In the plan of production of a regenerated and healthy humanity, every individual of this kind must be regarded as a foe who interferes with the prevention of disease both now and in futurity. To win such an one over, to make him an enthusiastic believer in the theory that health is a necessity, and, a task less easy, to prevent his relapse into his previous degenerate manner of life and health,—this is another branch of science for which psychology and physiognomy are more needful than anything else.

Here again it is the true physician's principle to enlighten the layman, and not to surround his methods with a mysterious, but imposing wall of secrecy.

We do not hesitate to reveal the main points of our system of diagnosis, which is much broader than the old system of scholastic medicine,—the performance with auscultation, percussion, X rays and the rest. Certain knowledge of these things will lead every one, ere long, to submit all disturbances of health to the hygienic physician while prevention is still probable and possible, instead of waiting until disease has taken firm hold. It will also enable men to realize that the old-school practitioner who pronounces them sound while they feel for themselves that there is something wrong within has yet "a something" left to learn.

The realm of psychology, however, is beyond the scope of my present endeavour, save in so far as it may serve to show that we are fortified with this particular knowledge, and to the end that this book may constitute a help to the aspiring hygienic-dietetic physician, calling his attention to the necessity of acquiring as profound a knowledge of psychology as may be.

I will confine myself at present, therefore, to the external symptoms which must be observed, though they are not generally considered as symptoms of disease; and yet they indicate disease or the disposition thereto, individual or hereditary, as the case may be.

I shall consequently deal with the peculiarities of hands and feet, nails and hair, eyes and ears, nose and teeth, mouth, forehead, tongue, chin, cheeks, neck, chest, abdomen, legs, and general constitution.

Nature has endowed us with strong discriminating faculties against certain external indications of disease. We experience a pleasant feeling when the hand is pressed by another hand that is warm and dry, but we shrink from the hand that is cold and moist and clammy.

Perspiring hands and feet are a sure indication that some process of degeneration is going on within the body, the production of diseased cells being in excess of what the body, under normal conditions, is able to excrete, and therefore they seek unusual channels of leaving the body, that is, through the skin and mucous membranes.

Perspiring feet are a symptom of disposition to colds and possibly tuberculosis, while perspiring hands indicate certain nervous diseases and disposition to gout; constantly cold hands and feet are usually found in people who suffer from scrofulosis or anaemia.

In many cases the quality of nails leads to the conclusion that there is a thorough disturbance of the process of nutrition. If they are fragile and brittle, there is no question but that there is lack of certain nutritive salts in the blood. Swollen and deformed nails indicate special disturbances in circulation, chronic heart and lung diseases.

Hair, or rather the absence of hair, especially in early life, is sometimes another indication of faulty nutrition.

Baldness or premature gray hair is usually a pathological indication, as is also the dishevelled hair of nervous people and children suffering from scrofulosis, while rich, glossy hair is always a sign of good health.

The development of the hair depends upon the activity of the skin, the nerves and the composition of the blood. The blood of dark-haired people is lacking in water and fat, but richer in albuminous matter. Poor quality of hair is indicative of living in bad air, poor nutrition of the skin, hard mental work, pain and sorrow. Sexual excesses during youth are often the cause of premature baldness and thin hair.

The eyes present a picture that manifests the general condition of the body, whether it be healthy, disposed to disease, or suffering from disease.

Protruding eyes are the sure symptom of the disease known as Basedow's disease; they indicate also short-sightedness, and hereditary epilepsy.

The condition of the mucous membranes of the eyes permits certain conclusions as to the genital organs.

If the eyes are abnormally small, we draw the conclusion that there is general weakness and deficiency in nutrition. They indicate retarded development, which may be seated in the central nervous system. The eyes usually recede during severe diseases. A hyperaemic condition of the eyelids, with or without inflammation, is always a symptom of a dysaemic condition of the entire system (scrofulosis). In some cases of scrofulosis there is not another visible sign on the entire body, and yet the eyelids and eyelashes, which sticks together most of the time, tell the story of an inherited condition of dysaemia.

A yellowish hue of the eyes indicates disease of the liver.

The color of the iris does not indicate much in itself, although the theory of Liljequist, which deserves some attention, claims that if a person deteriorates in health, the eyes, if originally light blue, darken more and more and finally change into brown or the color of the hybrid race. Liljequist's scale of healthy eyes reads: Light blue, medium blue, dark blue; then light, medium and dark brown. However, brown eyes do not represent sickness; they but indicate nervousness and sensibility.

According to Liljequist, individuals belong to the hybrid race when they are born of parents one of whom has blue eyes and the other brown eyes. The weaker race transmits the brown colour of its iris to the middle part of the iris of the child, while the colour of the stronger race reappears in the outer part of the iris; not, however, as pure blue, but tinted with a delicate shade of green, in consequence of the light brownish-yellowish colour which emanates from the central part.

When death is imminent, the iris displays a grayish-black, muddy gray or muddy brown colour.

The pupil of the eye is irritated in cases of nervous disease and indicates this condition. In cases where only one pupil is dilated, a local disease of the optic nerve or one side of the brain is evident. If the pupils are insensible to external irritations and remain rigid, the conclusion is that the brain or the spinal cord is badly affected.

It may be stated in a general way that clear, brilliant eyes, (when not caused by fever) are usually an indication of the good quality of the blood as well as of all other humours of the body, together with normal activity of all the central organs.

The mouth and tongue: Pathological indications manifested by the mouth are principally displayed by the lips, which are clear red in healthy people, while a hectic red indicates fever and pulmonary disease. Pale lips indicate anaemia and chlorosis, and lips of a bluish hue are signs of a generally weakened organism. Frequent, vivid contractions of the lips (usually thin in this case) indicate great nervousness.

The color of the mucous membrane of the tongue is a very fair indication of health or sickness. If a person is in health, the tongue is rosy and not coated. But any disturbance in the intestines causes a more or less coated tongue, and consequently shows the detrimental influence these particular ailments exert upon the brain and nerves. Hence, a coated tongue affords a valuable indication in making a correct diagnosis, especially in case of chronic catarrh of the stomach, this being one of the main causes of depression, and melancholia, as stated by Piderit.

The forehead, or rather the record traced thereon, in lines of nature's unimpeachable calligraphy, warrants certain conclusions as to mentality and character; and these may be important in determining the truthfulness of the patient's stories of suffering and other items which facilitate or impede a correct diagnosis.

The interpretation of such features, however, belongs to the realm of pure psychology, this is also true of similar conclusions drawn from the outlines of the chin.

Of much more importance for the purpose of diagnosis is the nose.

Even a child understands what the red nose of the habitual drunkard signifies. A bloated nose with a tendency to become sore is an indication of a disposition to scrofulosis.

Other indications of disease are displayed to the experienced physician by the condition of the nose.

The nose is one of the most typical of the human organs; it is also in the closest connection with the entire system with its groups of organs—the brain, intestines, breast and even the sexual organs.

The infinite variety of nasal formation has attracted the intense interest of the physiognomist to this organ.

The most important function of the nose lies in its action as a respiratory organ. Bad habits or faulty construction which prevent it from serving in this capacity, lead to much suffering and disease, and it is always important to determine whether the channels of the nose are clear and open and efficiently serve their purposes.

The function of the nose as an olfactory organ must also rank highly in its importance. In this case, however, the nose of the physician plays the important part; not the nose of the patient. In fact, most of the famous authorities, among them Professor Jaeger of Stuttgart, Dr. Heim of Berlin and Dr. Lahmann of Dresden, have made very valuable discoveries in this respect.

Dr. Heim has found methods of determining the nature of certain acute diseases from the odour emitted from the person.

Dr. Lahmann distinguishes the hypochondriacal, the melancholic and the hysteric odours, which, as he says, are most characteristic.

The same applies to the odour of diabetics and other people who suffer from disturbances of digestion, and patients who suffer from cancer and other diseases involving a process of putrefaction.

The fact that most patients diffuse unpleasant odours is of the greatest importance to married people, as it easily produces antipathy, and especially in the case of chronic diseases, is frequently made the basis of separation and divorce.

Were this defect known to be but the symptom of a curable disease, the husband or wife would probably prefer to consult the hygienic physician rather than the lawyer. Knowledge in such case would mean the preservation of domestic happiness.

The teeth: The parents of a young man once complained to me that their son had been rejected as a cadet at West Point upon physical examination, because two of his teeth were filled.

The authorities are certainly justified in their decision.

The lack of perfect teeth indicates faulty digestion. Usually the teeth are ruined during youth because children breathe through the mouth instead of through the nose,—either on account of the physical condition of the nose or because the tonsils are enlarged.

The lack of sufficient nutritive salts in the diet is often revealed by the condition of the teeth.

From a physiological standpoint the teeth are no less important than the brain, the eyes and the hair; and the conclusion that perfect eyes, hair and teeth indicate a perfect brain is absolutely justified, while the lack of perfection in these organs shows internal deficiencies long before they appear in external manifestation in the form of disease.

Since healthy blood is the basic condition of healthy teeth, the fact that people have clean white teeth, set in regular line, indicates the existence of healthy blood. On the other hand, a bad composition of the blood is manifested by short, irregularly set, yellowish teeth.

The teeth of healthy people are always somewhat moist, dry teeth are accordingly a bad sign.

The only advantage of yellowish teeth rests in the fact that their dentine is, as a rule, stronger. Extremely bluish white teeth often consist of a soft, porous and tender dentine.

Faulty structure of the teeth indicates weak bones in general.

Crippled teeth and the late appearance of teeth in infants,—that is, not before the ninth month,—are symptoms of rachitis. Healthy children have their teeth between the fifth and seventh months.

The teeth of diabetics become loose without any formation of tartar, (an incrustation of phosphate of lime and saliva).

Extremely yellow teeth indicate jaundice, while reddish teeth show hyperaemia of the dentine. Carious teeth are a result of disturbed circulation.

The gums are also very indicative of disease. If they are of a pale pink colour, they indicate anaemia or chlorosis; if bluish red on the edge, they indicate tuberculosis.

Some of the most striking indications of existing disease are demonstrated by the neck. By feeling the neck and carefully watching its external appearance, the experienced scientist will obtain much valuable information that will aid in his diagnosis, and give him additional knowledge as to the processes going on within the body of the patient.

The significance of the formation of the thorax (chest) is well known, even to many laymen. Flat chest, so-called chicken chest, indicates imperfect development of the lungs, and when extreme, even tuberculosis.

A flabby abdomen indicates disposition to hernia and stagnation of the blood, frequently causing hemorrhoids or inflammation of the prostate gland in men, and all kinds of diseases—inflammatory or catarrhal—in women.

As to the legs, the so-called varicose veins are indications of weak blood-vessels and intestinal hemorrhage, while inflamed nerves lead to the conclusion of gouty diathesis and the danger of paralytic strokes.

The skin usually affords more indications that aid in forming a correct diagnosis than is usually recognized.

If examination were made of the excreta through the pores of an individual during 24 hours, some conclusion might be definitely arrived at as to any germs of disease present in the body and in course of expulsion in this way.

All bacteria incident to detrimental processes proceeding within the human organism, are to be found in the perspiration.

Freckles indicate a certain predisposition inherent in the blood, while some forms of eczema point to the conclusion that there are diseased processes in action within the body.

It is most important under this system to determine the chemical condition of the body in each individual case.

Acids or alkalines prevail. If the former, patients have bad teeth, a disposition to gout, diabetes and cancer. The normal condition is the predominance of alkalines.

In such cases as the former, physiological chemistry will point to the counterbalancing of the acids to establish a correct composition of the blood, and thus to prevent the impending danger. The biological system of health which is rapidly taking the place of all others, is equipped with so searching a knowledge of the human organism that no disease, be it ever so adroitly concealed, can escape its minute attention; not excepting even the disposition to disease.

The old adage is still true that "prevention is better than cure" and the intelligent person will probably recognize the wisdom of so safe and sane a course and endeavor to prevent the evils to which he may be exposed. Thus, for his own satisfaction, if he be wise he will adopt these two simple precautions:

(1) Examination by an accredited hygienic-dietetic physician.

(2) Regulation of his mode of living in accordance with the course prescribed.

The words of the famous Moleschott ring true today, more than in the past, when he said: "One of the principal questions a patient should ask his physician is, how to make good, healthy blood." Experience shows that there is but one method to attain good blood,—that priceless factor upon which our thinking, our feeling, our power and our progeny depend, and that is by means of correct food and nutrition.

FOOTNOTES:

[B] See special article on Influenza, page 408.

[C] This article is also printed in pamphlet form and may be had from the author for 50c. Postage paid.

CHILDREN'S DISEASE.

"The cause of the Poor to plead on, 'twixt Deity and Demon."

(Carlyle).

"Child of mortality whence contest thou, Why is thy countenance sad, and why are Thine eyes red with weeping?"

(Bartauld).

I have opened this chapter with somewhat startling mottos, for its pathetic theme is Children and children's disease; and it seems to me appropriate, in view of what it portends, to send forth in this form a world-thought, as a harbinger of sympathy—a foreword which may set in motion the thought-waves of pity. For of all living creatures born into this world of pompous ignorance and maudlin solicitude to struggle for precarious existence from the cradle to the grave, by reason of the unnatural conditions of our vaunted hygienic and educational systems—generously termed "civilization"—there is surely nothing quite so "poor," so woefully devoid of practical protection, and, in its exceptional helplessness, so weakly gushed over and little understood as the child of frail humanity.

"The cause of the poor"—thus the legend runs—"in deity's or demon's name." For truly, of the two angels which, we are told, attend upon the birth of credulous mankind and the initial stages of development, the malign influence would seem to be ever in the ascendant, irrespective of the social status of the, more or less, pre-natally affected, innocent reproduction wherein is focused the latent follies and delinquencies of the race, as portrayed in the course of its long pangenesis.

Now, incredible though it may seem and deplorable though it be, the secret which has revealed itself with absolute force and conviction to the judicial minds of unemotional scientific observers is simply this: that the children of the present generation are, as an incontestable matter of actual fact, really brought into this world alive and some attain to maturity, not through maternal intelligence, but rather, in spite of mothers. This is a hard saying but none the less a truth. They survive in spite of the idiosyncracies of their fondly irrational, untutored mothers rather than because of any practical, efficient effort these contribute towards the well being and survival of their offspring. This, as a general rule, is unhappily beyond question. It is a rule which has, naturally, many exceptions,—many brave and brilliant ones—these however only serve to confirm it.

Comte, writing as an authority on the subject, made the assertion that there is hardly an example on record of a child of superior genius whose mother did not possess also a superior order of mind. As an example he cites: The mother of Napoleon Bonaparte, high-souled, heroic and beautiful; the mother of Julius Caesar, a singularly fine character, wise and strong; the mother of Goethe,—affectionately termed: "The delight of her children, the favourite of poets and princes—one whose splendid talents and characteristics were reproduced in her son." There are also, we know full well, unnumbered hosts of others, whose kindly light has been shed in many an humble or secluded home, whose beloved names have been called blessed by thousands though unrecorded in historic page—who have lived and loved and passed on to higher realms—to the world, to eulogy and to fame unknown.

In ancient days, when Athens was the centre of culture and of learning, the Greek mothers were more prone to regard the significance of pre-natal influences than are the mothers of the present day of putative advancement. The hereditary tendencies of child-life, with all its complexities of racial and ancestral character and the qualities resulting from the dual source of parentage, were then perhaps better understood, or at least more seriously considered; also the obvious but grossly disregarded fact that the cradled infant of today may be the responsible citizen of the future, was kept more effectively in mind and its significance to the State more fully recognized. The wisdom of Solomon was never more clearly demonstrated than when he said: "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." It is a piece of world philosophy which has reigned unquestioned throughout the ages—a policy upon which human discernment, in Church and State, has relied with unfailing effect; "for the thoughts of a child are long, long thoughts"—those well-remembered words, how true; for those "long thoughts"—the mental environment of the formative period of child-life—do inevitably determine the future character of the individual, and the immediate result of neglect in these vitally important stages is painfully and promptly apparent in the aggressive and unchildlike deportment of the turbulent young neophytes of both sexes, so disproportionately in evidence in all directions throughout the community of the present, as to bring into ridicule and utter contempt existing methods of control. This dire defect in individual restraint may be largely ascribed to both physical and mental degeneracy, of hereditary origin; and when to this is added the attempts of parents to maintain the tranquility of the home by threats, bribery and fatuous promises—undue severity on the one hand and undue licence on the other—serious developments are not far to seek. It has been well said that children who are governed through their appetites in their infancy are usually governed by their appetites in maturity. Thus it is, by unwise methods of control which appeal wholly to the spirit of greed, emulation and selfishness in the child—the purely animal instincts—with perhaps the occasional degrading influence of corporal punishment, as a later development, that so many young lives are wrecked and the downward path made easy which leads through duplicity to crime. The infantile precosity of the age leaves little scope for the old-time sentimental prudery of parents who fail to discriminate between innocence and ignorance; but it has been stated by a well known American authority on the subject of child-culture, whose experience of child-life and schools is nation-wide, that only about one child in a hundred receives proper instruction early enough to protect it from vice. Then again there supervenes the evil of the competitive school system which, too frequently, forces the education of a child beyond the natural order of growth. Countless numbers of little ones are injured by enforced premature development, thereby diverting the vital forces to the development of the brain which should be devoted to the development of the body.

Encompassed by such a chain of adverse circumstances as the combined result of parental egotism and pedantic, pedagogical ignorance, is it wonderful, I would ask, that the ghastly record of the hideous sacrifice of child-life is what it is, and that the young lives which do by chance escape the horrible holocaust, still reap the prevailing harvest of prolific ills of which the coming explanation will give some adequate conception.

Often the fondly futile questions fall from the anxious lips of maternal foreboding: What has the future in store for me? Will my child live? Will providence grant me this long-sought blessing? A thousand such thoughts continually assail the heart in a mother's intense solicitude; but not in vain will her hopes be set, if haply, she may reverently follow the course of Mother Nature's laws and precepts, into which I will endeavor to give you some insight.

Every thinking man must shudder to find it recorded in statistical tables how insane asylums and prisons are overflowing, how suicides and crimes against life and soul are but common incidents. It is not hard for each one of us to see the demon of greed and avarice in the eyes of those we meet, ready and eager to snatch away the very bread from the lips of his fellow man because he, too, is hungry and lacking life's necessities. The egotism of mankind grows constantly stronger; all are in haste to become rich, that thus they may enjoy life before its little span is spent. What has become of the youths exuberant in strength, who once were wont to set out, all jubilant with song, in their heyday of freedom, to revel in nature and bathe their lungs in its balsamic atmosphere—to return strengthened to their sleep at early evening, and who really sought to retain their health? They who were the pride of their parents, the joy of their sisters, the blissful hope of a waiting bride. Can we recognize such in the average youth of today,—the citizen of the tomorrow—these effigies of men, degraded by the demons of alcohol and nicotine, by the gambling passion, and by the company of loose women, into dissipated dissolute invalids unwholesome in themselves and a menace to the race?

Let us pass on rather to the gentler sex.

Where are the sprightly, modest maidens with cheeks rosy with healthy blood, graceful in figure with well developed forms—the chaste, pure spirit shining in their eyes, with witchery and common sense combined? Where are the fathers and mothers whose good fortune it is to possess such children as these? Can it be that they should deem these caricatures of fashion worthy of their fond desire?—these whose days are spent in idling, who find their pleasure in the streets, the shops, the theatres and the like they term "society?"

Those men are old at forty years.

Those youths too often die at twenty, dissipated wrecks, holding as a mere ceremony the marriage they expect eventually to consummate; or married, now and then produce a single child that had far better never have been born.

What of those mothers who cannot nourish their own offspring, but fain would make shift with all imaginable unnatural substitutes and bring up children in whom a predisposition to disease has already been born?

Oh nature! High and mighty mistress! A bitter penalty dost thou exact from these thine erring progeny.

And rightly so.

Cruelly plain dost thou stamp thy mark on the tiny brow of the unborn child to mark in what degree its parents have departed from thine eternal ways of truth.

When a great man, recently, in his address before the body of a famous university, solemnly asserted that mankind is growing better, day by day, he must have had before his inner eye fair visions of a future race—the Future of Truth, which come it must—some day—but now lies dormant in the lap of the gods, its alluring, visionary, transcendental form depicted, for an optimistic instant, in the fervent, hopeful heart of a sincere but far-sighted reformer. But it is written: false prophets must come, deceiving in respect to all things in heaven and earth. "Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur." (The world wishes to be deceived, therefore, let it be deceived.) The world elects to be deceived. It is so—often on the most paltry of pretences. And here lies the fatal and prolific cause which has ever, throughout the ages, wrought infinite harm and impeded the progress of the world: The world's indifference to truth.

For the proper understanding and radical cure of any disease it is of primary importance to have before the mind's eye a distinct picture of its character and developments, thus tracing it back step by step to its source, so that the therapeutic, or healing measures employed may be properly adjusted to its various stages.

Nature has her foes, chief amongst which are ignorance, indulgence and fear; and these foes have ever waged fierce warfare upon her from time immemorial. But today a positive spiritual revolution is being wrought among men, for Mother Nature is calling defaulting humanity back to herself with no uncertain voice.

Back to Nature is now the cry.

Never before were homilies on food so manifold and the ability to profit by them so diminished; never were remedies so abundant and conditions of health so bad; never were deeds of charity so numerous and the poor so discontented; never were measures of reform so prominent and their results so meagre; never was production of commodities so enormous and the cost of living so excessive; never were the resources of all the world so accessible and counterfeits so plentiful; never was enlightenment so widely diffused and sound judgment so restricted; never were the avenues of truth so open, yet never was falsehood so widespread, as in our time.

Our age—well named by Dr. Rudolph Weil, the Age of Nerves—has brought to our service the most significant development of natural forces—electricity in all its forms of application, to medicine and industry and traffic; the expression of motive power in terms of machinery—railroads, ocean travel, air navigation, and endless appliances from the almost limitless scope of which, in the hands of man, the master, not even the very wild beasts escape. Meanwhile however—most strange anomaly—mankind degenerates in body and still more in mind.

The race has become diseased, is suffering, cries out for a betterment of its conditions, grows constantly more embittered and renounces its faith in the powers, human and divine.

Epidemics of terrific proportions sweep their recurring millions into the arms of death; diseases of stupendous mortality, such as tuberculosis, cancer, syphilis, diabetes, and the extensive array of so-called contagious diseases of children, are continually increasing, in spite of doctors, hospitals, sanatoria, hydros, hygienics, asylums, nostrums and serums, and continue to afflict humanity, taking their ghastly toll in daily thousands, despite the vaunted but theoretical advancement of Medical Science.

In the field of medical science the controversy rages at full blast today.

An endless succession of hypotheses, conjectures and dogmas lies widespread before us—a troubled sea of uncertainties—a complex labyrinth of doubt.

The "doctors of medicine" are many but responsible physicians are few, while disease is constantly on the increase among mankind.

It is really little that the people have to learn, for instinct has taught them there is little to be hoped of succour from the professional source. But the world-old habit of superstitious fear and reverence for the "Medicine Man" fetish yet holds its grip upon the race—alike in the savage or the Senate and, despite the knowledge of its fallacy, humanity, still faithful, turns to it weakly, fear-driven, in its hour of distress, knowing no self-reliance and no safer refuge.

The reader will pardon this digression, since it is better that from the outset we should divest ourselves of all delusions and recognize existing conditions as they really are in order that it may help to eliminate these ignorant superstitions from the public mind and implant therein the wholesome fact that there is no magic in medicine but simply an ordinary problem of cause and effect.

Existence is movement; the whole visible world is progress, development. These are facts which, in truth, are daily becoming more generally known. But man—even modern man—is still so stubbornly unyielding in his faith that what he learns in an instant becomes immovably rooted in his mind to the utter exclusion, generally, of anything new, which even though it be a matter of demonstrated fact, it matters not if at variance with this earlier knowledge; to him it is an impossibility.

How often the fallacy of such ultra-conservative principles has been demonstrated has no bearing upon the case; the fact remains—irrational, stupid though it be—that, sublimely indifferent to criticism, it survives, with all the wrong and persecution that follows in its train.

But one of the most noticeable surprises of this description occurred in the year 1896, when Professor Roentgen made public his discovery of the X-rays; for through this discovery facts were disclosed such for instance, as the permeability of solid bodies by luminous rays and the possibility of photographic examination of bony tissues in living creatures—facts entirely incompatible with prevailing ideas and teachings. But these facts were not only intrinsically veracious but were capable of occular demonstration, beyond all possibility of doubt, and thus, as nothing could be changed or refuted, science found itself compelled, for once, to honour the truth in its initial stage—to receive them gracefully unto itself and adopt them in its teachings.

This discovery of the X-rays was followed closely by that of the N-rays, by the two Curies, husband and wife. This further discovery was a still greater surprise to the scientific world than the former one; for by its aid was established nothing less than the inconstancy of matter. Hitherto science, dealing not with knowledge, but with opinions, had held the belief that the atom is the ultimate form of matter and that no chemical or physical force can divide it, a teaching held to be incontrovertible.

First, the discovery of the X-rays had markedly disturbed this belief, and then, on the discovery of the N-rays, it soon became indubitably clear that a constant destruction is taking place within the atom, an uninterrupted throwing off of smaller particles.

But it is not our task to show how one discovery after another was made. We are merely interested in knowing that, because of these discoveries, we find today in the atom—not in the radium atom alone, but in every atom as such—only a union of particles identical with one another, the so-called electrons, being but special forms of electro-magnetic forces.

Professor Gruner writes as follows: "The atom is no longer the accepted, final unit of matter, but has given place to the electron.

The atom is no longer an individual compact particle of matter, but an aggregate of thousands of tiny bodies.

Furthermore, the atom is not indestructible; it can throw off successive electrons or groups of electrons from its numerous contents and so keep up a gradual, but veritable destruction."

Professor Thomson, who won the "Nobel" prize for his work on natural science, makes these distinct assertions:

"(1) The electron is nothing more than a form of electricity.

(2) Each electron weighs 1/770th of a fluid atom. Of an atom, that is, which, hitherto had been regarded as the smallest individual particle.

(3) A fluid atom consists of 770 electrons and is formed of electricity without any other material.

(4) The atoms of other elements, besides radium, are also composed of electrons and of nothing else.

The number of electrons varies in different elements; for instance, an atom of quicksilver is composed of 150,000 electrons.

(5) Electricity is the basis of all being."

Hitherto we have been taught to consider our bodies and their organs from no other standpoint than that of their elements. For if we attribute all the life of the body to the cells, these must consist only of primary matter, like the atoms of which they are formed. But we have now come to know that atoms, and, therefore, our bodies as well, are formed of electrons, or we might say, of crystalized electricity, consequently, we are compelled to recognize in the body a human machine operated entirely under the direction of electrical forces. For electrons cannot lose their electrical character, merely because they are grouped together in atoms and form our bodies.

It is a well known scientific fact that atoms attract and repel each other, just as is the case with electro-magnetic forces.

Our bodies, then, are not only formed of electrons, which unite into atoms, but they are absolutely filled with free electrons; for every atom is surrounded with an envelope of free electrons, or, in other words, is the centre of a molecule of electrons, and carries its envelope of electrons precisely as the earth carries its envelope of air.

Thomson asserts on the basis of his latest observations that:

"Every atom forms a planetary system.

The 150,000 electrons of mercury, for instance, are arranged in four concentric spheres, like a system about the sun."

When we arrive at a complete understanding of these facts and their bearing upon life, we shall be able to control our bodies with perfect success by regulating their electric forces and adjusting their energies.

As yet the main difficulty which obstructs our comprehension comes from the seeming dissimilarity of things within and things without man's "passing strange, complex mortality." This apparent lack of co-ordination presumedly stands in direct contradiction to the similarity of electrons.

But however similar electrons may be, they still have different vibrations, which cause the differences between various objects,—between colors, shapes and sounds, between positive and negative conditions.

It is only by differences of vibration in this world substance, which we may now venture to term electrons, that we are able to perceive a difference in objects around us.

It is a matter of primary interest that the organs of the body should differ in this way; for in them are electrons with their inherent electro-magnetic properties, upon which the whole bodily machinery depends.

Within our bodies positive currents of energy flow from above downward; for manifestly the remainder of the body is governed by the head.

The electrons of the head must consequently be arranged as in a magnet—the positive pole above, the negative below—and they must be always connected with their opposite pole, because the strength and the nature of a magnet depend entirely upon such connection. Thus our heads, under normal conditions, are cool, and our feet warm, so long as positive electro-magnetic force flows from above downward.

In most men of the present day, on the contrary, a condition usually exists the exact opposite of that common to normal healthy individuals.

A sense of well-being prevails in the body only so long as the electrons are in sympathetic contact with their opposite poles, and, because by this means they increase and extend their forces reciprocally, there exists also throughout the entire body a feeling of physical strength.

Life upon the earth is dependent, as we know, upon the power of the sun. Positive electrical forces are displayed in sunlight, and we find that the electrical forces of the soil furnish their complements. Electrical power is manifested by both the earth and the sun—a fact unquestioned by those acquainted with observations made in the field of radio-activity.

As a third factor, absolutely essential, I may mention the ocean, which I regard as the storage battery that distributes the power.

Then mark the natural contrast between these mundane and solar forces—the one of a nature warm and vibrating quickly, the other cold and more slow of vibration.

From this we may infer that we have before us an electrical opposition, a polarity; and assuredly the electrical forces of the earth are those which are negative, since they vibrate more slowly and yield to control, while those of the sun are, on the contrary, positive, since they possess the higher capacity for vibration and dominate the electrical forces of the earth.

We may assert, further, that the forces of the earth are electrical, whilst those of the sun are magnetic. In support of this assertion the proof may be advanced that a magnet can raise a heavier load after lying in the sunlight; for the close affinity, between magnetism and sunlight are, in this way incontestably demonstrated.

The interchange of these principles underlies all mundane activity and existence, and upon its cessation life would wholly disappear from the planet.

The various organs of the body, like everything else, fall under the immediate influence of this interchange of polar forces. The same electric or electro-magnetic opposition exists therein as are elsewhere apparent in nature and, for evidence of the same we have not far to seek.

The phenomena occurring in electrolysis—the science of chemical decomposition by galvanic action—are well known.

When a current of electricity passes through a fluid capable of decomposition the acids gather about the positive pole and the alkalies about the negative pole. We thus detect the exercise of separate activities on the part of the positive and negative electrical forces,—their polarization,—when we notice that alkalies and acids separate upon the application of electrical forces.

Similar conditions exist in our bodies.

They occur in the mucous and serous membranes; for the serous secretions react acid, the mucous ones, alkaline.

The contrast, in anatomical structure, between the mucous and the serous membranes is due to the fact that they line the various organs, respectively, within and without. It also indicates an opposition in their electro-magnetic forces.

These membranes cover, not only the large organs, but also the small ones, to the smallest muscular fibres.

In this way an electro-magnetic contrast exists in every part of the body, and it is this opposition Of forces which keeps the vital machinery of the body in working order.

Electro-magnetic attraction and resistance are the agencies which control metabolism and the action of the organs, so long as bodily strength and healthy blood are maintained. All internal and external stimuli are nothing more than electro-magnetic processes.

Even our bodily temperature, as we commonly think of it under such conditions, resolves itself into electro-magnetic force or its product.

Electricity, magnetism, light, and heat differ only in respect to vibration, and are in the final analysis one and the same.

But since our bodies are not cold like the earth or, like its electric forces, vibrate slowly, but are warm and of quick vibration, we are sufficiently assured that they contain, not only the cold electro-magnetic forces, of slow vibration, but also those that are warm and vibrate rapidly. And thus, when a correct relation exists between positive and negative forces—that is to say, between the forces of electricity and magnetism, then only have we normal temperature, then alone are we normally healthy.

When we come to enquire into the sources from which the body obtains these forces, there is little to be said. They are well known, can easily be traced, but to the keenest mind of scholarly research their source of origin is still an unturned page.

Of things in the human economy which count, however, first in importance are food and breath; for in every atom of food we eat and every breath of air we breathe there are electrons which enter the body, there to be seized by the attraction of electro-magnetic action, stored away, and applied in vital processes.

A source of vital energy, commonly known and little recognized, is the free, pure air, or, ether charged with the electrons of space.

Out of space, positive and negative electrons constantly pass into the human body, their effect we feel at once; when, for instance, in a cold room, we commence to feel chilly, or on removal to a warm room, or into the sunlight, a comfortable feeling of warmth pervades the body and restores its normal temperature.

Weather and local conditions have no small influence upon our state of health. In dry and elevated positions or in warm weather the condition of the body is more positive; in damp, low-lying places and in raw weather the electro-magnetic forces have a negative tendency. This is the explanation of those disturbances of health which occasionally arise and which we sometimes experience in the dire form of epidemics.

As an illustration, the difference of climatic conditions between the adjoining States of Washington and Oregon are a case in point.

Among other disturbing influences which effect the electro-magnetic forces of the body are overfeeding and underfeeding, too much and too little exercise, particularly too much or too little stimulation, or false stimulation, or excitement of a physical or mental nature. Any one of these influences may produce disorder in the relations of the electro-magnetic forces of the body. The positive or negative electrons may be abnormally increased or diminished or their location disturbed.

When the body contains too many negative, slowly vibrating forces, or electrons, and its aggregate of electron vibration is consequently diminished, the result follows that the feeling of strength—the vitality, that is, becomes depressed; we feel weak, tired in the limbs; we possess little warmth and easily grow cold; metabolism falls below the normal; the skin becomes pale and so causes the overplus of negative electrons stored in the mucous membrane to set up a morbid action of that structure. Catarrh sets in. In short, negative diseases are the immediate result; such, for example, as nervous debility, anaemia, diabetes, catarrh of the stomach, intestines or air passages, influenza, cholera and diphtheria. In these conditions the principles of physiological chemistry laid down by me may well be called into service and improvement effected by a correct adjustment of diet.

When there is an excess of rapidly vibrating, positive electrical forces, or electrons, raising the vitality of the nerves and blood above the normal, the sufferer becomes easily excitable; the body is hot and inclines to inflammatory, feverish or positive diseases, which take the form of inflammation of the lungs, measles, scarlet fever, chicken-pox, typhoid fever, etc.

As I have already remarked, in order to understand a disease and to undertake its cure, it is first of all necessary to form a clear mental picture of its course and origin. With this purpose in view and a medical library at command I have honestly tried to formulate from the initial stages a mental picture of scarlet fever, measles, and kindred ailments; but the entire medical literature did not advance me further than pathological anatomy, which informs us that the original cause of disease is certain changes in the form of the cellular elements of different digestive organs, in the explanation of which the customary technical terms are used, such as atrophy, degeneration and metamorphosis.

By the aid of true physiological chemistry I have been enabled to trace these mysterious incidences in the life current, learning that the cellules—the smallest elements in the human system—require for their composition alternating quantities of different chemical substances.

Which of the chemical elements these are, what mutual relations exist between different organs of the body, and by what means they enter the organism, it has become my intricate and absorbing task to observe.

In this investigation it was gradually made clear to me that every organ and every tissue is dependent upon the introduction of proper nutritive constituents into the blood.

Healthy blood formation is the one great essential requisite to the maintenance of health or the cure of disease. And such blood must be formed from a full supply of the requisite chemical factors, including all of the mineral ingredients.

Dech-Manna Diet.

This is a point commonly overlooked, and my organic nutritive cell-food termed Dech-Manna-Diet is especially designed for the purpose of its enforcement.

In order to obtain a clear understanding of the various forms of disease which attack the human body, it is requisite to know more of the condition we call inflammation. To this end we may consider successively the following facts; namely, that electrons so fill the body as to bring its condition to one equivalent to that of a magnet; that electron lies ranged beside electron; and, that no alteration of location takes place.

Effect of Injury.

But now, suppose some part of the body is subjected to a morbid irritation by some injury. The affected electrons are set into increased vibration and acquire an excess of force above that of the neighbouring electrons. For, the faster a substance vibrates, the more its force increases—a fact with which we are familiar in the action of boiling water and the generation of steam. In proportion as the affected part exceeds the adjoining parts in the vibration of its electrons, it becomes more positive than they and gradually involves these adjoining electrons in the accelerated process of vibration. So, at the seat of injury a centre of positive action is brought into existence which becomes the more intense the longer it continues.

Since the electrons in this locality fall out of their regular positions, in consequence of the general attraction and gravitate toward their appropriate poles, they are found to exercise a reciprocally repellent influence upon each other, by which action the vibration naturally increases still further. This causes pain; for the pronounced opposition of the electrons is attended by a feeling of considerable unpleasantness. The blood, which is an efficient conductor of electro-magnetic force, becomes involved through its ready mobility. The affected part becomes filled with blood. It swells and becomes inflamed;—quickened metabolism and greater warmth are produced by the increase in blood contents and by the more rapid vibrations of the electrons. If the inflammatory process progresses further, the tissues finally disintegrate, partly because of blood stagnation, but chiefly because of the supra-normal vibration of the electrons. Either the tissues are shattered by this motion, or melt in the resultant heat. They undergo purulent disintegration, as we may call it.

Bacteria.

Since the cells created are formed of bacteria, that is to say, of vital germs, as the body tissues are of cells, the destruction of the tissues and cells of necessity sets bacteria free; these therefore are not in reality the cause, but the result of disease.

Febrile, or Positive Diseases.

In pronounced inflammation the disturbance of the electrons, the heat, apart from the functional irregularities which occur in systemic processes, is diffused through the entire body: the sickness becomes fever. The blood is impelled with increased pressure throughout the whole body. If during this process negative electrons hold the preponderance in the body, the fever is of a feeble, adynamic type. But when there are many positive electrons in the body and extensive regions are involved in the disease process, so that pronounced cause exists for increased vibration of electrons, there arise those conditions we designate as scarlet fever, measles, and chicken-pox. For, just as in a steam engine, the increased vibration of the steam exerts a strong pressure upon the piston, so the increased vibration of the electrons in the body finally drives the blood with a similar pressure to the skin, where it produces stasis, or stagnation, sweats and other like disturbances.

Curative Process.

As to curative measures, the course to be followed is clearly self-evident and defined. It could not be other than that of regulating each vibratory body, of soothing the electrons quickened by morbid conditions, and accelerating those which have been depressed.

Law of opposites.

Since treatment can effect this end in no other way than by producing contrary conditions it is evident that a plan of opposition must be followed. And, just as day is the opposite of night, summer of winter, heat of cold, the positive of the negative, so, from the changes effected by this opposition every circumstance and every manifestation takes its rise. This is Natural Law, fixed and immutable throughout nature and for all time. Following this law consistently, our course is clear and simple: in cases of innutrition we seek to increase the nutritive faculty by means of proper food; for the overworked we prescribe rest, for those who need exercise, work; warmth for the cold and cooling for the feverish.

Action of Water.

For cooling we use pure water, the most common and most serviceable of remedies. It cools, soothes and restores equilibrium because its mineral affinities determine its vibratory action as of lower, slower grade, and because one of its constituents is oxygen, the most negative of all elements.

Action of earth or mud.

Even more opposed to inflammation than water, is earth, or mud. Mud produces a more decided cooling effect than water; necessarily so, since its nature is more pronouncedly negative, its vibrations slower. Antiphlogistine, clay acetate, or mud, would be of undoubted service in accordance with the law we have been following; But the same object may be more easily and readily attained by the use of packs.

Vinegar packs.

In employing vinegar in this connection, it should only be used with mud or water. Acids are decidedly negative in their electrical action, and therefore, have a curative effect upon inflammatory diseases. The use of vinegar in connection with clay and water in the treatment of inflammations and fevers is a common, old-time custom; but those who do so, ignorantly perhaps, from force of example or hear-say, unconsciously carry out in so doing one of the plainest scientific laws. Why so? Is it because this liquid kills bacilli or destroys morbid products? No, because it quiets the agitated electrons and equalizes their distribution.

The safest plan is to take two parts water and one part of vinegar. Vinegar prevents coagulation of the blood-cells, and in consequence, stagnation and inflammation are avoided.

Cooling Drinks.

For a similar reason acid drinks, such as lemonade, raspberry vinegar, and diluted raspberry juice, are of the greatest services in inflammations and fevers. They compose the system from within outward. For, as soon as any electrical negative is brought into contact with the system, streams of electricity course through the body and reduce the inflammation. The best lemonade for this purpose is my preparation "Tonogen," because it contains all the necessary acids, besides the necessary constituents for inducing circulation and thereby preventing stagnation It is easily established that patients treated according to my method have become very much stronger and healthier than they were before the beginning of their illness.

Formerly, the proportion of deaths among these who contracted typhoid fever reached twenty and thirty per cent and even higher. These deaths occurred simply because of excessive internal heat. Today, a wide experience shows that hardly any of such cases succumb.

Temperature Reduction.

The application of water in typhoid fever has secured for it a permanent place in the sickroom. Not only have we been enabled by reducing the temperature with water, to attain the very best results in the treatment of typhoid cases, inflammation of the lungs, and all positive heat diseases, but by the same measures, we are now able to forestall its development with increasing certainty.

Brand kept typhoid fever away from his soldiers while it raged around them in the severest form, by the simple specific of a daily bath of an hour's duration in cold water.

It is easy to understand why scarlet fever, measles and chicken-pox—all positive diseases—demand the exclusion of sunlight in their treatment. Experience has shown that the treatment of these diseases makes a more favorable progress when sunlight is excluded.

This fact stands in sharp contrast to all previous observations as to the importance of sunshine in the treatment of disease.

Negative Diseases.

Now let us leave the consideration of the febrile or positive diseases and turn to those of negative character, as well as to disturbances where a reduced vibration of the electrons, a preponderance of cold negative electrical forces, and unhealthy action on the part of the mucous membranes, constitute the condition.

Curative Process.

In this instance, in order to initiate the curative process it is necessary to accelerate the vibration of the electrons in the body—to render the system positive.

The principal remedy is heat, because it engenders a higher rate of vibration of the electrons. For this reason steam baths and other methods of applying heat prove highly remedial in negative diseases of the catarrhal and kindred varieties. They increase the vibration of electrons throughout the body and consequently, stimulate metabolism. The morbid activity of the mucous membranes is reduced and the blood flows actively again toward the surface, so that the internal organs experience immediate relief from abnormal pressure.

Sun baths. Light baths.

Unquestionably in this age, marked as it is by the prevalence of negative ailments, sun baths and electric light baths will celebrate triumph upon triumph over disease, for they reanimate the vibration of the electrons even more than do steam baths, and create a direct supply of rapidly vibrating positive electrons. One can easily be satisfied on this point by observing the result of the simple but conclusive experiment of lying in the sunshine when cold. Baths in electric light and in sunshine strengthen the system of one negatively sick, just as a strong current of inductive electricity gives augmented force to a machine operated by inadequate electric power. The responsive reaction need cause no surprise, for every popular sea-beach shows with what wonderful electrical results a salt water bath is attended when followed by a sun bath in the sand.

Exercise.

Equally important in the management of negative diseases is exercise.

Everyone knows that exercise makes us warm, and we know now that warmth comes from a quicker vibration of ether, or rightly speaking, the electrons of ether. So, not only is the circulation of the blood improved and metabolism increased by exercise, above all, the vibration of the electrons is enlivened, thus causing their character to be changed to positivity, and the number of positive electrons in the body to be increased. Consequently, negative diseases, which result from a preponderance of negative electrons in the body, disappear before systematic exercise, as the darkness of night before the rising of the sun.

Massage.

Massage not only removes mechanical disturbances of circulation, but also increases the vibration of electrons in the body. It is, therefore, an invaluable remedy in negative diseases.

In case of chronic depression, we should by no means underestimate the importance of that comfortable feeling induced by the exercise of electronal vibrations, which supervenes upon properly administered massage.

Colored Light Treatment.

A recent method of treatment is that by colored light. Sunshine, prismatically dissected, is known to vibrate at a rate of about four hundred million for red and eight hundred million for blue. The different rays of sunlight therefore must have different effects upon the world of living things, and red light must produce conditions of less violent vibration, blue light of quickened vibration.

In scarlet fever, measles, and chicken-pox, as in all positive febrile diseases, we have seen that there is a morbid increase of vibration in the electrons. Here, therefore, red light is used for curative purposes because it vibrates quietly. In lupus, chronic rheumatism, anemia, and such diseases, a slow vibration of electrons takes place in the body; hence, in such cases, blue light is a medium of cure.

Internal Treatment.

These considerations of the effects of colored light bring us to the treatment of disease by so-called internal means.

Salts.

In a chemical sense the salts of the body are those compounds which consists of two elements, such as water. All salts possess the peculiarity of producing electrical excitation; consequently it is possible for them to generate electricity when coming in contact with carbohydrates. Now the entire structure of the human connective tissue is nothing more or less than a combination of carbohydrates with a salt, that is, with sulphate of lime-ammonia. In this way, natural electrical energy of a positive character exists in the connective tissue which forms the basis of the spleen, the lungs, the stomach, the intestines, the muscles, in fact of the whole body. Therefore, the nervous and arterial systems, together with the heart, are supplied, through the medium of their basis of connective tissues, with electrical energy, by the contact of the electro-negative oxygen which the blood furnishes and the positive sulphate of lime-ammonia in the walls of these organs.

Nourishment.

We now come to a consideration of nourishment. We recognize today the truth of what was asserted years ago by Jezek; namely, that food undergoes a kind of gaseous decomposition in our bodies—one in which the atoms of the elements are resolved into electrons and so become the foundation of new atomic structures. For the separation of atoms into electrons and their entrance into new and different forms—that process which is constantly taking place before our eyes in the external world of Nature—must assuredly be likewise going on in like manner in the human body.

Food.

The world is just awakening and far more inquiry will now be made in the future as to the chemical properties of food, and also as to its necessary quantity and calorific value. It will then be clearly appreciated that vegetable food has a higher value as a producer of energy than animal food, because we find in it in more available form the original elements of force which exists in all matter. For the animal kingdom lives upon the vegetable kingdom and obtains every power it has from vegetable atoms. In the vegetable kingdom the vibration of the electrons is of an electrical character; therefore, vegetable food is of value in the form of electrical force, through its nutritive salts. By maintaining vital processes through its vibrations it renders us another service of a magnetic nature. It is definitely known that quite as much force is derived from vegetable as from animal food, because the former is introduced into the system chiefly in the form of a rapidly vibrating positive magnetic force. Because of its slow vibration vegetable food manifests a lower degree of heat than animal food, and plants possess less warmth than animals.

Diet.

For this reason vegetable diet is distinctly appropriate in febrile diseases. By reason of its more moderate vibration it is also the best diet for nervous people.

Food Standard.

The usefulness of any article of diet depends upon its adaptability for entering into combinations within the system. This, in turn, depends solely upon its higher or lower standing in respect to vibrations. This is the reason why the human organism cannot subsist upon mineral food.

Heat.

We need in our vital economy a definite amount of heat, or positive magnetic force. This is lacking when the system neither produces enough to meet its needs in compensation for expended energy or is not properly supplied with food, fresh air and sunshine.

Discretion.

For this reason it is well to remember that discretion must be used, as any unauthorized, unwise or too rapid change to a strict vegetarian diet may result, in certain cases, in bringing about an underfed condition or in weakening, and even disease, so that the system may be obliged to call in the aid of digestive tonics in order to obtain all the material it needs for the formation of its body-cells.

Enough, however, has been said on the subject I think, to clear the stage, as it were, of the debris of antiquated "orthodox" performances.

We of the independent and rational branch of the science of healing, ignorantly termed "unorthodox," have devised a means of preventing disease and curing it, when encountered, in a natural way, with materials that regenerate and invigorate the blood, and this method is slowly but surely fighting its way into general recognition. In time we may hope to be able to make the so-called "inevitable" children's complaints a matter of the past, and to raise a generation in which the sins of the forefathers shall be extinct, so that sane and healthy offspring will be the result. But pending such time—until the final victory of the biological-hygienic system for the prevention of disease—we are now prepared and able to cope with the still existing conditions, and to heal, if proper attention is paid to our teachings.

Diet for Children in General.

For the infant child as well as for its mother, it is naturally best that it should be nursed by the mother. The infant should receive the breast every three hours approximately, and no food should be given it during the night, in order to make the feeding regular and avoid intestinal catarrh through overfeeding.

A regular diet is necessary for a nursing mother. Hot spices and foods producing gas, must be avoided. Tight clothes that cause degeneration of the mammary glands, are prohibited.

If the mother is unable to nurse the child, and a wet-nurse cannot be afforded, the child must be fed artificially, and this requires painstaking care and attention.

The main factor is to secure good cow's milk, which is most like human milk. Milk from cows that are kept in barns, should not be used, for these animals constantly live in stables that lack fresh air, and under conditions very detrimental to the milk.

The milk should be warmed carefully, thereby approximating the temperature of the mother's milk (86 deg. to 98.6 deg.) before it is given to the infant. The nursing bottle and the rubber caps must be kept scrupulously clean. The milk should be shaken thoroughly before being used, in order to make a perfect intermixture of milk and cream.

The newly born infant is not able to digest undiluted milk, and therefore must receive:

1st to 5th day: 1 part milk to three parts water.

5th to 30th day: 1 part milk to two parts water.

30th to 60th day: Half milk, half water.

3rd to 8th month: I part milk, one-half part water.

Or:

1st to 3rd month, every 2 hours; 1 part milk, two parts water, with the addition of 2 table-spoonsful milk sugar to I or 1-1/2 quarts milk.

4th to 5th month, every 3 hours: 1 part milk, 1 part water.

6th to 9th month: 2 parts milk, 1 part water.

Thereafter pure milk, with the addition of very little sugar, or gruel made of oatmeal or something similar. Among the preparations that are best known are Knorr's and Nestle's.

Not until the first teeth have made their appearance, should the child begin to have thin groat soup, a few soft boiled eggs, and a little more solid food.

Infants fed artificially must receive food frequently.

Later on, still maintaining the milk diet, light milk and flour food, vegetables and meat gravy may be given. Infants and even older children should, under no circumstances, receive miscellaneous delicacies, or highly seasoned and greasy dishes. Strong tea and coffee are poison to the nervous system of children.

In case of intestinal diseases milk must be substituted for other diet, with decoctions of cereal flour. Furthermore, Dech-Manna chocolate and malt-chocolate, boiled in milk, are recommended.

Diet for School Children.

The appetite of children increases with their growth and years, and is always a sign of good health. Much exercise in the open air is of the greatest benefit to children. It is not, however, immaterial how children are fed. The theory that children should receive whatever is served on the family table, may be correct from the standpoint of discipline, but it may bring about trouble if the food that is offered does not agree with the stomach of the child. Food for children should be light and display variety. It is not correct to believe that what is eaten with aversion, has a healthy effect, and by forcing children to eat food against which their natural instinct rebels, parents have often seriously injured their children.

In a general way, soup, vegetables, farinaceous food or a little meat and fruit is sufficient for the principal meal.

In the morning a cup of milk, cocoa or weak coffee (fruit or malt), with a piece of bread; for anaemic children, butter and bread and honey. Prepared in various forms, plenty of milk and farinaceous food, rice, groat, oats, barley, cornmeal, fruit and cooked fruit should be eaten, which all children like and which are superior in effect, since they are so easily digested. Pure water with a little fruit-juice added occasionally; in the afternoon weak tea with milk, fruit coffee, cocoa, malt chocolate; in the summer time, cold sweet or sour milk; these should be the drinks for growing children. Bread and butter with a little marmalade is always welcome. When fruit is in season, some fresh fruit and dry bread is sufficient in the afternoon; the supper should be simple, warm or cold, but without high seasoning; potatoes with butter, soft boiled eggs, bread and ham, cold roast meat, soup or some well prepared farinaceous food one hour before bedtime. Food should not be served very hot, should be well masticated and eaten with little to drink during the meal. It is better to take a glass of water before the meal.

Alcoholic drinks are strictly prohibited, since they produce nervous irritation and make study much harder.

Game, when not too high and without spice is good for growing children. Dishes prepared from internal organs, such as liver, kidneys and brains, are usually repugnant to children, and should be avoided. Steamed vegetables are preferable to those cooked with sauce. Salads for children should not be highly seasoned, but should be prepared with butter, cream and lemon juice, in which form they are of great nutritive value. Avoid delicacies and mayonnaise dressing. Ice cream is the delight of most children. Permit small quantities, but eaten with crisp biscuit only, so as to avoid catarrh of the stomach.

Children should have one or two meals between the regular meals. Greatest variety should prevail at dinner and supper, and the favorite dishes of the various children should be served from time to time.

Taste and appetite are the means by which the intestinal organs express what they consider most suitable for the system. That which tastes good not only influences the health of the body, but also the mental condition of the child. Proper food, ample time for play and much fresh air will make the physician's visit a rare necessity. However, if a child becomes ill, medical advice should be obtained immediately and followed strictly, thus avoiding many sad experiences.

Nearly all forms of children's disease are combined with fever, and even without any of the characteristic symptoms of the various forms of disease, children are often subject to more or less intense attacks of fever. Therefore, in the following pages I am giving an extensive description of fever from a biological standpoint, together with its dietetic treatment—not cure for, as will be seen, fever in itself is not a disease, but the attempt of nature to get rid of a disease.

This elaborate description of fever in all its phases will also serve as a valuable illustration of the manner in which all subjects dealt with are treated in my greater work: "Regeneration, or Dare to be Healthy."



FEVER AND ITS TREATMENT, BASED ON BIOLOGY

(A) GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

Fever is one of the protective institutions of the body, which very often acts most advantageously in the interests of the preservation of the organism. It is a symptom, or rather a group of symptoms, consisting of an increase of temperature, acceleration of metabolism, excitement of the nerves, numbness and frequently delirium.

Undoubtedly a fever of long duration and high temperature may injure the organism to the extent that death ensues.

There have been, nevertheless, at all times, those who hold the opinion that fever, as such, does not under any circumstances, injure the organism of itself alone.

Fever has at all times been regarded, and to a much higher degree today than formerly, as a healthy reaction against diseased matter, and indeed, as an expression of the healing tendency of nature, Hippocrates considered it an excellent remedy. Thomas Campanello recognized its qualities of removing diseased matter.

This doctrine is corroborated by the findings in regard to infections.

Through fever the organism is freed from micro-organisms which may have forced their way in. Fever operates like fire, destroying the contagious matter. After this is done the remnants are excreted through intense and extremely offensive perspiration.

Experiments have taught us that the growth and the resisting power of many microbes decrease if the temperature of the body rises, but 1.8 to 3.6 degrees above normal. It is also a remarkable fact that in every disease where bacteria are found, there is a special type of fever, which takes its course in such strict accordance with its law, that the physician is thereby able to determine the nature of the disease.

While the degree of temperature is decisive in regard to the life of micro-organisms, the height of the temperature does not, in itself, constitute a criterion of the gravity of danger. It is the duty of the physician to fight the fever, since the patient may succumb to a high temperature, as to a low one.

In order to gauge the situation accurately it is necessary to regard fever, not as a disease, but as what it really is in essence: a symptom which accompanies the greatest variety of the processes of disease,—symptom of the most variable significance in various cases. It must be fought like other symptoms, such as vomiting, coughing, pains and diarrhoea; namely, in a general way—provided only that it is not a manifestation of the healing tendency of the organism.

In decreasing the fever, we moderate the excitement of the nerves, remove the numbness, secure calmness, refreshment and sleep, and defend the patient against threatening manifestations of disease.

Very often it is not a case of treating the fever, but of dealing with the disease which causes the fever. We must consequently not be guided by the thermometer but by the condition of the nervous system.

Two conditions must be observed in treating fever according to the rules of biology.

In the first place, the treatment of febrile disease must not be carried on in accordance with general principles, but individually, according to the nature of the disease in each particular case.

In the second place, it is necessary that the antipyretic treatment, to reduce the fever, should not be foreign to the organism and should not be such as is not measurable in degrees as to its effects, or has any unpleasant accompanying effects or after-effects.

Only the biological system of healing responds to these demands. Only cognate physical forces, in affinity with the human organism according to biological laws, can influence vital occurrences with the hope of success and without the danger of unfavorable accompanying effects and consequences.

Only physical remedies and treatments permit of adequate gradations such as will appeal to the power of reaction of the organism.

In the appropriate application of certain, influences of nature, especially in the diversified applications of water, we possess a mode of procedure which, assisted by an appropriate dietetic regime adapted to the principles of biological healing and to the conditions of life in health and disease, offers advantages which no other treatment affords and benefits the patient to an extent which cannot be too highly estimated.

In the treatment of fever we must, in the first place, follow the impulses of instinct—harmonized, however, with the fundamental laws and methods of biological treatment—if success is to be obtained. Instinctively, in the case of a hot forehead, we turn to the application of cold compresses; for cold feet, the use of such appliances as will bring about heat. Tormenting thirst is assuaged by a mouthful of cooling water. But the instinct of impulse alone might also lead one burning with high fever to seek relief by immersion in cooling water; thus, in order to discover the rational course we must be guided by the fundamental laws of the biological system of healing.

(B) TREATMENT.

To these biological explanations of what fever is, it will be interesting to add some general description and explanation of its treatment, such as may serve in an emergency as an indication of the proper course to be pursued and by the most simple means, pending the attendance of an hygienic physician.

I must again call special attention to the importance of not clinging too literally to the letter of the law,—of every rule laid down,—but rather to study by the light of such laws and with alert intelligence the special features of the case at issue.

Of all hygienic treatments of fever, which have come under my notice in the course of many years, there is none more clearly, simply and intelligibly described than that which Dr. C. Sturm, has published in his book, "Die natur liche Heilmethode" (The Natural Method of Healing). I will, therefore, employ it in my explanations, (as translated from the German) adding to it my advanced methods, especially the hydropathic and dietetic treatments which are more in accordance with the demands of modern biological therapy.

In the first place, as we know, fever is indicated by an abnormally hot skin. This heat is noticeable even by touching the patient with the palm of the hand.

A precise measurement of this heat, of course, requires a thermometer. The best kind is a so-called maximum thermometer.

The temperature is taken by putting the lower end of the glass into the axilla, or arm-pit, of the arm, or in the mouth or the rectum of the patient, and leaving it there for from 8 to 10 minutes. When withdrawn, the temperature of the patient can be read at a glance.

The temperature of the skin, however, is not the only indication of fever. It is accompanied simultaneously by accelerated action of the pulse, up to 120 beats per minute, and even more; also by increased thirst and, as an indication of very intense affection, extreme exhaustion and lassitude. The increased excretion becomes manifest through dark and strong-smelling urine and, especially at the time when the fever begins to abate, through intense perspiration.

In the beginning of fever the change alternating between chills and abnormal heat is very characteristic; frequently, and especially in severe attacks, it begins with shivers. The patient suddenly feels an intense chill, so that he commences to shake all over, his teeth chatter and he grasps whatever covering he can for warmth. Suddenly, following this, a rapid increase of temperature occurs, and the patient begins to complain of intense heat. In other cases patients complain of feeling very cold, while their skin indicates a marked degree of warmth.

With higher degrees of temperature, the fever may induce a loss of consciousness. The patient becomes delirious, loses urinary and fecal control and displays the signs of total collapse.

Fever, as I have already indicated, is a kind of physical revolution, a state of excitation which, differing so widely as to cause, character and degree, cannot be judged according to any fixed rule. The temperature of a patient we may read from the thermometer; but the real nature of the fever we do not learn until we consider his constitution, his innate faculties and the strength to which his various organs have attained. For this purpose we must take into consideration not only the physical attributes, but also the quality of the senses and of the mind, since these items are of the utmost importance in determining the tenacity, i.e., the power of resistance of the patient.

From this point of view it will be understood that people possessing a calm and phlegmatic temperament, will not attain to high degrees of fever, except in cases of very serious complications, while nervous people may quickly reach very considerable degrees of temperature. Children and younger people are more inclined to high fever, since their organs are still immature. This explains why simple inflammations, which are not general throughout the body, or frequent indigestion, which in itself does not figure as a dangerous illness, will in the case of children appear under the gravest symptoms. It follows, therefore, how necessary it is to discriminate closely and decide accordingly between severe symptoms of fever as manifested by people of calm temperament, and similar cases when manifested by people of nervous temperament.

Unfortunately fever has been treated in the past according to set and rigid rules. As soon as the temperature of a patient rose from 98.6 deg. and 99.6 deg. to 100.4 deg., it was pronounced to be fever, and preparations were made to treat it accordingly. The treatment became more energetic the higher the fever rose to 105.8 deg. and 107.6 deg..

It was said that under all circumstances the temperature must be lowered to normal.

This idea is decidedly wrong and most dangerous for the patient. For, while a calm and phlegmatic patient may withstand this strong reduction of excitement in his internal organs, which in fact require it, the procedure necessary to bring it about, as a rule exceeds what the nervous patient can endure.

The fever should only be reduced in accordance with the strength of the patient, otherwise extreme irritation must ensue, such as has caused the death of hundreds of thousands in the past. It is better, therefore, to leave a nervous patient in his fever and strengthen him by various devices, so that he may overcome it. Later he may require and, consequently, be able to withstand stronger measures. For this purpose I recommend simple ablutions, in some cases the application of abdominal packs for half an hour using two-thirds water and one-third vinegar, as previously prescribed. In addition, the natural vigor of the patient is to be strengthened by administering to him, at intervals of from half an hour to two hours, Dechmann's Tonogen and Dechmann's Plasmogen alternately.

The treatment must be in proportion to the strength of the patient. Thus the quiet, energetic temperament can endure more extensive packs; his nature in fact requires them. His body may be completely packed or at least three-quarters, by placing the moist sheet around his entire body except the arms, while the woolen blanket is either wrapped around the whole body, including the arms, or, as before, leaves the patient free to move his arms, which are then only covered by the bed-clothes. A patient of this kind may also be treated with ablutions or put into a half bath at 75.2 deg., while cooler water is poured over him. Young and strong patients have endured even cooler baths as powerful stimulants.

The nearer a patient approaches to a nervous, weak condition, the more caution is required to allow him hike warm baths only, or, still better, ablutions at 77 deg., which may be made severer by not drying the patient.