Chapter X: , Section 9 (1)

_Therapy._

_Diet_: The general rule of abstaining from highly seasoned food should govern all patients suffering from skin diseases. Special attention should be given to a diet consisting of good, fresh meat, not too rich; it should be alternated with days on which no meat is eaten. Strong cheese (Roquefort), mustard, sardelles, mixed pickles must be avoided. See also remarks on Scrofulosis under I. A.

_Dech-Manna-Compositions_: =Dermogen=, =Plasmogen=, Gelatinogen, Eubiogen.

_Physical_: Partial packs, either vinegar and water, or salt and radium. Special packs by order of the Doctor.

X. DEGENERATION OF THE GELATIGENOUS TISSUE.

Another group of organ's of vast importance is the one which consists of gelatigenous tissue. In fact all blood and lymphatic vessels, air alveoli of the lungs, tendons and cords of the whole system, the digestive tract from the mouth to the anus, the stomach, the bladder, and indeed every organ or tissue which has the function of expansion and contraction, must be made of gelatigenous (rubber-like) tissue. Otherwise it cannot perform its duties in the organism and must needs become degenerate.

While there are not many special forms of disease of the gelatigenous tissue itself, many diseased conditions occur in connection with its degeneration. This in turn is caused by the lack of gelatigenous food, which the blood must convey to this tissue wherever it exists in the body.

It is obvious that any degeneration which may affect the intestinal duct, the bladder or other organs which contain gelatine in their composition will require gelatigenous regeneration.

The principal forms of disease which may affect the organs in question are those which have been discussed under catarrhal diseases (Section VI). The acute and chronic forms of stomach and intestinal disease, especially, belong to this group, and have consequently received special attention. The treatment of this question in my work, "Regeneration" or "Dare To Be Healthy," Chapter X, A and B, will answer, in detail the questions of those who desire more enlightenment on this most vital and intricate subject.

_Therapy._

_Diet_: These forms include all catarrhal disease mentioned under VI. A, also all inflammatory conditions of the stomach and intestines, in their acute form. As far as the latter are concerned, the suitable lists of diet will be found under Forms II, III, IV, V and VI. Regarding the same diseases in the chronic form, the special diet lists are given under Forms IV, V and VI. In addition the following suggestions will be helpful:

_Diseases of the Stomach and Intestines._

These prescriptions of diet serve especially for the diseases of the stomach and intestines. In most cases a prescription for the rational preparation of food is such as only the hygienic physician is able to give. Food for persons suffering from diseases of the stomach, must be selected individually according to their idiosyncrasies. In one case the stomach must be prevented from doing too much; in another case it must be stimulated. In one case the object is to fatten; in another, to remove fat. In some cases the physician prescribes food which will retard the movement of the bowels, in other instances, the patient requires food that will promote such movement. The diet for patients with fever must be different from the diet for convalescing patients. People suffering from diabetes require a peculiar preparation of their food. Not everything that is good for an adult will be beneficial to a child. The digestibility of many foods depends upon their preparation. The value of food for patients can be judged rightly from but one standpoint, that of digestibility.

The fundamental principles governing the nourishment for patients are digestibility, great variety, abolition of all strong spices, nutritive and well selected material.

The temperature of drinks must be in strict accordance with the prescription of the physician. The patient must be urged to thoroughly masticate the food, so that it will be properly salivated and thus facilitate digestion. Patients seriously ill, should receive their food mashed or minced, so that they can partake of it more easily. All waste parts, such as skin, fat, sinews, bones, must be removed from the food, even for convalescents. Warmed up food and fibrous vegetables must be banished from the patient's diet. It must not be a question as to what the patient wants; the prescription of the physician only must govern. The patient's food must be prepared carefully, absolutely correctly and in a cleanly manner. In case of strong thirst, great care must be exercised in regard to drinks, depending on the physician's directions. The thirsty feeling of the patient may be alleviated by putting glyzerine on his lips and small pieces of ice on his tongue, without, however, permitting him to swallow the water as the ice melts.

_Normal Diet for Stomach Diseases._

Milk, sweet and sour, buttermilk, yoghurt, kefir, albumen cacao, cereals in the form of mush, strained legumes, cooked in soup or milk, all sorts of glutinous soups, farinose dishes prepared from stale rolls, biscuits, zwieback, tender and easily, digestible meats, mashed game meat, chicken, raw beef, ham, meat jelly, young vegetables, preserved fruit.

Avoid the following: all indigestible fats, meat which requires more than 4 to 5 hours for its digestion, hot salads, gas-producing vegetables, gravy, fruits which abound in cellulose, such as apricots and peaches, hard stems, xylocarp ribs of leaves, the strong smelling and sharp tasting parts of some kinds of vegetables, as for instance, new potatoes, cabbage (in the cooking of which the first water must be poured off), hot soups and spicy herbs, spices of all kinds, high game, sausages, bacon, yeast pastry, drinks too hot or too cold, strong coffee (in the place of which fruit coffee is recommended), stale raisins and almonds, nuts, too much candy, much liquid with meats, and excitement of all kinds while eating.

_General Hints for a nourishing treatment._

The patient who is to gain in flesh must adhere strictly to the prescribed diet as well as to the prescribed rest, if the treatment is to take effect.

The following articles are very nourishing: yolks of eggs prepared in any style, milk, cream, kefir, rich cheese, beef marrow on toast (cooked in soup), all kinds of noodles and dumplings, puddings, cocoa and chocolate, white bread, rich thick soups, gravy, potatoes and oats prepared in various ways, sweet beer, malt beer, sweet wines and puddings with preserved fruits, fruit juices, meat from well-fed animals only. All meals must be served in small portions, so as not to create distaste for food.

7 _A.M._--250 grams of fresh, boiled, unskimmed milk, or 1/4 quart cocoa prepared with milk or Knorr's oat-cocoa, or 1/8 quart cream with tea added, one roll, butter and honey.

9 _A.M._--1 cup bouillon, 20 grams hot or cold roast meat, 30 grams Graham or gluten bread, 10 grams butter. Then 1/4 quart milk, butter and Graham bread.

11 _A.M._--1/4 quart milk with the yolk of one egg.

1 _P.M._--100 grams soup (oat, barley, vegetable soup), green corn, sago soup, 100 grams potatoes, 100 grams tender vegetables, such as spinach, mashed peas, mashed carrots, mashed artichokes, asparagus tips strained, 20 grams easily digestable rice, 50 grams preserved fruit; or, no soup, but, instead meat, vegetables, apple sauce, dishes made from milk or flour, such as noodles, fruit, 1/8 quart cream.

4 _P.M._--Light tea or milk, with malt or cocoa added, two crackers, 1/2 quart milk.

6 _P.M._--20 grams meat (hot or cold roast meat), raw meat or 10 grams Graham bread, 10 grams butter, milk chocolate, Graham bread, butter, honey.

8 _P.M._--1 cup soup with 10 grams butter and one yolk, barley, oats, etc., eggs or meat, vegetables, preserved fruits, Graham bread, butter, mild cream cheese.

9.30 _P.M._--1/4 quart milk, with a spoonful of malt extract, 1/8 quart cream.

As a special breakfast, for a thin patient, the following drink is recommended: To a cup of unskimmed hot milk add one yolk and one spoonful of pure bee-honey. This must be taken in the morning on an empty stomach for several weeks.

_In case of Constipation._

If constipation is due to nervousness or sluggishness of the bowels, the best means to overcome the trouble is mixed coarse food, using various mineral waters, and little meat, but plenty of vegetables, especially sauerkraut, cabbage, comfrey, cauliflower, pumpkin, tomatoes, cucumbers, various salads and fruits, jellies. Among beverages sour milk, buttermilk, kefir No. I and II, yoghurt, various new wines, fruit juices, different mineral waters, such as Apollinaris, Karlsbad waters, Hunyady; coarse bread, such as Graham, avoiding fine white bread. In extremely chronic cases use my Laxagen Tea in case of emergency.

_Dech-Manna-Compositions_: =Gelatinogen=, =Plasmogen=, Mucogen, Eubiogen.

_Physical_: Abdominal packs, with vinegar and water.

Acute--warm.

Chronic--cold.

XI. DEGENERATION OF THE CARTILAGINOUS TISSUE.

Cartilage in the human body is the material which must cover the end of each bone so as to prevent its destruction by friction. It is the important part in all joints. It is obvious that any degeneration of this particular tissue will cause friction, which is combined with severe pains, called Ankylosis, Gout.

The degeneration is usually a consequence of improper proportion of the various food ingredients consumed, omitting the material necessary for the construction of the cartilage, which, being in use, is constantly used up rapidly. Regeneration of the blood, by assisting it in its important task of feeding the cartilaginous tissues, and regulation of the diet are the only two possible remedies for this form of disease, of such frequent occurrence, the alleged cure for which attracts thousands to bathing resorts, where they derive not the slightest real benefit.

The variety of gout called arthritis (deforming gout), is the most pronounced and dangerous phase of this form of disease.

_Therapy._

_Diet_: The diet is exactly the same as prescribed for rheumatism and gout under V, Degeneration of the Muscular Tissue.

_Dech-Manna-Compositions_: =Cartilogen=, =Plasmogen=, Gelatinogen, Eubiogen.

_Physical_: Partial packs, salt and radium, massage, oxygenator bath, half bath radium and salt.

In case of arthritis, also special packs according to the directions of the Doctor. It is impossible to give a diet for arthritic patients, peculiarities of this disease being largely individual.

XII. DEGENERATION OF THE BODY TISSUE IN GENERAL.

By "body tissue in general" is understood the body with the total sum of its cells--especially the red blood corpuscles--and their various aggregations. Consequently a special composition of nutritive salts, under the name of Eubiogen, has been composed, which is the most perfect duplication of all the chemical elements of the entire body in the correct proportion. Eubiogen, therefore, is prescribed as a secondary Dech-Manna-Composition, to be taken with all other compositions. But it also acts independently as the best means of preventing degeneration, and in this capacity should not be missing in the diet of adults as well as of children. The cost thus incurred would be recouped many times over through its prevention of disease.

Eubiogen takes a leading position in reference to the following complicated forms of disease, in the treatment of which it becomes the most important factor among the nutritive compositions: Ataxia, Basedow's Disease, Diabetes Mellitus, Obesity, Bright's Disease, Arterio-Sclerosis. I am prepared to explain to patients, this curative method and the reasons for its application; but these complicated diseases, while based on the same degenerations of blood, and consequently of the tissue and organs, as all others, offer impressions which, from the point of view of the conscientious physician, cannot be presented with but a few bare words of explanation. Nor does the space at my disposal permit me to go into the matter with due thoroughness.

All of these ailments have been described in my work: "Regeneration or Dare To Be Healthy."

The intelligent reader will readily conceive that he who has found the secret of the degenerations constituting the various forms of disease, will not hesitate before their complications. _Ataxia, Basedow's Disease, Diabetes Mellitus, Obesity, Bright's Disease and Arterio-Sclerosis, can be cured. They can be cured by the same methods of which simpler examples have been already given.

No one, who in the struggle for health has surrendered to the attack of constitutional disease, the germ of which may have been implanted in him by his forefathers, needs despair. Let him seek advice before too late, and the strong probability is that in due time he will have regained his health, and will be enabled to fulfil his duties to himself and to posterity._

_NOTE._--In reference to the foregoing tables of dietary "Regimen" the reader must clearly understand that the prescriptions are merely indications of diet appropriate to various phases of the complaints to the treatment of which they are attached; but the decision as to how and when these phases occur in individual cases should be left entirely to the discretion of the physician in charge of the case who will, of course, also pronounce upon the diet. Should there be no such authority present, the greatest care and common sense must be devoted to the selection from the said tables of a system of diet suitable to the various stages of disease. Any recommendations therein contained which may appear to be contradictory or conflicting must be ascribed to their complication on a progressive dietary system consistent with the prospective advancement of the case towards recovery.

INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

Amongst the forms of Degeneration of the Muscular Tissue the reader will have noticed that of Infantile Paralysis or Poliomyelitis.

The startling prominence that this complaint quite recently acquired was due to its world-wide ravages in epidemic form and the absolute and confessed inability of the combined sagacity of the whole faculty of the orthodox medical profession to cope with it or to cure it--to fathom its cause and origin or to curtail its increasing rate of mortality. I am therefore constrained, so far as space permits, to give the matter special and particular consideration.

The scientific name, "Poliomyelitis," is derived from the Greek words: polios, grey and myleos, marrow; for its chief feature is a softening of the grey spinal marrow.

First noticed by the medical world no later than the year 1840, statistics show that in the last decade it has appeared in various parts of the world in epidemic form, notably in Sweden and Norway. In America, epidemics occurred in 1907 and 1908 and again in 1916. It was promptly and energetically dealt with by the Rockefeller Institute of New York where the proof was established of the possibility of transmission by a living virus taken from the spinal marrow of a victim; but whether this disseminator may be correctly termed a bacillus, or fungus or a germ, medical-science has been unable lo determine; neither has it succeeded with the most powerful microscope in discovering the individuality of this "carrier," whilst all experiments with re-agents have been bare of results. Thus the researches of science have merely brought us back to the starting point; namely, that there is a "something" which exerts a degenerating influence upon the cellular tissue of the spinal marrow and causes the morbid enlargement of its cells.

The New York Board of Health, cites eight different forms in which the disease may appear and acknowledges a startling failure to determine either any uniform period of incubation (i.e. the time between contagion and the appearance of the symptoms,) or the period of infection (i.e. how long a sick person may be a danger to others).

The New York press accepts the situation philosophically; as follows:

"Infantile Paralysis cannot be cured by means of medicines. The
physician must of necessity limit his ministrations to easing the
pain, providing for easy movement of the bowels and so forth, but
otherwise _he must let nature take its course_."

Medical reference books vaguely define the disease with diverse and indefinite theories, showing that science on the subject is practically mute.

But the medically "unprofessional," random remark of the New York press-man has exactly hit the mark: "Let nature take its course."

The fact is that nothing very clear or absolute can be said about Infantile Paralysis; for observation shows that it is apparently a matter of racial conditions and environment and that only from the general application of the Laws of Nature, as taught by biology can we reasonably hope to solve the problem or cure the disease.

As the result of careful study of many cases I simply confirmed the fact that Infantile Paralysis belongs strictly to the class in which in the foregoing chapter I have placed it, and is subject to the same rules, influences and treatment. In most of the cases treated I have not failed to discover the existence of spinal trouble in one or other of the parents. This, engendering _predisposition_ to similar complaints _in the children of the opposite sex_, which, acted upon by the irritants bred of poor or irrational nutriment and unhygienic environment in greater or lesser degree, results in attacks of this disease, in plain or epidemic form as the case may be, to which all children so predisposed are liable. Thus, incidentally, is my recently discovered "Law of the Cross-Transmission of Characteristics" amply verified.

As to the cause which leads to the development of this predisposition in the children, the answer, of course, is improper nourishment; and amongst the contributory causes I would specially indicate, "Pasteurized" and "sterilized" milk which has been absolutely banned by science on the basis of Physical Chemistry, according to which it was definitely proved in a report laid before the Paris Academy of Sciences, that valuable bone-forming ingredients in the milk, (a combination of carbonic and phosphoric lime,) are lost in course of Pasteurization, since at the temperature necessary for the process they are _transmuted by heat into insoluble elements_, (phosphate and carbonate of lime) which, precipitated by chemical action, either drop to the bottom in sediment or cling to the surface coating and, in either case, are eliminated and lost to the child to an extent which constitutes a serious deterioration in its food and one likely in any case to promote rickets. Milk also contains important constituents which change into necessary food elements in the course of natural fermentation--gelatine for instance--which being, as has been shown, so vital a factor in the building up of tissue, it needs no argument to prove the disastrous consequences its depletion must engender in the child and it may be likewise safely left to the intelligence of the reader to grasp the obvious fact that for the prevention or healing of Infantile Paralysis the one and only safeguard is Regeneration through the course already indicated of Hygienic-Dietetic treatment which will, if applied beforehand, eliminate the tendency to disease or, in the event of its occurrence, will conduct it along safe and natural lines to a quick recovery.

This brief sketch of the subject must suffice for the present purpose but a special article[C] with full and interesting details has been devoted to the subject, which will appear in my greater work, "Regeneration or Dare to be Healthy."

"FACIAL DIAGNOSIS" AND "THE CLINICAL EYE."

It is an incident common to the experience of all Natural Hygienic Physicians for the patient to exclaim in quasi protest: "But Doctor! How can you tell?"

Accustomed to the pompous pantomime of the orthodox physician--the gold watch and chain trick, while pulse and tongue reveal their hidden records--and then the well known questions which call forth the personal predilection in the fashion of disease and diet, (prescriptions which are often not untinged by the physician's own proclivities), at first the patient misses the old familiar presence. If ill he _must_ be, he expects that the process should proceed from the outset on the old accustomed, "strictly respectable" lines, and something like resentment stirs him when, in place of questioning, a physician presumes to _tell him_ at a glance the substance of his malady _unasked_.

But such is the method of real efficiency and such the qualification of the men who practice the new philosophy which shall save the world from shams.

_Facial diagnosis_ is the determining factor of the logical and never failing science of natural therapy which is coming to the rescue of mankind, in spite of legal and commercial obstruction.

_The "Clinical Eye"_ is, emphatically, _not_ the sad old "Eye of Faith" which has sent its millions to their doom, but the _sober, steady, practiced introspective hopeful eye of knowledge and experience_.

The external symptoms visible to the clinical eye of a physician worthy of the name, vastly outweigh in important significance, all the objectionable detailed examination of parts and organs which from long use has become the habit of the old-school practitioner. Moreover the swift impressions gathered under the clinical eye are spontaneous and reliable whereas, as the result of questioning or the description of the patient, they possibly are not, but rather represent too often some preconceived notion of alleged heredity or devotional pessimism, sometimes original but more probably the suggestion of relatives and friends.

The subject is a vitally important one and, with a view to clearing away the obstruction of old superstitions from the mind of the reader, I shall trespass upon my allotted space in order to give a brief extract of my remarks thereon as expressed in my greater work: "Regeneration or Dare to be Healthy."

DIAGNOSIS, PHYSIOGNOMY AND PSYCHOLOGY.

The biological healing system, based on the laws of nature and the acknowledgment of the fact that no two cases of disease are exactly alike, requires much broader knowledge and much deeper insight on the part of the physician than did the old-school of medicine with its search for symptoms of special diseases and its occult prescriptions.

Since the object is to get at the root of the evil in order to regenerate the patient thoroughly, it becomes imperative to obtain, what is hardest to elicit from him perhaps, the accurate truth about himself and his ailment.

And though expert in recognizing external symptoms, it is unwise to rely entirely thereon and research must continue into realms where the patient himself only can lead us and where, willing or otherwise, he is apt to mislead.

Psychology teaches how to find the way into the darkness of a patient's soul. Physiognomy teaches, not only to read in the face and external appearance, the story of a life which is written there in characters which only experience may decipher, but also to realize when the patient employs physiognomical expressions to hide what we persistently seek; namely, the truth.

And again, in regard to healing, psychology teaches how to influence the patient so that he may discontinue to be his own worst enemy; that he may recognize his mistakes as such and discard them, although possibly he may have grown so addicted to his tastes as to prefer to continue therein in place of daring to be healthy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The authorities are certainly justified in their decision.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Faulty structure of the teeth indicates weak bones in general.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The words of the famous Moleschott ring true today, more than in the past, when he said: "One of the principal questions a patient should ask his physician is, how to make good, healthy blood." Experience shows that there is but one method to attain good blood,--that _priceless factor_ upon which our _thinking_, our _feeling_, our _power_ and our _progeny depend_, and that is by means of _correct food and nutrition_.

FOOTNOTES:

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

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

CHILDREN'S DISEASE.

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

(Carlyle).

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

(Bartauld).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let us pass on rather to the gentler sex.

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

Those men are old at forty years.

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

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

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

And rightly so.

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

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

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

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

Back to Nature is now the cry.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The reader will pardon this digression, since it is better that from the outset we should divest ourselves of all delusions and recognize existing conditions as they really are in order that it may help to eliminate these ignorant superstitions from the public mind and implant therein the wholesome fact that there is _no magic in medicine_ but simply _an ordinary problem of cause and effect_.

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

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