"Complications and after effects:
(1) Of the respiratory system:—Croupose and Broncho-pneumonia of atypical progress (atypical fever of protracted course, relatively strong Dyspnoe, Cyanosis, feeble pulse) and high mortality; after effects serous or mattery Pleuritis, Lung abscesses, Phthisis.
(2) Of the circulatory system:—Myocarditis, Endocarditis, Thrombosis.
(3) Of the digestive tract:—Chronic stomach and intestinal catarrh, Dyspepsia.
(4) Of the nervous system:—Any form of Neuralgia, Paralysis, Neuritis, Psychosis, etc.
(5) Of the sense organs:—Otitis media; Nephritis and Muscular Rheumatism are also observed. Influenza aggravates any case of sickness, especially lung trouble."
All this seems to constitute a very formidable and perplexing indictment, sparkling with learning and bristling with difficulties. But when these mellifluous mysticisms are once translated into "the vulgar tongue" they prove to be, strange to say, easily within the comprehension of the ordinary layman.
For instance, "Apyrexie" means Free from fever; Albuminuria—Albumen present; Miliaria—an acute inflammation of the sweat-glands (Abnormal sweating); Herpes—an inflammatory skin disease characterized by the formation of small vesicles in clusters (Fever rash); Exanthema—Skin eruption; Petechien—Spots; Epistaxis—Nose-bleeding; Hematemesis—vomiting blood; Menorrhagia—Excessive menstruation; Croupose—resembling croup; Broncho-pneumonia—Inflammation of the lungs; Atypical fever—irregular fever; Dyspnoe—Hard breathing; Cyanosis—Blue discoloration of the skin from non-oxidation of the blood; Pleuritis—Pleurisy; Phthisis—consumption; Myocarditis and Endocarditis—Inflammations of the heart; Thrombosis—coagulation of blood; Intestinal Catarrh—Inflammation of the bowels; Dyspepsia—Indigestion; Neuritis—Nerve inflammation; Psychosis—Mental derangement; Otitis media—Inflammation of the ear; and Nephritis—Inflammation of the kidneys.
"Aetiology:—The influenza bacillus (found in blood and excrement) is to be regarded as the cause. The malady is highly contagious. Period of incubation given as, from two to seven days. Runs its course in one or two weeks, recovery as a rule favorable; though convalescence is often protracted. Unfavorable results are brought on through complications, most often by Pneumonia.
"Diagnosis:—Easily determined during an epidemic or marked symptoms. The catarrhal form of influenza differs from simple catarrh of the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract through the presence of nervous symptoms and a more abrupt beginning. The symptoms may be similar to those of Measles or Abdominal typhus. In each case, complications with Pneumonia must be considered.
"The proof of the presence of the Influenza bacillus," he concludes, "is of little value in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis in medical practice as the bacillus cannot be distinguished with enough accuracy through the microscopic examination, which must be a very minute culture proceeding."
This is the final dictum of medical Science on the subject—Science which however, adds nothing to our knowledge and leaves us still in darkness and uncertainty, while memory brings a well known couplet to the mind:
Loosely, with palsied hand.
Why lacks he now, for pity's sake,
The grace to understand?
But let us weigh this long list of symptoms and estimate their respective significance by the light of physiological perception.
The ever present fever is due to stagnation of the blood. Swelling of the spleen is caused by catabolism of the Malpighian bodies. Albuminuria is the result of cold in the Plexus renalis; Perspiration is due to numbness in the nerve fibrils. The inclination of the mucous membranes to Hemorrhage is explained by congestion of blood in the capillaries, due to lack of vigor in the nerve fibrils. When the nerve fibrils fail to act, the capillary circulation stops and the blood overloaded with carbonic acid presses against the walls until they burst.
The complications and after effects are explained in the following manner:
Complications in the respiratory system are all due to failure to properly treat the acute stage of the disease, and where the resistance of the patient has been sapped they usually end fatally. Complications in the circulatory system are subject to the same explanation as fever. Digestive complications are due to impaired metabolism brought on by loss of energy in the Vagus nerve. Complications in the nervous system are consequent upon the degeneration of the whole Vagus tract. Sensory complications are due to the disease attacking the "minoris resistentia," the point of least resistance in the patient.
This explanation of the real significance of the symptoms of Influenza should make it sufficiently apparent that its cause is fundamental, widespread and deeply rooted in the organism—a menace not to be lightly and tentatively treated with impunity. That the disease is not one that may be met—with any prospect of success—with febrifuges, drugs, serums and specifics—to say nothing of whisky and the like futilities, to use no harsher term, such as are said to have characterized the prescriptions of a very considerable proportion of the Regular Medical Profession and with such terribly disastrous results. What the liquor statistics show on our side of the line I am at the moment unable to say, but I see it reported in the press of an adjoining province that under nominally strict "Prohibition" the sale of liquor had increased no less than 900 per cent, largely upon doctors orders, and that the sales from the Government stores in one city, during the past month had totaled $50,000—as compared with $6,000 for the corresponding period of the previous year.
The Professor's elaborate diagnosis, from a physiologico-chemical point of view seems rather to point to a meaning which he has missed—to indicate a latent, more remote possibility behind the shy bacillus, as the primary cause of the disease.
Let us endeavor to read the riddle rightly. On scientific contemplation it at once becomes apparent that the symptoms as defined by Kuhnemann—and indeed all other observers—are confined to the regions traversed by the Vagus (wandering) or Pneumogastric nerve—a nerve of comprehensive scope and bi-functional activity, physical and psychic and in operation, remarkably in accord with the manifestations of Influenza.
Concisely stated, the physiological function of the Vagus nerve is to regulate the process of breathing, tasting, swallowing, appetite, digestion, etc.; and the result of its failure to function would create coughing, choking, indigestion—separately or in combination. Its mental functions include the expression of shame, desire, disgust, grief, torture, depression and despair.
The following is its academic description:
Vagus or Pneumogastric nerve (tenth cranial); function—sensation and motion; originates in the floor of the fourth ventricle (the space which represents the primitive cavity of the hind-brain; it has the pons and oblongata in front, while the cerebellum lies dorsal), and is distributed through the ear, pharynx, larynx, lungs, esophagus, and stomach; possesses the following branches—auricular, pharyngeal, superior and inferior laryngeal, cardiac, pulmonary, esophageal, gastric, hepatic, communicating, meningeal.
It is interesting to compare the scope and characteristics of the Vagus, as here defined with the details of Prof. Kuhnemann's diagnosis of Influenza and to draw conclusions.
In order to establish more unmistakably the symptomatic sympathetic connection between the Vagus and Influenza, it may be well to touch briefly upon the initial processes of metabolism and nerve production.
An inherent impulse in the ovum (protoplasm or egg cell) serves to separate the albuminous substance into groups of an opposite nature. Water is chemically separated from one portion, which results in thickening the albumen from which it was extracted, while the liberated water aids in liquifying another portion of the albuminous matter. Thus, on one side slender threads arise, termed fibrine or filaments, and on the other lymph fluid appears, which receives the particles of salts freed from the filaments during their chemical separation. When the fibrine and lymph are organized from the protoplasm, the remaining albumen is absolutely unchanged and ready to furnish material for the growth of either.
It is the function of salts to increase the electrical tension of the lymph. All salts possess the property of being electrically positive or negative. The more concentrated a saline solution, the greater its electrical energy.
That the function of the lymph is to assist in the formation and nutrition of the nerves is apparent when the nature of lymph and the composition of nerve substances are compared. The contrast which exists between fibrine and lymph, and the similarity of lymph to nerve fat when taken together, justify the conclusion that the nerve substance lecithin, was formed from lymph in the first instance.
The whole process of life consists of an electro-chemical combustion. This is clearly shown in the case of lecithin, which serves to control both motion and sensation. In the presence of oxygen it burns up, forming a new chemical combination, and throwing off minute quantities of carbonic acid and water in the process. Every movement and process, both voluntary and involuntary, and every thought and emotion, depends upon oxidation, which consumes muscular tissue and nerve substance.
The greater our physical exertion the more muscular tissue must be consumed. The higher our emotional state, the more we think or agitate ourselves, the greater must be the quantity of nerve substance burned up. All of the substance burned up in labour, in worry and in thought, must be replaced or the flame will flicker out!
The metabolism of muscular tissue is not in question at the moment. We are concerned here with nerve metabolism alone.
This occurs in the following manner: In response to the demand for new material created by the chemical combustion of lecithin, new oil flows down the axis cylinders of the nerve fibrils, which are arranged somewhat in the manner of lamp wicks. The average duration of the flow of this oil is about eighteen hours. When the cerebro-spinal nerves refuse to perform their function any longer, because the supply of oil is running low, fatigue and sleep ensue, and the blood descends from the brain to the intestines. Thus the cerebro-spinal system is permitted to relax and rest. In the meantime the sympathetic nervous system has taken up the task of directing the renewal of worn tissues, which draw their supply of necessary materials from the digestive canal, with a new supply of phosphatic oil. For the carrying out of these processes, which prepare the brain and spinal nerve system for the demands of another day, the magnetic blood current acts as distributor of supplies.
Through the fact that this supply is directly dependent upon nutrition, three possibilities inevitably present themselves:
(1) That any radical change of diet may result in an insufficient supply of the various elements necessary for the production of lecithin in the requisite quantities.
(2) That strenuous and unaccustomed physical and mental exertion may involve a consumption both of nerve substance and muscular tissue, greater than the outcome of the ordinary diet is able to compensate.
(3) That a protracted term of emotional strain and agitation may adversely affect both appetite and digestion while rapidly consuming the substance of the nerves.
In discussing the causes of disease Julius Hensel lays great stress upon the emotions. He goes so far as to say that they "undoubtedly occupy the first place amongst the factors causing disease, and we must not evade the consideration of them. We shall find that their action also amounts to an electro-chemical process." I would not for an instant be understood to contend that the emotions alone are sufficient to explain the origin of disease—not at all. There are other factors—jointly or severally dominant—diet, occupation, changes of weather, climate, or conditions.
In the matter immediately under review, however, the world-wide pandemic of "Spanish Influenza," there can remain no shadow of doubt in the mind of any unbiased observer who follows the question fairly along the lines of electro-chemical biology, but that the general emotional disturbances incident upon the war conditions of the world, combined with the chaotic dietetic position with its anxieties and privations under strenuous and unwonted physical demands, do undoubtedly afford a sound and reasonable explanation of the cataclysmal outbreak which has recently fallen upon the nations.
The brazen blast of war, in 1914, with all its ruthless wreck and carnage, shook the universal fabric of the sphere. Fear, fraud and famine were met together, duplicity and greed had kissed each other. Short rations and with some, starvation, were soon the order of the day. The corners of the earth were swept of stale forgotten stores and profiteers waxed fat and prices soared, whilst the vitals of the working world were vastly underfed. The ranks of labour, depleted of its men, were filled by females uninured to toil and dangerous nerve racking environments. Relentless time brings its revenges fast; but still they worked and suffered while malnutrition sapped the life-blood of the race. In the homes of the fighting men fear reigned supreme—ever the sword of Damocles suspended at the hearth. And then the death lists came and the world was wet with human tears and all the furies flew the earth—grief, hatred, revenge, love, pity and remorse, but the wail of mourning was throughout all lands in all the "sable panoply of woe" attending fast lowering vitality, bred by force of pain and hope deferred. Pliny well said: "Dolendi modus, non est timendi"—Pain has its limits, apprehension none—and now as in his day, the latter bore the palm.
Such was the position when two years ago the world first felt the impact of the pestilence and millions withered up like blighted corn.
The Vagus nerve with which we have been dealing, is concerned with the expression of emotions such as these; and being so, was burned up rapidly with fervent heat—the flames of sorrow still with fasting fed. In the majority of human lives such was the case, while the sources of nutritive reserve force were depleted by lack of things of universal use and foreign substitutes for normal food. Small wonder then the once steady nerves soon buckled with the strain; that sickness followed swiftly with disaster in its train and that the death rate rose enormously, beyond recorded precedent. And then when seeming good succeeds the storm of ills a plethora of new-born cares arose and worse, more fatal still, reaction from the strain which with relaxing energy demands its deadly share. Here in America we meet our troubles with serener front, unawed by State-fed sacerdotal superstitions; but in England how the scourge has wrung from dire depression its full toll of death. There for the first time deaths exceed the births and for the final quarter of 1918, the deaths exceed those of the former term by 127,000 of which Influenza claimed one hundred Thousand dead. Similar conditions, it would appear, have been more or less general throughout the European and indeed all other Continents and the title "Pandemic" has been richly earned; but the term which would seem to me more descriptive still would be "Panasthenia"—the general loss of vitality.
The human organism is, as we know, electro-magnetic. The effect upon the fabric of abnormal disturbance is registered with infinite exactitude by electrons—atoms of electricity—which rise and fall in numerical vibration according to the positive or negative tone of the whole; and excessive manifestations in one direction or the other, indicate respectively, a condition of positive or negative disease.
When the slowly vibrating negative electrons outnumber the rapidly vibrating positive atoms the electronic vibration of the whole body is lowered. As a result, we become depressed, weak, tired and retain little bodily warmth. Digestion is upset, metabolism falls far below normal, and the skin becomes pale, because of the morbid action set up in the mucous membrane by the excess of negative electrons. Catarrh supervenes. This is the condition in which negative disease thrives best: Influenza, nervous debility, anaemia, sleeping disease, cholera, diphtheria and the rest, in all varied forms of negative disease.
The Vagus, or Wandering Nerve, permeates every vital section of the body, as the accompanying plate will show. It controls, as has been shown, all the highest functions, both mental and physical of human life—that life which depends for its well-being upon electro-chemical combustion, metabolism, and the fuel supply we designate as food. It is the first postulate of healthy vitality in the human frame that metabolism and catabolism—intake and output—shall go hand in hand—that the body must receive continually such fresh nutrition as may replace what it consumes in the process of muscular action and the exercise of mental and emotional activity, and we are consequently brought to the conclusion that such bonds of safety and provision being rudely and suddenly severed, all physical resistance must be quickly broken down, the latent reserve energy is used and disappears, psychic resolution—the immunity of mind—soon abdicates its throne and the depleted organism, robbed of all defense, falls victim to contagion when it comes to kill.
Treatment.
As regards the treatment, actual and preventive, applicable to Spanish Influenza, the methods employed under the Hygienic-Dietetic System of Healing have been already defined in a previous chapter on the subject of negative disease in general. Instruction, however, devoted to Influenza alone may be found in Chapter VI of the special pamphlet issued in that connection under the title: "Influenza, Cause and Cure,"[E] and also in my greater work: "Regeneration or Dare to be Healthy," now in course of completion.
And now, one final word in conclusion, for the purpose of drawing together, as it were, the multiplicity of threads which constitute the complex skein of causes and effects, with their remedial measures which cover the wide range of human life's vicissitudes—the interruptions of its would-be harmonies—which take the forms, all too common in these times of stress, of physical disturbance and of mental strain which come to us in the combined and threatening guise of suffering and disease.
That these forms are more pronounced, more virulent today than ever before in the records of the race, is surely great Nature's manner, crude and masterful, of pressing her mandate home—right home upon the plastic film of evanescent shadows and ephemeral shades we proudly call our consciousness.
How many, let me ask, how many of us, in the absorbing round of life's futilities, have paused to really recognize the sinister "hand writing on the wall?"
The phase of the world's history through which we pass complacently is of no light portent, its happenings no casual concern, but, in point of crucial fact, a virtual "rending of the sphere"—a cosmic upheaval such as never yet before has racked the tense life sinews of the world, confounding the wisdom of the wise and wrecking in one fell climax of contempt the moral precepts of two thousand years.
The greatest human struggle the world has ever known synchronizes strangely, yet logically with the world's greatest pestilence which has swept successive millions to their doom without exacting from the residue even the sentimental tribute of a tear.
The official brains of the entire globe are leagued in self-protective unison "to make the world safe for democracy;" but Demos dies, by violence and disease, ere yet salvation comes. It appeals to its old-time standards for relief,—they are gone; to its pastors—they are mute; to its masters—they are impotent; to its doctors—they are baffled, helpless and aghast, whilst vainly searching earth and air for some frail pretext of unreal enlightenment, some fragile figment of belief. And yet in hypnotized complacency the masses stand; for meanwhile commerce reaps its costly gains and labour draws in enhanced increment the wages of the living and the dead.
Less serious visitations have, in former times, left their eternal imprint on the age. They served to point the moral of widespread reform—to emphasize the practice of hygiene and sanity. For all such scourges are but signs of Nature's trust betrayed, her sacred laws defied in the wild rush for gain, oblivious of the Law of Compensation's cost, with its inevitable reckoning.
Thus, to the discoverer of the lost initiative, what prospect does the future hold in store?
Pandemics, such as this, repeat themselves; and other forms of dread disease are following the footsteps of mankind. Arterio sclerosis, (hardening of the arteries), with its kindred complaints, for instance, now threatens to become a standing feature of the race through ignorance of the physiological functions of the nerves, their tissue exhaustion and supply.
With such impending dangers are our men distressed; and yet there seems but grudging, slight encouragement for those who seek to stay the onslaught of the foe, by scientific measures of precaution and hygiene.
What the nation needs is now a practical and nation-wide awakening. Let the people realize the danger of their risk; let them rally to the call and loyally support those who thus offer them the safeguard of knowledge as a refuge from the impending storm. Then will so-called "incurable disease" be relegated to the limbo of the past and, among other prophylactic means, this, my latest great discovery—the cause of Influenza, its prevention and its cure, a discovery which must rank amongst the great scientific achievements of the day—will mitigate the force of epidemics on mankind. It should also give to the reader of this little book a fair assurance of what immunity it is possible to secure by careful study and practice of its truths and should prove to the thinker the nucleus of a lesson which can nowhere be better learned than in the teachings and the precepts of the Hygienic-Dietetic School.
Has won the battle for the free,
Thy voice sounds like a prophet's word
And in its hollow tones are heard
The thanks of millions yet to be"
FINIS.
Wide and unlimited as the field of biology and the hygienic-dietetic method of healing is, I have in the foregoing pages tried to devise a guide that will indicate the points that are most necessary to the confidence of the patient, based upon knowledge.
If I have enlightened my readers sufficiently regarding the most modern results of biological research, if I have succeeded in showing them the ray of hope, in the midst of their suffering, that will give them courage to live, and live as healthy human beings, I shall feel amply rewarded for the hard work that had necessarily to be done before the present pinnacle in the art of healing could be reached.
Let me repeat: this brochure is not designed to lead any one away from the man who knows, who has gone to the sources of wisdom, to bring salvation to those who demand the right to live in health and vigor. Far otherwise; for my deliberate injunction is that the cure of disease, in any form, should not be undertaken except under the guidance of an hygienic physician who may indicate to them the path, so that they may not tread it blindly, but in the light of knowledge.
The outlines of a great and wonderful science are presented. Another wall between the layman and the professional has been torn down. If, my readers, you can one day say this booklet has guided you to the right path, back to the enjoyment of life in youthful health and vigor, then join with me and others in propagating these sane and safe principles, and make others "Dare to be Healthy," as you have dared yourself.
FOOTNOTES:
[D] This amount is given by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in an editorial devoted to the terrible plague on March 16th, 1919.
[E] The pamphlet, which also contains a chart of the Vagus in 2 colors, may be obtained either from the author or through any bookseller. The price is 50 cents.