This diversity of opinion is not by any means unique, for the tendency to disagreement among physicians is proverbial; but the unfortunate layman who is the person most vitally interested in the matter, is at a loss what to believe among this conflict of definitions, and naturally asks, Who is right?

I answer, unequivocally, not one! They are all wrong. This so-called "Law of Cure" is a purely imaginary affair; one of the many misconceptions peculiar to the medical schools, originating in a false conception of the true nature of disease. There is no such thing as a law of cure! There is a condition of cure, and that is, obedience.

Nature has provided penalties for disobedience, and is inexorable in exacting payment; but she does not provide remedies. If there is one thing absolutely certain in nature, it is the unfaltering sequence of cause and effect. Nature never stultifies herself. It is impossible to imagine nature providing penalties for violation of her laws, and then furnishing remedies to make those penalties negatory.

It is a lamentable fact that the medical profession, as a body, entertain a totally erroneous conception of the true nature of disease, and its legitimate function in the economy of nature. Instead of recognizing it as a beneficent remedial process, which, if properly aided, will work out the salvation of the patient, they antagonize it at every turn, and endeavor to suppress the symptoms, which are its legitimate expressions.

The whole thing is a huge misconception, the failure to understand the true relation between living and dead substances. According to the United States Dispensatory, medicines are those substances That make sanative impressions on the body.

A false definition of a word leads to a false system of remedial practice, based upon that definition. What is an impression? Is it the action of a dead substance, which cannot act upon a living substance that can? a.s.suredly not! Is it not rather the recognition by the living substance of the lifeless one? The whole theory of drug action is easily explainable on this hypothesis. Drugs--inert substances--do not act upon the living organism, but are acted upon, with a view to their expulsion from the living domain. If it were not so, if drugs really acted upon the various organs, then their action should be equally as effective after death as before. But no, nature resents the introduction of foreign substances into the human economy, and exerts all her powers to cast out the intruders.

Now, as all substances incapable of physiological use are foreign, such as particles of worn out tissue, the waste products of digestion, etc., and their presence in the animal economy inimical to the general welfare, the depurating organs are called into active play to expel the offending substances; and the increased physiological activity, and (in the case of actual lesion) the increased flow of blood to the parts, for the purpose of repair, cause a rise in temperature, commonly known as fever, which is one of the most frequent symptoms of what is generally recognized as disease; thus establishing the fact, indisputably, that disease is purely and simply a remedial process, either for purposes of repair or purification.

The practice, therefore, of increasing the deposits in the physical system by the introduction of drugs (foreign substances) is in direct opposition to physiological law, and has no scientific foundation whatever.

From the countless remedies of the pharmacopceia we can select substances that if administered to a healthy person will produce almost any known form of disease thus: brandy, cayenne pepper and quinine, will induce inflammatory fever; scammony and ipecac will cause cholera morbus; nitre, calomel and opium, will provoke typhoid or typhus fever; digitalis will cause Asiatic, or spasmodic cholera; cod liver oil and sulphur promote scurvy, and all the cathartic family inevitably cause diarrhcea, the disease in each case being nothing more than the effort of Nature to get rid of these troublesome intruders.

Drugs do not, as their advocates claim, select their special organ with a view of acting upon it, but are acted upon by that particular organ for the purpose of ridding the system of the drug.

It follows, therefore, as a perfectly legitimate and logical deduction, that, if the system of administering drugs is founded upon a wrong conception of their relation to the human organism, then any theoretical "law of cure" predicated upon drug action must necessarily be equally fallacious and untrustworthy.

As stated before, the simple fact is, that there is no law of cure, only a condition and that condition--obedience, by which is meant a course of treatment in harmony with Nature.

The older physicians grow the more they rely upon the vis medicatrix naturae, which is, after all, the only remedial force, and one totally beyond their control. The physician can no more perform cures than the farmer can make his crops grow. In each case, all that can be done is to employ all the methods that c.u.mulative wisdom can suggest to make the conditions as favorable as possible, and leave the rest to Mother Nature, who is not in the habit of making mistakes, and whose unerring methods would cure ninety per cent. of all diseased conditions, if her beneficent intentions were not frustrated by well-meant, but nevertheless pernicious, drug interference.

PART II.

THE TRUE CAUSE OF DISEASE.

At this point the reader will doubtless be tempered to exclaim: "Well, you have demonstrated to your own satisfaction that the medical profession entertains erroneous opinions as to the true nature of disease, and also that drugs are absolutely useless--nay, injurious--in such conditions: but is this all? Having destroyed our trust in drugs, what have you to offer in their stead?" To which perfectly natural query, I gladly reply, I have a system of treatment to propound, a system that has triumphantly stood the test of years, a system that must commend itself to every intelligent reader, because it is strictly in accordance with natural law.

But before I proceed to explain it, I desire to announce my own theory respecting disease--a theory essentially radical in its character, and of which I am the originator, and that is:

THERE IS ONLY ONE CAUSE OF DISEASE.

This may sound strange, for the majority of people imagine that there is a different and specific cause for every ailment, and physicians generally do not combat the opinion. But as a matter of fact, there is only one disease, although its manifestations are various, and there is only one cause for it, and that is the retention of waste matters in the system. These substances may be in the gaseous, liquid or solid form, but they are foreign bodies, inimical to the welfare of the organism, and their presence must result in derangement of bodily function.

The great need of the present day is adequate instruction in physiology and hygiene, that humanity may not only know how to secure the restoration of health, when lost, but by attention to physiological and sanitary laws may retain good health indefinitely.

The body is the theatre of constant change. The process of tearing down and building up proceed without intermission during life. If construction exceeds destruction, the result is health; but just as surely as destruction exceeds repair, disease is the result. But during every moment of life waste is being formed by the destruction of tissue, and this effete material must be promptly removed if the individual would enjoy health. Nature has provided adequate means for the removal of these substances which are valueless to the economy, the retention of which obstructs and irritates the complex mechanism of the system, the princ.i.p.al avenues for its expulsion being the lungs, the skin and the intestinal ca.n.a.l. The latter is infinitely more important than the others, since by it the waste products of digestion are expelled. If it fails to promptly fulfil its office, every vital function is interfered with; and in addition the fluid portion of the semi-liquid waste is re-absorbed directly into the circulation, redepositing in the very fountain of life, matter which the system has thrown off as worthless. Should the system be exposed to a chill, while in this condition, a congestion of the surface excretory vessels takes place; and practically the whole work of elimination is thrown upon the already hard-worked kidneys, frequently resulting in uraemic poisoning and death.

The presence of a grain of sand in a watch will r.e.t.a.r.d its movements, if not arrest them altogether. What, then, must be the result of an acc.u.mulation of impurities in the physical system? The finely adjusted balance that is capable of weighing the thousandth part of a grain, is carefully protected under a gla.s.s cover, for even impalpable dust would clog its movements. Reflect, then, upon the amount of friction that must be perpetually going on in the human organism owing to the retention of effete matter! And since not even the most cunning product of man's handiwork can compare with the intricate mechanism of the body, the importance of eliminating the waste becomes manifest.

Here, in a nutsh.e.l.l, lies the secret of disease.

Let us now consider how the retention of waste affects the system--how the deleterious effects are produced. There are three factors at work in this process, mechanical, gaseous and absorptive, the last named being infinitely the most pernicious. We will first consider the mechanical.

Nature has beautifully apportioned the s.p.a.ce in the abdominal cavity, each part of the viscera having ample room for the performance of its special function, but any abnormal increase in size of any part of the contents of the cavity must necessarily create disturbance. Now, when the food leaves the stomach, where it has been churned into a pulpaceous ma.s.s, it pa.s.ses into the duodenum or second stomach, where it receives an augmentation of liquid material from the liver and pancreas; consequently, when it reaches the small intestine, where absorption takes place, it is in a well diluted condition. During its pa.s.sage through the small intestine, the nutrient portion of the ingesta is abstracted from it by the villi (small hair-like processes) with which the small intestine is thickly studded, so that at the end of its journey of about twenty-two feet (if digestion is normal) all that is of value to the organism has been appropriated--the remainder being refuse. This waste product pa.s.ses into the colon, or large intestine, and should be promptly expelled. If prompt expulsion does not take place, this is what happens: The fluid portion of this semi- liquid waste is re-absorbed through the walls of the colon directly into the circulation, a percentage of the solids being deposited on the walls of the intestine. This process of accretion goes on from day to day, week to week, month to month, until it not infrequently happens that the colon becomes distended to several times its natural size. Instances are on record, where these abnormal acc.u.mulations of faecal matter in the colon have been mistaken for enlargement of the liver, and even pregnancy. A surgeon in London has a preparation of the colon measuring some twenty inches in circ.u.mference, containing three gallons of faecal matter, and even larger acc.u.mulations have been reported. The foregoing instances are, of course, exceptional ones, but it is safe to a.s.sert that seventy per cent. of the colons of the human family (living under civilized conditions) are impacted, and some of them terribly so. It is impossible to estimate the amount of evil caused by an engorged colon monopolizing two or three times its allotted s.p.a.ce in the abdominal cavity, crowding and hampering the other organs in their work.

But the effects of direct mechanical pressure are not the only ones.

The acc.u.mulations in the colon necessarily arrest the free pa.s.sage of the product of the small intestine, and that, in turn, causes undue retention of food in the stomach, with consequent fermentation; while the irritation, due to pressure on the nerve terminals by the distension, and by the encrusted matter adhering to the intestinal wall, is simply incalculable.

The effects of gaseous acc.u.mulations in the alimentary ca.n.a.l are not thoroughly understood at present--that is--the pathological effects. The more direct effects, as manifested in abdominal distension, and the terrible distress that frequently follows eating, are unfortunately, but too well known. The reader does not need to be told that during the decomposition of organic substances, gases are evolved, and no matter where the process goes on, the results are always the same. Owing to the causes previously mentioned, the intestinal ca.n.a.l usually offers special facilities for the production of gases, owing to the retention of partially digested food, in a medium highly favorable to fermentation. A moderate amount of sulphuretted hydrogen, and also carburetted hydrogen is always present in the colon, normally, to preserve moderate distention of the walls, while the gases usually found in the stomach and small intestine, are oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and carbonic acid.

What functional disturbances may arise from the presence of these gaseous substances in excess in the system is, at present, largely a matter of conjecture, but it is known that a stream of carbonic acid gas, or hydrogen continuously directed against a muscle will cause paralysis of that structure. The expansive force of gases is too well known to need comment, and the force with which they will at times distend the abdominal wall points irresistibly to the conclusion that such an amount of force exerted against vital organs cannot be otherwise than productive of serious harm. It is not at all improbable that many cases of hernia and uterine displacement may be due to this. .h.i.therto unsuspected cause. That they penetrate the neighboring tissues is an established fact, and it is quite conceivable that their action upon the nervous system though the medium of the circulation may lie at the root of many of the cases of neurasthenia that are now so prevalent.

But the auto-infection that results from the absorption of the liquid waste into the blood supply is by far the most serious feature. The blood is the life. From it the system obtains all the material for the formation of fresh tissue, and it is a practical impossibility for good, healthy structures to be built up from a tainted blood current.

Why is it that the vegetation on the banks of a stream, on which a manufacturing town is located, is invariably stunted and withered?

Because the water that should nourish it is polluted by the refuse poured into it, and no amount of deodorants or disinfectants will prove of any avail to restore the devitalized vegetation, but will rather aggravate the trouble. But cut off the source of pollution, and in an incredibly short s.p.a.ce of time the vegetation will take on a new 1ease of life.

This liquid refuse in the colon is composed of substances for which the system has no further use--it has rejected them; consequently they are foreign bodies, and as such, are the equivalent of poisons. The colon, in this condition, is a perfect hot-bed for the breeding of all kinds of poisonous germs, and the action of cathartics aggravates the condition by filling the pouched portions of the colon with a foul liquid which facilitates the absorption of the ptomaines and leucomaines through the mucous coat of the intestine. It is known now, that as much as three-fourths of this foul putrid substance may be absorbed, carrying into the system poisonous germs and excrement.i.tious matter. Dr. Murchison states, "that a circulation is constantly taking place between the fluid contents of the bowel and the blood, the existence of which, till within the last few years, was quite unknown, and which even now is too little heeded." And Dr. Parker says, "It is now known, that in varying degrees there is a constant transit of fluid from the blood into the alimentary ca.n.a.l, and as rapid absorption." It is also stated on reliable authority, "that every portion of the blood may, and possibly does, pa.s.s several times into the alimentary ca.n.a.l in twenty-four hours." Prof. I. I. Metc.h.i.n.koff recently stated in a lecture at Paris: "Particularly injurious are the microbes of the large intestines. Thence, they penetrate into the blood and impair it alike by their presence and the products they yield--ptomaines, alkaloids, etc. The auto intoxication of the organism and poisoning through microbes is an established fact."

Having shown that the average colon is a fertile breeding ground for all kinds of poisonous germs, and that they are conveyed into the circulation by the interchange of fluids in that organ, it may be interesting to explain how these germs are conveyed to, and deposited in the various organs of the body.

We have in our bodies a system of ca.n.a.ls called arteries and veins, having their head at the heart, which is the main pump that keeps the blood in motion. The arterial circulation consists of those channels which convey the blood--supposed pure blood--away from the heart to the different parts of the body, loaded with the life-giving principle of sustenance, invigoration and heat, while the veins or venous circulation conveys to the heart and lungs the impure blood, loaded many times with disease-breeding germs.

Now, in the blood, as it courses through our bodies, are myriads of little vessels called corpuscles; these are what give the blood a red color. There are also a smaller number of white corpuscles, that are known as phagocytes, whose mission is to destroy micro-organisms that are prejudicial to life. In order that you may know their use, I, for convenience sake and to make my meaning better understood, will call them little war vessels, loaded with soldiers, and the soldiers have in their vessels a furnace whose fire never goes out. These vessels and their little warriors are continually sailing through our bodies, hunting for germs of disease, that they catch and throw into their furnace and burn them up. Now, suppose we take a violent cold, thus closing the pores of the skin, and that at the same time the colon is engorged, two of the most important outlets for the filth and decayed matter of our bodies are closed up--for the life of our bodies is one continual process of building anew and tearing down; these two most important sewers are now closed. These little vessels now have their hands full, catching disease-bearing germs that nature cannot throw out through the colon or pores of the skin--both being closed--and we call this condition of things fever. The white corpuscle has but two dumping places now, the lungs or kidneys. Suppose that in the colon is the tubercular ulcer, breeding the bacillus of consumption, and they are absorbed into the circulation. Ordinarily the white corpuscles would be able to destroy them, but now they are so overworked that the tubercular germ lands in the lung tissue alive and well, ready to commence his work of destruction and death. The person developes a hacking cough, and finally goes to the doctor, and he, if he knows his business, probably finds tuberculosis well established. Typhoid fever has its nursery solely in the colon, and gets possession of the citadel of life in the same way as any other germ or contagious disease. What a terrible battle there must be going on in us between our life-preservers and the germs of disease.

Is it any wonder that people die of premature old age, of apoplexy, paralysis, dropsy, consumption, and the thousand and one maladies that scourge humanity? And is it not unreasonable to pour a few grains of diluted drugs into the stomach to purify the blood--even granting for the sake of argument that such a purpose could be accomplished by that means--when occupying nearly one-half of the abdominal cavity is an engorged intestine reeking with filth so foul that carrion is as the odor of roses compared to it, and which is being steadily absorbed into the circulation? If a man were to act as foolishly as that in his business, his friends would quickly pet.i.tion the courts to appoint a guardian for him.

It may be asked, why has not this discovery been made before? In the first place, the colon has had but scant attention paid to it in the dissecting room, until of late years the appendicitis craze has awakened some interest in it. Its importance was not realized--the circulatory and nervous systems receiving the lion's share of attention. In the second place, in holding post-mortems the organ was avoided, cut off, if in the way, and thrown into the slop bucket. It was known to be always full, but no one ever asked whether or not it was natural in its fullness of faecal matter, and as a result, probably the profession knows the least about this important organ, of any in the human body. Strange, is it not, that among the seven thousand physicians ground out and polished in the mills of wisdom each year, that there was not one who had originality enough to ask the question, Is it natural that this scent bag of filth should always be so full of putrid matter that we cannot abide one moment with it? And, inasmuch as it is so, is it not a great detriment at least to our health to carry this ma.s.s of filth around with us, from day to day, from week to week, and from year to year--absorbing its poison back into the circulation? Strange that these questions did not present themselves to some one of the enterprising youths of our original young America.

The muscular fibres of the intestines are circular and longitudinal.

In the large intestine the longitudinal fibres are shorter than the tube itself, which length permits the formation of loculi (cavities).

These become the seat of faecal acc.u.mulations, only too often unnoticed by the physician. It is undoubtedly a fact that the loculi of the colon contain small faecal acc.u.mulations extending over weeks, months, or even years. Their presence produces symptoms varying all the way from a little catarrhal irritation up to the most diverse, and in some instances serious, reflex disturbances. When the loculi only are filled, the main channel of the colon is undisturbed. The most common parts of the colon to become enlarged are the sigmoid flexure and the caec.u.m (see diagram in beginning of book), but acc.u.mulations may occur in any part of the colon. The ascending colon is much more often filled in life than the books would lead us to believe; indeed, it may be said that chronic acc.u.mulations are oftener to be found in the ascending than in the descending colon, which is also contrary to the a.s.sertions of the authors. This is due partly to the fact that the contents of the colon have to rise in opposition to gravity, and partly to the semi-paralyzed condition of the muscular coat of the colon through inactivity. When the acc.u.mulations are large, the increased weight of the colon tends to displace it; and if in the transverse colon, that portion may be depressed, even into the pelvis.

The ma.s.s may be so enormous as to press upon any organ located in the abdomen, interfering with its functions; thus we may have pressure on the liver that arrests the flow of bile; or, upon the urinary organs, crippling their functions.

Of course, such excessive acc.u.mulations occur only exceptionally, and it is not to these that attention is particularly drawn, because when they are so excessive, any physician can detect them by palpation (touch).

It is to the minor acc.u.mulations particularly, that I wish to draw attention--the acc.u.mulations that we see in the majority of patients who visit our offices. Such patients a.s.sure us that the bowels move daily, but the color of their complexions, and the condition of their tongues, are enough to a.s.sure us that they are the victims of costiveness.

Daily movements of the bowels are no sign that the colon is not impacted; in fact, the worst cases of costiveness that we ever see are those in which daily movements of the bowels occur. The diagnosis of faecal acc.u.mulations is facilitated by inquiring as to the color of the daily discharges. A black or a very dark green color almost always indicates the faeces are ancient.

Prompt discharge of food refuse is indicated by more or less yellow color. It would be interesting to inquire why fresh faces are yellow and ancient faeces are dark.

Such patients have digestive fermentations to torment them, resulting in flatulent distension which encroaches on the cavity of the chest, which in excessive cases may cause short and rapid breathing, irregular heart action, disturbed circulation in the brain, with vertigo and headache. An over-distended caec.u.m, or sigmoid flexure, from pressure, may produce dropsy, numbness or cramps in the right or left lower extremity.

The reports of the Post-mortem examination of the colons of hundreds of subjects reveals a series of horrors more weird and ghastly than were ever penned by Eugene Sue, or Emile Zola. The mind shrinks in dismay at the appalling revelations, and shudders at the possibly of the "human form divine" becoming such a peripatetic charnel house.

Is it any wonder that the average human system, being thus saturated with impurities, should succ.u.mb to the first exciting cause? Is it not, in fact, a greater marvel that the rate of mortality is not even higher than at present?

My object in publishing this book is to point out the true cause of disease, together with the means for its prevention and cure, and that, too, by a simple and inexpensive method of hygienic treatment, which has proved eminently successful in tens of thousands of cases, which is perfectly harmless and natural in its action, and absolutely free from even the suspicion of a drug.

PART III.

RATIONAL HYGIENIC TREATMENT.

Having striven to explain in an intelligible manner the true nature and cause of disease, and to point out the inadequacy of the drug system of treatment to combat pathological conditions successfully (not from any lack of intention on the part of the drug pract.i.tioners: but from the unreliability of their methods), I shall now proceed to lay before you the system of treatment which it is proposed to subst.i.tute in its stead, and I unhesitatingly affirm that it will be found so simple, so inexpensive and so obviously based on common sense and true hygienic principles, that the thoughtful reader cannot fail to give it his unqualified endors.e.m.e.nt, and will be lost in wonder that any one should fail to adopt it, when made acquainted with its simplicity and its marvellous results.