It is very beneficial to weak patients to frequently wash their hands, face and neck, without drying them.

A very careful treatment of the hair is also a great necessity, especially for women. Clean and well combed hair is very beneficial to a patient. Slight ablutions of the head and combing the hair while wet, are very cooling and refreshing.

The stronger the nature of a patient, the safer it becomes to rely upon a single mode of procedure. Thus, cold packs may be sufficient in case of high fever if applied about every half hour or hour; or, if the temperature is not quite so high, at intervals, from one hour and a half to two hours With weaker persons more variety of procedure is imperative, but none of them must be too stringently applied. In these cases mild ablutions should be used several times during the day, and they may be alternated with packs of the whole lower part of the body or packs on the calves of the legs.

Cool or cold enemas are rapidly absorbed and thus have a quieting influence on the large blood reservoir in the abdomen. Little mouthfuls of water are also taken from time to time, but too much water always weakens the patient.

(C) DIET IN CASES OF FEVER.

As diet in cases of fever I recommend the prescriptions of Professor Moritz, which coincide with my own experiences, so far as a fever diet is concerned; and in addition the physiologico-chemical cell-food which I have used for many years with the greatest success (Dech-Manna Diet). The importance of the latter is due to the fact that it not only prevents the destruction of the cells, but has a general strengthening effect upon the system.

Whatever the differences in manifestation the febrile diseases may show, the febrile reduction of the digestive capacity of the stomach and the bowels is so characteristic, that it should be specially noted in this connection.

True, fever shows considerable disturbance of metabolism, since the decomposition of the albumen is increased in an abnormal way. This fact, however, does not demand any particular attention, in regard to diet. As far as possible during fever it is well to exercise an economizing influence on the decomposition of the albumen of the body through the introduction of all kinds of food that produce energy, so that it is not necessary to give preference to any one particular kind of food.

The injury to digestion during fever comprises not only the peptic functions, which manifest themselves clearly in a reduction of the excretion of hydrochloric acid, but all functions pertaining thereto, the motory as well as the resorptive.

The danger that the patient will receive too much solid food, hard to digest, is generally speaking not very great since, during acute fever, patients as a rule show a decided lack of appetite. The other extreme is the more likely to occur; that the amount of nutrition given may be less than what is requisite and helpful; too much deference being paid to the inclinations of the patient. Formerly the general belief obtained that fever would be increased, in a degree detrimental to the patient, by allowing the consumption of any considerable amount of food, and following this doctrine, the patient was permitted to go hungry. This, however, is absolutely erroneous. No one would feed a feverish person in a forcible manner, but it is absolutely imperative to take care that he receives food productive of energy in reasonable quantities.

As a rule hardly one-half, or at the most two-thirds of the normal quantity of nourishment necessary for the preservation of life, may be introduced into the organism in case of acute febrile disease. I have already indicated that there is no particular danger in such partial "inanition" (starvation) for a short period, but that, accordingly, the qualitative side of the nourishment becomes more important the longer the fever lasts. It has also been mentioned that the organism reduces its work of decomposition, gradually adapting itself to the unfavorable conditions of sustenance, and thus meets our efforts to maintain its material equilibrium.

It is important always to make use of any periods of remission and intermission, during which the patient has a better appetite and can digest more easily, to give him a good supply of food. It is also well to administer as much nourishing food as possible in the beginning of an illness, which is likely to be lengthy, provided the patient is not yet wholly under the effects of the febrile disease. The food must then be gradually reduced in the course of the illness.

As to quality, the diet must be selected from forms II and III (as below), and will consequently consist of glutinous soups, in some cases with the addition of a nutritive preparation of egg, meat jelly, milk and possibly thin gruel and milk.

The quantity of food which the patient may receive can only be given approximately, as follows:

For adults—(to constitute a sustaining diet). Soup 1/2 pint, milk and milk gruel 1/3 pint, meat 3 oz., farinaceous food the same, 2 eggs, potatoes, vegetables, fruit sauces 2 to 2-1/2., pastry and bread 2 oz.

These quantities must be considered as the maximum for each portion. The quantity of beverage at each meal must also be very limited, not exceeding 3 to 6 oz., so that the stomach is not overburdened unnecessarily nor its contents too much diluted.

The reduced meals are harmonized with the object of sufficient general nourishment by eating more frequently, about five to six times a day. Patients with fever should have some food in small quantity every 2 to 3 hours. It is important that the patient be fed regularly at fixed times. This will be found advantageous both for the patient and for nursing.

Form II comprises purely liquid nourishment, "soup diet." Consomme of pigeon, chicken, veal, mutton, beef, beef-tea, meat jelly, which becomes liquid under the influence of bodily heat, strained soups or such as are prepared of the finest flour with water or bouillon, of barley, oats, rice (glutinous soup), green corn, rye flour, malted milk. All of these soups, with or without any additions such as raw eggs, either whole or the yolk only, if well mixed and not coagulated are easily digested. (Besides albumen preparations, Dech-Manna powders, dry extract of malt, etc., may be added).

Form III comprises nourishment which is not purely liquid. Milk and milk preparations (belonging to this group on account of their coagulation in the stomach):

(a)—Cow's milk, diluted and without cream, dilution with 1/2 to 2/3 barley water, rice water, lime water, vichy water, pure water, light tea.

(b)—Milk without cream, not diluted.

(c)—Full milk, either diluted or undiluted.

(d)—Cream, either diluted or undiluted.

(e)—All of these milk combinations with an addition of yolk of egg, well mixed, whole egg, cacao, also a combination of egg and cacao.

Milk porridge made of flour for children, arrowroot, cereal flour of every kind, especially oats, groat soups with tapioca, or sago, and potato soup.

Egg, raw, stirred, or sucked from the shell, or slightly warmed and poured into a cup; all either with or without a little sugar or salt.

Biscuit and crackers, well masticated to be taken with milk, porridge, etc.

As a rule fever is accompanied by an increased thirst, which may be satisfied without hesitation. It is unnecessary, and detrimental, for patients suffering from an increased excretion of water through the fever heat, to be subjected to thirst. Since the mucous membrane of the digestive channel is usually not very sensitive to weak chemical food irritations, the cooling drinks, which contain fruit acids, such as fruit juices and lemonades, are as a rule permissible. Fruit soups may also be given.

It is different, of course, if an acute catarrh of the stomach or of the bowels is combined with the fever. In such cases fruit acids must be avoided. Still it is not necessary to resist the desire of the patient to take whatever may be given him, at a low temperature. Even ice cream, vanilla or fruit water ice, may be used in moderate quantity.

Warning against cold drinks is necessary only in case of disease of the respiratory organs when the cold liquids would cause coughing.

The use of dietetic stimulants such as Dechmann's Tonogen, Eubiogen and Plasmogen, is the same in these cases as has been mentioned in several places previously.

* * * * *

As soon as the patient has made sufficient progress, he may receive more solid food.

The salivary digestion being improved, he may now be allowed several more substantial dishes of rice and groat, cooked partly in milk, partly in water and eaten with fruit juice. He may also have several kinds of green vegetables, like spinach, cauliflower, asparagus, comfrey, etc.

With additional increase in his strength, fresh fish, well prepared, is especially refreshing to a patient with light fever.

As to mental pabulum, in case of severe fever, I recommend for the patient absolute mental and physical rest; little talking, no noise, no visits, no disturbance of any kind. Within his system nature has to accomplish an enormous task to facilitate which complete quiet is essential. Just as he who has serious preoccupations needs quiet environment, so that his attention may be devoted to his thoughts, so also a patient in the throes of fever must relax all external considerations in deference to the struggle of the vital forces within. Whatever disturbance of mentality occurs has always prejudicial effects, such indeed as may in some cases cost the life all are seeking to save.

SCARLET FEVER.

Scarlet fever is an exanthematous form of disease distinguished by a scarlet eruption of the skin. It produces marked symptoms in three localities, the skin the throat and the kidneys.

It is doubtful whether it can be conveyed from one person to another; at least nothing is known concerning the "contagium," or germ of conveyance of infection,—according to the differential diagnosis of Dr. G. Kuhnemann, whose work on the subject is held to be authoritative. It is not to be denied that the disease may be carried by articles of clothing and by intermediary persons, who themselves are not suffering from it.

The incubation period—the time intervening between infection and eruption—during which the infected person is "sickening for" disease, varies from two to as much as eight days.

Chills, feverishness, headache, nausea and actual vomiting are the initial symptoms, and sore throat with difficulty in swallowing soon follow.

Inspection reveals the appearance of an acute throat inflammation, and the tip and sides of the tongue are red as a raspberry. A few hours later—or at most a day or two—the eruption appears; first in the throat, then on the face and chest. It begins with minute, bright red, scattered spots, steadily growing larger until they run together so that the entire skin becomes scarlet, being completely covered with them. Frequently the temperature in the evening ranges as high as from 103 deg. to 105 deg. Fahrenheit. Albumen is always found in the urine.

After two or more days the fever mounts gradually, the throat symptoms increase, the eruption fades away, and from four to eight days later the patient's condition returns to normal.

At the beginning of the second week desquamation, or scaling, begins, the skin peeling off in minute flakes. At this stage heavy sweats set in and the excretion of urine is increased.

In epidemic form the type is sometimes much more malignant, even to the degree that death occurs on the first day with typhoid and inflammatory brain symptoms, unconsciousness, convulsions, delirium, excessive temperature, and rapid pulse. This may happen even without the eruption becoming fairly recognizable. In such severe epidemics the throat symptoms are apt to take on the aspect of diphtheria. The renal discharge exhibits the conditions of a catarrh of the urinary canals originating from causes we do not understand.

Among the after effects of scarlet fever are inflammation of the ear with all its consequences, and inflammatory affections of the lungs, air passages, diaphragm and heart membrane.

The cause, I repeat again, is dysaemia—impure blood.

If the patient is predisposed to this form of disease and moreover, a weakling, the case is a dangerous one.

Every good mother should see to it that there is healthy blood in her offspring. The task is comparatively an easy one, the method, is simple and ignorance ceases to be an excuse, for my object is to place the necessary knowledge within the reach of all.

The treatment of scarlet fever varies according to which symptoms are most severe.

In the first place prophylactic efforts must be constantly employed to prevent possible contagion. Healthy children must be strictly seperated from the sick till the end of desquamation or scaling—a period of four to six weeks.

If the course of the attack is normal, the patient should be kept in bed under a light cover with a room temperature of 60 deg. to 65 deg.. The sick room must be well ventilated and aired daily.

The windows should be hung with transparent red curtains.

The diet may consist of milk, curds, barley soup, oatmeal gruel, flour gruel, with some cooked fruit and, of drinks, lemonade, soda water, and raspberry juice; but the most important drink from a scientific point is Dechmann's "Tonogen," as previously described.

The linen should be changed often

Sponge baths with chilled vinegar-water (1 part cider vinegar diluted with 2 parts water) are helpful when the temperature rises to 102 deg.. If the temperature reaches 105 deg. or over, baths must be promptly administered. The patient may be placed in a bath of 85 deg. or 90 deg., and the water allowed to cool gradually down to 70 deg. or 65 deg..

A sick child may stay in such a bath ten or twenty minutes, while the time in a bath practically should not be more than three or five minutes. The bath must be repeated as soon as the fever again reaches 105 deg..

When the first symptoms of measles, scarlet fever or chicken-pox are noticed, give the child a three-quarter pack. (See directions under "packs"). After each pack sponge the patient with cool vinegar-water.

If the fever is high during the night, apply a sponge bath every half hour or hour.

During the day give the patient 1/4 teaspoonful of Dechmann's Plasmogen, dissolved in 1/2 pint water, a little every hour.

In the evening and during the night alternate this blood-salt solution with Tonogen.

Blood plasm contains eight different salts in different composition, and only when the actual physiological composition is employed can there be any guarantee against the decomposition of the blood-cells. Plasmogen is such a composition.

When diphtheria and Bright's disease complicate the case, they must be dealt with as under ordinary conditions and treated by a competent, Hygienic dietetic physician.

If recovery is prompt and desquamation (scaling) is in progress, warm baths may be applied for a few days.

When the temperature and urine continue normal for a few weeks, the child may be regarded as restored to health.

MEASLES.

Measles or Rubeola is an exanthematous or eruptive contagious form of children's disease.

In Measles the medium of contagion is the excretion from the air passages, mucus coughed up and air exhaled; also the saliva, tears, blood and perspiration of the patient.

In Measles also, as is the case with regard to scarlet fever, the "contagium," or germ of contagion, is unknown.

The general susceptibility to measles is extraordinarily great the poison being of a virulent nature.

If the disease attacks one of feeble constitution whose environment is unfavorable and insanitary,—dwelling in badly ventilated rooms, for instance, with little attention paid to personal cleanliness, the attack is likely to assume a malignant form.

A period of from ten to fourteen days may elapse between infection and the development of the symptoms.

During this period the patient may infect others.

This explains how easily a whole school may become infected.

During the preliminary period children feel tired, relaxed, suffer pain in the joints and headache; they have chills and are feverish at evening. Among the symptoms enumerated are catarrhal affections of the air passages, the larynx, the nose and eyes. Constant sneezing, nosebleeding, cough, watering eyes, ultra sensitiveness to strong light, are concurrent conditions. At the same time the fever becomes pronounced.

These symptoms continue for four or five days and then rapidly abate and the eruption appears. First a red rash is seen, which spreads over the surface of the face. Inside the mouth and throat a similar mottled redness is seen. In the course of a day the eruption spreads over the whole body. After continuing at their height for a day or two the symptoms gradually decline, and in a little over a week the child may be pronounced well. The skin then sheds all the superfluous cuticle left by the eruption, and in three or four weeks after inception the normal condition is again reached.

In the malignant form all the symptoms are of a severe type. Occasionally catarrhal affections of the air passages, croup or pulmonary inflammation supervene, and the patient succumbs.

Other concurrent forms of disease are whooping cough, diphtheria, pulmonary consumption, inflammation of the eyes, ear disease, and swelling of the glands.

Measles demand no distinctive treatment. The room must be well ventilated, with a temperature of about 60 deg., and light must be almost totally excluded. At night no lamp should be allowed.

Treatment and diet should be the same as in scarlet fever.

GERMAN MEASLES.

German Measles (Rubella or Roetheln), is an eruptive form of children's disease, much more harmless than the disturbances previously depicted. It is one which occurs in epidemics, but to which children individually are largely susceptible; the actual contagium thereof, however, is likewise unknown to science.

Eight days generally intervene between the time of infection and the breaking out of the rash.

During this period no acute symptom is noticeable. In the majority of cases the fever that precedes the eruption is not high; headache, cold and sorethroat accompany the appearances of the rash, which in this case breaks out at once, and not after several days, as in the case of actual measles. The spots are about the size of lentils, and are quite deep red, appearing first upon the face.

After the rash has been out for one or two days, it gradually becomes paler, the fever goes down, and recovery progresses rapidly, usually without any after effects.

It is not necessary for the patient to remain in bed longer than three or four days; nevertheless, the treatment should be just the same as prescribed in the case of the real measles, so as not to leave any weakness or subsequent complication.

There are many other forms of disease, besides these, which are likewise accompanied by fever and a rash, which also appear in epidemics and are evidently due to a great variety of causes. As they, however, invariably run the natural course, I shall not dwell upon them here.

CHICKEN-POX.

Chicken-pox, or Varicella, of which the contagium also remains a mystery, is another infectious eruptive form of disease, peculiar to children. It begins with the appearance of a number of little pigmented elevations on the skin which develop into vesicles and pustules. After a certain period they become encrusted with scabs, which dry up and fall off. When the pustules are deep-seated, small scars remain There is no fever, and the illness is over in about fourteen days. The contagion passes through personal contact, or through clothing and bed linen.

If symptoms are severe enough to require it, treatment should follow the directions for scarlet fever.

SMALL-POX.

As a matter of fact Chicken-pox is of congeneric origin with small-pox, with which, in a very much milder degree, it has various features in common. But small-pox itself is engendered of foul and insanitary conditions of life, impure blood and bad and insufficient nourishment and these, together with its risk under unscientific conditions and in times past of facial disfigurement, have made its name more repugnant to the layman than perhaps any other form of disease. All that need be said about it here, however, is that it is largely a terror of the past and that the sure preventative against it always, and the one reliable anti-toxin against contagion, under all circumstances, is good healthy blood and hygienic-dietetic living.

Those readers who may desire a minute description of this form of disease will find the same in chapt: XII of my greater work "Regeneration."

TYPHOID FEVER OR TYPHUS ABDOMINALIS.

(A) General Description.

This description of fever is usually termed typhus or nerve fever. It characterizes all forms of typhoid disease of which the following features constitute the prominent symptoms.

To a peculiar degree, chiefly young and strong individuals of from 15 to 30 years of age are attacked by this disease, while those in early youth and of more advanced years are much less subject to the same.

It is a complaint very dangerous to those who eat and drink to excess and without discretion. Strong excitement of the mind, such as a shock or great anguish, will undoubtedly favor the appearance of typhus. The seasons too have considerable influence upon it, most cases occurring during the Autumn months—from August to November.

It has been previously indicated to what extent the study of the hygienic conditions of life will assist in the discovery of the real causes of so-called contagious disease. One instance may show the enormous influence of dietetic movements on the outbreak of great epidemics.

It is reported in the "Journal of the Sanitary Institute," London, that the English Seaside Resort Brighton, in the period from July, 1893, to August, 1896, 238 cases of abdominal typhus were observed,—about equally divided for the different years. In 56 cases the typhus was caused by the eating of oysters (36 cases) or clams (20 cases). There was evidence that the water from which these oysters and clams were taken was badly polluted by the excrement of several thousand people, brought through sewers to the place were the shell-fish had been gathered. It was very characteristic in a number of cases that only one of a number of persons, who were otherwise living under equal conditions, fell ill with typhus, a short while after having eaten some of the shell-fish. No other points essential to the spreading of this contagious disease could be discovered. Brighton is healthily situated and built; hygienic conditions in general are favourable; much attention is paid particularly to keeping the soil clean, removing all faeces and providing good drinking water. Contamination through milk in all of the 56 cases, according to most careful investigations, was out of the question. They occurred in entirely different streets in various precincts of the town; 45 of the patients lived on 43 different streets. Besides the people attacked by typhus, many other persons fell ill from lighter disease of the intestines, after having eaten of these crustaceous bivalves, the symptoms being diarrhoea and pains in the stomach. Measures were taken to remove the noxious causes as soon as the source of infection was discovered.

The same conditions were some time ago noticed in Berlin. Out of 14 people invited to a dinner, nine fell ill—5 of them very seriously—under symptoms of typhus, after having eaten oysters from Heligoland. Part of the personnel of the kitchen and some of the servants were taken ill with the same critical symptoms.

B. Essentials.

Abdominal typhus is a general illness of the whole body, and consequently all organs of the body are more or less altered in a morbid way while the disease lasts. The main change occurs in the lymphatic glands of the intestines and in the spleen.

The following are its anatomical symptoms: With the beginning of the disease the lymphatic glands of the mucous membrane of the intestines begin to swell; they are constantly growing during the course of the disease and attain the size of a pea; extended over the level of the mucous membrane they feel firm, hard and tough. In favourable cases the swelling may go down at this stage, but generally the formation of matter begins through the dying of the cells, caused by insufficient nourishment. This is gradually thrown off, and a loss of substance remains—the typhoid ulcer. This varies in size and in depth. Light bleeding in no great quantity ensues. If the ulcer has gone very deep, the intestines may be perforated and then the faeces and part of the food enter the abdominal cavity. The result is purulent and ichorous peritonitis. As a rule, however, the ulcers are purified and heal by cicatrization. Usually the spleen is enormously enlarged (through a rapid increase in the number of its cells). The swelling of the spleen can easily be detected by external touch.

(C) Symptoms and Course.

During what is termed the earlier stage, which as a rule last about two weeks and precedes the breaking out of the disease proper, the patient still feels comparatively well, or only begins to complain of headache, tired feeling, prostration in all the limbs, dizziness, lack of appetite. It is thus absolutely impossible to fix a definite date for its development. In most cases the patient complains of a chill, followed by feverishness,—symptoms which confine him to bed,—although no actual shivering takes place. It is expedient, although quite arbitrary and subject to many modifications, to divide the course of the illness into three periods:—

(1) The stage of development.

(2) The climax.

(3) The stage of healing.

During the stage of development, which usually lasts about a week, the symptoms of the disease rapidly increase. The patient gets extremely weak and faint, has severe headaches and absolutely no appetite. In consequence of the high fever, he complains of thirst; the skin is dry, the lips chapped, the tongue coated; the pulse is rapid and full; the bowels are constipated, but the abdomen is practically not inflated nor sensitive to pressure. In most cases the spleen is evidently enlarged.

Before the end of the first week the climax is reached. This in the lighter cases lasts for the second week, or in more severe cases, even until the third. The fever is constantly high, even 104 deg. and over. The body is generally benumbed, the patient becomes delirious at night or lies absolutely indifferent to all surroundings. The abdomen is now inflated, the buttocks show small, light red spots,—the so-called "roseola,"—which are characteristic of abdominal typhus. Furthermore, in most cases, bronchial catarrh of a more or less severe nature appears. Instead of obstruction of the bowels there is diarrhoea—about two to six light yellow thin stools, occur within 24 hours. During this second stage the complications appear.

At the end of the second or the third week respectively, the fever slackens; in cases which take a favourable turn, the patient becomes less benumbed and less indifferent, his sleep is quieter; appetite gradually returns. The bronchial catarrh grows better, the stool once more becomes normal; in short, the patient enters the stage of convalescence.

This is a short sketch of the course the illness usually takes.

Of the deviations and complaints accompanying Abdominal Typhus, the following are the most important details:—

The fever takes its course in strict accordance with the described anatomical changes in the intestines. It increases gradually during the first week, and at the end of that period it reaches its maximum of about 104 deg.. It stays at that point during the second stage, gradually sinking during the third stage.

In lighter cases the second stage may be extraordinarily short.

If perforation of the intestines, heavier bleeding or general collapse should ensue, attention is directed thereto through sudden and considerable decrease in the temperature of the body. Pneumonia, inflammation of the inner ear and other accompanying complications also cause sudden access of fever.

Effect upon the digestive organs: The tongue is generally coated while the fever lasts; the lips are dry and chapped, and look brown from bleeding. If the patient is not carefully attended to during the extreme numbness, a fungus growth appears which forms a white coating over the tongue, the cavity of the mouth and the pharynx, and may extend into the oesophagus. Later on the tongue loses this coating and becomes red as before. Few symptoms are shown by the stomach, except occasional vomiting and lack of appetite. During convalescence there is great desire for food. The anatomical changes in the intestines have already been mentioned.

While obstruction prevails during the first week, the second week is characterized by diarrhoea of a pale and thin consistency.

When general improvement sets in, the stools gradually decrease in number, they grow more solid and finally reach the normal. The abdomen is not very sensitive to pressure and is usually intensely inflated with gas.

In the region of the right groin a cooing sound is often heard, caused by a liquid substance in the intestines, which can be felt under pressure of the finger.

Bleeding from the intestines is not infrequent and happens during the third week of the illness. It usually indicates a bad complication, since the result may be fatal. The stool assumes a tar-like appearance through the mixture of the coagulated blood with the faeces. Close attention must be given to minor hemorrhages, since they often herald others of a more intense nature.

In such extreme cases of serious complications, however, a cure has nevertheless been sometimes effected. They are occasionally followed by the immediate beginning of convalescence.

The perforation of the intestines, which is caused by an ulcer eating its way through the wall of the intestines, is much more dangerous. It happens most frequently during the third or the fourth week. The patient feels a sudden, most intense pain in the abdomen; he collapses rapidly, the cheeks become hollow, the nose pointed and cool. Vomiting follows, the pulse becomes weak and extremely rapid. The abdomen is enormously inflated and painful. In the severest cases death ensues, at latest, within two or three days, the cause being purulent and ichorous (or pus-laden) peritonitis.

Such extreme developments as these, however, are infrequent, since the illness, by timely attention according to the methods herein prescribed, will, as a rule, respond to the treatment and take a favourable turn.

Respiratory Organs:—

In the course of typhus, intense bleeding of the nose is not infrequent. In the severer cases this is a sign of decomposition of the blood, but in lighter cases it merely serves to alleviate the intense headache which is a feature of the case. The throat is liable to be affected; hoarseness and coughing occur; hardly any case of typhus catarrh. This sometimes extends into the air-passes without a more or less intense bronchial cells and causes catarrhal pneumonia, which—if not promptly treated according to the instructions herein detailed—may become extremely dangerous.

Organs of Circulations:—

With the exception of a strongly accelerated action, no change is noticeable in the heart. It may, however, suddenly become paralyzed and cease entirely, owing to the general weakness of the patient and the intensity of the fever. Weakness of the heart and possible cessation occur only during the climax or convalescence.

Nervous System:—

Disturbances of the nervous system are very frequent, hence the name "nervous fever."

Consciousness is, in nearly all cases, more or less benumbed, and at times completely lost. The patient is either lying absolutely indifferent, or he is delirious, cries, rages, attempts to jump out of bed and can only be subdued by the strongest efforts.

Patients lose control of urinary and faecal movements and require feeding.

These disturbances disappear as soon as convalescence sets in and consciousness returns.

As a rule the patient, on return to consciousness, knows nothing of what he has gone through, and has no reminiscences of the immediate past.

Sometimes cramps in the masticatory muscles have been observed, which explains the grinding of teeth apparent in some instances. Convulsions in the limbs and facial muscles sometimes appear, but most of these disturbances are of short duration.

Urinary and Sexual Organs:—

With high fever albumen appears in the urine. In some instances it may lead to inflammation of the kidneys, the symptoms of which may at times completely overshadow the symptoms of typhus. Fortunately this complication is very rare. Catarrh of the bladder occurs, because the patient retains the urine too long, while in a state of unconsciousness. Inflammation of the testicles has been observed with male patients, and pregnant women have miscarried or given birth prematurely.

Bones and Joints:—

Inflammation of the joints is infrequent and in a few cases only, inflammation of the periosteum has been observed.

Skin:—

At the beginning of the second week small rose-like spots of a light rose colour appear on the buttocks (roseola typhosa), which later on are also found on the upper legs, upper arms and back. They soon disappear, however, and leave no traces.

Pustular eczema is so rare in cases of typhus, that as a rule its appearance is taken to indicate that the disease is not a case of abdominal typhus. Frequently, however, urticaria, (nettle-rash) perspiration and other pustules are to be noticed.

The great variety of symptoms indicates that innumerable peculiarities may occur in the course of typhus. In some cases it is so light and indistinct (walking typhoid) that it is extremely difficult to diagnose it. In other cases pneumonia or unconsciousness, headache or stiff neck are indicated so overwhelmingly, that it is well-nigh impossible to recognize the underlying illness as typhus. In such cases one speaks of lung and brain typhus.

Recurrence:—

In about 10% of all cases recurrence is observed, mostly caused through mistakes in diet, leaving bed too soon, and excitement. Usually in such relapses the fever takes the same course as the original attack, but is much less intense. Although such secondary attacks are not very dangerous as a rule, great caution should be observed, especially in regard to diet, which must be followed in the strictest way until all danger has passed.

Complications and Subsequent Troubles:—are very frequent and a serious menace to life.

The most important are hemorrhage of the brain, meningitis, erysipelas, gangrene of the skin and bones, wasting of the muscles, fibrinous pneumonia; pericarditis, and frequently weakness of the heart with its consequences.

Purulent inflammation of the middle ear is one which deserves special attention.

Loss of hair is a frequent occurrence during convalescence, owing to the ill-nourished condition of the skin; this, however, is but a temporary feature soon succeeded by renewed growth.

The prognosis or forecast of typhus is not altogether bad, notwithstanding the gravity of its symptoms and the dangers of its course.

Statistics show that the mortality from typhus does not exceed 7% but each complication makes the result more uncertain and the outlook less hopeful. In the event of perforation of the intestines and severe internal hemorrhage supervening, the chances of saving life are slender.

D. Treatment.

The treatment of typhus requires, in the first place, a correct judgment of the physical condition of the patient in determining the fever treatment to be applied. Success in severe cases of typhus will only be secured by those who understand the correct methods of treating the skin. Robust patients, with reserve energy and resisting power, may receive the unrelaxing application of repeated whole packs or cool full baths. There is, however, a species of endurance, which may prove unable to endure the sustained and active force of these applications. In such cases milder applications and more frequent changes are recommended. Packs, interchanged with baths, clysters or enemas which subdue fever, alternated with ablutions, and similar methods.

Extremely stout and nervous patients must be treated with the greatest caution.

As typhus cases gradually develop, care must be exercised to prevent too violent treatment in case of serious complications. In fact the physician must not be guided by fixed rules, but must be able to individualize with prompt discretion.

During the severest stage the diet must be absolutely a fever diet, prescribed in Form II, while patients suffering from lighter attacks, and convalescents, may be permitted the milder fever diet, given in Form III.

Mental Condition. Great care and observation is necessary with regard to the patient's mental state. The observance of a quiet demeanour on the part of everyone about the sick room should help to keep the patient quiet and undisturbed and may serve to preserve his consciousness.

I have treated very severe cases of typhus, with extremely high fever, during which, however, consciousness remained. Inexorable strictness in this respect is often resented and misunderstood by those surrounding the patient until they realize the far-reaching importance of the orders by comparison with other cases.

Cold ablutions on the affected parts, air and water cushions, must be employed early enough to avert any danger of bed-sores.

This strict treatment of the patient—physically and mentally, will in most cases be sufficient to render his condition endurable; otherwise the struggle against the irritation of complications becomes intense, rendering it imperative, in the first degree, that the brain symptoms should be carefully watched.

Cold compresses on the head must be used in case such symptoms appear, but absolute undisturbed rest will conduce more than anything else to their infrequent occurrence.

Collapse must be contended against with light stimulating food (light bouillon of veal or chicken with a little condensed substance). Wine with alcohol might endanger the life of the patient. If the collapse is protracted, constituting a menace to life, the addition of cold water to the lukewarm bath and similar procedure may be tried, but only by a skilled expert.

Diarrhoea must be resisted by means of diet and clysters (enemas) with rice-water, if necessary; the enemas must be given cautiously. They are dangerous on account of possible violations and consequently rupture of the ulcerated intestines. These and other points, however, such as threatening paralysis etc., are entirely in the hands of the physician.

The contest against all the complications of typhus must be directed by absolutely skilled and experienced persons only, since in this disease particularly every mistake of any importance whatsoever, may cost the life of the patient.

Besides this specific form of typhus which commands general attention, the others are of merely theoretical interest. One, however, I wish to mention in passing; namely:

E. Relapsing Fever (Typhus Recurrens).

This also begins with chills and shivering, and a general tired feeling, and is immediately followed by high fever, up to a temperature of 104 deg.. The skin is covered with excretory perspiration. The brain symptoms are lacking. The illness reaches its climax very quickly; but suddenly the patient feels much better, after extremely free perspiration. He continues remarkably well for about a week, when a new attack of the illness, a relapse, occurs. There are frequently from three to four relapses of this kind, which severely tax the strength of the patient.

The number and the intensity of these relapses determines the degree of the illness.

The treatment is regulated in accordance with the principles to be applied in abdominal typhus. The relapses may be averted or at any rate reduced to a great degree, by strict observance of the methods herein prescribed, especially in regard to diet.

F. Diet in Cases of Typhus.

Typhus abdominalis is a form of disease which requires the most careful dietetic treatment, since it combines high fever, which lasts for several weeks, with a severe ulcerous process in the small and large intestines.

Nutrition is seriously hampered by the long duration of the illness, usually considerable lack of appetite and the absolute necessity of nursing the ulcerous intestines in the most studiously careful way.

In cases which develop to the highest degree, it naturally follows that the patient wastes away to a great extent.

In the first place, all solid food must be strictly avoided. Too great stress cannot be laid on this point, since the patient, especially in lighter cases, frequently shows a strong desire for food—especially fruit.

Any lack of firmness and caution in this respect may have the most disastrous consequences. Many a patient suffering from typhus has lost his life or experienced a bad relapse and hemorrhages of the intestines through a mistake in diet,—through taking too much or unsuitable food.

The most critical period for the liability to hemorrhage, which in some cases is very profuse, is the third, and in lighter cases, the second week, when the crust of the intestinal ulcers begins to scale off.

The diet list, as in cases of typhus, consists of Form II, and milk; and it should be made a rule to confine it strictly to the most simple food, bouillon, mucilaginous soups, milk, undiluted or with tea, everything prepared with a little egg. Cream will sometimes agree with the patient.

The stools will indicate the digestion or otherwise of the milk. If there are many morsels of casein apparent in the same, the quantity of milk must be reduced and given in diluted form. The use of meat juice, liquid or frozen, and meat jelly, is quite permissible. Although neither of these preparations are very strong, they must be considered as important building-stones for the nourishment of the patient, and they offer a little variety, which is often most desirable.

Drinks. For drinking, usually fresh water is used, also bread and albumen water, especially Dechmann's Plasmogen, 15 grains in one pint of water, a mouthful from time to time alternating with Dechmann's Tonogen.

Great caution must be used in regard to fruit juices and lemonade on account of the danger of irritation of the intestines.

Carbonated and other mineral waters must be strictly avoided, since they only add to the usually prevailing meteorism, or gas in the abdominal cavity.

Albumen water, which is occasionally used in case of febrile disease and intestinal catarrh of children, is prepared by mixing the white of an egg and two to four spoonfuls of sugar in a tumbler of water. This is strained and cooled before being used. It is easily understood that by this we generate new life in the patient, so to speak, through the albumen, since it contains a large quantity of tissue building material, which in turn prevents catabolism or destruction of the organism, this as contrasted with the methods of the old regime which dooms the patient to certain death by opiates,—a course frequently resorted to by inexperienced practitioners.

If, by attention and care, the treatment has succeeded in strengthening the energy of the resisting organism to a certain degree during the fever, it becomes necessary in due course to regulate the desire for food, which sometimes grows and asserts itself in a rapid and energetic manner, while the fever is receding.

The cessation of fever by no means indicates that the ulcers are completely healed, and any mistake as to quantity and quality of food may cause a relapse. Liquid diet must, therefore, be given exclusively for at least, another eight days after the fever has ceased. After this, from week to week, gradually, the use of Form III, may be employed and thereafter more solid food, as given anon, under Form IV.

These cautions must be strictly heeded, especially in case of typhus recurrens.

If in the course of typhus severe complications, such as hemorrhage of the intestines or perforation thereof, should supervene, nourishment must immediately be reduced to a minimum. In such instances it is best to confine the diet to mucilaginous soup and to forbid everything else, as long as hemorrhages have not ceased, or the other dangerous peritonitic symptoms have not disappeared. Gradually, Form V and lastly, Form VI, may be followed.

Form IV. Diet of the lightest kind, containing meat, but only in scraped or shredded form. Noodle soup, rice soup.

Mashed boiled brains or sweetbread, or puree of white or red roasted meat, in soup.

Brains and sweetbread boiled.

Raw scraped meat (beef, ham, etc.)

Lean veal sausages, boiled.

Mashed potatoes prepared with milk.

Rice with bouillon or with milk.

Toasted rolls and toast.

Form V. Light diet, containing meat in more solid form.

Pigeon, chicken boiled.

Small fish, with little oil, such as brook or lake trout, boiled.

Scraped beefsteak, raw ham, boiled tongue.

As delicacies: small quantities of caviar, frogs' legs, oysters, sardelle softened in milk.

Potatoes mashed and salted, spinach, young peas mashed, cauliflower, asparagues tips, mashed chestnuts, mashed turnips, fruit sauces.

Groat or sago puddings.

Rolls, white bread.

Form VI. Somewhat heavier meat diet. (Gradually returning to ordinary food.)

Pigeon, chicken, young deer-meat, hare, everything roasted.

Beef tenderloin, tender roast beef, roast veal.

Boiled pike or carp.

Young turnips.

All dishes to be prepared with very little fat, butter to be used exclusively. All strong spices to be avoided. Regarding drinks to be taken with these forms of diet, as a rule good drinking water takes the first place. This is allowed under all circumstances. Still less irritating are weak decoctions of cereals, such as barley and rice water. Other light nutritive non-irritating drinks are bread water and albumen water.

Only natural waters, such as Vichy, Apollinaris with half milk or the like are to be used. Drinks containing fruit acid, like lemonade and fruit juices, are somewhat stimulating; however, in a general way, they may be given during fever, but not in typhus.

Of alcoholic drinks the best is light wine (bordeaux), first diluted and later in its natural state. As a rule it should not be used before Form IV has been followed and Form V commenced. Occasionally, mild white wine or well fermented beer, may be permitted. Coffee is absolutely forbidden during any of the foregoing forms of diet, but light teas with milk are allowed in most cases.

The main point in the different forms of diet as enumerated herein is to be found in the mechanical gradation of the substances in accordance with the progressive condition of the patient.

The diet in a certain individual case of the kind will not, however, always be necessarily identical with one or any of the foregoing forms, but must depend upon the individual condition.

In the first place, under each form there are easily discernible gradations, according to relative points of view which are all familiar to the physician and to which attention must be paid under similar circumstances. On the other hand, very often one of the items of a later form may be allowed while, in general, one of the previous forms is applied. Thus the transition from Form II to the first items of Form III is hardly perceptible.

Of course every form comprises all previous ones, so that each consecutive form affords a greater range than the last.

Occasionally other points than those I have mentioned may have to be taken into consideration. It is obviously impossible as the reader will observe, to formulate an absolutely uniform scheme applicable to every case.

Next to the description and quality of food, the quantity to be introduced into the stomach at one time, is a matter of the utmost vital importance.

DECH-MANNA-COMPOSITIONS.

(Only main compositions, specialities to Doctor's order.)

In all forms of Typhoid fever: Neurogen, Plasmogen, Tonogen, Eubiogen.

Physical: Partial Packs.

SO-CALLED "NEGATIVE CHILDREN'S DISEASE".

In strong contrast to the conditions of "positive" disease amongst children, due, as I have explained, to over-vitality and too rapid vibrations, we have to consider the opposite condition of Negative disease, comprising all physical disturbances wherein cold negative electrical forces and reduced vibrations produce unhealthy action of the mucous membranes, resulting in degeneration of the tissues known as Catarrh in various forms. Bronchitis, Grippe, Influenza and light catarrhal inflammation of the respective organs. One of the most serious in this chapter is summer-complaint (Cholera infantum). This disease, which causes the death of so many, is due to the bringing up of infants on artificial food instead of on the mother's breast. It is one of the negative diseases caused by diminished vitality. The disease is similar to Asiatic cholera. An extensive description of the same is given in Chapter XI A of my book, "Regeneration or Dare To Be Healthy." Frequent vomiting and diarrhoea, with rapid collapse of all vitality, and severe brain disturbances manifest themselves, and death frequently occurs after 36 hours. During hot weather bacterial germs impregnating the air, frequently enter the milk, and many children succumb to the disease at the same time, until wind and rain improve the general conditions. This is the explanation of the occasional epidemic appearance of Cholera Infantum—and its established cause.

Therapy.

Diet: The mother's breast or the breast of a healthy wet nurse is the very best remedy for this complaint, if applied at an early stage. If this is impossible, a gruel of barley, oats or mucilaginous rice-water, a decoction of salep (1 teaspoonful to 1 pint of water), or rice water (1 teaspoonful of crushed toasted rice to 1/2 pint water) are recommended. The missing nutritive substance is best supplied by calcareous earth (calcium carbonate), giving 1/4 teaspoonful in a tablespoonful of sweetened water every 3 to 4 hours, for a day or two. It is the simplest, yet most wonderful remedy ever discovered. It is in cases like this that physiological chemistry celebrates its victory. Try it and you will be convinced. For more vigorous means the physician must be consulted, as he should be in any case of this kind, and that as quickly as possible.

Physical: Sponging the entire body of the child with lukewarm vinegar and water, using one-half vinegar and one-half water, may prove very successful. Warm packs around the abdomen and extending down to the soles of the feet, often prove very effective. The abdomen must be kept warm. The employment of coloured light for curative purposes has been already explained in the preceding pages. The use of blue curtains is, accordingly enjoined here on account of the invigorating influence of the more violent vibrations of blue light upon an organism suffering under the reduced vibration of a "negative disease."

The Contagious Character of Children's Diseases.

In strict adherence to the biological standpoint, it is recommended that a child be separated from the other children in the house as soon as it becomes ill, and if it is not convenient to send the other children away to be taken care of by friends, they must at least be excluded from the sick-chamber. Each one of these diseases develops some sort of bacillus in its first appearance, and this leaves the body and may fall on receptive soil in the body of another child. Since all the children in one family live in the same environment and receive practically the same nourishment, and are of the same parentage, the presumption prevails that each one of them is equally susceptible to the disease with which one of the children has been affected. It is, therefore, advisable to adopt preventive and protective measures with them all, by applying abdominal packs and giving them Dechmann's Plasmogen, which will strengthen the white corpuscles of the blood in their fight against possibly intruding bacilli; also Dechmann's Tonogen, in order to give the red corpuscles and the heart the power to endure the greater efforts which the demand for increased vitality will necessitate. The application of these measures will in many cases entirely prevent an impending attack of the disease, and if not, will at least make it easier to control.

The golden rule: Keep the head cool, the feet warm and the bowels open; that is the golden rule to be followed in the treatment of all children's diseases. All means that are applied must have but the one object, that of making the condition of the blood as good as possible, so that it will maintain a fluid form and circulate readily, richly supplied with all the necessary upbuilding substances. This, and not the use of anti-toxins, will guarantee a speedy return to normal conditions.

Diet: The importance of the diet in all of these diseases has been indicated on several occasions. Its application is treated extensively under the fever diet; exceptions to be determined by the physician.

Dech-manna-Compositions: The compositions to be used in case of children's diseases will, as indicated above, consist mainly of Plasmogen and Tonogen. Small doses of Eubiogen will be of great advantage in promoting the general condition of the patient. These three compositions should always be available in a family where there are children, as their application will prove very beneficial in any case, even before the arrival of the physician.

Physical: The correct application of ablutions of vinegar and water, of partial and other packs and various baths, must be left to the prescription of the physician, depending on the nature of the individual case, and the effect on the patient, with the exception of the abdominal pack. This should always be applied immediately: cold in positive, and warm in negative diseases.

THE TONSURE OF THE TONSILS.

Though not strictly within the scope of my intention in the present booklet, I feel that no treatise, however brief, which purports to be a free and candid expression of the ills that child-life is heir to, could afford to ignore the burning and much debated question of the tonsils and their significance, present and future, to the well-being of the child, or could deem the task accomplished without raising a warning and protesting voice on behalf of the helpless victims, whose recurrent name is legion, against the callous and persistent violation and destruction of the functions of vital organs, the only shadow of justification of which is, on the one hand, a fashionable popular delusion on the part of parents and, on the other, interested complacency on the part of their medical advisers, accentuated by a strong and dangerous tendency towards operation and empiric surgery generally.

This is a strong and sweeping indictment, perhaps. Let us therefore pause for a moment whilst we consult other sources of opinion for confirmation or refutal.

And, in the wide range of American and English criteria, what corroboration do we find? We find, as regards America, the venerable Professor Alexander H. Stevens, M.D., a member of the New York College of Physicians, writing as follows:

"The reason medicine has advanced so slowly is because physicians have studied the writings of their predecessors instead of nature."

From England the verdict comes to this effect:

Professor Evans, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, of London, says, in part:

"The Medical Practice of our day is, at the best, a most uncertain and unsatisfactory system: it has neither philosophy nor common sense to recommend it to confidence."

If such opinions prevail within the sacred, State-protected precincts of the profession, how long, revolted confidence exclaims—how long before a credulous, deluded public awakens from its deep hypnotic trance.

Against Tonsil destruction three arguments stand:

(1) That the primal intention of Universal Mind—(sometimes termed the Soul of Being; the Spirit of All Good or, in simple reverence, "God")—was obviously no malign intention, but an intention for good, is an axiom which will be rationally accepted, I presume, as logically and conclusively assured.

(2) That the functions of the tonsils are, in the present state of medical knowledge, practically still unknown is the deliberate and final statement made within the past few years by one of the greatest reputed authorities on the subject.

(3) That the tonsil has some important mission to fulfill is clearly demonstrated by the fact of its frequent recrudescence, or rather, the natural renewal of the organ after surgical removal—a spontaneous physiological organic mutiny, as it were, supported by its lymphatic glandular dependents, against the reckless ignorance of medical practitioners and the perversity of the medico-cum-parental fashion of the day.

For the fact that it is a fashion, and nothing more, is unhappily fully established on ample and high authority within the medical prescriptive pale. And, in fact, even as "The Tonsure" or shaving of the crown, became by fashion and mendicity a feature of priesthood and monastic piety, so has the slaughter of the Tonsils come to be regarded by fashion and mendacity as a feature of childhood and medical expediency and ineptitude.

Professor John D. Mackenzie, M.D., of Baltimore, a distinguished leader of the advanced school of medical science, in the course of a brilliant and exhaustive treatise on the subject written as he says, reluctantly, in the interest of the public health and safety, quotes the deliberate opinion of an equally eminent medical friend to the effect that:

"Of all the surgical insanities within his recollection this onslaught on the tonsils was the worst—not excepting the operation on the appendix."

Dr. Mackenzie then proceeds to show how abysmal has been the ignorance of the functions of these organs from the earliest times, (including a distinguished English medical luminary who went to far as to say: "were I attempting the artificial construction of a man I would leave out the tonsils,") adding that the tonsil was regarded as a useless appendage and "like its little neighbour, the uvula, was sacrificed on every possible pretext or when the surgeon did not know what else to do."

"Never," he says, "in the history of medicine has the lust for operation on the tonsils been as passionate as it is at the present time. It is not simply a surgical thirst, it is a mania, a madness, an obsession. It has infected not only the general profession, but also the laity." In proof of this he adds: "A leading laryngologist in one of the largest cities came to me with the humiliating confession that although holding views hostile to such operations he had been forced to perform tonsillectomy in every case in order to satisfy the popular craze and to save his practice from destruction." He cites an instance in which a mother brought her little six-year-old daughter to him, "to know whether her tonsils ought to come out;"—and in answer to the assurance: "your baby is perfectly well, why do you want her tonsils out?" the fond mother's reply was: "Because she sometimes wets the bed!"

Recent universal inspection of the throats of school children has revealed the fact that nearly all children at some time of life have more or less enlarged tonsils. And the reports maintain that this, for the most part, is harmless if not actually physiologic—natural—and that their removal in these cases is not only unnecessary but injurious to the proper development of the child.

Nevertheless, the reports of the special hospitals for diseases of the nose and throat show to what an appalling extent this destructive operation is perpetrated throughout the land.

"Much wild and incontinent talk," Dr. Mackenzie continues, "for which their teachers are sometimes largely to blame, has poisoned the minds of the younger generation of operators and thrown the public into hysteria. They are told that with the disappearance of the tonsils in man, certain diseases will cease to exist and parents nowadays bring their perfectly sound children for tonsil removal in order to head off these affections. Summing up the writer demonstrates that the functions of the tonsils are, at present unknown and that until known nothing authoritative can be said definitely on the subject, whether they be portals for the entrance of disease or the exit for the very purpose of germs of infection; common sense must decide;—whether they protect the organism from danger or invite the presence of disease."

I, for my own part, am of Dr. Mackenzie's opinion: that there is an endless flow of lymph from their interior to the free surface, which unchecked, prevents the entrance of germs from the surface and washes out impurities from within. That in any case, one of the functions undoubtedly is the production of leucocytes or protective white blood corpuscles and that the tonsil is not, as generally understood, a lymphatic gland; that the general ignorance of this fact has led to the useless sacrifice of thousands of tonsils, on the fallacious assumption that their functional activities may be vicariously undertaken by other lymphatic glands; and finally, that the physiologic integrity of the tonsil is of the utmost importance in infant and child life.

The consensus of advanced scientific opinion is now to the effect that the activity of the tonsils as possible accessories of disease has been vastly exaggerated, that like the thousand and one successive misleading theories which in turn, from time to time, have seized upon the imagination and obsessed the minds of the medical fraternity for brief and passing periods, this pernicious craze too, has about run its course. The causes from which this peculiar lust for operation emanates would be perhaps a difficult psychological puzzle to determine; the malign impulse, as regards some special function, seems to spring, as it were, by intuition, unbidden into being from the illusive depths of some perverted intellect, to rage for a while through the medical world with a death roll deadly as the plague and as suddenly to pass into desuetude and disappear behind the impregnable ramparts of "prescriptive right" and "privilege"—terms which in plain parlance mean to the masses in cold actual fact, the absolute negation of all right—the domination of arbitrary, irresponsible and State protected wrong.

Between facts and fables, the evidence with regard to the tonsils and their functions seems to establish the conclusion that they have been wrongfully and foolishly held responsible for "an iliad of ills." The region of the nose and mouth is obviously the happy hunting-ground of myriads of pathogenic bacteria. It is likewise continually the scene of innumerable surgical operations, performed necessarily without antiseptic precautions, thus extending the area of possible infection indefinitely to the entire upper air tract which medical incompetence so often fails to explore. And indeed, as Dr. Mackenzie freely remarks: "Of far graver, far-reaching and deeper significance are cases of infection in which life has doubtless been sacrificed by clinging to the lazy and stupefying delusion that the tonsil is the sole portal of poisoning."

The mere size of the tonsil, it is shown, is no indication for removal except it be large enough or diseased enough to interfere with respiration, speech or deglutition—that is, swallowing; in which case only a sufficient portion should be taken away, and that without delay. The tonsil may be greatly enlarged or buried deeply in the palatine arcade and yet not interfere with the well-being of the individual. Such tonsils are the special prey of the tonsillectomist. If they are not interrupting function they are best left alone. Moreover, it occasionally happens that the resurrection of a "buried" tonsil is followed shortly by the burial of the patient.

The practical illuminating lesson to be gleamed is this: That if in infancy and childhood, we pay more attention to the neglected nasal cavities and to the hygiene of the mouth and teeth, we will have less tonsil disease and fewer tonsil operations.

"The partial enucleation of the tonsil," the writer asserts, "with even the removal of its capsule if desired, is complete enough for all necessary purposes and practically free from danger; moreover, it produces equal or better results than complete enucleation with its many accidents and complications, to say nothing of its long roll of unrecorded death."

Another point: From the professional vocalist's point of view. The tonsils are phonatory or vocal organs and play an important part in the mechanism of speech and song. They influence the surrounding muscles and modify the resonance of the mouth. Enlarged by disease, they may cripple these functions and if so, their removal may increase the compass of the voice by one or more octaves; but it is a capital operation and a dangerous one in which a fatal result is by no means a remote possibility.

The object of this interesting paper, it is pointed out, is not to assail operation for definite and legitimate cause, but to warn against the "busy internist"—the hospital surgeon—too busy for careful differential diagnosis—and his "accommodating tonsillectomist" who is "in the business for revenue only." But the onus for the existing deplorable state of affairs he lays frankly upon the shoulders of the teachers and insists that the cure of the evil is largely educational. "When," says he, "pre-eminent authority proclaims in lecture and text book as indisputable truth the relationship between a host of diseases and the tonsils of the child and advises the removal of the glands as a routine method of procedure, what can we expect of the student whose mind is thus poisoned at the very fountainhead of his medical education by ephemeral theory that masquerades so cheerily in the garb of indestructible fact?" "How," he exclaims, "are we to offset the irresponsibility of the responsible?" But we hear on all sides—"Look at the results." Results? Here is a partial list from the practice—not of the ignorant, but of the most experienced and skilled: Death from hemorrhage and shock, development of latent tuberculosis, laceration and other serious injuries of the palate and pharyngeal muscles, great contraction of the parts, removal of one barrier of infection, severe infection of wound, septicemia, or bacterial infection, troublesome cicatrices, suppurative otitis media and other ear affections, troubles of voice and vision, ruin of singing voice, emphysemia, or destruction of the tissues, septic infarct,—infected arterial obstruction, pneumonia, increased susceptibility to throat disease, pharyngeal quinsy and last, but not least tonsillitis!

The trenchant and tragic article concludes with the expression of the hope that the day is not far distant when not only the profession but the public shall demand that this senseless slaughter be stopped. "Is not this day of medical and moral preaching and uplifting," it is asked, "a fitting one in which to lift the public out of the atmosphere into which it has been drugged, and as to the reckless tonsillectomist, a proper time to apply the remedy of the referendum and recall. It has come to a point when it is not only a burning question to the profession, but also to the public. This senseless, ruthless destruction of the tonsil is often so far reaching and enduring in its evil results that it is becoming each day a greater menace to the public good."

Such is the wisdom of these world-wide sages, They wildly yearn to learn its innermost And break the organ's wondrous works with sledges— Though music, its sweet soul, for aye is lost; That they have reached the goal, such is their dreaming, When tissues, nerves, and veins reveal their knife— When in the very core their steel is gleaming— But, one thing they forget—and that is life!

This matter of the functions of the tonsils is fully dealt with in my greater work "Regeneration or Dare to be Healthy"—Chapters VII. and VIII., in which I show on the best authority that the tonsils have a great mission to fulfill—so great indeed that their treatment according to the present methods of the medical faculty can, in my estimation, only be stigmatized as the equivalent of a crime.

It is the conclusion arrived at scientifically by the greatest authorities that the Tonsils secrete a very potent anti-toxic fluid which is excreted whenever dangerous pathogenic bacilli attempt to enter the pharynx or larynx, constituting in fact the ever watchful sentinels of the oral and nasal portals through which an entrance into the human organism might be surprised by its ever active surreptitious enemies—the bacteria of infection and disease.

PRE-NATAL CARE.

It would be improper to close this section, touching child-life, without some special reference to pre-natal care. It has been well said by eminent authorities that a child's "education should begin long before its birth." This to many may seem mysterious or even foolish, according to their advancement on the plane of knowledge. But America has long ago awakened to the truth of it, and pre-natal clinics have been established on a large scale—notably in New York—for the scientific supervision and comfort of expectant mothers who may need it. The natural right of every child to be born in health and happiness, is at length recognized.

Human magnetism, or nerve force, is beginning to be understood and utilized as a great vital, health-compelling, harmonizing factor of vast significance to the future of the race.

The real and practical alliance between the physical and the psychic—between body and mind—is better realized; as for instance: You may be seized with an idea, or a passion, and it disturbs your health of body; you may take indigestible food, or suffer injury or fatigue, and it disturbs your health of mind.

But beyond and behind all else are all those seemingly occult and sinister, pre-natal influences centered in hereditary and kindred considerations which are still more significant and difficult to locate and overcome.

These problems have been thought out and solved long before the dawn of the present social awakening and the conclusions have been tabulated in the closest detail from the first moment of embryonic life, faithfully defining the paths that inevitably lead to the desired goal of Hygienic Birth, of Physical Perfection and the Mental State termed Happiness, in Infancy.

All these things will be found minutely focussed in picturesque relief, in my previous work entitled: "Within the Bud."

ENDEMIC AND EPIDEMIC DISEASE.

Among the most deadly menaces that beset human life upon this planet are those forms of disease classed under the head of so-called Endemic and Epidemic disease and including in its baleful limits Yellow fever, Cholera, Pellagra—otherwise known as Hook-worm, Plague and so-called Spanish Influenza.

Based upon Physiological Chemistry and explained from the Biological standpoint, the explanation of these covers a wide scientific area and geographically treated embraces the globe.

The various problems of their cause and prevention have exercised the mind of science and research to an enormous degree and heavy premiums have been placed upon their solution, with more or less success and much expenditure has been incurred in the examination of local conditions.

As far as this Continent is concerned, perhaps the most troublesome has been Climatic Fever which varies greatly in form and intensity according to temperature and location.

"Yellow Fever," as it is named, has swept some Southern localities from time to time, but Science, Sanitation and Hygiene have curbed its virulence and spread, as in the case of outbreaks of epidemics such as small-pox—for the control of which, by the way, the advocates of the vile and pernicious practice of vaccination, fraudulently claim the credit, even in these advancing times, when the wiles of self interest are disclosed, the worship of the "Putrid Calf" exposed and the days of the vaccine vendor numbered.

Yellow Fever occurs on the Coast of tropical countries and, as a rule, is fatal, after a rapid development of from 3 to 7 days.

The explanation of the cause of the disease is comparatively simple: The air on the hot coast lands is highly charged with evaporated water. Heat and humidity have the effect of diverting from the human organism the electricity which, as already shown, constitutes its vital cohesion and the same influences likewise reduce the oxygen in the atmosphere. These are the two primary causes of Yellow Fever.

Pellagra (hook-worm or Lombardy Leprosy) is, according to the tenets of the Regular School, an endemic skin and spinal disease of Southern Europe. It is said to be due to eating damaged corn but dependent also upon bad hygienic conditions, poor food and exposure to the sun. Its salient features are weakness, debility, digestive disturbance, spinal pain, convulsions, melancholia and idiocy.

More recent investigation has judged it to be a deficiency disease, due to low and unvaried diet and consequent failure of metabolism.

In every case these climatic disease forms are caused by a combination of hot air, lacking oxygen, and evaporated water, including Cholera which also varies in intensity according to heat conditions.

Cholera and Plague originate on the coast of Bengal, India, where conditions are bad enough of themselves without the apology of the illusive bacillus as a causative agent.

That Cholera is contagious cannot be doubted and it is no superstition that fear predisposes thereto. For all emotions consume electrical power in the body and thus break down its power of resistance.

Infantile paralysis, Typhoid-fever, Small-pox, etc., are dealt with elsewhere and therefore need no mention here.

It is impossible to deal adequately with so wide a subject within the narrow limits at my disposal; but the full details and environment of each, together with the respective methods of treatment will be found in detail in the parent work "Regeneration or Dare to be Healthy."

THE SPANISH INFLUENZA.

In any attempt to unravel the tangled skein of cause and circumstance which surrounds the subject of the world-sweeping pandemic which masquerades under the misleading title of the "Spanish Influenza," the first and most important initial step must be a keen and careful sifting of the facts and forces, natural and artificial, which control or dominate the situation.

The debatable questions appear to be chiefly the following:

(1) The fundamental causes that underlie the great-epidemics or pandemics that the world experiences from time to time—the present one in particular.

(2) The fact or fallacy of the germ as a causative factor or merely an effect or product of disease conditions.

(3) The alternative course, origin and medium of transmission and finally

(4) The soundness and efficiency or otherwise of the preventive and curative measures with which the combined intelligence of the Medical Faculty has risen to the dire emergency of the moment for the protection of the people who have relied so confidently, as by law compelled, upon the standard of their acumen and official aid as competent guardians of public safety.

The findings, as to the first question, are to the effect that it appears, from the earliest recorded annals of disease, that epidemics corresponding to the present outbreak have occurred at irregular periods all up the centuries under names and conditions peculiar to the times, and following usually in the wake of some great social cataclysm, strain or upheaval, the result of wars, persecutions, famines and distress—causes which clearly illustrate the close reactive connection between the mental and physical action of disease.

The great pandemics seem to have originated largely in the Orient—the region of vast congested populations and racial struggles and starvation—the advent of their apparent influence upon the western world depending chiefly upon the rate of commercial or popular intercourse, the movements of armies or the ingress or egress of peoples. The logical establishment of direct proof of the connection between these visitations and local epidemics in distant lands is a problem as yet unsolved. The weight of evidence, at first sight, would seem to lie rather in the other direction—to indicate that such epidemics are the direct outcome of existing local conditions, mental and physical.

For example: At the end of that strenuous period in England's history, between the reign of the first Charles and the fall of the Commonwealth, an epidemic broke out which, as the historian tells us, converted the country into "one vast hospital." The malady—which by the way was fatal to Cromwell—the Lord Protector himself—was then termed "the ague." The term "Influenza" was first given to the epidemic of 1743 in accordance with the Italianizing fashion of the day, but was eventually superseded by the French expression "La Grippe," usually held to represent a more modified form of the disease which appears to vary in intensity and virulence according lo its provocation and derivation.

The old school hypothesis and the deductions therefrom would seem therefore, to be this: That a super-malignant contagium imported from some foreign source falls upon organisms predisposed to infection by mental stress or physical privation and over-strain or both combined; and the contagion thus generated through the medium of some unsuspected "carrier" seizes upon and sweeps through that portion of the community so predisposed, in the form of a great, general epidemic with a maximum of mortality. At later intervals the same repeats itself with less violence and reduced mortality, because a great proportion,—representing the sufferers in the original epidemic,—being now thereby immune, the onus falls upon that section of the younger generation unprotected by individual resistant force who consequently become the chief sufferers—as in the case of the present epidemic, the pandemic form of which is obviously due to the fact that equal conditions of unrest, privation and distress prevail universally throughout the entire nerve plains of the Planet.

The first recorded outbreak in America occurred in the year 1647, followed by a second in 1655 and again in 1789 and 1807. In these the mortality appears to have been confined, after the first outbreak, to a few mere modest thousands whereas in the present visitation a conservative estimate places the figures of the horrible world-holocaust at no less a sum than 18 million lives in all.[D] The ravages in America have been appalling including many of the medical profession.

We pass on then to the second item—the question of the germ.

The illusive germ has come to be regarded by the layman with reserve—nay more—with suspicion. The part of the bacteriologist has been somewhat overdone. The conditions of popular credence are not what they were. A great change has awakened the masses of the people and a new intelligence is born which now discerns that disease is one great Unity just as the body is one inseparable interdependent whole—that the cause of disease is in the blood and dependent upon its nourishment and moreover, that the physical forces of the body can be exhausted as much by mental strain,—causing the too rapid burning up of nerve fat (lecithin),—as by excessive physical exertion. For example. Mental disturbance—grief, worry, excitement—produce immediate physical effect in headache, palpitations and the like. Physical exhaustion—privation, hunger and over-work—on the other hand produce mental depression and collapse. The inevitable law of compensation rules.

Thus the germ, bacillus, or microbe, as a direct cause of disease is an exploded fallacy. They are now recognized as the result of disease—not the cause: releasing irritants perhaps and possibly carriers or transmitting mediums to other diseased or predisposed organisms.

It follows accordingly that Sero-Therapy or Inoculation with specific serums derived from such germs, as a preventative of disease is simply a pernicious farce; "pernicious," since the introduction of such poisons by inocculation into the blood constitutes in itself a serious menace to life and health.

This has never been more clearly demonstrated than in the present singularly futile efforts of the Regular Medical Faculty to stay the on-rush of the Influenza Epidemic or to save or safeguard its victims—a fact which compels the people in their thousands to turn to the less pretentious but more successful members of the eclectic or Irregular schools among whom both help and healing may be found.

And this is the history of the Influenza germ:

The bacterial criminal was located. We know it, for the discovery was officially proclaimed and vouched for by the press with all due pomp and circumstance. True, it was "so minute as to be invisible to the most powerful microscope;"—but it was sensed by science, none the less, and handed over captive, for "culture" to the manufacturing chemist. Inoculation followed freely—the people in their thousands and our gallant troops alike submitted to the mandate of the powers that be—the soldiers voiceless and under penalty.