is abnormal in
the body or injurious to it." When substances which are uncongenial
or poisonous to the system accumulate in any part or organ of the
body in sufficient quantities, they will indicate their presence by
certain signs and abnormal colors in the corresponding areas of the
iris.
In this way Nature makes known by her records in the eye what
substances are injurious to the body, and which are harmless.
Certain mineral elements, such as iron, sodium, potassium, calcium,
magnesium, phosphorus, sulphur, etc., which are among the important
constituents of the human body, may be taken in the organic form in
fruits and vegetables, or in herb extracts and the vitochemical
remedies, in large amounts, in fact, far beyond the actual needs of
the body, but they will not show in the iris of the eye, because
they are easily eliminated from the system.
If, however, the same minerals be taken in the inorganic form in
considerable quantities, the iris will exhibit certain well-defined
signs and discolorations in the areas corresponding to those parts
of the body in which the mineral substances have accumulated.
Obviously, Nature does not intend that these mineral elements should
enter the organism in the inorganic form, and therefore the organs
of depuration are not able to neutralize and eliminate them.
Thus, for instance, any amount of iron may be taken in vegetable or
herb extracts, or in the vitochemical remedies, but this will not be
seen in the eye. Whatever is taken in excess of the needs of the
body will be promptly eliminated.
If, however, similar quantities of iron be taken for the same length
of time in the inorganic, mineral form, the iron will accumulate in
the tissues of stomach and bowels, and begin to show in the iris in
the form of a rust brown discoloration in the corresponding areas of
the digestive organs, directly around the pupil.
In similar manner sodium, which is one of the most important mineral
elements in the human body, if taken in the inorganic form, will
show in a heavy, white rim along the outer edge of the iris. Sulphur
will show in the form of yellowish discolorations in the area of
stomach and bowels. Iodine in the medicinal, inorganic form,
prepared from the ash of seaweeds, shows in the iris in well-defined
bright red spots. Phosphorus appears in whitish streaks and clouds
in the areas corresponding to the organs in which it has
accumulated.
An interesting exception to this rule is our common table salt
(sodium chloride), which is an inorganic mineral combination. So
far, diagnosticians from the eye have not discovered any sign in the
iris for it. There seems to be something in its nature that makes it
akin to organic substances or, like other inorganic minerals and
their combinations, it would show in the iris.
This might explain why salt is the only inorganic mineral substance
which is extensively used as food by humanity in general. Also
animals who, guided by their natural instincts, are the finest
discriminators in the selection of foods and medicines, do not
hesitate to take salt freely (salt licks) when they would not touch
any other inorganic mineral.
Nevertheless, we do not wish to encourage the excessive use of salt,
either in the cooking of food or at the table. Taken in considerable
quantities, it is undoubtedly injurious to the tissues of the body.
Before the days of canned goods, scurvy was a common disease among
mariners and other people who had to subsist for long periods of
time on salted meats and were deprived of fresh vegetables. The
disease manifested as a breaking down of the gums and other tissues
of the body, accompanied by bleeding and much soreness. As soon as
these people partook of fresh fruits and vegetables, the scurvy
disappeared.
The minerals contained in these organic salts foods furnished the
building-stones which imparted tensile strength to the tissues and
stopped the disintegration of the fleshy structures.
The Nature Cure regimen aims to provide sodium chloride as well as
the other mineral elements and salts required by the body in organic
form in foods and medicines.
When the use of inorganic minerals is discontinued and when the
proper methods of eliminative treatment, dietetic and otherwise, are
applied, these mineral substances are gradually dislodged and
carried out of the system. Simultaneously with their elimination
disappear their signs in the iris and the disease symptoms which
their presence had created in the organism.
In this connection it is a significant fact that those minerals
which are congenial to the system, that is, those which in their
organic form enter into the composition of the body, are much more
easily eliminated if they have been taken in the inorganic form,
than those substances which are naturally foreign and poisonous to
the human organism, such as mercury, arsenic, iodine, the bromides,
the different coal-tar preparations, etc.
This is proved by the fact that the signs of the minerals which are
normal constituents of the human body disappear from the iris of the
eye much more quickly than the signs of those minerals which are
foreign and naturally poisonous to the system.
The difficulty we experience in eliminating mineral poisons from the
body would seem to indicate that Nature never intended them to be
used as foods or medicines. The intestines, kidneys, skin, mucous
membranes and other organs of depuration are evidently not
constructed or prepared to cope with inorganic, poisonous substances
and to eliminate them completely. Accordingly, these poisons show
the tendency to accumulate in certain parts or organs of the body
for which they have a special affinity and then to act as irritants
and destructive corrodents.
The diseases which we find most difficult to cure, even by the most
radical application of natural methods, are cases of drug-poisoning.
Substances which are foreign to the human organism, and especially
the inorganic, mineral poisons, positively destroy tissues and
organs, and are much harder to eliminate from the system than the
encumbrances of morbid materials and waste matter produced in the
body by wrong habits of living only. The obvious reason for this is
that our organs of elimination are intended and constructed to
excrete only such waste products as are formed in the organism in
the processes of metabolism.
Tuberculosis or cancer may be caused in a scrofulous or psoriatic
constitution by overloading the system with meat, coffee, alcohol or
tobacco; but as soon as these bad habits are discontinued, and the
organs of elimination stimulated by natural methods, the
encumbrances will be eliminated, and the much-dreaded symptoms will
subside and disappear, often with surprising rapidity.
On the other hand, mercury, arsenic, quinine, strychnine, iodine,
etc., accumulate in the brain, the spinal cord, and the cells and
tissues of the vital organs, causing actual destruction and
disintegration. The tissues thus affected are not easily rebuilt,
and it is exceedingly difficult to stir up the destructive mineral
poisons and to eliminate them from the system.
Therefore it is an indisputable fact that many of the most stubborn,
so-called incurable diseases are drug diseases
The Importance of Natural Diet
While certain medicinal remedies in organic form may be very useful
in supplying quickly a deficiency of mineral elements in the system,
we should aim to keep our bodies in a normal, healthy condition by
proper food selection and combination. A brief description of the
scientific basis of "Natural Dietetics" will be found in the chapter
on Diet.
Undoubtedly, Nature has supplied all the elements which the human
organism needs in abundance and in the right proportions in the
natural foods, otherwise she would be a very ignorant organizer and
provider.
We should learn to select and combine food materials in such a
manner that they supply all the needs of the body in the best
possible way and thus insure perfect health and strength without the
use of medicines.
Why should we attempt to cure anemia with inorganic iron,
hyperacidity of the stomach with baking soda, swollen glands with
iodine, the itch with sulphur, ricket conditions in infants with
lime water, etc., when these mineral elements are contained in
abundance and in live, organic form in fruits and vegetables, herbs
and in the vitochemical remedies?
Unfortunately, however, a great many individuals, through wrong
habits of living and of treating their ailments, have ruined their
digestive organs to such an extent that they are incapable of
properly assimilating their food and require, at least temporarily,
stimulative treatment by natural methods and a supply of the
indispensable organic mineral salts through medicinal food
preparations.
In such cases the mineral elements must be provided in the most
easily assimilable form in vegetable extracts (which should be
prepared fresh every day), and in the vitochemical remedies.
What has been said is sufficient, I believe, to justify the attitude
of the Nature Cure school toward medicines in general. It explains
why we avoid the use of inorganic minerals and poisonous substances,
while on the other hand we find a wide and useful field for
medicinal remedies in the form of blood and tissue foods.
Chapter XV
Homeopathy
When we recommend the use of homeopathic remedies, the medical
nihilist says: "Don't talk homeopathy to me! I didn't come to you
for drugs; I have had enough of them."
When we explain that these remedies are so highly refined that they
cannot possibly do any harm, he becomes still more indignant. "I
don't need any of your mental therapeutics in homeopathic form," he
exclaims. "I, too, believe in the power of mind over matter, but I
have no faith in your sugar of milk pellets; they are poor
substitutes for the real article. That kind of sugar-coated
suggestion might work on some people, but it doesn't on me."
When I first entered upon the study of medicine, I, too, did not
believe in the curative power of homeopathic doses; but experience
caused me to change my mind. The well-selected remedy administered
at the right time often works wonders.
True homeopathic medicines in high-potency doses are so highly
refined and rarefied that they cannot possibly produce harmful
results or suppress Nature's cleansing and healing efforts; on the
contrary, if employed according to the Law of Homeopathy: "like
cures like," they assist in producing acute reactions or healing
crises, thus aiding Nature in the work of purification and repair.
Homeopathy Works with the Laws of Cure, Not Against Them. ~Similia
similibus curantur~ (like cures like) translated into practice means
that a drug capable of producing a certain set of disease symptoms
in a healthy body, when given in large, physiological doses, will
relieve or cure a similar set of symptoms in the diseased organism
if the drug be given in small, homeopathic doses.
For instance, ~belladonna,~ given in large, poisonous doses to a
healthy person, will cause a peculiar headache with sharp, stabbing
pains in forehead and temples, high fever, violent delirium,
dilation of the pupils, dryness and rawness of the throat, scarlet
redness of the skin and extreme sensitiveness to light, jars and
noises.
It will be observed that this is a fair picture of a typical case of
scarlet fever. A homeopathic prescriber, when called to a scarlet
fever patient exhibiting in a marked degree three or more of the
above-described symptoms, would give a trituration of belladonna,
say 6x. In numberless cases the fever has subsided and its symptoms
have rapidly disappeared under such treatment.
The reader may say: "I do not see any difference between this and
the allopathic suppression of disease by drugs."
There is a great difference. The allopathic physician may use the
same remedy, belladonna, in the same case, but he will give from ten
to twenty drops of tincture of belladonna, repeated every three or
four hours. These doses are from twenty to forty thousand times
stronger than the homeopathic 3x or 6x.
Herein lies the difference. The allopathic dose allays the fever
symptoms by paralyzing the organism as a whole and the different
vital organs and their functions in particular. This is frankly
admitted in every allopathic materia medica. But by such dosing
Nature is forcibly interrupted in her efforts of cleansing and
healing; the acute reaction is suppressed, but not cured.
If fever is a healing effort of Nature, it may be controlled and
modified, but must not be suppressed. A minute dose of homeopathic
belladonna, acting on the innermost cells of the organism which the
coarser allopathic doses would paralyze, stimulates these cells to
effort in the right direction. It brings about conditions similar to
those produced by Nature, and thus assists her; it is cooperation
instead of counteroperation.
After this brief discussion of the practical application of
homeopathy, let us now ascertain in how far its laws and theories
agree with and corroborate the laws and principles of the Nature
Cure school.
Hahnemann discovered the Law of ~similia similibus curantur
~accidentally, while investigating the effects of quinine on the
human organism. Ever since then it has been applied successfully by
him and his followers in treating human ailments.
However, this law has been used empirically. Neither in the Organon
nor in any other writings or teachings of Hahnemann and the
homeopathic school can be found a clear and concise explanation of
why like cures like. The proof offered has been negative rather than
positive.
Therefore the allopath says: "You tell me that ~'like cures like,'
~and that you can prove it at the sickbed; but unless you can give
me good and valid reasons why it should be so, I cannot and will not
believe that it is your 'similar' which cures the patient. How do I
know it is your 'potency'? The patient might recover just as well
without it."
With the aid of the three laws of cure, I shall endeavor to give the
reasons and furnish the proofs for our contentions. The laws alluded
to are: The Law of Cure, the Law of Dual Effect and the Law of
Crises.
~Similia similibus curantur~ is only another way of stating the
fundamental Law of Nature Cure: "Every acute disease is the result
of a cleansing and healing effort of Nature."
If a certain set of disease symptoms are the result of a healing
effort of Nature, and if I give a remedy which produces the same or
similar symptoms in the system, am I not aiding Nature in her
attempt to overcome the abnormal conditions?
In such a case, the indicated homeopathic remedy will not suppress
the acute reaction, but it will help it along, thus accelerating and
hastening the curative process.
In the last analysis, disease resides in the cell. The well-being of
the organism as a whole is dependent upon the health of the
individual cells of which it is composed. This has been explained
more fully in connection with the action of stimulants.
In order to cure the man, we must free the cell of its encumbrances.
Elimination must begin in the cell, not in the organs of depuration.
Laxatives and cathartics, by irritating the digestive tract, may
cause a forced evacuation of the contents of the intestinal canal,
but they do not eliminate the poisons which clog cells and tissues.
In stubborn chronic diseases, when the cells are too weak to throw
off the latent encumbrances of their own accord, a well-chosen
homeopathic remedy is often of great service in arousing them to
acute reaction.
For instance, if the system is heavily encumbered with scrofulous
taints and if its vitality is lowered to such an extent that the
individual cell cannot of itself throw off the morbid encumbrances
by means of a vigorous, acute effort, sulphur, if administered in
doses sufficiently triturated and refined to affect the minute cells
composing the organism, will start disease vibrations similar to
those of acute scrofulosis, and thus give the needed impetus to
acute eliminative activity on the part of the individual cell.
The acute reaction, once started, may develop into vigorous forms of
scrofulous elimination, such as skin eruptions, glandular swellings,
abscesses, catarrhal discharges, etc.
Are High-Potency Doses Effective?
The question now arises: How large or how small must the dose be in
order to affect the minute cells?
In the administration of medicines, the size of the dose is adjusted
to the size of the patient. If half a grain of a certain drug is the
normal dose for an adult, the proper dose of the same drug for a
small infant, say, less than a year old, may be about one
twenty-fifth of the adult dose. How small, in proportion, should
then be the dose given to a cell a billion times as small as the
infant?
The dose given to an adult would paralyze or perhaps kill an infant.
In like manner the minute cell would be benumbed and paralyzed by
the drug suited to the infant's organism.
But this is how allopathy effects its fictitious cures. It
suppresses inflammatory processes by paralyzing the cells and organs
and their vital activities.
Homeopathy adapts the smallness of the dose to the smallness of the
cell which is to be treated. Herein lies the reasonableness of the
high-potency dose.
The Personal Responsibility of the Cell
The cell resembles Man not only in physical and physiological
aspects, but also in regard to the moral law.
Elimination must commence in the cell and by virtue of the cell's
personal effort. Its work cannot be done vicariously by drugs or the
knife. Large, allopathic doses of medicine may be given with the
idea of doing the work for the cell by violently stimulating or else
paralyzing the organism as a whole or certain ones of the vital
organs; but this is demoralizing and destructive to the cell. The
powerful doses calculated to affect the body and its organs as a
whole make superfluous or paralyze the individual efforts of the
cells and thus intensify the chronic disease conditions in cells and
tissues.
Alms-giving, prison sentences and capital punishment have a similar
allopathic effect upon Man, the individual cell of the social body.
Instead of providing for him the proper environment and the
opportunity for natural development and for working out his own
salvation, they take this opportunity away from him and weaken his
personal effort or make it impossible.
The Efficacy of Small Doses
The late revelations of chemistry, Roentgen rays, x-rays,
radio-activity of metals, etc., throw an interesting light upon the
seemingly infinite divisibility of matter. A small particle of a
given substance may for many years throw off a continuous shower of
corpuscles without perceptibly diminishing its volume.
For an illustration we may take the odoriferous musk. A few grains
of this substance will fill a room with its penetrating aroma for
years. When we smell musk or any other perfume, minute particles of
it bombard the end filaments of the nerves of smell in the nose.
Therefore the musk must be casting off such minute particles
continually without apparent loss of substance.
With the aid of this recent knowledge of the true nature of matter,
of the minuteness and complexity of the atom, we can now understand
how the highly triturated and refined (attenuated) homeopathic
remedy may still retain the dynamic force of the element, as
Hahnemann has expressed it, and how a remedy so attenuated may still
be capable of exerting an influence upon the minute cell. Since
chemistry and physiology have acquainted us with the finer forces of
Nature, demonstrating that they are mightier than the things we can
apprehend by weight and measure, the claims of homeopathy do not
appear so absurd as they did a generation ago.
Undoubtedly, the good effect produced by a well-chosen remedy is
heightened and strengthened by the mental and magnetic influence of
the prescriber. The positive faith of the physician in the efficacy
of the remedy, his sympathy and his indomitable will to assist the
sufferer affect both the physical substance of the remedy and the
mind of the patient.
The varying mental and magnetic qualities of prescribers have
undoubtedly much to do with the varying degrees of efficaciousness
of the same remedy when administered by different physicians.
The true Hahnemannian homeopath, who believes in his remedies as in
his God, will concentrate his intellectual and spiritual forces on a
certain remedy in order to accomplish certain well-defined results.
The bottle is not allowed to become empty. Whenever the graft runs
low, it is replenished with distilled water, alcohol, milk sugar, or
another "vehicle." Every time he takes the medicine bottle into his
hands, these potent thought forms are projected into it: "You are
the element sulphur. You produce in the human body a certain set of
symptoms. You will produce these symptoms in the body of this
patient."
If there is any virtue at all in magnetic, mental and spiritual
healing, the homeopathic remedy must be an effective agency for
transmitting magnetic, mental and psychic healing forces from
prescriber to patient.
Transmission of these higher and finer forces, whether directly,
telepathically or by means of some physical agent, such as
magnetized water, a charm or simile, etc., is the modus operandi in
all the different forms of ancient and modern magic, white or black.
It is the active principle in mental healing, Christian Science,
sympathy healing, voodooism, witchcraft, etc.
Homeopathy and the Law of Dual Effect
I have formulated the Law of Action and Reaction in its application
to the treatment of diseases as follows:
"Every agent affecting the human organism has two effects: a first,
apparent, temporary one and a second, lasting one. The second effect
is directly opposite to the first."
Allopathy, in giving large, physiological doses, takes into
consideration only the first, apparent effect of the drug, and
thereby accomplishes in the long run results directly opposite to
those which it desires to bring about. It produces the very
conditions it tries to cure. As an example, note the permanent
effects of laxatives, stimulants and sedatives upon the system. This
has been explained more fully in Chapter Six.
On the other hand, the homeopathic physician may use the same
remedies as the allopath, provided they produce symptoms similar to
those of the disease, but he administers the different drugs in such
minute doses that their first effect is noticed only as a slight
"homeopathic aggravation," while their second and lasting effect is
relied upon to relieve and cure the disease.
In other words, homeopathy produces as the first effect the
condition like the disease, and counts on the second and lasting
effect of the drug to bring about a permanent change.
If, in accordance with the Law of Dual Effect as applied to drugs,
the primary, temporary effect of the homeopathic remedy is equal to
the disease, it is self-evident that the secondary, lasting effect
of the remedy must be equal to the cure.
This law has been proved by homeopathy for over a hundred years. An
experienced homeopathic prescriber would no more doubt it than he
would doubt the Law of Gravitation.
Homeopathy and the Law of Crises
Therefore, if the remedy be well chosen in accord with the Law of
~similia similibus curantur,~ the first homeopathic aggravation,
which corresponds to the crisis of Nature Cure, will be followed by
speedy and perfect readjustment. Nature has her way, the disorder
runs its course, and the return to normal conditions will be quicker
and more perfect than if the homeopathic remedy had not been
employed or if Nature's healing processes had been forcibly
interrupted and suppressed by large, poisonous allopathic doses.
Homeopathy assists Nature in removing the old encumbrances, whereas
allopathy changes the acute, inflammatory healing effort into
chronic, destructive disease.
The Economics of Homeopathy
The Law of ~like cures like~ is of great practical importance from
another point of view, namely, that of economics.
The best engineer is the one who accomplishes the maximum of results
with the minimum of expenditure of force and with the least
friction. The same is true of the physician and his remedies.
We have learned that drugs given in the coarse allopathic doses
attack and affect the organism as a whole. If, for instance, there
is a catarrhal affection of the serous and mucous membranes of the
respiratory tract accompanied by fever, the allopath will give
quinine in large doses to change this condition. He may accomplish
his aim; but if so, he does it by paralyzing the heart, the
respiratory centers, the red and white blood corpuscles and the
excreting cells of the mucous membranes. The body as a whole and
certain parts in particular are saturated with the drug poison and
correspondingly weakened. As allopathy itself states it: "Quinine
reduces fever by depressing the metabolism" (the vital functions).
Homeopathic materia medica teaches that ~Bryonia~ has a special
affinity for the mucous and serous membranes of the respiratory
tract and that its symptomatic effects correspond closely to those
described in the preceding paragraph.
If, in accordance with the Law of ~similia similibus curantur,~ a
homeopathic dose of Bryonia be given to a patient exhibiting these
symptoms, the remedy, as has been demonstrated, will assist Nature
in her work of cure; and in doing this, it will not attack and
affect the entire organism, but only those serous and mucous tissues
for which it has a special affinity and which, as in the case of
this patient, are the most seriously affected.
To state it in another way: the large, allopathic dose paralyzes the
whole organism in order to produce its fictitious cure. The small,
homeopathic dose, on the other hand, goes right to the spot where it
is needed, and by mild and harmless stimulation of the affected
parts, assists and supports the cells in their acute eliminative
efforts.
Homeopathic medication, therefore, is not only curative in its
effects, but also conservative and in the highest degree economic.
Homeopathy, a Complement of Nature Cure
Having proved the accuracy of Hahnemann's Law of ~similia similibus
curantur,~ and having occasion daily to observe its practical
results in the treatment of acute and chronic diseases, we should
not be justified in omitting homeopathy from our system of
treatment. The attenuated homeopathic doses of certain drugs may be
of great service in bringing about the acute reactions which we so
earnestly desire, especially in the treatment of chronic diseases of
long standing.
I am aware of the fact that in severe and obstinate conditions
homeopathy is often apparently of no avail. But when the system has
been purified and strengthened by our natural methods, by a rational
vegetarian diet, hydrotherapy, chiropractic or osteopathy, massage,
corrective exercise, air and sun baths, normal suggestion, etc., the
homeopathic remedies will work with much greater promptitude and
effectiveness.
It is the combination of all the different healing factors which
constitutes the perfect system of treatment.
No disease condition, whether apparently hopeless or not, can be
called incurable unless all these different healing factors,
properly combined and applied, have been given a thorough trial. It
is no charlatanic boasting, but the simple truth, when we affirm
that the different natural methods of treatment, as we of the Nature
Cure school apply them, can and do cure so-called incurable
diseases, such as tuberculosis, cancer, locomotor ataxy, epilepsy,
eczema, neurasthenia, insanity and the worst forms of chronic
dyspepsia and constipation, always providing that the patient
possesses sufficient vitality to react to the treatment and that the
destruction of vital parts and organs has not advanced too far.
Chapter XVI
The Diphtheria Antitoxin
In this country the antitoxin treatment for diplitheria is still in
high favor, while in Germany, where it originated, many of the best
medical authorities are abandoning its use on account of its
doubtful curative results and certain destructive after-effects.
According to the enthusiastic advocates of this treatment among the
"regular" physicians in this country, the antitoxin is a "certain
cure" for diphtheria; but how is this claim borne out by actual
facts?
The Health Bulletins sent regularly to every physician in the City
of Chicago by the City Health Department show an average of from
fifteen to twenty deaths every week from diphtheria treated with
antitoxin.
I do not deny that the antitoxin treatment may have reduced somewhat
the mortality percentage of this disease, allowing even for the
great uncertainty of medical statistics. But we of the Nature Cure
school claim and can prove that the hydropathic treatment of
diphtheria shows a much lower percentage of mortality than the
antitoxin treatment.
The crucial point to be considered in this connection is: What are
the after-effects of the different methods of treatment?
This is a very important matter. I make the following claims:
that the antitoxin, being itself a most powerful poison, may be and
often is the direct cause of paralysis, or of death due to
heart-failure. That diphtheria treated with antitoxin may be and
often is followed by paralysis, heart-failure, or lifelong
invalidism of some kind after the patient has apparently recovered
from the disease. That these undesirable after-effects of diphtheria
do not occur when the disease is treated by natural methods, but
that they are the result of the antitoxin treatment and of its
suppressive effect upon. the disease.
To prove my claims, I submit the following facts: I have in my
possession clippings from newspapers from different parts of the
country stating that death had followed the administration of the
diphtheria antitoxin for prevention or "immunization," that is,
where the individual had been in good health at the time the
antitoxin was given.
Several cases of this kind created quite a sensation in Germany
about fifteen years ago. Dr. Robert Langerhans, superintendent of
the Moabit Hospital in Berlin, a strong advocate of the antitoxin
treatment and also of vaccination, had been one of a committee of
three appointed by the municipal government of the German metropolis
to investigate the efficiency of the diphtheria antitoxin. As a
result of his findings, he had recommended its free distribution to
the poor of the City of Berlin.
Not long thereafter the doctor's cook was suddenly taken ill with
severe pains in the throat and sent to the hospital. It was thought
to be a case of diphtheria, and the doctor, to protect his little
son, one and one-half years old, against possible infection,
administered an injection of antitoxin. Shortly afterward the child
developed symptoms of blood-poisoning and died of heart-failure
within twenty-four hours.
It is customary in Germany to insert a death-notice in one of the
local newspapers and to invite the friends of the family to the
funeral. In his announcement in the columns of the "Lokalanzeiger,"
Dr. Langerhans stated explicitly that his little son had died after
an injection of diphtheria antitoxin for immunization.
Another similar case is that of Dr. Pistor, a prominent Berlin
physician, whose little daughter contracted a slight inflammation of
the throat. The child was given an injection of antitoxin, and this
was followed by a severe and protracted illness.
Very significant, in this connection, are certain utterances of Dr.
William Osler in his "Practice of Medicine." He says, on page 150:
" Of the sequelae of diphtheria, paralysis is by far the most
important. This can be experimentally produced in animals by the
inoculation of the toxic material produced by the bacilli. [This is
the active principle in the antitoxin. Author's note] The paralysis
occurs in a variable proportion of the cases, ranging from 10 to 15
and even to 20 per cent. It is strictly a sequel of the disease [of
the disease treated with antitoxin?--Author's note], coming on
usually in the second or third week of convalescence. . . . It may
follow very mild cases; indeed, the local lesion may be so trifling
that the onset of the paralysis alone calls attention to the true
nature of the disease. . . .
"The disease is a toxic neuritis, due to the absorption of the
poison. . . .
"Of the local paralysis the most common is that which affects the
palate. . . . Of other local forms perhaps the most common are
paralysis of the eye muscles. . . . Heart symptoms are not uncommon.
. . . Heart-failure and fatal syncope (death) may occur at the
height of the disease or during convalescence, even as late as the
sixth or seventh week after apparent recovery."
It appears to me that the mystery of these "sequelae" can easily be
explained. It is certain that a mere "sore throat," not serious
enough to be diagnosed as diphtheria, cannot produce paralysis or
heart-failure; but we know positively that the antitoxin can do it
and does do it. The cases that Dr. Osler refers to undoubtedly
received the antitoxin treatment, because it is administered on the
slightest suspicion of diphtheria, nay, even to perfectly healthy
persons "for purposes of immunization."
Then is it not most likely that these "mysterious after-effects" are
caused rather by the highly poisonous antitoxin than by the "sore
throat?"
In my own practice, I am frequently consulted by chronic patients
whose troubles date back to diphtheria "cured" by antitoxin. Among
these I have met with several cases of idiocy and insanity, with
many cases of partial paralysis, infantile paralysis, and nervous
disorders of a most serious nature, also with various other forms of
chronic destructive diseases.
In the iris of the eye, the effect of the antitoxin on the system
shows as a darkening of the color. In many instances, the formerly
blue or light-brown iris assumes an ashy-gray or brownish-gray hue.
My secretary who is taking this dictation and who has brown eyes,
tells me that her mother informed her that up to her tenth year her
eyes had been of a clear blue. About that time she had several
attacks of diphtheria and a severe "second" attack of scarlet fever,
which were treated and "cured" under the care of an allopathic
physician. She does not remember whether she was given antitoxin,
but recalls that her throat was painted and her body rubbed with
oil, and that she had to take a great deal of medicine. Since that
time her eyes have turned brown. They show plainly the rust-brown
spots of iodine in the areas of the brain, the throat, and other
parts of the body.
The effect upon the iris of the eye would be very much the same
whether the attacks of diphtheria had been suppressed by antitoxin
or by the old-time drug treatment. A significant fact in this
connection is that, since Mrs. C. is with us, following natural
methods of living and under the effects of the treatments which she
has been taking regularly for several months, her eyes have become
much lighter and in places the original blue is visible under the
brown. The nerve rings in the region of the brain, which were very
marked when she came to us, have become less defined. There is a
corresponding improvement in her general health, and especially in
the condition of her nerves.
In regard to my claim that undesirable after-effects do not occur
under treatment by natural methods, I wish again to call attention
to the fact that for fifty years the Nature Cure physicians in
Germany have proved that hydropathic treatment of diphtheria is not
followed by paralysis, heart-failure, or the different forms of
chronic, destructive diseases.
This has been confirmed by my own experience in the treatment of
diphtheria and other serious acute ailments.
A Reply to My Critics
My discussions of the germ-theory of disease and of the vaccine,
serum, and antitoxin treatment in a series of articles entitled:
"Harmonies of the Physical" and published in "Life and Action"
called forth a great deal of adverse criticism from physicians of
the regular school of medicine. The following paragraphs are
extracts from a letter sent by one of these critics to the editor of
the above-named magazine:
" . . . I am convinced that some statements have been published in
this particular issue [October-Decemher, 1912] which have no proper
place in this magazine, the earnest champion of the cause of Truth
and the official organ of expression of the U. S. headquarters of
the movement which you evidently have at heart."
Dr. E. then refers to certain passages in my article in the
October-December, 1912, number of "Life and Action," and comments
upon them by quoting Drs. Osler and Andrews in favor of the
antitoxin treatment in diphtheria and by giving his own opinion on
the subject. He concludes his arguments as follows:
"I am a subscriber to this magazine and have also had my sister's
name put on the mailing list. She has a little boy about two years
old. Now, suppose she should read that article of Dr. Lindlahr's,
and as a result, refuse to permit the use of antitoxin, and if the
boy should get diphtheria, with a fatal issue as a result, I could
hardly feel gratified over the fact that I had placed that
reading-matter at her disposal. I fully appreciate the fact that
such an unhappy result might easily ensue in some one or more of the
families who read 'Life and Action' and look upon its columns as a
source of the truly higher light."
Perhaps Dr. E. has not read one of Dr. Osler's latest and strongest
utterances, his unqualified endorsement of natural methods of
healing in the Encyclopedia Americana, quoted on page 154 of this
volume.
Nature Cure in Germany
That it is possible to cure all kinds of serious acute diseases by
drugless methods of healing, has been proved by the Nature Cure
practitioners in Germany, nearly all of whom were laymen who had
never visited a medical school. For over half a century, many
thousands of them have been practicing the art of healing in all
parts of Germany. With hydrotherapy and the other natural methods
they have treated successfully typhoid fever. diphtheria, smallpox,
appendicitis, cerebro-spinal meningitis and all other acute
diseases.
It is a significant fact that, in spite of the most strenuous
opposition and appeal to the law-making powers on the part of the
regular school of medicine, the lay doctors could not be prevented
from practicing the natural methods of treatment in law-and
police-ridden Germany.
On the contrary, during the last few generations there have been
practicing in Germany at all times an ever increasing number of
Nature Cure physicians, most of them laymen.
This freedom of Nature Cure practice in Germany is entirely due to
the success of its methods.
And this success has been demonstrated in spite of all kinds of
opposition and attempted restriction. While the Nature Cure
practitioner is permitted to treat those who come to him for relief,
he does not have the right to cover his mistakes with six feet of
earth. If one of his patients dies, a doctor of the regular school
of medicine has to be called in to testify to the fact and issue the
death-certificate.
Thus the "lay doctors," the "Nature Cure physicians," were and are
at present constantly exposed to the strictest critical supervision
by the "regulars," and if the latter can prove that a patient has
died because the natural methods were inefficient or harmful, the
lay practitioner can be prosecuted for and convicted of malpractice
or man-slaughter.
But in point of fact, while a number of these lay physicians were
brought before the courts, in no instance could the actual
harmfulness of the methods employed by them be proven. The natural
methods of treatment became so popular that, as a matter of
self-preservation, the younger generation of physicians in Germany
had to fall in line with the Nature Cure idea in their practice.
Since Dr. E. so strongly questions the efficacy of our methods, I
may be permitted to say something about my own professional
experience.
Nature Cure in America
During the last ten years, I have treated and cured all kinds of
serious acute diseases without resorting to allopathic drugs. In a
very extensive practice, I have not in all these years lost a single
case of appendicitis (and not one of them was operated upon), of
typhoid fever, diphtheria, smallpox, scarlet fever, etc., and only
one case of cerebro-spinal meningitis and of lobar pneumonia. These
facts may be verified from the records of the Health Department of
the City of Chicago.
After the foregoing statements, I leave it to my readers to judge
whether the Nature Cure philosophy is inspired by blind fanaticism
and based upon ignorance and inexperience, or whether it is
justified in the light of scientific facts advanced by the Regular
School of Medicine itself and demonstrated by the wonderful success
of the Nature Cure movement in Germany, which in its different forms
has attained world-wide recognition and adoption.
There is a popular saying: "The proof of the pudding is in the
eating." The following letter will explain itself:
January 20, 1913.
Dear Dr. Lindlahr:--
You may remember that last winter, Mrs. White and I attended your
Sunday afternoon lectures in the Schiller Building. Those lectures
were an education--I might better say a revelation and an
inspiration.
On the 11th of November last, our boy, aged thirteen years, was
taken ill with diphtheria. I called at your office and asked your
advice. You replied: "You know what to do--wet packs, no food except
fruit juices, osteopathic treatment and no antitoxin."
We called an osteopathic physician, who at once sent a specimen from
the boy's throat to the city laboratory, where it was pronounced
diphtheria. A physician from the Board of Health came and
quarantined us and inquired if we had used the antitoxin treatment.
When Mrs. White replied "No," he said: "I suppose you know that the
percentage of deaths of those who do not have it is very high." She
said: "Yes, I know, but we do not intend to use it."
The boy had all the acute symptoms, was drowsy, with headache, and
on the second day his temperature went to 105 degrees. We applied
the wet body pack and by night had reduced his temperature to 100
degrees. With the aid of the osteopathic treatment, which he had
each night, the boy slept well all through big illness. On the fifth
day, the membrane spread from his throat to his nose, and his
temperature rose again; but the wet body packs again reduced it so
that it was never again over 100 degrees.
The boy was bright, his mind was clear, he was able to read, and
after the first week was able to play chess with his mother. The
only unfavorable symptom he had at all was an irregular pulse. He
took no medicine and no food except fruit juices. We used
occasionally the warm water enema. On the tenth day he took a little
lamb broth, but refused it the next day, and again asked for fruit
juices. It was not until two weeks had passed that his appetite
returned and he began to eat. He lost flesh, but did not lose
strength in the same degree--he was able to go to the bathroom each
day unaided.
On the 21st day, the osteopathic physician sent a specimen to the
city laboratory which they pronounced "positive," and the city
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