Food composition and human ills

Introduction

Truth is that which can be demonstrated, theoretically and practically, chemically or mechanically, physically or physiologically.

So long as any proposition is merely speculative, as are religion and old-school medicine, it is a waste of time to argue, and it is a crime to accept them on the brazenness of their assertions.

The greatest of all calamities to the human race was the promulgation and acceptance of a substitution of artificial for natural standards in education and practice, because it retarded progress and outraged intelligence.

Religions have caused more insanity and crime than all other factors combined. Founded on superstition and credulity, armed with the bribe of a heaven and the threat of hell, they trafficked in forgiveness of "sins." The inconsistency and unnaturalness of putting premiums on crime is so apparent, to all who are not afraid to think, that it is pitiful. Not only history, but daily events, physical and physiological, afford ample proofs of the facts stated.

Out of religious dogmas came the medical ones, which are as dangerous to physiological conditions as the others are to mental ones. From prayers to offering sacrifices; from "miracles" to murder of those who refused to believe in them was an easy step in religion. From herbs and bleeding to mercury and vaccination is the analog in medicine. Is it anything remarkable that such baneful seed produced the awful crop, political autocracy and its complement, bolshevikism?

If there was a personal creator, as taught by religions, he, she or it must have had a creator and that one must have had progenitors; hence all such propositions are undisguised attempts at humbuggery to secure power for the rascally promulgators.

If it is possible for "Medical Science" to invent or discover "cures" or artificial "preventives" for alleged "diseases" it is also possible to invent medicines or "vaccination" to make food and sleep needless, which would save for work at least one-third of the average life.

There are Natural laws. None know when, where or how they originated. It makes no difference who or what made them; we have them; but neither religious or medical schools of the orthodox type teach anything about them. The astronomy of Joshua is on a par with the "inoculation" of "police-power" medical government.

Each individual is endowed with mental capacity. Some have better quality or greater amount than others. Some are doubly endowed. Such have the greater responsibility, and when they abuse it, Natural laws will regulate them or their progeny. It always has. It always will.

It is the purpose of this book to introduce methods of analysis of causes of ills by showing: First, what normal, Natural standards of living are; Second, that the one-idea methods, in vogue, have no relation thereto.

The Author.

CHAPTER I. Pertaining to Natural Light

Chapter I of the book of Genesis, "holy bible," begins as follows: "And in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light and the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

This is the story which, in various forms, has been handed from generation to generation since long before the Christian god and the "holy bible" were thought of. It grew with repeating until, when the leaders of primitive mankind began to learn how to write and read, they discovered they had a means of impressing the herd with the superiority of leaders and of playing a joke on posterity; but I do not believe, for a moment, that the most sanguine of them had the faintest idea they would be taken seriously during all the centuries which have passed. The fanatics of today insist the fact that the humbug still works is proof the statements are facts.

The old-time leaders took the lives of all who attempted to educate the masses in mathematics, in which field have been found all of the Natural truths ever proved. The leaders of today would, if they dared,' practice similar tactics; but they are as cowardly as they are credulous, and content themselves with slander — and prayer.

Mathematics, unknown to the authors of the "bible,"

tells us that light is a composite substance, different from everything else. It comprises elements which, when separated by passing it through a transparent prism, exhibit seven distinct colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. From these it has been found there are four primary colors: red, yellow, green and blue; the first and third and the second and fourth of which are complementary to each other. Try an experiment: Cut small squares from papers of each of these colors and paste them on separate sheets o* white paper; take the red in one hand and a sheet of plain white paper in the other; gaze steadily at the red for a short time when a slight halo will appear around it; then slip the white paper over it and the complementary color, green, will appear. Try the green and the red will appear; take the yellow and blue will appear; try the blue and the yellow will exhibit. By this law any shade of the primary colors will c'assify itself when such classification would be difficult otherwise. Pale green is the nearest white, but pale blue is often mistaken for it; this test will settle the matter because if tried on pale blue, yellow will appear, and if on pale green, red will be the complementary exhibit.

Light not only illuminates; it invigorates, physically and metaphysically. The chemistry of the mineral vegetable and animal kingdoms, as well as of the planetary systems, comprises light as a dominant factor. Its laws of refraction, reflection, dispersion and absorption not only enable students to master terrestrial problems, but astronomers invade celestial fields and measure distances, sizes, weights and compositions of planets. These laws have not only made possible the telescope, but also the microscope, and, last but not least, lenses with which the enormous nerve strain, caused by defectively developed eyes, is saved by skillful work of competent Ophthalmologists.

Light combines the fundamental principles of both chemistry and mechanics; of theory and practice; of constancy and inconstancy; of physics and metaphysics.

Aristotle, Greek philosopher and teacher, born, 384 B. C; died, 322 B. C; controverted Plato's proposition that "the universal is the only 'light' in which the particular can be seen," by declaring and proving that "particulars are necessary in order that we may comprehend the universal." He coined the word "Metaphysics," meaning "after physics," as an expression of his reasoning. Aristotle was too advanced for the Athenians, who charged him with "impiety," and, in order to escape the fate of Socrates, he fled the country.

In the "critical angle" of light, beyond which total reflection occurs, we have proof of the probability that all laws are limited in their application ; and elsewhere is abundant evidence of the fact; hence the religious belief in"god miracles" is proved silly. In the focuses and conjugate focuses of light by lenses the absolute limitations of the laws of refraction, etc., are established and principles elucidated which, when the attempt to apply them physiologically is made, discovers to the student that there is a step between physics and metaphysics, viz.: Physiology. It is demonstrated in the practice of Ophthalmology, and we have found it equally practicable in other branches of our work, not only mechanically but chemically. In the spherical aberration of lenses we find physical reasons for the variety of physiological and mental idiosyncrasies of the human family. In the chromatic aberration of transparent media we have physical evidence which, employed physiologically and metaphysically, enables us to determine the dispositions and temperaments of patients. In the multiplicity of the problems found in physical optics we learn why the vast majority is content to accept assertions and repeat them as facts, without bothering to learn truths by assiduous labor — they are mentally lazy, almost to the point of atrophy.

In the study of physical laws we find that matter is indestructible; that when our physical bodies give up the "light" of life, the elements return to the masses from which they came. From this fact we reason, metaphysically, that the intangible mentality probably takes a similar course but one unfathomable to us because of the inapplicability of physics. Hence, we do not believe in heavens or hells, in resurrections or judgments, in personal gods or omnipotent devils; and we do believe we uttered an incontrovertible truth in the third paragraph of the introduction to this work.

"When you set yourself up, by 3 r our brains, luck or pluck,

Just above the dead level of men,

You have only begun on the fight of your life ;

For the envious aim at yon then."

CHAPTER II. Condensed Facts About the Human Body

For the same reason physics antecedes metaphysics in general, the study of anatomy is precedent to physiology; but, after some preliminary specifications and finding that both subjects are physiological, they are made more comprehensive by taking them together.

Chemically the anatomical body is a constant, composed of water, four-fifths, and salts (nitrates, phosphates and carbonates), one-fifth. The elemental composition includes: Nitrogen, about 3 pounds; Oxygen, 111 pounds ;Hydrogen, 14 pounds; Carbon, 21 pounds; Phosphorous, 2 pounds; Calcium, 2 pounds; Sulphur, Chlorine and Sodium, about 2 ounces each; Iron, Potassium, Magnesium, Fluorine and Silicon, a few grains each. Oxygen and hydrogen are present in the proportions which form water and amount to about 80 per cent of the whole. Bone is about one-third animal and two-thirds earthy matter; of the latter, approximately five-sixths is calcium phosphate, the remainder being sodium and magnesium compounds. The animal portion is fat, nerves and blood-vessels.

Chemically the physiological body, which is an inconstant, requires great variety in food to supply varying quantities of essential elements for digestion and other functions in addition to supplying those utilized in the tearing down and rebuilding processes which are constantly at work during life.

Mechanically the anatomical body comprises the skeleton or bony structure and the ligaments which articulate them; the muscles and nerves to operate them; the fascia, or connective tissue; the blood and lymphatic systems.

Mechanically the physiological body includes the brain and nervous systems, for sensation and motion; the organs of special sense, (of which seeing and hearing are mechanical, while smelling and tasting are chemical); the heart, for pumping blood (about 16 tons daily); the lungs, to throw off carbon dioxide and take on oxygen; the stomach, spleen, intestines and mesenteries, for digestion and assimilation; the liver for rectifying crude blood, as it comes from the digestive apparatus; the kidneys and bladder to extract and contain urine, which carries dangerous and waste matter; the sex organs — a topic declared, by religious fanatics, unfit for the public to be informed about in a book of general circulation; a declaration put into the statutes in violation of the Constitution, because it helps establishment of religion. It affords another bit of proof that credulity and ignorance are inconsistent and brutal; that while they pretend to believe their "god" is good, holy, wise and everything, when it is to the interest of their schemes to discredit him they do not hesitate to picture his work as lewd. There will be more on this subject when we come to the point of considering their mentalities.

For simplicity and convenience we have made four anatomical divisions and eight physiological ones in the foregoing paragraphs. Combining anatomy and physiology we have the following divisions for practical purposes:

1. The Nervous System.

2. The Circulatory System.

3. The Digestive System.

4. The Egestive System.

The nervous system comprises the brain, with the cerebrum or intellectual portion above and the cerebellum or physical portion below and behind; the twelve pairs of cranial nerves and the spinal cord with its 31 pairs of trunk lines and branches, a total of 43 pairs to express life and operate its functions. Its grand divisions are sensation and motion; its sub-divisions are the special senses, locomotion, vasculo-motion and metabolism; the latter being the exercise of chemical affinities in the process of reconstruction of tissues. The anatomy of this system is exhibited in the nerve structures ; the physiology is in the electric currents; afferent, toward the brain and efferent, from it.

The circulatory system includes the lymphatics and four blood systems, viz.: the portal, or crude blood system of branches from the stomach and spleen, superior and inferior mesenteric regions, enfolding the small intestines, to the liver; the pulmonary system, where the rectified blood, sent from the liver via the heart, is aereated; the arterial system, from the lungs, via the heart, into the body generally; the venous system, which carries impurities out of the body by way of the lungs and other divisions of the egestive system. The lymphatic system begins in the lacteals of the mesenteries, which empty into the "receptaculum chyli," situated in the upper back part of the abdominal cavity, thence to the thoracic duct, into the left subclavian vein, to the heart, lungs and arterial system; also via branches from the duct throughout the body. The object of this system is to carry the elements which sustain life and drain it of impurities and waste.

The digestive system, includes the mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, duodenum, jejunum, ileum and colons, and together with the chemistry of the fluids of the stomach, pancreas, liver and intestines, constitute the chemico-mechanical arrangement provided to take needed elements from food and supply them to the nervous system through the agency of the circulatory systems. Here we have a physical-physiological reason why we should have knowledge of what, when and how to eat.

The egestive system is a most complex one; but, so far as digestion is concerned, its principal divisions are the bowels, the urinary tract, the lungs and the sweat glands. The physiological importance of this system cannot be overestimated, because, when it is not in perfect operation, digestion is interfered with, the circulation runs short of supplies and the nervous system begins to send out calls for help, which doctors of the fanatical schools call symptoms of "disease" indicating the need for drugs to "cure," when, as a matter of fact they are nothing of the sort. Pain, fever, itching, etc., are merely automatic burglar alarms, and if the doctors knew what each means they would not need resort to hypodermics or habit-forming drugs to stop "pains," or cold baths to "relieve fevers," and they would never be led into the gross crime of employing serum therapy to "cure" the sick or to prevent the well from becoming "diseased."

The nervous system is arranged for involuntary as well as voluntary action in the performance of the functions of all the # systems; but there is such a complete interdependence between all of the systems that if one gets out of order notice is immediately given, automatically, through the nervous department. For this reason we insist all ills are nervous ills; we get our first symptoms of disorder and the first signs of return to normal through this medium. In the brain itself we have not only mental symptoms of departure from true balance, but we have positive physical changes there which are regarded as the most distressing of all symptoms; in the eyes, ears, mouth, nose, throat, tongue, teeth, are wires which send out calls for attention, which, if understood as they should be, by not only doctors but the public generally, would be responded to so promptly that many of the minor and some of the major ills would be aborted; in the lungs and digestive apparatus, the egestive organs and even the skin are wires always ready to report the first indication of trouble.

Remembering that perfectly healthy conditions are always comfortable, the following paragraphic enumeration of some of the alarms may aid the reader to observe others and value their importance; and obedience to Nature's calls will not only improve general physiological conditions, but mental ones will show a corresponding benefitno plrysiologically deranged person is mentally in perfect balance :

Mental irritability usually means indigestion.

Mental dullness means eye strain, particularly in school children.

Melancholy may be from congenital causes, but is often, from general debility.

Illusions and fads are indicative of superstition, which means mental weakness, sure to involve body physiolog3 T .

Jealousy is a confession of the superiority of the person it is directed against; it indicates a malicious disposition and breeds unhappiness for all who come in contact with the exhibitors.

Religious zeal is largely a product of indigestion, mental and physiological. Exhibitors prove there is a hell— on earth — by making trouble, whenever it is possible, for all who do not agree with them. They employ politics, "moral codes" and other dubious methods to accomplish their objects.

Carelessness is a mental disorder which has caused lots of trouble. One exhibit is indifference to the rights of others, by failure to keep business or social engagements. It is a crime, punishable, sooner or later, by ostracization. The guilty ones also neglect themselves, because they are deficient in temperament.

Fear and hope are exhibitions of mental weakness which are utilized successfully by designing leaders to form cults in religion and medicine. They are the stronghold of the "orthodox," who are exemplars of sophism and bigotry.

Beware of the person who does not like children, animals, music and flowers. Also be cautious in dealing with those who are foolish over them. The first are of criminal tendencies; the second are absolutely unreliable in business and social affairs.

Inflammation of the eyes, growths thereon, twitching of lids, styes, swellings, granulations, suppurations, etc., mean need for glasses, no matter how good the vision is, and nothing but the constant wearing of properly fitted ones will relieve the exhibits permanently. Do not permit oculists to put "drops" in the eyes, nor should you believe anyone who tells you eyes can be fitted to glasses correctly in a few minutes or hours. Anyone should understand that the entire nervous system has to undergo readjustment and to do a job right should require several visits to a real Ophthalmologist. It will be an agreeable surprise to many to find how other symptoms may be reached by themselves with the aid of a competent Ophthalmologist, even after some of "the best in the country" have had their innings, from dope to surgery.

Cross-eyes mean great eye defects or operations for them by surgeons who didn't know enough anatomy to know that knife or scissors surgery is not needed for such cases. Our school and its graduates have been straightening all sorts of cross-eyes without operation for more than twenty-five years.

If the baby's eyelids stick together in the mornings, wash gently with hot water and a soft cloth, then drop some cold salt water in them, and, as soon as possible see an Ophthalmologist.

Roaring in the ears, "tinitis aurium," means there is a hypertrophic condition in labyrinth or tube. It is usually associated with so-called "catarrh" of the nasal passages. See chapter on "Home Treatment of Disorders." Pus discharges from the ears, or pains therein need prompt attention.

Enlarged tonsils, adenoids in the nasal passages, and habitual sore throat, with periodical "diphtheria" are indicative of wrong living.

Bad teeth indicate a deficient body chemistry; too much "carbohydrate" food; too much orthodox medical teachings, hence wrong living, not only dietetically, but otherwise. If the roots are bad it usually means "pull." See a dentist, but do not waste much time in "treatments" if the roots are bad. If it is the body of the tooth, it may be fixed readily.

Pimples, rashes, boils, etc., always mean bad living is one of the chief causes; but there are liable to be many others. They are humiliating and as needless and disgraceful as "catarrh." Learn rational living and be happy.

Goitre is an exhibit meaning a radically disordered chemistry, probably partly congenital, but always a complication of causes. Do not delay seeking skilled help ; but avoid operations. Their record is bad.

"Rheumatism," "erysipelas," and other similar "diseases" are symptoms of acute blood poisoning. "Cures" do not work on them, or on anything else, for that matter. The entire system needs intelligent overhauling. People who say they can't eat strawberries, or have some other fad, are the common exhibitors of these derangements, and many of them appear to imagine it is quite a circumstance to be the possessor of something freakish. But when we tell them they are as freakish mentally they do not appear to be quite so proud of that part of it. They make disagreeable, unreliable patients.

Hunger after eating is a positive indication the chemical apparatus is overloaded. It is a common symptom, even among doctors, who ought to know better than to gorge themselves; but they consistently teach the public to "eat what you please and send for the doctor." We eat anything eatable, but we see to it that our foods are combined in such a manner that they are almost self-digesting.

Need for food is suggested naturally in healthy people by a noticeable subnormality of the capacity for consecutive thought. It is exhibited more conspicuously in those whose work is largely mental, many of whom neglect themselves in their interest for the work at hand.

Sleeplessness may come from temporary mental responsibilities, but, as a rule, it means systemic disorders.

Nightmare is usually a product of over-eating just before retiring. In this connection, a comparatively small amount of decidedly improper food is worse than an overload of good items; but overloading quantitatively is as effective in producing bad dreams as qualitative excesses.

The bowels should act at least once daily; the stools should be soft, free from very offensive odor, of a yellowishbrown color, and copious enough to make it. evident that normal waste is being discharged.

Urine should be of a pale straw color and practically odorless, except in the morning, when it has been retained all night. Frequent desire to void urine, with only small amounts passed, indicates stricture of the mouth of the bladder. Frequent desire and large amounts of discharge mean systemic chemical derangement which needs prompt attention.

Dull but constant headaches mean indigestion; even if the bowels are working normally. Periodic sick-headaches are indications of eye strain with probable need of a general overhauling of the entire physiology.

Pains range in acuteness from slight twinges to those of such severity they are almost unbearable, as neuralgia, for example; but they all have their meanings. These will be considered more fully in a chapter on "Home Treatments for Disorders." A slight displacement of a dorsal vertebra is often exceedingly painful and is often "diagnosed" by old-school doctors as a "disease." But it dees not follow that all pains in the back are from displacements of vertebrae. This is where the "csteos" and "chiros" make their mistakes. We have found many of the pains of so-called "angina pectoris" were not in the heart at all, but were simple products of gastric indigestion.

Fever is one of the best friends of humanity. It is also one of the symptoms employed by crooked or ignorant doctors to frighten people. The entire nervous system is poised so delicately that it exhibits irritation on slight provocation. Often there is a rise in temperature, but other symptoms, such as tonic spasm to the point of pain, cause the fever to be over-looked.

A temperature below the normal 98.6 is often a more important symptom than that of 3 points above normal. Fright over any symptom does not help matters any. Always use common sense, but attend to the alarms. If you are unable to locate the cause, seek help.

Heart troubles, such as "mitral valve disease," are very common ; but they do not mean what the orthodox doctors claim. They do mean an overtaxed nerve supply. Palpitation, skipping beats, irregular beats, etc., are all in the same category. There is no particular danger to the heart, but there is immediate need for rest and repairs, else there may be paralysis, cerebral hemorrhages, etc., which, of course, are serious.

The glands of the groins and arm-pits are the seats of deposits of amyloids, a chalky-starchy mixture, often causing much distress by exhibiting "rheumatic" pains. Sometimes these deposits are in joints; and often, there are slight displacements of the hip or shoulder joints, with similar symptoms. The orthodox doctors find drugs do not relieve these troubles and the "cult" doctors find mechanical therapy does not work. We combine chemistry and mechanics and get there all the time.

Obesity is a symptom of ignorance of how to live and indifference with reference to learning. The subjects usually expire from "apoplexy." They are easily exhausted with physical effort, hence cultivate easy methods of earning livelihoods; they usually sell mining stocks or runs for office. They are often jolly fellows, but woe be when they grow sick. There is an intuition of danger and their conditions are made worse by fear. If one of the fat ones comes down with an enteric disorder, you might as well send for the undertaker. His physical condition and his fear form an almost fatal combination.

Nose-bleed has saved many from "apoplexy," but it is a symptom of need for a thorough chemical renovation of the entire system. Young people with such exhibits will not live many years if they do not change their habits of living under strict instructions from a Neurologist.

"Epilepsy" is a symptom indicating not only congenital but acquired causes. The victims are usually spoiled by parents, in childhood, because they are delicate — possibly from eye-strain — they develop tempers, are awfully bad eaters, careless and unreliable mentally, and often the victims i)f iodide of potassium and other dope which never did good and always does more or less damage mentally.

Bed-wetting by children is a symptom of nervous strain to the spasm point and frequently follows a convulsion, possibly slight, but, nevertheless, a convulsion. If a child complains of morning headaches with this exhibit, it needs prompt attention, not only to its eyes but to its general body chemistry.

Anaemia, is not always indicated by pallor; and pallor dees not always mean anaemia; but when there is general debility nervously, it is foolish to delay attention to indicated conditions. Our method of measuring the nerve supply and demand, and of ascertaining the exact condition of the blood, all through the eyes, which are really the double gauges of the body, place us far and away ahead of all other classes of practitioners.

Dysmenorrhoea (painful menstruation) is a symptom of tonic spasm of the entire nervous system, which has baffled all systems of practice, except ours. The menstrual function should transpire without pain. Therefore, when there is pain it need not be allowed to repeat itself. We do it all without drugs or operations.

Menorrhagia, (flooding at the menstrual period) is dangerous weakness of the nerve supply. This is a class of cases which are more difficult to handle because they are below normal; hence their treatment should be sought as early as possible after the symptom shows.

Hysteria is simply a form of nervousness exhibited by many people of both sexes. Literally it means excitability from female disorders; but, as a matter of fact it has come from eye strain more than from any other single cause.

A coated tongue does not mean a "torpid liver." It does mean chemical derangement that needs more than passing attention. It is an exhibit of the lymphatic system, which is one of the most delicate of all systems in point of carrying warnings. It ranks second only to the nervous system.

Similar symptoms in different people do not mean the same cause or combination of causes. Different symptoms in several people may prove to be from similar causes; hence it is always well to consult a competent doctor unless the home treatment, described in another chapter, gives relief and there is no recurrence of trouble.

All talk of "heredity" of "disease," in the sense the words are commonly understood, is unqualified nonsense.

In this connection the possible causes of ills need introduction. We have grouped them in their order of possibility, as follows:

.. Congenital.

!. Infection.

\. Malnutritio]

L Physical Shi

>. Mental Sho<

Each of these groups includes a variety of possibilities, so that the total number thereof is great enough to show

Congenital.

Physiological Strain.

Infection.

Mental Strain.

Malnutrition.

Habits.

Physical Shock.

Occupation.

Mental Shock.

Atmospheric Influences.

the impossibilities of "medical science" efforts to devise "cures" or "preventives" along the lines they have always pursued, namely: drug medication and political legislation. The attitude of the public against orthodox medicine is a Natural product of their failure to receive benefits and of their actually having suffered harm from the practice and tactics of Medical Unionism.

In the numerals, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, we have all of the figures with which the business of the world is done. In the ten groups are all of the factors for possible combinations of causes of human ills. It follows that when these are combined in different persons with different physiological and mental capacities and susceptibilities, no arbitrary procedure, such as that adopted by the "regular" school of practice and its imitators, can hope to succeed. Our System of Mature Medicine is strictly in accord with Natural laws, which have always existed; and, while our school is only twenty-six years old, its methods are as old as Creation.

Congenital refers to conditions preceding birth. To be well born there must be intelligent parentage; healthy mental and physiological conditions of parents, previous to conception, during gestation. Unfortunately orthodox religion and medicine have combined to interfere with education preparatory to parenthood, by "laws" which declare such education "obscene." Naturally nearly all children are accidents, products of lust gratification. A large number of children bred and born under our instruction were delivered without pain or fever; they were fed and otherwise cared for rationally, with the result that while some of them are over twenty years old, none have ever been ill a minute. They have been Naturally immune from everything, from "colic" as babies to "smallpox" and all other "diseases." In handling patients the second thing we inquire about is the family history. These are regarded, of course, as professional secrets, not to be violated.