The Royal Road to Health
by
Chas. A. Tyrrell
Part 1 out of 4
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WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMERS
Transcriber's Note: This tract on health, like many published last
century, is essentially an advertisement of a particular form of
treatment invented and sold by the author. While it is of interest
in historical terms, it should not be relied upon as medical advice.
This e-text "Royal Road To Health" is for historical and educational
purposes only. This antiquated information is not presented with the
intention of diagnosing or prescribing.
No responsibility, liability or warranty, express or implied, is
assumed by the author or any distributer of this book. Anyone can
distribute this book freely any way they want, as long as all this
information contained in this book remains like it is now. . . .
(no changes, additions, or deletions).
THE ROYAL ROAD TO HEALTH
OR THE SECRET OF
HEALTH WITHOUT DRUGS.
By Chas. A. Tyrrell
TO MY WIFE.
Whose Enthusiasm, and unflagging interest in all matters pertaining to
health is excelled by none, and who has been a faithful coworker in
building up the system treating disease by hygienic methods herein set
forth,
This book is affectionately dedicated.
Copyright 1907
By
Charles A. Tyrrell, M.D.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAGRAM
ILLUSTRATING THE
DIGESTIVE ORGANS OF MAN.
1. Esophagus or Gullet.
2. Cardiac end of Stomach.
3. Pyloric end of Stomach.
4. Duodenum.
5, 6. Convolutions of Small Intestine.
7. Caecum.
7* Vermiform appendage of Caecum, called the appendicula
vermiformis.
8. Ascending Colon.
9, 10. Transverse Colon.
11. Descending Colon.
12. Sigmoid Flexure, the last curve of the Colon before it
terminates in the Rectum.
13. Rectum, the terminal part of the Colon.
14. Anus, posterior opening of the alimentary canal, through which the
excrements are expelled.
15. Lobes of the Liver, raised and turned back.
16. Hepatic Duct, which carries the bile from the liver to the Cystic
and Common Bile Ducts.
17. Cystic Duct.
18. Gall Bladder.
19. Common Bile Duct.
20. Pancreas, the gland which secretes the pancreatic juice.
21. Pancreatic Duct, entering the Duodunum with the Common Bile Duct.
PREFACE
TO THE ONE HUNDREDTH EDITION.
In presenting to the public the one hundredth edition of this work, it
is a matter for profound gratification to be able to state that the
treatment described in its pages has steadily increased in public
favor since its introduction. Tens of thousands of grateful people
testify to its efficiency, not only as a remedial process, but better
still, as a preventive of disease. Truth must ever prevail, and this
treatment being based on natural law (which is unerring), must achieve
the desired result, which is the restoration and preservation of
health.
This edition has been completely revised and much of it rewritten,
and, while the essential principles remain unchanged, some slight
departures from previously expressed opinions may be noted; for in the
years that have elapsed since the first edition saw the light, some
notable advances have been made in rational therapeutics and
dietetics, and no one can afford to lag behind the car of Progress.
The arrangement of the book has been still farther altered, by adding
another part, making nine in all, each part being devoted to a special
phase of the general subject, thus simplifying it, and making its
principles easier of application. Quotations have been freely made
from articles written during the past three years by the author, in
his capacity as editor of "Health," and several new formulas for the
treatment of important diseases have been added to those that have
appeared in previous editions.
While painfully conscious that the critically disposed may find
something to condemn in its pages, the work is sent forth with the
fervent hope, that despite any defects it may possess it may, in the
future, as in the past, prove the means of restoring to suffering
thousands the possession of their natural and rightful heritage
health.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
PART 1.
DRUGGING PROVED UNSCIENTIFIC.
Health is wealth. The truth about "Materia Medica." Medical
opinions on drugs they do not cure disease. Opinions of
British physicians. The most important medical discoveries
made by laymen. There is no "law of cure," only a condition.
Drugs do not act on the system, but are acted upon.
PART II.
THE TRUE CAUSE OF DISEASE.
Only one cause of disease. There is only one disease, but
many modifications. Digestion and assimilation explained.
Evil effects of the retention of waste. The horrors of
faecal impaction. How auto infection is accomplished. The
mysteries of the circulation. Disease shown to be the result
of imperfect elimination.
PART III.
RATIONAL HYGIENIC TREATMENT.
Nature cures, not the physician. The action of microbes. The
cathartic habit. The true action of cathartics explained,
and popular suppositions corrected. A correct solution of
the difficulty. "Flushing the colon" as an ancient practice.
Dr. Turner's post mortem experiences. Colon distortion
illustrated. Objections to the ordinary appliances danger in
using the long, flexible catheter. Invention of the "J. B.
L. Cascade," and description of it.
PART IV.
HOW TO USE IT.
The complete process of "flushing the colon" explained, step
by step, so that even a child might understand it.
Objections answered. Advice to users of the treatment.
PART V.
PRACTICAL HYGIENE.
Longevity man's natural heritage. The care of the body
absolute cleanliness rare. The function of water in the
human organism. Hot water the natural scavenger. The bath.
Description of the skin, and its function. Hints on bathing.
The wet sheet pack. Importance of fresh air. Interchange of
gases in the lungs. Ventilation. Prof. Willard Parker on
impure air. The function of the heart. The therapeutic value
of sunlight.
PART VI.
EXERCISE.
Motion is life. Effect of exercise on the fluids of the
body. How the tissues are nourished. Exercise for invalids.
Complete system of breathing exercises for developing the
lungs. Improved system of physical exercises, calling into
play every muscle of the body ensuring harmonious
development. Special nerve exercise. how to stand and how to
walk. All the above exercises plainly illustrated.
PART VII.
THE DIET QUESTION.
The replacement of waste. Appetite and hunger. The evils of
gluttony. Vegetarianism versus flesh eating. Diet, a
question of latitude. The cause of old age. Cretinism.
Danger of earthy matters in food substances. Fruits are
ideal foods. The true value of bread. Classification of the
ingredients of food substances. Table of proportions. Table
of digestive values. Vegetarianism discussed. A mixed diet
the most reasonable. How to eat. Liquids at meals. When to
eat. The no breakfast plan. The effects of alcohol, tea and
coffee. Improper habits of eating. The influence of mind
upon digestion. The advantages of regularity. Nature's
bookkeeping.
PART VIII.
TREATMENT OF DISEASE.
Complete formulas of treatment (with dietary rules) for over
fifty different diseases, including Consumption,
Appendicitis, Locomotor Ataxia, Paralysis, Dyspepsia,
Pneumonia, Diabetes Mellitus, Uterine troubles, etc. Also
all the principal ailments of children.
PART IX.
SOME HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS.
Disease is the result of the operation of natural law don't
dread it. Don't treat symptoms; treat the fundamental cause.
Pain is Nature's danger signal. Prevention is better than
cure. The elements of prevention. Importance of a knowledge
of physiology. The body, the vehicle of expression for the
mind. The strenuous life. Tear worse than wear. The
importance of reserve energy. The effect of the mind on the
body. The human body as a bank. The importance of a daily
balance. Cultivate cheerfulness. The habit of happiness. The
folly of squandering health. Medicine and surgery compared.
What children should be taught. The final word.
APPENDIX.
Instructions for massage. How to use the stomach bath by
three different methods. How to improvise the Turkish Bath
in your own home, without apparatus. How to use the wet
sheet pack. How to care for the "Cascade".
THE ROYAL ROAD TO HEALTH.
PART I.
DRUGGING PROVED UNSCIENTIFIC.
It is one of the most profound mysteries of our civilization, and has
been one of the most perplexing and discouraging phenomena of human
existence, that, while the world at large has maintained an ever
increasing "medical profession," whose members are popularly supposed
to be competent to deal with all the ills that flesh is heir to; still
there has always been a long list of what are termed "incurable
diseases." But the immense strides made, in recent years, in every
branch of modern science, has led the thinking public to consider such
a condition of things as an outrageous libel on the God of Nature, and
to question whether there can be such a thing as an incurable disease.
Health is such an inestimable blessing, that the individual who shall
devise means to preserve it, or to restore it, when lost, is deserving
of all the thanks and honors that a grateful community can bestow.
Unfortunately, there are very few who estimate life at its true value,
until they are confronted with the grim destroyer, Death. No one can
fully appreciate the priceless blessings of health, until they feel
that it has slipped from their grasp. The oft quoted phrase, "Health
is Wealth," is truly a concrete expression of wisdom, for without the
former, the latter is well nigh an impossibility. But its interference
with the activities of life is one of the least evils of sickness, for
perfect health is the very salt and spice of life; without it,
existence is "weary, stale, flat and unprofitable."
But let none despair, for it is my purpose to show how those who enjoy
the blessing of robust health may preserve it indefinitely, and how
those who have lost it may regain it with access of vigor, and once
more feel that life is indeed worth living. In presenting a new system
of medication, it is necessary to attack the existing systems, and
hence, I am placed in a delicate position, for of all the problems
ever presented for the ingenuity of man to solve, undoubtedly the most
difficult is, how to present new facts so as not to offend old errors;
for individuals are very prone to regard arguments levelled against
their opinions as direct attacks upon their personality; and not a few
of them mistake their own deeply rooted prejudices for established
certainties.
I shall endeavor to show that the practice of administering drugs to
cure disease is a fallacy, and in so doing, I am bound to incur the
condemnation of my brother practitioners, who prescribe drugs, and the
druggists who vend them.
It may safely be asserted that the drug system of treating disease
would be destroyed if it were to be critically examined; in fact, to
defend it is provocative of unmistakable damage to it. If it is once
subjected to the analysis of calm reason its defects become palpable
to the meanest understanding.
There are three principal schools of medicine, each with a distinctive
title, but they are all one in essential principles. They may differ
in unimportant details; but in the main premises they are a unit. They
all believe in the principle of "curing one disease by producing
another." In other words, their practice is, to induce a drug disease
to cure a primary one, for this is exactly what is done when drugs are
administered, in pathological conditions as we shall prove later on by
testimony from authorities on medical practice.
The materia medica of the schools, to-day, includes upwards of two
thousand substances the number increasing daily and when viewed
dispassionately it presents what? A list of drugs, chemicals, dye-
stuffs, all subversive of organic structures. They are all
antagonistic to living matter: all produce disease when brought in
contact in any manner with the living domain as a matter of fact, all
are poisons. Now, what logical standing can a system have, that
employs, as remedies for diseases, those things that produce disease
in healthy persons? No advocate of the drug system has ever advanced a
reason that would bear one moment's scientific examination, why
poisonous substances should be administered to the sick, and no one
will ever be able to give a satisfactory explanation of the theory
that underlies the practice, for none exists. When once the public
fully grasps the true import of this glaring anomaly, the days of the
drug system will be numbered.
Physicians of ability and long experience, who have devoted their
lives to the relief of suffering humanity, both in this and other
countries, have declared after close observation, that they were fully
and thoroughly convinced that medicines do not cure patients, that
they do not assist Nature's process of cure, so much as they retard
it, and, that they are more hurtful than remedial in all diseases. A
still larger number have reached the same conclusion with regard to
certain complaints, such as scarlet fever, croup, pneumonia, cholera,
rheumatism, diphtheria, measles, small-pox, dysentery, and typhoid
fever, and that in every case where they have abandoned
all medicine, abjured all drugs and potions, their success has been
marvellously increased.
Professor B. F. Parker, of the New York Medical College, once said to
a medical class: "I have recently given no medicine in the treatment
of measles and scarlet fever, and I have had excellent success."
Dr. Snow, Health Officer of Providence, R. I., reported for the
information of his professional brethren, through the Boston Medical
and Surgical Journal that he had treated all the cases of small-pox,
which had prevailed endemically in that city, without a particle of
medicine, and that all of the cases some of which were very grave ones
recovered.
Dr. John Bell, Professor of Materia Medica in one of the Philadelphia
Colleges, and also in the Medical College of Baltimore, testified in a
work which he published ("Bell on Baths"), that he and others had
treated many cases of scarlet fever with bathing, and without
medicines of any kind, and without losing a patient.
Dr. Ames, of Montgomery, Alabama, some years since published in the
New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, his experience and
observation in the treatment of pneumonia. He had been led to notice
for many years, that patients who were treated with the ordinary
remedies--bleeding, mercury, and remedies--breeding certain
complications which always aggravated the malady, and rendered the
convalescence more lingering and recovery less complete. Such patients
were always liable to collapses and re-lapses; to "run into typhoid";
to sink suddenly, and die very unexpectedly.
He noticed particularly that patients who took calomel and antimony
were found, on post-mortem examinations, to have serious and even
fatal inflammation of the stomach and small intestines, attended with
great prostration, delirium, and other symptoms of drug poisoning.
These "complications" were nothing more or less than drug diseases.
And Dr. Ames found, on changing his plan of treatment to milder and
simpler remedies, that he lost no patients.
The late Professor Win. Tully, M.D., of Yale College, and of the
Vermont Academy of Medicine at Gastleton, Vt., informed his medical
class, that on one occasion the typhoid pneumonia was so fatal in some
places in the valley of the Connecticut River, that the people became
suspicious that the physicians were doing more harm than good; and in
their desperation they actually combined against the doctors and
refused to employ them at all; "after which," said Professor Tully,
"no deaths occurred." And I might add, as an historical incident of
some pertinency in this place, that regular physicians were once
banished from Rome, so fatal did their practice seem, so far as the
people could judge of it.
The great Magendie, of France, who long stood at the very head of
Physiology and Pathology in the French Academy which, by the way, has
claimed to be, and perhaps is, the most learned body of men in the
world performed this experiment. He divided the patients of one of the
large Paris hospitals into three classes. To one he prescribed the
common remedies of the books. To the second he administered only the
common simples of domestic practice. And to the third class he gave no
medicine at all. The result was, those who took less medicine did
better than those who took more, and those who took no medicine did
the best of all.
Magendie also divided his typhoid fever patients into two classes, to
one of whom he prescribed the ordinary remedies, and to the other no
medicines at all, relying wholly on such nursing and such attention to
Hygiene as the vital instincts demanded and common sense suggested. Of
the patients who were treated the usual way, he lost the usual
proportion, about one-fourth. And of those who took no medicine, he
lost none. And what opinion has Magendie left on record of the popular
healing art? He said to his medical class, "Gentlemen, medicine is a
great humbug."
In the face of such damaging testimony from prominent representatives
of the medical profession, it becomes exceedingly difficult to place
any reliance on the drug remedies prescribed by them.
The melancholy truth is, that drug medication has become an integral
part of our domestic economy. At no time in history has the
consumption of drugs even approximated the present rate. Enormous sums
of money are invested in manufacturing and distributing them, and the
physicians of the various schools, being educated to prescribe them, a
mutual bond of interest has grown up between doctor and druggist,
which is not at all surprising. The medical profession, as a whole is,
and ever has been eminently conservative, and this fact, in connection
with its traditional predilection for drugs causes its members to
resolutely set their faces against any remedial process that runs
counter to the theories they imbibed at college. They look askance
at all such things and regard them as dangerous experiments, and
assert that their dignity will not permit them to recognize any
irregular practice, or any form of quackery.
Dignity! When was dignity ever known to save a life? Most humanity
continue to suffer because the medical profession (blindly following
in the rut of custom) fail to see anything superior to the antiquated
system of treating disease by drugging, which many of its ablest
members condemn as unreliable?
It is with all schools of medicine as it is with each individual
practitioner of the healing art the less faith they have in medicine,
the more they have in Hygiene; hence those who prescribe little or no
medicine, are invariably and necessarily more attentive to Hygiene,
which always was, and ever will be, all that there is really good,
useful, or curative in medication. Such physicians are more careful to
supply the vital organism with whatever of air, light, temperature,
food, water, exercise or rest, etc., it needs in its struggle for
health, and to remove all vitiating influences all poisons,
impurities, or disturbing influences of any kind. This is hygienic
medication, the natural and rational method of cure, and the more
closely it is examined, the more strongly it will commend itself to
reason.
It is a lamentable fact that the preservation of health is not taught
in the medical schools, neither is it explained in their books, and
judging from general practice not much regard is attached to it in
their prescriptions. But when the inevitable typhoid or malaria
appears as an inevitable consequence of neglected precautions, the
physician can drug without mercy, and, as we contend, on most
illogical grounds.
Who imagines for one instant, that quinine is a poison? Who is not
aware that arsenic is a deadly poison? And yet physicians and medical
journals calmly and gravely assert that arsenic is the better article
of the two, and recommend it as a substitute for quinine. Can any
intelligent person believe that a comparatively harmless tonic, and an
intense poison are perfect equivalents for each other?
It is stated on reliable authority, that during the civil war,
hundreds of sick soldiers implored the nurses to throw away their
medicine. They feared drugs worse than bullets, and not without
reason.
It is a curious fact that young physicians prescribe more medicine
than the older ones.
Said the venerable Professor Alexander H. Stevens M.D., of the New
York College of Physicians and Surgeons: "Young practitioners are a
most hopeful class of community. They are sure of success. They start
out in life with twenty remedies for every disease; and after an
experience of thirty years or less they find twenty diseases for every
remedy." And again: "The older physicians grow, the more skeptical
they become of the virtues of medicine, and the more they are disposed
to trust to the powers of Nature."
The effect of drugging a person, is to lock up the actual causes of
the disease in the system; thus producing permanent and worse
diseases. It is in accordance with common sense that they should be
expelled, not retained. What is known as disease, is nothing more or
less than the struggle of Nature, to cast out impurities, and this
remedial effort should be regulated, and assisted, not obstructed by
administering drugs, which only complicate the situation, by producing
more disease.
No man can fight two enemies better than one, and, to give drugs to a
system already struggling to regain its normal condition, is like
tying the hands of a man who is beset by enemies. The truth is, that
the real nature of disease is misapprehended by the popular schools of
medicine, and until broader views obtain a lodgment among them, it is
useless to hope for any alteration or improvement in the antiquated
system of drugging. "Who shall decide, when doctors disagree ?" is an
oft Quoted sentence, and, the following conflicting opinions from
prominent physicians show conclusively how little is actually known of
the action of drugs upon the human system, by those who administer
them right and left.
Says the "United States Dispensatory," "Medicines are those articles
which make sanative impressions on the body." This may be important
if, true. But, per contra, says Professor Martin Paine, M.D., of the
New York University Medical School, in his "Institutes of Medicine":
"Remedial agents are essentially morbific in their operations."
But again says Professor Paine: "Remedial agents operate in the same
manner as do the remote causes of disease." This seems to be a very
distinct announcement that remedies are themselves causes of disease.
And yet again: "In the administration of medicines we cure one disease
by producing another." This is both important and true.
Professor Paine quotes approvingly the famous professional adage, in
good technical Latin,
"Ubi virus, ibi vitus,"
which, being translated, means, "our strongest poisons are our best
remedies."
Says Professor Alonzo Clark, M.D., of the New York College of
Physicians and Surgeons: "All of our curative agents are poisons, and
as a consequence, every dose diminishes the patient's vitality."
Says Professor Joseph M. Smith, M.D., of the same school: "All
medicines which enter the circulation poison the blood in the same
manner as do the poisons that produce disease."
Says Professor St. John, of the New York Medical College : "All
medicines are poisonous."
Says Professor B. R. Peaslee, MD., of the same school: "The
administration of powerful medicines is the most fruitful cause of
derangements of the digestion."
Says Professor H. G. Cox, M.D., of the same school: "The fewer
remedies you employ in any disease, the better for your patients."
Says Professor E. H. Davis, M.D., of the New York Medical College:
"The modus operandi of medicines is still a very obscure subject. We
know that they operate, but exactly how they operate is entirely
unknown."
Says Professor J. W. Carson, M.D., of the New York University Medical
School: "We do not know whether our patients recover because we give
medicines, or because Nature cures them."
Says Professor E. S. Carr, of the same school: "All drugs are more or
less adulterated; and as not more than one physician in a hundred has
sufficient knowledge in chemistry to detect impurities, the physician
seldom knows just how much of a remedy he is prescribing."
The authors disagree in many things; but all concur in the fact that
medicines produce diseases; that their effects are wholly uncertain,
and that we know nothing whatever of their modus operandi.
But now comes in the testimony of the venerable Professor Joseph M.
Smith, M.D., who says: "Drugs do not cure diseases; disease is always
cured by the vis medicatrix naturae."
And Professor Clark further complicates the problem before us by
declaring that, "Physicians have hurried thousands to their graves who
would have recovered if left to Nature." And again: "In scarlet fever
you have nothing to do but to rely on the vis medicatrix naturae."
Says Professor Gross: "Of the essence of disease very little is known;
indeed, nothing at all." And says Professor George B. Wood, M.D., of
Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia ("Wood's Practice of
Medicine"): "Efforts have been made to reach the elements of disease;
but not very successfully; because we have not yet learned the
essential nature of the healthy actions, and
cannot understand their derangements."
On the other side of the Atlantic the claims of the existing medical
schools to popular favor, do not appear to rest upon any surer basis
than they do here, if we may judge from the following opinions
expressed by some of the most eminent authorities in the British
Kingdom:
"The medical practice of our days is, at the best, a most uncertain
and unsatisfactory system; it has neither philosophy nor common sense
to commend it to confidence." DR. EVANS, Fellow of the Royal College,
London.
"There has been a great increase of medical men of late, but, upon my
life, diseases have increased in proportion." JOHN ABERNETHY, M.D.,
"The Good," of London.
"Gentlemen, ninety-nine out of every hundred medical facts are medical
lies; and medical doctrines are, for the most part, stark, staring
nonsense." Prof. GREGORY, of Edinburgh, author of a work on "Theory
and Practice of Physic."
"It cannot be denied that the present system of medicine is a burning
shame to its professors, if indeed a series of vague and uncertain
incongruities deserves to be called by that name. How rarely do our
medicines do good! How often do they make our patients really worse! I
fearlessly assert, that in most cases the sufferer would be safer
without a physician than with one. I have seen enough of the
malpractice of my professional. brethren to warrant the strong
language I employ." Dr. RAMAGE, Fellow of the Royal College, London.
"The present practice of medicine is a reproach to the name of
Science, while its professors give evidence of an almost total
ignorance of the nature and proper treatment of disease. Nine times
out of ten, our miscalled remedies are absolutely injurious to our
patients, suffering under diseases of whose real character and cause
we are most culpably ignorant." Prof. JAMEISON, of Edinburgh.
Assuredly the uncertain and most unsatisfactory art that we call
medical science, is no science at all, but a jumble of inconsistent
opinions; of conclusions hastily and often incorrectly drawn; of facts
misunderstood or perverted; of comparisons without analogy; of
hypotheses without reason, and theories not only useless, but
dangerous." Dublin Medical Journal.
"Some patients get well with the aid of medicine; more without it; and
still more in spite of it." SIR JOHN FORBES, M.D., F.R.S.
"Thousands are annually slaughtered in the quiet of the sick-room.'
Governments should at once either banish medical men, and proscribe
their blundering art, or they should adopt some better means to
protect the lives of the people than at present prevail, when they
look far less after the practice of this dangerous profession, and the
murders committed in it, than after the lowest trades." Dr FRANK, an
eminent author and practitioner.
"Our actual information or knowledge of disease does not increase in
proportion to our experimental practice. Every dose of medicine given
is a blind experiment upon the vitality of the patient." Dr. BOSTOCK,
author of "History of Medicine."
"The science of medicine is a barbarous jargon, and the effects of our
medicines on the human system in the highest degree uncertain; except,
indeed, that they have destroyed more lives than war, pestilence, and
famine combined." JOHN MASON GOOD, M.D., F.R.S., author of "Book of
Nature," "A System of Nosology," "Study of Medicine," etc.
"I declare as my conscientious conviction, founded on long experience
and reflection, that if there were not a single physician, surgeon,
man midwife, chemist, apothecary, druggist, nor drug on the face of
the earth, there would be less sickness and less mortality than now
prevail." JAS. JOHNSON, M.D., F.R.S., Editor of the Medico-
Chirurgical Review.
So it comes to this, that during three thousand years remedies have
been accumulating until between two and three thousand drugs are
recorded in the archives of the medical profession, and yet we have
the admission of some of the highest authorities on the subject that
the nature of disease is still a mystery, that the "modus operandi" of
drugs is equally obscure, and that in consequence there is profound
uncertainty as to the relation of drugs to the diseases for which they
are prescribed.
Can one cause cure another. Can a poison expel a poison? Can the human
system throw off two burdens better than one? If such a proposition
were submitted to us in any other domain we would indignantly resent
it as an insult to our intelligence.
There can be no question but that the public are largely responsible
for the existing condition of things, for whatever they demand they
can obtain, in obedience to the inexorable law of supply and demand:
which accounts for the rapidly increasing interest in hygiene. An
eminent authority on therapeutics says:
"The medical profession holds a most false relation to society. Its
honors and emoluments are measured, not by the good, but by the evil
it does. The physician who keeps some member of the family of his rich
neighbor on a bed of sickness for months or years, may secure to
himself thereby both fame and fortune; while the other who would
restore the patient to health in a week or two, will be neither
appreciated nor understood. If a physician, in treating a simple
fever, which if left to itself or to Nature would terminate in health
in two or three weeks, drugs the patient into half a dozen chronic
diseases, and nearly kills himself half a dozen times, and prolongs
his sufferings for months, he will receive much money and many thanks
for carrying him safely through so many complications, relapses, and
collapses. But if he cures in a single week, and leaves him perfectly
sound, the pay will be small, and the thanks nowhere, because he has
not been very sick!
"I know many of you will say, 'My physician is a very excellent man and
a good scholar I have all confidence in him.' But what if his system
is false? Is your confidence in him or in his system? If in his
system, you are to be pitied. If in him, take his good advice and
refuse his bad medicine."
The Caucasian has not much to learn from the Mongolian, it is true,
but the public might safely imitate the Chinese in dealing with their
physicians. A Chinaman of rank pays his physician a retaining salary
so long as he remains in health, but, the instant he gets sick, the
salary ceases. Manifestly, it is a common sense proceeding. The doctor
has a vital interest in preserving the health of his client, since
sickness entails a pecuniary loss; and best of all, the patient
escapes having his system drenched with drugs. There is no valid
reason why there should be any such thing as serious sickness; nor
would there be if Hygiene were taught, and practised, and the whole
materia medica consigned to oblivion. As Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes
said, "If all drugs were thrown into the sea, it would be so much
better for man, but so much worse for the fishes."
Now, the remedies of the Hygienic system, which I advocate, comprehend
everything except poisons. The drug system rejects almost everything
but poisons. My system rejects only poisons, and adopts everything
else. I welcome anything that possesses remedial value, provided it is
in accordance with the laws of Nature, and am equally ready to accept
suggestions from the laity, as from fellow practitioners. I am ready
to submit everything thus presented, to the test of experiment, and
employ it if found worthy.
In this regard I may, without vanity, lay claim to the possession of a
more progressive spirit than the members of the drug schools, for
their disincilination to adopt anything new in the treatment of
disease has passed into a proverb. It might naturally be supposed that
any one who should come forward with a discovery by which the
suffering portion. of the human family would be benefited, would be
welcomed with open arms by the medical fraternity, or, that at least
he would be allowed a hearing, but unfortunately it is not so.
Even if the discoverer be one of themselves, they are apt to regard
his proposition with a certain amount of distrust, but if he happens
to be a layman they instantly stand upon their dignity denounce all
irregular practice and raise the cry of quack.
In justice, however, it must be said that there are members of
liberal, broad minded men in the medical profession who recognize the
fact that brains are not monopolized by physicians, and who are
perfectly willing to accord credit where it is due, as the following
opinions will show.
Dr. A. O'Leary, Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia, says:
"The best things in the healing art have been done by those who never
had a diploma the first Caesarian section, lithotomy, the use of
cinchona, of ether as an anaesthetic, the treatment of the air
passages by inhalation, the water cure and medicated baths,
electricity as a healing agent, and magnetism, faith cure, mind cure,
etc."
Prof. Waterhouse, writing to the learned Dr. Mitchell, of New York,
says:
"I am, indeed, so disgusted with learned quackery that I take some
interest in honest, humane, and strongminded empiricism; for it has
done more for our art, in all ages and all countries, than all the
universities since the time of Charlemagne."
Professor Benj. Rush, of the greatest and oldest Allopathic College in
America, says:
"Remember how many of our most useful remedies have been discovered by
quacks. Do not therefore be afraid of conversing with them, and of
profiting by their ignorance and temerity. Medicine has its pharisees
as well as religion. But the spirit of this sect is as unfriendly to
the advancement of medicine as it is to Christian charity. In the
pursuit of medical knowledge let me advise you to converse with nurses
and old women. They will often suggest facts in the history and cure
of disease which have escaped the most sagacious observers of nature.
By so doing, we may discover laws of the animal economy which have no
place in our system of Nosology, or in our theories of physic. The
practice of physic hath been more improved by the casual experiments
of illiterate nations, and the rash ones of vagabond quacks, than by
all the once celebrated professors of it, and the theoretic teachers
in the several schools of Europe, very few of whom have furnished us
with one new medicine, or have taught us better to use our old ones,
or have in any one instance at all, improved the art of curing
disease."
Dr. Adam Smith says:
"After denouncing Paracelsus as a quack, the regular medical
profession stole his `quack-silver' mercury; after calling Jenner an
imposter it adopted his discovery of vaccination; after dubbing Harvey
a humbug it was forced to swallow his theory of the circulation of the
blood."
Professor J. Rodes Buchanan, Boston, says:
"Mozart, Hoffman, Ole Bull, and Blind Tom were born with a mastery of
music, as Zerah Colburn with a mastery of mathematics, as others are
born with a mastery of the mystery of life and disease, like
Greatrakes, Newton, Hutton, Sweet and Stephens, born doctors, and
score of similar renown."
Professor Charles W. Emerson, M.D., the well known resident of the
Monroe Conservatory of Oratory, of Boston, says:
"The progress in therapeutics has and still continues to come from the
unlearned. Common people give us our improvements and the school men
spend their time in giving Greek and Latin names to these
improvements, and building metaphysical theories around them."
This is a heavy indictment against the medical profession, as a body,
but truth and justice compel me to state that most of the foregoing
statements were made some years ago, and that intolerance can no
longer be charged against them as it could, even in the last
generation. Nor can we close our eyes to the fact that thousands of
highminded physicians are devoting their time and energies
to the amelioration of disease. Scarcely a month passes in which some
convention of physicians is not held to consider the best means of
dealing with some particular malady, and a large number of the
attending physicians at those conventions contribute their time and
experience at considerable financial loss to themselves.
In the ranks of the medical body there are able and honorable men who
would adorn any profession--men who have sacrificed health, wealth and
happiness in their devotion to the cause of suffering humanity the
pages of history are full of instances of such heroism. But of what
avail is it to have the most perfect examples of humanity for
physicians, if the system they practice is an erroneous one? It is
impossible to secure good results with bad methods. We must have a
sure foundation, if we expect to raise an abiding structure. And that
is why I am in opposition to the existing method of treating disease.
Not because of any feeling against the physician individually, but for
the reason that I consider their system based upon error upon a false
conception of the true nature of disease, and of the relation of drugs
to the human system.
There is a tradition in the orthodox medical schools, that all
curative processes are dependent upon, and act only in accordance
With, an established law the "Law of Cure."
But although all the schools are a unit in believing in the existence
and operation of such a law, no two of them agree upon a definition of
it. Their theories concerning this all important law are as
diametrically opposite as the poles. For instance, the Allopaths
define it as "contraria contrariis curantur," which is simply the law
of opposition. But the Homeopaths take a widely different view of the
matter, their definition of it being "similia similibus curantur,"
which is, practically, the law of agreement; while the Eclectics
declare that "sanative medication" is the law.
This diversity of opinion is not by any means unique, for the tendency
to disagreement among physicians is proverbial; but the unfortunate
layman who is the person most vitally interested in the matter, is at
a loss what to believe among this conflict of definitions, and
naturally asks, Who is right?
I answer, unequivocally, not one! They are all wrong. This so-called
"Law of Cure" is a purely imaginary affair; one of the many
misconceptions peculiar to the medical schools, originating in a false
conception of the true nature of disease. There is no such thing as a
law of cure! There is a condition of cure, and that is, obedience.
Nature has provided penalties for disobedience, and is inexorable in
exacting payment; but she does not provide remedies. If there is one
thing absolutely certain in nature, it is the unfaltering sequence of
cause and effect. Nature never stultifies herself. It is impossible to
imagine nature providing penalties for violation of her laws, and then
furnishing remedies to make those penalties negatory.
It is a lamentable fact that the medical profession, as a body,
entertain a totally erroneous conception of the true nature of
disease, and its legitimate function in the economy of nature. Instead
of recognizing it as a beneficent remedial process, which, if properly
aided, will work out the salvation of the patient, they antagonize it
at every turn, and endeavor to suppress the symptoms, which are its
legitimate expressions.
The whole thing is a huge misconception, the failure to understand the
true relation between living and dead substances. According to the
United States Dispensatory, medicines are those substances That make
sanative impressions on the body.
A false definition of a word leads to a false system of remedial
practice, based upon that definition. What is an impression? Is it the
action of a dead substance, which cannot act upon a living substance
that can? Assuredly not! Is it not rather the recognition by the
living substance of the lifeless one? The whole theory of drug action
is easily explainable on this hypothesis. Drugs--inert substances--do
not act upon the living organism, but are acted upon, with a view to
their expulsion from the living domain. If it were not so, if drugs
really acted upon the various organs, then their action should be
equally as effective after death as before. But no, nature resents the
introduction of foreign substances into the human economy, and exerts
all her powers to cast out the intruders.
Now, as all substances incapable of physiological use are foreign,
such as particles of worn out tissue, the waste products of digestion,
etc., and their presence in the animal economy inimical to the general
welfare, the depurating organs are called into active play to expel
the offending substances; and the increased physiological activity,
and (in the case of actual lesion) the increased flow of blood to the
parts, for the purpose of repair, cause a rise in temperature,
commonly known as fever, which is one of the most frequent symptoms of
what is generally recognized as disease; thus establishing the fact,
indisputably, that disease is purely and simply a remedial process,
either for purposes of repair or purification.
The practice, therefore, of increasing the deposits in the physical
system by the introduction of drugs (foreign substances) is in direct
opposition to physiological law, and has no scientific foundation
whatever.
From the countless remedies of the pharmacopceia we can select
substances that if administered to a healthy person will produce
almost any known form of disease thus: brandy, cayenne pepper and
quinine, will induce inflammatory fever; scammony and ipecac will
cause cholera morbus; nitre, calomel and opium, will provoke typhoid
or typhus fever; digitalis will cause Asiatic, or spasmodic cholera;
cod liver oil and sulphur promote scurvy, and all the cathartic family
inevitably cause diarrhcea, the disease in each case being nothing
more than the effort of Nature to get rid of these troublesome
intruders.
Drugs do not, as their advocates claim, select their special organ
with a view of acting upon it, but are acted upon by that particular
organ for the purpose of ridding the system of the drug.
It follows, therefore, as a perfectly legitimate and logical
deduction, that, if the system of administering drugs is founded upon
a wrong conception of their relation to the human organism, then any
theoretical "law of cure" predicated upon drug action must necessarily
be equally fallacious and untrustworthy.
As stated before, the simple fact is, that there is no law of cure,
only a condition and that condition--obedience, by which is meant a
course of treatment in harmony with Nature.
The older physicians grow the more they rely upon the vis medicatrix
naturae, which is, after all, the only remedial force, and one totally
beyond their control. The physician can no more perform cures than the
farmer can make his crops grow. In each case, all that can be done is
to employ all the methods that cumulative wisdom can suggest to make
the conditions as favorable as possible, and leave the rest to Mother
Nature, who is not in the habit of making mistakes, and whose unerring
methods would cure ninety per cent. of all diseased conditions, if her
beneficent intentions were not frustrated by well-meant, but
nevertheless pernicious, drug interference.
PART II.
THE TRUE CAUSE OF DISEASE.
At this point the reader will doubtless be tempered to exclaim: "Well,
you have demonstrated to your own satisfaction that the medical
profession entertains erroneous opinions as to the true nature of
disease, and also that drugs are absolutely useless--nay, injurious--in
such conditions: but is this all? Having destroyed our trust in drugs,
what have you to offer in their stead?" To which perfectly natural
query, I gladly reply, I have a system of treatment to propound, a
system that has triumphantly stood the test of years, a system that
must commend itself to every intelligent reader, because it is
strictly in accordance with natural law.
But before I proceed to explain it, I desire to announce my own theory
respecting disease--a theory essentially radical in its character, and
of which I am the originator, and that is:
THERE IS ONLY ONE CAUSE OF DISEASE.
This may sound strange, for the majority of people imagine that there
is a different and specific cause for every ailment, and physicians
generally do not combat the opinion. But as a matter of fact, there is
only one disease, although its manifestations are various, and there
is only one cause for it, and that is the retention of waste matters
in the system. These substances may be in the gaseous, liquid or solid
form, but they are foreign bodies, inimical to the welfare of the
organism, and their presence must result in derangement of bodily
function.
The great need of the present day is adequate instruction in
physiology and hygiene, that humanity may not only know how to secure
the restoration of health, when lost, but by attention to
physiological and sanitary laws may retain good health indefinitely.
The body is the theatre of constant change. The process of tearing
down and building up proceed without intermission during life. If
construction exceeds destruction, the result is health; but just as
surely as destruction exceeds repair, disease is the result. But
during every moment of life waste is being formed by the destruction
of tissue, and this effete material must be promptly removed if the
individual would enjoy health. Nature has provided adequate means for
the removal of these substances which are valueless to the economy,
the retention of which obstructs and irritates the complex mechanism
of the system, the principal avenues for its expulsion being the
lungs, the skin and the intestinal canal. The latter is infinitely
more important than the others, since by it the waste products of
digestion are expelled. If it fails to promptly fulfil its office,
every vital function is interfered with; and in addition the fluid
portion of the semi-liquid waste is re-absorbed directly into the
circulation, redepositing in the very fountain of life, matter which
the system has thrown off as worthless. Should the system be exposed
to a chill, while in this condition, a congestion of the surface
excretory vessels takes place; and practically the whole work of
elimination is thrown upon the already hard-worked kidneys, frequently
resulting in uraemic poisoning and death.
The presence of a grain of sand in a watch will retard its movements,
if not arrest them altogether. What, then, must be the result of an
accumulation of impurities in the physical system? The finely adjusted
balance that is capable of weighing the thousandth part of a grain,
is carefully protected under a glass cover, for even impalpable dust
would clog its movements. Reflect, then, upon the amount of friction
that must be perpetually going on in the human organism owing to the
retention of effete matter! And since not even the most cunning
product of man's handiwork can compare with the intricate mechanism of
the body, the importance of eliminating the waste becomes manifest.
Here, in a nutshell, lies the secret of disease.
Let us now consider how the retention of waste affects the system--how
the deleterious effects are produced. There are three factors at work
in this process, mechanical, gaseous and absorptive, the last named
being infinitely the most pernicious. We will first consider the
mechanical.
Nature has beautifully apportioned the space in the abdominal cavity,
each part of the viscera having ample room for the performance of its
special function, but any abnormal increase in size of any part of the
contents of the cavity must necessarily create disturbance. Now, when
the food leaves the stomach, where it has been churned into a
pulpaceous mass, it passes into the duodenum or second stomach, where
it receives an augmentation of liquid material from the liver and
pancreas; consequently, when it reaches the small intestine, where
absorption takes place, it is in a well diluted condition. During its
passage through the small intestine, the nutrient portion of the
ingesta is abstracted from it by the villi (small hair-like processes)
with which the small intestine is thickly studded, so that at the end
of its journey of about twenty-two feet (if digestion is normal) all
that is of value to the organism has been appropriated--the remainder
being refuse. This waste product passes into the colon, or large
intestine, and should be promptly expelled. If prompt expulsion does
not take place, this is what happens: The fluid portion of this semi-
liquid waste is re-absorbed through the walls of the colon directly
into the circulation, a percentage of the solids being deposited on
the walls of the intestine. This process of accretion goes on from day
to day, week to week, month to month, until it not infrequently
happens that the colon becomes distended to several times its natural
size. Instances are on record, where these abnormal accumulations of
faecal matter in the colon have been mistaken for enlargement of the
liver, and even pregnancy. A surgeon in London has a preparation of
the colon measuring some twenty inches in circumference, containing
three gallons of faecal matter, and even larger accumulations have
been reported. The foregoing instances are, of course, exceptional
ones, but it is safe to assert that seventy per cent. of the colons of
the human family (living under civilized conditions) are impacted, and
some of them terribly so. It is impossible to estimate the amount of
evil caused by an engorged colon monopolizing two or three times its
allotted space in the abdominal cavity, crowding and hampering the
other organs in their work.
But the effects of direct mechanical pressure are not the only ones.
The accumulations in the colon necessarily arrest the free passage of
the product of the small intestine, and that, in turn, causes undue
retention of food in the stomach, with consequent fermentation; while
the irritation, due to pressure on the nerve terminals by the
distension, and by the encrusted matter adhering to the intestinal
wall, is simply incalculable.
The effects of gaseous accumulations in the alimentary canal are not
thoroughly understood at present--that is--the pathological effects. The
more direct effects, as manifested in abdominal distension, and the
terrible distress that frequently follows eating, are unfortunately, but
too well known. The reader does not need to be told that during the
decomposition of organic substances, gases are evolved, and no matter
where the process goes on, the results are always the same. Owing to the
causes previously mentioned, the intestinal canal usually offers special
facilities for the production of gases, owing to the retention of
partially digested food, in a medium highly favorable to fermentation. A
moderate amount of sulphuretted hydrogen, and also carburetted hydrogen
is always present in the colon, normally, to preserve moderate
distention of the walls, while the gases usually found in the stomach
and small intestine, are oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and carbonic acid.
What functional disturbances may arise from the presence of these
gaseous substances in excess in the system is, at present, largely a
matter of conjecture, but it is known that a stream of carbonic acid
gas, or hydrogen continuously directed against a muscle will cause
paralysis of that structure. The expansive force of gases is too well
known to need comment, and the force with which they will at times
distend the abdominal wall points irresistibly to the conclusion that
such an amount of force exerted against vital organs cannot be otherwise
than productive of serious harm. It is not at all improbable that many
cases of hernia and uterine displacement may be due to this hitherto
unsuspected cause. That they penetrate the neighboring tissues is an
established fact, and it is quite conceivable that their action upon the
nervous system though the medium of the circulation may lie at the root
of many of the cases of neurasthenia that are now so prevalent.
But the auto-infection that results from the absorption of the liquid
waste into the blood supply is by far the most serious feature. The
blood is the life. From it the system obtains all the material for the
formation of fresh tissue, and it is a practical impossibility for
good, healthy structures to be built up from a tainted blood current.
Why is it that the vegetation on the banks of a stream, on which a
manufacturing town is located, is invariably stunted and withered?
Because the water that should nourish it is polluted by the refuse
poured into it, and no amount of deodorants or disinfectants will
prove of any avail to restore the devitalized vegetation, but will
rather aggravate the trouble. But cut off the source of pollution, and
in an incredibly short space of time the vegetation will take on a new
1ease of life.
This liquid refuse in the colon is composed of substances for which
the system has no further use--it has rejected them; consequently they
are foreign bodies, and as such, are the equivalent of poisons. The
colon, in this condition, is a perfect hot-bed for the breeding of all
kinds of poisonous germs, and the action of cathartics aggravates the
condition by filling the pouched portions of the colon with a foul
liquid which facilitates the absorption of the ptomaines and
leucomaines through the mucous coat of the intestine. It is known now,
that as much as three-fourths of this foul putrid substance may be
absorbed, carrying into the system poisonous germs and excrementitious
matter. Dr. Murchison states, "that a circulation is constantly taking
place between the fluid contents of the bowel and the blood, the
existence of which, till within the last few years, was quite unknown,
and which even now is too little heeded." And Dr. Parker says, "It is
now known, that in varying degrees there is a constant transit of
fluid from the blood into the alimentary canal, and as rapid
absorption." It is also stated on reliable authority, "that every
portion of the blood may, and possibly does, pass several times into
the alimentary canal in twenty-four hours." Prof. I. I. Metchinkoff
recently stated in a lecture at Paris: "Particularly injurious are the
microbes of the large intestines. Thence, they penetrate into the
blood and impair it alike by their presence and the products they
yield--ptomaines, alkaloids, etc. The auto intoxication of the organism
and poisoning through microbes is an established fact."
Having shown that the average colon is a fertile breeding ground for
all kinds of poisonous germs, and that they are conveyed into the
circulation by the interchange of fluids in that organ, it may be
interesting to explain how these germs are conveyed to, and deposited
in the various organs of the body.
We have in our bodies a system of canals called arteries and veins,
having their head at the heart, which is the main pump that keeps the
blood in motion. The arterial circulation consists of those channels
which convey the blood--supposed pure blood--away from the heart to the
different parts of the body, loaded with the life-giving principle of
sustenance, invigoration and heat, while the veins or venous
circulation conveys to the heart and lungs the impure blood, loaded
many times with disease-breeding germs.
Now, in the blood, as it courses through our bodies, are myriads of
little vessels called corpuscles; these are what give the blood a red
color. There are also a smaller number of white corpuscles, that are
known as phagocytes, whose mission is to destroy micro-organisms that
are prejudicial to life. In order that you may know their use, I, for
convenience sake and to make my meaning better understood, will call
them little war vessels, loaded with soldiers, and the soldiers have
in their vessels a furnace whose fire never goes out. These vessels
and their little warriors are continually sailing through our bodies,
hunting for germs of disease, that they catch and throw into their
furnace and burn them up. Now, suppose we take a violent cold, thus
closing the pores of the skin, and that at the same time the colon is
engorged, two of the most important outlets for the filth and decayed
matter of our bodies are closed up--for the life of our bodies is one
continual process of building anew and tearing down; these two most
important sewers are now closed. These little vessels now have their
hands full, catching disease-bearing germs that nature cannot throw
out through the colon or pores of the skin--both being closed--and we
call this condition of things fever. The white corpuscle has but two
dumping places now, the lungs or kidneys. Suppose that in the colon is
the tubercular ulcer, breeding the bacillus of consumption, and they
are absorbed into the circulation. Ordinarily the white corpuscles
would be able to destroy them, but now they are so overworked that the
tubercular germ lands in the lung tissue alive and well, ready to
commence his work of destruction and death. The person developes a
hacking cough, and finally goes to the doctor, and he, if he knows his
business, probably finds tuberculosis well established. Typhoid fever
has its nursery solely in the colon, and gets possession of the
citadel of life in the same way as any other germ or contagious
disease. What a terrible battle there must be going on in us between
our life-preservers and the germs of disease.
Is it any wonder that people die of premature old age, of apoplexy,
paralysis, dropsy, consumption, and the thousand and one maladies that
scourge humanity? And is it not unreasonable to pour a few grains of
diluted drugs into the stomach to purify the blood--even granting for
the sake of argument that such a purpose could be accomplished by that
means--when occupying nearly one-half of the abdominal cavity is an
engorged intestine reeking with filth so foul that carrion is as the
odor of roses compared to it, and which is being steadily absorbed
into the circulation? If a man were to act as foolishly as that in his
business, his friends would quickly petition the courts to appoint a
guardian for him.
It may be asked, why has not this discovery been made before? In the
first place, the colon has had but scant attention paid to it in the
dissecting room, until of late years the appendicitis craze has
awakened some interest in it. Its importance was not realized--the
circulatory and nervous systems receiving the lion's share of
attention. In the second place, in holding post-mortems the
organ was avoided, cut off, if in the way, and thrown into the slop
bucket. It was known to be always full, but no one ever asked whether
or not it was natural in its fullness of faecal matter, and as a
result, probably the profession knows the least about this important
organ, of any in the human body. Strange, is it not, that among the
seven thousand physicians ground out and polished in the mills of
wisdom each year, that there was not one who had originality enough to
ask the question, Is it natural that this scent bag of filth should
always be so full of putrid matter that we cannot abide one moment
with it? And, inasmuch as it is so, is it not a great detriment at
least to our health to carry this mass of filth around with us, from
day to day, from week to week, and from year to year--absorbing its
poison back into the circulation? Strange that these questions did not
present themselves to some one of the enterprising youths of our
original young America.
The muscular fibres of the intestines are circular and longitudinal.
In the large intestine the longitudinal fibres are shorter than the
tube itself, which length permits the formation of loculi (cavities).
These become the seat of faecal accumulations, only too often
unnoticed by the physician. It is undoubtedly a fact that the loculi
of the colon contain small faecal accumulations extending over weeks,
months, or even years. Their presence produces symptoms varying all
the way from a little catarrhal irritation up to the most diverse, and
in some instances serious, reflex disturbances. When the loculi only
are filled, the main channel of the colon is undisturbed. The most
common parts of the colon to become enlarged are the sigmoid flexure
and the caecum (see diagram in beginning of book), but accumulations
may occur in any part of the colon. The ascending colon is much more
often filled in life than the books would lead us to believe; indeed,
it may be said that chronic accumulations are oftener to be found in
the ascending than in the descending colon, which is also contrary to
the assertions of the authors. This is due partly to the fact that the
contents of the colon have to rise in opposition to gravity, and
partly to the semi-paralyzed condition of the muscular coat of the
colon through inactivity. When the accumulations are large, the
increased weight of the colon tends to displace it; and if in the
transverse colon, that portion may be depressed, even into the pelvis.
The mass may be so enormous as to press upon any organ located in the
abdomen, interfering with its functions; thus we may have pressure on
the liver that arrests the flow of bile; or, upon the urinary organs,
crippling their functions.
Of course, such excessive accumulations occur only exceptionally, and
it is not to these that attention is particularly drawn, because when
they are so excessive, any physician can detect them by palpation
(touch).
It is to the minor accumulations particularly, that I wish to draw
attention--the accumulations that we see in the majority of patients
who visit our offices. Such patients assure us that the bowels move
daily, but the color of their complexions, and the condition of their
tongues, are enough to assure us that they are the victims of
costiveness.
Daily movements of the bowels are no sign that the colon is not
impacted; in fact, the worst cases of costiveness that we ever see are
those in which daily movements of the bowels occur. The diagnosis of
faecal accumulations is facilitated by inquiring as to the color of
the daily discharges. A black or a very dark green color almost always
indicates the faeces are ancient.
Prompt discharge of food refuse is indicated by more or less yellow
color. It would be interesting to inquire why fresh faces are yellow
and ancient faeces are dark.
Such patients have digestive fermentations to torment them, resulting
in flatulent distension which encroaches on the cavity of the chest,
which in excessive cases may cause short and rapid breathing,
irregular heart action, disturbed circulation in the brain, with
vertigo and headache. An over-distended caecum, or sigmoid flexure,
from pressure, may produce dropsy, numbness or cramps in the right or
left lower extremity.
The reports of the Post-mortem examination of the colons of hundreds
of subjects reveals a series of horrors more weird and ghastly than
were ever penned by Eugene Sue, or Emile Zola. The mind shrinks in
dismay at the appalling revelations, and shudders at the possibly of
the "human form divine" becoming such a peripatetic charnel house.
Is it any wonder that the average human system, being thus saturated
with impurities, should succumb to the first exciting cause? Is it
not, in fact, a greater marvel that the rate of mortality is not even
higher than at present?
My object in publishing this book is to point out the true cause of
disease, together with the means for its prevention and cure, and
that, too, by a simple and inexpensive method of hygienic treatment,
which has proved eminently successful in tens of thousands of cases,
which is perfectly harmless and natural in its action, and absolutely
free from even the suspicion of a drug.
PART III.
RATIONAL HYGIENIC TREATMENT.
Having striven to explain in an intelligible manner the true nature
and cause of disease, and to point out the inadequacy of the drug
system of treatment to combat pathological conditions successfully
(not from any lack of intention on the part of the drug practitioners:
but from the unreliability of their methods), I shall now proceed to
lay before you the system of treatment which it is proposed to
substitute in its stead, and I unhesitatingly affirm that it will be
found so simple, so inexpensive and so obviously based on common sense
and true hygienic principles, that the thoughtful reader cannot fail
to give it his unqualified endorsement, and will be lost in wonder
that any one should fail to adopt it, when made acquainted with its
simplicity and its marvellous results.
In an old comedy, which used to delight our fore-fathers, the hero,
Felix O'Callaghan, defines the practice of medicine as "the art of
amusing the patient while Nature performs the cure." In that sentence,
the dramatist (unwittingly perhaps) embodied a great truth. Nature,
and Nature only, can effect a cure. Fresh air, sunlight, pure water,
diet and exercise are the great curative agents provided by Nature,
and all that the physician can do, no matter to what school be
belongs, is to remove as far as possible all existing impediments, and
to see that the hygienic conditions are made as favorable as possible.
For the rest, Nature, the marvellous builder, will, in her own
mysterious way, build up fresh tissue, and, slowly but surely, repair
the ravages made by disease. No one would dare to say that the farmer
made the corn grow. He does all that the science of agriculture tells
him is needful to furnish proper conditions for growth, but there he
must stop--the rest must be left to Nature. Then, since disease is a
wasting of tissue, and recovery a building up, it is a palpable
absurdity to credit a physician with a cure. All that he can do is to
cooperate with Nature, by seeing that none of her laws are violated,
and insisting that nothing whatever shall obstruct her beneficent
functions.
Whether for the preservation of health, or the treatment of disease,
when present, the chief thing is to cleanse the colon. It is useless
to attempt to get rid of the effects while the cause is present.
If the principal drain in a dwelling becomes choked, what is the
consequence? The noxious and pestilent gases generated by the
accumulated filth having no outlet, are forced back into the building,
poisoning the atmosphere, and breeding contagion among the
inhabitants. Deodorizing and disinfecting will simply be a waste of
time and material, until the drain is cleared. The colon is the main
drain of the human body, and if it be necessary, for sanitary reasons,
to keep the house drains clean, how vitally important is it to keep
the main outlet of the physical system free from obstructions.
Or, to use another homely illustration, when your coal stove has been
run continuously for a long time, as a natural result it becomes clogged
with cinders and ashes, causing the fire to burn badly. You encourage it
with fresh fuel, rake it and shake it but without avail--the
accumulations of debris are too great. You remove a portion, but its
place is taken by more substance from above. At length you resort to the
measure you should have employed at first--you "dump the grate" and start
a fresh fire. The moral is obvious: dump the grate of the human
system--in other words, empty the colon.
It has been previously shown that an impacted colon is neither more
nor less than a prolific hot-bed for the wholesale breeding of disease
germs--microbes--those infinitesimal organisms which science has
demonstrated to be the cause of many phases of disease, or rather, the
toxins (poisons) they produce, cause disease. Of course, there are
harmless micro-organisms as well as hurtful ones; in fact, a large
proportion of them are beneficial rather than otherwise; but some of
them (notably the tubercle bacillus) are so intimately associated with
disease that it is next to impossible to doubt their responsibility.
The sphere of the microbe is absolutely without limit. He is equally
at ease in the air, the earth, and the water. He makes himself at home
in our beverages and our foods. Our mouths furnish desirable lurking
places for him, our hair, and finger-nails are favorite posts of
vantage; while he delights to disport himself in our blood. He is the
active agent of decay, and the prime cause of disease. He is the most
selfish of parasites. The world for a long time disregarded him, but
now acknowledges him as one of the mightiest of conquerers; for while
other devastators have slain thousands, millions have fallen beneath
his insidious attacks. He is a foe to be dreaded, for he is forever
lying in ambush for fresh victims.
Microbes breed in fermentation, consequently, every particle of
undigested food remaining in the stomach or intestines becomes an
ideal nursery for their propagation. It has been demonstrated that
food that has been subjected to the action of the gastric juice
decomposes far more rapidly than that which has not--hence, with
imperfect digestion, fermentation quickly takes place. If microbes are
now introduced into the system, either by contact with sick persons,
inhaling impure air in crowded public buildings, or breathing in the
dust on ill-kept streets, there is danger ahead; for if the recipient
is not in a sound, physical condition, the microbes (finding congenial
lodgment), multiply with the most marvellous rapidity, permeating
every portion of the tissue--causing, in fact, DECOMPOSITION WHILE
STILL ALIVE.
Every particle of animal or vegetable matter, even if only a single
grain in weight, by exposure to the air, putrefies, breeds, and
attracts to itself thousands of microbes, and becomes a center of
infection. Thus, in a piece of street dirt containing organic matter,
we may find upon examination, the germs of typhoid fever, diphtheria,
scarlet fever, or consumption. When this piece of dirt is dried by the
sun and pulverized by horses' hoofs, the particles of dirt are caught
up by the wind, and sent whirling through the air, to be drawn into
the lungs by those within reach, Of course, every one who breathes in
the microbes of some particular disease does not catch it, or we
should soon all be dead, but those who have not the resisting power of
sound bodies to kill these germs, before they have time to set up
their peculiar inflammation, are apt to realize the evil effects, a
week, a month, or even a year afterwards.
It is evident then that to cure disease we must get rid of all
fermentation in the system, and thus prevent the further breeding of
microbes and to prevent disease we must get the system into such a
sound, healthy condition that disease germs cannot obtain a lodgment
in it.
Now, this can only be accomplished by thoroughly cleansing the colon,
and keeping it absolutely clean, thus preventing further contamination
of the blood current--the fountain of life.
The intelligent reader, recognizing the absolute correctness of the
foregoing proposition, will naturally ask, "Can such a thing be
accomplished, and how?" We beg to assure the reader, most
emphatically, that it can, but not by the means usually employed. It
is perfectly plain that the cleansing process cannot be effected by
cathartics, for at the best, they only afford temporary relief
(witness the growth of the cathartic habit), while on an impacted mass
such as is commonly present in the colon, the influence they can exert
is practically nil. The common experience of those afflicted with
constipation is, that they commence with a laxative, gradually
increasing the quantity and frequency of the dose until it fails to
act at all. Then they resort to a cathartic, with a similar
experience, when it is exchanged for a more powerful one, and then for
another still more powerful, until at last, it becomes impossible to
move the bowels without a powerful dose.
That this is no overdrawn picture many of my readers will bear
witness, and my brother practitioners can amply corroborate the
statement, for they fully recognize the vital importance of removing
the waste from the system. The pity of it is that they still persist
in employing such a crude and ineffective method.
Do any of my readers know how a cathartic acts?
It is popularly supposed that the drug passes from the stomach into
the small intestines, rendering their contents more liquid; then
passes into the colon, producing the same effect upon its more solid
contents, thus causing an evacuation. Many people have no conception,
whatever, of the modus operandi of a purgative drug, simply believing
that it acts in a certain mysterious manner, but the above described
process is generally believed to be the correct one by those who have
thought upon the matter, but lack physiological knowledge. It is a
huge mistake.
Any purgative drug, whether aperient, laxative or cathartic, is
dissolved in the stomach by the action of the gastric juice--in fact,
goes through the same digestive process as the food that is eaten,
that is, it passes into the small intestines and is there absorbed
into the circulation.
By its irritation of the nerves, the secretory and excretory processes
of the system are stimulated into abnormal action, and an extra quantity
of fluid is poured into the colon to dissolve the accumulated mass;
which is about as scientific a proceeding as pouring a quart of water
into a washbowl on the upper floor of a dwelling to clear away an
obstruction in the main drain of the building. And, again, as previously
stated, the action of laxatives and cathartics, especially the variety
known as hydrogo-cathartics (watery), fill the ano-rectal cavity and the
loculi, or folds of the colon, with a foul watery solution that is a
perpetual source of irritation to the sensitive mucous surface,
hastening and intensifying the process of auto-infection by absorption,
that is constantly going on.
And what about the enormous drain upon the vital forces? Who is not
familiar with the feeling of exhaustion when the reaction sets in
after the employment of such methods of relief? How can it be
otherwise? These stimulants to defecation are like the applications of
the whip to the jaded horse-they excite the system to make a supreme
effort in the required direction, but the reaction is disastrous in
the extreme. With the repeated demands upon the delicate nervous
system incidental to constant catharsis is it any wonder that we are
so constantly confronted with cases of nervous collapse? The wonder
would be if it were otherwise.
Nor are these the only objections to be urged against purgative
medication. Its effects upon the digestive functions is, in the
highest degree, destructive. It would be next to impossible to find an
individual addicted to the use of cathartics whose digestion was not,
practically, a wreck. It is true, that a large part of the digestive
disturbance in such cases is due to the obstructed condition
of the colon, and the consequent undue retention of food in the
stomach, until fermentation sets in; but no inconsiderable share of
the trouble is due to the action of the drugs, by repeated over-
stimulation of the nervous system, and perpetual irritation of the
delicate absorbent vessels.
Viewed from whatever standpoint we may choose, the employment of drugs
to relieve an overcharged colon is both unsatisfactory and
unscientific.
And yet there is a simple and effective method of dealing with this
trouble; of removing the accumulations, no matter how large they may
be; of thoroughly cleansing and purifying that important organ, the
colon, without the least demand upon the vital forces, and that is by
WASHING IT OUT.
In plain English, the preservation and restoration of health depends
entirely upon cleanliness, especially internal cleanliness, and to
attain that condition which we are told is next to godliness, there is
nothing equal to water--especially "hot water, which is the great
scavenger of nature."
Strange, that such an obviously common-sense proceeding should not be
universal, is it not? I do not claim to be the discoverer of this
method of internal purification, for it is in reality of ancient
origin, as we have it on good authority that it was practised by the
ancient Egyptians, who, it is believed, acquired their knowledge from
observing a bird called the Ibis, a species of Egyptian snipe. The
food of this bird, gathered on the banks of the Nile, was of a very
constipating character, and it was observed, by the earliest
naturalists, to suck up the water of the river and using its long bill
for a syringe, inject it into its anus, thus relieving itself. Pliny
says this habit of the Ibis first suggested the use of clysters to the
ancient Egyptian doctors, known to be the first medical practitioners
of any nation, not excepting the Chinese. [See Naturalis Historia,
Lib. VIII., Dap. 41, Hague 1518.
Another writer, viz., Christianus Langius, says, that this bird when
attacked with constipation at some distance from the river, and not
able to fly from weakness, would be seen to crawl to the water's edge
with drooping wings and there take its rectal treatment, when in a few
minutes it would fly away in full vigor of regained strength.
Nor do I even claim to have rediscovered this system of treatment,
although it is a common practice in these days to revamp old theories
and discoveries, and try to foist them upon the public as entirely new
propositions. The credit for the resuscitation of this ancient
remedial practice belongs, without doubt, to Dr. A. Wilford Hall, of
New York, who practiced the treatment on himself for forty years
before giving its principles to the public, thereby fully proving its
merits.
The following experience from the pen of Dr. H. T. Turner, of
Washington, affords incontestable proof of the allegation made, that
the colon is the seat of disease, and his testimony should be read
with extreme care. It is no fanciful, theoretical statement, but the
ghastly revelation of an appalling reality. While reading his
statement, the reader will do well to refer to the engraving,
representing the digestive apparatus, at the commencement of this
book, as it will greatly facilitate his comprehension of the matter.
"In 1880 I lost a patient with inflammation of the bowels, and
requested of the friends the privilege of holding a post-mortem
examination, as I was satisfied that there was some foreign substance
in or near the Ileo-coecal valve, or in that apparently useless
appendage, the Appendicula Vermiformis. (See explanation of
engraving.)
"The autopsy developed a quantity of grape seed and popcorn, filling
the lower enlarged pouch of the colon and the opening into the
Appendicula Vermiformis. This, from the mortified and blackened
condition of the colon alone, indicated that my diagnosis was correct.
I opened the colon throughout its entire length of five feet, and
found it filled with faecal matter encrusted on its walls and into the
folds of the colon, in many places dry and hard as slate, and so
completely obstructing the passage of the bowels as to throw him into
violent colic (as his friends stated), sometimes as often as twice a
month, for years, and that powerful doses of physic was his only
relief; that all the doctors had agreed that it was bilious colic. I
observed that this crusted matter was evidently of long standing, the
result of years of accumulation, and although the remote cause, not
the immediate cause of his death. The sigmoid-flexure (see engraving),
or bend in the colon on the left side, was especially full, and
distended to double its natural size, filling the gut uniformly, with
a small hole the size of one's little finger through the center,
through which the recent faecal matter passed. In the lower part of
the sigmoid-flexure, just before descending to form the rectum, and in
the left hand upper corner of the colon as it turns toward the right,
were pockets eaten out of the hardened faecal matter, in which were
eggs of worms and quite a quantity of maggots, which had eaten into
the sensitive mucous membrane, causing serious inflammation of the
colon and its adjacent parts, and as recent investigation has
established as a fact, were the cause of his hemorrhoids, or piles,
which I learned were of years' standing. The whole length of the colon
was in a state of chronic inflammation; still this man considered
himself well and healthy until the unfortunate eating of the grape
seed and popcorn, and had no trouble in getting his life insured in
one of the best companies in America.
"I have been thus explicit in this description, from the fact that
recent investigation has developed the fact that in the discovery
described above, I had found but a prototype of at least seven-tenths
of the human family in civilized life--the real cause of all diseases
of the human body, excepting the grape seed and popcorn. That I had
found the fountain of premature old age and death, for, as surprising
as it may seem, out of 284 cases of autopsies held of late on the
colon (they representing in their death nearly all the diseases known
to our climate), but twenty-eight colons were found to be free from
hardened, adhered matter, and in their normal healthy state, and that
the 256 were all more or less as described above, except, perhaps, the
grape seeds and popcorn. In many of them the colon was distended to
double its natural size throughout its whole length, with a small hole
through the center, and as far as could be learned, these last cases
spoken of had regular evacuations of the bowels each day. Many of the
colons contained large maggots from four to six inches long, and
pockets of eggs and maggots, while blood and pus were frequently
present."
The question is often asked, and naturally so, why this unnatural
accumulation is in the colon? The horse and ox promptly obey the call
of nature; they know no time or place, and are blessed with clean
colons. So are the natives of Africa. But the demands of civilized
life insist upon a time and place. Business, etiquette, opportunity,
and a thousand and one excuses stand continually in the way, and
nature's call is put off to a more convenient time and place.
How many people are not presentable to themselves or friends, owing to
the putrid smell of their bodies, so that in polite society strong
colognes and other perfumes are used. Show me a woman who girts her
waist with corsets or any tight clothing, and I will warrant you that
the smell from her body will be sickening in the extreme. The special
reason for this is, that the lacing comes immediately where the
transverse colon crosses her body. Now, if the sigmoid-flexure becomes
loaded, because of its folding upon itself, how much more will the
transverse colon become clogged if unnaturally folded upon itself by
compression from each side folding it, as demonstrated in some
instances, almost double the whole length, into two extra elbows,
where it, if natural; is straight (see engraving on next page). Many
reasons have been given by physiologists and humanitarians, why it is
injurious for the lady to lace, but this reason outweighs them all.
Wear the clothing loose, clean out the colon and heal it up, and you
will smell sweet, and life will be a continual blessing; for if the
main sewer in the body is closed or clogged, nature has but three
other outlets: the capillaries or pores of the skin, the lungs in
exhalation, or the kidneys. If the colon is clogged, the penned-up
acid permeations of the stomach and duodenum will have to seek other
outlets, which is indicated by the putrid smell of the body and a foul
breath with finally dyspepsia, and what is usually termed biliousness,
torpid liver, etc.
The condition of the colon (the physiological sewer) in the average
adult having been demonstrated, does it need any argument to convince
the intelligent thinker that the most rational and practical manner of
dealing with this hot-bed of filth and breeding place of disease, is
to wash it out?
With me, it has passed beyond the theoretical stage, for I have in my
office fully 15,000 grateful letters from patients who have used this
process, under my direction, with the most astounding results;
scarcely a disease known to humanity, but has been relieved, and in
ninety-five per cent. of cases, cures effected; while tens of
thousands of gratifying messages have reached me from time to time;
nor is the testimony in its favor confined to the laity, for hundreds
of physicians (including some of the most prominent authorities)
testify to the wonderfully beneficial results achieved by its use.
We now come to the most important feature of the subject--the means for
putting it into practice, for it will readily be admitted that such an
admirable and common-sense method of treatment should have the most
perfect means procurable for its application, but until the present
time the available means have remained crude and undeveloped. This,
however, is scarcely to be wondered at. It is the history of all
important discoveries.
Those great natural forces, steam and electricity, although their
value was recognized, yet required the aid of inventive genius to
develop their possibilities; in fact, it has required three-fourths of
a century to bring the locomotive to its present state of perfection,
while the potentialities of electricity are as yet only surmised. This
being so in matters that offer a rich pecuniary harvest to the
inventor, it is little matter for surprise that improvement in a means
of combating disease should progress slowly. In the first place, it
was a new departure, unheralded to the world, and frowned upon by the
members of the orthodox medical schools; consequently there was no
tempting bait of a handsome profit to encourage the inventor, and
until lately the indifference to matters pertaining to health was
proverbial.
When Dr. Hall commenced his famous experimentation upon himself, the
only appliance available for the purpose was the old-fashioned bulb
syringe, which is simply a flexible rubber tube with an egg-shaped
receptacle in the center. One end of the tube is inserted in the
rectum, while the other end is immersed in a vessel of water, the
injection of the fluid being accomplished by alternately compressing
and relaxing the bulbous portion. It is needless to say that the
process of "flushing the colon" copiously, the only effectual way, was
a tedious, inconvenient and imperfect matter with such a crude
appliance. After the lapse of a great number of years the "gravity" or
"fountain" syringe was invented, which consisted of a rubber bag with
a long flexible tube attached to its lower end. The bag was suspended
from a nail or hook several feet above the individual, the water being
forced into the body by gravity, the pressure being increased or
diminished by raising or lowering the bag. This was a distinct advance
upon the bulb syringe, but it still left a great deal to be desired.
In the first place, they are both exceedingly tedious, a serious
objection in the case of weakly or elderly people; secondly, both
methods necessitate the uncovering of the lower portion of the body,
which is decidedly unpleasant; and, most serious of all, it is
impossible to prevent the admission of air into the intestine, and
that is a fruitful source of pain and discomfort. It should, however,
be borne in mind that both of these appliances were devised for an
entirely different class of operation (namely, vaginal douching),
and were only used for intestinal treatment because there was nothing
better at hand.
Another method, sometimes employed by progressive physicians, consists
in using, in connection with the fountain syringe, a tube from
eighteen to twenty-four inches in length, made of a firm but flexible
variety of rubber. This was introduced (its entire length) into the
body, the theory being that it was necessary to get behind the
impacted mass and force it out ahead of the water, which was
theoretically correct, but in practice found sadly wanting. In the
first place, the opening in the eye of the tube became clogged with
the faecal matter, and, secondly, with the double tube employed for
the return flow, the opening was too small to allow of the passage of
solid substances. The introduction of the catheter is a process
requiring considerable skill, and a perfect acquaintance with the
anatomy of the parts, so that personal use of it is practically
impossible, or, at least, attended with considerable danger. An
examination of the diagram of the digestive apparatus at the beginning
of the book will enable the reader to understand the difficulties
attending its introduction, since it has to pass the sigmoid flexure
(No. 12), and the splenic flexure--that angle of the colon where the
transverse portion turns to descend. With such a tortuous road to
travel, the risk of injury to the sensitive mucous membrane is
excessive--hence this instrument should never be used by the patient
upon himself.
The author, however, felt that there must be an easier and more
effective method of irrigating that important organ--the colon--and one
unattended with any risk, and determined, if possible, to devise some
better way. After much patient and tireless experimenting he invented
and perfected the "J. B. L. Cascade," a mechanical appliance which
completely rids the process of all its objectionable features, and
enables young and old, weak and strong, to use the treatment without
the possibility of danger. It achieves the desired result far more
effectively than any other known apparatus, with the least possible
inconvenience to the patient, and yet so gently and easily that the
operation, so far from being distressing or disagreeable, becomes a
positive gratification.
The letters J. B. L. are the initials of the words Joy, Beauty, Life,
which aptly indicate its purpose and effects, for we confidently claim
that its use will infallibly confer these three great blessings, it
being the one safe and sanative method of regaining and preserving
health. Without health there is no joy in life, and perfect beauty
cannot possibly exist, while with health life becomes indeed worth
living.
One of the gravest objections to all the hitherto existing appliances
is the construction of the nozzle, or tube, that is inserted in the
body, and through which the water is conveyed. These are all (without
exception) made with an aperature in the end, or extreme tip, the
consequence being that a small jet of water is continuously directed
upon one spot in the delicate and sensitive mucous membrane. With
water at the necessary temperature this is a source of grave danger,
and likely to result in serious injury, by causing a separation of the
various layers of which the membrane is composed. When this separation
occurs little slits occur in the rectal lining, in which faecal matter
lodges, ultimately forming what are known as pockets, causing, first,
irritation, then inflammation, and, finally, results in "proctitis"--
chronic inflammation of the intestinal canal. The best authorities
agree in condemning the direct jet, while rectal specialists regard it
as one of their chief aids to income.
With these facts in view, the construction of my "injection point," or
entering tube, engaged the special attention, finally, with the result
that a most successful means of overcoming this dangerous objection
has been provided. Instead of the opening in the end, the tip is made
absolutely solid, so that the impact of the entering water is not felt
at all, while it is provided with six rows of perforations on the
sides, through which the water is evenly diffused over the walls of
the rectum, which is a most desirable thing in cases of hemorrhoids or
rectal inflammations. It is also so constructed that the natural
constriction of the sphincter muscles holds it firmly in position in
the rectum, and while affording the water free passage into the colon,
it prevents the escape of the fluid externally, thus rendering soiled
garments impossible.
But the simplicity of the operation is one of its chief advantages,
for the patient sits upon the appliance in ease and comfort while
receiving the cleansing stream, and by following the directions the
time occupied in the operation need not exceed fifteen minutes, or
about one-fourth of the time required by other methods--an unmistakably
valuable saving of time and strain to busy or weakly people. The
faucet is considered by experts as a most valuable feature, on account
of the "dome" portion, which accurately fits the natural arch formed
by the limbs when the body is in the seated position.
Many people are accustomed to use the bulb and fountain syringes in a
reclining position and some physicians recommend the patient to kneel
in the bath tub, with the body bent well forward: an irksome,
disagreeable position and quite unnecessary. The theory is, that the
water will flow into the body by gravitation, but they overlook the
fact that the ascending and descending portions of the colon, being
parallel in the body, the water, while flowing readily into the
descending portions, would have to flow uphill in the ascending
portions and by the time it reached there, the force would be
exhausted. The weight of the body furnishes greater force, which is
proportioned to the size and bulk of the patient, but is not
perceptible to him, on account of the solid construction of the tip of
the "injection point," while the steady, uniform pressure exerted
serves to distend the walls of the colon and thus liberate adherent
matter. By far the great majority of people, however, use these crude
appliances while seated over a vessel, which is decidedly injurious.
By reference to the diagram of the digestive organs it will be seen
that the "descending colon," that portion which terminates in the
rectum, is larger than either of the other divisions of that organ. In
fact, its capacity (in the average adult) is about three pints,
equivalent to three pounds. Now this weight, in a flexible organ like
the colon, must cause a sagging down, exerting a serious strain upon
its attachments to the abdominal wall, and by its pressure upon the
sphincters will induce prolapse of the rectum. That is one reason why
so many people find it almost impossible to receive enough water to
make the treatment successful. When a physician, or trained nurse, is
administering a high enema, it is a common practice to hold a folded
towel against the rectum, to guard against this pressure and its
possible results. The "dome" portion of the faucet (previously
referred to) affords the desired support, automatically and
effectually prevents any prolapse; while the handle of the faucet,
projecting forward, between the limbs, may be manipulated with the
greatest ease in controlling the flow of water; and, being seated on a
warm cushion, the patient experiences a pleasant, soothing sensation,
which completely allays any nervousness.
Moreover, realizing the immense advantage to be obtained by attacking
the germs of disease in their chief breeding place, an antiseptic
preparation is introduced into the water used in this remedial
process, which completely and speedily destroys the germs of disease;
but although so potent in its action upon micro-organic life, it is
perfectly harmless, even though a hundred times the necessary quantity
should be forced into the intestinal canal. But it is not alone a germ
destroyer, for it possesses admirable tonic properties, which act upon
the muscular coat of the colon and speedily restores it to its normal
condition.
Defecation, or the expulsion of waste substance from the bowel is
accompanied by the contraction of the circular fibres of the said
muscular coat, but when constipation has existed for any length of
time, the accumulated matter adhering to the walls of the colon
renders that organ partially, if not wholly rigid, hence the
difficulty of evacuation; consequently, through disuse, the
muscles become to a certain extent atrophied, and require stimulation
to resume their natural function even after the colon has been
cleansed. It is largely owing to the use of this antiseptic "tonic"
that the "Cascade Treatment" has been so successful in cases of
obstinate constipation, as by its use the intestine speedily regains
tone and power.
I unhesitatingly assert that if the colon be regularly cleansed and
disinfected by this means, any bacilli or bacteria that may have
obtained a lodgment in the system will be quickly destroyed and
expelled--it cannot be otherwise.
And once the germs of disease are destroyed and their chief breeding
place kept clean by this simple process, and the re-absorption of
poisonous liquid waste into the system thus prevented, Nature, the
great physician, will speedily assert itself and effect a restoration
to health.
NOTE.
If the water is not readily expelled do not attempt to force it out by
straining. Instead, flatten in the abdomen by forcibly contracting the
abdominal muscles.
PART IV.
HOW TO USE IT.
Having endeavored to show the true nature of disease, the rational
method of treating it, and the superiority of the "Cascade" over all
previously existing methods for carrying the treatment into effect, it
may be well to explain the actual manner of using the "Cascade."
In the first place, the reservoir should be thoroughly washed out with
slightly warm water, to get. rid of the factory dust. At one time it
was the practice to cleanse them all thoroughly before fitting them,
but purchasers got the impression that they had been used by other
persons, so it was decided to abandon that practice and send them out
with the dust of the factory in them, in proof of their newness.
Having cleansed the reservoir, the faucet should be shut off and a
level teaspoonful of the antiseptic tonic dissolved in a little warm
water in a cup or glass and poured into the reservoir, which should
then be completely filled with water as hot as the hand can
comfortably bear; not to simply dip the fingers in and withdraw them,
but so that you can immerse the hand and allow it to remain without
discomfort. If tested with a thermometer the water should be from 100
to 105 degrees Fahr., but the hand is a safer guide, as it prevents
any possible danger from a thermometer out of order, or mistaking a
figure in a poor light. If tested by the hand you are absolutely safe,
since water can he used twenty degrees hotter internally than
externally, but in its passage from the body it would he painful to
the external parts. Hot water is the best solvent for impacted faecal
matter, and, on the other hand, water below the temperature of the
body is likely to cause pain. If the hands are impervious to heat, an
excellent plan is to test the water with the tip of the elbow, which
is a most sensitive part of the body.
It is necessary that the reservoir should be absolutely full to insure
the exclusion of air, as that is also likely to cause pain, and, in
addition, its presence is likely to prevent the proper reception of
the water, as, according to an established law in physics, two bodies
cannot occupy the same space at the same time. For this reason it is
advisable to solicit the bowels before taking the treatment, as, if
even no faecal matter is expelled, pent-up gases are frequently
liberated.
The reservoir having been filled as directed and the above directions
carefully observed, the "Cascade" should be laid down and the
"injection point" screwed in. It is then ready for use. Being all
ready, the stick of rectal soap should be dipped in water--to moisten
it--inserted in the rectum and withdrawn. This is simply to lubricate
the passage and facilitate the admission of the "injection point."
Then, standing in front of the seat on which the "Cascade" is lying
(as if preparing to sit down), pass the left hand between the lower
limbs and grasp the handle of the faucet, to guide the "injection
point" into the rectum, and then carefully sit down upon the
"Cascade." When the "injection point" has been completely introduced
and you are comfortably seated, relax the muscles and allow the whole
weight of the body to rest freely on the "Cascade," and turn on the
faucet, partially at first, then, after a few seconds, turn it on
fully and you will readily receive the water.
The most convenient place to use the "Cascade" is in the bathroom,
placing it on the closet seat; or you will find the ordinary bedroom
"commode" a suitable article for the purpose, but if neither of these
are available, then any firm seat, such as a wooden-seated chair, will
do, but taking care to have a vessel at hand in which to discharge the
contents of the bowel.
As soon as the faucet is turned on and the water begins to flow into
the body, proceed to practise the following movements: Commencing in
the right groin; stroke firmly but gently, right across the pelvis, or
lower edge of the abdomen, to the left groin, then directly upward
with the hands to a point just above the umbilicus, or navel, then
straight across the body and down to the right groin. These movements
are directly over and along the course of the colon, and if they are
made gently but firmly, the water will be assisted on its course. A
study of the diagram of the digestive apparatus at the commencement of
the book will be of great assistance in enabling you to understand the
reason for and the method of these movements.
It sometimes happens that after a small quantity of water has been
injected there is a strong desire to expel it, which is sometimes due
to nervousness, induced by the novelty of the operation. If this be
so, shut off the faucet at once and resist the inclination, when, in a
few minutes, the desire will have passed away, then turn on the faucet
again. Be sure to allow the full weight of the body to rest on the
"Cascade," and have no fear. It is the weight of the body itself that
furnishes the motive power and to ease up the pressure defeats the
object.
As soon as all the water has entered that you feel it possible to
receive, turn off the faucet, rise from the "Cascade," sit over the
closet, or vessel, and allow the contents of the bowel to escape. At
the same time repeat the stroking movement previously described, but
this time reverse it, commencing in the right groin, up, across and
down to the left groin. These movements have a three-fold object: they
assist the water in its passage backward and forward, thus shortening
the time of the treatment; they force along the accumulated matter in
the colon with the current of water, and help to dislodge adherent
matter from the walls of the colon.
As we proceed on the assumption that the colon is more or less
impacted (which experience shows), we do not anticipate that more than
two quarts will be received at the first treatment, but as the
accumulations are removed by successive treatments, the capacity of
the colon is increased, so that at the end of the second week enough
should be received to completely fill the colon. The amount of water
varies, of course, with the bulk of the individual, but the capacity
of the colon, in the average well-grown adult, is about four quarts,
but even in the case of a person below the average size, it may safely
be assumed that three quarts of water are absolutely necessary for a
successful treatment.
The presence of from three to four quarts of water in the body will
naturally distend the abdomen and produce a little discomfort, but no
apprehension of any harmful result need be entertained. Rest assured
of this: it is absolutely impossible to rupture the colon, unless you
were to use a force pump, and even then, before the point of rupture
could be reached, the pain would be so intense that you would be
compelled to desist. Again, as we have pointed out, the colon is a
wonderfully elastic organ, and it would be an impossibility to distend
it with water to the same extent that it is frequently distended by
faecal accumulations.
Whenever pain is present during the treatment it is usually due to one
of two things: either the water has not been sufficiently hot, or the
reservoir has not been completely filled, but, if in spite of these
precautions, pain should be present, it will be found advisable, after
a small quantity of water has been injected (say from a pint to a
quart) to shut off the faucet, rise from the "Cascade" and expel it;
then, upon returning to the "Cascade," it will usually be found that
the cleansing of the lower portions of the bowel has removed the
trouble. The same method of procedure holds good when there is any
difficulty in injecting the water. In cases where pain is persistent,
even although all precautions are taken (although such are extremely
rare), a decoction of anise seed made by steeping a tablespoonful of
the seed in a pint of boiling water, added to the water used for
flushing (omitting the antiseptic tonic), will act as an anodyne on
the intestine, and completely subdue the pain.
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