We are thus, directly, the products of our fields.
Wrongly fertilized, our fields must produce sickly vegetation, and this in turn will produce a sickly race and disease in cattle.
Primitive rock consists of granite, porphyry, gneiss and basalt, deposits which are still found upon the earth in immense quantities, and in the same condition as thousands of years ago.
As a matter of fact, proposals have been made by noted scientists to utilize pulverized rock of this kind as compost to assist the fields in a natural way, and so to restore them to their former producing power, which would thus enable plants, animals, and man, alike, to regain those substances indispensable to proper sanguification and general growth.
The agricultural experiments performed with this stone dust fully confirm this assumption.
One of the most important tasks of today is to indicate to the farmer new ways and means of promoting and increasing growth for the food supply of the nations.
Why, then, I imagine I can hear it asked, if this fact be true and demonstrated, has it not been applied?
This question may be answered by another. Why does not the natural system of Hygienic Dietetic Healing find general application in cases of sickness, since its success is so obviously greater than even that claimed by medical science?
To this vital question upon which so much of human life and happiness depends, the weak and degrading answer must suffice; to the effect that the last vestige of public respect for the sciences would be shaken, and many wise theories would fail of their imaginary virtues and succumb, before humanity's best birthright—the quality of healthy blood, kind nature's ample gift to all,—could be wrested from the selfish hand of tyranny and mankind enabled to secure from nature's willing hand the succour that an Infinite Providence offers to disease.
A physician to whom I once explained my theories, heard me for some minutes and then he said "Well, and so you want to create healthy blood in this way?" "Yes, surely," I replied. "We have no use for that," he callously exclaimed, "there would be no business in that."
Hence Mankind must degenerate and Disease of all kinds ride rampant through the land, rather than upset the firmly rooted fallacies of the past or foil the ghoul-like greed of a certain set of conscienceless practitioners.
To the first of these the terse old Latin satire would apply:
To the second let an outraged public reply.
But meanwhile, as the hideous holocaust proceeds, the mills of God grind slowly but mysteriously secure. The eternal law of equity is working still; and from every evil there proceeds a good. Truth may be hidden in the nether deeps, but some day the strained tension breaks, the balance reversing brings it to the light. Its spirit works for ever, like a ferment, hidden long, deep down in the Universal heart of things; for with majestic, unimpressionable tread, sublimely the silent force of human progress moves; slow and inevitably sure, the great indwelling spirit of a vast eternal energy leading man ever upward to the True and Best.
Against this axiom, alas, graceless and suicidal seems the unwisdom of the world, in action against all who offer it salvation from its pain; aye, though he be Christ or Commoner.
Rather be wrong in league with wealth and power than be right—and stand alone. This is now the worldly wisdom of the sage.
Genius at grips with material and religious power, fares ill; as with far-famed Copernicus, or "starry Galileo and his woes"; or, in a brave woman's daring words:—"He, who dares to see a truth not recognized in creeds, must die the death."
"A time of transition is a time of pain," is a truism well recognized by all, and he who would press Regeneration upon the world—weak, weary and unthinking as its people are—must run the gauntlet of the bitter antagonism of the exploiting clans on this benighted sphere, though later he may see, across the bourne that bounds life's earthly day, a stately monument, perchance, by gratitude upreared, where pious crowds pay tribute to his name.
Health is one of those intangible inestimably precious possessions, like life and liberty, to which all are entitled by natural Law. Yet are there but few who are careful to conserve this priceless heritage. It is a boon all too often unappreciated until lost, and once lost, it may not always be regained, though intense be our regrets and our endeavours exhaust the field of human resource.
Again, although the possession of passable health may be ours, it is a condition rarely totally untroubled and continuous and, therefore, cannot be correctly classified as perfect health.
These simple definitions may seem to the reader trite and trivial; but how many of us, let me ask, give thought to their vital vast significance.
Never to need a physician; ever to be unconsciously guarded against all access of disease; to maintain the fair form and vigor of the body without effort, so that no depleting influences can find a hold; this is the health ideal by nature set, the standard to which the earliest progenitors of our race may doubtless have conformed, but upon which succeeding generations have sedulously turned their backs.
Philosophers have defined this physically perfect state.
Historians have immortalized it in heroic tomes.
Poets have extolled it in great epic verse.
Artists have depicted it in portraiture and tapestry.
Sculptors have expressed it in the life-like stone.
The sick have longed for it.
Saints have prayed for it and, in the search for its fabled, false elixir, alchemists have sacrificed their lives. It remained for the smug, "sober judgment" of our day to pronounce it "unattainable"—unattainable!
This, however, is a matter of small moment; for, as Whittier reminds us: "The falsehoods which we spurn today were the truths of long ago"—and although men part reluctantly with favorite—and lucrative—fallacies, and "Faith, fantastic Faith, once wedded fast to some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last," nevertheless this false belief, like so many other sapient pronouncements of human wisdom, must be subjected to final reversal.
The ideal state of health is, truly, "unattainable" when we refuse to yield obedience to the simple laws of nature—when we continuously persist in interference with her work and embarrass her with artificial substitutes, defying her august hygienic precepts by our manner of life.
Not so, however, if we yield to her inducements, fulfil her requirements, and submit ourselves freely to her unerring will.
There is less of fault than of weakness in the fact that so many of us fail to give nature the opportunity to rear us as healthy men and women, to keep us more free than we are from suffering and disease.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness and follow on the lines of the veriest simplicity.
The preservation of health must needs, then, move along these self-same simple lines.
It is ignorance, in most cases, rather than unwillingness that brings upon the race the punishment we call disease.
But how can they be expected to learn who have no teacher? And how can they teach who are themselves untaught?
It is incumbent upon those who have acquired knowledge to impart life-saving truths, and there is no greater benefactor of his kind than he who reduces life's problems to their simplest terms.
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Such is the dictum of King David, the psalmist, as expressed in the Hebrew Scriptures.
All that man's intellect can conceive of the Almighty is bounded by its expression in Nature.
It is neither arrogant, nor irreverent, then, to claim with reasonable confidence that the devoted service of long years of close application to research in Nature's secret dwelling-place may entitle such an one to share the guidance of the Almighty mind and inspire him to share its favours with his fellow man.
This then, the Author of this brochure, realizing vividly and with sympathy, humanity's sore need, has been constrained to formulate, for the benefit of those desirous to learn;—a means of enlightenment suitable and accessible to all. For although, to quote from Goethe, whose transcendent mind was almost omniscient in all mundane things:
Yet "Unity is strength," and in conjunction with associated minds, such knowledge as I have may amply suffice to save many a sad sufferer from hereditary doom.
The scheme, or, to be more explicit, the Club, I purpose to inaugurate, is fully expounded in detail in the succeeding pages.
Thoughtless and imitative, men follow custom, careless where it may lead, and unconsciously imitate each other.
Strong harmful habits grow, which overcome the opposing will and fickle fashion rules where common sense should reign.
Such instances are common to us all.
A combination opposed to such influences is the force we need and for this purpose I propose to establish a Club for the study of the ways and means of health.
THE DARE TO BE HEALTHY CLUB.
The Club will be comprised of those who desire to pursue a course of Health Study by correspondence.
This combination will constitute the first and only Club of its kind in the world.
It will unite in its membership a group of independent thinkers, representative of all parts of the American Continent.
The purpose of the Club will be to teach the science of Regeneration—to teach them to "dare to be healthy" according to the laws and teachings of biology.
These teachings will consist of a two years' course in Biology, dealing with its most important branches, in Physiology, Anatomy, Hygiene, Physiological Chemistry, Pathology, according to biological facts, and Therapy in accordance with biological and physical laws and precepts.
All methods of natural healing will be explained in detail, including diet, breathing exercises, and rest.
The comprehensive aim will be to inculcate the principles which govern the process of perfect metabolism—that is to say, the changes of nutritive matter within the body—as the means of bringing into being a race endowed with health and beauty and therefore predestined to happiness.
The course of instruction will be based upon the literature of science, including certain fundamental teachings from the pen of the author of the present pamphlet, which comprises, moreover, extracts from the works of distinguished scholars whose theories have been tried and tested during the last thirty-five years.
Its precepts will be based upon personal experience and actual practice, the outcome of careful and patient observation.
The series throughout will be formulated with a view to the purpose of graduating later from among those who follow the course, a body of competent instructors capable of transmitting the knowledge they have acquired to others, privately or professionally. But remember the axiom of Cicero:
"Not only is there an art in acquiring knowledge but also a rarer art in imparting it to others."
The first question, then, which will naturally arise in the mind of the reader will be:
What is This Method of Regeneration?
The reply to this question is in reality a simple one, but in order to explain and define the word "Regeneration" from a purely scientific standpoint, it will be necessary to cite the results of the author's researches and to outline his method of healing by regeneration, showing how he purposes to lead the way from a dark past and a dull present into a brighter future.
Before doing so, however, it may perhaps conduce to a better understanding if I quote from the remarks of an eminent local authority on the chemical composition of the body—a subject "new," as it appears, to the general medical practitioner of the day though, for over a quarter of a century freely expatiated upon by the great Biologists of the period.
The extract is taken from a recent article by Assistant Surgeon General Dr. W.C. Rucker, of the United States Public Health Service, and reads as follows:
"Much of the advance of modern medicine has been accomplished through the development of physiological chemistry which is even yet a new science.
"Although so new, it is assuming such importance as to make it manifest that the physiology of the future will be written largely in terms of chemistry.
"We have come to realize that the body is in a literal sense of the word, a chemical laboratory. The foods we eat, the fluids we drink, the gases we breathe are complex chemical compounds which the body must take apart and put together again in such a way that the materials may be delivered in a shape that will enable the cells to store them. It is then the business of the cells to utilize these materials for TISSUE BUILDING and in the production of energy, in the form of work and heat. The body manufactures different kinds of products, some beneficial, others harmful. Thus for example, excessive muscular effort throws into the bloodstream fatigue products that are poisonous. A person utterly tired out is really suffering from acute poisoning. On the other hand, to resist invasion by infectious diseases, the body manufactures anti-poisons that kill the enemy germs—making in other words, its own medicine."
The physical processes here mentioned by Dr. Rucker are fully explained in my book, "Dare to be Healthy," chapter VI, VII, VIII, and the natural principles involved have been practiced by me for over 30 years. I mention the fact simply as corroborative evidence of the authenticity and value of the work shortly to be published.
"Art may err, but Nature cannot miss,"—is an aphorism attributed to the poet Dryden. It adequately supports Dr. Rucker's wise, significant and timely pronouncement and reminds me of an illustrative incident recorded in connection with the world famed physician Boerhaave of Leyden,—Holland's chief centre of learning—who lived some 250 years ago, when doctors knew less than at present of the circulation and functions of the blood.
Boerhaave, it appears, conceived the idea of a sort of posthumous pleasantry, of a distinctly lucrative nature, at the expense of his medical brethren. Professional ignorance and popular superstition had alike surrounded his name with a halo of mystery and he was credited with almost miraculous powers of healing and the possession of the Secret of Disease and Health.
At the sale of effects, following his death, there was a great gathering of the most celebrated physicians of the day and his books and records fetched fabulous prices. But one special tome, ponderous, silver-clasped and locked, entitled: "Macrobiotic, The True and Complete Secret of Long, Healthy Life," was the cynosure of every avaricious eye. The auctioneer shrewdly reserved it until the last. Amidst a scene of unparalleled excitement and competition the Great Book was at length knocked down to a famous London physician for no less a sum than seven thousand Gulden. When opened with eager anticipation before the disappointed bidders, its pages were found to be blank—with one exception. Upon this one was inscribed in the handwriting of Boerhaave himself, only these ten words:
"Keep the head cool, the feet warm, the bowels open."
Turning to an excited audience it was thus the great London authority spoke:
"I once heard it said that the world is simple; that health is simple; that it is the folly of man that causes all complications, and that it is the delicate task of the true physician to reduce everything to its original simplicity. Heaven knows that our great Master, Boerhaave, has solved life's problem. To me this truth is well worth the 7,000 Gulden I pay to secure it; while to you, my friends, who have travelled from distant parts of the globe in search of it, receive from me the legacy of our Master and also be, likewise, content."
The moral that this story teaches is the same eternal lesson of all time, as expressed through the medium of Biology: that not by art or artifice can health be cheaply snatched at will from the Infinite Sources of Life, but that by consistently following the guidance of Nature's Laws the healthy functions of the human organism may alone be correctly maintained, or, when driven by ill-treatment into decline, it is the rational scientific assistance we afford to the efforts of Nature, by which alone we may hope to re-establish that normal condition of health. For, in the worthy words of Wordsworth I may say: "So build we up the being that we are."
The writer does not claim for this method so great a degree of simplicity. But he does base it upon the same truth that simplicity and a return to natural conditions are the only ways of effectively healing the diseased body.
Guided by the great masters of biology and physiological chemistry, his object has been to determine the elements of which the twelve main tissues of the human body are composed and to learn in what manner these tissues suffer from the various diseases which attack them.
Were I desirous of emulating the illustrious Boerhaave, I might concentrate my work into these few words: Supply the system with the necessary constituents of its tissues and at the same time assist the organism by means of simple and natural appliances, and REGENERATION will continue until the desired physiological condition is reached.
In so doing, I fear, I should bequeath but little to the comprehension of humanity.
I desire that all shall benefit by the diligent research work of my life. I desire to leave my legacy to humankind clearly and distinctly defined, in rules carefully expressed in the Course of Study I have prepared.
I do not expect them to be accepted without controversy. Nor do I look for gratitude from those whom I seek to benefit. I have no delusions and the satisfaction of having delivered my message will be my sole reward. I can only trust in this more enlightened age, that history as poetized by Pope may not repeat itself:
My solace, even so, for the nonce would be the knowledge of life and health restored to the faithful, though, comparatively, few and the confidence that truth must, in the issue, at length prevail, convincing, victorious over all.
Before proceeding further I wish it to be distinctly understood that it is no part of my scheme or intention to seek in any way to eliminate the physician.
As there are, in fact, no two human organism exactly alike, so also is there divergence, more or less, in each individual case, in disease; and however apparently similar the symptoms may be, the knowledge and experience of a physician becomes necessary in order to determine correctly what the ailment is and how general principles should be applied in each particular case.
On the contrary, I purpose to explain fully the secret causes of disease and their removal, in pursuance of the belief held in common with fair-minded physicians the world over, that a better knowledge of the human organism and hygiene on the part of the layman, would be of equal advantage alike to physician and patient.
Drawing aside the veil from professional secrecy and allowing the patient to know the why and the wherefore of things, means positive success for my hygienic-dietetic system of healing, because it is the only system which can ultimately survive in the light of general knowledge and wisdom.
No knowledge, no precautions, will always prevent disease. It is the natural incidence of the law of cause and effect that man, collectively, cannot expect to go through life unmolested by disturbances of health. From the very outset the tendency to disease is inherited; and indeed today, although we have now learned how to combat the enemy, yet opposing hosts are seen to be so vast and strongly entrenched about us that we realize to some extent the years that must elapse before mankind can be entirely set free from his hideous heritage, the harvest sown by past ignorance, deception and neglect.
But, from the malignant evil of internecine strife Universal Good is rising with an awakened nation's cry—a cry for freedom and release from the ever-lengthening chains of pernicious interests and obsolete institutions. The moment of release is at hand: That pyschological moment of which James Russell Lowell sings:
And knowing what the People know—they who have borne so long, in grimly impotent silence, under the guise of Freedom, the fortunes of the slave—can we for one moment doubt what view their lawful, reasoning demand for redress will take and whether or no it will prevail? The hundred million voices of the Union sternly answer: NO!
In effecting this release, so far as the Science of Healing is concerned, my system, which I claim to be entirely original, will be found particularly efficacious, for it presents plainly and convincingly, in the light of the most recent discoveries, the truth that all constitutional diseases are but the variations of one basal deficiency; that the entire art of rational healing lies in a knowledge of the component parts of the body tissues, in a determination of the tissues involved in the process of degeneration in each specific instance, and in the subsequent treatment thereof by means of supplying to the blood the elements necessary to regenerate the tissues in question.
From this brief explanation may be judged the importance of the hygienic dietetic physician in cases of sickness. The quack and charlatan it is who persuade people to believe that they do not need the physician, and compel them to pay for this belief in money and in health. It is the obvious duty of every one to seek aid in case of sickness from some physician who is a profound and professed advocate of the only sensible, practical method of treatment; but, at the same time I would make it possible for all to acquire sufficient knowledge to enable them to judge for themselves whether the attendant summoned responds in some measure to this requirement, the simple and logical course of which contains at least some ray of hope for all who suffer.
It may not be amiss to cite here a brief outline of the teachings of the four bright particular stars who have served as beacon lights in the history and development of medicine. Not only does the modern medical world acknowledge the doctrines of these four men as the foundation upon which the practice of healing has been raised to a science, but moreover,—a point much more important for our consideration,—it also admits that the least essential part of the work of Hippocrates, the "Father of Medicine;" namely, his statement of theory, is the part which has been accorded permanent prominence, whilst the portion of greatest value in his labours; that is to say, the practical part, has been neglected and ignored.
The following passages are taken from the article entitled "History of Medicine" in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th. Edition, vol. XVIII, pages 42-51.
"Hippocrates, called the 'Father of Medicine,' lived during the age of Pericles, (495-429 B.C.), and occupied as high a position in medicine as did the great philosophers, orators, and tragedians in their respective fields.
His high conception of the duties and position of the physician and the skill with which he manipulated the materials that were at hand, constituted two important characteristics of Hippocratic medicine. Another was the recognition that disease, as well as health, is a process governed by what we call natural laws, learned by observation, and indicating the direction of recovery. These views of the 'natural history of disease' led to habits of minute observation and careful interpretation of symptoms, in which the Hippocratic school excelled and has been the model for all succeeding ages, so that even now the true method of clinical medicine may be said to be the method of Hippocrates.
One of the important doctrines of Hippocrates was the healing power of nature. He did not teach that nature was sufficient to cure disease, but he recognized a natural process of the humours, at least in acute disease, being first of all crude, then passing through coction or digestion, and finally being expelled by resolution or crisis through one of the natural channels of the body. The duty of the physician was to 'assist and not to hinder these changes, so that the sick man might conquer the disease with the help of the physician.'"
"Galen, the man from whom the greater part of modern European medicine has flowed, lived about 131 to 201 A.D. He was equipped with all the anatomical, medical, and philosophical knowledge of his time; he had studied all kinds of natural curiosities and was in close touch with important political events; he possessed enormous industry, great practical sagacity, and unbounded literary fluency. At that time there were numerous sects in the medical profession, various dogmatic systems prevailed in medical science, and the social standing of physicians was degraded. He assumed the task of reforming the existing evils and restoring the unity of medicine as it had been understood by Hippocrates, at the same time elevating the dignity of medical practitioners.
In the explanation and healing of diseases he applied the science of physiology. His theory was based upon the Hippocratic doctrine of humours, but he developed it with marvelous ingenuity. He advocated that the normal condition of the body depended upon a proper proportion of the four elements, hot, cold, wet and dry. The faulty proportions of the same gave rise, not to disease, but to the occasions for disease. He laid equal stress upon the faulty composition or dysaemia of the blood. He claimed that all diseases were due to a combination of these morbid predispositions, together with injurious external influences, and thus explained all symptoms and all diseases. He found a name for every phenomenon and a solution for every problem. And though it was precisely in this characteristic that he abandoned scientific methods and practical utility, it was also this quality that gained for him his popularity and prominence in the medical world.
However, his reputation grew slowly. His opinions were in opposition to those of other physicians of his time. In the succeeding generation he won esteem as a philosopher, and it was only gradually that his system was accepted implicitly. It enjoyed great, though not exclusive predominance until the fall of Roman civilization."
"Thomas Sydenham, (1624-1689) was well acquainted with the works of the ancient physicians and had a fair knowledge of chemistry. Whether he had any knowledge of anatomy is not definitely known. He advocated the actual study of disease in an impartial manner, discarding all hypothesis. He repeatedly referred to Hippocrates in his medical methods, and he has quite deservedly been styled the English Hippocrates. He placed great stress on the 'natural history of disease,' just as did his Greek master, and likewise attached great importance to 'epidemic constitution,' that is, the influence of weather and other natural causes on the process of disease. He believed in the healing power of nature to an even greater degree than did Hippocrates. He claimed that disease was nothing more than an effort on the part of nature to restore the health of the patient by the elimination of the morbific matter.
The reform of practical medicine was effected by men who advocated the rejection of all hypothesis and the impartial study of natural processes, as shown in health and disease. Sydenham showed that these natural processes could be studied and dealt with without being explained, and, by laying stress on facts and disregarding explanations, he introduced a method in medicine far more fruitful than any discoveries. Though the dogmatic spirit continued to live for a long time, the reign of standard authority had passed."
"Boerhaave. In the latter part of the seventeenth century a physician arose (1668-1738) who was destined to become far more prominent in the medical world than any of the English physicians of the age of Queen Anne, though he differed but little from them in his way of thinking. This was Hermann Boerhaave. For many years he was professor of medicine at Leyden, and excelled in influence and reputation not only his greatest forerunners, Montanus of Padua and Sylvius of Leyden, but probably every subsequent teacher. The Hospital of Leyden became the centre of medical influence in Europe. Many of the leading English physicians of the 18th century studied there. Boerhaave's method of teaching was transplanted to Vienna through one of his pupils, Gerard Van Swieten, and thus the noted Vienna school of medicine was founded.
The services of Boerhaave to the progress of medicine can hardly be overestimated. He was the organizer and almost the constructor of the modern method of clinical instruction. He followed the methods of Hippocrates and Sydenham in his teachings and in his practice. The points of his system that are best known are his doctrines of inflammation, obstruction, and 'plethora.' In the practice of medicine he aimed to make use of all the anatomical and physiological acquisitions of his age, including microscopical anatomy.
In this respect he differed from Sydenham, for the latter paid but little more attention to modern medicine than to ancient dogma. In some respects he was like Galen, but again differed from him, as he did not wish to reduce his knowledge to any definite system. He spent much time in studying the medical classics, though he valued them from an historical standpoint rather than from an authoritative standpoint. It would almost seem that the great task of Boerhaave's life a combination of ancient and modern medicine, could not be of any real permanent value, and the same might be said of his Aphorisms, in which he gave a summary of the results of his long experience. And yet it is an indisputable fact that his contributions to the science of medicine form one of the necessary factors in the construction of modern medicine."
These extracts represent the principles of that bright constellation of Master Minds who have gone before us and guided our footsteps through tedious and tentative wanderings into the pathway of Truth. May their undoubting, united testimony act as a reassuring, convincing influence which will carry the reader back to the very fountain head of Medical jurisprudence, through the medium of the Encyclopedia Britannica, the highest accepted authority and criterion of authenticity in the English speaking world; for, at the same time it will also provide a positive and perfect safeguard and assurance of the solid basis and absolute authenticity of my methods and teachings besides indicating definitely the source and direction whence they are derived and establishing their classical trend and legitimate purpose.
In order to bring the entire system of regeneration under review, I shall here endeavour to present in condensed form all the essential points in my teachings. The reader will thus be enabled to picture to himself his body, with its vital organs, clearly as in a mirror; he will become familiarized with its composition and twelve principal tissues, as well as with the sixteen elements of which they consist.
Man is a unit, and the human body an accumulation of millions of separate cells, which are centres of life and which, in different groupings and combinations, form the various organs that render existence possible.
This existence is the natural sequel of the existence of former human beings. They generated the life that is to be transferred by us to other living beings.
The several functions of the organism combine to form a chain of activities in which there must not be a single link missing, if life is to continue.
These activities are comprised within an accumulation of cells which are by no means stationary, for life means nothing more than the constant dying, of the old cells and the reconstruction of the new. It means that the human body as a whole is continually in a state of composition and decomposition.
Not until the accumulation of cells we call the body is recognized as one complete correlated and inseparable entity and the absolute interdependence of the separate cells, each one upon the others, is likewise accepted as the verified fact that it is—not until then will the erroneous and obsolete idea be discarded, by which the various organs of the body have been professionally treated as separate and independent considerations, even to the extent of being dealt with, in cases of disease, as totally aloof from one another and conveniently classed as proper subjects for submission to the expert opinion of that superior class of physicians who devote their attention exclusively to special organs and are accordingly termed "Specialists."
Thus the question arises: What is the cause of disease? The question does not apply to any one particular form of disease or class of diseases, but to disease generally, as a concrete term meaning any disorder which may manifest itself by individual disturbances in the body; for such disturbance is but a variation in quantity or quality of one general disturbance, a variation in the mechanism that controls the work of keeping the existing cells in proper condition and replacing those cells which are constantly being destroyed. It is a variation in the process of regeneration, which we term life.
METABOLISM is the process which is constantly going on in the human system, whereby the cells that have been consumed by oxidation are removed through the excreta—the faeces, the urine, the perspiration, and the exhalations from the lungs—to be replaced by new ones.
Metabolism, means change of matter. It signifies the course by which nutritive material, or food, is built up into living matter. This process is accomplished through the blood, which distributes the necessary material to all parts of the body where cells need to be replaced and carries away the consumed portions.
In the marvelous performance of its functions, when properly supplied, it carries the elements that are essential to regeneration in the correct proportions. When not properly supplied, these proportions become incorrect and foreign formations may arise which are disturbing to the organism.
In nature there is a constant tendency to counterbalance disturbances in the proper proportion and by distribution of cell building material to restore the normal condition. We may thus speak of the overwhelmingly curative tendency of nature.
Metabolism is the function of the body which most constantly requires attention. So, therefore, it is always through the blood that we must assist nature in the process of counterbalancing and rectifying or healing abnormal conditions.
It follows then, that, despite the apparent variety in constitutional diseases, they are all practically the same. They are all disturbances of metabolism through some irregularity in the quantitative or qualitative condition of the blood.
Professor Jacob Moleschott, the great physiologist, has crystallized this truth in the immortal words: "One of the principal questions to be always asked of the physician is this: How may good healthy and active blood be obtained? View the question as we may, we shall be forced to acknowledge openly and explicitly or guardedly and indirectly that our volition, our sensations, our strength, and our pro-creative powers are dependent upon our blood and our blood upon our nutrition."
If such unity exists, why then the great difference in the human organs? How is it that a bone in its stonelike hardness is essentially the same as the exquisitely sensitive eye?
This is owing to the adaptive property of the cells, in the course of their enormous accumulation, to different functions, which, again, depends upon the varied arrangement of the constituent elements. These elements all find lodgement in the blood, and are carried by it in necessary quantities to the points where they are needed to assist the organs in replacing consumed matter.
The difficulty found in grasping this idea of unity has led to the most momentous errors in modern medical science.
One result has been the undue attention paid to the study of anatomy, insomuch that the different organs are regarded as wholly distinct groups of cells. This is convenient from a descriptive standpoint, but it tends too much to draw attention away from the source of life, and of health. Only by noting the common characteristics of the cell accumulations termed organs, are we enabled to supply the necessary elements that may be lacking. And thus we arrive at the subject of the chemical analysis of the human body and its various organs, a subject that has been badly neglected throughout the centuries.
It has been determined that the entire human body consists of a certain number of chemical elements, appearing in different aggregations in different parts. These aggregations repeating themselves in the various organs.
Twelve principal aggregations of chemical elements have been established and designated by the term tissues.
This fact led to the discovery of the truth that in the process of healing attention must be given, not to the various organs, but to the various tissues.
These tissues are dependent directly upon the condition and contents of the blood, whose office it is to nourish them and which exhibits the wonderful property of conveying to each tissue its selective regenerative materials, provided of course, that these elements are present at the time in the blood.
Sixteen definite elements have been established—and a seventeenth will probably soon be added thereto—which, in their various combinations and aggregations, form the different tissues of which the organs in the human body are composed.
The prevalence of one or several of these elements in a certain tissue forms the main or governing feature of that tissue. Thus, the prevalence of potassium phosphate characterizes muscle tissue, the prevalence of ammonium phosphate (lecithin) nerve tissue. Each one of the various tissues consists of certain of these elements, and each tissue at every point where it occurs is affected by the lack of any of its elements.
One of the greatest physiological chemists, Justus von Liebig, maintains that, if one of the necessary elements in a chemical composition is missing, the rest cannot fulfill their duties and the respective cells must become diseased and degenerate.
This discovery, known as "the law of the minimum," has thrown additional light upon the tasks before the new school of medicine.
Upon the basis of a careful diagnosis, the necessary nutritive salts or cell-foods, carefully compounded in accordance with the law of chemotaxis must be administered. This law discovered by Engelmann, requires that these cell-foods must be administered in digestible and assimilable forms so that the cells will be attracted by the chemical reaction, which may be of a positive or a negative character.
This being so, we can easily build up the tissues, by studying their chemical composition and supplying to the system that which is necessary, in the form of food. The cell will take care of the rest. Each tissue has its specific cell-system, and each cell will be attracted only by those ingredients which are needed for the mother tissue.
To bring to a tissue through the blood the lacking constituent element or elements is the only means of regenerating and healing diseased cells.
In this connection we are considering only constitutional diseases.
It has been shown that the lack of certain chemical elements from the blood signifies disease and that the variety of the disease depends on which of the elements are either lacking entirely or are present in incorrect proportion.
After this lack has been determined, the course to pursue in curing the disease is to supply the lacking chemical elements in the form of concentrated cell-food in addition to the regular food.
This method displaces entirely the old system of filling the body with poisonous drugs in order to counteract the effects of the disease. Such a system may suppress the symptoms by benumbing the nerves and preventing pain, it may counteract the natural process of healing of which inflammation, fever and pain, are the outward manifestations;—but it can never cure.
The discovery of dysaemia, or impaired blood supply, as the governing cause of disease, has destroyed another idol of modern fetish worship in medicine.
Since the discovery of various species of bacilli, which accompany nearly every form of disease in some form or other, these have been commonly declared to be the causes of diseases, and the tendency is to find some poison that will kill the bacilli in order to cure the disease.
The bacillus, on the contrary, is only the consequence, or symptom, of a disease. The diseased and decomposing parts furnish fertile soil suitable to the propagating of bacilli because of the lack of the normal chemical elements in the blood and tissue. But to kill them, while the underlying conditions for their reproduction remain unchanged, can, obviously, never effect a cure. So the great hopes that have attached to sero-therapy are doomed to disappointment, and the application of anti-toxins prepared from the serum of animals, are fated shortly to vanish in the wake of others of those strange temporary crazes which periodically obsess mankind for a while and pass away.
The discovery that a dysaemic condition of the blood leads to certain destructive processes termed diseases, was soon followed by the apprehension that one of the principal factors in bringing about such disturbance is predisposition,—in many cases heredity.
The term "Hereditary disease" signifies that the improper chemical composition of the blood of one or both parents is transmitted to the offspring, and that it causes in them likewise a degeneration of certain tissues and of the organs composed of those tissues.
The hygienic-dietetic system of healing does not, however, regard heredity as an invincible enemy, especially since my discovery of the "Law of the Cross-Transmission of Characteristics."
It is in the solution of this problem of "hereditary disease" that my system will eventually come into its own and will ere long be recognized as the most rational and effectual therapy ever applied since the beginning of the art of healing. It may be years before it is accorded the proverbially tardy acknowledgment of the "orthodox" schools, but that it will, nay must be eventually adopted is virtually a foregone conclusion—that is, if it be indeed the function or policy of the physician of the future to adequately seek to succour the suffering and regenerate the races of mankind. Of the physician of the present it can at best be said in Goethe's incisive words: