Front matter
Class_ Book„_
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT
COMPRISING
Preface
The critic will no doubt find abundant opportunity in the following pages to point out imperfections. As for the matter of repetitions, which may seem to many to be needlessly frequent, we can only plead the great import- Lce of a thorough understanding of the principles $ erein treated in order that good health may be attained .nd maintained.
Much of the matter contained in this book is not new ; it is nowhere assumed that it is.
The doctrine that food and dietetic habits are the chief factors in health and disease is as old as Plato, and received a new and powerful impulse through the life and writings of Louis Cornaro more than three hundred years ago.
The doctrine that the use of bread, cereals, pulses and vegetables is not only unwholesome, but is at the very foundation of nervous prostration and modern diseases, is, however, sufficiently novel and startling.
The value of fasting as a method of curing disease has been previously fairly well stated. The author only hopes by this book to call the attention thereto of many who have not before been aware of its great importance.
That " catching cold " is always caused by errors in eating has also been well stated in the writings of our friend Dr. C. E. Page. This is a matter, in our opinion, fraught with such unusual importance that too much attention cannot well be given it.
vi PREFACE.
All hygienists, new-school physicians, and many of the old school, talk much of the importance of good ventilation ; at the same time, it is next to impossible to find any person who habitually sleeps with a wide-open window in all climates and weather.
It is a common teaching of physiology that our breathing ought to be done through the nostrils, and it is a rule that is transgressed oftener than obeyed — when the hours of sleep as well as those when awake are considered — by our physiologists, scientific men, and hygienists, to say nothing of those who give such matters no attention.
The fact that although old-school physicians are wonderfully skilled in anatomy, physiology, pathology, and the diagnosis of disease, and at the same time not only utterly powerless to aid in the restoration of the patient, but on the whole prone to do untold damage by their drugs and methods of treatment, has been forcibly pointed out by some of the ablest members of the profession; and jests and diatribes against doctors are in everybody's mouth. All the same, no sooner is any person taken ill than the doctor is as surely summoned and as credulously consulted as is the sacred fetish on similar occasions by the Polynesian.
It is our hope that the reader will see in this book such statements and such reasoning as will induce him unswervingly to resolve that whatever the ailment may be — aside from the realm of surgery — he will not conplicate the situation or endanger his recovery by summoning any physician of that school in which opium is a sheet anchor.
We have a twofold aim : to introduce and to bespeak a trial for the anti-bread, non-starch diet ; and to present what has been said before fragmentarily concerning hygiene and reform in medicine in such a systematic shape and with such force that large numbers will be
PREFACE. vii
induced to put these hygienic truths to the test of experiment in everyday life.
Heretofore there has been an impassable gulf between hygienists (physicians of the reform school) and remedies which are of real value. We have aimed, while giving some new truths and a new form to some valuable old ones, to avoid fanaticism and the favoring of untried theories.
The central thought on which this book is written is the confident belief that sickness and acute attacks of illness bear the same relation to diet that drunkenness bears to drink. It is quite indisputable that no one needs to get drunk ; all that is requisite to avoid inebriation is to abstain from intoxicating drinks. It is in this sense that we affirm that all cases of taking cold are the result of improper food, and more especially of excessive quantities even of proper food; and that acute attacks of illness invariably depend, either for a primary or a secondary cause, upon bad alimentation — improper food and food taken in excessive quantities ; and of these errors, excess is often the far greater factor.
Here in England, at this time, the newspapers are scanned each day to learn the condition of a poet of world-wide fame, who has been confined to his bed for weeks but is now able to sit up ; also of a scientist of equal fame whose observations and contributions have enriched the field of physics, at the moment convalescent from an attack upon the lungs which has confined him to his bed for weeks. One of the foremost statesmen of America continually oscillates between his public duties and such attacks of illness as confine him to his bedroom. During every month of the year, and in every principal city of civilization, are to be seen similar examples. Learned, able, and useful men and women adorning all professions are rendered helpless by indispositions; and this is accepted quite as a matter of course and as a dispensaviii PREFACE.
tion of Providence. The reader is asked to peruse carefully this book, and to consider seriously its proofs of the contention that all such illness and decrepitude are easily avoidable.
We have not lost sight of the fact that zymotic diseases are the result of poison transmitted through the medium of the atmosphere ; but we also do not lose sight of the fact, well known to scientists, that these poison germs are powerless and harmless unless a favorable soil is found in the human body in which to germinate. The influenza, which recently caused such widespread illness and so many deaths throughout America and England, in some of the large provincial towns attacked all classes — physicians, clergymen, professional men of all kinds, and the latter quite as much as the laboring classes. At the same time, very many people who must necessarily have been equally exposed with those who succumbed to the scourge passed entirely untouched; this was not because these persons did not breathe the poison, but because the poison germ did not find in them a suitable soil in which to germinate. It is the same with taking cold. After one, by persisting in the habit of taking improper food, and especially in excessive quantities, has overloaded and overstrained his organism, an exposure to a draught brings on a cold which not infrequently settles into bronchitis or pneumonia with a fatal termination ; another person sitting in the same draught feels only a momentary inconvenience from such change of temperature. Like the poison germ in the unsuitable soil, this draught finds the latter person with vigor so unimpaired that taking cold for the time is impossible.
It is not affirmed that hereditary tendency to disease is not an important factor, and always to be considered. Persons inheriting weak constitutions, and a predisposition toward consumption, scrofula, cancer, or any
PREFACE. ix
serious disease, must of necessity exercise more care than those with more fortunate inheritance. All the same, we affirm that as the poison germ is powerless for evil except where there is a suitable soil, and as exposure to a draught does not induce a cold except where due preparation has been made by dietetic transgression, so an inherited weakness, a predisposition to disease, will never develop into the maladies with which the parents were afflicted except by persistence in unhygienic methods of life, of which errors in diet at the present day constitute a far greater share than is formed by all other transgressions combined.
Good grounds are set forth for the belief that total abstinence not only from wine, beer, and alcohol in every form, but from tea and coffee as well, is demanded in the interest of health, and in obedience to hygienic law. A new explanation of the cause of intemperance is pointed out, as well as a new method for its cure.
Although heretofore much has been written in favour of fruit eating, it will be seen, so long as men make cereals and starch vegetables the basis of their food, that fruit is and must continue to be simply an ornament, neglected and unused.
The claim that fruit is composed of substantially the same elements as bread, and will take its place, will be a novelty to most readers ; but a careful scrutiny of the evidence adduced in favour of this contention will, it is believed, convince earnest students of the correctness of this claim.
Throughout civilization the great bulk of the human /amily — the vegetarian and the mixed eaters alike — are oerealites; in the future, when the doctrines herein taught are understood and adopted, mankind will become "fruitarian.
This claim is fraught with more meaning than is seen at first glance. A fruit diet, as set forth in the following x PREFACE.
pages, means the solution of the problems of how to banish disease and intemperance from the race ; to free us from the horrors of the shambles ; and to give us a food which is at once in accord with our higher instincts and the demands of aesthetics.
The following quotation from an essay by Mrs. Densmore, which is found in Part II., may be taken as an epitome of this book :
' ' Health is man s birthright. It is as natural to be well as to be born. All pathological conditions ', all diseases, and all tendencies to disease are the result of the trangression of physiologic and hygienic law* This is the science of health in a nutshell."
78, Elm Park Road,
London, June, 1891.
Chapter II. The Basic Error Of Physicians
Soothing by opium 10
Obligation to physicians 11
A fashionable fetish 12
History repeats itself 13
CHAPTER HI.
DIFFERING MODES OF MEDICINE.
Hygenic obedience cures 15
Mind Cure physicians 16
Progress in forty years 17
Tendency toward recovery a law 18
Drugs modify symptoms 19
Fasting and food 20
Chapter IV. How To Doctor
Why fasting benefits 22
Duration of fast «... 23
Copious draughts of hot water 24
How hot applications overcome pain 25
Hot water soothes better than opium . 26
; One cause of constipation . 27
Law universal in its action 28
Results of eating too much • • . 29
Dr. Hall's cure for constipation . 30
Value of herb tea cathartics ... 31
A portable hot air bath 32
Office of perspiration 33
Further hygienic rules 34
Chapter V. Diagnosis
Normal number of heart beats 36
Counting the pulse. A blood thermometer 37
Degree of heat showing danger 38
Temperature of feet and head ^"39
Value of diagnosis 40
Chapter VI. Convalescence
When to continue fasting 42
When to eat, and what food 43
Fruit, meat, and milk 44
Eggs and milk for vegetarians 45
Why water is the only wholesome drink 46
No stimulants. Much fresh air 47
Exercise and sleep 48
Orthodox testimony 49
Doctors generally powerless 50
Chapter VII. Treatment For Children
Treatment for croup and diphtheria 52
Cow's milk and woman's contrasted 53
Infant's food— Mellin's, etc. ........ 54
Improper feeding makes fretful babes 55
Chapter I. Principles Of Nutrition
Why avoid starch foods 58
Fruit sugar better than starch 59
Starch foods induce overeating ........ 60
Simplicity in diet 61
Value of nutrition 62
Variety not necessary 63
Relish for simple foods 64
Milk with dates and figs 65
Rule for quantity of food 66
Meat and fruit diet By
Tobacco, alcohol, and a simple diet 68
The best sauce is hunger , . . 69
Same food for different seasons 7°
Same food for all work 71
Chapter II. Tea, Coffee, And Chocolate
Theine, caffeine, bromine, and koline 73
Tea and coffee poisonous 74
Tea and tobacco related poisons 75
Opium and coffee alike 76
Tobacco a dangerous poison 77
Familiar poisons grouped ......... 78
All to be avoided 79
Chapter VI. The Morning Bath
Injury from cold baths 100
Importance of cleanliness ......... 101
Home Turkish bath 102
Hot water better than hot air 103
Reaction guaranteed 104
Homespun methods 105
Health compensates for all 106
Irksomeness removed by habit 107
To enjoy a luxurious bath ......... 108
A cold douche become harmless 109
Chapter VII. Father Kneipp's Water Cure
Father Kneipp's book . . . . - . . . . .Ill
A patient saved by mildness 112
Walking barefoot in wet grass 113
CHAPTER Vin.
TURKISH BATH AT HOME.
Directions for bathing 115
Temperature and duration 1 16
Advantages over Turkish baths 117
Much time saved 118
A daily bath advised 119
Chapter IX. Exercise
All kinds good 121
Tricycling wearisome 122
Exercise must be attractive 123
Professor Wright's advice . 124
Bicycling recommended 125
Chapter X. The Salisbury Method Of Cure
Advantages claimed 127
Unending circle of beneficent forces 128
Preparing the Salisbury diet 129
Fruit with meat preferred 130
Rationale of the meat diet 131
Food for the corpulent 132
Why fruits are healthful 133
Measured amount of food 134
Chapter XI. Cooking
Cause of cooking cereals 136
Reasons for cooking flesh 137
y Non-starch food natural 138
Chapter XII. Preparation Of Food
Nitrogenous foods 140
Why fish is preferred 141
f A wholesome pudding 142
Water the only wholesome drink 143
■' Coarse grains irritate 144
CHAPTER XIH.
WHOLEMEAL BREAD.
Bran indigestible and inflaming 146
Inflammation causes flatulence 147
Bran always damages bread ........ 148
Professor Goodf ellow confirms . 149
Scientific proofs against brown bread 150
Chapter XIV. Conservation Of Force
Town-bred boys excel farmers' sons 152
Overstrain proves fatal 153
Vital force proof against disease . 154
All poison habits lower vitality 155
Fear— an unread telegram kills 156
All indulgence weakens 157
f All transgressions lessen vital force 158
Chapter XV. Corpulence — Its Cause And Cure
I Table of normal weights 160
Increasing with age unnatural 161
Dr. Page's testimony . . 162
Starch foods cause corpulence 163
Water drinking not the cause 164
Obesity a disease ........... 165
Treatment for reduction 166
Some self-denial required 167
Advantages of reduction 168
A dangerous deformity .169
Chapter XVI. The Curative Action Of Regimen
\V Results of excess in food 171
Some mistakes of vegetarians 172
Injuries of diet cumulative . 173
Not wholly bankrupt 174
Dieting discouraged 175
I Results of bread-and-milk diet 176
To be ill is a sin 177
Chapter XVII. The Immorality Of Flesh-eating
Vegetarian reasoning 179
Common sense must rule 180
Circumstances may demand meat-eating 181
Health the first requisite 182
CHAPTER XVHI.
THE VALUE OF DRUGS IN THE TREATMENT OF DISEASE.
Effect of quinine in malaria 184
Warburgh's tincture 185
Chronic sore eyes cured 186
Effect of drugs in rheumatism ........ 187
Hygienists need no medicine 188
Chapter XIX
SUPERSTITION CONCERNING DOCTORS. FALSE MEDICAL ETHICS.
Surgeons as such excepted 190
Opium the modern delusion 191
A monopoly in medicine 192
Medical ethics screen the guilty 193
Mental healing, or mind cure 194
The question of advertising 195
The Keely cure for drunkenness ........ 196
Madame del Cin 197
Medical tyranny 198
Medical tyranny in England . ....... 199
Dr. Alabone's persecution • . • • 200
Dr. Pye Smith on doctors 201
Sir John Forbes' testimony 202
From Dr. Kimball and others 203
Drs. Richardson and Gardner 204
Professor Clark and Dr. Ramage, F.R.C.S 205
From James Johnson, M.D., F.R.S 206
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes . . 207
Dr. Samuel Wilks — the famous Majendie 208
The indictment completed 209
Chapter XX. Dinners And Dining
Fashionable large dinners . . . . . . . . 21 1
Select private dinner 212
Sir Henry's view of moderation . 213
Fruit considered an ornament 214
All depends upon the point of view 215
Avoidable errors in diet . . .216
Sir Henry Thomson inconsistent . 217
Hunger is the best sauce . . . 218
Simplicity more healthful . . . . ' 219
Chapter I. General Survey
Natural term of life ,.'■-. 222
Animals in nature always well 223
) What is man's natural food ? 224
j Fruits give greatest relish 225
/Fruit and bread — essential differences 226
Natural food digested in main stomach 227
Man's digestive organs unchanged by habit 228
The theory confirmed by facts 229
The Salisbury meat diet 230
Though vegetarians, prescribed flesh food . . . . . .231
x The milk, grape, and spa cures . 232
The author's personal experience 233
s One man's meat another's poison 234
Confirmed by tens of thousands 235
Chapter II. Office Of The Saliva
Professor Goodfellow's experiments 237
Goodfellow's experiments continued 238
Experiments continued 239
Experiments on raw starch . . 240
Starch not digested in stomach ...,..«. 241
Fruit pre-digested by nature « 242
Why toasting bread aids digestion ....... 243
Chapter III. Cause And Cure Of Constipation
Why fruit is aperient 245
Why bread is constipating 246
Starch food retained too long ........ 247
Chapter IV. Confirmatory Proofs
Truth always harmonious 249
Chapter V. Confirmatory Proofs — Rowbotham
A plea for progress 251
Why common salt is harmful ........ 252
Bread the staff of death . 253
Cause of premature old age ......... 254
Substitute for distilled water 255
Experiments upon fowls 256
Upon a dog, horse, and man 257
Experiment upon mother and child 258
-* Childbirth naturally painless 259
Effect of fruit on parturition 260
Another striking example 261
The more fruit and less bread the better 262
Effect of diet on teeth 263
Effect of diet on complexion and old age ...... 264
Cereal foods induce early death 265
Fruit and meat promote health and life 266
Historical proofs 267
South Sea Islanders. Herodotus 268
Why the Irish excel the English 269
Wild hog and long-lived birds 270
Elephant, horse, dog, and monkey 271
Why the poor die sooner than the rich 272
Diet of long-lived Egyptians , . . . 273
Examples of longevity .......... 274
Jenkins and the patriarchs 275
The more food taken the more deaths 276
Abstaining from bread saves life 277
Chapter VI
CONFIRMATORY PROOFS — DR. DE LACY EVANS.
The Macrobiotic art 279
Bacon on facts 280
Causes of old age 281
Youth and old age contrasted 282
<Z Ossification caused by wrong food 283
Proper diet prevents ossification 284
Age of the patriarchs 285
Fruits are best, cereals are worst 286
Testimony of Hesiod 287
Experience of primitive man 288
The return to nature 289
Diet of American Indians 290
Persians and Ethopians 291
Why human milk is better than cow's milk 292
Cause of cretinism 293
Fruit and temperance required 294
Instances of longevity 295
Harvey and Old Parr 296
A man 180 years old 297
Longevity in animals 298
Advantages of distilled water 299
Importance of health studies 300
Death the universal terror 301
The philosopher's stone 302
Fruit compared with cereals 303
Chapter X
CONFIRMATORY PROOFS — DR. FOTHERGILL AND HERBERT SPENCER.
* Pre-digested foods recommended 319
* Fruits contrasted with bread 320
Advantages of a fruit diet 321
Confirmed by Herbert Spencer . • • 322
Bread insipid, fruit wholesome 323
Vital force saved by proper food . 324
Drs. Fothergill and Holbrook confirm ....... 325
Grapes instead of bread ......... 326
Chapter XI. Confirmatory Proofs— Comparative Anatomy
Testimony of Huxley and Haeckel ....... 328
Proven by the microscope 329
Many traits in common ...... . . . . . . . 330
Diet of long-armed apes 331
Why the gorilla eats seeds 332
Apes do not use cereals ... . . . . . . . . 333
Man's stomach unchanged by evolution ...... 334
Comparative anatomy — A table 335
Chapter XII. Confirmatory Proofs — Fruits And Nuts Versus Cereals
Necessity stimulates development ....... 337
The fig a food of the ancients 339
The vine and the date 340
Humboldt and Linnaeus on the date ....... 341
Arabia's national food . ......... 342
Bananas in many countries . 343
Prolific yield of the banana — Humboldt . . • . . „ 344
Importance of Qil ......... , 345
Longevity of the olive ........... 346
Productiveness of the Brazil nut ........ 347
Fruits superior to cereals 348
A splendid prospect 349
Chapter XVI. Longevity Of Man
What diseases are increasing 365
Wisdom comes with advanced age 366
That great longevity is natural, proven by science .... 367
Longevity not now increasing 368
Longevity incontestably decreasing 369
Still more unsatisfactory reflections ....... 370
Insanity and suicide increasing 371
Old age free from decrepitude 372
Development late in life 373
Literary power in middle life ........ 374
Wisdom developed late in life 375
Serene old age a Divine triumph 376
Cato and Cicero 377
Formula of Flourens and Buffon 378
No short cut to longevity 379
Citizens of cities always deteriorate ....... 380
Chapter XVII. Intemperance — Its Relation To Starch Food
Result of overstrain 382
Inadequate nutrition a cause 383
Grows by what it feeds on 384
Benefits from vegetarianism explained 385
Combining advantages of both 386
Chapter XVIII. Summing Up
r Cures from the non-starch diet 388
Confirmed by Professor Goodfellow 389
Testimony of a physician — Rowbotham 390
De Lacy Evans and Professor Gubler 391
\ Cereals call for salt 392
The tropics teaming with fruit 393
Universal law and progress 394
Cause of intemperance 395
Chapter XIX. Contributions To Science
Benefits from a meat diet explained Natural food theory solves problems Sylvester Graham's great delusion Sugar, stimulants, and potash Cause of drunkenness. Forestry Paradise regained ....
Open and unwrinkled brow of age Possibilities of longevity "0 happy earth ! reality of heaven ! "
398 399 400 401 402
403 404
PART L HOW TO DOCTOR.
How Nature Cures.
chapter I
HEALTH. DISEASE. LAW OF CURE.
" Go wash in Jordan." — II. Kings v. io.
What is health?
What is disease?
What is the law of cure?
All growth, development, repair, and maintenance of tissue, as also development and maintenance of vital power, are the result of nutrition. Elementary physiology teaches that a primary cell enlarges, divides into two or more cells; these in turn divide and multiply until there is produced an aggregation of cells, and the first beginnings of tissue growth. Soon there are seen to be cells of different qualities having specific and characteristic functions ; these related cells are seen to unite and co-operate in the formation of nerve, muscular, and connective tissue, of cartilage, of bone, and of the network of tissue seen in animal life. From the very beginning of this development and differentiation, the chief requisite for healthy growth — after the required temperature, light, and air — is nutrition. When the animal has attained to its full development and growth there remains only the work of keeping up the temperature, and of repairing the waste of tissue consequent
4 LIFE BASED ON NUTRITION.
upon exercise and activity ; there is need only of nutrition in the form of air, water, and food.
This is a universal law in organic life, as applicable to a grass-plot or a tree as to the organism of an animal. If a grass-plot has sunshine, warmth, moisture, and fertility (or food), there is health and growth. If food or moisture or warmth be taken away, there is sickness; and if continued, there is death. No medicine is needed to secure a restoration of health and vigor to the plant that has thus been made ill ; all that is necessary is to supply any or all of the lacking elements of nutrition — light, warmth, moisture, or food.
It is a universal law of organic life, be it vegetable or animal, that all tendencies are toward health. It is as natural to be well as to be born.
Note the grass-plot before instanced. It may be ever so brown from the summer sun and drought, or scarcity of fertility; if disorganization be not already set in, if there yet be life, all that is needed to restore the beautiful green color and vigorous growth to the grass is to supply it with whatever elements of nutrition it has been deprived of — sunshine, warmth, rain, or fertility — and it at once begins to mend ; in a few weeks green blades have taken the place of seared ones, and in a short time there is often no trace of previous lack of vigor.
If the bone of a man or any animal be broken, and the parts replaced, the presiding and guiding force of the animal economy — call it nature or what you will — at once deposits a liquid substance over the entire surface of the bone a short distance in opposite directions from the fracture. This liquid soon hardens into a bone-like substance and becomes a ring firmly attached to each section of the broken bone, and for a time affords the chief support whereby the damaged limb can be used. In due time the ends of the bone — which, perhaps, had been entirely severed — become united; nature establishes a
NATURE'S ENGINEERING. 5
circulation through its parts, whereby each part is again nourished; and the limb, having its broken bone reunited, is able to support the weight of the body without calling upon the strength of the bone ring which had been temporarily built around the fractured bone. What happens? Nature, finding no doubt that all needless supports are a damage, proceeds to soften and absorb this bone ring until it is all removed except a slight portion for an eighth or a quarter of an inch about the point of fracture.
A similar and more familiar phenomenon is seen whenever the skin is broken : at once there is an exudation of blood ; this coagulates upon exposure to the air, and forms an excellent air-tight protection (a scab) to the injured part, which remains for a longer or shorter period, as may be needed ; and when nature has formed a new skin underneath, and the scab is no longer required, nature proceeds to undermine and separate it; and while as long as it was needed it was firmly attached, so soon as no longer required it falls off of its own weight.
A sliver becomes imbedded in the flesh — a frequent accident. If a surgeon is at hand and removes it, well and good — nature soon repairs the damage ; if the sliver is permitted to remain, nature at once sets about a bit of engineering. First there is pain and inflammation ; then follows a formation of pus ; this in due time breaks down the tissues immediately surrounding the sliver, especially toward the surface of the limb ; the pus increases, breaks through, runs out, and sooner or later carries the sliver with it.
These everyday occurrences are as familiar to the layman as to the physician ; but the strange part of it is the fact that almost no one — layman or physician — seems to understand thai these and like processes of nature are all the healing force there is. It does not matter what the
6 HEALING POWER OF NATURE.
trouble may be — a sliver in the flesh, or a lodgment in the organism of the poison germs of typhoid fever — no medicine is required or will benefit ; all that is needed is that the conditions demanded by nature be supplied, and the same mysterious force which we call life, which builds a bone ring support whenever and wherever it is needed, and at once places a most admirable protection in the shape of a scab wherever there is an abrasion of the skin, will prove itself as well able successfully to handle an attack of typhoid fever as a broken bone or an abrased skin.
Take a person in the full vigour of life and health. A good night's sleep has been had, the usual breakfast eaten, the forenoon's task performed, and the person is about to sit down to luncheon with a vigorous appetite. A telegram is received which states that a son or daughter or near friend has just been killed or has unexpectedly died. The same force which we call nature, and which strengthens a broken bone with a bone ring, at once takes away all appetite, all desire to eat, from the afflicted person. Why is the appetite taken away ? Because the process of digestion is a draught upon the nervous system, and requires a considerable amount of nerve force ; and a person suddenly bereaved has need of the entire force of the nervous system to enable him or her to endure the strain. This is but another manifestation of that force which builds a bone ring support around a broken bone, adjusts a temporary but airexcluding and efficient protection over a wound, and burrows round, loosens and ejects a foreign substance which has become embedded in the flesh.
As for the grass-plot, it is quite universally known that growth and vigour always follow upon a supply of the necessary conditions — sunshine, warmth, moisture, and food. If from the outset the plant has had these necessaries, an unvarying vigour results ; if the gardener
REQUISITES FOR HEALTH. 7
perceives a failing colour in the plant, or any other sign of disease, he knows that some of the necessary conditions of grass life are lacking. If this inquiry be extended to the examination of more complex forms of life, it will be found that the same law obtains. The fishes of the sea, the birds of the air, and the wild animals of the wood are quite usually found in perfect health and vigour. When the fisherman or the hunter finds an exception to this rule, he knows at once that some of the normal conditions of animal life have been wanting ; there has been a lack (in the absence of poison or injury from violence) of food, or water, or light, or warmth.
It will be seen, after the most searching scrutiny from whatever point of view, that a tendency toward an abounding health and vigour is inseparable from life; and, moreover, whenever and wherever the normal conditions of healthy life have been interfered with, and weakness, lassitude, or any of the symptoms of ill-health appear, as soon as the conditions natural to the organism are restored, a movement toward health is always sure to follow.
The opening of the book is shown; the full text loads in the reader.
Loading the full text…
The end
You’ve reached the end of How nature cures, comprising a new system of hygiene; also the natural food of man; a statement of the principal arguments against the use of bread, cereals, pulses, potatoes, and all other starch foods.