Since Von Peckzely gave his discoveries to the world, many well-known scientists and conscientious observers in Austria, Germany and Sweden have devoted their lives to the perfection of this wonderful science. The regular schools of medicine, as a body, have ignored and will ignore it, because it discloses the fallacy of their favorite theories and practices, and because it reveals unmistakably the direful results of chronic drug poisoning and ill-advised operations.

In our work we do not confine ourselves to the Diagnosis from the Eye, but combine with it the diagnostic methods (physical diagnosis) of the regular school of medicine and the osteopathic diagnosis of bony lesions, as well as microscopic examinations and chemical a.n.a.lyses.

Thus any one of these methods supplements and verifies all the others. In this way only is it possible to arrive at a thorough and definite understanding of the patient's condition.

The "Key to the Diagnosis from the Eye" outlines with precision the areas of the iris as they correspond to the various parts of the body. This colored chart of the iris has been prepared by Dr. H.

Lahn, author of "The Diagnosis From the Eye," and can be obtained from the Kosmos Publis.h.i.+ng Co., 2112 Sherman Ave., Evanston, Ill.

Chapter XXIV

Vitality

In Chapter Four, we named, as the first of the primary causes of disease, lowered vitality.

What can we do to increase vitality? "Old School" physicians and people in general seem to think that this can be done by consuming large quant.i.ties of nouris.h.i.+ng food and drink and by the use of stimulants and tonics.

The constant cry of patients is: "Doctor, if you could only prescribe some good tonic or some food that will give me strength, then I should be all right! I am sure that is all I need to be cured."

We fully agree with the patient that he needs more vitality to overcome disease, but unfortunately this cannot be obtained from food and drink, from stimulants and tonics.

Vitality, life, life force, whatever we may call it or whatever its aspect, is not something we can eat and drink. It is independent of the physical body and of material food. If the body should "fall dead," as we call it, the life force would continue to act just as vigorously in the spiritual body, which is the exact counterpart of the physical organism.

The physical-material body as well as the spiritual-material body are only the instruments for the manifestation of the life force.

They are no more life itself than the violin is the artist.

But just as the violin must be kept in good condition in order to enable the artist to draw from it the harmonies of sound, so food and drink are necessary to keep the physical body in the best possible condition for the manifestation of vital force. The more normal our physical and spiritual bodies are in structure and function, the more harmonious our thought life and emotional life, the more abundant will be the influx of vital force into the twofold organism.

This important subject has been treated more fully in Chapter IV.

Ignorance of these simple truths leads to the most serious mistakes.

Physicians and people in general do not stop to think that excessive eating and drinking tend to rob the body of vitality instead of supplying it.

The processes of digestion, a.s.similation and elimination of food and drink in themselves require a considerable expenditure of vital force. Therefore all food taken in excess of the actual needs of the body consumes life force that should be available for other purposes, for the execution of physical and mental work.

The Romans had a proverb: "Plenus venter non studet libenter"--"A full stomach does not like to study." The most wholesome food, if taken in excess, will clog the system with waste matter just as too much coal will dampen and extinguish the fire in the furnace.

Furthermore, the morbid materials and systemic poisons produced by impure, unsuitable or wrongly combined foods will clog the cells and tissues of the body, cause unnecessary friction and obstruct the inflow and the operations of the vital energies, just as dust in a watch will clog and impede the movements of its mechanism.

The greatest artist living cannot draw harmonious sounds from the strings of the finest Stradivarius if the body of the violin is filled with dust and rubbish. Likewise, the life force cannot act perfectly in a body filled with morbid enc.u.mbrances.

The human organism is capable of liberating and manifesting daily a limited quant.i.ty of vital force, just as a certain amount of capital in the bank will yield a specified sum of interest in a given time.

If more than the available interest be withdrawn, the capital in the bank will be decreased and gradually exhausted.

Similarly, if we spend more than our daily allowance of vital force, "nervous bankruptcy," that is, nervous prostration or neurasthenia will be the result.

It is the duty of the physician to regulate the expenditure of vital force according to the income. He must stop all leaks and guard against wastefulness.

Stimulation by Paralysis

This heading may seem paradoxical, but it is borne out by fact.

Stimulants are poison to the system. Few people realize that their exhilarating and apparently tonic effects are produced by the paralysis of an important part of the nervous system.

If, as we have learned, wholesome food and drink in themselves do not contain and therefore cannot convey life force to the human body, much less can this be accomplished by stimulants.

The human body has many correspondences with a watch. Both have a motor or driving mechanism and an inhibitory or restraining apparatus.

If it were not for the inhibiting balances, the wound watchspring would run off and spend its force in a few moments. The expenditure of the latent force in the wound spring must be regulated by the inhibitory and balancing mechanism of the timepiece.

Similarly, the nervous system in the animal and human organism consists of two main divisions: the motor or driving and the inhibitory or restraining mechanisms.

The driving power is furnished by the sympathetic nerves and the motor nerves. They convey the vital energies and nerve impulses to the cells and organs of the body, thus initiating and regulating their activities.

We found that the human body is capable of liberating in a given time, say, in twenty-four hours, only a certain limited amount of vital energy, just as the wound spring of the watch is capable of liberating in a given time only a certain amount of kinetic energy.

As in the watch the force of the spring is controlled by the regulating balances (the anchor), so in the body the expenditure of vital energy must be regulated in such a manner that it is evenly distributed over the entire running time. This is accomplished by the inhibitory nervous system [the parasympathetics].

Every motor nerve must be balanced by an inhibitory nerve. The one furnishes the driving force, the other applies the brake. For instance, the heart muscle is supplied with motor force through the spinal nerves from the upper dorsal region, while the pneumogastric [vagus] nerve r.e.t.a.r.ds the action of the heart and in that way acts as a brake.

Another brake is supplied by the waste products of metabolism in the system, the uric acid, carbonic acid, oxalic acid, etc., and the many forms of xanthines, alkaloids, and ptomaines. As these acc.u.mulate in the organism during the hours of wakeful activity, they gradually clog the capillary circulation, benumb brain and nerves, and thus produce a feeling of exhaustion and tiredness and a craving for rest and sleep.

In this way, by means of the inhibitory nervous system and of the acc.u.mulating fatigue products in the body, Nature forces the organism to rest and recuperate when the available supply of vital force runs low. The lower the level of vital force, the more powerful will become the inhibitory influences.

Now we can understand why stimulation is produced by paralysis.

Stimulants precipitate the fatigue products from the circulation into the tissues of the body. They do this by overcoming and paralyzing the power of the blood to dissolve and carry in solution uric acid and other acids and alkaloids that should be eliminated from the organism. Thus will be explained more fully in the volume on "Natural Dietetics."

Furthermore, stimulants temporarily benumb and paralyze the inhibitory nervous system. In other words, they lift the brakes from the motor nervous system, and allow the driving powers to run wild when Nature wanted them to slow up or stop.

To ill.u.s.trate: A man has been working hard all day. Toward night his available supply of vitality has run low, his system is filled with uric acid, carbonic acid and other benumbing fatigue products, and he feels tired and sleepy, At this juncture he receives word that he must sit up all night with a sick relative. In order to brace himself for the extraordinary demand upon his vitality, our friend takes a cup of strong coffee, or a drink of whisky, or whatever his favorite stimulant may be.

The effect is marvelous. The tired feeling disappears, and he feels as though he could remain awake all night without effort.

What has produced this apparent renewal and increase of vital energy? Has the stimulant added to his system one iota of vitality?

This cannot be, because stimulants do not contain anything that could impart vital force to the organism. What, then, has produced the seemingly strengthening effect?

The caffeine, alcohol or whatever the stimulating poison may have been has precipitated the fatigue products from the blood and deposited them in the tissues and organs of the body. Furthermore, the stimulant has benumbed the inhibitory nerves; in other words, it has lifted the brakes from the driving part of the organism, so that the wheels are running wild.

But this means drawing upon the reserve supplies of nerve fats and of the vital energy stored in them, which Nature wants to save for extraordinary demands upon the system in times of illness or extreme exertion. Therefore this procedure is contrary to Nature's intent. Nature tried to force the tired body to rest and sleep, so that it could store up a new supply of vital force.

Under the paralyzing influence of the stimulant upon the inhibitory nerves, the organism now draws upon the reserve stores of nerve fats and vital energies for the necessary strength to accomplish the extra nightwork.

At the same time, the organism remains awake and active during the time it should be replenis.h.i.+ng energy for the next day's work, which means that the latter also has to be done at the expense of the reserve supply of life force.

During sleep only do we replenish our reserve stores of vitality.

The expenditure of vital energies ceases, but their liberation in the system continues.