The people's medical lighthouse : a series of popular and scientific essays .......

Front matter

Med

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Preface

Tee author of this work having boon before the public for somo years, both in extensive practice of his profession and as writer of a widely-circulated series o^ “Lectures on Health,” believes no apology will be needed for the appearance of this offspring of his labors ; especially when he remembers that ho has been, as it were, forced to offer it to the world, by the urgent and oft-repeated solicitations of hundreds of his patients in various parts of the country. That it will meet with a kind reception from thousands of the afflicted, the author is constrained to believe by the fact that twenty thousand copies of his Lectures were circulated in the first eighteen months of their publication : and having, since the issue of that work, lectured to upwards of one hundred thousand persons, and successfully treated somo twenty-five thousand cases of disease, in all the various forms which it presents, (of which a minute and complete record, embracing many volumes, wherein symptoms, modes of treatment, causes of complaint, and temperament, ago and condition of patients, has been kept,) he feels that the experience and observation he has gained, and tho medical knowledge he has accumulated, when presented in the manner employed in the following pages, will not only insure a candid reading for his book, bat will operate to greatly benefit those who shall peruse and digest its contents.

Tho diseases treated of in this work, and their causes , prevention and cure, have been tho objects of the intense study and close investigation of the author for many years, theoretically and practically. "With an earnest desire to understand and successfully pursue tho great science of medicine, and with ardent feelings of sympathy for tho afflicted, he has traveled over various parts of the country, visited numerous places where medical information is to bo obtained, and attentively considered and candidly weighed all the prevailing systems and doctrines of medicine. The experience and knowledge gained, tho observations made, the truths elicited, and the convictions arrived at, the reader will find embodied in tho work now presented for his edification and instruction. In view of tho facts that thousands are suffering from diseaso and pain — are ignorantly sacrificing health and life — and are cut off in the prime of existence, the author has felt it his duty to make use of his humble abilities in this manner, in the hope of benefiting his fellow beings, by pointing them to the paths of health, and bo instructing them that they shall develop and preserve their faculties, personally and as a race — physically, morally and intellectually. In endeavoring to do this he has cut loose from tho technicalities of medical schools, and from the professional jargon, (entirely unintelligible to all general readers,) beliind which the ignorant in the science endeavor to hide their want of knowledge, and has presented his ideas, so far as possible, in undeflled English, and in a plain and vi

PREFACE.

direct manner, so that every one may be able to not only read but to comprehend that which is written, and be thereby instructed.

In treating of the various complaints, and in pointing to remedies, the author has endeavored, also, to set forth many causes of disease and premature death. This will be found to be one of the principal objects of the work. For the benefit of man, it is as important that we should know the causes of disease and the modes of 'prevention as the methods of cure ; for, by knowing the former, we may escape often a necessity of resorting to the latter. And as his practice has led him to look into the causes of disease, and to observe the means by which sickness may be prevented, the writer deemed it incumbent in this work to give the reader the benefit of his experience and observation, in the hope that he may use them to his own good. The oid adage — “ An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” applies with great force in all matters of health, and should be a ride for overy man’s governance. No one can with safety neglect it. To preserve health i3 a much easier matter, if men will give attention to the subject, than to restore it when once it has been lost. The first is in great measuro in the power of every person ; the latter often requires the most scientific medical skill, such as but few men possess. Nearly every invalid, now shut out from the joys of life and the pleasures of the world, borne down to the ground with an intolerable load of physical and mental suffering, and perhaps doomed to an early and untimely grave, might, by having taken the proper steps to preserve health, be now in the full enjoyment of that inestimable blessing, and in prospect of a long, happy, and useful life. W e should romember the truth contained in the proverb which reads — “ A prudent man foreseeth the evil and fleetb, but the simple pass on and are punished” — and apply it in the avoidance of all causes tending to disease.

In view of some of the pernicious fashions and customs of modern civilization, and of the destructive vices existing, whereby many aro led to the tomb, and disease handed down to tho coming generations, the author has felt it a duty to speak plainly and boldiy his thoughts and convictions, the more especially as these subjects aro in the main passed over by medical writers, as being injurious to their practice ; and thus left to spread havoc and devastation in all classes of society. In doing this, though not withholding the truth for fear of offence, nor studying verbosity, where direct speech was better calculated to convey the desired idea, it has been his endeavor to avoid all language calculated to displease, and all phraseology which should be, by the most fastidious, thought open to objection ; in which, he humbly trusts, he has been successful

In various parts of the work will be found much valuable statistical information upon numerous subjects connected with tho health and happiness of tho human race, from which may be gathered by tho reader ideas of the influences exerted by varied causes in the production of premature decay and death. These statistics have in part been gathered from a multitude of reliablo authors, and are in part tho results of the writer’s own extended experience in the practice of his profession. A careful perusal thereof will not only afford tho reader much valuable information, but will show him how many long-cherished but erroneous theories, intimately connected with his welfare, are exploded by figures. To particularize among these is impossible ; they aro respectfully submitted for consideration, with the assurance that no one can read them without gaining such information as shall trebly remunerate him for the purchase and perusal of this volume.

PREFACE.

vii

A glance at the tablo of contents will be sufficient to show that the work is filled with matters of the most interesting and important character, connected with tho human being, from infancy to old age ; that it is one needed by the public, and is calculated to convey the most satisfactory instruction to all classes of readers.

The author feels confident that if this labor of his is received in good fkitli, carefully read and inwardly digested, it will bo of great benefit to thousands of his fellows. It will teach them to know themselves. It will redeem them from disease, and place them in the possession of health and happiness ; it will take tnem from lingering misery, and place them in the lap of ease. If they would have health , strength, beauty, and length of days, in those pages shall the roads thoreto be pointed out to them ; if they would have knowledge of themselves, physically and mentally, and would be instructed how to live happily, usefully and honorably, this book shall be tho mine from whenco rich stores of intellectual ore may bo drawn freely by alb That it may serve theso ends with his patients, his friends, and the public generally, is tho earnest and sincere wish of

THE AUTHOR.

*.* All orders for medicines, and letters of consultation, to be addressed to

512 Broadway, New York.

Persons writing to Dr. Root should be particular in stating, plainly, the name of the town, county, and State in which their postofiice is situate, and whether they would have their medicines sent through the mail, by express, or as freight.

Persons residing in country towns would find it to their advantage to have their medicine packed with the goods of some merchant of their town who was having goods sent from any firm in New York, ns it can thus be sent safer and with less expense than by the usual modes of transportation.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

Frontispiece — wi^ji Portrait op the Author ...... u

Perfect Male and Female Figures ........ xxiv

The Yenous System 6

The Arterial System .... 6

The Heart and Lungs * - - - 12 Section op the Heart .... 16 Lungs, with Arteries and Yeins IT The Emaciated Invalid .... 20

Foetus, showing the Umbilical Cord, through which the Blood passes from the Mother to the Child - - - - 21 Nervous Telegraphic System - 22 Married Couple, with their Child 42 The Vegetable or Botanio Medicines 46

Lungs Pierced and Dried Up - - 69

Ulcerated Lung 61

Lung with Grub in it, and Ulcerated 64

Weariness and Lassitude - - - 65

Ulcerated Kidney TO

Diseased Bowel, with Piles - - Tl Section op Tuberculous Lung- - T5 Grubs in the Brain and Optic Nerve 94

Injurious Position in Study - - 104 Incorrect Position for Standing 106 Correct Position for Standing - 106 Injurious Attitude in Sewing - 106 The Liver and Stomach - - - 113 Worms — different kinds - - - 123 Snake, Frog, and Evet - - - - 125 Cancer of the Breast - - - - 128

Cancer on the Face 130

The Scrofulous all over • - - 132

Page

The Swelled Leg 133

Crooked Boy 133

Straightened Boy 134

Tumor on the Neck 134

Goitre on the Neck 135

Case of Bang’s Evil 135

Spinal Curvature 136

Case of Scald Head 137

White Swelling 143

The Onanists and their Child - 148 Artificial Waist — Natural Waist 184

Natural Chest 185

Compressed Chest 185

Case of Bronchitis 264

Abdomen of the Female — Internal View 266

Womb fell in at the Top - - -267 Womb and Appendages - - - - 269 Cancerous and Ulcerated Womb 269

Ovarian Tumor 272

Dropsical all over 288

Fcetuses from Fifteen Days to

Nine Months 338

Fcetus in the Womb 340

Twins in the Womb 340

Four in the Womb 341

The Temptation and Disobeuience 352 The Punishment for Transgression 354

The Bedemption 356

Health for the Sick .... 374 Dr. Boot surrounded by Distinguished Persons 375

Lung Barometer 385

Flat Chest — Full Chest - • * 388 Contracted and Well-developed

Chest 389

Du. Boot’s Office— -512 Broadway 409

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ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE CHEMISTRY. |

Pago '

Description of animals 1 |

Description of vegetables 2 1

Components of ammals and vegetables 2

Teach the wisdom of God 2

Mau should not bo arrogant 2

Man’s duty to preserve life 2

ON THE BLOOD.

Blood tho life of all flesh 3

Fhysiology, chemistry, reason and the Bible teach this 3

From the blood originate the humors 3

Change of the blood 3

Blood a component part of all animals .... 3

The author's system of practice 4

His medicines 4 |

REVELATION ON THE BLOOD.

Quotations from Scripture to show that in

the blood is the life 4

Poisonous humors in the blood disease tho

system 6

Necessity of purifying the blood 6

Prevalence or impurity &

The venous and arterial systems 5

CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD KNOWN TO SOLOMON.

Circulation discovered by Harvey 6

Destruction of life by blood-letting 7

100 bbls. of blood drawn by an allopath. .. 7

60 lbs. of calomel given by do 7

Number it would kill 7

Opinions of physicians ♦. 7

Origin of the term “ Quack’’.. 7

The dead tell no talcs 8

The graveyards can witness 8

No blood to spare 8

The true system.. 8

Vegetable medicines have stood the test. . . 8

Animals resort to vegetable remedies 8

AIR THE BREATH OK ALL LIFE.

8criptural illustrations 9

Call to the consumptive 9

Air keeps tho blood in circulation 9

Let out the blood, death follows 9

Take away the air, and man dies 9

USES OF THE LUNGS.

Lungs before birth 9

Filled with cells and tubes 9

No air in the lungs of tho fretus 9

Description of lungs 9

Description of heart, and organs of respiration 10

"Adam’s apple ” 10

Thyroid gland — necessity for ; its greater

size in the female 10

The use of the lungs 10

Composition of air. .' 11

Electricity communicated to the blood ... 11

Air purifies the blood 11

Generation of animal heat 11

Physicians should know of these matters. . 11

Ignorance of the "Faculty” 11

Invalids should not despair 12

Try the Lung Barometer 12

RESPIRATION.

Amount of air to sustain life 12

Quantity sometimes inhaled 12

C hildren should have plenty of 13

Respiration per minute, hour, day and year 13

Air usually inhaled 13

Quantity of blood in the adult 13

Blood performs its circuit twenty times an

hour 13

Importance of keeping the blood pure 13

inflation of tho lungs 13

Extra inflation 14

Extra inflation may be injurious 14

Necessity of Lung Barometer 14

Point at which dentil occurs 14

Airin the lungs ol Jenny Iind, “American

Deer,” and others..’ 16

Necessity of ventilation 16

THE HEART.

History and development of 16

Diseases of, can be cured 18

NO BOOK TEACHES THE USES OF THE LUNGS.

Strength of body not in lungs 10

Expansion of 17

Value of tlie Lung Barometer in diseases of tho lungs 17

ABUSE OF LUNGS BY INHALING TUBE8.

When extra inflation should be practised.. 18

Advocates of tubes havo no guides 18

Inhaling tubes may cause disease and

death 18

Ancients knew nothing of tubes 18

Gymnastic exercise for tho lungs 19

MAN'S STRENGTH IN HIS BLOOD.

Take away the blood and strength is gone 19

Loss of strength from thin blood.. 20

Believe not the deluding ou&ck 20

Health restored through the blood 20

Blood nourishes tho child before birth 00

The umbilical cord 20

How it should bo tied and cut '20

Description of Hie foetus 21

Circulation of Mood from the mother to the child 21

GRATIFICATION OF THE PASSIONS.

The natural passions should be gratified.. . 21

The brain a phrenological congress 25

Desire for children natural 2*j

No peace without gratification 22

[ Electricity stimulates amativencss 23

j Tho sexes magnetic 2*

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