Chapter III: Introduction (2)

It may not be amiss to cite here a brief outline of the teachings of the four bright particular stars who have served as beacon lights in the history and development of medicine. Not only does the modern medical world acknowledge the doctrines of these four men as the foundation upon which the practice of healing has been raised to a science, but moreover,--_a point much more important for our consideration_,--it also admits that the least essential part of the work of Hippocrates, the "Father of Medicine;" namely, his _statement of theory_, is the part which has been accorded permanent prominence, whilst the portion of greatest value in his labours; that is to say, the _practical part_, has been neglected and ignored.

The following passages are taken from the article entitled "History of Medicine" in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th. Edition, vol. XVIII, pages 42-51.

"_Hippocrates_, called the 'Father of Medicine,' lived during the age of Pericles, (495-429 B.C.), and occupied as high a position in medicine as did the great philosophers, orators, and tragedians in their respective fields.

His high conception of the duties and position of the physician and the skill with which he manipulated the materials that were at hand, constituted two important characteristics of Hippocratic medicine. Another was the recognition that disease, as well as health, is a process governed by what we call natural laws, learned by observation, and indicating the direction of recovery. These views of the 'natural history of disease' led to habits of minute observation and careful interpretation of symptoms, in which the Hippocratic school excelled and has been the model for all succeeding ages, so that even now the true method of clinical medicine may be said to be the method of Hippocrates.

One of the important doctrines of Hippocrates was the healing power of nature. He did not teach that nature was sufficient to cure disease, but he recognized a natural process of the humours, at least in acute disease, being first of all _crude_, then passing through _coction_ or digestion, and finally being expelled by resolution or crisis through one of the natural channels of the body. The duty of the physician was to 'assist and not to hinder these changes, so that the sick man might conquer the disease with the help of the physician.'"

"_Galen_, the man from whom the greater part of modern European medicine has flowed, lived about 131 to 201 A.D. He was equipped with all the anatomical, medical, and philosophical knowledge of his time; he had studied all kinds of natural curiosities and was in close touch with important political events; he possessed enormous industry, great practical sagacity, and unbounded literary fluency. At that time there were numerous sects in the medical profession, various dogmatic systems prevailed in medical science, and the social standing of physicians was degraded. He assumed the task of reforming the existing evils and restoring the unity of medicine as it had been understood by Hippocrates, at the same time elevating the dignity of medical practitioners.

In the explanation and healing of diseases he applied the science of physiology. His theory was based upon the Hippocratic doctrine of humours, but he developed it with marvelous ingenuity. He advocated that the normal condition of the body depended upon a proper proportion of the four elements, hot, cold, wet and dry. The faulty proportions of the same gave rise, not to disease, but to the occasions for disease. He laid equal stress upon the faulty composition or dysaemia of the blood. He claimed that all diseases were due to a combination of these morbid predispositions, together with injurious external influences, and thus explained all symptoms and all diseases. He found a name for every phenomenon and a solution for every problem. And though it was precisely in this characteristic that he abandoned scientific methods and practical utility, it was also this quality that gained for him his popularity and prominence in the medical world.

However, his reputation grew slowly. His opinions were in opposition to those of other physicians of his time. In the succeeding generation he won esteem as a philosopher, and it was only gradually that his system was accepted implicitly. It enjoyed great, though not exclusive predominance until the fall of Roman civilization."

"_Thomas Sydenham_, (1624-1689) was well acquainted with the works of the ancient physicians and had a fair knowledge of chemistry. Whether he had any knowledge of anatomy is not definitely known. He advocated the actual study of disease in an impartial manner, discarding all hypothesis. He repeatedly referred to Hippocrates in his medical methods, and he has quite deservedly been styled the English Hippocrates. He placed great stress on the 'natural history of disease,' just as did his Greek master, and likewise attached great importance to 'epidemic constitution,' that is, the influence of weather and other natural causes on the process of disease. He believed in the healing power of nature to an even greater degree than did Hippocrates. He claimed that disease was nothing more than an effort on the part of nature to restore the health of the patient by the elimination of the morbific matter.

The reform of practical medicine was effected by men who advocated the rejection of all hypothesis and the impartial study of natural processes, as shown in health and disease. Sydenham showed that these natural processes could be studied and dealt with without being explained, and, by laying stress on facts and disregarding _explanations_, he introduced a _method_ in medicine far more fruitful than any discoveries. Though the dogmatic spirit continued to live for a long time, the reign of standard authority had passed."

"_Boerhaave._ In the latter part of the seventeenth century a physician arose (1668-1738) who was destined to become far more prominent in the medical world than any of the English physicians of the age of Queen Anne, though he differed but little from them in his way of thinking. This was _Hermann Boerhaave_. For many years he was professor of medicine at Leyden, and excelled in influence and reputation not only his greatest forerunners, Montanus of Padua and Sylvius of Leyden, but probably every subsequent teacher. The Hospital of Leyden became the centre of medical influence in Europe. Many of the leading English physicians of the 18th century studied there. Boerhaave's method of teaching was transplanted to Vienna through one of his pupils, Gerard Van Swieten, and thus the noted Vienna school of medicine was founded.

The services of Boerhaave to the progress of medicine can hardly be overestimated. He was the organizer and almost the constructor of the modern method of clinical instruction. He followed the methods of Hippocrates and Sydenham in his teachings and in his practice. The points of his system that are best known are his doctrines of inflammation, obstruction, and 'plethora.' In the practice of medicine he aimed to make use of all the anatomical and physiological acquisitions of his age, including microscopical anatomy.

In this respect he differed from Sydenham, for the latter paid but little more attention to modern medicine than to ancient dogma. In some respects he was like Galen, but again differed from him, as he did not wish to reduce his knowledge to any definite system. He spent much time in studying the medical classics, though he valued them from an historical standpoint rather than from an authoritative standpoint. It would almost seem that the great task of Boerhaave's life a combination of ancient and modern medicine, could not be of any real permanent value, and the same might be said of his Aphorisms, in which he gave a summary of the results of his long experience. And yet it is an indisputable fact that his contributions to the science of medicine form one of the necessary factors in the construction of modern medicine."

* * * * *

These extracts represent the principles of that bright constellation of Master Minds who have gone before us and guided our footsteps through tedious and tentative wanderings into the pathway of Truth. May their undoubting, united testimony act as a reassuring, convincing influence which will carry the reader back to the very fountain head of Medical jurisprudence, through the medium of the Encyclopedia Britannica, the highest accepted authority and criterion of authenticity in the English speaking world; for, at the same time it will also provide a positive and perfect safeguard and assurance of the solid basis and absolute authenticity of my methods and teachings besides indicating definitely the source and direction whence they are derived and establishing their classical trend and legitimate purpose.

SYSTEM OF REGENERATION

In order to bring the entire system of regeneration under review, I shall here endeavour to present in condensed form all the essential points in my teachings. The reader will thus be enabled to picture to himself his body, with its vital organs, clearly as in a mirror; he will become familiarized with its composition and twelve principal tissues, as well as with the sixteen elements of which they consist.

Man is a unit, and the human body an accumulation of millions of separate cells, which are centres of life and which, in different groupings and combinations, form the various organs that render existence possible.

This existence is the natural sequel of the existence of former human beings. They generated the life that is to be transferred by us to other living beings.

The several functions of the organism combine to form a chain of activities in which there must not be a single link missing, if life is to continue.

These activities are comprised within an accumulation of cells which are by no means stationary, for life means nothing more than the constant dying, of the old cells and the reconstruction of the new. It means that the human body as a whole is continually in a state of composition and decomposition.

Not until the accumulation of cells we call the body is recognized as one complete correlated and inseparable entity and the absolute interdependence of the separate cells, each one upon the others, is likewise accepted as the verified fact that it is--not until then will the erroneous and obsolete idea be discarded, by which the various organs of the body have been professionally treated as separate and independent considerations, even to the extent of being dealt with, in cases of disease, as totally aloof from one another and conveniently classed as proper subjects for submission to the expert opinion of that superior class of physicians who devote their attention exclusively to special organs and are accordingly termed "Specialists."

Thus the question arises: What is the cause of _disease_? The question does not apply to any one particular form of disease or class of diseases, but to disease generally, as a concrete term meaning any disorder which may manifest itself by individual disturbances in the body; for such disturbance is but a variation in quantity or quality of one general disturbance, a variation in the mechanism that controls the work of keeping the existing cells in proper condition and replacing those cells which are constantly being destroyed. It is a variation in the process of _regeneration, which we term life_.

METABOLISM is the process which is constantly going on in the human system, whereby the cells that have been consumed by oxidation are removed through the excreta--the faeces, the urine, the perspiration, and the exhalations from the lungs--to be replaced by new ones.

_Metabolism_, means change of matter. It signifies the course by which nutritive material, or food, is built up into living matter. This process is accomplished through the blood, which distributes the necessary material to all parts of the body where cells need to be replaced and carries away the consumed portions.

In the marvelous performance of its functions, when properly supplied, it carries the elements that are essential to regeneration in the correct proportions. When not properly supplied, these proportions become incorrect and foreign formations may arise which are disturbing to the organism.

In nature there is a constant tendency to counterbalance disturbances in the proper proportion and by distribution of cell building material to restore the normal condition. We may thus speak of the overwhelmingly curative tendency of nature.

Metabolism is the function of the body which most constantly requires attention. So, therefore, it is always through the blood that we must assist nature in the process of counterbalancing and rectifying or healing abnormal conditions.

It follows then, that, despite the apparent variety in _constitutional_ diseases, they are all practically the same. They are all disturbances of metabolism through some irregularity in the quantitative or qualitative condition of the blood.

Professor Jacob Moleschott, the great physiologist, has crystallized this truth in the immortal words: "One of the principal questions to be always asked of the physician is this: How may good healthy and active blood be obtained? View the question as we may, we shall be forced to acknowledge openly and explicitly or guardedly and indirectly that our volition, our sensations, our strength, and our pro-creative powers are dependent upon our blood and our blood upon our nutrition."

If such unity exists, why then the great difference in the human organs? How is it that a bone in its stonelike hardness is essentially the same as the exquisitely sensitive eye?

This is owing to the adaptive property of the cells, in the course of their enormous accumulation, to different functions, which, again, depends upon the varied arrangement of the constituent elements. These elements all find lodgement in the blood, and are carried by it in necessary quantities to the points where they are needed to assist the organs in replacing consumed matter.

The difficulty found in grasping this idea of _unity_ has led to the most momentous errors in modern medical science.

One result has been the undue attention paid to the study of anatomy, insomuch that the different organs are regarded as wholly distinct groups of cells. This is convenient from a descriptive standpoint, but it tends too much to draw attention away from the source of life, and of health. Only by noting the common characteristics of the cell accumulations termed organs, are we enabled to supply the necessary elements that may be lacking. And thus we arrive at the subject of _the chemical analysis of the human body_ and its various organs, a subject that has been badly neglected throughout the centuries.

It has been determined that the entire human body consists of a certain number of chemical elements, appearing in different aggregations in different parts. These aggregations repeating themselves in the various organs.

Twelve principal aggregations of chemical elements have been established and designated by the term _tissues_.

This fact led to the discovery of the truth that in the process of healing attention must be given, not to the various organs, but to the various tissues.

These tissues are dependent directly upon the condition and contents of the blood, whose office it is to nourish them and which exhibits the wonderful property of conveying to each tissue its selective regenerative materials, _provided of course, that these elements are present at the time in the blood_.

Sixteen definite elements have been established--and a seventeenth will probably soon be added thereto--which, in their various combinations and aggregations, form the different tissues of which the organs in the human body are composed.

The prevalence of one or several of these elements in a certain tissue forms the main or governing feature of that tissue. Thus, the prevalence of potassium phosphate characterizes muscle tissue, the prevalence of ammonium phosphate (lecithin) nerve tissue. Each one of the various tissues consists of certain of these elements, and each tissue at every point where it occurs is affected by the lack of any of its elements.

One of the greatest physiological chemists, Justus von Liebig, maintains that, if one of the necessary elements in a chemical composition is missing, the rest cannot fulfill their duties and the respective cells must become diseased and degenerate.

This discovery, known as "the law of the minimum," has thrown additional light upon the tasks before the new school of medicine.

Upon the basis of a careful diagnosis, the necessary nutritive salts or cell-foods, carefully compounded in accordance with the law of chemotaxis must be administered. This law discovered by _Engelmann_, requires that these cell-foods must be administered in digestible and assimilable forms so that the cells will be attracted by the chemical reaction, which may be of a positive or a negative character.

This being so, we can easily build up the tissues, by studying their chemical composition and supplying to the system that which is necessary, in the form of food. The cell will take care of the rest. Each tissue has its specific cell-system, and each cell will be attracted only by those ingredients which are needed for the mother tissue.

_To bring to a tissue through the blood the lacking constituent element or elements is the only means of regenerating and healing diseased cells._

In this connection we are considering only constitutional diseases.

It has been shown that the lack of certain chemical elements from the blood signifies disease and that the variety of the disease depends on which of the elements are either lacking entirely or are present in incorrect proportion.

After this lack has been determined, the course to pursue in curing the disease is to supply the lacking chemical elements in the form of concentrated cell-food in _addition_ to the regular food.

This method displaces entirely the old system of filling the body with poisonous drugs in order to _counteract the effects of the disease_. Such a system may suppress the symptoms by benumbing the nerves and preventing pain, it may counteract the natural process of healing of which inflammation, fever and pain, are the outward manifestations;--_but it can never cure_.

The discovery of dysaemia, or impaired blood supply, as the governing cause of disease, has destroyed another idol of modern fetish worship in medicine.

Since the discovery of various species of bacilli, which accompany nearly every form of disease in some form or other, these have been commonly declared to be the causes of diseases, and the tendency is to find some poison that will kill the bacilli in order to cure the disease.

The bacillus, on the contrary, is only the consequence, or symptom, of a disease. The diseased and decomposing parts furnish fertile soil suitable to the propagating of bacilli because of the lack of the normal chemical elements in the blood and tissue. But to kill them, while the underlying conditions for their reproduction remain unchanged, can, obviously, never effect a cure. So the great hopes that have attached to sero-therapy are doomed to disappointment, and the application of anti-toxins prepared from the serum of animals, are fated shortly to vanish in the wake of others of those strange temporary crazes which periodically obsess mankind for a while and pass away.

The discovery that a dysaemic condition of the blood leads to certain destructive processes termed diseases, was soon followed by the apprehension that one of the principal factors in bringing about such disturbance is _predisposition_,--in many cases heredity.

The term "Hereditary disease" signifies that the improper chemical composition of the blood of one or both parents is transmitted to the offspring, and that it causes in them likewise a degeneration of certain tissues and of the organs composed of those tissues.

The hygienic-dietetic system of healing does not, however, regard heredity as an invincible enemy, especially since my discovery of the "Law of the Cross-Transmission of Characteristics."

It is in the solution of this problem of "hereditary disease" that my system will eventually come into its own and will ere long be recognized as the most rational and effectual therapy ever applied since the beginning of the art of healing. It may be years before it is accorded the proverbially tardy acknowledgment of the "orthodox" schools, but that it will, nay _must_ be eventually adopted is virtually a foregone conclusion--that is, if it be indeed the function or policy of the physician of the future to adequately seek to succour the suffering and regenerate the races of mankind. Of the physician of the present it can at best be said in Goethe's incisive words:

"Er halt die Theile in seiner Hand,
Doch fehlt ihm leider das gelst' ge Band."

He holds the parts within his hand,
But lacks the mental grasp of all.

For full explanation of the significance of my law, I must refer you to the first lecture in my book entitled "Within the Bud,"--and the lesson therein on the theory of "Pangenesis," which space forbids my repeating here. This lesson will convey conclusively to any thinking mind what heredity really means. After a brief study of this interesting subject the importance of the "Law of the Cross-Transmission of Characteristics" will become amply apparent and the intelligent reader will undoubtedly wonder why it has not been applied and acknowledged long ago. For answer, I must refer you to the schools, whose policy it has ever been to, at any rate, abstain from assisting, if not absolutely to diplomatically hinder the development of fresh scientific discoveries. But the time is fast approaching when a sharp and decisive end to this iniquity will be demanded by the will of an enlightened people; only then will the existing orthodox power be compelled to loosen its obstructive grip which the interests of humanity have, so far, been powerless to unclasp. But, to quote the stirring words of one who looked with prophetic, faithful eye into the tangled problems of futurity:

"The people will come into their own at last,--
God is not mocked for ever."

My Law of the Cross-Transmission of Characteristics may be simply stated as follows:

Under all conditions, the matter of sex is determined in the egg-cell at the moment of fertilization.

Under all conditions, the sex is determined by a struggle for the mastery in the egg-cell, between the energy of that egg-cell and the energy of the male spermatozoon. In a crisis, when the life of one of the two seeds is trembling in the balance, one of them--through the exertion of its "Latent Reserve Energy," dominates, and engenders a child of the opposite sex. This reversal of the sex is in conformity with the Law of the _Cross-Transmission of Sex_; that is, the mother is represented in the male offspring and the father in the female,--this being the normal expression of the Law of Cross-Transmission of Characteristics.

The "Latent Reserve Energy" is provided by nature for the "Preservation of Species," and through this provision an impulsive, vehement energy can, at the final moment of a crisis, be called upon for the salvation of its kind.

A _seeming_ exception to this is due to the "Law of the Dominant" which overrides the action of "Latent Reserve Energy," and is a provision of nature for the preservation of the "Dominant," which is the most prominent quality in nature.

When the subject is properly understood, this _seeming_ exception will also become clear.

In the natural course, the study of heredity leads to the understanding of _predisposition_. In other words, if you have understood heredity, it will be easy to understand predisposition; for it means that the protoplasm or seed, from whichever organism it may proceed, must contain some of the salient characteristics of its ancestors, good and bad, dominant and recessive. Not only will it contain characteristics from father and mother, but from _all_ the direct ancestors. It is impossible to know exactly which points will manifest themselves, but a good many _bad_ points _may be_ eliminated by studying the ancestral line; and the direct diseases or bad characteristics of a parent, _must be_ eliminated by applying the Law of the Cross-Transmission of Characteristics.

For example: If the father has a certain disease or positive symptoms of that disease, by no means create a girl, as she will certainly be predisposed for that disease, and may pay the penalty, if "Regeneration" is not begun early. The same principle applies to the mother. If she is diseased, do not create a son, until "Regeneration" has been brought about.

Furthermore, it will be possible to improve the offspring by encouraging and promoting the good points, especially after studying and applying the above law, as well as my law of the "Determination of the Sex at Will."

Looking at the question from this point of view, we begin to realize the enormous significance of my discovery. This supplies the main reason for the study of the laws, for the "_Prevention of Diseases_."

Only when we know that every acquired characteristic may be transmitted to the offspring will we become conscious of the _terrible responsibility_ we assume when we reproduce offspring, and realize that we may create more pain and suffering instead of eliminating it.

As Nature _demands_ that we reproduce ourselves or be punished for disobeying her laws, what is to be done?

Study and follow the advice given in this book, and you will awake to the fact that Nietsche's words were not "Utopian" when he commanded us to "reproduce something better than we are."

Together with the predisposition to disease, the child also acquires the hereditary tendency to regeneration; and thus rational hygienic-dietetic treatment may be able to eliminate the diseases which were formerly pronounced incurable. This can only be effected by the effort to remove the cause and strengthen the weak points by means of Regeneration.

The reader will now plainly understand that in order to heal, according to the hygienic-dietetic system, the blood must be supplied with the chemical elements that are missing from the tissues.

There are three ways of accomplishing this; namely, by diet, by nutritive preparations, and by physical treatment.

The first and most natural way is by means of proper diet.

Since the chemical elements are introduced into the body through the food, the quantity and quality of the food must be regulated. The patient must receive food that will help in regenerating his blood; particularly such food as contains the elements that are lacking in the affected tissues in his body.

The regular supply of food is however usually insufficient to overcome the process of destruction, and it is therefore necessary to add the missing elements in purer form and larger quantity. These nutritive preparations contain only such chemical elements as exist in the human body; they also contain them in the proper chemical proportion and are entirely free from poisonous substances. They promote a general regeneration of the blood that will eventually lead to a complete cure.

Physical treatment may be made to assist the proper circulation of the blood, opening at the same time the pores of the skin for the withdrawal from the body of disease elements and the introduction of desirable material. Massage, gymnastics, ablutions, and various kinds of baths and packs constitute the most of the healing measures of this description resorted to.

This is indeed the legitimate field for Osteo-Chyropractice.

In order to understand the method of treatment which I apply, it is necessary to understand one of the great laws of physiological chemistry, acknowledged as such by the great masters of chemistry, such as Liebig and Hensel.

This law demonstrates that _nature is a unit, its component parts a given number of elements, each of which has distinct qualities, and the combination of which produces the various manifestations of life_.

These elements are classified as combining to form minerals, plants and animals. They are all closely interrelated. The plant draws the mineral elements from the soil, and after certain processes of combination, conveys them as food to the animal. The animal substances that man consumes make up the balance of the elements that are required to build up the human body.

It is a matter of comparatively new discovery that the minerals are just as important a part of the human body and of its food as the other basic chemical elements. The discovery showing of what minerals the necessary ingredients of the different body tissues are composed and in what combination and quantity, in order that they may become incorporated into the organism, has made it possible to supply them to the diseased body in the purest and most effective way through nutritive preparations, while their existence in food also furnishes an indication as to the regulation of diet.

I have already given, in the preceding pages, the frank expression of favourable opinion upon this vital topic generally, as voiced with unmistakable, conviction by no less an authority than Assistant Surgeon-General, Dr. W.C. Rucker of the United States Public Health Service. I will now cite, in further corroboration, the opinion of the distinguished Editor of "The Fra," as addressed to myself personally, in special relation to an advance section of the book "Dare to be Healthy," together with other similar matter, and which, coming as it does from one who is himself a leader in the van of the advancing phalanx of the followers of Truth and Enlightenment, may be safely held to constitute a just criterion of the literary and technical value of the work. It is expressed as follows:

_From John T. Hoyle, Managing Editor of "The Fra."_

"From my reading of your 'Lessons,' and especially from 'Dare to be
Healthy,' I can see that you have evolved a new concept in
medicine, or rather 'Nature Healing,' which promises great results.
I trust you will be able to put the whole into a printed book that
we may all have the benefit of your discoveries. Unlike most
physicians, while you treat of the most profound and vital
scientific subjects, your language is so well chosen and your
method of presentation is so clear, that no intelligent person
would have difficulty in following your thought. You have
undertaken a monumental work, and that success may attend your
efforts is our heartfelt wish."

_From Elbert Hubbard._

"What I have read of it is intensely interesting and shows that you
have a keen insight into the philosophies of life."

There are other spontaneous and unexpected testimonials of an equally encouraging and complimentary nature from men whose knowledge and attainments entitle their opinions to the tribute of respect. These might well be likewise added here, but for the necessary limitations of space.

When Moses saved the hosts of Israel from starvation in the desert, by obtaining the solid and liquid food requisite for their deliverance, he called the name of that food "Manna." in like manner, both as a just tribute to the success they have achieved in the past and as an earnest of the deliverance they are destined to achieve in the future, I have designated my preparations by a similar term and called them the _"Dech-Manna" Nutritive Preparations_.

Although presented in so condensed a form, the preceding outline cannot fail to inspire in the mind of the reader a vivid conception of the simple grandeur of nature's handiwork, more especially as regards her provisions in relation to health and disease--secrets revealed, through microscope and alembic, to those who, in spite of organized discouragement, have attempted to fathom the erstwhile mysteries of human suffering and to carry hope and freedom into the hostile camps of Fear, Disease and Death.

To bring these considerations within the comprehension of all, and to win all, so far as possible, to the practical observance of the means and precepts of Health and Safety is the object of the projected course of study of which the following is the business proposition.

THE DARE TO BE HEALTHY CLUB

BUSINESS PROPOSITION

The course of study in connection with the above consists of

A SERIES OF ONE HUNDRED LESSONS

to be issued in weekly instalments, the whole course to extend over a period of two years.

Each lesson will consist, approximately, of some twenty-two to twenty-five full-sized pages (i.e. 25/28 lines of 8/12 words each) which will be mailed to every subscriber weekly prepaid.

It is necessary, in view of contingent expenses that a membership of _One thousand subscribers_ should be obtained, as only when such an amount of support is guaranteed would the printing of the hundred lectures under the easy and advantageous terms offered be at all justified.

If, however, it should be represented to me by those most immediately interested, that it is their desire to Confine the Club to narrower limits, I might, though with some reluctance, consider the advisability of reducing the minimum membership to _One hundred students_ provided that these should agree to contribute the sum total of the fees for the two years course in advance.

With every twentieth lesson will be forwarded to the subscriber, gratis, one of five well bound volumes of superior literary attraction and interest.

These five volumes are as follows:

ATLAS OF HUMAN ANATOMY (profusely illustrated with coloured plates
and containing folding manikin) especially compiled for the
student.

MANUAL OF PHYSIOLOGY, especially compiled for the student.

MANUAL OF PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY, especially compiled for the
student.

MANUAL OF BIOLOGICAL THERAPY, Dechmann's system, (500 pages).

MEDICAL DICTIONARY (pocket edition in flexible leather with gilt
edges, giving 30,000 definitions.)

At the end of the course each student in good standing, will receive free of cost a Membership Diploma in the form of a beautifully artistic colour plate, the facsimile of which will appear herewith.

"Within the Bud; the Procreation of a Healthy, Happy, and Beautiful Child of the Desired Sex, by L. Dechmann, Biologist." This is a book of 302 pages, the paper bound edition retailing at $3.00, the edition de luxe at $5.00, can be obtained at any book store or direct from the author.

The above literature cannot be otherwise procured, and its cost actually amounts to nearly one-half the subscription for the entire course of lessons.

At the close of the course a beautiful engraved cover design for binding the 100 lessons may be obtained at the price of $1.00.

Separate file binders and perforators for the lessons, each cover holding some 300 pages, may be obtained at the nominal cost of about 50 cents each; one of these will be delivered free with the first lesson.

CELL-FOODS.

In addition to these advantages, all members of the Club will be entitled to procure any supplies they may need of the Dech-Manna Cell-Foods at special (wholesale) prices.

LOUIS DECHMANN.

_Biologist and Physiological Chemist._ 127 North 59th Street, Seattle, Wash., U.S.A.

THE BASIS OF PROCEEDINGS _of_ THE DARE TO BE HEALTHY CLUB

In the ensuing pages I shall endeavour to give the reader a necessarily brief and cursory, glance into the subjects which will form the underlying motif of the vast and manifold deliberations which will constitute the fundamental basis of the projected course of study which will be brought under the consideration of the members of the proposed association and will constitute the schedule, as it were, of the periodical dissertations of these matters of world-wide and vital individual significance to be comprised in the Series of One Hundred Lessons.

I have been at some pains to avoid as far as possible the use of technical and professional phrases and terminology, for the express purpose of bringing within the scope of every faculty of understanding these subjects which are equally _a matter of life and death importance_ to every man, woman and child, in all the wide and varied range of nationalities and languages which constitute so large a part of our great Republic and upon whose health and efficiency so much of our national life depends.

The great and ominous unrest, so much in evidence of late, is ample proof of a latent popular dissatisfaction with the conditions of life and it is equally significant of the prevailing nervous tension--the obvious result of malnutrition of the system--which is one of the most prominent popular features of the worry-worn denizen of today.

Life, Health, Happiness--that vital interdependent triad--are surely a preoccupation strong enough and precious enough to startle the minds of the most complacent; and it is with the object of awakening all to their possibilities--in health or in disease--of protection of the one, and hope and regeneration under the other, that the course of study has been inaugurated of which the following is but a bare outline.

MAN AS A UNIT.[A]

The human body is an accumulation of millions of separate cells, which are the bearers of life, and which in various groups form the different organs, the combined action of which constitutes our individual existence.

This existence itself is the natural issue of the existence of our predecessors, who generated the new life which will be transmitted by us and reappear in our offspring.

In like manner all the functions of the body form an endless chain in which not a single link must be faulty or missing, if healthy organic life is to continue.

This accumulation of cells, however, is by no means inactive. On the contrary, organic life is nothing but the constant dying of the old and the reconstruction of new cells; it means that we are in a perpetual condition of composition and consequently of decomposition throughout our entire being, its different parts and organs.

As soon as we are able to recognize this accumulation of cells as one individual whole and thus arrive at the idea of their absolute interdependence, we shall get rid of the prevalent idea, that the mere structural differences between the respective organs of the body make them separate and independent things which may be treated irrespective of one another in case of disease, or dealt with by different specialists.

We arrive then at the one great question: _What is the cause of disease?_ Not of one or other form of disease or class of diseases, but of disease as a whole.

_There is, in fact, only one disease._

What appear to us as different disturbances of the normal condition of our body, are only variations, in quantity or in quality, of the one thing. It is the variation of the controlling element which performs the necessary work of keeping the existing cells in proper condition and replacing those which in the course of nature are destroyed. In a word, the work of _perpetual regeneration, which is life_.

METABOLISM.

This continuous changing of the entire human body,--the removal of the discarded cells, burned up by oxidation and expelled from the body in the urine, the perspiration and other excretions, and their replacement by new ones,--is called metabolism, that is, "change of matter."

This change is brought about by means of a vital fluid in the body, which circulates from the moment in which the spermatozoon, or male seed, touches the female egg in the womb of the mother, until the time of our last breath. That fluid is _the blood_,--the carrier of nature's supplies to all parts of the body for the rebuilding of cells; the exact and equitable distributor in quantities of material which determines the quality of the cells.

In its marvelous performance of this function, the blood is the bearer of the sole existing condition of health; namely the necessary elements of cell-building in the right proportions.

This is health, and the lack thereof is disease.

The demand of nature for upbuilding and rebuilding is the strongest instinctive impulse of our being; and this being so, a wrong proportion may cause the upbuilding of things which are different and disturbing to the normal organism.

But, on the other hand, kindly nature exhibits an ever existent inclination to counterbalance any disturbance in the right proportion, and to bring back conditions to uniformity.

We may thus justly speak of _the overwhelming healing tendency of nature_.

Metabolism is, therefore, the one great dominant function of the body which, accordingly, must have our especial care.

It is the blood, consequently, to which alone we can resort if we desire to assist nature in its process and tendency of balancing and healing.

This again indicates that, notwithstanding the apparent great variety of _constitutional diseases, they are all practically one and the same disease. They are all disturbances of proper metabolism, by some irregularity of the quantitative or qualitative condition of the blood_.

This governing truth the great physiologist, Prof. Jacob Moleschott, has formulated in the memorable words: "It is one of the chief questions which humanity must always ask of the physician: how to attain good, healthy and active blood. And, view the question as we may, all who give it serious thought, are forced by experience to acknowledge explicitly, or otherwise, that _our mental and physical capacity, and likewise the power of reproduction, are directly dependent upon our blood, and our blood on our nutrition_."

VARIETY OF ORGANS.

Why then, you may ask, if such unity exists, why this dissimilarity in the tissues of the respective bodily organs? How is it that a bone in its stonelike hardness is essentially the same as the infinitely tender tissues of the eye? This difference is due to and accounted for by the adaptation of certain portions of the immense accumulation of cells to diverse functions, which has necessitated the variable conformity of the supporting elements. But all of these elements are in the blood, which carries them in the necessary quantities to the different organs to which they belong and where they are utilized to replace used-up matter.

I do not overlook the difficulty of grasping this idea of unity.

The fact, that it is so difficult to realize, has led to the greatest errors in present day medical science.

It seemed at first sight, so obviously necessary to study the different organs as entirely different groups, to work out a careful system of bones, of intestinal organs, of blood-vessels, of nerves, and so on; all of which is of course very valuable, in its place, but only from a descriptive standpoint.

Anatomy shows us what life has produced in the construction of a human form, but it does not indicate the source of life, nor, consequently, the source of health.

It is well to know the different forms of cell accumulations, which are called organs, but if we desire to keep them in good order, we must watch closely what is common to them all; for it is only from this point of view, that we are able to determine the necessary, and possibly, the lacking elements for purposes of healing.

Thus, as one of the greatest achievements of modern science, we come to the one most vital thing, so sorely needed and yet so badly neglected throughout the centuries: _The chemical analysis of the human body and its different organs._

A new light has now dawned upon the subject most essential to the inauguration of a new and effective system of healing.

The physiological chemist has at length discovered that the human body, and every organ of that body consists of a certain number of chemical elements, which appear in different parts in different aggregations. These aggregations, however, repeat themselves in the various parts or organs.

It was thus finally discovered that there are _twelve different main aggregations of such elements_, which groups of equal elements we call _tissues_.

Through this discovery we have arrived at the great truth that _it is not to the purpose, in healing, to turn attention to the various organs, but rather to the various tissues_.

The influence which can be exercised on these tissues is exercised through the blood which nourishes all of them alike, and which has the wonderful capacity of carrying to each of them their necessary building and rebuilding, or regenerating materials,--_provided, of course, that these are, as they should be, present in the blood_.

THE CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS.

Research in physiological chemistry, has so far determined that there are sixteen definite and discernible elements--and a seventeenth is now in course of determination--which, in their various combinations and aggregations, form the different tissues of which the various organs of the human body are constructed.

The preponderance of one or more of these elements in a certain tissue forms the main or governing feature, or tissue of any organ. Thus the prevalence of potassium phosphate forms the muscle tissue, the prevalence of ammonium phosphate (lecithin) forms the nerve tissue.

For the purpose of general explanation it is sufficient to know that each of the various tissues consist of some of these elements, and that each of the tissues, at whatever part of the body it exists, is affected by the lack of any one of these elements.

The greatest chemist of the age, Justus von Liebig, maintains that if one of the necessary elements in a chemical composition is missing, the rest cannot fulfil their duties, and the consequence of such deficiency is that the cell in question must become diseased and degenerate.

This discovery, known as "the law of the minimum," has thrown an additional reassuring light upon the practice of the new school of medicine.

_To bring to the tissue the lacking constituent element or elements by way of the blood is the only means of regenerating that tissue, that is, of healing its diseased cells._

DYSAEMIA THE CAUSE OF ALL CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES.

Within the limits of this abstract I do not propose to deal with the disturbances in the system caused by traumatic influences, such as wounds, etc. We are treating only of _constitutional_ diseases which, whether of acute or of chronic character, are all caused by the lack of such chemical elements as described.

It has been shown that the blood supplies all the chemical substances to the different tissues, and that, consequently, it is the lack of these elements in the blood, which causes the tissues to degenerate, or, in other words, _the lack of certain chemical elements in the blood is disease_.

It is, therefore, merely a question as to _which of the elements are missing or which do not exist in correct proportion_, that determines the different forms of disease.

When once this fact is established, the method of healing consists mainly in supplying in the regular way, that is, _by certain additions to the regular food_, the missing chemical elements in organic form; and medical science has but _to determine which elements are wanting_, and consequently, must be supplied.

_It goes without saying that in this system the old, pernicious drug method of filling the body with various poisons to counteract the effects or symptoms of disease, has no place whatever._ Certain poisonous drugs may prove effective to suppress certain symptoms by benumbing the nerves and preventing pain; they may, and do counteract the natural process by which nature exercises her power in various ways in the spontaneous effort to throw off disease, in the form of inflammations, fevers or pains; _but they can never heal, or eradicate disease_.

With the discovery of dysaemia as the governing cause of disease, another idol of regular medicine has been cast down.

Since the discovery of the bacillus or microbe, which in varied form accompanies nearly every variety of disease, it has become a dogma of the at present dominant school of medicine that the various bacilli are the actual causes of the different varieties of disease, and the tendency has been to find some poison that would kill the bacilli in order to heal the disease.

The truth is that the bacillus is not the cause, but the effect of disease; in fact is nothing but another consequence or symptom of a specific form of disease. Bacilli grow spontaneously in the ready soil which the diseased and decomposing tissues provide, through lack of the necessary chemical elements; but to attempt to exterminate them, while the underlying conditions for their reproduction remain unchanged, can, of course, never bring about healing.

And thus the high hopes and claims attached to the sero-therapy inocculation process, the injection into the blood of anti-toxins prepared with the serum of animals, have positively vanished.

Hundreds of thousands of human beings have perished in the course of this delusion; but countless numbers will have cause, yet in our day, to rejoice at the exposure of the stupid and unnatural theory, so long legally enforced, that the introduction into the human system of such poisonous substances could remove or overcome the natural consequences of constitutional disease.

HEREDITY.

The discovery that a diseased condition of the blood leads to certain bodily disturbances which we call disease, was soon followed by the realization of the fact that one of the main conditions which bring about such disturbances is predisposition, which in many cases is hereditary.

"Hereditary disease" simply means that the improper chemical composition of the blood of one or both parents has become duplicated in the offspring, and that it has similar consequences in causing the degeneration of certain tissues, and consequently of the organs composed thereof, as may have been the case in the parents.

It is at least reassuring to know, however, _that to the modern hygienic-dietetic system of healing, heredity, though perhaps more tenacious, is by no means an invincible enemy_.

With a predisposition to disease the child acquires also the hereditary tendency to self-protection, and thus rational hygienic-dietetic treatment may be able to eliminate, in a comparatively short time, the chain of diseases which in former years, generations have carried hopelessly to the grave.

HEALING.

It has been already stated that healing, under the modern hygienic-dietetic system, means supplying to the blood such chemical elements as will replace what are missing in defective tissues of the body.

I will now outline the methods of carrying it into effect.

In a general way there are three means of doing this:

No. 1. _Diet_: The first and most natural way is by proper diet.

As the normal chemical elements are introduced into the body as constituents of the regular daily food, the task which, in the first place, confronts the hygienic-dietetic physician is that of regulating the quantity, quality and description of food.

Too little importance has heretofore been given to this question and, beyond prohibiting certain dishes and obviously detrimental viands, little attention was paid by the average physician to the matter of the every-day nourishment of the patient.

The hygienic-dietetic physician on the other hand, employs the utmost care in giving to the patient everything that will help to regenerate his blood, laying particular stress on such foods as contain the largest proportion of the chemical elements that are missing in the affected tissues.

No. 2. _Nutritive compositions_: The process of destruction, however, which has to be met, in more or less advanced stages, in nearly every case requires supply, in quantity of the pure material to compensate the deficiency of the missing elements, beyond that which could be derived in the ordinary way of digestion from every-day food.

To meet this difficulty, certain condensed preparations have been devised.

These nutritive compositions contain only such chemical elements in like chemical proportions as exist in the human body. They are of the purest material and contain no injurious elements whatsoever, while they foster that general regeneration of the blood which will finally bring about a complete cure.

No. 3. _Physical treatments_: It is the object of these treatments to assist the proper circulation of the blood; to automatically open the pores of the skin for the external treatment of certain diseases; to withdraw elements of disease from the body, and to introduce certain material influences, through the pores.

Massage, gymnastics, ablutions, various kinds of baths and "packs," constitute the chief features of the healing methods in this department.

Following this general explanation of the system, I may now go a little deeper into the question of the constituent elements, the tissues formed therefrom, the degeneration of these tissues, and the species of degeneration which constitutes the various forms of disease commonly known to us.

After this I will give a concise and simple general idea as to how my methods should be applied.

THE UNITY OF NATURE.

To fully understand the method of healing which I apply, it is necessary to understand one of the great natural laws, the discovery of which by the great chemists, Justus von Liebig and Julius Hensel, has shown us the path along which to proceed.

This law demonstrates that, in the last analysis, _nature is a unit, a composition of a number of elements, each one possessing distinct qualities, the combination of which produces the various manifestations of life_.

These are classified, for convenience, according to their main qualities, as minerals, plants or animals.

All of them are closely interrelated and one transmits the basic elements to the other. It is the plant which draws the mineral elements from the soil, and after certain processes of composition conveys them as food to the animal, including the human being, while such animal substances as are used for human food, contribute the balance of the elements for the upbuilding of the human body.

It is a matter of comparatively new discovery that minerals are thus just as important as a component part of the body and of its food as are other basic chemical elements.

The discovery as to the mineral constituents of the body, their nature, proportion and in which composition and in which quantity as necessary ingredients of the different body tissues, in order that they may become a part of the organism, has made it possible to administer them to the diseased body in the purest condensed and most effective way in _nutritive compositions_, while their proportionate existence in food is also a criterion of diet, not only for the sick, but also as a preventative of disease.

THE CHEMICAL PROCESS OF DISEASE.