NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE












NLM  001223^  7
K

NLM001223697 
p s


X
X /
\ T *■
**-JP
V V
WA



, x V i-lX. / in
\/i4i'\y
y\ -«^ x\ 
 
SMALL-POX:
PREDISPOSING CONDITIONS
AND THEIR
PREVENTION.
Dr. CARL %OTH.
'<£

        BOSTON:
ALEXANDER  MOORE.
           1872. 
*I
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
                Alexander Moore,
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

                yvc  ri
;Ti:i:T:oTYvn> by JOHN o. ueoan & co.
        ii."> Congress Street. 
SMALL-POX
■:±<J,
 H\ISEASES  which  d*    /a  great  many
     human lives, we observe, make their appear-
ance from time to time.   But tht  nature of these
diseases which thus appear periodically, seems to
be  different from  others,  and they have been
thought to have their origin in  climatical influ-
ences.   That particular individuals feel more or
less affected by certain climates or  atmospheres,
while others do not, there can be no doubt.  Bui
while  we  admit  that peculiar changes  in  the
atmosphere occur, which must have their certain
effect, we do not admit  that such changes could
affect one  person  and not another.   Nature is
very exact, and mathematically precise in  carry-
ing on  her work.   Her  laws are  invariable  and
absolute, logical and  consequent  in their opera-
                     (5) 
6                SMALL-POX.
tions,  and  admit  of  no  exceptions  whatever.
Therefore, if we believe we have discovered one
of the facts of nature, our first duty is to see
whether it is always unfailing in its effect or appli-
cation ; for if it is  not thus unfailing, we put it
down, not as a law or fact of  nature, but as a
human  mistake.  Therefore, if there exists any-
thing in  the  atmosphere which is capable  of
injuring any one person's  health,  it must, from
the very law of necessity, be general in its effects,
so far as all who breathe it under the same con-
ditions are concerned;  that is,  if  it injure one,
all must feel  its effects, as they  would the effects
of a strong wind, of heat, or  of cold, or as they
would the effect of arsenic, or  carbonic acid
inhaled, or an electrical shock, fire, water, etc.
For example,  if a certain number of persons take
arsenic, or inhale carbonic acid gas, etc., under
the same condition,  all will be alike injured : not
one can escape.   Hence, if we observe that only
a portion, perhaps a third, or even  much less, of
a given population becomes  seriously affected,
while all the rest are entirely free or exempt, then
we must logically conclude that  there was some-
thing different in the organism of those affected, 
SMALL-POX.                 7
from those who were exempt; in other words,
that the reason or cause of their being affected is
to be foui;d in themselves, and not in the atmos-
phere alone.  In all  epidemics, such as cholera,
small-pox. yellow fever, typhus, etc., we find it
generally admitted that the affected persons have
shown a previously existing predisposition or sus-
ceptibility to  it; that  is, they were so constituted
in their organization  as to  be liable to it, while
those who continued in health were so constituted
as to escape uninjured.  Therefore, it is a matter
of no  consequence  to us here, whether minute
spores float in the atmosphere, carrying the germ
of these diseases, or whether gases escape from
the earth, or from diseased persons; or whether
electrical currents, or uneven pressure of  the
atmosphere, or whatever may be thought to be
the infecting agent;  we have to do only with the
predisposition or susceptibility necessary in order
to be infected.  If we can avoid this predisposi-
tion, we need have no fear about the atmosphere,
or other supposed infecting agents ; we are invul-
nerable.  This we  lay down  as a general  rule;
but our present purpose  and object in particular 
8
SMALL-POX.
is, to  ascertain how the predisposition to  Small-
pox may be escaped.
  Small-pox is an  epidemic which  is-very'old,
extending back into the past as far as the records
of history, but in no  century  has  it ever been
known to be  worse, or more fatal,  than  in  the
seventeenth, after the thirty years' war in Europe ;
there  seemed  to be no stopping its ravages.   In
the beginning of the eighteenth century, an Eng-
lish lady learned that the Asiatic tribes inoculated
themselves with Small-pox virus  with a view to
escape the disfiguring of their faces from pitting ;
and  the  inoculation with Small-pox virus spon
became inaugurated in Britain.   But the  con-
sequences  resulting from it were  of  such a char-
acter,  that it  soon  came  to be  considered as a
dangerous proceeding. In  the latter part of the
eighteenth century, Jenner introduced vaccination,
substituting cow-pox lymph for human Small-pox
lymph.   Since that time, which is nearly  one
hundred years, vaccination  has  been the  only
preventive known, and has been most thoroughly
employed. But notwithstanding, Small-pox makes
its appearance, and at the  present  time is very
severe both in Europe and in parts of this countrv. 
SMALL-POX.
9
It has been admitted by the warmest advocates of
vaccination, that it is not unfailing, but is consid-
ered a means by which the party vaccinated is made
less  liable to Small-pox.   It  must  therefore be
admitted that something more certain and sure in
its effects can be considered, and that an improve-
ment as regards security against Small-pox is not
unseasonable, or out of place.
  It is no part of our present purpose to repeat,
or to criticise the various views which  are held in
regard to Small-pox.  Whether it is born with  a
child,  or caught from  the atmosphere, or from
contagion, or from spores, is a matter  of compar-
ative indifference.   The fact is, that  it is a very
disagreeable affection, and everybody is interested
in avoiding  it.
  But what is Small-pox?  It must be admitted
by all,  that Small-pox consists in an escape or
exudation of something into the skin which causes
it to swell, and by  a process of putrefaction de-
stroys it, and not  unfrequently carries  off  the
patient.  This  mass, which  is thus  exuded or
thrown off into the skin,  must necessarily come
from the blood ; therefore it must be  something in
the  blood which is  abnormal, sickly, or bad, or 
IO               SMALL-POX.
there must be something which has deranged the
whole s}^stem to such a degree that the blood, as
a consequent, is disturbed in an exceedingly pe-
culiar way.  But if we would intelligently in-
vestigate this something, we must understand how
the blood is constituted, and learn which substance
can be the offending one, or what other parts of
the body have disturbed the blood-circulation so
as to bring about Small-pox.
  Were we  to analyze the blood, we should find
it to consist of three  principal parts, namely :
water, albuminous combinations, and mineral sub-
stances called  blood salts.   But since it is not
possible that the blood serum or watery part of
the blood  can be  the offending element, it must
be found in the albuminous combinations, or in
the blood salts.   Before we proceed to investigate
this  particular point, however, it is necessary for
us to understand what these  several-parts  are
for;  that is, their use, their  office.  Water in the
blood performs  the  office of a solvent only, and
does not of itself undergo any decomposition. The
water which we drink having performed its office
in the body, leaves it again, without change, as
water.  The albuminous portion of  the blood.we 
SMALL-POX.
II
find  partly organized,  as  blood-globules, which
act as  the  chemical machinery in the blood, and
partly  not  organized, as fibrin and albumen, etc.
These two again  are distinguished by their con-
sistency— fibrin,  under ordinary circumstances,
being  confined  within  the blood-vessels,  while
albumen  is  not;  but  is  that  substance which
penetrates the vessels, and nourishes all their tis-
sues.  Albumen is  that substance  which is the
most prominent for life, and undergoes the greatest
changes in the body.  The more of it we have in
our blood, the richer it  is for nutrition  ; but it will
not be difficult to comprehend that there is a limit
or bound to its  usefulness, just as there is to the
usefulness of fertilizers in  their application to the
soil.   Every farmer and  gardener knows that
without the use of fertilizers of some kind, they
can  raise nothing; and they know equally well,
that if they apply the fertilizers in  excess, the
result  will be the ruin of their crop.   Excess,
therefore,  as far as the  result is concerned, is just
as bad as its  opposite —a  deficiency.  There
must be a certain relative proportion of things
everywhere, in order  to  secure a  given result;
and this is as true in reference to the  blood, as to 
12               SMALL-rPOX.
anything else.  Nature, therefore, must have in-
stituted within us a check or means by which to
regulate  the  amount of albumen in the blood, as
otherwise it might  get  so thick as to prevent it
from flowing at all.   This check is the blood salts
generally, but common table salt especially.
  The salt we eat leaves our  body again as salt,
without undergoing any change whatever;  but
while in the body, performs the office of keeping
the albumen  in proper balance.    Hence, from
this physiological fact, it becomes evident that, if
salt is  wanting, albumen will be found in excess;
and if salt preponderates, or is in excess, albumen
is deficient, or in demand ; both cannot be in excess
at the  same time.  It is equally evident that the
blood  of a healthy person  must contain the rel-
ative proportions of  water, albumen and salts,
necessary to  constitute  normal or healthy blood,
and that any variations from this formula of nature
is abnormal,  and must sooner or later, if the cor-
rect  balance is not very soon reestablished, result
in the  development of some  disorder as  the con-
sequence.  As this cannot be denied by any in-
telligent person, we shall pursue our investigations
regarding the consequences to the human economy 
SMALL-POX.               13
 growing out of those conditions which arise from
 an excess or deficiency of albumen, or of salt, in
 the blood.
   It will, however, first be necessary to make the
 reader somewhat acquainted with another portion
 of the machinery of our body — the nerves.  We
 all know that we  have nerves by which our mo-
 tions are controlled, and nerves of sensation by
 which we  feel.  Both these originate, and have
 their seat  in  the brain.   But we know that our
 heart heats without our will, and so do our  intes-
 tines move, and so we must breathe, and  so do
 we digest our food.
   The system of nerves that controls or presides
 over these particular departments of operations
 within the  body, is called the sympathic.  It does
 not originate in the  brain, but has its principal
 centres in  the abdominal cavity, at the sides and
 in front of the spinal column, and is that nerve
 by whose power we live.  This  nerve is  as sus-
 ceptible or liable to injury as any other, but being
 entirely without the power of sensation, gives no
 pain.  When this nerve has been injured  for a
 length of time, it gives notice either by means of
its  connection with other  nerves, or its  proper 
H
SMALL-POX.
work is  arrested at some point for  a  time, or it
works too much.  For instance, if we abuse our
stomachs for years by the use of strong stimulants,
or high living, wines, etc., this nerve, being in-
sulted at the stomach, will relax in the joints of
the toes, and produce what is called gout, show-
ing no relaxation in the stomach, for should it do
so, the  person would die.  Or it  relaxes in the
skin  generally,  and  produces  that   condition
known  as measles, or scarlet fever, or chicken-
pox, or small-pox, or if it affects more the lining
membranes  of the  internal  canals, scurvy, or
typhus fever, cholera, and the like.  The differ-
ence  between these disorders is partly owing to
the different degrees of pressure which the force
of the heart exerts upon  the body,  or to  the
chemical difference of the  blood constituents, or
only to the seat  or  particular point of difficulty,
or to the more or less severe injury to the nerve
itself.  The nerve may act in consequence of too
much irritation, so as to  contract the finest capil-
lary blood-vessels to a degree which admits of no
circulation,  producing complete stoppage, or, in
consequence of loss of  power, it can  relax the
walls of the vessels to such an extent as to let the 
SMALL-POX.               15
blood run directly through them.   Having thus
given a general  idea of the office  of this nerve,
we shall now show the reason for its  abnormal
action under certain conditions.
   Suppose we eat meat (which contains a great
amount of  albumen), and, at the same  time, too
much salt.   The almost immediate consequence
will  be that we  become very  thirsty,  the body
requires as much  more water  as is necessary to
throw  out  all the salt in  excess  of what was
required.   This we all know ;  but if the same ex-
periment is repeated again and again, we shall
find that sickness is the result;  the blood becomes
very poor and thin, and will no longer coagulate,
and, of course,  cannot  sufficiently nourish  the
body, which, in consequence, becomes weak,, and
the sympathic nerve finally relaxes so much that
the blood runs directly through the blood-vessels.
This condition is well known under the  name of
scurry.
  A similar process, however, will occur, when-
ever from any cause there is a manifest lack or
deficiency  of albumen.   For  example, typhus
fever, which, in its origin, is caused by an excess of
albuminous matter, is often followed by  bleeding, 
i6
SMALL-POX.
 as in scurvy.  In this case, the fever reduces the
 albumen to such an extent, that the nerve relaxes
 so as to permit the blood to run through the blood-
 vessels ; and the same can occur after Small-pox,
 but  only  when the  process of recovery is very
 slow and  unfavorable.  It also sometimes occurs
 in cases of  alcohol  poisoning of long duration.
 A more severe and profuse bleeding is occasion-
 ally observed in cholera and yellow fever, in con-
 sequence of spasmodic contraction of this nerve.
  But suppose we reverse the case, and eat meat,
 and  too little  salt;  what then will be the conse-
 quences?  From what we have already learned,
 the answer can be very readily given ; there will
 be an  accumulation of albuminous matter in the
 blood, which makes  it  too  thick  to  answer
 its designed purposes  under all  circumstances.
 Therefore, upon the  occurrence of some unusual
 excitement, under  which the action of  the heart
 necessarily becomes accelerated, the pulsations
or beats following each  other more and more
rapidly, this blood, which  is too  thick, would in
some way have to  get rid of a part of the albu-
men, as otherwise it could not flow with sufficient
rapidity, and  under  the   circumstances  would 
SMALL-POX.
17
produce  pneumonia, or  similar  disorders,  by
throwing this superfluous albumen into the lungs.
Or the occurrence of an extraordinary nervous
irritation could cause a  spasmodic contraction of
the peripheric portion of the  nerve, and  thus
obstruct the free circulation in the skin, producing
a sensation of dull headache from blood pressure ;
then the nerve, by suddenly relaxing, would allow
the blood to rush into the now powerless vessels,
extending them to the utmost,  until  they would
either burst, or remain in this overfilled and ex-
tended condition.   This would be the state which
we observe  in the beginning  or earliest stage of
Small-pox.   The exuded or  escaped mass con-
sequent  upon  the rupture  of the blood-vessels
then begins to putrefy, destroys the surrounding
tissues, and finally heals by drying up,  leaving
the skin in a more or less mutilated condition;
or the patient dies from general blood poisoning,
or from  exhaustion in  consequence of the total
absence  of  a  reestablished digestion.   In short,
we wish to be understood as saying that the pre-
disposition  to  Small-pox consists in an undue
proportion of-albuminous matter to the blood-salts,
and that as the  result, an otherwise  inoffensive 
18               SMALL-POX.
nervous irritation becomes sufficient to cause the
blood to part with this superfluous albumen, which
in this case is thrown into the skin, and constitutes
that  condition which is commonly called Small-
pox.  And we further maintain,-that a person
who does not  exhibit this superabundance  of
albuminous matter in his blood is not liable to
Small-pox under any circumstances of exposure,
or contact  with patients suffering from this dis-
order.
  In support of this  theory,  which, if  correct,
gives us at  once the  absolute control of this
dreaded disease, we give  a few illustrations.   It
is well known that Small-pox is a common disease
among the Asiatic tribes, who first made use of
inoculation as a preventive.   If we consider their
mode of life, we shall observe that they live to a
great extent on starch and sugar; that is, upon
food which  largely contains  starch  and sugar,
and  that salt is not regularly used by them in
connection with their food, or otherwise, either in
its own form, or in salt fish,  or  meat; and their
soft, fatty, and puffy appearance at once indicates
a preponderance of fat  and  albumen.  On the
other hand, the disease  is never found among 
SMALL—POX.
*9
such races as live  on salt fish, or who use salt
generally.  It was unknown among the American
Indians previous to the coming of the white man,
but as  soon as he came, and began to have deal-
ings with them, they were destroyed by Small-pox
in masses.   Why?  Had the climate  undergone
a sudden change, or  some deadly thing floating
in a current  of the atmosphere, descended upon
them,  or had the white man brought it from over
the sea  in his person, ships,  or merchandise?
The Indians  sold their furs, and other  articles of
trade,  in exchange for fire-water; and alcohol, as
we shall hereafter learn,  has the property  or
power  of freeing the blood of its salt.  The In-
dians,  in connection with their natural food (wild
game,  fish, roots, etc.), received into their systems
a sufficient quantity of salt; but when their blood-
salts were  thrown  out  by the use of alcoholic
drinks, causing a relative preponderance of albu-
minous matter in  the blood, they at once became
predisposed to Small-pox, and fell victims to its
ravages.   The Western hunter or trapper would
rather part with his powder than his salt, because
he well knows that without salt he will very soon be
able to do nothing, from loss of vigor or power. 
20
SMALL-POX.
 He will sell,  or sometimes give, the Indian all
 the liquor he  wants, or  even powder, but will
 never part with his salt, and the more especially
 as the  Indian certainly cares little or nothing
 about it.
   We find Small-pox a regular visitant wherever,
 from any cause, salt has become scarce.   After
 all the long wars in Europe, when, from the pres-
 sure of what  was  regarded  as more important
 business,  the salt mines were unworked or neg-
 lected,  it has  invariably made its appearance.
 The same is  true in reference to all besieged
 cities after that salt became scarce; examples of
 which, we have in the sieges of Metz and Paris,
 during  the  late Franco-Prussian  war.   When
 food became scanty, a hungry person would eat
 almost anything, and salt is about  the last thing
„ for which he would ask, especially when  scarce
 and  expensive.  And,  besides, when" a  person
 eats  salt  he becomes hungry much sooner than
 without it, and consequently, when food  is very
 ; scarce,  will neglect its use, instead of procuring
 it; and for the same reason salt is in very  limited
 use in  poor countries, and among the very poor.
 The Prussian  army had no Small-pox during the 
SMALL-POX.                21
late war — and  why? they  were well provided
with pea-sausages, which contained no't only salt,
but all the necessary ingredients the human body
requires for health and vigor.  It will invariably
be found, upon investigation, that the ravages of
Small-pox are principally confined to those cities,
countries, or particular localities where the popu-
lation  is over-crowded, or dwells in close, unven-
tilated tenements, with habits and surroundings
of which, to say  the least, are bad, living for the
most  part in the use of alcohol, with little or no
salt, and upon food which does  not contain the
requisite elements for  constituting  the best blood.
And if this  investigation  is still further pursued,
the reverse of this will be found true : namely,
that that city, or  part of a city, the population of
which is composed of what is usually termed the
better  or upper  classes, whose  dwellings, sur- m
roundings, habits of life, and diet, are what they
should be, in connection with the use of a suffi-
cient quantity of salt, invariably  and  absolutely
escape this disease.                              «
  For an illustration of the truth of this statement,
let us, for example, take Boston.  Disfigured faces
from the pitting of Small-pox are very rarely seen 
22
SMALL-POX.
   among the  native population, or better  classes;
   while they are very numerous among the foreign
   population,  and the very poor.  Small-pox has
   frequently visited towns  and cities in the vicinity
   of Boston—Lowell, for instance—without affect-
   ing Boston in the slightest degree. And whenever
   it has made its appearance here, it has, as already
   intimated, been confined to particular localities and
   populations.   The reason  for this  comparative
   freedom from Small-pox in Boston is very simple.
   In no city in the world is  there so much salt used,
   in proportion to the number of inhabitants, as here.
   It would be difficult to find a table where  salt was
   not placed before each person, and at almost every
   meal, with the exception, perhaps, of tea.  Fish-
   balls (made from salt fish) are also here a regular
   dish.   Foreigners coming to Boston almost inva-
„  riably live better than they did at home ; and while
   they live principally upon meat and potatoes, with
   considerable fat, they never  think of adding any
   more salt  than they have previously been in the
•  habit  of using,  though probably consume eight
   times the  amount of  albumen they  were accus-
   tomed to when at home ; thus producing an excess
   of albumen in  the  blood — the predisposition 
SMALL-POX.               23
 to Small-pox.   If any person wishes to get an
 idea of how much salt they should use under cer-
 tain circumstances, let them take a baked potato,
 and add as much salt as  the taste will admit
 of without' being  unpleasant, or  as much  as the
 taste will bear, and they will be surprised at the
 amount  required, provided  they  have used no
 sugar for some time previous.  It will, however,
 be found, that  very many persons have a strong
 prejudice against salt.  They have come to believe
 that a free use  of it is hurtful, and therefore avoid
 it as much as  possible,  For example, it is quite
 commonly believed  among  the   peasantry of
 Europe, that  the  use of salt makes  the  bones
 brittle,  and,  consequently, very little is used by
 them.  And then again, a poor man, when hungry,
 cares next to nothing for salt, but will eat what-
 ever is set before him, without regard to the flavor.  -
 It should also be borne in mind, that those lands
 which are cultivated by the poor, are, as a gen-
 eral  thing,  very  badly  fertilized,  and,  conse-
 quently, that all the cereals, vegetables, etc., thus  *
 produced, and  used or employed as food, are de-
 ficient in salts,  and that the same is equally true
in reference  to the various  animals,  of which 
24
SMALL-POX.
either the milk or the flesh is used as food, when
kept or confined in  close stables, yards,  or on-
closed  pastures, having  no freedom to procure
their own food, or a free access to salt.   Another
very important fact which bears upon this subject
is, that there are substances in use which  have
been introduced by civilization, that either  have
the property or power of expelling the salt from
the blood, or of becoming a substitute for it, as
to taste.  The most prominent of these is alcohol
among the former,  and sugar  among  the latter.
With a deficiency of salt  in the blood, arising
from these several  sources (a neglect  of  its use
from whatever cause, cereals, vegetables, flesh-
meat, etc., used as food, which have been produced
under bad culture  or  conditions, the use  of al-
cohol, etc., by which the salt is expelled, and the
substitution  of sugar  and other substances bv
which the taste is satisfied), we find that  on the
continent of Europe,  whenever and  wherever
there has been an occasion of great excitement,
like war, for example, which has inpoverished the
people so  as  to cut off the ordinary  supply of
food, Small-pox has invariably appeared.
   We  have already  spoken of the  American 
SMALL-POX.
25
 Indians dying of Small-pox as soon  as  alcohol
 became master of them.  A person, after being
 intoxicated with  alcohol, will  have  a decided
 craving for salt, or saltish food, as any one  can
 see who will  take  the necessary trouble to make
 the observation.  It is on this account that  salt
 fish is  to  be found  in  almost  every bar-room.
 Without the daily use  of salt, the toper becomes
 more or less  bloated in  appearance, and  is not
 only an easy prey  to Small-pox, when exposed,
 but is in that condition  under which Small-pox
 can originate in him at any time.   Therefore
 we find Small-pox  among races or nations  that
 use alcohol freely, and at the same time do not
 use much salt.  The poor people of some coun-
 tries live principally upon potatoes and pork,  and
 use liquor freely.  The pork, and the few cereals
 and other  vegetables used by them for  food in
 addition to the potato,  having been produced or
 raised on soil badly fertilized, or under unfavor-
 able conditions, contain little or no salt whatever,
while the free use  of alcohol throws out, or ex-
pels, what  little the body may have gained from
other sources; and consequently communities,
races, or nations who Kve in this way are always 
26               SMALL-POX.
subject to Small-pox; among such it makes its
greatest ravages.   The fact that alcohol expels,
or throws out, the blood-salts,  can be easily tested
by an  examination  of the urine of a person when
perfectly  sober, and when  intoxicated;  the dif-
ference of the saline residuum will be seen im-
mediately.
  Among the  Haytiens,  especially among the
children, Small-pox is one of the most common
disorders.  The principal  food  of the  people
consists of yams, rice, bananas, and white bread,
with a free use of rum;  the  delicacies  are salt
fish  or salt  pork, from  New England.  Neither
yams,  rice,  nor white bread  contains salt,  and
the rum they drink expels what the'y get from the
salt fish and pork they use;  but of these latter
their children  get very little,  if  any.   Salt fish
and meat are dear in Hayti, and the' lazy Haytien
cares little to  supply salt fish for  his children
when they  have plenty of bananas, rice,  and
fruits to live upon.   We venture to  say that were
the importation of salted  food wholly stopped,
the Haytien population would die  out in a  few
years,  of Small-pox and kindred  diseases.
  By the  use  of alcohol the  blood-salts  are ex- 
SMALL-POX.
27
pelled;  but  by the use of sugar the demand  for
salt is not felt.  Ever)- one knows that by flavor-
ing starch-pudding or rice with sugar, no salt is
required,  and that by flavoring it with  salt, no
sugar is required :  it  is  equally palatable, and
the taste  is  satisfied.   And even in the  blood it-
self sugar can  take the  place of salt for a time,
but not permanently.  It will. be  found that all
who use much sugar  do not care for salt; and
that when sugar is employed where salt should
be used, the taste does  not indicate  the error.
Still, sugar  cannot replace salt in the body, and
its excessive use renders the body liable to an
excess of albumen and  fat, and produces  the
same external appearance as  alcohol,  though not
so soon.   It will also  be  found  that almost every
person who dislikes salt, or saline food, uses sugar
in excess.  A  moderate use of sugar  is well
enough, as  long  as  we supply the necessary
amount of salt; but if we exclude the salt by an
excessive use of sugar,  we thereby render  the
body liable to  infection from  Small-pox.  It can
be noticed that children, if  left to themselves,
often eat salt by the spoonful; which, if they are
prevented from eating freely, tastes  to them as 
28
SMALL-POX.
sweet as sugar.  Many parents forbid the free
use of salt, and  feed  their children on milk and
starchy  food,  flavored  with sugar.  What we
wish principally to show just here is, that by art
we substitute  substances  for  those  which  are
required by nature, or, to a great  extent, defy
her demands,  and thereby  render  our  bodies
liable to diseases which otherwise would be un-
known.   Neither animals  nor  man  know  any-
thing of Small-pox in  their natural state;  but
cows which are  kept in close stables, and sheep,
if  prevented  from eating  salt,  show  it.  We
therefore positively maintain that Small-pox  is
not a disease  of nature,  but a consequence  of
some mistake of civilization, which, in part, con-
sists in  a deficient use of  salt, or in an excessive
use of such; articles of food  as  either expel  salt
from  the blood, or, for the  time, substitute the
demand for it.
   It is  not necessary,  however,  that a  person
who has an undue proportion of albuminous matter
in his blood must, as  a rule, get Small-pox; but
according to circumstances, he may be affected
in some other part of the body instead of the skin ;
for example, if in his joints, the condition is called 
SMALL-POX.
29
acute rheumatism of the joints —a very dangerous
disorder for  life ;  or if his  intestines become af-
fected, the condition is called  "typhus."   There
are several reasons why similar derangements in
the blood will affect various places, at different
times.  Albuminous compositions in the blood are
very  changeable, and vary very much, as to
whether  such  substance   is  readily or  newly
formed, or whether it has finished its purpose, and
is only left as residuum, or so-called blood  cin-
ders, which  have not been  readily and properly
expelled.  Another  reason  is,  the constitutional
difference and habits of individuals are such, that
certain nervous centres in  one are weaker than
in others, and naturally the parts which  are  con-
trolled  by the weakest nerves, will be the ones
soonest affected.
   The  last reason we shall here adduce is, that
for all transformations and  new  formations there
exists a certain and  unchangeable law of nature,
'which we  shortly quote from a paper "On Cells
and their Life," published in Good Health, Dec.
1869, and which all  should most fully  compre-
hend. 
30
SMALL-POX.
  "All the various forms of matter which exist, have
certain qualities, which may be divided into active
and passive;  oxygen being the most active, and
carbon the most passive, of them all.  Oxygen,
therefore, has the strongest affinity for carbon, and
its combinations are the most intimate and difficult
of decomposition of any yet known.  Certain forms
of matter of a generally passive character, under
favorable circumstances, possess the quality essen-
tial to the formation of crystals.  And it is  a re-
markable fact, that each matter, or even combi-
nation, has always and invariably the same crystal
form peculiar to itself. The constant tendency of the
active to  pursue the passive, for combination with
them, constitutes what, from a  scientific point of
view, is  called  life,— a tendency to which may
be found in all and every kind of matter.   The
various combinations which are taking place, and
the compound  substances that are  in  constant
process   of formation, have  their origin in this
principle.  By the aid of science these combina-
tions are analyzed, and the compound substances
are thus  decomposed into what is called elements,
or elementary matter.  Thus, by the light which
science reveals, we gain some definite knowledge 
SMALL-POX.
31
of  the  various  properties and  qualities  of  the
different forms of matter, their relations to each
other, and the results arising from their  combi-
nation.   As oxygen  is  the  most  active of all
known substances, it is always ready, upon every
occasion which offers, to  act upon every other
element, or combination  of elements, with which
it comes in  contact.  The  opportunity  for its
doing so may exist in pressure, concussive mo-
tion, light, electricity, heat, or by a third element,
or by a combination of elements.   Any two ele-
ments may combine under given circumstances,
one  being  always more active than the other.
When another element,  more active than either
of the previous, is brought into  exercise, it may
destroy  their  unity by decomposing them, and
appropriate the  more  passive to itself, or it may
combine with  both together.
  ''Life may be either organic or inorganic in its
nature;  but the  difference between them is, per-
haps, not as great as is generally supposed.  The
latter may be  regarded as simple, the former as
complicated, life.  The simple or inorganic forms
of life are found  to exist before the commence-
ment  of the organic,  or  complicated ;  and also, 
32               SMALL-POX.
again, after it has ceased to exist.   Organic, or
complicated, life, therefore,  may be  regarded as
occupying  a position midway between the two
periods of simple or  inorganic life.   Illustrations
of inorganic life  may be found in the growth of
stones, crystals,  and  other precious gems, and of
electrical currents.   Similar illustrations of or-
ganic  life  are more  readily seen in the  under-
ferment cell, in  the  infinite  variety of the vege-
table  and animal kingdom,  and  in  the human
organism ;  the first-named being the lowest form
of organic  life known, and the latter the highest.
Inorganic life can exist independent  of the or-
ganic, but  the organic cannot exist  without the
inorganic;  organic life  is, therefore, a  compli-
cation of inorganic life qualities; the first is lim-
ited, the other is not.  . . .
  " Each matter, or  element, has its ow§ pecu-
liarity ; every element has  a weight of its own,
which is known by numbers.  Hydrogen, being
the lightest, has the  number i ; oxygen, 8 ; car-
bon, 6; Nitrogen, 14, etc.   If one element com-
bines with  another under certain conditions, then
this combination will always take place under the
same proportions of weight (equivalents).  For 
SMALL-POX.
33
example, oxygen combines with hydrogen to form
water.  We always have 8 equivalents of oxygen
to i equivalent of hydrogen ; it is impossible that
4 or 5, or 7 or  9, of oxygen could be combined
with 1  of hydrogen.   This number 8 is peculiar
to  oxygen only, and cannot be found with any
other  element, or combination of elements; it is
the invariable  quality  of oxygen, and charac-
terizes it  in  all  combinations.  Carbonic acid
consists of 1 carbon, which has 6 for  its number,
with 2  oxygen,  with 8 for its number, its formula
is C  O2,  consequently its  combination in equiv-
alents is 6 carbon to 16 oxygen.  It is impossible
to have 6 carbon to 15 or  17 oxygen, or 4 or 5
carbon to 16 oxygen. This unvarying, most exact,
and absolute adherence to her own formula,  by
nature in all her realms, is here stated to show
the mathematical precision with which she carries
on her work.
  "The different  elements, as before stated, can
combine  among themselves in all directions, but
they must always and  invariably  follow another
unchanging law.   For as  all combinations must
always and invariably take place with certain and
unvarying equivalents, according to the law just 
34
SMALL-POX.
stated, so, when from any cause a body becomes
decomposed, the elements which constituted it
being thus set free, must from necessity form their
new unities, in  accordance with such organism
as may happen  to be in process of  construction
at the  place  where,  at  that  instant  of time,
such particular  element was set free.  For  ex-
ample :  if we take a grain of wheat,  and decom-
pose it in our stomach, its  elements are bound to
serve as material for  animal cells; if we take it
and throw it into a fermenting liquid, its elements
are then bound  to serve for the formation of fer-
ment cells.  If we take  cells from our own body,
and place them within reach of an apple-tree,  the
elements of  our cells are bound to serve for  the
purposes of the  apple-tree.   It is in accordance
with this law that plants  are  nourished  by  the
gases of the  atmosphere, and by fertilizers applied
to the soil, and it is also in accordance with this
law that our bodies are  nourished and sustained
by the various forms of food of which  we partake.
  " The same  law also controls the various forms
of disorders  to  which we subject ourselves through
neglect of the  blood.   In fact, upon this law rests
the arrangement of the whole world."

  It  will be seen that  all decomposition  takes
place according to this law ; for wherever decom-
position of one form commences, the formation of 
SMALL-POX.               35
a new one begins.   People residing in the same
cities or places, generally live in many respects
very nearly alike.   That is, the general character
of their food, water, and the air they breathe, is
the same,  the  construction 'of their houses,  and
the character of their occupations similar or alike,
and bad as well as good habits find imitators, etc.,
and hence it is no  cause  for wonder  that they
should be similarly affected by the same causes/
  The amount  of salts required in the body, varies
very much according to the employment or occu-
pation of the  person.  A  person who  uses his
muscles more  than  his nervous system, requires
much less salt than the one who uses his brain
most.  The use of the brain and nerves is followed
by an increased amount of salts in the excretions,
which goes to show that more  is  used in brain
labor than in mere  physical labor, and  therefore
that more should be supplied.  - The person who
lives on coarse bread, and  good meats, requires
less salt than the one who lives on  very white
bread, starchy food,  and poor meat.  The person
who lives on potatoes, fat, and rum> requires more
salt than ten ordinary persons together, to main-
tain the proper balance.   A  person living on a
great variety of things, flesh-meat, cereals, vege-
tables, fruits, fish, oysters,  etc., requires less salt
than the one living on one kind of food.
  It is a  common  error, or mistake,  to regard 
36
SMALL-POX.
phosphorus  as  an especial  agent for  nervous
power ; the fact is, the nerves require all the blood-
salts together, but especially  common  table-salt,
which is the strongest nervous stimulant nature
has provided.
  Persons  who  have  had Small-pox will  re-
member, that  for some time  previous, they  felt
dull, heavy, and sluggish ;  not sick enough to be
alarmed by it, but were not as  lively and vivacious
as formerly; sometimes sad, moody, or  melan-
choly,  and  sometimes  nervously irritable  and
unhappy.   This  peculiarity  of feeling  always
precedes Small-pox, and is  occasioned by  the
excess of albuminous substances  in the  blood.
In the beginning of Small-pox, it is characterized
by an extreme headache, the  sensations of which
are as though a screw was being driven  into the
back part of the head.  This  is  the  condition
when the blood-vessels  are  contracted  by  the
peripheric portion of the nerve,  and  the blood
thereby driven into  the internal vessels.  This
state is  always accompanied by  excessive chil-
liness ; but if the nerve relaxes,  dry heat is felt on
the skin.  In a day or two, paralysis of the peri-
pheric portion  of the nerve occurs, either over the
whole surface of the body, or only over a part;
sometimes over  the  whole surface of the skin,
and in the mouth, stomach, and intestines.  Such
cases are generally fatal.  In an exact  ratio to the 
SMALL-POX.               37
paralytic  portion of the nerve, the peculiar pox
appear, first  as  red  pustules,  which swell more
and more, according to circumstances, sometimes
remaining single,  and sometimes running  to-
gether, so as to give to the patient the appear-
ance of a swollen  and almost shapeless mass.
The severity of the  case depends entirely upon
the previous condition of the blood. In due time
these pustules begin to suppurate, and after hav-
ing  discharged  their pus (which is nothing but
decomposed albumen, with a little escaped blood,
and some fragments of skin  which have been
destroyed in  the process), dry up, leaving marks
on the skin where they were.   After persons re-
cover from Small-pox they almost invariably say
they feel as  if new  born.  The fact is, they are
now only healthier than they were previous ; that
is, they now experience the benefit of a correct
balance in their blood,  and, therefore, feel as  if
new born.  But a person who always lives cor-
rectly will constantly have a similar experience,
and no need for Small-pox.   The very fact of
this  invariable  experience of persons  who have
had  the Small-pox  is  one of the best proofs of
their previously  sick condition, which, however,
they were unable to perceive, simply because
they either did not  know or think of any better
conditions at the time.
  The excess of albumen  in  the blood,  or the 
38
SMALL-POX.
predisposition to Small-pox, and kindred diseases,
shows itself in some, by a heavy, sluggish feeling,
more  or  less  oppressive; others are  oppressed
with a sadness and  melancholy, which  makes
them ready for suicide; while others, again, are
depressed one minute, and ready for a fight the
next.   The  appetite is irregular, and generally
of such a character, that while the person wants
or craves something, he does not know what he
wants.  Such  persons  very frequently give  ex-
pression to their  own view of their condition, by
saying, " My blood is too thick."  And so it is.
Any kind of irritation,  which, to a healthy body,
would  be perfectly harmless in its effect, is quite
sufficient, when this condition has reached a cer-
tain height, to produce  an immediate effect.  For
example, a fright, nervous  depression, a shock
of some kind,  want of  sleep, or impaired diges-
tion, may occasion the before-mentioned condition
of the nerves, resulting in the expulsion of super-
fluous material.
   It would, however, be a great mistake to sup-
pose that by eating a handful  of salt the difficulty
would be corrected.  For since the amount, as to
quantity  of blood, can never vary  in the body,
the blood-salts, when  deficient  or  lacking, are
substituted by incorrect or used-up material, all
of which we shall call blood cinders.   These have
to be removed before we can  introduce the proper 
SMALL-POX.               39
amount of fresh or new salts.   This idea of cor-
recting the blood  may be  illustrated somewhat,
by the way in which we renew a fire;  before we
put on fresh  coal, we remove the cinders.  But
this cannot be done all at  once with the human
blood ; the process must be gradual.   The amount
of new material introduced must be  in due  pro-
portion to the excreted one; otherwise, the pur-
pose is not reached, or serious trouble is caused.
  It is possible that the suddenly excessive use
of salt max  be the  i?nmediatc occasion  of the
appearance  of Small-pox,  though previously
caused by  the want of it in  the first  place.
It very often  occurs, that although  a person has
need  of  salt,  his  appetite will not  crave  it, the
blood being too much filled with other material.
In these  cases it will generally be  found  that a
desire for  acids  exists, the  demand for  which
should be gratified at once; not by  vinegar, but
by some natural organic acid, such as lemon-juice,
sour apples, etc.   When the demand for acid has
been  met,  and no improper  food constantly in-
troduced, the demand for salt, if  needed, will
manifest  itself very  strongly.   Then, as much
salt as the taste demands should be daily eaten
with the food.
  There  are probably many  persons  who will
doubt, or perhaps even deny, that there  is any
deficiency of salt  in  their case, or as regards 
4°
SMALL-POX.
themselves, or  who  cannot  readily comprehend
that they do not live  correctly.  We  shall there-
fore give some general rules of diet, from which
everybody  will be able  to  understand how the
blood difficulty just spoken of is brought about,
and how avoided.
  If a person takes  any kind of liquid or drink
during the process of eating, he is liable to over-
load his stomach, or eat  too  much.  If he  does
not take any liquid while eating,  the  saliva, by
which the food is moistened during mastication,
will stop flowing as  soon as the stomach has re-
ceived enough.  Therefore,  if a  person  eats  a
beefsteak, and  drinks  with  it sweetened  coffee,
he makes three mistakes  at once.   First, he sub-
stitutes the coffee for the  saliva which nature has
provided, and runs  the  risk of over-filling the
stomach;  second, he takes sugar instead of salt,
which is a gross mistake; and third, by drinking
coffee he highly excites  and  irritates the nerves,
thereby making it difficult for the stomach to dis-
solve the meat  properly.  The rule therefore is,
to drink coffee  alone, or  for the most part with a
little toast; but coffee with meat or fat is bad, but
sugar with meat or fat  is  much worse.
   The  habit of flavoring rice, puddings, or any
kind of starchy material with sugar,  though very
general among cooks,  is  a bad one.  All starchy
food should first be properly seasoned or flavored 
SMALL-POX.
41
with salt, and then, if required, sugar added.  If
eggs  are used with the starch or starchy food, the
defect of salt is still greater, and quite a serious
mistake.  The drinking  of milk in connection
with the eating of flesh-meat, or at the same time,
is bad, because the milk will immediately absorb
the gastric acid, curdle and enclose the meat like a
heavy coating, thus preventing it from dissolving ;
and at the  same time the sugar in the milk will
exclude salt from the taste.
   The use of any stimulant with a solid meal at
the same time, is very bad.  If a person is hungry,
and takes a strong cup of coffee or tea, he thereby
loses, for a time, the demand for food, through the
action of these  substances  at the nerves.  They
act somewhat as a very exciting  thing  does on
a man's brain, by which his appetite, for the time,
is taken  away.   The  use  of  all  stimulants are
beneficial only as they are properly used, and
very hurtful if used improperly.  It is, therefore,
a very bad mistake to drink tea, coffee, or alcohol
with dinner, or a similar meal.  No matter how
often  or  how long  a  person may have  done  so
without direct injury,  it is very bad.  When  a
person has  come to feel the  bad effect,  he  is
quite  sick already.   These stimulants not  only
materially hurt our digestion, but  take away our
natural taste, the inclinations nature gave us, the
instinctive knowledge  of what we  should eat. 
42
SMALL-POX.
All persons who  drink much tea, coffee, or the
like, have no instinctive taste or craving for the
right or needed food at all.   We say" none what-
ever, however much they may remonstrate against
it.  The habitual use of these things is invariably
and absolutely accompanied by a weak constitu-
tion, a yellow complexion, and  either very irri-
table or half paralyzed  nerves. Hence all nations
not using these stimulants are, in general, vigorous
and strong; while the  Chinese and Japanese are
small and  weak,  and  the same is  more or less
true of all Americans who use tea in excess.  The
habitual use, as we have said, is bad ; still a good
cup of tea  after severe mental exertion  is more
beneficial than a hearty meal, or the best beef-
steak.  A person whose nerves  are  tired can no
more  digest his food well  than  a person whose
muscles are tired can make a  satisfying meal from
a cup of tea.  The great difference relative to the
demand of these  two  kinds  of tiredness on the
blood, is almost entirely unknown.   The use of
the nervous system requires a restitution of the
blood-salts  more than of the so-called respiratory
food,  sugar, starch,  fat,   etc.,  while muscular
labor  requires very little  use of the  blood-salts,
but more the  respiratory  food.   The necessary
food for a person, therefore, depends  upon the use
he makes of his  body.   Hence, many persons,
while living, as they think, absolutely correctly, 
SMALL-POX.
43
are, in fact, doing just the opposite.  Suppose, for
instance,  a man who  is doing hard  brain-work
orders, when hungry, a beefsteak with fried po-
tatoes, and afterwards eats  some puddtng.   If
the steak is from an animal which has been fatted
by stall feeding, it contains no salts, for the free
use of salt would prevent the animal from taking
on fat, and is therefore withheld; fat  contains no
salt, potatoes contain none, and fine flour, eggs,
etc.,  from which  the pudding is  made, while
containing sulphur, lime, and phosphorus, contain
none, while, as pudding, it contains sugar, put in
for flavoring instead of salt.   Therefore, if he has
not eaten a good  deal of salt with  such a meal,
it is almost good for nothing for him.   But  had he
eaten of partridge, celery with salt and fried po-
tatoes, or  of venison, and afterwards  eaten some
nuts and  apples, he would then have taken  all
that his body required.   Wild animals know how
to provide for all their blood-salts, and are there-
fore never so fat.  But the first meal  is just the
thing for a man who has been hard at work with
his muscles and not with his brain.   This is as
good an illustration as  can here be given of how
a person may be in need of blood-salts, although
eating what is believed to be  the best food to  be
had.
  But with children  the matter is much  worse.
They are  fed on  starch, milk, white bread and 
44
SMALL-POX.
butter, pastry and cake, occasionally some meat,
sugar and sweetmeats.  Let me ask every mother
how often they have  put salt into the milk with
which -they have  fed their  babes,  or into the
starchy food or puddings ?  The food  here speci-
fied  contains  no  salt whatever;  for  domestic
meat does not generally contain enough, nor does
the milk, unless the cows run in pasture, or are fed
very much according to nature, which they are
not, because such feeding would not be productive
of a sufficient quantity  of  milk  to  satisfy  their
owners.  I maintain, that of one hundred children
in all our American cities, seventy-five arc more
or less deficient in the amount of salt required,
and  that this deficiency is substituted by sugar.
The  consequence  is  scarlet fever,  measles,
chicken-pox, or  small-pox, according to circum-
stances.  And further, what is the reason (if not
a deficiency of salts) that  American children for
the most part are  delicate, not having much en-
durance, with white, instead of red, cheeks, and
with flesh soft and flabby?   The American houses
are the best in the world;  no country has better
food, or  a better supply ;  no  children are  kept
cleaner,  none  are  dressed   better,  and  more
suitably,  none get better  air, or  live in cleaner
cities, or attend school in better ventilated school-
houses, and yet  they are about the weakest!   If
any  man  can assign a reason,  or  answer  the 
SMALL-POX.                45
question here involved, otherwise than we  have
done, we should  like  to know it.  But we will
just mention a better test,  which all  can apply.
Take away from your  children for several  meals
all sugar in every form, and allow them as much
salt as they will eat of their own accord, and see !
Would a child one year old, think you, eat salt like
sugar if it did not necessarily require it? If a child
has already enough salt, and you give it even an
atom  more, it will spit it out immediately.   Or, if
you offer a child a few months' old lemon, and it
eats it eagerly — does it show nothing ? Give an
absolutely  well child lemon-juice, and see what a
face it will make !
   It is  hardly necessary to add, that if an adult
wishes  to  ascertain whether his blood requires
salt, he must, first, leave  off all sugar; second,
supply the organic acid, especially  lemon-juice,
as long as the taste  craves it; and third, not to
spoil the natural taste by excessive use of alcohol,
tea,  coffee, tobacco-chewing,  or similar  strong
agents, which paralyze the nerves of taste.  In
short, we would recommend the following : when
undressed, press gently with the hand on the pit
of the stomach, under the breast-bone,  and  if
there should be any pain or a sensation of uneasi-
ness, either you  have an   inflamed stomach,  or
more often, chronic affection of the liver, and are
seriously sick, however well  you may feel. • In 
46
SMALL-POX.
this case, or if there is habitual constipation, an
educated and skilful physician should be applied
to at once, for the removal of the difficulty.  If
no pain or uneasiness is experienced in the pit
of the  stomach upon pressure, and there  is no
habitual constipation, there is no need of a physi-
cian to bring the blood into an absolutely normal
condition; to accomplish which—i. Never  eat
sugar at the same time with  meat; 2. Salt all
food used before  adding sugar; 3. Never  drink
while eating; 4.  Drink  as  much  lemon-juice as
the taste indicates, and  continue  its use as long
as there is a desire for acids;  5. Eat the desired
quantity of salt at each  meal; 6.  Eat otherwise
any kind of food  which fancy or appetite craves,
but with variety ;  that is, not confined to one kind
or variety of.fare.   I  positively maintain that a
person who  has  properly balanced  blood — the
correct amount of water, salts, and albuminous
matter — cannot catch or be liable  to any disease,
having no predisposition therefor.  For I main-
tain that  if there  is  no superfluous albumen in a
person's blood, none can escape into the skin, as
in Small-pox, and the nerves of  such a person
are in a condition  to endure influences that gen-
erally  produce " cold "  or  sickness without  the
least injury to him.   Such a person feels vigorous,
happy,  lively and  strong; but  he  who  feels
otherwise has not his blood  in good order. 
SMALL-POX.
47
   Having  thus  explained, theoretically, what  I
 believe an absolute and  unfailing  preventive
 against Small-pox,  I can  mention only limited
 practical and experimental  proofs.  By observing
 and demonstrating the above rules, I have found,
 during a practice of fourteen years, that in all the
 families I have attended during this time, there is
 not  a  single  child  who has been  affected by
 scarlet fever,  small-pox, or  any other so-called
 catching disease, not even the measles; though
 never  allowed to be  kept from contact with other
 children, or to take  preventive  measures of any
 kind whatever.
   As  regards myself—was vaccinated when  a
 small child, but never since — have exposed my-
 self, in all  European hospitals that I attended, to
 the Small-pox patients,  without using  or  taking
 any preventive  measures;  at one time,  for  six
 months regularly.   In Hayti I have been exposed
 many  times, but once especially, purposely re-
 maining for an hour in a room with five sick and
 dying  children  of  Small-pox,  who  had been
 treated according to the Haytien manner; namely,
 the pustules cut open, and then rubbed with rum.
 Two of them  died while I was  present, and the
 other three within  twelve  hours,  all of internal
 gangrene.   This exposure was productive of no
 effect whatever upon my own person, though the
stench  was of  such a character as to affect any 
48
SMALL-POX.
person if it were possible.  Nor have I ever, nor
would  I  ever take  any measures of disinfection
in seeing Small-pox patients, without  the least
fear of infection, so long as the blood is in good
condition.
  These  facts here mentioned, although not con-
clusive proofs, are nevertheless so for me.  Since
the views here laid down can  do no harm, and
cost nothing, they  should be tested by others.
The  importance of salt in the  human economy
is  known by all physicians, and should be by
everybody;  and were some attention paid to this
subject, it could be easily ascertained whether
Small-pox appears where salt has been properly
used or not; for myself, I can only give the ex-
perience, and  state the facts as they have been
derived from study and research.
    Resume. — Let it be distinctly understood that
  what I intend to say is, that vaccination has not
  proved to be  an absolutely reliable preventive
  against Small-pox;  and,  therefore, that better
  means for protection are needed.
    That if is absolutely necessary, first,  to know
  the nature of a disease before any attempt can be
,  made to prevent it.
    That I have discovered the following facts, and
  maintain, that Small-pox  consists in the escape 
SMALL-POX.
49
       of superfluous albuminous substances into  the
       tissues of the periphery of the nervous centres of
       the body, caused, in the first  place, by the want
       of salt.
         That the proper use of salt is the scientific  and
       most  certain preventive of Small-pox,  both in
       theory and practice, that I  have any knowledge
       of.
         That the use of organic acids is the best means
       of freeing the blood from abnormal substances',
       which, for the time being,  may substitute  the
       place of salt in the body.
         That alcohol is an agent which eliminates the
       blood-salts, and, therefore,  after its use, the  salt
k      thus eliminated must be restored.
         That sugar can take the place of salt in regard
       to taste, much to  the injury of the blood of the
       person substituting it.
         That in mental  labor more salt is brought into
       requisition, and used up, than  in muscular  or
       physical  labor; and, therefore,  that more must
       be used or taken into the body in the former case
       than in the latter.
         That a person who  has  a  properly balanced
       blood cannot catch, or take, Small-pox under any
       circumstances of exposure.
         This theory, if  correct, must hold good in all
       cases, without a single exception ; and if nothing
       can be found to disprove its correctness, it holds 
50               SMALL-POX.
good that the proper use of salt, in the human
economy, will eradicate  Small-pox at once and
forever.
  Therefore the use and  office of salt should be
more  generally known  and  taught in  all our
public schools.
\ 
B
 OOKS   RECENTLY  PUBLISHED

                     ---KV---

ALEXANDER  MOORE, 2 Hamilton Place, Boston,
   The  Eye in Health and Disease.  Being a Series of
    Articles on the Anatomy and  Physiology of  the Human
 ^   Eye, and its Surgical and Medicaf Treatment.  By B. Joy
 \   Jeffries, A. M.. M. D., Follow of the Massachusetts Med-
 |<   ical Society,  Member of the American  Ophthalmological
 /   Society, Ophthalmic Surgeon to the  Massachusetts Char-
 ,'   itable Eye and Ear Infirmary, Ophthalmic Surgeon  to the
 >   Carney Hospital. Lecturer on Optical Phenomena and the
 ',   Eye at  Harvard University.  8vo.   Cloth.  $1.50.   Illus-
 \   trated.
V j   " We welcome this book, and cordially recommend it."
                                         — Med. Times, Phila.
Diseases of the Skin.  The Recent Advances  in their
  Pathology and Treatment.  Being the Boylston Prize  Es-
  say for 1S71.  By B. Joy Jeffries.  A. M.,  M. D.   8vo.
  Cloth.  $1.00.
  " The hijjh standing and wide reputation of Dr. Jeffries is a sufficient
guaranty ot the value of this or any other product of his pen."
                                 — Congrcgationalist, Boston.
The Animal and Vegetable Parasites  of the Hu-
  man  Skin and Hair, and False Parasites of
  the Human  Body.  By B. Joy Jeffries, A. M., M. D.
  i2mo.  Cloth.  $1.00.
     A book of great value to all teachers and parents.
Leprosy of the Bible, and  its  Present Existence
  in the World. By B Joy Jeffries, A. M., M. D.  i2fno.
  Cloth.   $1.00.  [In  preparation.]
Plain  Talk  About  Insanity.   Its  Causes, Forms,
  Symptoms, and Treatment of Mental Diseases.  With Re-
  marks on Hospitals, Asylums, and the Medico-Legal As-
  pect of Ixsxnity.  13V T.  W. Fisher, M. D.,  late of the
  Boston Hospital for the Insane.  8vo.   Cloth.  $150.
   Sold by all Book.st-Hers, and Hunt by mail, postpaid, 011

receipt of price, by the Vublisber.
J>\ 
']! First Help in Accidents and in Sickness. A Guide
    in the absence or before the  arrival of Medical Assistance.
    Illustrated with numerous cuts.   Published with the  rec-
    ommendation of the highest medical authority.  The fol-
    lowing are  some of the subjects upon which it treats: —
    Bites,  Bleeding, Broken Bones, Bruises, Burns,  Choking,
    Cholera,  Cold, Contusions,  Dislocations, Drowning, Dys-
    entery, Exhaustion, Fevers, Fractures, Hanging, Nursing,
    Poisoning,  Scalds, Sprains, Suffocation,  Sunstroke,  and
    other Accidents and Sickness where instant aid is needful.
    i2mo.  Cloth.  265 pp.  $1.50.

  Small-Pox.  The Predisposing  Conditions,  and their
    Prevention.  By Dr. Carl Both.  i2mo.   Paper.  50 pp.
    Price, 25 cts.

  Consumption.  By Dr. Carl  Both.   This is the fir>t
    work ever published demonstrating the practical application
    and results  of  cellular  physiology and pathology.  8vo.
    $2.00.   [In preparation.]

  Good Health Annual.  A Popular Annual on the Laws
    of Correct Living, as developed bv Medical  Science,  etc.
    Vul. I. for 1870, Vol. II. for 1S71, and Vol. III. for 1S72, con-
    tain the most valuable series of papers, by eminent writers,
    ever offered to the public  in a popular form, and should be in
    every family and library.  These  volumes  were prepared
    from the  Magazine of the same name, which  has received
    more and hnjhcr recommendations from the Press and from
    Eminent  Authorities, than any other work of the kind in
    the world.  8vo.  Cloth.  5S2 pp.   $2.50 each.

  " The  Gas  Consumer's  Guide."  A Popular Hand-
    book of Instruction on the Proper Management and Econ-
    omical Use  of  Gas,  with  a  full  Description of
    Gas-meters, and  Directions  for Ascertaining the
    Consumption  by Meter. Ventilation, etc.  Illustrated.
    i2mo.  Cloth, $1.00.  Paper, 75 cts.  To  any one burning
    ga^ this book will  save its cost in a very short time.
            American Scenery, unparalleled in the world.
The  Wonders  of  the  Yost mite  Valley  and  of
  California.  By Prof. Samuel  Kneel.ynd. A.M., M. D.
  Illustiated with original  photographs.  4to.   Cloth  extra.
  $400.
                    ----«»>---
   Sold by all Booksellers, and sent by mail, postpaid,
on receipt of price, by the Publisher,

      ALEXANDER  MOORE, 2 Hamilton Place,  Boston, 
rSMALL-POX:
PREDISPOSING CONDITIONS
AND TIIFIH
PREVENTION.
Dit. CARL  BOTH,
        BOSTON:
ALEX A N D E R  M O O R E.
            1S72.


      I»rJ«-e iifS  C'ontS.
 
First  Help in Accidents and in Sickness. A Guide
  in the absence or before the  arrival of Medical Assistance.
  Illustrated with numerous cuts.  Published with the rec-
  ommendation of the highest medical authority.  The fol-
  lowing are  some of the subjects upon which it treats: —
  Bites, Bleeding, Broken  Bones, Bruises, Burns,  Choking,
  Cholera,  Cold, Contusions,  Dislocations, Drowning, Dys-
  entery, Exhaustion, Fevers, Fractures, Hanging, Nursing,
  Poisoning,  Scalds, Sprains, Suffocation,  Sunstroke,  and
  other Accidents and Sickness where instant aid is needful.
  i2mo.  Cloth.  265 pp.   $1.50.
Small-Pox.  The Predisposing  Conditions,  and  their
  Prevention.  By Dr. Carl Both.   i2mo.   Paper.  50 pp.
  Price, 25 cts.
Consumption.  By Dr. Carl Both.   This is the first
  work ever published demonstrating the practical application
  and results  of cellular  physiology and  pathology.   8vo.
  $2.00.   [In  preparation.]
Good Health A nil ual.  A Popular Annual on the Law.-.
  of Correct Living,  as  developed bv Medical Science, etc.
  Vol. I.for 1870, Vol. II.for 1871, andVol. III. for 1S72. con-
  tain the most valuable series of papers, by eminent writers.
  ever offered to the public in a popular form, and should be in
  every family and library. These volumes were prepared
  from the  Magazine of the same name, which has received
  more and higher recommendations from the Press and from
  Eminent  Authorities, than any other work of the kind in
  the world. Svo.  Cloth.  582 pp.  $2.50 each.

" The Gas Consumer's  Guide."  A Popular Hand-
  book of Instruction on the Proper Management  and Econ-
  omical   Use   of  Gas,  with  a full  Description of
  Gas-meters,  and  Directions  for Ascertaining   the
  Consumption by  Miter, Ventilation, etc.  Illustrated.
  i2ino.  Cloth. $1.00.  Paper. 75 cts.  To  any one burning
  gas  this book will save its cost in a very short time.

            American Scenery, unparalleled in the world.
The  Wonders  of the Yosemite  Valley  and of
  California.  By Prof.  Samuel Kneel \nd, A.M., M. D.
  Illustrated with original  photographs.  4to.   Cloth extra.
  $4.00.
                    —  «»»

   Sold by all Booksellers, and sent by mail, postpaid,
on receipt of price, by the Publisher,

      ALEXANDER  MOORE, 2 Hamilton Place, Boston. 
f   Union  Mutual  Life
  INSURANCE  COMPANY,
of >r.vT>'n.
I
        DIRECTORS' OFFICE,
27 COURT STREET,  .  BOSTON, MASS.

   W. H. HOLLISTER, Secretary  HENRY CROCKER, President.
ASSETS, SIX MILLION DOLLARS.
It has been in Successful Operation Twenty-two Years. 
The Union  Mutual Life Insurance Company
Is a  purely mutual  company, having no stock, and is  man-
aged by the members for their own benefit.
  It  furnishes insurance at the least  possible cost.   Every
dollar of its receipts, after  paying the losses and  expenses,
and  providing the necessary reserve, is returned to its mem-
bers  in annual dividends.
  Its dividends are made on the contribution plan,  by which
the surplus to be returned is apportioned among the policies in
the exact ratio of their contribution thereto.   These dividends
are made payable at the end of the second year, and annually
thereafter, and may be applied to the reduction of premiums.
  It makes all policies non-forfeitable.  For the surrender of
a plain life policy (requiring annual payments during life),
while in force, a paid-up policy for an equitable amount will
be given.  Limited payment life policies, and all endowment
policies are paid-up policies for a proportional fractional part
of the  face of the policy.  For instance, a ten-year endow-
ment policy for  $1,000,  requiring ten payments,  becomes,
after one payment, a paid-up policy for one-tenth of its face,
or $100;  after two payments,  for two-tenths, or $200.  The
insured,  under the limited payment policies  issued by this
Company, therefore gets exactly the amount of insurance he
pays for,  whether he makes few or many payments.
  Having been organized  in 1849, it lias been in successful
operation twenty-two years, during which it has accumulated
assets  amounting to nearly $6,000,000,  besides  paying its
losses and returning large dividends to its members. " Its in-
vestments earn an interest  revenue  more than sufficient to
pay its accruing losses, or  its  working expenses.
  It  is economically managed.   The ratio of its expenses to
its income, for the  year 1870. was but 12.81 per cent.  Its
risks have been selected with great care, as shown bv the fact
that  in the twenty-first year of  its existence, 1870,"the  ratio
of losses  to income was but 14.65 per cent.   In the practice
of Life Insurance,  the  expenses and  losses  are paid  by a
yearly assessment upon each premium, and the remainder of
such premium, after deducting this assessment and the nec-
essary reserve, is placed to the credit of the policy-holder,
and  either retained  by the Company, drawing compound
interest, or returned  to  him in dividends.  It follows, there-
fore, that that Company whose expenses and losses are the
least, is the  most advantageous to the member.   The  per-
centages of these, as will be seen by a comparison with the
statements of other companies, are not only lower than the
average of all other  companies, but less than those of any
company of equal age.
  It  issues all kinds of policies at  low rates of premium,
grants  its members  the largest liberty consistent  with pru-
dence and safety, and promptly adjusts" and pays its losses. 
 
 
 

mA'\.y,4ClX../ 
x
,/
v^r f
 ■^  ^
xrv
wV^^Ol VAnVj 
H*TiO»)»L LIBRARY Of
NLM  001253^ 7
NLM001223697