WBJ" J13h 1870 m> IT HjiLiJii; Jl.Ssn.ith. *2^P£J ^?c Engraved, "by" J.CButtre '©lyi^ M@EfflE @M TGK3E (MULLS! Dansville. Livingston Co,N Y. be;' • HOW TO TREAT THE SICK mit^ant ffiUbithu. BY JAMES C. JACKSON, M. D., PHYSICIAN-IN-CHIEF OP Dui\ ff OME ON THE ff ILL-SlDE, DANSVILLE, LIVINGSTON CO., N. T. 'Tis Nature cures the sick; Like God, she touches weakly things, and they Revive, and put forth wondrous beauty. Bring Your sick and suffering ones, where gently she Can handle and caress, and nurse them. Then Their forms, though delicate and frail, shall grow To strength and large endurance. AUSTIN, JACKSON & CO., PUBLISHERS, DANSVILLE, LIVINGSTON CO., N. Y.; OAKLEY, MASON & CO., 21 MURRAY ST., NEW YORK. 1870. W/?J \ }$7 0 fJlv^f3S2jOyt^O>\ Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, hy AUSTIN, JACKSON & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of New York. E. 0. JENKINS, STEREOTYPER AND PRINTER, SO N. WILLIAM ST., N. Y. Pi** ganut §. gut* tin, p.§., MT BELOVED DAtTGHTER AND PRIEND, TO YOU I DEDICATE THIS BOOK, BECAUSE TO TOU MORE THAN TO ANT OTHER PERSON AM I INDEBTED POR THE HEALTH AND STRENGTH WHEREBT I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO WRITE IT, AND ALSO FOR THE SYMPATHY WHICH, UNDER MT ARDUOUS PROPESSIONAX LABORS, WAS NECESSART TO MAKE THE TASK OP WRITING IT A LABOR OP LOVE. I am, for the redemption of the People from Sickness and Premature Death, Ever yours, most truly, JAMES C. JACKSON Otm Home on the Hill-Side, Dansville, N. Y. CONTENTS. CHAPTER. pagh I.—My Methods of Treating the Sick.... 9 II.—What is Disease ?..... 18 III.—The True Materia Medica.....22 IV.—Air . .......30 V.—Food.........32 VI.—Water.........35 VII.—Time for Taking Baths......45 VIII.—Sunlight........49 IX.—Dress....., ... 61 X.—Exercise .... ... 82 XI.—Sleep and its Recuperations.....94 XII.—The Sick Chamber and its Surroundings . . 107 XIII.—Children and their Diseases.....115 XIV.—Teething — Teething Diarrhoea — Summer Com- plaint—Fits .......120 XV—Tetter—Scald Head —Common Itch . . .128 XVI.—Measles........ 138 XVII.—Croup.........145 XVIII.—Diphtheria........153 XIX.—Scarlet Fever —Whooping Cough . . . 171 XX.—Summer Complaint — Dysentery .... 181 XXI.—Diseases of Grown Persons — Baldness — Deaf- ness — Blindness — Inflammation of the Eyes 185 (5) 6 CONTENTS. XXII.—Nasal Catarrh —Nose-Bleed .... 193 XXIII.—Apoplexy —Inflammation of the Brain—Hydro- cephalus, or Dropsy of the Brain . . . 198 XXIV.—Paralysis ....,-•• 206 XXV.—Epilepsy........213 XXVI.—Insanity.........218 XXVII.—Drunkenness.......223 XXVIII.—Hysteria.........236 XXIX.—St. Vitus' Dance.......246 XXX.—Pulmonary Consumption — Mumps — Salivation 252 XXXI.—Quinsy — Bronchitis — Inflammation of the Lungs........261 XXXII.—Pleurisy — Spitting of Blood, or Hemorrhage of the Lungs—Asthma.....273 XXXIII.—The Heart and its Diseases.....286 XXXIV.—Dyspepsia..... 290 XXXV.—Colic.........302 XXXVI.—Cancerous Conditions of the Stomach . . 307 XXXVII.—Diseases of the Spleen......311 XXXVIII.—Diseases of the Liver......318 XXXIX.—Calculi —Jaundice.......333 XL.—Diseases of the Intestines — Duodenitis — Bowel Colic.........338 XLI.—Inflammation of the Bowels—Peritonitis . 350 XLII.—Dropsy of the Peritoneum . . . . . 362 XLIIL—Lead Colic........367 XLIV.—Inflammation of the Mesenteric Glands . . 373 XLV.—Diseases of the Kidneys — Congestion — Inflam- mation— Diabetes — Gravel ... 384 XLVI.—Bright's Disease of the Kidneys — Urinary Dis ease ........ 401 CONTENTS. 7 XLVII.—Neuralgia of the Bladder — Paralysis of the Bladder — Inflammation of the Coats of the Bladder....... 416 XLVIIL—Worms........423 XLIX.—Piles.........428 L.—Sexual Organs.......443 LI.—Rheumatism .... . 448 LIT.—Intermittent Fever, or Fever and Ague . . 459 LILT.—Remittent Fever — Congestive Chills . . . 474 LIV.—Typhus and Typhoid Fevers .... 483 LV.—Erysipelas, or St. Anthony's Fire — Purpura Hemorrhagica — Acne .... 491 LVL—Ulcers — Boils and Carbuncles . . . .498 LVII.—Burns and Scalds — Goitre. . 511 LVIII.—Varicose Veins.......518 Baths, and How to Take Them......523 B HOW TO TREAT THE SICK WITHOUT MEDICINE. CHAPTER I. MY METHODS OF TREATING THE SICK. There are two ways of treating human invalids; the one by means which are abnormal or unnatural, and in which agents are sought to be used, which are of such a nature or character as, when used by persons in health, make them sick or tend to make them sick ; the other, by means which are normal or natural, and which confines itself to the use of agents, instrumen- talities and influences, whose effect on the human body, in health, is to keejp it in health. The former way I discard; the latter way I accept and follow. I most readily acknowledge that, in making my selection, I am left in a very large minority: it being true that almost all the physicians who have ever prac- ticed the healing art, or who are now practicing it, accept and adopt the former method; while only a few persons are with me in my theory and practice. It may readily be seen, therefore, that after the present state of opinion, I am unpopular; because to be in the 1* (9) 10 MY METHODS OF TREATING THE SICK. minority with reference to any set of ideas or system of conduct is to be unpopular. While, however, as regards the popularity of my methods there can be no question, it does not necessarily follow that I am not right; for, necessarily, with mankind new truths are unpopular, only those truths which, through various and powerful obstructions, have pressed their way to human consciousness and secured its respect, being entitled to be considered popular. Notwithstanding the essential unpopularity of new truths, I have great respect for the people. Not a demagogical respect; but an honest, • manly regard, founded upon a recognition of the essential and in- trinsic worthiness of human nature—such a worthiness as grows up under the constitution and appreciation of its essential capacities. However these may be per- verted, from want of training or from bad education, they nevertheless exist, and bespeak for themselves large respect. Because they have all the worth of human nature, and because men and women in the main, representing human nature, constitute the people, I honor them; and therefore feel that I can afford, for their benefit, to be the advocate of ideas which, when not understood, may be looked upon with disfavor, but which are yet of so much intrinsic value that, when comprehended, are sure to be looked upon with favor. This matter of knowing how to treat the diseases to which human beings are liable, so that the sick, instead of remaining sick, shall get well, shall not die, but live, is of very great importance to the people. At MY METHODS OF TREATING THE SICK. 11 present it is understood by the people at large that chey have no particular interest in the matter; that, when sick, it is expected that means will be pro- vided for their recovery; but what' these means are, or how they will be employed, it is not expected of them, nor do they desire, to know. A sick person, therefore, places himself in the hands of some medical man or woman of whose qualifications he knows no- thing except in the vaguest manner. He may be of one drug-school or another, and, because of this, the invalid may prefer or reject him; but he can give no reason why he does so, except on the ground of prefer- ence, for which he has no basis except in prejudice. Knowledge of the subject he has not. Why an allo- pathist is to be preferred to a homeopathist, or an eclectic to either, the sick man cannot tell. He makes a choice ; but he does it blindly. Having made it, he is no longer inquiring or anxious; his reason resigns itself. He takes the physician at just such an estimate as any person would any other professional of the theory of whose art or the philosophy of practicing it he had no well-founded and rational information. It is not in human nature, in any direction, thus to place one's interests under the supervision and manage- ment of another without becoming a blind devotee, and so refusing to raise questions as to the soundness or substantial truth of the course pursued. Hence, in this country, there are no devotees so set in their ways, so impervious to the influence of truth, so difficult to induce to make progress in any direction, as those on 12 MY METHODS OF TREATING THE SICK. the subject of the treatment of disease. For want of knowledge of the laws of life, they have been induced to surrender all management of their bodies into the hands of such physicians as they respectively may have chosen. They think, therefore, not at all on the sub- ject. They yield themselves up sacrificially to their notions, and regard the whole issue from so narrow a view as this: that whether they live or die is of less consequence than whether they are treated after the manner which they regard as scientific. Now, in the nature of the case, there is no reason in this view, nor can there be any justification for such an intellectual relation to it. God has made the human frame in such a way that it is not difficult to under- stand and largely comprehend the leading principles upon which its healthful management depends. The laws of health and life are so related in the understand- ing of them to human consciousness that any human being may so far appreciate them, as, by following them, to keep in health, or, in other words, not to be sick. This statement comports with the reason of the case. Certainly it is not to be supposed that the Creator has related a human creature so to the laws which govern its health and life as to make it more difficult for him to understand and be governed by them than is a mere animal to the laws which regulate its functions of life. Sheep get along from birth to death, on the whole with comparatively little sickness. Though there are a great many sheep raised in the United States, there MY METHODS OF TREATING THE SICK. 13 are very few sheep doctors. There are a great many dogs, but very few canine doctors. There are a great many domestic birds, and birds which live independent of man, but there are amongst them no physicians. Yet of animals there are many species whose organi- zation will be found to be not less delicate than man's. The horse, perhaps, approaches, in the fullness and com- prehensiveness of his bodily structure, nearest to man's. Yet when he runs wild, not having been brought into contact with man so as to be subdued and made to serve him, but, on the other hand, is permitted to fol- low his corporeal instincts and be made thoroughly subject to the laws of his being, the percentage of those which are sick, in proportion to the whole num- ber, is very much smaller than can be found to exist amongst human creatures of the largest reason, highest culture, and the best civilized, and Christian arrange- ments of living. One such fact incorporates into it significance enough for a volume of history. If, then, it be true that God so careth for animals which are the creatures of His hand, that where they are left free to hold natural relations to life and health, there is but little or no sickness; or, where this exists, it is, for the most part, in consequence of deviation from the laws of life and health occasioned by accident or by casualty; how much truer ought it to be of human beings that they might live without sickness % Does it not commend itself to human reason that the Creator in making two structures respectively, having in view use of them, establishes securities therefor 14 MY METHODS OF TREATING THE SICK. proportionate to the ends sought by their use ? If it be true that, in making man, God intends to put him to uses involving results much higher and more valu- able than those to which he intends to put any mere animal, does it not follow logically that, as an all-wise Creator, He would furnish man with securities and guaranties for the use of his powers in proportion to the importance of the results He intends to be wrought out under the use of such powers? In fact, may it not be accepted as a self-evident truth, needing for its establishment no demonstration, but only the statement of it, that every organization is furnished by the Creator with securities for answering its end propor- tionate to its rank in the scale of being ? To me the conclusion is accepted the moment the premise is fairly stated. I feel no necessity for reasoning on the subject. To conclude otherwise, with me, is to impugn the Divine wisdom. If I assume that God is all-wi^e, and as truthful as wise, then I conclude that whenever He exercises His creative faculty in the direction of the formation of any living organism, He necessarily must have two objects in view: one to make manifest His power, and the other to show His goodness. The first, if I may so say, involves genius, to be displayed by the very great variety of organizations which He creates. To show the latter, involves His wisdom to be displayed in the difference in rank of these or«-an- isms—this difference manifesting itself quite as much in the largeness and perfectness of the guaranties fur- nished to the organisms to answer the end for which MY METHODS OF TREATING THE SICK. 15 He designed them, as in the difference of powers and faculties with which they are clothed ; it always being evident to the close observer that according to the rank in scale of being is the creature furnished with the means of protecting itself, and, therefore, of reaching the end for which it was made. Of all the living organisms inhabiting the earth, none rank in scale anywhere near to man. He is so far above them all as justly to be termed their lord and master. His relations to them are such that he owns them. Their powers are at his disposal; his powers are not at their disposal. God has made him to rank them all, and to be so much above them as to place their very existence in his hands for his service. Can it be argued, then, for a moment, with any degree of sound- ness of reason, that man's relations to life and health are, for the purposes for which he is made, less secure than are the relations to life and health of animals for the purposes for which they are made ? If not, then his guaranties should be as much more numerous and his securities against disease and death as much more ample as his rank is above theirs. Proportionally, then, as much less in number of human beings than of mere animals should die of disease as the grade of rank of a human being is above that of animals; because his grade of rank, as compared with that of animals, furnishes the exact degree of security above that of animals which God in making him gives him whereby to protect himself against disease and death. If of the whole number of human beings a greater percentage 16 MY METHODS OF TREATING THE SICK. dies of disease than does of animals, it is because human beings live so much worse than animals as not only to break down all their superior securities for pro- tection against disease and death, but to show that their methods of living, so as to protect themselves against disease and death, are obviously inferior to those which exist on the part of animals. It seems to me that no one can get away from this view of the case, and that it tells a sorry tale for the influences which human reason has over human conduct. It is a sad commentary on the laws of God, as these are writ- ten on the human constitution, and illustrates very forcibly and vividly, I think, the extent of divergence from God's plan of life for man, as well as the degree of depravity which man has reached. I am sure that there is no sort of necessity, and therefore no well-grounded reason, and therefore no justification, for such condition of human life as in- volves the subjects of it in so much sickness and prema- ture death. In fact, there is no need of persons being sick; they can live without it. There is no need of persons dying as they do ; they might avoid it. Three- fourths of all the deaths that take place in this country, within a given period of time, need not occur if such persons only ~knew how to live. For, if they had this knowledge they would not be sick, unless their sickness was induced by some extraordinary intervention: since as the matter of man's relations to life stands in the Divine mind, it is morally certain that God's idea is that the common, ordinary, .habitual conditions of MY METHODS OF TREATING THE SICK. 17 existence should be those of health, and only the extra- ordinary, incidental, or accidental conditions should be those of sickness. If this be true of his relations to health, it is quite as true of his relations to life within a given period of time. The Creator's plan for man's living or dying may, therefore, be fairly stated thus: while living, to be healthful—to die only of old age. If this view be true, is it not worthy of thought, and of candid and profound reflection, whether, under such conditions of living as exist with our people, a great reform is not necessary ? and if so, whether an inquiry and an investigation into our ways, manners, methods, habits, modes and fashions of living not only are neces- sary, but also a looking into, and a searching analysis of, our methods of treating disease ? If our people live so badly that the most of them are sick, and when sick, are so badly treated for their diseases that a great many of them die, when, by the laws of their being, they should not be sick, or if sick should be only slightly so, and scarcely ever die from sickness, does it not follow that a reform in these directions is needed % I think so; and because I do I have written this book, that the people may not only be made intelligent in respect to safe methods of treating the sick, so that they shall recover their health, but also in respect to sound methods of preserving their health. CHAPTER II. WHAT IS DISEASE? An intelligent and precise writer, Dr. R. T. Trail, defines disease to be Abnormal Vital Action. In my own phrase, I call it Vital Action in excess. With physicians generally, as I understand them, disease is supposed to be a substance of some sort, existing in the system, which is to be ferreted out and expelled by medicine. At any rate, under the various definitions which medical men of different schools have given of the term, I am only able to conclude that such is their idea of it. I do not believe that disease is anything but a morbid condition of the system, or results of mor- bid conditions; that it is to be characterized, therefore, only as a manifestation of vital force;—in some in- stances, parts of the body having vital force excessively shown, while at the same time, in other parts of the body it is deficiently shown. The disease may be located at the point where the deficiency is shown or felt, but this does not weaken the correctness of my statement. For instance, a man may have cold feet, and it may be, that when he undertakes to describe his conditions he will speak of them in such a way as to convey no other idea than that both the origin and the seat of the (18) WHAT IS DISEASE % 19 difficulty are in his feet; but the cause of his having cold feet may be a disturbed circulation, the blood going from the extremities to the upper portions of the body and there, being in excess, produces congestion of brain. From this determination of the blood to the head away from the feet, the sensation of coldness is made to exist. If warm feet are to be had, the blood must be made to return from the head to the feet. The man himself would say that his disease was in his feet; a physician who understood his case, decidedly would say that he was suffering from congestion of the head. A like illustration, and a very pertinent one, may be had in the case of constipation of bowels. Very many persons suffer excessively from inactivity of the bowels, no natural motion taking place, but only a motion induced by the influence of medicated agents internally or externally applied; describing his case a sufferer from chronic costiveness would speak of his disease as beginning and existing in his lower bowel; but a physi- cian would know almost instantly that the constipation from which the person suffered was the natural and legitimate result of an over-taxed brain. As soon as the brain became so over-worked that it could not remain in a healthy state, congestion of it took place, defective action of bowel followed, to increase in its fre- quency and severity until a constant, habitual and severe constipation was established. In these cases, which may serve as illustrations for hundreds of others similar to them, the organ or struc- ture made to suffer is the focal point at which the vital 20 WHAT IS DISEASE ? force shows itself abnormally, but in deficiency; and the reason why it does is because at some other point of the system the vital force exists in excess? thereby orig- inating disease. Thus a man may have his difficulty originate in his brain and manifest itself in his lower bowel. So it does not follow that there is no vital action anywhere in the system in excess, simply because at some particular point of the structure of the body vital force exists insufficiently to enable the parts to carry on their functions healthfully. Wherever then, one part of the body has too much vitality distributed to it, and another part has too little, you have a dis- eased condition necessarily at one point and not un- likely at both. At whatever point the morbid manifes- tation is seen, there you will have it according to the nature and uses of the structure affected. Disease, therefore, if it is to be especially characterized at all, may be said to be a unit, inasmuch as the subject of it is a unit. Much more largely may this be said to be the case, because of the fact, that where- ever a given structure serves the use of several organs, to have that structure diseased, so as to affect different organs, a manifestation of morbidity will be shown cor- responding exactly to the nature of the organ affected. Take the mucous surface, or internal skin, which extends from one part of the system to the other. Let unhealthy conditions of it be established at a given point and there will be a form of disease corresponding to the nature of the structure afficted. If the mucous membrane of the stomach becomes affected, you have WHAT IS DISEASE i 21 gastritis; if the mucous membrane of the eye becomes inflamed, you have ophthalmia; if the mucous mem- brane of the ear becomes inflamed, you have otitis ; if of the throat, you have bronchitis, or inflammation of the lining membrane of the bronchial tubes ; if of the nasal passages, you have nasal catarrh; if of the buccal or cheek cavities, then you have swelling of what is called epithelium. In all these cases, however, it is the mucous membrane which is diseased, and its effects are modified by the nature and uses of the organ involved. If one wants to cure disease, therefore, let him find out just how far the abnormal vital action exists, and then let him proceed to treat the case on the basis of reinstituting healthy vital action. When this is done the disease is cured; for no one can have disease who has such a condition of body that his vital force works through it precisely according to the laws which are made to govern it. CHAPTER III. THE TRUE MATERIA MEDICA. Every physician feels that in order to treat human diseases skillfully, he must have proper medical mate- rials. With most physicians, these are largely made up of substances whose natural, ordinary and legiti- mate effect upon the human body, when taken into it, in a healthy state, is to make it sick. They may be characterized, therefore, as unfriendly to the health of the body, and are to be denominated poisons—a poison being any substance or thing which, when taken into the circulation, destroys the health or the life of the body, or tends to destroy these. How it has come about that rational creatures should conclude that a substance or thing whose effect upon the human sys- tem, when in health, is to disturb, derange, disease, or kill it, may be regarded as a safe medicament when it is already diseased, I cannot say. It seems strange to me that it. should be so, because it is clear to me that it is irrational. I can readily understand that if the diseases which human beings for the most part have were of a nature or kind to involve the direct action of chemical laws, drugs and medicines might be made to subserve a salutary or therapeutic purpose; but as (22) THE TRUE MATERIA MEDICA. 23 tl 3 converse of this condition is true, persons, for the most part, who are diseased being sick after such a manner that there can be no direct therapeutic action of chemical laws, the drugs and medicines which are given to them cannot serve a therapeutic, but only a destructive purpose. For instance, if a man has a disease of the liver and a physician administers to him calomel, there can be no chemical action set up in the system such as will change the nature of the calomel and the nature of the matter of his liver, so as to produce a new or third substance, to be classified or termed calomelate of liver. Where chemical laws operate by bringing two sub- stances into connection which can affiliate, or operate, or work by the law of elective affinity, the original sub- stances thus brought together and mutually acted upon are lost, and a new substance is created. But phy- sicians of the drug-giving schools, by whatever name these may be called, do not pretend, much less assert, that in the giving of their various poisons, these, under their introduction into the circulation and passage through the system by means thereof, meet substances which are themselves poisonous, and, therefore, directly productive of the ill-health or sickness from which the subject suffers, and with which substances their medica- ments unite, and so, a neutralization taking place, the disease is cured and the health of the person restored. Probably, outside of those derangements which occa- sionally are caused by the taking into the human sys- tem by mistake of deadly poisons, no medicines known 21 THE TRUE MATERIA MEDICA. to the materia medica of any of the drug-giving schools are administered, whose curative effects are wrought out under a chemical union between such so-called remedies and poisons already existing in the system. If, then, it be true that chemical laws do not tend generally to produce curative results where persons being sick recover from their sickness, the drug-giving theory substantially and essentially is a fallacy. For, when chemical laws are not in operation vital laws are; and these in their nature and in their influence on the human body utterly forbid the taking into it, for any purpose whatever, either to sustain it or cure it of dis- ease, any substance or thing whose nature or compo- sition is such as to make it unfriendly to the health of the subject taking it; and whatever is legitimately and naturally unfriendly to the health of a person is, to a certain degree, unfriendly to his life. The vital or liv- ing forces are all established and placed in command of the physical organism for the purpose of maintain- iDg and preserving life. Whatever, therefore, tends to injure or to destroy life, necessarily arranges the vital forces against it. In looking around, then, for a materia medica where- with to treat the diseases of the human body, I was led to discard all those substances, no matter how high in repute they stood, or might stand, with the medical profession at large, which, in their making up, were composed of constituent elements to be denominated as unhealthy or life-destroying. Having excluded all these, I accepted all those substances whose organiza- THE TRUE MATERIA MEDICA. 25 tion is such that their constituent elements are friendly to health, and, therefore, to the support of life. These, and these alone, constitute my materia medica. On them I have depended during my twenty years of practice, in which time it has been my fortune to treat, undoubtedly, a larger number of sick persons by far, than any other man has ever treated who has never given drugs or medicines. In my entire practice I have never given a dose of medicine ; not so much as I should have administered had I taken a homeopathic pellet of the seven-millionth dilution, and dissolving it in Lake Superior, given my patients of its waters. On the other hand, I have treated every variety of chronic disease known to the medical men of North America, and have also treated a very large number of the acute diseases known to them. My success has been such as to justify the statement, that at least ninety-five per cent of all who have come under my professional supervision have been so helped during the time they stayed with me, or have been thoroughly cured while under my care, as to be perfectly satisfied with the benefits received. When it is taken into con- sideration that chronic diseases are much worse to treat than acute, because the active, vital force is much less; because also, in many instances the subjects have been drugged until their morbid conditions have assumed a fixed habit which requires a great effort of nature to break up, my success, I think, speaks for itself, and must go far to overcome prejudice, and to create con- fidence in its correctness and competency. 2 26 THE TRUE MATERIA MEDICA. I have used, in the treatment of the diseases of my patients, the following substances or instrumentalities : First, air; second, food; third, water; fourth, sun- light ; fifth, dress; sixth, exercise; seventh, sleep; eighth, rest; ninth, social influences; tenth, mental and moral forces. The combinations which a thoughtful physician can make of these agencies and instrumentalities are very comprehensive and efficient. The necessity for their use is more or less admitted by physicians of all schools; but, relying on their specific medicaments as they do, they fail to study how to combine these, and so often fail to overcome the morbid conditions under which their sick ones are placed. Take, for instance, that terrible disease, pulmonary consumption. However far it may have advanced in its ruinous effects, inside of producing organic lesion to the lungs, it is most clearly curable; and there are of hygeio-therapeutic ageneies three or four, each of which, standing by itself, is of great value in the pro- duction of cure; but when all are properly combined, their effectiveness is much more than arithmetically increased. Air is necessary to human life and health, so is food so is water, so also is sunlight. If the first mentioned of these agents alone be used, so as to give to it its largest effectiveness, either in the prevention or in the cure of disease, while the others are not used so as to give by any means their largest effectiveness in the same direction, but are so employed as greatly to THE TRUE MATERIA MEDICA. 27 diminish their efficiency, then air, in the way in which it is used, becomes much less therapeutic in its influ- ence than it would be were the others properly con- nected with it, and so a skillful combination of them all were established. Many consumptive persons are aware that they can only live by thoroughly aerating the blood. They therefore are particularly careful in their efforts to do this; but, while in this special direc- tion they do all that is needful, they fail in other direc- tions where carefulness in the use of hygienic agents is quite as important. I have known a great many per- sons who were troubled with pulmonary diseases to take particular pains to live in the open air; but they were entirely careless in respect to the use of foods, styles of dress, exercise, rest and taxation of their nervous systems; and they certainly cared nothing for sunlight, nor did they make any substantial curative use of water. In treating human diseases, I early became aware how much greater additional force could be gained for the recovery of thq sick by a skillful combination of various therapeutic agents. I knew that men who gave drug-medicines sought to make such combinations of them as would add to the sum total of effect de- sired. I reasoned also that the same principles H&ight be made to add to the efficiencies of my practice; and so I took into account the propriety of large and com- prehensive combinations, and have always sought to make my treatment compound in its nature, and pro- portionally effective. 28 THE TRUE MATERIA MEDICA. In placing myself as a hygienic physician before the public, having charge of an institution, I determined that I would have the largest possible combinations, and the most comprehensive arrangements of means possible to get. So in seeking to locate myself I sought a place where I should have not only good air but plenty of sunlight; and not only these, but where I could readily and easily procure the very best materials for food, and also where I could have in plentiful quantity, pure, soft, living water. I also took into account the importance of being so situated as to give to my sick ones quiet, freedom from social interfer- ence, freedom from conventional rules, freedom from artificial, fashionable and false methods of living ; where also they could have social influences of the highest order, and thus have for their use the best and highest combinations of natural therapeutic agents. Thus convinced, and thus determined to have what I wanted, I succeeded in finding them, and so have been able to make their application in a broad, comprehen- sive and successful manner. My treatment has been Psycho-hygienic—by which term I mean treatment according to the laws of life and health. It does not necessarily follow that be- cause one is treated according to the laws of health he is, therefore, treated according to the laws of life. The lesser does not include the greater, and the laws of life are greater than the laws of health; for those take hold of the essential, incorporeal part of a man and they reach his responsible nature, governing, what THE TRUE MATERIA MEDICA. 29 we are pleased to call, his soul as well as his body. They are intended to train, culture, educate and per- fect his spiritual as well as his bodily organization. So they range on a higher plane of action than those simple rules whose sphere is confined to the body alone. I have come to regard, therefore, the Psycho-hygienic as a superior method of treatment to that of the simply hygienic. I think I have good reason for my prefer- ence : for many persons, first and last, have come to me to be treated for diseases which were of such a nature as to baffle the best application of drug-medica- ting physicians; to baffle also the skill of the simply hygienic physician; but which diseases were rapidly cured under the application of the Psycho-hygienic treatment. Counting in the influence of mental and moral causes in the production of diseases, I have found that mental and moral therapeutics, added to those which are simply hygienic, have enabled me in many instances to succeed where others had failed, and where, had I not used them, doubtless I also should have failed. I recognized, however, as of very great effectiveness, the use of the ordinary hygienic agents. CHAPTER IV. AIR. It is of very great importance in a large class of dis- eases that persons in order to recover should have pure air, and plenty of it, to breathe. Almost all the dis- eases (and they are quite numerous) which arise from deterioration of blood or from bad and imperfect circu- lation of it, may be said in good measure to be caused by want of proper aeration of the blood. Almost all diseases of the lungs are to be largely accounted for under defective use of air, springing either from want of it or from the impurity of it. Many of the diseases of the skin have their predisposing, and some of them their proximate origin in defective or insufficient use of air. Not infrequently are diseases of the bowels to be attributed to the same cause. Air, therefore, may not be simply regarded with great favor as a prophylactic- agent—an agent whereby disease may be prevented; but as a therapeutic agent—an agent whereby disease may be cured. But in order to have it as efficient as possible it needs to be pure atmospheric air; not such gases as are found in cesspools, in pestilential districts of country, in large cities, in crowded halls, in unven- tilated churches, in close and unaerated sleeping rooms, (30) AIR. 31 but such air as is pure, and therefore free from noxious or destructive elements. It will take a great while for the medical world, and a good deal longer for the people at large, to learn that in the treatment of any disease arising from non-aera- tion of blood, no remedy can be found to work with such therapeutic surety as pure atmospheric air, rightly applied. Until the medical profession discerns this and instructs the people in it, resort will be had to all sorts of agencies supposed to be particularly curative for the overcoming of lung diseases. Meanwhile the whole system of practice will continue to be as it has hitherto been, a decided failure, and the subjects of such treatment will continue to die. As the Psycho-hygienic treatment comes to be under- stood, death from diseases of any and every kind will be steadily less frequent, until at length persons who have accepted and followed this philosophy of living, will know nothing about sickness. They will live from birth, to death by old age, without aches or pains. And when this philosophy of life comes to be univer- sal, sickness, except from casualties or accidents, will cease to be. Children will be bom, and have no dis- eases in childhood, in youthhood, at adolescence, at adult or middle age, but will go from the cradle to the grave without being sick, dying when their time comes. CHAPTER V. FOOD. If there be a class of diseases arising from the use of impure air, and therefore dependent for their cure upon the use of pure air, it is also true that a very large class of diseases originates in the use of unhealthy food. Probably there is no so powerful predisposing and pro- vocative agent in the production of the diseases com- mon to our country, as improper food, and it would not surprise any one that it is so, were he to reflect, after seeing to what degree the people of this country eat unhealthy food,—food which in its very nature is cal- culated to produce diseased conditions of their bodies, ■—food whose effects cannot be otherwise than to produce diseased conditions of their bodies. Yet they eat with- out any question, and, when sick, yield themselves with the blindest devotement to the hands of men who, how- ever much they may justly claim from their learning have never yet found out a better way to treat a human creature who is sick, than to give him, for the purpose of curing him, some substances or things which, if they were administered to him when he was in flush of health, would be sure to make him sick. Gluttony is a very great cause of disease. It is a (32) FOOD. 33 prevalent vice with our people. Its existence depends largely upon the kinds of food eaten by them. Were they to eat different kinds of food from what they do, they would cease to be gluttons. While they eat as they do, they must be gluttons. If one knows enough about the question to understand how a depraved state of the blood can produce disease, he will find, if he stops to think, that a very large class of diseases can have no other origin than this. If we begin with the head and travel downward to the feet of the human body, we can readily arrive at some definite and certain data on this point. Bad food can be the direct cause of scald-head ; sick headache ; neuralgia in the face; sore eyes; blind eyes; deaf ears; ringing in the ears ; sore external ears ; internal ulcers of the ears; nasal catarrh of the front and back pas- sages ; bronchitis ; goitre; sore mouth ; carious teeth ; swelled tongue ; ulcerated larynx ; follicular ulceration of the pharynx; tubercles in the lungs; inflammation of the lungs ; palpitation of the heart; inflammation of the diaphragm; acute inflammation of the stomach; dyspepsia in all its protean forms ; torpidity of liver ; enlargement of the liver ; ulceration of the liver ; cal- careous formations in the liver; chronic irritation of the duodenum and chronic inflammation of it; chronic inflammation of the large intestines ; scrofulous deposi- tions in and around the mesenteric glands, establishing marasmus, or consumption of the bowels; congestion of the kidneys; congestion or inflammation of the neck of the bladder; seminal emissions in men ; leu- 2* 34 FOOD. corrhcea in women; piles; neuralgia of the legs and and feet; rheumatism of the muscles, of the joints, of the nerves ; paralysis ; apoplexy; bilious fever ; fever and ague; remittent fever; typhoid fever; typhus fever; spotted fever; congestive chills; diarrhoea; dysentery, and many other diseases. Does it not stand to reason if these diseases owe their origin, as they often do, to the use of bad foods, in connection also in many instances with an improper use of other hygienic agents, that if food and these other agents were properly used, persons would not have these diseases. Does it not also follow, that hav- ing thus lived so as to produce these diseases, to stop using food, and other hygienic agencies improperly, and to set about using them properly, such persons, if curable, must get well more surely than by the use of any other agents or instrumentalities. In my judg- ment, to state the question to an honest mind, is affirma- tively to answer it. Hence the Psycho-hygienic treat- ment of disease is sure to result in curing it, where the method is fairly adopted and faithfully applied in all those cases where the diseases have been caused by unhygienic methods of living. CHAPTER VI. WATER. The hygienic, as well as the curative, properties of water have been more or less known for thousands of years. As far back as we have a written record of nations, Asiatic or European in their origin, there are proofs going to show that water by them was regarded not only as a preservative to health, but as a curative of disease. From its nature, it is the only universal solvent, and alone can serve that purpose to man. I need not make this chapter a lengthy essay on its nature. It ought to be, and doubtless will be, sufficient for me fairly to call the reader's attention thereto. Its organic elements are two gases, hydrogen and oxygen; their relative proportions, eighty parts hydrogen to twenty of oxygen. These, united in this proportion, make water. Under any other proportion they will not make water. Pure water, therefore, consists of these two gases in the degree of union which I have stated. It is of great consequence in the maintenance of human health, and of quite as great consequence in the restoration of it, that so far as water is concerned and is to be used, it should be pure. Whenever it is (35) 36 WATER. so, it is soft. It becomes hard only by the introduction of some substance or substances into it. To the de- gree that it is impregnated with these does it lose its essential properties as water. If, for instance, there is held in suspension in it the carbonate of lime, the water becomes hard. If to this be added magnesia, soda, iodine, common salt or sulphur, it becomes me- dicinal; one cannot use it for purposes of external ablution, nor as a diluent by drink, expecting to have it serve him the same purpose or produce the same result as though it were pure. As a preventive to dis- ease, and, consequently, as a curative thereto, it is superior in its pure state to any which has admixtures of other substances in it. This statement may seem to be extravagant, but it nevertheless is strictly true. Within the last twenty years there have been growing up evidences of this. It will take twenty years more, perhaps fifty, to create such an accumulation of proofs as will be convincing to the great mass of the people. But such conviction is sure to come as the proof gathers; and when it does, the value of pure water over water impregnated with earthy salts, no matter what the combination of these may be, will be clearly understood, and, I hope, at least measurably appre- ciated. When it is considered that five-sixths of the entire human structure is made up of water, it may count somewhat in aiding persons to understand why water should be regarded as such an efficient curative agent. Viewed only as a detergent or skin-washer, one can- WATER. 37 not well overestimate its curative effects. The people of all nations have ever felt this more or less to be so. Ignorant of physiology as they, for the most part, have been, not being able to give a scientific explanation of its use, they have used it, doubtless, in a great many cases, in ways and forms that have been mysterious; but, nevertheless, they continued to use it, instinctively feeling that their health, on the whole, was made bet- ter by it. Some few facts have been gathered up, from time to time, by men who have travelled largely and made themselves acquainted with the personal and social habits of different peoples, going pretty conclus- ively to demonstrate, that wherever the inhabitants of any nation have lived after a fashion inducing them to frequent and somewhat long-continued bathing, they have been free, in large measure, from the diseases common to the people of countries who bathe little or none. I am disposed myself to accept the conclusion, that in all cases of constitutional scrofula, where the exter- nal or the internal skin becomes the legitimate recep- tacle and exhibitor of the impurities of the blood which has either been defectively organized or reorganized, by living largely in the use of water as a cleanser of the external skin, and by drinking it as a cleanser of the internal skin, such diseases can be clearly kept within the narrowest manifested bounds, or can be thoroughly and completely cured. For instance, take a scrofulous child and place it in relation to the uses of pure water, where every day it 38 WATER. shall be bathed or bathe itself in it from one minute to one hour in the form of a swimming-bath, which, perhaps, would be the best bath, given to it as soon as it shall acquire the capacity to swim, and follow up this habit by the drinking largely of water and the eating largely of foods of which water is a chief or im- portant constituent, the disease of such child will necessarily and surely disappear. The child, instead of being puny, will become robust—such change tak- ing place in it as will amount to a constitutional recast- ing of its forces. I think that daily bathing by swimming would be of the very highest service to all children, provided always that the water in which they should swim was soft; and provided, also, that they were accustomed to it from a very early period in life. Occasional swim- ing-baths are more likely than not to be detrimental; but constant and frequent baths in this direction would be of essential service. I say swimming-baths, in distinction from all other kinds of baths; because to be in the water and to be actively exercising one's muscles, as must be done in the act of swimming, is to produce a very different result, both as regards the efficiency of the excretory organs not only, but of those whereby tissue is formed. For it is not to be overlooked that the activity of those organs whereby tissue is broken down and the matter eliminated from the system, is, in many instances directly favorable to the action of those organs whereby tissue is made up. To have healthy assimilation one WATER. 39 needs to have healthy excretion. Where the latter is deficient, as is often and almost always the case with scrofulous persons, to improve this is to improve the former. One of the best ways to give action to the excretories in the human body is to set the muscles at work while the body is in water. Swimming, there- fore, is of itself a very great means to this end. Many persons fall into the error of supposing that salt water is better adapted as a curative than fresh water, and therefore prefer to bathe in it; but there is nothing of force in the view. Salt water may be pre- ferable to bathe in to fresh water from one considera- tion : its specific gravity is greater than that of fresh water; its composition, therefore, is denser, and the person who can swim but poorly, or ever so well, swims easier in it than he could do in fresh water. It has this advantage and no more. In other respects, it has its disadvantages. Whatever may be the curative effects produced by swimming in it, these, as in fresh water, are to be attributed largely to the increased action of the excretories induced by it when the muscles are in exercise. If one could contrive to get, in his own house or in any public institution for the treatment of the sick, baths so arranged as to be ad- ministered to persons only when they were in active, bodily exercise, a great advantage wrould be gained. In fact, in order to have such effect produced as is de- sirable, physicians, in giving baths to the sick, have found it necessary to get up a substitute for the phys- ical exercise of the patient while taking them. Thus, 40 WATER. when one needs or wishes to have general ablution, physicians, particularly of the Water-cure school, have all come to feel that the subject of such bath will be better affected by it, to have his skin well rubbed and washed in the water of the bath by one or more at- tendants. To sit down in water, though it should be to the immersion of the whole body up to the neck, and remain motionless, though the bath were continued for an hour, would not excite the excretories to their proper energy and use to the degree that would be done in five minutes were the patient vigorously rubbed all over his body by an attendant. This simple fact goes to show the value of taking baths in ways and forms that can induce exercise while taking them. A good swimmer can stay in the water ten times as long without injury, and with positive benefit to himself, as he could do were he unable to swim. In such cases, therefore, where there is constitutional or functional inertia of the eliminative organs, frequent bathing is advisable, provided, always, the person is habituated to it from early life, and also is so constituted as to be able to take it in a form that subjects him to active muscular motion. If this statement be true with reference to diseases which are scrofulous, it is also true with reference to all those diseases where more rapid metamorphoses of the tissues than exists is to be desired. As a great many diseases originate in, and are dependent upon faulty excretion, in this direction bathing becomes of great consequence. To the degree that action of the WATER. 41 external skin is more desirable than action of the mucous membrane, does bathing possess a superior importance to catharsis. It is the common practice with our people whenever sick from faulty excretion, to seek to rectify the defective condition by induc- ing increased action of the mucous surfaces of the bowels. This is not, by any means, so desirable a method of getting up the necessary vigor of the excre- tories as that of increasing the action of the external skin. Physiologists tell us that five-sevenths or six- tenths of all the waste matter which is carried out of the human body in a healthy person passes through the external skin. This is a very large proportion in itself considered; but when it is remembered that the lungs, bowels and kidneys are also excretories, the propor- tional effectiveness of the skin is seen to be very great. In very many ways, therefore, may bathing be made productive of the most desirable results. I am not only not an advocate for frequent bathing as this is carried on in most Water Cures and in private families whose members are believers in water-cure, but I am decidedly opposed to it. This arises, however, largely from the way or manner in which baths have to be administered. To sit down in a tub three or four times a day, for from five to thirty minutes each time, is to bathe after a style or method quite likely to induce diseases far more difficult to cure than those from which the patient, by his bathing, seeks to be relieved. Such have been the destructive effects of sedentary or mo- tionless baths, as these have been given, or have been 42 WATER. advised to be given, by water-cure physicians in the United States, that I do not think I exaggerate when I say that there have been ten times as many persons injured by water-cure as have been benefited by it. The cause of these ill results has not been in the want of the adaptability of water to the disease treated, nor yet in the inadaptation of the body to the use of water in itself considered, but in the way in which the water has been applied. Had the same amount of bathing been given to such person in a manner calculated to increase the action of the blood-forming organs, while the eliminative or tissue-destroying organs were at work, health, instead of ruinous disease and death, would have been the result. Take, for instance, the disease called pulmonary con- sumption. If a person knows anything about the nature or working of this disease, he knows that its destructiveness generally consists in the fact that the tissues of the body, already organized, are being broken down faster than by means of food and drinks new tissues can be made; so the body becomes consumed and this is what gives the name of consumption to the disease. Now, if it could be so contrived that, while the tissues were being rapidly broken up, by reason of the excessive activity of the excretory organs the nutri- tive or accretory organs could be so quickened as to enable them to make tissue faster than it is wasted the person could not only not die of consumption but he would get well. As bathing has been generally practiced in this coun- WATER. 43 try in the last twenty years in Water Cures and in pri- vate families, the effects on persons of constitutional consumptive habit of body, or on persons already hav- ing the disease, have been so ruinous that there has come to exist a wide-spread impression that whatever may be the curative efficiency of water in many dis eases, its effects necessarily are most destructive and deadly in all cases where consumptive tendencies or conditions exist. This popular conclusion has grown out of the want of knowledge on the part of hydropa- thic physicians or of private hydropaths how to apply water in such ways, as, while purifying the body by aid- ing to excrete from it waste matters, acrid and poison- ous in contact with living tissue, to build up at the same time new health and life-sustaining material. Let it be understood, therefore, that for consumptives, motionless bathing is bad. Wherever water is applied, it should be so as to get up readily and surely external capillary circulation. One bath a week to a consump- tive in such a way as without his own particular agency to secure thorough circulation to the skin, is worth a dozen where the skin has no external appliance made to assist it in establishing a thorough flow of blood through it. All persons having diseases, therefore, arising from faulty excretion or from faulty nutrition, in the one case needing a more efficient action of the lymphatics, and in the other of the nutritive absorbents, should take their baths in such a way as to insure positive vol- untary or involuntary muscular exercise according to their strength. Bathing, therefore, connected with 44 WATER. swimming, or bathing connected with what is called Movement Cure, would make a compound treatment 01 very great service. The curative effects of water depend, or may depend, largely upon combining its use with other hygienic agents. Properly united to these, its therapeutic value cannot be overstated. Doubtless it is the most efficient of all remedial agents. Greater effect for good can be produced by it in a given time, than by any other agent known to man ; for greater changes can be pro- duced by it. When it is combined with other hygienic agencies it may have its efficiencies greatly increased. The people of the United States do not by any means bathe enough; they would be far healthier if they bathed more, and the more they do bathe, if they only act with some eommon sense in the application of water, the more they will come instinctively to understand and appreciate the value of other hygienic agencies both in the way of preserving health and curing dis- ease. CHAPTER VII. TIME FOR TAKING BATHS. As to the time for taking baths, my observations and experiments unite to commend that as the best in which the human body is in the highest degree of legit- imate vigor. It is not always true that the strength which a person shows is legitimately exhibited. Cir- cumstances may conspire to evoke it, so that the period when it is manifested and the way of its use are abnor- mal. For instance, some persons are stronger in the afternoon than they are in the forenoon ; some early in the morning rather than at eleven o'clock; some per- sons are much weaker at midnight than at any other period of the twenty-four hours. My opinion is, that in a healthy state and under natural conditions of liv- ing, the human body is, by the law of its organization and its action, stronger at or about mid-day, than at any other period in the day; because, then does the largest combination of hygienic agents exist to affect it, and as the primal use of these is to invigorate the body and preserve it from debility and decay, when they are in their largest measure of unity they will the most powerfully affect it, and when they do, it will be in the highest degree of its strength. (45) 46 TLME FOR TAKING BATHS. Strength is developed in the body by various means. The air we breathe evokes it if there be plenty of oxy- gen in it; the light which falls upon us, if we are rightly related to it, is a tonic. The water we drink tends to give tonicity to the system. The temperature of the atmosphere is bracing, if it is rightly related to us, and we to it. So that of a truth it may be said, that to the degree a man's body is naturally related to its uses, and to the causes which affect it to invigorate it, are its conditions of resistance to disease more favor- able than otherwise. When, therefore, one finds out just at what point of time, according to the laws of his organization and the laws of agencies and influences that affect that organization, his body is the strongest, that time is the best to bathe, whatever the form of bathing may be. Beginning at the time of waking in the morning, the strength of a man cannot be as great as after he has been up awhile. Sleep not only relaxes the muscles, but sedates the nerves of the muscles. Sleep also tends directly to lessen the action of the heart. Other things being equal, the pulse is always slower when a person sleeps than when he is awake. One having slept all night, and waking up in the morning, scarcely ever feels as strong as he does after he has been up awhile. The reason is a good one, and is obvious. He has lost, by his entire suspension of his mental and physical activities, temporarily the use of his powers ; he must have a little time, at least, to take them up and get them under command. To bathe, therefore, when one gets TIME FOR TAKING BATHS. 47 out of bed in the morning, is, if it can be avoided, unde- sirable. If there is a choice to be made between morn- ing and evening, I should say the evening was far to be preferred to the morning; because when one's work for the day is done, and he looks forward to a period of rest, there need be no objection to his bathing. The bath, however, should not be warm or cold; it should be sim- ply tepid. After it, the bather should retire without delay. A recumbent posture of the body and plenty of warmth are prerequisites to successful results. If one cannot bathe in the morning, and had better bathe in the evening of the two, still better would it be for him to bathe at or about twelve o'clock, and then lie down for an hour or two. But this is available to persons only who eat twro meals a day; say, breakfast from seven to eight, and dinner from two to three. If three meals in the day have to be eaten, one of which comes at about twelve o'clock, no person should bathe at a time closely proximate to his dinner. Many ill results might ensue from bathing too soon before dinner, or too soon after it. In some instances I have known almost fatal effects to follow the taking of a bath just after a dinner. But if one can see the value of infre- quent indulgences in food, and can courageously and satisfactorily arrange his times of eating to twice a day, say at eight o'clock in the morning and three o'clock in the afternoon or thereabouts, and so can take an hour or two to rest at about twelve o'clock, then about that time is the true time for bathing; for then will the reaction be all the more vigorous, and at the same time 48 TIME FOR TAKING BATHS. it will be all the more effective. I think that a great advantage which patients get who come to our Institu- tion is to be attributed to our two-meals-a-day system; for in following it out as we do with great regularity, we are able to map out the whole twenty-four hours of our people with a distinctness and carefulness which does not generally obtain in houses whose members live upon three meals a day, and who perform their other duties with more or less uncertainty and indecision. Of the forms of bathing which we adopt, I take pleasure in commending my readers to an enumeration made of them by Miss Harriet N. Austin, M.D., Editor of " The Laws of Life," which is to be found in the back part of this volume. CHAPTER VIII. SUNLIGHT. The influence of sunlight in changing morbid condi- tions of the human body is coming to be regarded as quite effective. I look upon it as one of the best hygi- enic as well as therapeutic agents at present known. In the prevention of disease it has long been considered of large import; but it is only within a few years that it has come to be regarded as particularly valuable in the cure of disease. I do not know of any man in this country who has made as constant use of it as I have; and I can say that according to the use I have made of it have correspondingly desirable results followed. Particularly in the treatment of diseases induced by derangements of the circulation, and of diseases of the nervous system, has its competency been very largely proved. The Institution over which I preside stands on a hill-side, with a south-western exposure. The light of the sun falls on the slope soon after the sun rises ; and, if the day be clear, there is but little shadow, except where shade has been made, until the sun goes down. Out of the one hundred and seventy-five to two hun- 3 (49) 50 SUNLIGHT. dred patients that we have during the summer pro- bably two-thirds of them take sun baths. Our plan of giving them is as follows : A large blanket or comfortable is spread down upon the green grass. A shawl or cushion or pillow serves for the place on which the head rests. When the patient lies down, a small parasol, umbrella, or small shelter-tent protects the head from the rays of the sun, and the rest of the body lies unshaded, clad in as light colored clothing as the patient may be able to wear. The bath is taken from a duration of twenty-five min- utes to three hours. In some instances the patient lies four or five hours. When this is done, it is under the express order of one of the medical staff, and because a certain result is desired to be produced. To have from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five persons lying down on the beautiful green slope thus exposed to the sun, for sixty to ninety days in the summer sea- son, is a sight worth seeing. The effect on the per- sons is quite as astonishing as the sight to the new observer is strange. Many of these persons who have failed under the application of the best tonics and ano- dynes soon become so strengthened and innervated as to be able to sleep, not only when they go to bed at night, but also while taking their sun-baths. I have on various occasions gone around among my patients as they lay stretched on their comfortables or india- rubber blankets, and found two-thirds or three-quarters of them fast asleep. This sleep is very refreshing SUNLIGHT. 51 because of the great sedation through which the ner- vous system temporarily passes. I have observed that persons who could not be made to sleep by administration of opiates in any of their various forms of preparation and administration are peculiarly good subjects for nervous sedation under sun- light ; and that persons who are readily affected to sleep by the use of opium in one or other of its vari- ous forms of preparation, do not readily go to sleep when lying down in the sun. Such persons go to sleep better in shade. I think it will be found true, as a gen- eral fact, that all persons who take opiates fall asleep better in darkened than in lightened rooms; and that persons who are made wide awake by the use of opi- ates go to sleep better in light or sunshine than rn shaded or darkened rooms. Many persons out of the whole number who come to us for treatment have taken a great deal of narcotic medicines. They are in conditions of reaction to their use; that is, their nervous systems have become so accustomed to their presence in the circulation as to be unable to show any natural relation to their uses, and therefore can only show reactionary activity. In this condition, of course, the more they take of any of the narcotic medicaments the more nervous they become, and so their physicians are compelled to dispense with them. Unfortunately, when one who lias long taken narcotics for the purpose of producing sedative condi- tions of the nervous system has gotten so that he can- not produce sedation, but only its counterpart, irrita- 52 SUNLIGHT. tion, he has reached the point where he can neither comfortably do with it nor without it unless substitu- tion of some other sedative is made. I doubt not many persons have observed, without being particularly impressed by it, what I have been led to observe, and professionally have been called to reflect upon and draw conclusions with respect to, that persons of peculiarly feeble conditions of body, who have long been shut up in the house, when favorably situated so as to take out-of-door exercise, either by walking a little while and then sitting down in an easy- chair in the sun, or riding in a buggy with the sun- light striking them fairly, readily go to sleep. I do not know how many hundreds of feeble men and women I have, in my day, seen go to sleep by being taken out of their shady rooms into the sunlight and there permitted to sit awhile. Almost always they go to sleep. Sunlight, therefore, may be said to have two great influences upon the human body: a direct effect on the nervous system, immediately energizing it and making the person feel strong and sleepless; and the indirect effect of making the person feel tired and sleepy. Therapeutically considered, it is to be regarded as one of our most powerful remedial agents, and has, in my estimate, come to fill so important a place in Nature's materia medica as to give me great confidence in being able to use it in the treatment of certain diseases with a success that challenges my highest satisfaction. There is another aspect in which sunlight may be SUNLIGHT. 53 considered as a therapeutic agent. It is the effect which it has in breaking down the tissues of the human body. Its influence over the eliminative forces is confined almost entirely to their effect on the muscles. On the accretive forces its influence is con- fined almost entirely to the building up of the nerves. A man, therefore, who lives out in sunlight will grow thin in flesh but full in nerve. His muscles will dimin- ish, but as they diminish his nerves become increased in size and strengthened, and their action on the mus- cles is such as decidedly to strengthen these; so that when one comes to look at him and judge of his strength by his apparent bulk, if he does not under- stand and fully appreciate the effect of living largely in the sunlight, he will greatly misjudge his muscular capacities. It is because of its greater prevalence dur- ing the long days of summer that men, other things being equal, become thinner in flesh than they do dur- ing the winter. They grow spare because of the rapid metamorphoses of the muscular tissue which their exposure to the sunlight induces ; but they always are able to work harder and stand more taskwork than they are during those portions of the year when, the days being shorter, their exposure to sunlight is less. Not- withstanding the heat of our climate during the summer solstice, our working-men are always able to do more work than they possibly can do in the winter. It is owing to the innervation which their nervous sys- tems take by being exposed to sunlight. Still another view of the effect of sunlight on man 54 SUNLIGHT. is worthy of notice, in the conditions of brain which it induces, affecting thereby his mental, moral and spiritual faculties. The more a man lives in sunlight, other things being equal, the more vigorous will his brain be; the more vigorous this, the more energetic and competent to their office will his mental faculties be. On the brain, particularly, the effect of sunlight is to magnetize it; and magnetism is, in itself, a very powerful though a very occult force. Whoever has a brain which is largely magnetic, though in size it may be much smaller than some other brain which is not magnetic, has a central force which the unmagnetized brain can never show. The difference between men and women in this direction is particularly observable. Men, living so much more in the sunlight than women do, are magnetically charged daily. When in the per- formance of their duties their mental faculties have been so exercised as to use up the nervous force which the brain had at their disposal, rest from work and thought, with proper food and subsequent life in the open air, again fully charges their nervous systems with magnetism. Thus, if you take a man who comes from work into the house at night, so tired as hardly to be able to move one foot before the other, and give him nutrient food which is unstimulating, and rest, pure and simple, he will wake up in the morning feeling refreshed but not invigorated; he will feel rested but not strono-. Rising from his bed and dressing himself, he goes out into the sunlight. In a little while his strength comes SUNLIGHT. 55 back to him. Now, this strength is the result of the magnetic influence of the sun's rays on his body. Con- taining both light and heat, as these do, the circulation is quickened, the nervous centres are charged with an electric or magnetic force which the rays contain, and so his whole system is re-energized. The benefit of light to him is seen in the fact that, other things being equal, he will uniformly feel stronger in a sunshiny than in a shady day. There may be as much heat at disposal, and many other external surroundings, all of which are favorable to the re-invigoration of his body ; but he cannot feel as strong when the sun is in cloud as he can when it shines down upon him through the pure blue of heaven. Then he becomes magne- tized to that degree that he will be all the more vigor- ous for having felt its rays. This is true of him, if he is habituated to it, up to the point where his nervous system can bear it. It is not for want of invigoration that a man feels debilitated in a bright, sunshiny, hot summer day ; it is because the heat of the sun's rays is disproportionate to the man's capacity, or, because by the purity of the atmosphere, the sun's rays emit so much light that this overcharges him and induces im- mediate reaction, and so he becomes weak from being over-magnetized, as a man becomes weak from being overfed, or becomes weak by drinking of stimulating liquors. Keep him within the natural bounds of his capacity to absorb and take in the magnetism which the sun's rays furnish, and the man is always made the better by it—better, not only in respect to those 56 SUNLIGHT. capacities whereby pure muscular strength is to be shown, but greatly better in those directions where vigor of mental faculties is to be desired. A magnet- ically charged brain is a substance containing wonder- ful force. According to the organization of the mental faculties, in and through the brain, will this force be specifically or generally shown. If there be in the structure of the brain such an organization of the faculties as to give to one or more of these predom- inating influence, then when you charge the wdiole brain wTith magnetism, will these particular organs be made the recipients of an amount of vigor proportional to their size and importance. Say that you wish a man largely endowed with the purely intellectual faculties to show their best and greatest efficacy on a given occasion, you can find a more competent influence in the sun's rays by five hundred per cent than you can in the best prepara- tions of alcoholic liquor that you can procure for him. Let him have an opportunity to go out of doors, and to stay there long enough to feel directly and positively the effect of sunlight upon him, and then set him to his intellectual task-work, and he will do it as much better than he can under the influence of liquor as one can imagine. If this be true in the direction of energizing one particular order or class of faculties, it is equally true with respect to any other order or class, and also equally true with respect to all of the faculties con- sidered each by itself or in combination. SUNLIGHT. 57 Under this view of the case, one is prepared to make some sort of just comparison between the intellectual and moral forces which men and women show, and to make a just allowance for the difference, based not on the constitutional superiority of one over the other, but based on the superior conditions of living of one over the other. I think it may be said with perfect truth, that no living organism, of whatever species, whose subject has a brain, a pair of lungs, stomach, bowels and back-bone, can ever be equal in the exhibi- tion of capacities, if it be kept in shaded sunlight, to what it would be if permitted to follow out its own habits in unshaded sunlight. A dog kept in the woods will degenerate and become wolfish; a wolf kept in the open fields, where sunlight could shine on him, would gradually find his wolfishness disappearing, and inchoate dog-qualities taking their place. So all along up the grades of animal life, superior qualities are uniformly found existing in animals of the same species as these live in unshaded sunlight. This is just as true of Humans as it is of animals; whoever lives habitually in shadow grows weak; whoever lives habitually in the sunlight grows strong. This is not only true of the body itself in its various parts, but is true of all the intelligent and responsible faculties which reside within the body. If women lived in the open air as much as men do, they would have capa- cities as much greater than now as men have now greater capacities than they would have if they lived in houses like women. At least, if women are now 58 SUNLIGHT. fifty per cent inferior to men, and a social condition were to arise wherein they were to be called upon to do such duties or to work such work as would compel them, in the doing of it, to live in the sunlight, and the men were to be called upon to do such duties as would keep them altogether in the shade, not a genera- tion would pass by before the relative conditions of these parties would change. The women would be then as much superior to the men as the men are now superior to them. Of course collateral influences would assist to produce this result. I do not mean here to affirm the equality in the powers of the sexes; that does not involve itself in the point I am urging; but I do mean to say, that so far as magnetic influence is dependent upon sunlight, and men have more of sunlight than women, it accounts for their superior mental vigor; and that if one wishes to increase the strength and active capacity of woman's mind, in this country no single thing can better subserve that purpose than to give her large opportunity to live in the sunlight. I am disposed to think that such would be the effect upon her brain and her ganglionic nervous centres as largely to increase the capacity of her nutri- tive system; and wherever you find in a person a vigorous cerebro-nervous system and a vigorous or- ganic-nervous system, you find in that person marked elements of character. Give to him opportunities to work these up into shape and form and you have a man or woman of character. Life, therefore, in the open air, where one can get all SUNLIGHT. 59 the sunlight he needs, does directly tend to promote largeness of character. In this respect, to turn woman out of the house into the open air and give her sun- light instead of shade, would produce two very im portant results in the production of which no doctor would be needed. First, her body would become so invigorated thereby as to overcome, by its own vital energy, in large measure, the diseases to which she is subject; and these diseases are very numerous and very obstinate, and in a great degree defy the drug- medicating remedies. Second, it would, by invigorat- ing her health and particularly strengthening her brain and blood-making system, produce a modification in her desires, wishes, aspirations and hopes. She would take to things of a more substantial and enduring nature on which to expend her intelligence and her affections. She therefore would become more manly and less effeminate, while she would not take on any more of the masculine nor lose any of the feminine which constitutionally and properly belongs to h^r. Every way, then, she would be an abler representative of womanhood than now. In my observations of the effect of sunlight upon living organisms, I have been led to conclude that, while in a human being the effect is to hasten the metamorphoses of tissues, in many animals its effect is to check that change. I account for this on the ground that in man the cerebro-nervous system predom- inates over the organic-nervous system, while in the animal the organic-nervous system predominates over 60 SUNLIGHT. the brain-nervous system. I think this difference in the relative conditions of the two nervous systems in the two organisms will sufficiently explain the difference in effect. CHAPTER IX. DRESS. Persons who are sick should cover the body with clothing so as to insure, as far as possible, a proper circulation of the blood, and preserve the equilibrium of the nervous system. Many diseases arise from dis- turbed circulation, inducing ofttimes congestions of a severe character. Where these exist they may not infrequently be entirely relieved by inducing a better circulation through improvement in dress. For instance, I have cured a man of a very severe and painful headache, lasting through a period of ten years, simply by changing his head-gear. He always wore a stiff hat, the rim of which around his head pressed so upon the integumental circulation as seri- ously to impede it. By changing the hard hat for a soft one—a small hat which would stay on his head by reason of its pressure, for a large one which he had to keep upon his head by an india-rubber elastic under his chin, his headache entirely disappeared. So, also, in several instances have I relieved persons who were suffering from severe congestion of the lower part of the forehead, or of the frontal sinus, by no other method than to induce them to take off neck-ties or necker- (61) 62 DRESS. chiefs. In a good many instances have I succeeded in curing clergymen of the disease commonly known as " minister's sore throat," from which they had suffered for years, notwithstanding they had applied various remedies recommended to them by members of the medical profession, by inducing them to take off their neckerchiefs, and let their beards grow. I cannot tell how many, many women, suffering from congestion of the throat and lungs, it has been my good fortune en- tirely to relieve, simply by imposing upon them the wearing of loose-waisted dresses; for one of the most active causes in the production of diseases of the lungs is that which compresses the chest. The lungs, in order to be healthy, must have through their cells plenty of atmospheric air in circulation. If there be in them what doctors call " residual air," it must be there in quantity sufficient to expand the air-cells thoroughly. Conges- tion of the lungs necessarily takes place whenever, from any cause, the air-cells are shut up. Then the blood-vessels become turgid and swollen with blood, and so incipient disease is instituted. So, also, have I succeeded in relieving a great many persons of painful and severe sensations in the stom- ach, by causing them to wear loose dresses. In truth, though it is not generally supposed, dyspepsia is as fre- quently induced by pressure from clothing over the stomach, as lung disease is by pressure over the lungs. I have been led to think that Nature more thoroughly dislikes outrages of any and every kind committed upon the stomach than upon any other vital organ in DRESS. 63 the body. It may be that such outrages can be borne better than by the lungs, liver, heart, or kidneys, but it does not follow, because there is an intense vital resistance to ill conditions belonging to the stomach, that, therefore, the injury is proportionally less. For, wherever vital resistance is to be made against the establishment of morbid conditions of any organ, the sum total of vital power is proportionally diminished ; so that organ, though successful for the time being, is made ultimately to wear out and break down all the sooner. It should not be forgotten that thousands on thousands of persons in this country die every year simply from loss of organic power of the stomach. It becomes worn out. It is as easy for the human body to become incompetent to answer its purposes, and so die, by reason of a single organ in it being broken down, as it is for any other machine. If a wagon is so related to its use that the axle-tree breaks, the whole structure becomes useless ; and if the body is so used that its stomach wears out, the whole becomes of no account. As the stomach, of all the organs of the human body, is the most severely taxed under the various habits of life common to the American people, so dyspepsia has come to be the great prevailing house- hold disease with our people. Dress has very much to do in laying the foundation of those difficulties in the stomach which are preva- lent with us as a people. More particularly has it to do in this direction with women ; because, while they eat as badly as men, they dress worse with respect to the 64 DRESS. vital action of organs connected with the making, the distribution and the purification of blood. No evil connected with dress, as it is commonly worn by the women of this country, save one, is greater than this of bringing to bear external pressure upon the body at the point of the stomach. All bands, belts, cinctures, strings of every kind, should be taken off from a person whenever he or she is sick. The most thorough free- dom from external pressure over the stomach, as every- where, should be had whenever one is compelled by sickness to take a recumbent posture. I have seen a good many persons who were so sick as to be compelled to keep to their beds, and be under the care and over- sight of physicians, whose invalid dresses were very objectionable. If they were men, they perhaps wore shirts whose neck-bands met in front, and buttoned so tightly as to check the circulation to and from the head. They also had their shirt-sleeves buttoned at the wrist so tightly, as to check the circulation down and up the arm. They not infrequently had upon them dressing-gowns, as they are called, tied around their waists by a silken-tasseled cord. If women, they not only had in their dresses the same obstructions but in their other arrangements had additional ones. Where persons are chronic invalids, and are not en- tirely confined to their beds, the style of dress usually worn by women in this country predisposes not only to disease—not only causes certain diseases—but positively maintains them and prevents their cure. Of all predisposing and provoking causes to disease DRESS. 65 by means of dress, no one is so powerful as that of long skirts. These, commencing at the termination of what is usually described as the waist, are so arranged to the body at that point as to establish a pressure on the bowels, inducing mechanical displace- ment of them. As these are forced down into the cavity of the abdomen, they press upon the organs situated in the pelvis, and, throwing them out of place, induce quite a large class of morbid conditions. Thus, piles is often induced by falling of the bowels; so is relaxation of the muscles of the lowest portion of the intestine, causing a falling of the bowel, very uncom- fortable not only, but establishing such connected rela- tions with other organs closely allied to it as to pro- duce morbid conditions of them. In men, ofttimes, falling of the bowels affects the bladder and the geni- tals ; in the bladder, causing irritation of its neck, thereby making it uncomfortable for the person for any length of time to keep water in it; affecting also the genital structures, creating reactive irritation in them, and inducing a secretion and involuntary flow of seminal fluid, establishing spermatorrhceic condi- tions of the structures, greatly debilitating the person, and occasionally making him a very great sufferer. In women, mechanical displacement of the bowels, inducing fall of them, establishes more extensive and complicated diseases than in men. For instance, crowd- ing the bowels down by means of pressure from dress upon the waist, creates an elongation of the round and broad ligaments by which the uterus is suspended in the 66 DRESS. pelvic cavity, and thus causes it to prolapse. When- ever prolapsus of the womb takes place, it cannot be decided beforehand just what condition it will assume. It may be pushed in a direct line down the vagina— that makes simple prolapsus. It may be turned, its lower part backward and its upper part forward—that would be ante-version. It may be pushed with its lower part forward and its upper part backward—that would be retroversion. Whatever be the exact position it may take, its being pushed out of its place by pres- sure from above, renders its condition morbid, and so establishes a morbid condition of other organs. Dis- eases of the vagina are often established by having the uterus displaced. So are diseases or derangements of the bladder and rectum. The most inveterate consti- pation of bowel sometimes is to be attributed entirely to the pressure of the top of the uterus backward upon the lower bowel, thus hindering, by mechanical obstruc- tion, the descent of the faeces and their passage. The same may be said of the bladder. Women not infre- quently are made severely sick by derangements in the organs of the pelvic cavity, and these are caused by their bad style of dress. It was with reference to a better method of treating diseases peculiar to women, that Miss Austin and my- self were led to invent the American costume, which, by the way, is about as nearly like what is commonly known as the Bloomer costume, as an elephant is like a rhinoceros, but which persons in the community Gen- erally suppose to be in style and effect on the body DRESS. 67 synonymous with it. Being called upon to care for a very large number of invalid women, afflicted with diseases peculiar to themselves, we set ourselves at fhought to know, if possible, how these diseases came about. It is hard work to deal with effects unless one becomes considerate of, and intelligent in respect to, the causes which produce them. If you cannot find these out, your treatment is, at best, empirical. What made our lady guests sick in the direction where their diseases manifested themselves, became, therefore, a matter of very serious and earnest inquiry. We asked ourselves, Were they made sick from want of original vital power ? We answered this inquiry in the nega- tive. Were they made sick by drug medication ? We said, no ; they wrere only kept sick by it. Were they made sick by faulty diet ? We said, no ; notwithstand- ing we felt that in this direction they had greatly erred, and ofttimes to that degree to constitute depraved or deteriorated conditions of blood, which predisposed them to sickness, but not to the particular disease, to be treated for which they came to us. For it is rather a curious fact that of the thousands on thou- sands of women that have consulted Miss Austin and myself, having been before treated for diseases peculiar to them as women, many of them complained of no general ill-health. They would each say to us, "Were I free from this local difficulty, I should be in good health; but I suffer such pelvic bearing down; such urinary irritation; such rectal inflammation; such vaginal weakness, as to render my life wretched. I 68 DRESS. cannot walk, nor sit up straight; nor ride in a carriage; nor exercise my arms. I am dropping to pieces. I am being cut in two. There is a knife-cutting, needle-stick- ing sensation in and through my body just at the hips." Now, not overlooking the influence of general causes in the production of disease, we could not account for the establishment of these conditions through their influence alone. We said there must be some particu- lar morbid force at work to create this particular elass of diseases. As the result of our reflection and inves- tigation, we found no cause so powerfully inductive of sexual debility, of genital congestion, of uterine inflam- mation as that of dress. Having satisfied ourselves as to the cause, it was easy to define a remedy. This remedy was twofold. First, to take off the pressure from above by loosening the skirt at the waist and shortening the skirt below ; and, second, to clothe the lower limbs with warm covering, the direct tendency or marked effect of which would be to promote in them a better circulation. Thus we relieved the organs by taking away the mechanical forces whose pressure had displaced them, and we also removed the congestion of the blood-vessels of such organs by establishing a healthy circulation through them and through the lower limbs. Women who wear " the American costume" are in many communities laughed at and ridiculed. In some communities they are disturbed as they walk the streets. This should not surprise any one. The American j eople are organized so as to be able to be very narrow- DRESS. 69 minded, and, unfortunately, they are educated to be so. What, therefore, to them is new is more likely than otherwise to be untrue. They reason, with reference to what takes place, from their own limited observation and education. So whenever they see a woman dressed in a sensible, healthful, appropriate costume, such as Miss Austin and many other women in this country wear, they are led to judge of them in the light of their own knowledge and culture. This being quite narrow with reference to the great doctrine of liberty, they are disposed to interfere with the freedom of such persons by instituting, if possible, conditions of dis- comfort for them. But these in nowise operate upon any sensible woman to dissuade her from taking such measures as are physiologically necessary to maintain her own health; for while it is true that a great many women in this country can wear a style of dress such as is usually worn by our country-women, and not con- sciously suffer severely from loss of health, there are a great many who cannot wear it without being made sick by it. That society should regulate itself toward woman in such a way as to make her sick in order to keep her within its ideas of propriety, seems to me to be morally wrong ; at least it does not seem to me to be logically right. Every human being has a right, as against every other human being, to use his own powers to the con- firmation of his own happiness, when in doing so he does not invade the rights of others. If, in the pur- suit of his own undoubted right, others are made un- 70 DRESS. comfortable, their remedy lies in removing from his neighborhood, getting away from him, leaving him in the possession of wThat they are compelled to acknowl- edge as his rightful liberty while they go where they also can be free. A reform, therefore, in the dress of woman from the very facts of the case has to be made. Dressing as she does, she cannot be healthy. Dress differently she must, or else become sick and remain so. Whoever undertakes to say that it is the natural condition of women to be unhealthy, utters an untruth; for sickness is not the natural condition of any class of human beings, and to be natural in our relations to life is our God-given right. Neither one nor many, neither a single person nor society, neither society nor government, has a right to say that any human being shall so live under social rules and regulations as necessarily and inevitably to be made sick thereby. Whatever restraint is imposed by fashion, custom, etiquette, or statutory law upon any person, this must not be so laid as to invade his natural rights to the healthful use of all his faculties and powers. Of all the causes which induce derangements of the sexual structure of women, indicating, as these derange- ments do, debility or want of power of the organs to act normally within their sphere, I know of none so potent in producing them, so efficient in maintaining them, as the clothing of the legs in long skirts. The wearing of these directly tends to induce local derange- ments of the pelvic organs in two ways: First, Dis DRESS. 71 turbing the circulation of the blood through the legs. It is a fact that the habitual wearing of long skirts so deranges the circulation of the blood in the legs that a great majority of women suffer from a low tempera- ture of the lower limbs without being conscious of it. Their feet and ankles and legs will be cold to the touch of the physician when they themselves are not con- scious of their being cold. In my professional relations to women suffering from uterine diseases, I probably have found as large a proportion as seventy-five per cent of the whole number thus unconsciously affected. Feet, ankles and knees clammy cold, and they affirming their limbs to be warm ! While the nerves of motion have not been affected in any way to loss of action, the nerves of sensation have been seriously affected and impaired. They do not know that their limbs are cold. Their legs are in the same conditions to sensa- tion that one's finger is at its tip when it is girted quite tightly below the first joint. Every one knows that if an elastic, seeming only at first to press slightly upon the finger, is placed around it below the first joint, and left there for any length of time, the finger becomes at its extreme end less sensitive. It will be found to be the case where persons are in the habit of wearing finger-rings, as many women do, that the fingers on which they are worn are less sensitive at the tip than the other fingers are. Whenever the hand gets cold, the ring-finger is less cold than the others. There is less sensibility there. Insensibility is produced by dis- turbed circulation. 72 DRESS. Second, Women so dress themselves as to wear garters just below the knee, and belts just above the hips. In the passage of the blood down the action of the heart is somewhat impaired by these obstructions ; but the force to return the blood backward is greatly impaired, and the blood itself, in its return, greatly im- peded by this sort of pressure. Where one man will be found in this country to have varicose veins in the legs, fifty women will be found to have them, not infrequently having them above the knee, because of the impeding of the blood in its passage upward by means of the ligatures placed around the leg below the knee and around the body above the hip. When- ever from any cause a lack of sensibility to the condi- tion of a .given structure in the human body is estab- lished, great disease of that structure may be made to exist without the person knowing it or even suffering from it. If you take a horse whose foot, from having in it chronic inflammation, is so tender as to make him, whenever he uses it, go lame, and perform an act of neurotomy on him, by severing the nerve runnino- down on the inside of his leg, you destroy sensation in the limb entirely. The horse then cannot go lame. Drive him over the hardest pavement, and he goes as well as he ever did in his life ; because there is no connection kept up between the sensorium and the limb whose nerve has been cut. Girt a woman's leg, or girt a woman's body just above the hips, so as to impede the action of the nerves of sensation, and insensibility to DRESS. 73 a certain degree is induced, and then she cannot tell when her legs are cold. Her power instinctively to appreciate and discern the condition is gone, and, prac- tically, this is the case with a great proportion of the women of this country. They are so abnormalized by their style of dress that they do not know when their legs are cold. Coldness is the absence of heat, and heat is induced in the human body by means of the blood. The blood contains the heat. Heat is generated in the system by vital processes ; the blood is the distributor of it. A man could not have heat in his body if his blood were cold. You could not warm up his flesh and leave his blood cold. You can keep his blood hot and leave his flesh cold ; but the coldness of the flesh is simply be- cause, at the particular point where the sensation of cold is found, the blood does not circulate sufficiently ; if it did, it would keep him warm. In any tempera- ture, no matter how low, if you can keep up a good circulation of the blood through the system, you can keep up heat. In no temperature, however high, can heat of the body be maintained unless the circulation is kept up. So derange the circulation of the blood through any part of the body that it is lessened in quantity or freedom of flow at that point, and sensa- tion of chilliness will be felt unless sensation be im- paired. So derange the circulation of the blood at any point of the body that it is excessive in quantity, and an undue sensation of heat is established unless sensa- tion be impaired. 4 74 DRESS. Under the present style of dress commonly worn by the women of this country, imperfect circulation of the blood becomes an habitual condition. As the legs come to have less blood flow through them than is natural, the organs of the pelvis come to have more blood flow through them than is natural; so these latter become congested, then irritated, then inflamed, and not infre- quently made to take on a suppurative state. In the production of the morbid conditions of the sexual organs of women, there is another cause, origin- ating in their style of dress, to be counted in addition to that of defective circulation in the lower limbs. It is the unnatural motion to which the legs have to be put when in use. No woman wearing a long-skirted dress, no matter whether this be petticoat or gown, can, in the act of walking, use her legs naturally. The propelling power of the human leg, physiologically considered, is divided between the muscles above the knee and those below, so that the latter centre in them- selves about sixty-six per cent. In walking, one goes over ground rapidly, not chiefly because of the size and power of action of the muscles of the legs lying be- tween the knee and the hip, but mainly by the size of the muscles of the legs lying between the knee and the ankle. All celebrated pedestrians have been found to have the muscles of the calves of their legs proportion- ately much larger than the muscles of the calves of the legs of persons who did not possess great power to walk, over and above that proportion which exists between the muscles of their thighs respectively. Let DRESS. 75 a person keep up the bulk of the muscles of the body at large, and yet, from some cause, have the muscles of the calves of his legs diminish, and he will be able to do hard work which does not require him to walk very much as thoroughly as he ever was. Let him diminish the muscles of his body at large, so as to make him incompetent to Lift or do hard work of a seden- tary character, if he can but keep up the muscles of the calves of his legs, he will be able to walk better than he can do anything else. The muscles of the calves of the legs in a human being concentre his pro- pelling power, as the hind legs of a horse concentre in themselves his propelling powTer. All horses which are able to get over the ground rapidly have their propelling power concentred largely in their hind legs. The calves of the legs to a human being are to him his hind legs. They furnish the means of his ready propulsion. The thighs of a human being in their muscles constitute the fore-legs. They help him to keep his equilibrium when in motion, to maintain his centre of gravity. That is their chief object. At once it can be seen, from an organic or structural view, how needful it is in the act of walking to have the legs free, from the knee down, from all obstacles which impede their action at that point. Whenever a human being brings her dress below the knee, it unfits her decidedly for the act of natural and easy walking. It is not the weight of the skirt that does the damage, it is the length of it. Make it of gauze, for what I care, and you create the difficulty. Make 76 DRESS. it of broadcloth, and if the muscles of the thighs, the small of the back, the dorsal muscles, and abdominal muscles, are strong enough to enable the person to bear the weight, she does not add a particle of difficulty to her act of walking thereby. Of course, if these are feeble, she cannot carry the weight; but if these are strong, she can carry the weight, and walk just as wrell with a long skirt made of broadcloth, as with one made of silk or barege. The difficulty, then, does not lie in the weight of the skirts which women wear, but in the fact that they are so related to the use of the limbs, that freedom of motion cannot be given to them below the knee, and so, being hindered in their use, they are impeded in their motion. Just at this point comes into operation one of the fundamental laws of nature, with reference to the uses of the human body. It is this: that whenever an obstruction arises to the use of a given organ of the human body, the principle of substitution or accom- modation shall be made active. If the blood cannot flow through one set of veins, immediately substitu- tion of another set of veins is made. If one set of muscles cannot be used for the purpose of propelling the human body, another set of muscles must be used. When in the act of walking, the muscles of the calves of the legs are only partially permitted to work, an- other set of muscles is instinctively summoned up to do the work. These are the muscles of the upper por- tion of the thigh, of the seat of the body and of the lumbar region. DRESS. 77 Just think, then, of dressing a human body and set- ting it going, after a way or manner greatly to impede the action of those muscles whose particular office it is to propel it, or enable it to move from place to place, and putting the locomotive labor on another set of muscles whose office it is, mainly or largely, to keep the body in erect position while it is moving from place to place. It is easy to see what must be the consequences sooner or later of doing so. These are three-fold. First, the walking-muscles, or those of the calf of the leg, shrink, and ultimately become greatly diminished in size and vigor, in the cases of thousands of women, to that de- gree that their legs below the knee are frequently not much larger at the largest point than they are at the ankle. Second, the act of moving becomes unnatural, lacking, of course, ease and beauty. Third, pelvic congestion takes place because of the unusual task- work to which the muscles of the thigh, the small of the back, and the abdomen are put. Here, then, we have the pathological conditions made clear which the wearing of the long skirts legitimately creates. They are of various sorts in their nature, and ruinous both to the health and symmetry, and to the activity of the bodies of those on whom they are imposed. I take it upon me to say, without fear of successful contradiction, that no woman can habitually wear a long-skirted dress, and have a healthy, symmetrical body, and a natural style of walking. When ladies come to us broken down with ill-health, and suffering from local diseases, as hundreds of them do every year, 78 DRESS. the uniform testimony which they themselves furnish is,'that when the short skirts are substituted for the long skirts they do not know how to use their legs. Some of them say they feel as if they should fly, as if their specific gravity had suddenly become lighter than that of the atmosphere, and as if they should float in the air. Others say that they do not know how to walk, their support has been taken away ; they feel as awkward in their attempt to move about w^ith their limbs thus unshackled as a man would feel awkward to appear before an audience on a broad rostrum who had been accustomed to speak from behind a breast- work called a pulpit. Such a man would not know what to do with his legs. Their perfect exposure would very likely entirely disconcert him. But this is but a small consideration compared with the fact that almost all the women in our country have deformed legs. If no* deformed in their structure, they are posi- tively deformed in their action. When they walk, the main propelling motion is seen to originate in, and dis- pense itself through, the muscles of the hips and thighs; and thus, as they put one leg before the other, there is a peculiar outward segmentary swing to it, such as is never seen in a man who is naturally as well con- structed in the locomotive organs as women are. Upon taking off the long skirts, and dressing them in a style that permits entire freedom of the leg below the knee, they seem to have no power to bring the propelling muscles into action; hence, their walk is more like a waddle or a wiggle than anything else. First, one side DRESS. 79 of the body gets itself on, then the other. They seem to have no power to direct straightforward propulsion of the leg. It is such a deformity as is very much to be deplored, and its consequences are terrible by rea- son of the transference of the propelling power from the muscles which are constituted to exercise it, to mus- cles whose chief office is other than this ; and in caus- ing them to appropriate more blood than they ought, induces congestion of those organs that lie within the pelvic cavity. At first this view of the case may be thought far- fetched, but my observation and experiments, consti- tuting my experience, have demonstrated its correct- ness beyond doubt to me. At any rate, so far am I satisfied of the truth of the view, that for the last seven years in the treatment of female diseases at our Insti- tution, no matter what their particular form has been, we have never felt ourselves called upon to make spe- cifically restorative application to them. For leucor- rhcea, or whites; prolapsus-uteri, or falling of the womb; for ante-version, or retroversion; for ulceration of its internal cavity, or for chronic inflammation of its neck, we have not been under the necessity of doing any- thii-g specific beyond the simple application of deterg- ent or cleansing baths. But of all the instrumentali- ties which we have used, we have never found a single one so curatively efficient as a change in the style of dress from that usually worn by women to the Amer- ican costume. 80 DRESS. Such a fact, it seems to me, is entitled to challenge the respectful attention of all persons who desire to have their country-women have good health. When it comes to be considered that our invalid women have not only come to us very sick or debilitated, or physic- ally enfeebled, so as to be incompetent to the perform- ance of their ordinary duties for which, in other re- spects, they are, for the most part, well fitted; but that, in addition to this, they have come to us after having tried the remedies of the drug-medicating schools until they were tired of them, and not un fre- quently have also gone to Water Cures where they have been treated as well as the physicians knew how, and yet got no benefit; but upon coming to us and being placed under our regimen, and adopting the American costume, they immediately began to get well, and went on until they thoroughly got well; the statement incorporates into itself very greatly addi- tional significance. How is such a fact as this to be accounted for ? One cannot laugh it down, nor sneer it down, nor ridicule it down, nor make it go down by despising it; nor can it be mobbed down, nor legis- lated down, nor adjudicated down. Forever it rises to the surface, commanding the attention of all those before whom it is fairly and legitimately presented. So we, then, of " Our Home on the Hillside " think dress has its great recuperative aspects, and of these we mean to make all the use we can. To all invalid women suffering from diseases of the organs of circu- DRESS. 81 lation, nutrition, excretion and muscular motion, I do most earnestly recommend the American costume, as I do to all women who, not having such diseases, wish to avoid them. CHAPTER X. EXERCISE. The disease-preventing effects of well-regulated ex- ercise physicians of all schools acknowledge. They are often led to say to men whose health is rather deli- cate and who wish to improve it, or whose health be- ginning to fail them they feel the need of invigorating: " Your lives are too sedentary; you need more exer- cise. If you will walk, row, ride on horseback, play ball, go a-fishing, hunt, or change the conditions of your life by changing the scenes of it, you will prevent your sickness." This advice is good. When properly followed, its effects rarely fail to be seen. The ther- apeutic effects of exercise are not so well-understood by physicians as they ought to be ; or, if they are, they are not sufficiently pressed upon those who place them- selves in their care. This may be in part owing to the minds of such physicians as rely largely on the reme- dial efficacy of drugs, being prepossessed with the value of their specific remedies. Or, it may in part be owing to their never having acquainted themselves with the therapeutic effects of muscular movements. Exercise, to be of decided therapeutic value, needs (82) EXERCISE. 83 to be systematized and brought to bear upon debili- tated parts with regularity. Some diseases contra- indicate exercise of certain portions of the body, while at the same time other parts of it may be greatly bene- fited by being put in motion. I have no doubt of the advantage to the sick to be derived from what is termed " The Movement Cure." Necessarily, however, its advantage is Limited, and, therefore, it should not be presented to the consideration of the public as a spe- cific for a very great class of diseases. To the degree that medical men advocating it have lifted it into such importance as to make the sick rely upon it as a cure for whatever ailments human beings may have, to that degree have they done truth and their own represen- tations injustice. Connected with the use of other hygienic agents, it may be, and often is, curatively of great service; but to think of making it of any very great benefit to any person who is an invalid because his habits or general manner of living in other direc- tions is objectionable, is absurd. A man may have a torpid liver, or a half-withered arm, but exercise of the • arm or manipulations of the muscles over the liver, will not bring about curative results, while every day of his life he is bearing himself to the great question of nutrition or elimination, so as to keep up a decided and positive disturbance of his body in the direction where restoration is needed. Very mam' persons can be found who are suffering from shriveled muscles of the lower limbs, one leg being much smaller than the other, who can never be cured by any rubbing, bend- 84 EXERCISE. ing, patting, extension of the muscles of the limb involved, while they eat and drink and sexualize as theyvdo, and do many other things directly calculated to overtax and debauch the nutrient and motory ner- vous systems. Exercise, therefore, of any muscle, must be valuable just to the degree that change of its mole- cules or constituent particles is needed; if too large, by reducing them ; if too small, by increasing them ; how to do this being the question. He who has at hand in the largest measure, the resources of the gen- eral system to aid him in producing this specific effect, is, by all odds, the best physician, and the surest to cure. For it should never be forgotten that all specific effects in the highest measure are to be induced just in proportion as the general resources of the system can be wrought up to that end. If vitality at large is to be expended in a dozen different directions at once, it stands to reason that where a great result in one of these is desirable, there is not so much proba- bility of its being brought about as though there was more power at command. Expending power in one direction forbids results being produced by the proper- expenditure of it in another direction. One cannot have power at command for one purpose, while he is using it, or has used it, for another. Right here, it may, perhaps, be as well for me to say what I think in respect to the misapplication of vital power in the treatment of a great many" diseases; since, by such misapplications of power are the fail- ures of physicians in a great manv instances to be EXERCISE. 85 accounted for. The law of curative action is the same in the human body as it is in all organized bodies, specific effects being wrought out only as vital power is used in conformity with those general principles upon which life and health are maintained in such organ- isms. The art-curative, therefore, is but a special application of the art-preservative. Who wants to cure a sick person or thing, must, necessarily for his success, be dependent upon, first, the use of vital force; second, upon such use of it as is in entire conformity and subordination to its general action in the system of the person or thing to be cured. Hence, specifics, in the treatment of disease, are good for nothing unless they play into the hands of the preservative force. Whoever undertakes to cure any living creature of any disease which it may have by the use of means or sub- stances, agents or influences, which are not conform- able to the preservation of the health of such creature, is sure to be defeated of his object. This principle being true, specific treatment for dis- ease of any and every kind, is much less necessary than is generally supposed, the law of special action being largely dependent upon the law of general action. It is not objectionable to use specific means to induce special results ; but there is less necessity for it in the treatment of most diseases than physicians and pa- tients generally suppose. In truth, if the general principles upon which the health of the body is de- pendent were carried out, specific diseases would be greatly lessened in number. I have no question but 86 EXERCISE. what a large proportion of the diseases which now challenge the attention of medical men, would in a very few years entirely disappear, if the laws of life and health were once accepted and obeyed by our people. Almost all the diseases that affect adults would soon cease, and, in time, be forgotten. The truth of this statement may in part be made clear by the simple assertion of the fact that many diseases which were known a thousand, five hundred, three hundred, one hundred years ago, no longer exist. The influence of personal habits, of society, of political and governmental institutions, of religious agencies, has so modified the conditions of human bodies, that they have ceased to be predisposed or liable to them. A fair inference from this is, that, notwithstanding persons live so that they become sick, and show what is in common language termed special or particular diseases, if their habits of living were to be made con- formable to the general principles of life and health, these diseases would in like manner disappear. It is, therefore, also fair to infer, that where diseases do exist, and have to be treated curatively, a falling back upon the vital force under its general administration would, in a great many instances, render specific treatment unnecessary. I see this to be true because I see that many minor maladies are cured in this way. For instance, a man has a gouty toe. I believe physicians of all schools would recognize the correctness of that treatment wdiich should impose upon that man the falling back upon EXERCISE. 87 the general action of his vital force. They would say, " The best way, sir, to cure your gout is to improve your general health. Anything that may be done for you with special reference to the condition of the toe, leaving the conditions of the body at large out of the question, will fail to cure you. An apparent cure may, perhaps, be made; but it would prove ultimately to have been a mistake. Your toe is inflamed by reason of the disturbance of your system at large. To cure it, you must fall back upon the treatment of the body at large. As gout is, in many instances, caused by bad living, in various ways disturbing the healthy action of the general system, so cure of it must be substan- tially and effectively made by correcting one's habits of living in whatever ways these have been unfriendly to the health of the general system." What is true of gout is found to be true with refer- ence to a large class of diseases that are local only as regards their manifestation, but are dependent upon general disturbance. Either the general nervous sys- tem has become deranged, or the blood-making system, or all put together, have come to be greatly disturbed; and out of this disturbance a specific morbidity has made its appearance. I do not know how many cases of nasal catarrh, sore eyes, inflamed ears, bronchial sore throat, congestion of the lungs, arthritic rheuma- tism, sciatic rheumatism, diseased stomach, deranged liver, engorged spleen, hemorrhoidal condition of the lower bowels, multiform disturbances of the sexual system, it has been my good fortune to cure by simply 88 EXERCISE. correcting general ill habits—ways and methods of expending vital force. In my earliest practice I used to think, much more than now, that certain diseases needed specific treat- ment ; and by this I mean a course of treatment, the effect of which I sought to produce upon the particular structure affected. I have come to feel that it is of less consequence to make special efforts to induce par- ticular effects; but that what is needed to be done is to arrange the vital force so that its distribution of energy shall be equilibric, and specific results are pro- duced without any particular intervention of mine. To illustrate: there is a certain class of diseases with which women in this country are afflicted to a very great extent. They are known as female diseases. The practice of the profession of all schools, including the hydropathic school, is to treat these diseases speci- fically. One particular manifestation of abnormalism it is common for the profession to treat after one par- ticular manner. Where a woman's uterus is ulcerated, the application of nitrate of silver, either in solution or in substance, to the part thus affected is pre-emi- nently the fashionable mode of inducing a cure. My own method of treating such a disease corresponds exactly to my idea of its causation. Believing that it is the result of a derangement of the general system, I let the disease entirely alone, beyond the mere application of cleansing baths, and set myself to work to restore the general health. As the conditions of brain, luno-, stomach, liver, bowels and blood are improved, the ulcera- EXERCISE. 89 tion ceases, the inflammation disappears, the irritation no longer is manifest, the congestion no longer exists, the uterus oecomes well. In this way I have one great advantage over the me- dical profession, I think, in the treatment of this par- ticular disease. Doctors, by their course, ofttimes me- tastasize the disease; that is, they produce a vital action, the effect of which is to determine the disease from the uterus to some other part of the system. Perhaps I have had, in the course of my treatment, five hundred women who have been treated for ulce- rated uteri, and have been declared to be cured, and, in appearance, they were cured; but they were cured there to be diseased as badly, and ofttimes more fatally, at the throat, stomach, or lungs. I have digressed thus far from the discussion of the topic immediately under consideration, in order to show my confidence in the use of vital force generally applied as against vital force specifically applied in cases of disease where exercise is needed, as in many other kinds of disease. For, where diseases have come to exist from want of exercise of the body at large, or of particular portions of it, it is coming to be a fashion in this country to treat such morbid conditions by the use of the action of particular muscles, leaving out of question the necessity of using those muscles which involve the activity of the entire body. This treatment, therefore, as it shall come to be fashionable, and regarded as available by reason of its specialty, will practically prove itself a failure, just as the caustic 90 EXERCISE. treatment in the cases of ulcerated uteri of women has come to be a failure. I recommend walking to all who have particular or special diseases, which have arisen from the failure on their part to give to their bodies general exercise, if they are physically able to adopt the plan of doing so. On the whole, it will be found better than any specific movement can, because the specifia diseases from which they suffer have arisen from the want of general mus- cular exercise. The cause of their diseases being such, the cure will be found certain by using proper means to counteract it. Of all forms of exercise designed to affect the entire body, there is none so health-preservative, and there- fore none so efficaciously curative, as walking. No matter what may be the disease, if it has arisen from lack of exercise of any particular organs, the best cura- tive to come to it by exercise, is that kind which will involve and affect the entire body. No person can affect the circulation of the blood by any sort of mo- tions so much as by the act of walking. Place a man where he shall be stationary, and set his entire body above the hips into the most active motion, and you cannot induce as thorough a circulation of the blood through his system as you can by giving him free mo- tion of the legs, and such corresponding motions to the arms and trunk and head as necessarily must be had in the act of walking. The legs, therefore, are the structures through whose motions circulation is kept better equalized and the nervous force equib'bric EXERCISE. 91 than any other structures in the human body whose motions are dependent on the action of the will. To use them regularly, habitually, plentifully, is one of the surest preventives to all forms of disease; and they are quite as effective in the cure as in the prevention of disease. Whenever I can get a person suffering from disease—no matter if it be deafness or dysentery, no matter if it be from bilious fever or from gout, no matter if it be from inflamed eyes or prolapsus uteri— to walk according to the ability then and there at dis- posal, my rule is to make such person walk. The amount of exercise, of course, has to be regulated ac- cording to the ability of the person; but if only from chair to bed, from one side of the bed to the other, from a recumbent to a sitting position, to take two or three steps, I regard it as in the very best measure curative. If the person is so feeble as not to be able to walk, and has to take passive-active motion, I would rather have flexure and extension of the legs, induced by an attendant while the patient lies recumbent, for pur- poses of affecting the circulation and distribution of nervous force than any other forms, systems, or plans of motions of any other set or sets of muscles in the body. To try this, is to be satisfied of its good effects; and it is not difficult to try it. Take, for instance, a person lying in bed, and give to his arms swinging motion up and down and sidewise. The motion has to be violent in order to sensibly affect the pulse, the heart's action does not seem particularly to be increased; but you 92 EXERCISE. cannot take hold of the leg and bend it upon the body, and bend the limb below the knee upon the thigh, up and down as far as you can, three times, before the pulse is quickened, and sensible increase of the heart's action is seen. You may do it slowly, but the effect will be visible. Carry this on for ten or fifteen min- utes, the person lying perfectly easy, and the attendant making the motions, as nearly as they possibly can be, purely mechanical, and the patient will begin to sweat. One of the best means of increasing the action of the sudoriferous glands is in flexing and extending the legs by passive motions. All the better if they are active-passive; that is, if when the attendant under- takes to bend the leg the patient is able to exert a little resistance, and when the attendant wishes to extend the leg the patient can make a little resistance. I wish that in cases of piles, dyspepsia, torpid liver, con- gested lungs, inflamed eyes, sore throat, persons would try this remedy, doing it regularly. The difficulty in the matter of taking exercise by walking is that per- sons who are sick and feeble overdo the thing. Then they get abnormal vital action or reaction, which in- duces an aggravation of the disease; but to do the thing rightly is wonderfully efficacious. Where there is plenty of strength in the body, so th-at walking can be taken in considerable or large degree, depend upon it that, in union with other hygienic agents, it is one of the very best therapeutic instrumentalities. If it were accepted, and persistently and Judiciously fol- lowed, by persons laboring under some particular EXERCISE. 93 chronic disease, which makes them feel all the while that they are invalids, they would, under its use, find that what I here state is true, and that gradually they would get rid of their ailments and come back to enjoy very good and substantial health. CHAPTER XI. SLEEP AND ITS RECUPERATIONS. O SLEEP! With gentle witcheries thou wooest man Away from sorrow, and dost carry him To climes so calm and peaceful as to make The fields in which he travels like Elysium. The babe that nestles in its mother's lap Knows of thy wondrous workings. And the boy, Of growing form, whose eye is bright at morn, Falls into thine arms, and passes Into that new sphere of being Over which thou sway est rule supreme. Man, the stalwart and the strong, Feels running through the currents of his life Thy gentle force, and honors thee by yielding. And the poor invalid, whose daily turnings On his couch, so plainly signify Of pain and great discomfort, hears thy voice When in the distance, and his eye lacks lustre As thou closest it, and makest him Thine own. All animals which have backbones, so far as we know of their habits, sleep. Of their necessity of passing periodically from a state of consciousness to one of unconsciousness, there can be little doubt; and the importance of this change is measured by the rela- tive rank which they hold. Of all living creatures (94) SLEEP AND ITS RECUPERATIONS. 95 that dwell upon the earth, man stands at the head; and to none of them is sleep more important than to him. In speaking of sleep in its bearings upon health, the first point I make is that night is the best time for it. Evidently, by a law that is vital in its operations, the Creator has made that portion of our time, when the sun is hidden from the earth, the appropriate period for sleep. There are no traditions existing among the race running to the contrary of this view. No phil- osopher, nor physiologist, nor speculator upon the laws of human life and health, whether these be organic or functional, has ever taken ground that the period most appropriate to sleep is the day-time, and the night the most appropriate for labor. That human beings work nights and sleep days is true; and it is particularly true of men given to thought, but no one defends it on philosophic grounds. He may argue in its favor from habit, from long custom, from the circumstances which surround persons, and from the necessities of their condition, or from the peculiarities of their business; but he never stretches the argument until it reaches a point where the practice is asserted to be abstractly right. But if night is the better time to sleep, then it may be said that the general principle prevails that the amount of sleep should be regulated by the dividing line between light and darkness. That -this view may be accepted as the correct one is determinable from analogy, it being true that animals living in the tern- 96 SLEEP AND ITS RECUPERATIONS. perate latitudes accept and act upon it. Take the year together, day and night are about equal; and were mankind within the temperate latitudes to live accord- ing to the laws of life and health in other directions, they would sleep while darkness is on the face of the _ earth, and be active only during the period in which light is abundant. As a habit and fashion with our people, they sleep too little. By all who are compe- tent to speak on the subject, it is admitted that the people of the United States, from day to day, do not get sufficient sleep. From the preponderance of the nervous over the vital temperament, they need all the recuperative benefits which sleep can offer during each night as it passes. A far better rule than that which usually prevails, would be to get at least eight hours of sleep during each day,, and, including sleep, ten to twelve hours of recumbent rest. It is a sad mistake that some make, who suppose themselves qualified to speak on the subject, in affirming that persons of a highly-wrought nervous temperament need—as com- pared with those of a more lymphatic or stolid organ- ization—less sleep. The truth is, that where power is expended with great rapidity, by a constitutional law it is regathered slowly ; the reactions after a while demanding much more time for the gathering up of new force than the direct effort demands in expending that force. Thus, a man of nervous temperament, after he has established a habit of overdoing, recovers from the effect of such over-action much more slowly than a man of different temperament would, if the balance SLEEP AND ITS RECUPERATIONS. 97 between his power to do and to rest were destroyed. As between the nervous and the lymphatic tempera- ments, therefore, where exercise by work is demanded, it will be seen that at the close of the day's labor, whether it has been of muscle or of thought, the man of nervous temperament who is tired finds it difficult to fall asleep, sleeps perturbedly, wakes up excitedly, and is more apt than otherwise to resort to stimulants to place himself in conditions of pleasurable activity ; while the man of lymphatic temperament, when tired, falls asleep, sleeps soundly and uninterruptedly, and wakes up in the morning a new man. The facts are against the theory that nervous temperaments recu- perate quickly from the fatigues to which their posses- sors are subjected. Three-fourths of our drunkards are from the ranks of the men of nervous tempera- ment. Almost all the opium-eaters in our country— and their name is legion — are persons of the nervous and the nervous-sanguine temperaments. Almost all the men in the country who become victims of narcotic drug-medication, are of the nervous or nervous-san- guine temperaments. Nine-tenths of all the persons in this country who become insane, are persons of the nervous or nervous-sanguine temperaments. That the very general habit of dependence upon stimulants, or stimulo-narcotics, is largely confined to persons of the nervous temperament, shows that the taxations to which they subject themselves are not readily reacted from, and that under their methods of living they find it difficult to depend upon their natural forces to make 5 98 SLEEP AND ITS RECUPERATIONS. good their losses within the time they allot to such purpose. The rule, therefore, should be the other way from that which is supposed to be the true one; namely, that persons of highly-wrought nervous organization need but little sleep. It should be the habit of such persons to sleep largely, to insist upon such freedom from exercise, both of body and mind, and upon such external conditions of repose, as gradually to bring the brain to acknowledge such relations to the general structure, as will enable its various organs to become so refreshed that they may, when duty is resumed, perform it with accustomed yet healthy vigor. Sick persons in this country, and, for that matter, healthy ones also, generally sleep upon beds which are unhealthy. Wherever feathers are used, either for the bed or for the pillow of the bed, they are decidedly unhealthy. Ofttimes they constitute a very important influence in determining the non-recovery of the sick who use them. They are great non-conductors of heat, and, therefore, should never be used to sleep upon. If used at all, they should serve only as an external cover- ing. A hght comfortable of feathers, thrown over the outside of the bed, is the least objectionable mode of using this article. Feathers have in their quills a glutinous matter which is easily brought into a semi- fluid state when wrought upon by moisture from the air or the insensible perspiration of the human body. Not infrequently will it be found by those whose sense of smell is keen, that after having lain in a bed which at first appears to be perfectly inodorous, the occupant SLEEP AND rrs RECUPERATIONS. 99 comes to find an unpleasant stench arising from it. This is poisonous, and though not so much so as car- bonic acid gas, is next to it. It is only equalled in its unhealthiness by the effluvia of the pest-house and privy, and should be avoided at all hazards, especially by persons of a scrofulous constitution, whose blood in its elementary constituents is easily deranged. The practice, therefore, with invalids, of sleeping upon feather beds, and especially upon feather pillows, can- not be too strongly condemned. Thousands of women and children have had their scrofulous diseases de- veloped into the incurable stage, and thereby been con- signed to their graves at an early day with scrofulous consumption, who never would have had it, though living in other respects as they had done, but for the practice of sleeping on feathers. No health reformer should ever keep geese. He neither needs them for ihe purpose of picking off their feathers nor of eating their flesh. For invalids better beds than those made of feathers oan be made of good, clean oat straw, though here a criticism can be properly made; for much of the straw that is used to fill beds is mildewed or smutty, and can- not be used without impregnating the air with poison- ous particles, which, though impalpable to the touch and invisible to the eye, are easily inhaled by the lungs; and when so breathed into them are always destructive to their healthy conditions. Perhaps the cleanest straw for beds is unmildewed wheat straw. Clean wheat straw, well whipped, and not worn until it becomes as fine as 100 SLEEP AND ITS RECUPERATIONS. chaff, makes a good bed. Good clean corn husks make a good bed, though unpleasant to some persons from the noise which is created whenever the sleeper turns upon his bed, by reason of the different husks passing over each other's surface. I have known nervous persons to be unable to sleep upon a corn-husk bed. This, in a good degree, can be avoided by hav- ing the husks cut in a straw-cutter, and the tick, which is filled with them, quilted at convenient spaces. Whittlings of white birch or white cedar make an excellent bed, and in some parts of the country are used in large quantities. Machines have been invented for shaving them off from boards or wood so that they will curl. Then they are kiln-dried, not to destroy their elasticity, but to prevent them from straightening out. Dried sea-grass is, perhaps, the best bed upon which a sick person can sleep, unless it is curled hair ; and it makes a very good substitute for that article. Throughout our country great numbers of mattresses are sold known as sea-grass mattresses. These are such beds as we generally use in our Cure, and, when covered by a mattress of cotton, make a very easy, comfortable bed, both for the invalid and the person in health. Hair makes the best bed; but great caution is required in its preparation that it may be healthy by beino- per- fectly inodorous. Some mattresses of curled hair are nearly as objectionable as geese feathers. Of clothing that should cover the invalid in bed, in order that he may the better sleep, the inner sheets had better be made of bleached cotton than of linen. SLEEP AND ITS RECUPERATIONS. 101 This article does not so readily conduct heat as linen, and therefore is not so cool to the skin. Of all sub- stances usually worn for clothing, linen is the greatest conductor of heat; hence one always feels cooler with linen on his body than with any other material of clothing. For bed-clothing, therefore, except in the hottest weather, or unless the person is suffering from acute fever, linen is objectionable. As a general thing, sick persons sleep under too much clothing ; they need less; would be better for using less. It is better to have a number of coverings that shall make up suffi- ciency in retaining the warmth of the body so as to in- duce sensation of comfort than it is to have only one; for the reason that, in this way, less weight is had. Clothing which will keep a sick person warm, and yet has a minimum pressure upon him, is preferable to that which is heavier, though productive of the same warmth. So far as the advantage arising from retain- ing animal heat is concerned, there is always a stratum of dead air lying between two coverings, and this serves as a non-conductor. Between a pair of blankets and a coverlid there will be two strata of this air, and the effect, so far as warmth is concerned, will be the same as is seen in having two doors to a cellar with a space between them. There is an advantage in using this stratum of air as a protection against toa rapid elimi- nation of the heat of the body. A great security for keeping warm in bed is to secure the best and most vigorous circulation of the blood; and next, to be ap- propriately covered, and to retain so much of heat in 102 SLEEP AND ITS RECUPERATIONS. the bed and around the body as to establish a uniform sensation of warmth. Of course, it is always desirable to a sick person lying in bed who wishes to sleep, that a feeling of com- fort should be present; and this can never be when the feeling of warmth is absent. To be warm, there- fore, in bed is one of the prerequisites to the obtain- ment of the advantages which one seeks in going to bed. Posture has very much to do in the procurement of the sense of warmth and of consequent comfort. Very few persons know how to lie in bed so as to be comfortable. The practice of lying crooked is, by many, assumed to be instinctive. I doubt it. It does not look reasonable. That a person will, at times, for pur- pose of rest, by change of posture, flex his limbs and back-bone and sink Ins head forward and throw his hips backward, I do not deny. But, after all, he does this at the expense of warmth; for whenever the body is bent upon itself, and the legs and arms upon them- selves, the circulation is enfeebled. Circulation by flexion of any part of the body is increased only by having connected with it alternate extension. When one wishes to make himself warm by bending his leo-s, he must connect with this act of bending the act of straightening them; in other words, he must keep in motion. To sit down in a cramped position, and to con- tinue to sit thus, thereby expecting to get warm, is to have one's expectations unrealized. A straight position is far better as a means whereby to secure positive ex- ternal capillary circulation than one in which the body SLEEP AND ITS RECUPERATIONS. 103 is bent upon itself largely. The Indian who sleeps upon the bare earth, or the Rocky Mountain trapper wrapped up in his blanket, will be found in his deepest sleep as straight as a liberty pole. To cultivate the habit of lying in bed straight, is, therefore, of great ser vice, and especially to all persons who, being sick, are desirous to recover their health. Lying upon the back is one of the best postures which an invalid can possibly adopt. Notwithstand- ing so much has been said about the superiority of lying on the right side, or the left side, or both, a man lies more naturally, breathes more easily, sleeps less dreamfully upon his back than in any other posi- tion he can assume. If it is true, as is generally sup- posed, that to lie upon the back is more productive of imperfect circulation, and, therefore, of particular con- ditions of the circulation described as " night-mare," I have only to say that this does not arise from lying upon one's back, but from the conditions in which the organs have been placed by the bad habits in other directions of the person who suffers. There are very great advantages that may arise to the invalid from lying habitually upon his back. First, the back-bone itself is kept warm by it. Heat radiates from the centre to the surface just in proportion to the extent to which that surface is supplied with nerves. Where the nerves are the most numerous, there will the per- son find himself in such conditions as to allow of great radiations of heat. There is no spot on the body bet- ter supplied with nerves than the bottoms of the feet. 104 SLEEP AND ITS RECUPERATIONS. There is no place, therefore, where a man more readily has the sensation of cold. This does not arise from the fact that the blood is imperfectly supplied to the bottom of the feet, and they are, therefore, unprotected, because where there is an abundant supply of nerves there is a corresponding supply of blood-vessels; but it does arise from the superior sensibility of the parts to external impressions, because of the superabundant supply of the organs of sensibility. Up and down a man's back runs the spinal marrow; from it radiate nerves to different parts of the body. Great sensi- bility to external impressions is consequently estab- lished along the whole track of the spine. When a man shivers from a cold sensation, the shiver travels up and down his back-bone more readily than any- where else. Let him step upon a piece of cold zinc, in an instant he feels a sensation of cold running up and down his telegraph wire, which is his spinal mar- row. A person will sleep under less clothing, and keep warm by lying upon his back with his arms by his side, or crossed low down upon his abdomen, bet- ter than in any other position. There is this advantage also in it, that the sick man while in this position keeps all his parts in the natural relations. The whole lung structure is as it should be, the muscles are related to themselves naturallv, and all the parts of the organism sustain, each to all, their natural connection. There is no undue pressure upon any part; no displacing of any ligament, sinew, ten- don or muscle; no pressure upon any membrane. SLEEP AND ITS RECUPERATIONS. 105 Everything is just as nature intended it. Lying upon the side, whether it be the right or the left side, is not as natural as to lie upon the back. The lungs are not as# carefully guarded. They press down upon the heart; they press down upon the spleen and liver. The same is true of the pressure of the stomach on the spleen, or the liver on the stomach. The same is true of the bowels. And it is a fact, that whenever any one of the thoracic or abdominal organs becomes dis- eased, less sensibility, less consciousness of disease is manifested in lying upon the back, than in any posture the invalid can assume. The dyspeptic always lies upon his back more easily ; the consumptive lies upon his back more easily; a person with congested liver, engorged spleen, chronic inflammation of the bowels, or inflammation or irritation of the kidneys, or pro- lapsus uteri, or inflammation of the neck of the blad- der, lies upon the back more easily. In lying in bed, the practice is a bad one of having the sick person sleep with the head much elevated. One soon comes to dislike it if he accustoms himself to sleep on his back. The least elevation is the best; the highest is the worst. One pillow made of cotton or hair, but never of feathers, about three inches in thickness, is abundant elevation for the head. All persons troubled with weak lungs, and, therefore, with tendencies to pulmonary consumption, should Le on the back, and with the head as nearly on a iine paral- lel with the rest of the body as possible. This posture aids very materially in the use of the abdominal mus- 5* 106 SLEEP AND ITS RECUPERATIONS. cles, and these are of essential service to the organs of respiration. Invalids, if possible to avoid it, should never sleep with other persons. To say the least, such a course is unphysiological, and unfriendly to health. As a gen- eral rule, a person is healthier to sleep alone, very few invalids being found well-calculated by physiological or pathological considerations to sleep together. Chil- dren quite often are made sick by sleeping together, and a sick child is often kept sick by having a healthy child sleep with it. Parents quite frequently make their infant children sick by having them sleep in the bed with themselves. When we come to understand just what relations two human bodies can establish between themselves, we shall find that one of the most powerful means of transmitting or withdrawing energy, is by physical contact. CHAPTER XII. THE SICK-CHAMBER AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. Having called attention to the hygienic agencies which may readily be used for the cure of the sick, it naturally follows that I should say something in respect to their accommodations and general management, before attempting to describe the diseases which they may have, and the special application of remedial agents with a view to their recovery. With the American people there is much less good sense dis- played in the care of their sick than with European nations. Strange as this statement may seem, it is strictly true. The want of care which we give to our sick is not from want of affection or interest in them, but from want of a knowledge of what they need. We treat them, in a measure, as we treat each other when we are well. A sense of self-consciousness per- vades the entire social relations of the American peo- ple. To a certain degree, each person expects, and is expected, to take care of himself. To a good degree, therefore, when sick, he is supposed to be able to get along without particular and personal oversight from others. Whenever persons are sick, unless they are dangerously so, they are left hour after hour alone; (107) 108 THE SICK-CHAMBER AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. or, if not, then the other extreme is adopted, and they are never or scarcely ever left alone. For want of proper nursing, therefore, many persons die who other- wise would live. It becomes a matter of a good deal of consequence then, how properly to look after and tend the sick. Because of this I offer the following suggestions: 1. Wherever one is sick, if possible the room in which he lies should be elevated from the ground. Houses are always healthier to be built at least two stories high, and to have their lodging-rooms in their upper part. In many districts of country where mist and fog arise from the condensation of vapors dur- ing the night, to have sleeping-rooms in the second story is of very great utility. As the poisonous and condensed vapors are heavier than the atmosphere they sink to the earth, and to be lifted above their range of circulation while one is sleeping, is to escape many of the diseases with which, otherwise, the inhabi- tants of such districts would be likely to be affected. Other things being equal, then, in any given case of sickness, the patient should lodge above stairs if he can. If not, then on as high a bedstead below stairs as is convenient to attend him. Where children are sick, low beds, or, as they are termed, trundle-beds, should give way to a high bedstead; for even so slight a change as this has its importance. 2. The sick room should be on that side of the house, if possible to have it, where during the day there will be the most sunlight; because, while it is THE SICK-CHAMBER AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 109 not desirable always to have sunlight in a room, it may be of great service to have it, and so the possi- bility of having it should be taken into account. 3. If it can be done, the bed of the patient should be so placed as to have the head to the north. This at first may be considered as a whimsical suggestion, but it is not. If it be true that the mariner's compass or needle always, when unobstructed, points to the north pole, it is not devoid of significance that the magnetic conditions thus established, may indicate correspond- ing magnetic conditions between the brain of a hu- man creature and the great source of magnetism to our globe. I hold that animal magnetism is exactly correspondent to, and coincident with what is called metallic magnetism ; that it is because of a great con- stituent property in human blood that magnetic con- ditions of the human body exist; and that these are in their nature the same, with such necessary modifica- tions as the bodily structure imposes, as the metallic magnetism which science has discovered, and of which it is coming, for its own peculiar purpose^, more and more to make use. There is no question in my own mind of the influence of metallic magnetism upon the nervous system, and upon the circulation of the blood in the human body. So assured am I of this, that I venture to offer the suggestion with reference to the location of the position of the body of the sick person. I have tried it in too many instances not to know that it may have its influence. It does not always percepti- bly have it, because persons are not always related to 110 THE SICK-CHAMBER AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. magnetic force so as t) be the subjects of its visible in- fluence ; but they not infrequently are. Thus, I have calmed down the twitchings of a person suffering from St. Vitus' Dance by putting into her hand a common steel magnet, or some other piece of magnetized iron or steel. Thus, I have held in my own hands a highly charged magnet for a little while, and then have held the hands of a sick person, and induced calm and quiet conditions of the nervous system. That what is termed animal magnetism, which is not now denied to exist, is the same as metallic magnetism, with the simple dif- ference of manifestation arising from difference of the organization involved, is clear to my own mind. I think it decidedly possible to have the needle of a compass swerve from its true direction by the influence of the magnetism of the human body placed in close contact with it. If I could, therefore, I always would have a person, sick from any disturbance of the nervous sys- tem, he with his head to the north. Where it cannot be, one must do the next best thing to insure right magnetic condition. Where it can be, it is worth the trial. 4. It is of very great consequence in the manage- ment and care of sick persons that they should have proper persons for their care-takers or nurses. To de- cide this, various considerations are to be taken into account. (a.) If possible, the nurse should be an acquaintance of the patient, and one toward whom in health he is kindly related. Better not to have a blood-relative THE SICK-CHAMBER AND ITS SUKR0UNDINGS. Ill unless there is considerable contrast in temperament; for matters regulate themselves better under the con- verse than the direct relationship. (h.) To the degree that propriety will admit, the nurse should be of the opposite sex. This is admitted by everybody who is sick to be a correct view, the rule work- ing only one way, men always preferring women to per- sons of their own sex to care for them. It is not gen- erally supposed to be the case that women prefer men, but they do ; and to the degree that they can properly have them, they should. The rule, to be good for much, should be applied both ways. (c.) A sick person should have a pair of nurses at least; and, where he is very sick, should have two pairs, one for the day and the other for the night, they making their relays so frequently as not themselves to get tired out. A worn-out, sleepy, stupid nurse is one of the most deleterious agents that can be made active in and around the sick room. Whenever from service a tired feeling begins to come over a nurse, he or she should immediately be changed for one who is bright, active, wakeful, sprightly, and in good magnetic or electrical states of the nervous system and the blood. But these changes should be kept within the bound of the nurse list. (d.) Changes in the nurses should not be made so as to introduce strangers. The practice of having strange men or women to watch at night with a sick person is very objectionable. I know that difficulties lie in the way; but, in most cases, they7 are not insurmountable 112 THE SICK-CHAMBER AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. if the parties are intelligent with reference thereto. Physicians, in this respect, can help along the case a good deal. In truth, if they themselves were clear- headed as to the benefits to be derived from proper nursing, they could mainly direct the affairs ; for they could have their own nurses. I have often thought that if I were a peripatetic physician, I "would have three or four women, and two or three men, as the extent of my practice might demand, who should hold themselves in readiness to be called upon to take care of any sick persons that might place themselves under my medical administration, and that I would have the right to say that such persons should be employed, and no other while my patients were in conditions to need particular nursing; for human life is very sacred, and cannot be cared for too assiduously. Until persons learn how to live so as not to be sick, the next best thing they can learn is how not to die when they are sick. In this direction, one of the very best securities against such a result is to be well cared for when sick. 5. Sick persons confined to their rooms should, at least once in twenty-four hours, have their personal clothing changed. In fact, it is better, though there may seem to be no apparent necessity for it, to have it changed every twelve hours, at morning and at night. The garments thus taken off may not need any further cleansing than that which will arise from being exposed to good air currents; but not infre- quently great exhalations by the skin take place in persons who are sick, and these are. of such a nature THE SICK-CHAMBER AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 113 as substantially to fill the interstices of the clothing, and leave the garment an air-tight fabric, thus decid- edly affecting for ill the conditions of the person wear- ing it. 6. Quiet. The sick-chamber should be a holy place. Within its precincts the unhallowed, or those who have no business there, should not come. The practice, common all over the United States, of having neighbors and friends who can do no good, come into the rooms of sick persons and sit, and talk, and chat, and ask questions, is very objectionable; not infre- quently prolific of very great mischief. If the pa- tient is not himself addressed, and so, perhaps, dis- turbed, the conversation, in one way or another, is of a kind to excite him, and, therefore, to derange his nervous system and the circulation of his blood. Neighbors and friends, therefore, who can be of no service, should not be permitted to see those who are sick. Only when they can be of service (and very often they can be,) should they be permitted to come. Where the disease from which the person suffers is chronic, and so slow in its operations, there is less need of guarding against any intrusion. In such a case, the society of pleasant, agreeable friends may be very desirable. I have known the tone, temper and mental feeling of a sick person change va3tly for the better by having a dear, good friend come to see him. But, not- withstanding such happy results may flow, it is always well and only prudent, to consult the patient before permitting a friend to visit him. 114 THE SICK-CHAMBER AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. In this direction, it is of more consequence that con- sent should be obtained if the person sick be a female, because women, after their present education, are more sensitive to external surroundings than men are. They do not like to be seen in an unprepared state to receive a friend. The room may not be in order ; their own personal clothing may require adjustment, and, in addi- tion, they may want the opportunity to refuse to see the particular person. In this latter respect persons of the male sex do also require to be consulted. I can- not forbear saying that good nursing constitutes good doctoring in the philosophical meaning of the term. If we ever get to the point of intelligence where our people shall understand that drug-medicaments are not common-sense instrumentalities for the cure of disease ; are unphilosophical manifestations; are, in many in- stances, either good for nothing or positively injurious, the department of nursing of the sick will acquire additional importance. Then the medical man will understand that those sick persons who are nursed with the most skill are likely, other things being equal, to recover the most certainly. CHAPTER XIII. CHILDREN AND THEIR DISEASES. Of the human diseases for which I propose new methods of treatment, I present first those which re- late to children. In order to do this intelligently, so that they shall be readily comprehended by my read- ers, I wish, first, to say some things with reference to the manner of training and treating children who are not sick; because the better one understands the na- ture of the child, its predispositions and tendencies when in health, the better will he be prepared to relate himself curatively, with the means he uses, to the child when sick. For children are much more susceptible to constitutional predispositions and their corresponding influences, than persons of adult age are. In the lat- ter case, counteractive causes may exist, having been organized and brought to bear through the habits, manners and ways of living of the person. But chil- dren are as largely subjects of the momentum which the life-force has given to them, by the mere act of birth, as by the conditions of existence subsequent thereto. To treat a child with reference to any dis- ease which he may have, as a grown person may safely be treated, is to overlook, in many respects, the Tery (115) 116 CHILDREN AND THEIR DISEASES. essentially different conditions which exist between the parties, and, in doing so, to neglect some of the most available and efficient means for its recovery. I know that it is said that " men are but children of larger growth;" nevertheless, the difference in growth doe3 modify the difference in relations to life, and, of course, to health. Two persons, therefore, one quite young and a child, the other adult and a man or woman, having apparently or really the same disease, may not be treated in the same way for it. In the child, the ante-natal conditions of its existence may still exercise over it a very important influence. In truth, I think, in most cases, they do have much to do in the shaping of its life up to puberty. This side of adolescence, chil- dren hold different relations and conditions to life from what they do when adult age has been reached. For want of knowledge of these facts, many a child has been sent to its grave by those who have had its management, when sick, in their hands. Some sug- gestions in this direction, therefore, may not be out of place. Constitutional PEcuLiARrriEs.-*-The practice is quite common for parents to treat all their children alike in their bringing up, except so far as it may be thought fit to institute difference arising from sex. Boy-chil- dren are cared for, looked after, managed, treated, trained and educated, in quite early life, differently from what girl-children are, though the difference in these directions confines itself to a very narrow sphere. CHILDREN AND THEIR DISEASES. 117 Now, the differences which arise from sex are not by any means as marked, and, therefore, as influential, as those which often arise between persons of the same sex, but of different temperaments. To treat two girls or two boys alike who are of different temperaments, simply because they are girls or boys, is to commit a greater outrage, by far, than it would be to treat a girl and a boy alike though of different sex. Herein is a very great mistake made by-parents. As it begins in the nursery, and is continued when the child passes out of the nursery into the family circle, it also is carried into the sick-room whenever one of the children in the family is unfortunately its occupant. In the treatment of the sick, constitutional influences, or those conditions of existence which are under the sway of the organic forces of the sick person, must be taken into account if the highest curative results are to be secured. For instance, a child of light hair, very light skin, light-blue and quite prominent eyes, of small muscles, small bones, having small hands and taper fingers, very delicate and thin nails, small feet, but quite large and protuberant bowels, with a head two-thirds of the brain of which is in front of the ears, with a very small back-bone, with a long, slim neck, and sloping shoulders, with a wide pelvis, and the legs set on the body so that when it walks it turns its feet out, should never be treated for any disease which it has, in the same general or particular way as a child of exactly a different build; such, for instance, as one who has dark skin, dark gray or bluish eyes, with a heavy, low- 118 CHILDREN AND THEIR DISEASES. located back brain, with rather a low frontal brain, with straight, square shoulders, broad chest, small bow- els, narrow pelvis, big legs, and toes turning in a little. If two such children are suffering from measles, sum- mer complaint, stomach-colic, fever and ague, remit- tent fever, whooping-cough, or any disease, no matter what, they must not be substantially alike related to the use of therapeutic agents. While these are to be used in both cases, their application is to be made to suit the difference in the constitutional peculiarities of the children, otherwise one of them stands a fair chance to die. Which of the two it will be, can very readily be decided beforehand, if it can be beforehand decided what is the nature of the disease. If it be a disease which primarily involves the nervous system, the first named child will die. If it be on the other hand, a disease which primarily involves the health of the blood and its circulation, it will be the latter. Where- as, if parents knew how to make proper discriminations in their methods of treatment, based upon constitution- al or organic differences in these children, neither of them would die—it being true that about four-fifths of all the persons who die in this country have their lives come to a close, not from want of power to live, intrin- sically considered, but from want of knowledge on their own part, or on the part of those who have them in care, how properly to make the power which they possess available to their protection. It is sad to con- template the havoc of human life which is made by medical men, and those who, along with them, have to CHILDREN AND THEIR DISEASES. 119 take care of sick persons, simply from want of know- ledge how to make vital power practically efficient in its own vocation ; for it is the office of the vital powder to protect a person in his life, and not to let him die. When I come to treat of special diseases, I shall have more to say in this particular direction ; for it is of very great importance in the treatment of the dis- eases of children, that the conditions which manifestly exist in their organizations, shall be kept in view as hav- ing bearing upon their development and proper educa- tion when in health not only, but quite as much so upon their treatment with a view to their recovery. CHAPTER XIV. TEETHING. After a child is born, the diseases with which it is afflicted up to the time when teething fairly begins, generally arise from the bad state of health of the mo- ther, and the unhealthy condition of her milk. It is not generally understood by parents, though it is pretty well known to physicians, that children can be made quite sick from derangements of their nervous systems in consequence of being handled and tended in lap a good deal by their mothers, when these are themselves out of health. Very often children cry, being appa- rently in pain, when their mothers are caring for them, who, if transferred to other persons, will soon cease to cry. This grows out of the fact that the nervous sys- tems of the mothers are a good deal disturbed, and their children take on these disturbances by sympa- thetic relations. Under such circumstances their mo- thers make very poor care-takers and nurses, and should have nothing to do with their children in their general management, nor yet in their nursing. Where a child, by being handled by its own mother, is made restless, uneasy, peevish and crying, it is conclusive proof that it ought not to be nursed by her. Unless a wet-nurse can be found for it, it had better be brought (120) TEETHING. 121 up, as the term is, " by hand ;" because, where the gen- eral conditions of the mother's health are such as greatly and sensibly to herself to disturb her nervous system, it follows surely that such a derangement affects her milk, and this the child ought not to be permitted to take as nutriment. The milk of a wet-nurse is, or can be, highly charged with healthy or unhealthy vitativeness. Milk makes good food for a child, not only because it possesses the proper nutrient constituents, but because it can be, and in the earlier period of the nursing con- ditions of woman is, charged largely with her own magnetism. If this be unhealthy, then the child is made sick by it. In truth, I have known a good many persons whose general health was rather feeble, but who made excellent wet-nurses to young children be- cause they happened to be in just those magnetic con- ditions whereby the milk became positively charged, and, therefore, was particularly good food for them. It is difficult to describe the diseases or derange- ments with which children are afflicted during the earlier periods of their existence, arising, as these do for the most part, as I have stated, from being handled and nursed by their mothers or wet-nurses who them- selves are decidedly out of health. Some of the symp- toms which children thus show are wind-colic, consti- pation of the bowels, coldness of feet and hands, with undue heat of head, flushed face, enlarged pupil of the eye, quite often a working of the under jaw upon the upper, as is done during teething, when a grating sound is heard. The best remedy for these difficulties gener- 6 122 TEETHING. ally, is to change the food of the child, also to have it handled by some one else than its mother, and to keep its body clean and cool by gentle ablutions, and its clothes well aired and cleanly on its person. Where mothers are scrofulous, and by hereditary descent pre- disposed to consumption, I think it of great conse- quence to the future as well as the present health of their children, that they should not nurse them. But such children should be put out to wet-nurse, or brought up by hand. When a child has arrived at an age suf- ficient to have the process of teething begin, it is more likely than not to show abnormal conditions. If the habits of women were more natural than they are, and so their bodies more healthy and their blood in better conditions and in better circulation, and their nervous systems more substantively related to their office-work, invigorating the blood-making organs and keeping the body at large in equilibrium of force, the process of teething in children would be as simple and as devoid of manifested derangement of their health, as it is in young animals, whose food for a period after birth is milk drawn from their mothers. We have no evidence that lambs, pigs, calves or colts suffer in their health from teething. I have no recollection now of ever hearing of any of these animals being thrown off their food, indicating thereby a disturbed relation of the cir- culation and irritation of the nervous system from the mere act of their teething. On the contrary, in this direction, as in most others, the contrast between their relations to life and those of children is greatly in their TEETHING. 123 favor. I think it is worthy the attention of parents that such is the fact. For one does not really feel very much elated when the natural processes of growth in an animal, involving its dentition, are all carried on with such ease, yet with such entire subjection to the laws which govern its life and maintain its health, as to have it know no disturbance or suffering ; while in children these processes are carried on, almost always, so as to indicate suffering, and not infrequently severe sickness. This all might be changed in the child's favor by conformity of its parents to the demands which Nature herself makes. To have children healthy from birth to teething-time, must be a source of very great comfort and peace to their parents. We have had residing at " Our Home on the Hill- side " a man and wife wTho had one child. This child was about eight months old; had been up to that time so judiciously reared as to give to its parents, and its mother in particular, little or no trouble. It never had slept in a cradle, nor, after the few nights immediately succeeding its birth, in the same bed with either of its parents, but it slept on a couch by itself. Up to that time it had been as quiet and peaceable a child as one could ask, never crying except for obvious cause. I inquired of its mother in respect to its habits and con- ditions. She stated that it had a good many times gone to bed and to sleep at six o'clock in the evening, and lain until six o'clock the next morning without any attention from any person, waking up in the morning at sunrise, and lying in bed thereafter for an hour, 124 TEETHING DIARRHOEA. making no complaint whatever, but kicking up its heels, and showing that its sensations were of the most gratifying and pleasant nature. What was true of this child might be true of nearly all children. Teething Diarrh a complete revolution, and was set going apparently by means the most insignificant. Soon after beginnin / to live upon a farinaceous and fruit diet, instead of a liet largely made up of meat, secretion by the kid> eys 364 DROPSY OF THE PERITONEUM. began to increase. Previous thereto they had been for a good while quite torpid; but now it seemed as if aU the waste matters of the system were to make their* outlet through the urinary organs. The person had been a high Hver, and exposed to a great deal of violent reaction, and had taken a good deal of medi- cine. In fact, I thought his dropsy was caused by medicine. For days he urinated from four to six quarts of water. At one time I thought the disease was about to change from abdominal dropsy into diabetes; but a close examination of the quality of the urine under some simple tests, decided me that this was not so. But except in a case of diabetes, or in some other cases of urinary crises, when great flow from the kidneys existed for a little while, I never saw so much water pass a human body by urination as in the case of this person. Before he got weU I made a rough estimate that he had within thirty days made not less than thirty gallons of water. He thought, as did some others quite as weU qualified by their observation to judge, that he had made sixty gaUons. But when his extreme secretions by the kidneys ceased, his dropsy was also gone, and, though as poor and thin in flesh as any person whom I ever saw who was able to keep upon his feet, he rapidly gained flesh and got well. I attribute his recovery entirely to the radical change in the condition of his system which was made, and this too by very simple methods employed to induce such change. DROPSY OF THE PERITONEUM. 365 It may seem strange, but my practice has satisfied me of its correctness, that in cases of general dropsy, or of local dropsy, not including dropsy of the head or heart, one of the best remedies employed is a free use as a drink of soft water. Keep the person quiet and in good spirits because of pleasant social relations, and if he or she has general, or abdominal, or renal, or ovarian dropsy, one of the best things to be done is to set the patient to the use of large quantities of soft water as a drink. For sometimes, and not infrequently, I think, dropsical affection, wherever it may be, is caused by the want of a sufficiency of water in the system properly to fluidize the blood and to carry off waste matters through the various emunctories. A celebrated Canadian physician of the allopathic school, who came to bring a patient to me who had been a patient of his, and of whose case he had had the handling for several months without any benefit to the patient, took occasion to say that he thought that one secret of my success in the treatment of diseases was, that I continued to keep the blood clean by fre- quent washings of it, giving it as his opinion that the blood of a man needed to be washed just as much as did his shirt, and in many instances more, because it sooner got dirty. He was a man of full habit, and said that he found it for his health necessary to wash Ms blood quite frequently, and that in order to do it, he found it needful to drink great quantities of soft water, for which he had no desire until he created an artificial thirst. So, while his ordinary habit was to eat but 366 DROPSY OF THE PERITONEUM. little salt upon his food, once in two or three weeks he ate a good deal, thus setting up a thirst to satiate which he was compeUed to drink large quantities of water, the effect of which was to dilute his blood, act power- fuUy as a solvent, and thus help in the disintegration of tissues, and thereby to carry off through the skin and kidneys, and to some extent through the bowels and lungs, waste matters which otherwise would have remained in his body and made him sick. I told him of my method of treatment in dropsical cases, and he seemed to be impressed with the soundness of my view, and the phUosophy of treatment founded thereupon. Curious enough it may seem to account for the existence of local or general dropsy on the ground of want of water in the system; but it is no more surprising than that a piece of ground in which their seems to be no moisture for some way beneath its surface should always have upon its surface the heaviest dew. Explain the one and you can readily explain the other; for though the difference in the subjects be wide the cases are exactly analogous. Whoever has dropsy, except that of the head and heart, may weU accept the use of soft water in different ways and shapes, and as a drink, as one of the best remedies at present known for the cure of the disease. CHAPTER XLII. LEAD COLIC. This is a disease of the bowels, originating in the poisoning of the blood through the fumes of lead. The technical name for it is cohca pictonum, or cohc of paint. In my practice I have had seven cases only of this disease to treat, and yet it is a disease causing so much suffering that it is worth while to notice it. Five per- sons who came to me for treatment were men; two were women. The men were house-painters; the women worked at making carriage-tops in a wagon- manufactory, and the room in which they sat opened into the paint-shop. There they worked week in and week out, breathing the fumes of paint. Of these cases four of them were persons who had come to suffer intensely. Their whole nervous systems seemed to be more or less deranged, and aU showing some marked conditions with such modifications as each person's peculiarities would necessarily create. Each of them was subject to colic. They had been attacked, in the first instance, with loss of appetite, an unusual flow of saliva, and, in one or two cases, with nausea. One of them, when he was attacked, vomited severely, the (367) 368 LEAD COLIC. contents of the stomach being largely charged with bile, and he having, for a few days thereafter, a high fever. One of them was attacked by faUing down in a fit, and one of them by having the muscles of the arm and wrist lose their contractility so that the hands dropped. One of the women was attacked by painful menstruation, foUowed by an entire suppression, which had continued completely up to the time of her consult- ing me. In one of the cases there was a sort of blue Hne along the edge of the gums next to the teeth as if there had been a very dark blue tint given to the gums. I notice that Dr. Watson, in his " Practice of Physic, ' says this was so in some cases which fell under his ob servation. Only one of the patients which I had showed this coloring. AU complained of being much more troubled with cohc when lying down than when sitting or standing in an erect position. I confess that I was at a loss what to do with the first patient I had. There was clear indication that he would ultimately come to have a paralysis of his hands and arms, and it seemed to me, when I examined him, that if this should happen, there was such a disturbed state of the circulation and of the nervous system, that he would become incurable, never getting back the use of his arms. I struck out a practice for myself. I said, " May it not be that this very severe congestion of the blood- vessels of the bowels, and their pressure on the nerves, LEAD COLIC. 369 may produce the pain of which he complains ? May it not be also that there is congestion of the sheath of the spinal column ? At any rate, I will see what treatment will do whose legitimate effect is to quicken the circulation and so remove local congestion." I therefore adopted a practice somewhat similar to that I so successfuUy use in the treatment of epilepsy. I sweat the patient thoroughly and then gave him cold bathing. To the man whom I had first to treat, and who had the blue Hne along the gums, I gave two sweating-baths a week, after which I sent him into the plunge, to come out and be wiped and rubbed well until warm, and then to go to bed for an hour and a half. I put him upon a very simple diet, regulated all his habits, and had the pleasure, in six months, of seeing him thor- oughly cured. Out of the seven cases, I failed only in one; and that I think I should have succeeded in if I had been able to command and insure the application of treat- ment as I wanted it. While there was a difference in the treatment of these cases, so far as the application of baths was concerned, I found the best plan for each to be that which applied generally for all—mhd diet, soft water to drink, freedom from care and work, pleasant social surroundings, life in the open air, with such baths as I thought each case demanded. In the treatment of them all I found use for all the forms of bathing which are customary at Our Home. Some took sitz-baths with packs, afterwards followed by half 16* 370 LEAD COLIC. baths; some took fomentations followed by packs; some took standing shallows, or sweating baths, in one form or another, foUowed by cold ones, the difference in the application of water being made to accommo- date the different conditions of the patients. While these are aU the cases of lead cohc which I have had, they do not constitute a tithe of the diseases which I have had to treat caused by the introduction of lead poison into the circulation. These, however, have shown themselves under different involvements, and therefore will come to be treated in their proper place. The difference which exists between inflammation of the bowels creating a pain Hke colic, and a sudden con- gestion of the bowels creating what is called wind colic and painter's colic, may be found in this direc- tion—that, after one or two attacks of lead colic, the system begins to accommodate itself to the presence of poison which is in the body, and so the pain is mani- fested paroxysmally ; there are exacerbations or aggra- vations of it with remissions and relief from it. These are much longer, so some writers say, than are those of ordinary cohc. My own observation has led me to beheve that lead colic is much more painful during the night than the day-time. However this may be, it differs from wind colic in not being increased by pressure. Dr. Condie, of New York, says that external pres- sure in painter's colic so produces relief that in some instances those who have had it have been known to LEAD COLIC. 371 bear the weight of two or three persons standing on the beUy. He describes the abdomen as invariably hard or flat from the contraction of its muscles, saying that the navel is sometimes drawn in so as almost to approach the spine. He also says that there generally occur within the first day or two, sometimes within the first few hours, of the attack, a headache, and a dull, anxious, or depressed expression of countenance. Dr. Watson in his lecture on this subject says that when the disease is badly managed the patient is apt to have loss of voluntary motion in the extremities, and after a few days becomes affected with giddiness, great debihty and torpor, the pains in the abdomen and extremities abating as the torpor increases. What is wanted in the treatment of the disease, in order to success, is action, particularly on the part of the bowels. Whatever will do this will help toward restoration. I think that warm injections, even hot, if they can be borne, will be found to be the source of almost immediate relief from the paroxysm, if they are thrown up into the bowels slowly. It may not be devoid of benefit for me to suggest means whereby persons can be protected against lead poisoning. Those who work in lead mines or in estab- lishments where lead is used in the construction of articles which are made, should take particular pains to protect themselves against inhaling the fumes, and also take particular pains to protect themselves against the drinking of water which may have the poison in suspension; also to be very careful to" keep the body 372 LEAD COLIC. clean and the clothes as clean as possible. Some writers recommend that clothes worn by persons ex- posed to bad fumes should not be made of wool, but should be made of the strongest and most compact linen. As prevention is better than cure, whatever care can be taken to protect one against the disease should be taken, because as the nervous system is often greatly involved, and paralysis follows as a result, whenever this does take place cure becomes almost im- possible. It is very seldom that a person who has had lead cohc until paralysis takes place ever gets weU. A paralysis of nerves, more or less extensive, may be cured if originating in less destructive causes; but that kind of loss of muscular power resulting from the enervation of the particular nerves, when this is in- duced by so virulent a poison in the blood as the preparations of lead almost universally are, is seldom, if ever, thoroughly restored. CHAPTER XLIV. INFLAMMATION OF THE MESENTERIC GLANDS. I come now to consider a disease of the bowels which causes more death, probably, than any other disease to which the human body is subject: I allude to chronic inflammation of the mesenteric glands. This disease shows itself chiefly in persons of a scrofu- lous organization; but as scrofula has come to be a household disease with the people of America, it can readily be seen why mesenteric inflammation should be so common and so destructive with our people as it is. It Hes at the foundation of nearly aU the consumptions, whether of bowels or lungs, which take place with our people. I may as weU consider the various forms of scrofu- lous manifestations which are common to our people under this head as under any other; because where scrofula exists there are tubercles lodged in the me- sentery and abdomen as frequently as in the lungs. Where mesenteric inflammation shows itself, it is certain that the person having it has a scrofulous con- stitution, scrofula being properly defined to be that con dition of the lacteal and lymphatic systems whereby food is imperfectly changed to blood, blood im (373) 374 INFLAMMATION OF THE MESENTERIC GLANDS. perfectly distributed, and waste matter imperfectly and defectively excreted. Whoever, then, has such condi- tions of his blood-making organs as not to be able to supply his system with good blood and enough of it, and at the same time has a defective action of the lym- phatics, is a scrofulous person. Many persons are born with this kind of defective organization, the cerebro- nervous system being large and the organic-nervous system being small, the digestive and assimilative organs corresponding in size and vigor to the vigor of the nerves on which they depend. Two classes of persons in this country are subject to mesenteric inflammation. They may be denominated as scrofulous persons of the Hght and dark varieties. Of the Hght variety, he or she is a good illustration who has, when a child, very delicate skin; with Hght hair, almost flaxen ; with large blue eyes, standing out in their sockets very prominently; with long, slim, taper fingers; with small, curhng, half purplish nails; with round, full mouth, yet thin in the lips ; a pointed chin; small, long, tapering neck; low sloping shoulders; round full bust, if of adult age ; with very large, promi- nent and protuberant abdomen if a child; with nar- row and rather small loins if a man ; with wide pelvis if a woman ; with round, fleshy, yet not over compact lower limbs in their upper portion; with full, round, heavy calf in the lower portion of the leg, and a small foot, compared with the whole body, so situated on the ankle and the ankle to the knee and the knee to the hip and the hip to the body as, when the person walks INFLAMMATION OF THE MESENTERIC GLANDS. 375 naturally, to make the toes turn out and give a broad base thereto. Such a person is scrofulous by hered- itary predisposition, and is exactly of the order or type of build which will make him or her, as the case may be, readily take on derangements of the blood- making organs by and through the deposition of scrofu- lous matter in the form of tubercles in, around and upon the mesenteric glands. The other variety of scrofulous persons may be re- presented in one who has long, black, fine hair ; dark skin; black or very dark eyes; high cheek-bones; rather full Hps, and large, wide mouth, with the lips set firmly together; pointed chin, if a man, with black beard; if a woman, with tendency to have hairs grow upon the chin, which itself is not pointed, but rather round; with a long, thick neck, high shoulders, flat chest, large shoulder-blades, strong muscle, large joints, and a more or less ungainly gait, the whole locomotive apparatus being so constructed and arranged as when set in motion to make the toes turn in rather than out. Such a person is predisposed to mesenteric inflamma- tion. But whereas in the light variety pulmonary con- sumption in the form of abscess is the culmination of the disease, in the dark variety involvement of the small as well as the large glands is apt to show itself. Out of these two classes of persons we make our con- sumptives in this country; and as consumption is a more destructive disease than any other we have, so a larger proportion to the whole number of this class of persons are afflicted with mesenteric difficulties than 376 INFLAMMATION of the mesenteric glands. can be found suffering from any other disease known to cur climate and people. It is really surprising to see how many persons in any given congregation which may be made up, are developing marasmus or consumption of the bowels in its various stages. Some just beginning to have dys- pepsia, some diarrhoea, some dysentery, some piles, some uterine difficulties of one sort or another, some erup- tions on the skin, some ulcers on the body, some inter- nal or external abscess, some salt rheum, erysipelas, tetter, and so on through a large class of different de- grees of morbid conditions does this destructive disease make its way, until it culminates in the incurable, and the subject dies. To one who has come to be familiar with scrofula in its various stages, a scrofulous person can be picked out from a group just as soon as one sees him. He gives unmistakable signs of the tendencies that are in him to the development of consumption of the bowels. Now, I am sure that aU constitutional or inherited tendencies to this disease can be entirely overcome very easily, if the subject is placed under proper manage- ment early in Hfe. Not so easily, but nevertheless cer- tainly, if taken later in Hfe, provided there is at a later period no breaking up of the structures, so as to involve serious organic lesions. I think that the Psycho-hy- gienic theory of Hving healthfully, as well as of treat- ing disease curatively, comprehends influences and in- volves the action of vital forces, to a degree that will justify the statement that any consumptive family pre- INFLAMMATION OF THE MESENTERIC GLANDS. 377 disposed by descent, first to consumption of the bowels, and last to consumption of the lungs, can have such alterations made in it as to bring into existence a new set of arrangements under which consumption will be impossible. So great alterations can be made in this respect as substantially to change the entire order of development in a given person, making him or her to be as unlike the other members of the family of the same sex, as though there were no blood relations exist- ing between them, or as though they were entirely of different temperaments. If this can be done—and I affirm it can — then no other plan of development nor of treatment of diseases can compare with the Psycho- hygienic theory or system in its comprehensiveness and its intrinsic value. There are five or six leading agents or instrumentaK- ties which are necessary, under proper combination, to produce this result. One is food and drink; another is air ; another, forms of exercise or labor ; another is clothing; another is light; another, sleep; another, social surroundings; another, intellectual and moral culture. Combine these properly, and bring them to bear continuously on the subject, and a child born of a consumptive mother, and having tubercles on its mesen- tery and in its lungs, at birth or beyond it, can be so changed as to have taken out of it every tubercle, and to have its constitutional tendencies to tuberculous de- velopment completely and thoroughly overcome. That this is true I know, for I have seen it wrought out not in one, nor ten, nor fifty, nor a hundred, but 378 INFLAMMATION OF THE MESENTERIC GLANDS. in more than a thousand instances during my practice, There is no more need of scrofulous chddren dying from mesenteric or pulmonary disease, than there is for the strongest man becoming scrofulous. AU that is necessary is simply to have the conditions of Hving wrought for the child, and to have him brought under them and kept under them, and nature sets herself at work to make her modifications of a radical character, and if uninterfered with, wiU continue to make them until the whole organization of the subject is rearranged. So far can this thing be carried as to destroy aU con- scious likeness between the child and other members of the family who are left tainted. Thus you can take a child whose natural tendency is to develop a moderate height, yet quite good breadth, to large de- velopment of muscle in the lower Hmbs and smaU in the upper, and, by Psycho-hygienic treatment, turn him right around, and make him develop conversely to the order of his own family. Thus you can take a child having a very large head, and, therefore, a pre- dominant nervous organization, with smaU organic nervous force, and by proper training so change him that he shall have relatively a much larger organic nervous force than he had when you began; in which case you change entirely the order or style of growth which otherwise would have existed. A child with large head and feeble blood-making organs, cannot grow up into the same shape of man that he would if he had a large head with vigorous blood-making organs. If, then, you can contrive to direct vitality to the nu- INFLAMMATION OF THE MESENTERIC GLANDS. 379 tritive organs, and so increase their power, you change outwardly the whole form of the person under opera- tion. And if you change him outwardly you must change him inwardly; for nothing is more certain than that a man's intellectual and moral nature are depend- ent in their manifestation upon the style and quality of his physical organization. If, then, a short child can be made taU, and a slim, tall child can be made broad and less tall; if a weak child can be made strong by proper culture, and a child constitutionally strong can be made weak for want of it, as the facts may exist, so wiU these have to do with and affect both the order and quality of the inteUectual and moral character he will show. Every one knows that external circumstances pro- duce differences in breeds of people. The English work- ingman of the present day, descended through twenty generations of ancestors holding substantially the same conditions to Hfe, is a very different human being in aU that goes to make him up characteristically from an English nobleman, who is himself a fair representative of his ancestors for a thousand years. When you bring the two together, they not only manifest different shades of character, but they manifest in their bodies an entire lack of consanguinity. They are both Englishmen, but for all the likeness which exists between them, one might as well have been born in Russia and the other in England, as to have both been born and reared on her soil. I take this broad ground because I know it tc be 380 INFLAMMATION OF THE MESENTERIC GLANDS. true, and because, if I can make others beheve it as certainly as I know it, a reform can be commenced in the rearing of children in this country which would pretty much abolish the mesenteric diseases now so prevalent with children and adults. Whenever, therefore, any form of mesenteric or scrof- ulous inflammation, whether active or passive, shows itself in any person, the only successful and effectual remedy is to set to work to reconstitutionahze the sub- ject. All the drugs in the world wiU do no good; they only help to kill. A complete revolutionary, radi- cal, reformatory process must be set at work. Where inflammation shows itself, as it does ofttimes in enlarge- ment of the mesenteric glands, attended with soreness of the bowels involving the peritoneum, the inflamma- tion must not only be reduced, but the habits of the person must be so changed that his blood-making or- gans will be additionally vitalized, and so invigorated that out of a given quantity of food they shall be able to make better blood and more of it than before. When this process is begun then restoration is begun; until it is there is no cure, whatever skillful patchwork may do. To do this three things are necessary: First, raw material of the right kind must be found, out of which to make healthy blood ; second, vitahty must be used expertly, no more of it being involved in the process of changing food into blood, in distributing blood, and in organizing it into the various tissues than is actuaUy necessary; third, no more vitality must be used in INFLAMMATION OF THE MESENTERIC GLANDS. 381 breaking up tissues, carrying off waste matters, and keeping the body in good health than is necessary. Take aU the hygienic agents, whatever they may be, and make them operate in this direction, and to the degree that you are successful in combining them wiU you produce the result. s Of foods for mesenteric patients, or for persons pre- disposed to mesenteric disease, wheat is the best article known to man. Of drinks, soft water is better than any other thing. Next to wheat stands the other grains, of which, however, corn and buckwheat are the most objectionable ; oats, rye and barley being better. Hard water should not be habitually drunk by a per- son of scrofulous diathesis suffering from actual mes- enteric disease. Flesh-meats are essentially bad for scrofulous persons of every grade, shade and age. The disease is such as necessarily to contra-indicate their use. Sub-acid fruits are next best to the grains, only a few vegetables ranking highly as nutrients to such per- sons. Cow's milk united with bread of unbolted wheat meal is one of the best foods for scrofulous persons, either children or adults, which I know. Some of the most desperate looking cases of scrofulous children have been cured at " Our Home " after every resource had failed their parents, by putting them upon a diet of milk and wheat meal, boiled together in the form of a gruel, feeding them quite moderately at first, but in- creasing the quantity as they improved in appetite and in digestion. Water baths in aU cases of scrofula are essential, to be mildly administered, and rather of a tonic character. 382 INFLAMMATION OF THE MESENTERIC GLANDS. In acute mesenteric inflammation, fomentations are of very great advantage, foUowed always, of course, by cold appHcations over the part fomented. Injections of tepid water are also valuable. Sitz-baths taken every other day with dripping sheets are good. In cases of chronic mesenteric inflammation, the ab- dominal wet compress is of prime importance, so is the injection into the body of cool water, so also is drinking largely of cool water which is soft, the taking of packs followed by dripping sheets, and sitz-baths of a tonic character on alternate days- Where the abdomen is not too sore and the strength of the patient wiU allow, whether man or woman, horse- back-riding, man-fashion, is of great value. I was in- strumental in assisting a very feeble bowel-consump- tive to health, by inducing him to take a journey of five hundred miles on horseback. He did nothing but that, different from what he had been doing for himself at home for three years. Before he got over his five hundred miles—for he was not able to ride more than three miles a day when he first began, and at no time more than fifteen to twenty miles at best—he was so improved that in one year thereafter he was in excel- lent health. I was successful in assisting to health the wife of a gentleman who herself had long been afflicted with chronic mesenteric inflammation, by processes which were very simple, including, of course, careful diet and proper cleanliness of skin with regularity of habit in various directions, and horseback riding astride. It was INFLAMMATION OF THE MESENTERIC GLANDS. 383 rather a dehcate thing to do in the community where she lived; but it was Hfe or death with her, and she had such faith in my suggestions that she consented, and her improvement was so great as actually to rejoice those who knew her, to that degree that their opposi- tion to the means employed was entirely silenced. Give to Nature the scrofulous chUdren in this coun- try, and let her have them to train and to treat, and they need not and wiU not die tiU their time comes- CHAPTER XLV. DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS. These organs, as is generally understood, He in the body just above the smaU of the back on the back side of the body. Their shape is oblong-oval; their main function is to secrete urine, and by two tubes called ureters to carry it to the bladder, whence it is ejected by urination. Under common and fair habits of living, the kidneys seldom become diseased. I doubt, except from injury, whether they would be so, unless in per- sons exceedingly scrofulous, were water the only bever- age, and grains, fruits and vegetables the only aliments eaten. Where persons, however, live on animal food largely, and use along with it spices, and especiaUy common salt freely ; where they drink heating drinks, either narcotic or stimulant, and Hve badly other ways, taking for every little ailment which they may have powerful drastic purgatives or other drug-medicines, these organs almost always become deranged, and do their full share in inducing morbid conditions of other organs. A great many persons who die of pulmonary consumption, of bronchial consumption, of chronic bron- chitis, of asthma, of derangements of the stomach, amounting in some instances to cancerous conditions, (384) DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS. 385 of diseases of the heart, occasionally of diseases of the brain, and of diseases of the lower bowels and the bladder, have had derangements of these organs insti- tuted and carried to their final consummation from condition of the kidneys. The most ordinary form of disease of these organs is what is caUed congestion of the kidneys. This will be found to exist in much larger proportion amongst women than amongst men, owing, as I think to their habitual bad style of dress, there being much compres- sion on the body over the kidneys. I think that a large proportion of all the women whom I have ever had to treat, no matter how comphcated their ail- ments, have had congestion of the kidneys. I think two-thirds of all the persons who were suffering, or supposed to be suffering, from derangements of the uterus, were suffering also from derangements of the kidneys and lower bowel. I doubt not that this is as truly the case with all the women who suppose them- selves to have, and are generally treated by medical men as having, some form of derangement of the ute- rus. In a great many instances disease of the kidneys simulates disease of the uterus. The pain is where women often complain of having pain, when they think or are told that they have uterine displacement. A great many women have come under my professional notice as having retroversion of the uterus, when noth- ing ailed them but chronic congestion of the kidneys, I think it well worth the while of professional men to pay more attention in their diagnoses to the kidneys, 17 386 DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS. especially when women are their patients, than they are in the habit of doing. Because, owing to the kind of life which women live, the work they do—which is generally done in a partially stooping posture, such as cooking, washing dishes, setting tables, cleaning rooms, keeping house in order, tending children if they have them, making beds and so on—by reason of the liga- tures around the waist and the hips the venous circula- tion is impeded, the blood being hindered on its passage upward to the heart, and so congestion takes place, producing a group of symptoms readily understandable if one turns his attention that way, but as readily to be misunderstood unless the attention be directed to these organs. A moment's reflection wUl convince even an unpro- fessional person that the kidneys hold a very important position in the organism, and are intended to serve a very important function in the preservation of the health of the body. They are so located as to be easily subjected to disturbance and positive injury, nothing protecting them from external injury but the soft muscu- lar parts which superficially overhe them. Small pres- sure here, long-continued, can be productive of great and lasting injury to them, so far, at least, as respects anything like healthy functional action. When they are diseased, no matter from what cause, the secondary complications are quite frequently permanently damag- ing to the health of the person suffering therefrom, and, I might say, almost as frequently destructive to life. The Psycho-hygienic practice of living would DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS. 387 prevent much of this, because it would impose on per- sons essentially such a style of living as would be of great service in maintaining health, and so in prevent- ing disease; and wherever this was carried out the kidneys would have all the benefit of the course pur- sued. Congestion of the kidneys, if the same causes that produce it are permitted to operate, is likely to pass, sooner or later, into inflammation of the kidneys, which in the outset is acute, and is a very painful and dangerous disease; but which if in the main it is re- duced still exists in the form of chronic or passive in- flammation of the kidneys. Where acute inflammation of the kidneys exists, it is attended by the following symptoms: rigors, shivers, or decided chills, incapacity to lie on the side of the kidney diseased—for it is seldom if ever, except from injuries, that both kidneys are inflamed at the same time—a disposition to urinate frequently, but with no power to do so; sharp darting pains along the track of the ureters into the neck of the bladder ; severe pain in the direction of the lower bowels, terminating in the bowel at the anus, and in the bladder at the outer ter- mination of the urethra. General fever is always a concomitant of inflammation of the kidneys. When the disease is treated unskillfully, metastatic or substituted action takes place, and the kidneys are reheved thereby, the stomach or liver or lungs or throat being affected. It is never good practice to set up this metastatic action. Sometimes where strong 388 DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS. sympathy exists between the diseased organ and one not diseased, the physician finds it favorable to the recovery of the patient to have substitutive action in- duced. Thus one may have a very bad condition of liver from which he can only be relieved by having it transferred to the skin : thus one may have a very bad condition of the lungs from which he can only be re- lieved by having it transferred to the bowels : thus one may have a very bad condition of the stomach from which he can only be relieved by having it transferred to the lining membrane of the nostrils, and so on. Where disease of the kidneys exists of such a kind as to render it imperative, nature herself will set up a metastatic action, taking the disease away from the kidneys and fixing or fastening it on to some other organ, thus allowing the kidneys to recover their natu- ral condition, and ultimately the substituted organ also to recover its health. As a general practice, however, it is better to treat directly the organ diseased. Whatever be the mani- festation it puts on, let that be the guide to the treat- ment of it. If, then, the symptoms are such as to show acute congestion, acute inflammation or chronic inflam- mation of the kidneys, let them be treated directly as well as indirectly. Of course to the degree that there is involvement of other organs, or of the body at large, should the treatment correspond to such complication. Hence, as there is almost always in acute congestion of *,he kidneys general fever, wet-sheet packing of the whole body will be found to be very serviceable. As DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS. 389 there is also more or less likelihood of involvement of the liver, lower bowels and genital organs, these should have also proper treatment. For such involvements the half-wet-sheet pack, and the sitz-bath at 85°, tepid injections, hot fomentations, followed by cold com- presses, as the symptoms may indicate, will be found very serviceable. If there be pain in the head, more likely than not it is because the circulation is too great in the blood- vessels of the brain. When this is the case, coldness of the feet will be an accompaniment, and almost always sweatiness of the palms of the hands. Under such circumstances, frequent ablutions of warm or cold wrater will be found very serviceable. When, under chronic inflammation of the kidneys, bronchial symptoms are seen to exist, or a dry, hacking cough, then there should be general treatment given, because then the stomach, liver, lungs, or circulation at large, and the nervous system are all involved, and what may be termed constitutional treatment is then as necessary as mere local treatment would be under acute and limited disease of these organs. Where there is scantiness of urine, natural diuretics are of service. Of these, none are so good as sub-acid fruits in the way of foods, and none so good in the way of drink as pure soft water. I have had some diseases of the kidneys of a very marked character to treat, wherein the persons suffering from them were greatly and almost immediately relieved by the free use of soft water. 390 DIABETES. Diabetes.—There is a form of disease of the kidneys commonly known as diabetes, which term is derived from a Greek word, meaning to pass through. It com- monly is understood to mean excessive flow of mine. It is acknowledged by physicians to be one of the most difficult diseases to cure with which they are called to deal. In fact, I think it is regarded by them, on the whole, as the most difficult of any. I notice that in all medical books of the different schools, written to illustrate their styles of practice, it is set down as a disease which, when once fairly established, is regarded by them as incurable. Like advanced pulmonary con- sumption, they know of nothing which will serve as an effectual corrective or curative. I think that I have been able, under the Psycho-hygienic practice, thor- oughly to demonstrate the fallacy of such conclusion. I am sure I have if my practice has been sufficiently extensive to justify my drawing conclusions therefrom with reference to the curability of the disease. I have had, in twenty years practice, between forty and fifty cases of well-marked diabetes, if by this is meant excessive flow of sweet or sour urine, accompa- nied by dryness of skin, great thirst, emaciation, pur- plish-colored finger-nails at the roots, or curling up of the toe-nails, scanty fasces, voracious appetite, very dry and rough condition of the hair, unpleasant dreams when asleep, irritability of temper when awake, petu- lance or fault-finding under little provocation, or else, instead, a dullness and stupor of mind. If these symp- toms are such as commonly accompany diabetes, then DIABETES. 391 the cases which I have had to treat were clearly forms of this disease. Of the whole number treated by rne, not more than three were original cases; all the others had been in the hands of other physicians. The majority of the whole number had each had the services of several physicians of different schools. Only in a few cases had there seemed to be any improvement, as far as each patient for himself could judge. Whether it is true as a general fact or not, it has been true with me, that nine-tenths of those whom I have had to treat have been men, certainly not more than one in ten, women. In many statistics which I have been able to gather up by my reading, I get no light in the matter, no hospital accounts, nor statements of private practitioners mentioning the relative proportion of men and women suffering from the disease, who have been treated therein or thereby. In some cases of per- sons who put themselves under my care, the disease had existed two or three years. Many of them were of a very interesting nature. I will take the liberty to men- tion two or three. One was the case of a man about forty-six years of age, who had had the disease about eight months, dur- ing which time he had been in the hands, first of an allopathic physician, who at last said he could do him no good. While under his management he took great quantities of medicine, of the nature of which he knew nothing. He then employed a homeopathic physician, who treated him about an equal length of time to no 392 DIABETES. benefit. He then tried a clairvoyant, who was certain he could cure him, but failed. As a last resort, he sought my assistance. I found him a skeleton, making from eight to ten quarts of water in twenty-four hours, making much more, however, during the night than during the day, and much more when recumbent than when sitting, and much more, though recumbent, when asleep than awake. The urine was secreted into the bladder in such quantities as to fill it in a very little while. When he was asleep, if it became filled, the principle of the syphon was set at work and it over- flowed, passing from him involuntarily. This was so disagreeable and offensive that he had to have a reser- voir of India-rubber, which was affixed to his body when he lay down, so that when the water ran out it would empty into this reservoir, which was large enough to hold all that flowed into it during the time of his sleeping. He was suffering from an overpowering thirst; had been denied almost entirely the use of water, and had been kept upon fresh meat exclusively as a diet, or nearly so. His skin was dry and scaly ; he had an evacuation of the bowels only once in 3 or 4 days, unless produced by cathartic medicines. The man was as wretched a looking object as one could readily find. It was summer-time when he came to me. I exam- ined him in my office, close by which there was running soft water. The murmur of it as it flowed along reached his ear, and he turned around and said : " Oh, you cannot tell how much I would give for al] the water I could drink !" DIABETES. 393 I said to him, " You may have all the water you want; go out there and drink your fill." He rose out of his chair and said, "Are you in earnest?" " Yes," said I; " drink all you want." I watched him as he went to the spring, and he took the dipper and filled it and drank, and filled and drank, and filled and drank, until I myself became almost frightened at the quantities he was taking into his stomach ; but I said, " I mil risk it." When he had drunk all he wanted, he came back and said, " You are the blessedest man I have seen since I was sick. I have not drunk as much water in six months, I believe, put it aU together, as I have drunk within three minutes." That night I gave him a half-bath, scouring and scrubbing his skin until the water in which he sat was covered with flakes of cuticle, as if you had scattered wheat bran into it. I could not make him lie down in our bed, because he said he was afraid, having drunk so much water, he should urinate a great deal more than usual, and he should very Hkely wet the bed, and spoil it. But I said, " No," to that view. " You are less likely to urinate freely than if you had not drunk. I think you will be more likely to sweat, and if so, to make less water." But he insisted on sitting up in the rocking-chair. So we fixed him for the night, and left him, and at midnight he began to sweat — sweat pro- fusely, making, however, a good deal more water than usual, but the next morning feeling better as far as thirst was concerned. 17* 394 DIABETES. I gave him for breakfast unleavened bread and pud- ding, with a little sub-acid fruit. On that day I packed him, gave him a half-bath after it, and at night gave him a sitz-bath of a mild temperature for three-quar- ters of an hour, put arOund him wet compresses, and let him have aU the water he wanted to drink. It was with difficulty that he could walk half a mile when he came to me. In fourteen days he had gained fourteen pounds; his urination had dropped down to two quarts a day, or thereabouts, and he walked four miles. In six weeks from that time he was a hale, hearty, healthy man to all appearance, car- rying on his business at home on his farm, with alacrity and cheerfulness, and for years after that was as free from that, or any other disease, as any man in his neighborhood. He said, in speaking of his case to me, that he felt new life, as it were, infused into him while he was drinking his first draught of soft water at our spring. Another case was that of a gentleman residing in New Hampshire, who had incipient diabetes, or what perhaps might be called inordinate urination. His dis- ease had not progressed so far as the case related above, but had gotten along where from four to six quarts of water were made in a day. I examined him, and told him I thought he could be helped without much diffi- culty, and placed him under treatment, giving him packs, sitz-baths, dripping-sheets, abdominal bandages, enemas, and making his diet to consist entirely of un- leavened bread or pudding, made of unbolted wheat DIABETES. 305 meal and water, with a little sub-acid fruit, and plenty of soft water as a drink. In sixty days he was thor- oughly weU. His case wras a marveUous one in this respect, that he weighed two hundred and four pounds when he came to me, and he went away weighing one hundred and fifty-five pounds, and yet his urinary excretions had lessened from the very great quantity made daily to those of an ordinary healthy man. In treating diabetes, and, in fact, all forms of inconti- nence of urine, I have never found so good food as wheat meal, or what we term Graham flour. I doubt whether there is an edible substance in the world so well calcu- lated to restore the blood to natural conditions, and the kidneys to healthy action, as wheat bran. I think one of the best drinks for a diabetic patient would be a de- coction of bran; say, pour hot water upon it, and let it stand until it gets cold, and then, putting in the juice of some sub-acid fruit just to acidulate it a trifle, let him drink it. But I prefer to have the person eat bran as food in the proportions which it sustains to the glutinous parts of wheat, the whole of the wheat being made into bread and pudding, and the person eating these as food and drinking soft water as a drink. I am satisfied that the treatment of diabetes by physicians, generally, is entirely indefensible from the dietetic point of view. A diabetic patient should have all the water he wants to drink, no matter how much, once accustomed to its use; should eat not more than twice a day, better in 396 DIABETES. many instances if not more than once a day, and should be confined to farinaceous and fruit foods. Meat he should let entirely alone. Vegetables he would do bet- ter without. I know that in this I run counter to the general opinion of medical men, but with all due respect to them, I must be permitted to say that I have not great confidence in their opinions, because these are not formed from original observation and experiment, but are adopted and foUowed after routine. What one man has tried and recommends in a book, some other man tries, accepting it as the only true method of treatment. Their opinions uttered in this form of reiteration, I do not count as worth much. I believe that if once the idea that flesh meat was the best kind of food for per- sons suffering from diabetes were questioned, the result would be an entire change of front with reference thereto. I am glad to be able to say that a distin- guished English physician has admitted that he has found in his treatment that bread made of wheat bran is one of the best foods that a diabetic patient can eat. Whoever has this disease, or any other form of kidney disease, should not on any occasion nor on any account use hard water. It is as bad to drink hard water in such a case, as it is to drink alcoholic liquors. All wines and spirituous liquors of every kind are to be avoided. All the ordinary table beverages are to be dispensed with. The drink should be soft water and nothing else, unless it should be so prepared as to con- stitute food as well as drink, in which case I think GRAVEL. 397 water gruel made of wheat meal constitutes the best possible food and drink combined. Gravel.—This is a disease of the kidneys caused by small calculous concretions which, forming in the kid- neys, are passed along the ureter to the bladder, and are there passed out through the urethra. In many instances these concretions become so large as to render it difficult for them to be passed along the track of the urethra, and whenever this is the case the patient suf- fers very great pain. In numbers of cases which I have had to treat, I have found that while in the usual conditions the pa- tient would have to suffer very great pain, injections of warm water into the bowels, or the application of hot fomentations over the kidneys and bladder, or the immersing of the body in a warm sitz-bath, with a warm foot-bath, would induce very great temporary relief. In a few instances I have noticed this effect, that where the person was permitted to endure the suffer- ing, nothing being done to relieve him, and thus pass the stone under active urination, that by giving him a warm bath not only was great relief insured, as com- pared with the suffering he had to undergo when noth- ing wras done, but in such case the stones seemed to be triturated, or ground into fine sand, and thus were passed in the urine with comparatively little pain. If persons who suffer from gravel want to be cured of it, the best remedy is the prophylactic or the pre- 398 GRAVEL. ventive remedy. It is not difficult at all to cure the disease so that one who has had it for years shall have no more of it. To do this, however, the remedy must be preventive ; for, though you do cure such person by Psycho-hygienic treatment, you cannot keep him cured unless you keep up the Psycho-hygienic methods of living. To illustrate: take a patient having gravel; treat him after my methods; cure him ; let him go home and eat and drink as he had been accustomed to do before going under treatment, and the disease wiU come back. But put him under the Psycho-hygienic treatment, and cure him, and send him home to live Psycho-hygienically, and he never will have the gravel again. The disease is caused by bad food and drink. Abandon these, and use proper food and drink, and once relieved from it one will never have more of it. Now, flesh meats and hard water are the predispos- ing, and not infrequently the provoking, causes to gravel. The best foods in the world are farinaceous, vegetable and fruit foods; the only proper drink is soft water. It would seem that one might know by first impression that having calculous formations in the kidneys he should not use hard water. Within three mues of me, as I am now writing, Hves a man who, about two years ago, came to me for consultation. He had had several attacks of gravel, the last one almost killing him. His physician seemed not to know what to do for him; had exhausted his remedies ; so, at his wife's solicitation, he came to me. GRAVEL. 399 He is a rich farmer, but an active, energetic, enter- prising, hard-working man. He had eaten and drunk what seemed good to him ; had not, up to the time of his calling on me, been told that it was bad for him to eat and drink as he had done. I made a diagnosis of his case; made him out a prescription and sent him home. Fortunately for him he accepted my view of his case most heartily, and carried out my prescription. Six months passed before I heard from him; he then wrote to me telling ms how he was; that he had not had a return of the attack; had gained flesh; his dizziness of head had left him, and his bowels had be- come regular. At the end of the year he was a new man. It is now two years, or nearly, and he has had no sign nor symptom of a recurrence of the disease; is hearty and healthy. I did nothing for him but to recommend the use of hygienic diet and drink; to wear a wet bandage all round his body night and day, keep his bowels open, skin clean, and not work hard : so simple and yet so effective is the Psycho-hygienic treatment. When I last saw him he said that if a man would give him a good farm he would not accept it to part with the knowledge how to keep well which his fifteen minutes' conversation with me furnished him ; that he had never known in his whole life his health to be bet- ter, if as good as then. Many persons who suffer from gravel do so because ^of the hard water which they use, not living where soft water springs can be had. But this is no excuse ; for all over the United States it rains, and water can 400 GRAVEL. be caught in pails, barrels, hogsheads, cisterns and troughs, and then filtered, and thus be perfectly good to drink. All persons who use hard water, no matter what earthy salt may be held in suspension in it to N make it hard, are without excuse. Water with Hme in it, alum in it, sulphur in it, or any kind of salt which makes it hard, is unfit to drink at all, and is not to be drunk except in extreme cases where thirst is to be quenched, and nothing else can be got at the time. CHAPTER XLVI. bright's disease of the kidneys. This disease is not very common with the Am srican people, especially that portion who are to be considered as, in the main, temperate and moral in their habits. Unless injury is inflicted on the kidneys by contusions or falls, there is little danger that the disease will show itseff in any person whose general habits of life are temperate. But where persons live intemperately, as by gluttony, or by the use of alcoholic liquors or drug- poisons, the disease does show itself, and is, as a genera- thing, incurable from its first obvious manifestations; for it is an occult disease, not sensibly affecting the kidneys until they are organically or structurally dis- eased so far as to render cure difficult. The disease may be classed among the dropsies, and may be called dropsy of the kidneys. It consists in a fatty degeneration of the structure of the kidneys, or what is sometimes called fatty granulation. The symptoms of the disease in its earlier stages are so much like those which are seen in diseases of the liver and the lower bowel, or which are sometimes seen in nervous dyspepsia as to mislead the patient and the practitioner as to its nature. Thus, in many instances, (401) 102 bright's disease of the kidneys. where there is obstructed liver, the patient wiU suffer from pain across the small of the back, or pain Ioav down in front, with a desire to make urine quite fre quently ; and were the physician finding these symp- toms to say that the patient was suffering from " liver complaint," he would diagnosticate the case rightly; but just such symptoms in early stages would show themselves in Bright's disease of the kidneys. As dis- ease of the Hver in some form or other of it is much more common to the people of the United States than Bright's disease of the kidneys is, any practicing physician is therefore more likely to be familiar with the symptoms of that than of this disease. So when called to a patient, if certain symptoms which show themselves in both of these diseases in early stages are present, being much more familiar with disease of the Hver than with this form of disease of the kidneys, the physician would diagnosticate the case as disease of the liver. Should he do so, and proceed to treat the patient accordingly, he would make a mistake, and instead of doing him good would do him harm, if in no other way, by failing to discern the true state of the case, and so let the disease go on untouched by any remedies which he might administer. From this cause alone it is more difficult to treat this form of disease of the kidneys than any other dis- ease, except some diseases of the heart, with which physicians have to deal. I doubt whether there is a single morbid manifestation that the human body usually takes, or may take on, the symptoms of which bright's disease of the kidneys. 403 are so peculiar, and therefore so likely to mislead, as Bright's disease of the kidneys. It seems to me, from what little experience I have had in the matter, and from what knowledge I have been able to get by con- versing with other physicians, and by reading, that this is one reason why the disease has come to be regarded by all physicians as essentially incurable ; for one can- not know whether the kidneys are diseased or not until the disease has become structural instead of functional. It is therefore very difficult to be able to cure it. I have never had but four cases to treat, in two of which the disease was incipient. Happening to make a correct diagnosis at the outset, I was successful in overcoming the difficulty. In the other two cases, the disease had passed beyond all help, the persons having already become so skeletony as to have little or no nutrient power, and having also fever and night-sweats, with incontinence of urine at times. My advice, therefore, to any person having symptoms like the following, is to place himself, as soon ■ as these appear, under some Psycho-hygienic physician, and re- main under his treatment until the symptoms entirely disappear : Pain in the small of the back, now on one side then on the other; pain in making water accom- panied by frequent desire to urinate when there is but little secretion in the bladder ; pain along down inside of the legs to the heels, and chilliness of the lower ex- tremities ; great sensitiveness to cold across the small of the back ; pain in the morning in the back of the neck, especially in the back of the head low down; 404 bright's disease of the kidneys. chills always when sitting where a current of air can blow upon the back; dyspeptic conditions soon after eating; constipation of bowels to-day, to be followed by looseness to-morrow ; restlessness in the night, wak- ing up frequently, and having sharp, darting pains across the small of the back; uncertainty of mental condition, such as great exhilaration and hilarity to-day and great depression and unusual taciturnity to-mor- row ; indisposition to sit up straight; disposition to put the hand around upon the small of the back ; soreness to the touch upon rubbing over the kidney. Such symptoms and their like are worthy of notice. For treatment, I would suggest wet bandages over the stomach and abdomen night and day; sitz-baths every day, of a temperature upon first going in and for a little while after—say five to ten minutes—as high as that of the blood, to be followed by a tempera- ture as low as 85°, the patient to sit in thereafter fifteen to twenty minutes; injections of tepid wafer up the bowel every day, no matter whether a movement be had or not; a most liberal use of soft water as a drink free from any commixture, no other beverage being drunk; a farinaceous and fruit diet, the coarser vege- tables being unused; general ablutions as often as twice a week; riding in a carriage for exercise rather than walking-; a cheerful, sunny, social life, having good true-hearted, pleasant, agreeable friends; a reverent and pious, but not superstitious, state of mind ; plenty of sleep ; food only twice in twenty-four hours ; dress- ing of the lhnbs so warmly as to protect them from URLNARY DISEASE. 405 cold; loose dressing so as utterly to prevent obstruc- tion to the circulation of the blood ; sexual continence entire while under treatment, and entire avoidance of drug-medicines. Such would be the general regimen which I would mark out. But I do not think that any person having disease of the kidneys of any sort is justified in trying to cure himself, provided he is so situated as to be able to consult and obtain the medical oversight and care of a good Psycho-hygienic physician; because, as I have said, the disease is only curable when taken in its early stages, and also, because even in • its early stages, the mind of the patient is apt to be so affected as to render his own judgment of what is best to be done unreliable. He therefore needs to place his case in the hands of some skillful and disinterested observer, who can apply the Psycho-hygienic treatment to advantage. Urinary Disease.—The urine, as everybody knows, is a fluid secreted from the blood. It is composed of excrementitious matter which, in order to the health of the body, it is necessary should be cast out of it. In all vertebrated animals, the bladder, therefore, is to be found, it being a cyst or bag into which the excremen- titious matters held in suspension in the water of the blood are carried, and thereby cast out in the act of uriuation. From the very fact that the fluid is ex- crementitious, it is impossible in all cases to deter- mine by it what the morbid conditions of the body at large may be. There is a class of physicians who style 406 URINARY DISEASE. themselves Uroscopic doctors, who claim that they can, by the examination of the urine of any person, tell whether he is in health or sickness, and if sick, what is the disease under which he labors. In my earlier prac- tice I gave a good deal of attention to the theory which these physicians set up, analyzing the urine of hun- dreds of persons, undertaking thereby to determine the nature of the diseases under which they suffered. But I found that the basis for diagnosis was altogether too narrow. And while it is true that one may, in many instances, come to very safe general conclusions in re- gard to the diseases under which certain persons suffer, the diagnostic basis is altogether too incomprehensive for general practice. The Uroscopians, therefore, have necessarily to confine themselves to special diseases, and hence cannot rise to eminence in general practice. For diseases of the liver, kidneys and bladder, the Uroscopic theory presents some advantageous considerations; but, on the whole, cannot be worthy of the regard which is ulainied for it by its advocates. As far as my own practice has gone, I have found that urinary diseases, as a general thing, are secondary, the bladder and its adjunctive structures being unlikely to take on diseases belonging exclusively to itself and them. Idiopathic diseases therefore of the bladder and its auxiliary structures are seldom seen, unless arising from mechanical or physical injuries. More likely than otherwise, then, when there is dis- ease of the bladder it is to be found as arising in, and dependent upon, disease of some other organs. One URINARY DISEASE. 407 of the most common causes of urinary diseases is dis- ease of the blood. When the blood is apparently healthy or ordinarily healthy, urinary disease will scarcely ever be found to exist, except from mechanical injuries of the bladder or its immediate auxiliaries. Inflammation of the bladder is generally a disease of its mucous lining. Disease of the neck of the bladder is either congestion, or inflammation, or suppuration of it. Where disease of the neck of the bladder ex- ists, whether in congestion, or passive, or active inflam- mation of it, disease of the urethra or the canal through which the urine passes to expulsion is likely to exist. Many persons suffer from painful urination, the sensi- bility being at the outer termination of the urinary pas- sage. This almost always indicates irritation or in- flammation of the neck of the bladder. Aside from injuries, no person need have disease of the urinary organs, provided he lives within the Hne of temperateness in food and drink, and keeps the other organs of his body in such natural conditions as that they shall perform their functions properly. I do not think one person in five hundred thousand ever had disease of the urinary organs if he lived so as to keep the other organs of his body in anything like fair health. But where one eats like a glutton and drinks like a de- bauchee ; where he dresses so as to check the external circulation, and relates himself to the action of the bowels so that these shall become necessarily unhealthy; where sedentary habits exist and imperfect clothing of the lower limbs is had, and care and- anxiety are con- 408 URINARY DISEASE. Btantly affecting his mental and moral nature, urinary diseases may arise ; and under such circumstances oft- ener than from any other set of causes do arise. What one wants, therefore, to do in the way of pre- vention, is to Hve hygienically, and whenever a case of disease of the urinary organs is clearly manifest, what one wants to do for its cure is to be treated Psycho- hygienically. For inflammation of the bladder, when it is active or acute, one of the best things to be done is, having given the patient a thorough ablution, accompanied with good hand dry-rubbing, to put him upon a nitrogenous diet, keeping out of his food carbonaceous or heat-forming substances, to give him soft water to drink, and this only; to make him take a recumbent posture, and in the main to keep it; to lay upon his bowels over the bladder hot fomentation cloths, and keep them on until the pain, if it be acute, has sensibly subsided ; then to keep upon him cool compresses all the time—if he can bear them aU around so much the better ; to give him sitz-baths two or three times in twenty-four hours, while the acute manifestations exist, and the colder these are, up to the point where they do not feel uncomfortable, the better for him ; to keep his feet warm by frequent rub- bing of the hand, aiding the circulation, or else by wrap- ping them in heated flannels; to keep his head cool, and especially the back part of it, having preparations so made as to be able to lay wet, ice-cold cloths right in the nape of his neck once or twice a day ; also to rub the whole length of his spine with ice-cold cloths, URINARY DISEASE. 409 determining the circulation to the skin, and answering the ends of cupping; if this cannot be done by the application of cold cloths alone, then to have hot cloths laid up and down the back-bone, as hot as he can bear them, followed by cloths as cold as ice-water can make them, thus changing the circulation both of the blood- vessels and of the nervous system as much as may be. For where inflammation of the bladder comes on sud- denly, being an acute disease it must be broken up as soon as it can be, even at the risk of some strain to the constitutional vigor of the patient. But where the disease exists in chronic form, having been long pre- ceded by continued congestion of the bladder, either of its body or its neck only, and so has come at length to take on what might be termed passive inflammation, then there is less necessity for immediate executive results, in which case the better plan is to treat the patient generally as well as locally. Where chronic inflammation of the bladder exists, I have always found the wet-sheet pack to be one of the best remedial instrumentalities I ever used. In truth, if you can get up a very active cutaneous excre- tion, relief to the patient becomes almost immediately sensible, and though such relief does not argue positive cure, it does argue positive curability, and is a source of very great conscious comfort to the sufferer; for to carry about with one consciously such condition of the bladder as passive inflammation of it often establishes, is to be in about as uncomfortable a physical condition as one can be placed from any disease of any organ 18 410 URINARY DISEASE. or organs of his body, where great and painful suffer- ing is a constant attendant. In women, irritability of the bladder is quite com- mon, and is indicated by a-desire to pass urine fre- quently in many instances, which, when done, causes a painful sensation, sometimes extremely so. This con- dition, I doubt not, arises largely from their style of dress, which produces mechanical displacement of the contents of the abdomen, pushing the bowels down so as to affect the natural and healthy relations of the organs of the pelvis, of which the bladder is one. Whenever such mechanical pressure is produced and continued for a long time, more or less of displace- ment results, and the bladder is made to suffer thereby. Where, however, this cause does not exist to produce the irritability, and the consequent desire to frequent urination, other conditions of living belonging to wo- man help to create it. The confinement to house life ; the frequent, bearing and nursing of children; the anxiety which is ever present with married women with reference to the management of their households, pro- ducing, when connected with their dietetic habits, hys- terical conditions, serve to cause this disease. Where women are of the nervous temperament, and naturally, therefore, of weak, irritable and anxious dis- position, they are predisposed to the disease. So, also, are those who are liable to be afflicted with nervous dyspepsia or vertigo, and especially those who are liable to chronic cutaneous eruptions. Often it exists in wo- men who are pregnant, and arises from the pressure URINARY DISEASE. 411 upon the bladder, caused by their being with child. It also oftentimes may arise from piles, or from irrita- tion in the lower bowel by small worms. Dysentery sometimes causes it, but, on the whole, more frequent causes are those which are to be referred to the state of the urine, arising, as a distinguished physician thinks, " From the nature of the ingesta, or from the changes consequent upon primary or secondary assimilation of them." Dr. Prout obseiwes that " Causes of irritability of bladder depend on functional derangement of the kidneys, usually resulting from the unnatural proper- ties of the urine. Deviations from the normal condi- tion of the urine, whether in deficiency or in excess, are recognized by the concomitant organs, and may prove a source of irritation in the bladder." Dr. Cop- land says that" The use of unripe fruits, especially by children, and often by adults, frequently occasions the complaint." He also says that gonorrhoea and mastur- bation are among the most frequent causes of irritabu- ity of bladder. My own observation has led me to feel that however varied and influential may be the causes producing irritability of the bladder, all others put together do not equal in influence and importance those which arise from the use of drug-medicaments. All the dras- tic purgatives which are prescribed by allopathic phy- sicians tend directly to cause irritability of this organ. All the class of diuretics particularly are so calculated, and whenever I find a patient of mine to have fixed irritability of the bladder, I am quite as much disposed 412 URINARY DISEASE. to search for the cause, direct or remote, in the use of some drug-poison which he has been taking, or is tak- ing, as in any other direction. My practice, therefore, with this disease, even when it is seen in the form of incontinence of urine in chil- dren, or indicated by the want of power to retain urine in any considerable quantity by adults, is so to change the action of the general system as to remove, as far as may be, the more obvious causes of irritation. Hence, a change in regimen is of great import. I should never think of allowing a patient of mine who had irritability of bladder, and who wanted to urinate every half hour, or as often as every two hours, to eat flesh meats at all; nor should I permit him under any circumstances, except such as should be adjudged purely transitional, to use common salt. The use of this sub- stance, I think, is very provocative of the disease ; and wherever the disease exists, while it is used it utterly precludes cure. I recollect not long since of meeting a gentleman who was troubled with irritability of bladder, not being able to contain more than a gill, and generally not more than half a gill of urine without being painfully desirous to micturate; a man of pretty full habit of body, Hving highly, and therefore having a good deal of waste matter in twenty-four hours to pass out of his system through this great excretory. He had either to undergo great pain, or else to pass water as often as once an hour, or not infrequently, under great mental excitement, as often as once in thirty miuntes. URINARY DISEASE. 413 He had consulted various physicians, and they had foolishly given him diuretics, supposing, in their mis- taken notions of his case, that what ailed him was a want of secretion of urine. He got no relief from them. Under the use of some of their medicines he was made worse. Meeting him, he begged the priv- ilege of stating his case to me, saying that although he didn't know much about my methods of treatment, he had heard of me frequently, and would like to state his case to me. I said to him I would be very glad to give him any information or advice that I could. So he told me how he was affected. Curious enough, although he was quite a user of spirituous Hquors, a great tobacco chewer; was not, by any means, sexually continent, and approximated nearly to the state of the glutton in the indulgence of his appetite for food, my suspicions, under his descrip- tion of his case, were awakened, particularly with respect to his use of common salt, and so I said to him: " Do you use common salt ?" " Well, yes," said he, " I eat quite moderately of salt." " How much do you eat ?" " Well," said he, " you know these little salt-cellars that are on the tables of hotels; I suppose I eat two or three of those full at a meal." Now, that any man should do so and yet think that he did not eat much salt, surprised me. I said to him, " I think you will find yourself greatly relieved by a substantial disuse of salt; in fact, if you could do with- 414 URINARY DISEASE. out it entirely, I think in one month you would be very greatly benefited." He said he could. And he did. I saw him about three months after, and he came to me and took hold of my hand, and the tears stood in his eyes whUe he said—" You cured me. I do not suffer at all. I sleep all night. I have not eaten a tea- spoonful of salt in ninety days." The poor fellow had been suffering for years in this way, and the more he suffered, curious enough it was the more salt he had come to eat. In this case, the simple disuse of the irritating substance cured him. I am very glad to be able to say that distinguished physicians of the allopathic school agree with me in their views of the hurtfulness of animal food, especiaUy where persons have what is termed the gouty rheu- matic and uric-acid diatheses; and that they also con- sider that malt liquors and spirits are still more in- jurious, and that wine m of no service whatever. I would here call attention to the fact that where irritabUity of the bladder exists in females, they should particularly defer the act of urination as long as pos- sible. Advice given to a lady who consulted me on this subject resulted, in the course of a few months, in almost entire relief, she finding after a little that when the point of secretion^of a certain quantity of urine in the bladder had been passed, desire to urinate grew less and less until the bladder became thoroughly filled, and then she could pass it with less pain than when there was only a small quantity secreted. This rather URINARY DISEASE. 415 encouraged her, and as soon as under her own determi- nation to break up the habit of frequent urination she had succeeded, and established the habit of going longer, the disease was essentially mitigated. CHAPTER XLVII. Neuralgia of the bladder, or what is termed spasms of the bladder, is a very painful affection. I myself have suffered from it, as I have from irrita- bility of the bladder for many years, and from acute passive inflammation of that organ. I know what it is to have daUy paroxysms, or every other day parox- ysms of the bladder, occurring at about the same time in the day. The attack often begins with a sense of discomfort in the region of the perineum, attended with numbness or a tickling in the internal part, seeming as though it was just below the skin, gradu- ally extending along backward to the anus, and then slowly changing into a painful itching, crawling sensa tion, as if just inside thereof there were worms crawl- ing about. It is one of the most uncomfortable sensa- tions that one ever suffers from a disease of this part. Sometimes the neuralgic pain passes along.to the scro- tum and rises up into the bowels, affecting the sper- matic cords in the male, and in the female affecting the uterus. When the pain is severe, it also sometimes affects the sacral and lumbar regions. When the parox- ysm passes off, it generally goes away gradually, leav- ing no other than a sense of soreness. This descrip- (416) NEURALGIA OF THE BLADDER. 417 tion of the case is made by various distinguished physicians, and it corresponds to my own observation, and, in fact, to my own personal experience. When it goes so far as to pass into a positive spasm, resulting in a very sudden and painful attack in the region of the bladder, the treatment foi it is fomen- tations on the outside, and injections up the bowel as warm as the patient can possibly bear. After the spasm has passed, cool tonic sitz-baths are valuable for it. I shall never forget while I remember anything, how terribly I suffered at one period of my life from spasms of the neck of the bladder. My physician gave me everything to relieve me, but without curative effect, the spasms returning at stated intervals, and causing me, if possible, increased suffering at every new ap- pearance. At last one doctor suggested the use of chloroform, and I was put under it. Relief was almost instantaneous, and this side, too, of loss of con- sciousness ; but such an abnormal condition of mind was created as I never had under the influence of any other drug, and such, too, as gave me a very thoughtful experience. It led me to a settled opinion as .to the effect of that anesthetic on my sexual system, and as to the moral effect on my consciousness. While under the influence of chloroform I became seized with the impression that a certain lady was taking improper liberties with me, and that impression—though I knew it not to be true because of the impossibility of its hav- ing been true—is just as strong on me to-day as 18* 418 PARALYSIS OF THE BLADDER. though it had been true ; and whenever I think of it I can only think of it as having been true. I made up my mind, after the whole matter had passed by sufficiently long for me to reflect upon it, that I never could be made to believe under any circumstantial evidence the truth of an averment on the part of any person in respect to having been made the subject of improper Hberties from another person while under the influence of chloroform. I allude to this simply because it was, in my case, very suggestive as going to show that the charges which have been made at different time's by different women of having had improper liberties taken with them by gentlemen who were performing dental opera- tions for them whUe they were under the influence of chloroform might be altogether fictitious. Paralysis of the Bladder.—Whether this disease is partial or complete, it depends, in the language of 'a distinguished writer, " on loss of power, either originat- ing in the organ itself, or affecting it, consequent upon injury or disease of the spinal cord or of the brain or of the other membranes." It sometimes occurs as a consequence of low nervous fevers, or of typhoid fever of a debUitating character, and also of fever of a hectic type, and in organic diseases in their last stages. I think, however, that in cases of fever the disease sel- dom is exhibited, except where powerful drug-medicine3 are given remedially. Where paralysis is complete, of course the power to PARALYSIS OF THE BLADDER. 419 retain urine is lost; the bladder, therefore, acts on the principle of the syphon, and when it is full the water runs out. For this disease there is no cure except in the restoration of the health of the general system. Where the disease arises from old age, there is no- thing to be done for it. Where it arises in middle age, being a result of impaired health, no matter how this is caused, if there is any possibihty of the general health being restored, the bladder itself may recover its lost tone. So the treatment of it becomes, in the first place, constitutional, or with reference to.the improve- ment of the general health, and in the next place, local. Some physicians think that hi its treatment the local should precede the constitutional, mainly because of the great necessity there is of obtaining speedy relief. Where the treatment is to be constitutional, it must depend largely upon the pecuharities of the case, as these may present themselves to the consideration of the physician. I have found in some cases of it that tonic treatment, such as arises from falling-douche baths, succeeding the apphance of warm sitz-baths was of decided service. There is a paralytic condition of the bladder, some- times caused by masturbation, and where this exists the case is incurable except under moral influences of the most rigid and unintermitting kind. Where there is a paralysis of the neck of the blad- der, or relaxed state of it, as in the case of children, the best method of treatment for it is unstimulating diet, a hard bed to sleep on, accustoming the child to -J2'> INFLAMMATION OF THE Co ATS OF THE BLADDER. but very little clothing over the body when asleep, Hfe in the open air, vigorous general and local baths given daily, and regularity of habit in every direction. Inflammation of the Coats of the Bladder.—This disease is technicaUy described as cystitio. It is said more frequently to occur than otherwise upon one or other of the forms of inflammation of the mucous lin- ing of the bladder. It is rarely a primary, but more commonly a consecutive disease. It is regarded by medical men- as a severe and dangerous disease, and needs the promptest treatment. Its symptoms are generally severe pain in the region of the os pubis, with an uneasy feeling in and around the perineum, with a bearing-down sensation of the lower bowel, and heat and irritating sensibility along the track of the urethra. The patient has frequent calls to pass urine. Sometimes the disease is occasioned by a sudden suspension of hemorrhoids, or, in women, of the menstrual flow, or of whites ; but whatever may be the cause of it, it is a dangerous disease, and often runs its destructive course within three or four days; more commonly than otherwise before the end of the first week. Medical men who have had much opportunity to know of it say, that it terminates either in what is called ulceration, or a modification of the symptoms of it, or it passes into a chronic stage, leaving tender- ness in the region of the bladder with painful urina- tion, or it ends in suppuration, and then oftener than INFLAMMATION OF TIIF COATS OF THE BLADDER. 421 otherwise in an incurable, and, sooner or later, fata] disease. Of those diseases of the bladder which are connected with deposits within its waUs of a calculous formation, there is nothing in a work like this legitimate to say further than that when calculous formations have come to exist in any marked or noticeable degree, the case passes within the province of the surgeon. How and why these depositions are formed may be considered a matter of some consequence, but a descrip- tion of them wrould take up altogether too much space in this volume. I therefore have only to say with respect to them, that where they are not already formed there is no necessity of their being so, provided persons will regulate their dietetics and beverages according to the hygienic standard. The eating of proper food and the drinking of proper drink, is a sure preventive to anything like urinary calculi in the bladder. An eminent physician says that " Sedentary habits and luxurious feeding are more or less influential, according as they may be associated with other causes, in occasioning urinary concretions. The former im- pairs very largely the functions of the skin, and pre- vents that amount of blood depletion, which these functions effect; the latter furnishes the pabulum from which urinary concretions are in a great part derived." When these habits exist with, or are joined to, a gouty diathesis, the occurrence of gravel or calculi is often observed, and much more remarkable when a meat diet 422 INFLAMMATION OF THE COATS OF THE BLADDER. or stimulating liquors are indulged in. The evil pro- duced by animal food used in excess—and many use it in excess—is a very forcible cause in the production of the disease. Highly nitrogenized animal diet furnishes a rich and abundant chyle, which, during its circula- tion in the blood through the several viscera, becomes oxydized and otherwise changed, and if proper elim- inations are not attained by the kidneys, skin and mucous surface, the materials in the blood accumulate, and become highly animalized and morbid, occasion- ing serious diseases, among which gout and urinary concretions are the most common. CHAPTER XLVIII. WORMS. There are three kinds of worms which usually infest the human body. One is the long, round worm, gene- rally, at fuU size, from twelve to fourteen inches in length ; another, an articulated worm, having joints in it, known in common phrase as the tape worm; the third a small worm, not more than an inch in length. The first inhabits the upper bowel, and sometimes the stomach, as instances are not infrequent of worms having crawled up the esophagus into the mouth. The second usually inhabits the upper part of the large bowel. The third inhabits the lower part of the large bowel. The remedies usually applied for the cure of worms are called anthelmintics. They consist of substances which either destroy the worms by reason of the poi- sonous effects on them from their having absorbed the medicines into their structures ; or by stupifying them so that they are carried out of the body under the con- tractile action of the bowels in the process of defecation of them. (433) 424 WORMS. I have found no difficulty in curing adults by the Psycho-hygienic treatment, who have been troubled with long, round worms, or with pin-worms, though in some cases their presence in the bowels has been very afflictive and productive of great distress. I recollect in one case where by simply changing the conditions of the nerves, and so of the circulation, I succeeded in expelling large quantities of worms from the bowels of an adult patient, in the course of thirty- six hours. My treatment consisted of an entire absti- nence from food, drinking very largely of water, pour- ing cool water over the region of the stomach and bowels for the space of five or ten minutes, with hand- rubbing downward in the region of the descending colon, and injections of tepid water quite frequently. The result was that the worms were forced, under the defecatory action of the bowels, into the lower bowel, and then were washed out by heavy injections which were taken, so much water being thrown up the gut as to fill it full to the sigmoid flexure. I once had a patient who was so troubled with worms that when she fell asleep they would crawl up the esoph- agus, and would almost choke her. In one instance when she was asleep one crawled into, and was puUed out of her mouth. The case baffled the skill of the physicians who had dealt in anthelmintics, but I cured her by taking away the food on which the worms lived, and by subjecting her to a mild course of hydropathic treatment, keeping up a good condition of the skin, and putting her upon a farinaceous diet, and of the smallest WORMS. 425 possible quantity which she could eat. In less than a month's time she had pass from her no less than sixty large round wTorms, every one of which to aU appear- ances was dead upon leaving the body; she recov- ered her health, and became robust and strong. For the treatment of the small pin-wTorm, thieo things are needed: First, to eat farinaceous food and fruits, letting alone vegetables and flesh-meat; second, to keep up good excretory action of the skin, thus purifying the blood; third, to wash the ascarides from the lower bowel whenever they are germinated and lodged there. In a few weeks, or months at least, the patient can be en- tirely relieved from their presence in his bowels. Of tape-worm I have never treated but few cases; two of these successfully. I am well satisfied, however, that if I could have a patient suffering from that dis- ease under hygienic regimen long enough to produce a thorough constitutional change in the blood and in the tissues formed out of it, I could cure him however much suffering therefrom, if he had vitality enough to undergo such reconstruction. I do not believe that a tape-worm, any more than a round or a pin-worm, can live in a human body when the blood becomes nor- mal. Essentially it is the product of imperfect assimil- ation and defective elimination, and whenever a healthy condition of the nutritive system can be established so that good blood can be formed, and a healthy condition of the lymphatics exists, so that waste matters are car- ried off through the various excretories with rapidity and certainty, a tape-worm cannot live in the human body 426 WORMS. In all cases of children who have worms it is more difficult to treat them Psycho-hygienically, except in the way of prevention, than for any other disease which they have. There is no reason to be appealed to, nc moral sense to be awakened, no appreciation of the laws of relation to be entertained by them. They, there- fore, are passive subjects, and are under no such rela- tion to life as to submit to processes of cure which, while they may be more tedious, are nevertheless all the surer and more certain therefore. A child suffer- ing from worms knows of nothing but the desire to be relieved, and hygienic treatment will not give rehef as quickly, in many instances, as wiU drug-treatment. Poisons taken by the child kill the worms. If the child lives the remedy is regarded as of great virtue ; but if, under the remedy, the child does not get relief but dies, it never dies from the poison taken, but always from the worms ! Or, to speak more reverently, " It dies under the Providence of God !" In this, however, as in any other disease where time is to be had in order to produce thorough restoration, the Psycho-hygienic treatment is preferable to the drug treatment though its visible effects are less speedy ; for when the child has been treated Psycho-hygienicaUy and is cured, there is no recurrence of the disease to be feared, provided the manner of living is proper. But when a child is or has been cured by drug-treatment, there is no safety against the recurrence of. the disease under ordinary methods of living. It is much better, therefore, for parents who have children, to have them WORMS. 427 so live that they shall never" have worms to trouble them, than it is to have them live so that they will have them, and then have them cured by ^rug-medi- cation. CHAPTER XLIX. PILES. There is no disease which we have ever had to treat in which we have had better success than in the treat- ment of hemorrhoids, or piles; and yet no persons have ever come to us with any disease which has received at the hands of the medical profession more empirical man- agement than have those who have come to us afflicted with piles. Very much has been written, and that dog- matically and ignorantly, in regard to hemorrhoids. The treatment usually administered by physicians is quite out of the Hne of scientific certainty, and is not only not productive of cure, but, oftener than otherwise, involves complications of a constitutional and very serious na- ture. I cannot count up the number of cases where metastatic, or substitutive, action has resulted in cases of piles from the treatment administered for their cure. I have known severe congestions of the liver to result from the administration of so-called remedial agencies for their cure. I have also known severe hemorrhages of the lungs to result from the sudden cessation of the flux of the bowels, under the remedies employed to cure the piles. I have also, in several instances, known severe congestions of the brain to take place, in two or PILES. 429 three instances inducing complete coma, within eight- and-forty hours after medical appliances for piles had been made. I have treated during the time in which I have been in charge of a health infirmary, over seven hundred and fifty cases of piles. The majority of persons suf- fering from the disease (and the worst cases which I have ever had to treat) have been males. I am dis- posed to think that during the period of menstruation woman is much less susceptible to hemorrhoids than man, though, from the time the change of life takes place, there is, perhaps, no essential difference in their liabilities, other things being equal. The disease has been, by a distinguished writer, de- fined as follows: " Pain, with great weight, heat, or other uneasy sensation in :the rectum and anus, accom- panied or followed by tumors in these parts, or by a flow of blood, recurring at intervals, and sometimes periodically." Persons afflicted with piles, owing to the injudicious method of treatment employed by the medical faculty, generally lack intelligence to understand the conse- quences which may result from ill-management, and, therefore, are left in their ignorance to use all sorts of empirical appHcations, in the hope that they may be cured by some of them. Of quack medicines which are found in every drug-store, grocery-store and gro- cery-bazaar, there are no specifics offered for the cure of any disease so numerous as panaceas for piles. There are now advertised in the various newspapers in this 430 PTLES. country, over seventy-five specific remedies for the cure of this disease, and it may be said with entire truth, that there is not one of them but what adds to the diffi- culty under which the person labors ; or, if under their use relief is produced, it is either merely temporary, or, if permanent, is made so by the substitution of some other disease for the piles, more injurious to health and life, and altogether more difficult to manage under ju- dicious means, than are the piles themselves. It is esti- mated there are over four millions of dollars in value of piles specifics sold annually in the United States, and that of this sum twenty-five per cent, is net profit, thus making a million of dollars clear gain from the sale of these panaceas. Divide this among the seventy-five different varieties of specific remedies, and you have about twelve thousand dollars annual profit to each one from the sale of this class of medicines alone. From my own professional observation I feel quali- fied to say, that at least ninety out of each hundred persons who use these specifics for the cure of their piliary difficulties, are decidedly injured by their use, and that the remaining ten, though not sensibly in- jured, are not sensibly benefited. The reason for this universal failure to cure the piles by specific applica- tion, grows out of an entire misapprehension of the nature of the disease. For this misunderstanding, phy- sicians of learning and skill are somewhat responsible. Under their practice they have led the people to take on the impression, at least, that the disease is local in its origin, as well as in its nature ; whereas the actual PILES. 431 truth is that piles are always of a secondary nature— never original, but always derivable from or dependent upon some one or other morbid conditions of the sys- tem. Generally speaking, the disease is the product of originally deranged conditions of the stomach and liver. Under the efforts of the patient or his physicianj to re lieve himself of these by powerful medicines, drastic in their nature, constipation takes place, and subsequently thereto inflammation of the very lower portion of the bowels, called the rectum, sets in, more or less active at first in its character, but after a while becoming pas- sive, resulting in tumorous growths in the inner coat of the bowel, which give to the disease the name of hemorrhoids. Where the disease does not originate in the taking into the stomach of poisonous medicaments, it is very apt to occur where the subject is a thinker, of seden- tary habits, educated to the use of concentrated, highly seasoned and stimulating food, without any regulation of habit of stool, and, not unlikely, neglectful of clean liness of skin. Of course, to sit still, as in the case sup- posed, day after day, to eat stimulating food, concen- trated in its nature—thus leaving but very little facti- tious matter to pass through the ahmentary canal, helping to create faecal bulk, while nervous energy is drawn away from the stomach, liver and bowels by in- tellectual task-work—is to so derange the relation be- tween the functional exercise of the bowels and the nervous energy upon which such activity depends, as at length to leave the bowels decidedly deficient in 432 PILES. vitahzation. Congestion of the blood-vessels of the parts under such processes having long existed, at length morbid or tumorous growths ensue, which be- come excessively painful; whenever the person passes to stool, the veins become large, and under the pressure of the sphincter muscle, in an attempt tc move the bowels, become so overloaded with blood that effusion takes place from their coats, and the person has what is called bleeding-piles. Now, every organ in the human body becomes strength- ened or weakened by habit, as the case may be. When a person has suffered from bleeding of the bowels a number of times, a predisposition to bleed gradually establishes itself, by-and-by this becomes habitual, and, under unfavorable conditions arising from constipation, the habit becomes an active and ever-present one, so that each time the person goes to stool a passage of the bowels is attended with a flow of blood from the rectal veins. This may be more or less debilitating and dan- gerous. In many instances it is, in the long run, quite destructive of physical vigor. In some instances it en- dangers life. There have been reported by medical men, through the medical journals in the country, instances not a few of persons bleeding to death while at stool. The general character and symptoms of hemorrhoids may be described by slight pain, or heat, connected with weight, or fullness, at the extremity of the lower bowel, or higher up across the sacrum, with, sometimes, sharp, darting pains, extending into the perineal region, and attended with bearing down, or severe pain at stool. PILES. 433 Not infrequently is an added sensibility of the urethra and neck of the bladder established, and, in women, there is such a bearing down pain, low down in front, as to make them mistake the disease for prolapsus of the womb, which is another and quite different disease. A great many cases of supposed falling of the womb have come under my professional care, when, upon a close diagnosis of the case, it was proved certain that the persons supposed thus to be suffering had nothing but blind piles, with some Httle irritation of the neck .of the bladder and the neck of the womb. In the early stages of piles, the first indication is a slight col- oring of the faeces with blood of a bright color. When- ever this takes place, almost always it may be regarded as critical. Thereafter the indications temporarily sub- side. When, however, this discharge does not take place, while as yet it is evident that the person is suf- fering from piles, he may rest assured that tumors larger or lesser in size have begun their formation, and that in time, when at stool, they wiU appear upon the turning down of the bowel. These tumors, as they grow, are accompanied by a pricking, or an itching sensation, so that one has a feehng of small ascarides, or pin-worms, in the bowel. Many persons suppose themselves to be troubled with worms, when they have them not—-the feeling being the result of the growth of the hemorrhoids in the rectal passage. In the early stages these tumors sometimes remain dry, or the faeces are covered with serum. After a while, the symp- toms all disappear, and the person supposes himself 19 434 PILES. well; but no sooner does he take this satisfaction to himself than they re-appear, in added growth and with additional suffering. When this takes place, persons thus afflicted suffer more when standing, or walking, or sitting, and the pain oftentimes extends down the inside of the thighs, occasionally darting clear down to the feet, and sometimes along their bottoms to the balls of the feet; then blood flows in larger quantity than at first, the tumors being larger. When they disappear they leave corrugated flaps of skin, so that there is a serrated condition of the bowel at its termination. The disease originating, as I have said, in derangements of the stomach, liver and skin, oftentimes, especially in persons of highly nervous organizations, results in de cided impairment of the general health. You wiU find such persons to be subjected to bloodlessness of the ex- ternal skin, inducing chilliness, alternating with flushes of heat, and, sooner or later, attended with great pallor of countenance and an inability to exercise. Labor, which formerly was a pleasure, becomes a burden, and intellectual activity seems to be entirely beyond the control of the person's will. For it he is dependent upon the introduction into his circulation of stimulat- ing drinks—they only reacting on the inflamed condi- tions of the bowels to add to the disability to reheve the patient. Thus the whole thing passes in a regular current, resulting steadily, though sometimes at length- ened intervals, in diminution of normal power, until, after a while, the subject becomes the victim, not only of diseased conditions of the rectum, but of such gen- PILES. 435 eral derangement that to him life is of little or no com- fort, unless under the hope that he may be relieved of his maladies. Not infrequently, in scrofulous constitu- tions, piles are associated with highly sensitive, if not actually morbid conditions of the lungs. Wherever such sympathy exists, the lungs are temporarily relieved from any overburdened conditions which congestion in- duces, by a bleeding of the bowels ; but if the bleeding is sufficiently extended to act upon the general system in a debilitating manner, then, when reaction comes, the person of weak or diseased lungs is aU the more weakened and debilitated in lungs thereby. Dr. Copland, in his dissertation on pdes, says that " UntU lately hemorrhoids were divided into internal and external, or into bleeding and blind piles, according to their situation and to their connection with the sanguin- eous discharge. He thinks that there are three kinds of tumors, differing essentially both in their structure and appearance. The first, or most common kind, is first seen in the form of fleshy tubercles of a brownish, or pale red color, situated in the anus, or descending from the rectum. When these tumors are external, they are paler and more elastic, and are infiltrated by serum. " The next formation of tumors is caused by a vari- cose state of the veins of the rectum. They seldom at- tract attention until they have made some progress; for the distention takes place slowly. They are not so dis- posed to enlarge at particular periods, and are more per- manent and less painful than the first form. Commonly they are of a dark, or bluish color. When compressed 436 PLLES. by the finger they become sensibly less, but return to their former state when the pressure is removed. " The third form differs from either of the others in being soft and spongy to the touch, with distinct ves- sels on the surface of a purphsh color. At stool one, or two, or more of these tumors generaUy protrude. In the early stages of the disease the protruded parts retire spontaneously, but in advanced stages they require to be replaced by the hand. Evacuation of the bowel, in this, is followed by pain, which, especiaUy when the dis- ease is prolonged, does not cease for a number of hours, and is attended by losses of blood which sometimes oc- casion exsanguine exhaustion." In my own practice, I have found the hemorrhoidal discharges to be extremely various, though, in many instances, they return with periodical exactness. In Borne instances, with women, the hemorrhoidal takes the place of the menstrual discharge, particularly when persons have arrived at change of Hfe ; and then it is almost sure to assume a periodical form. In different persons the pain of hemorrhoids varies decidedly. With some it is almost unintermittent; others have an aggra- vation of it whenever they have a passage of the bow- els. With some persons it is eased under severe pres- sure, while with\)thers it is increased. I have known a great many persons to have hemorrhoidal attacks to come on as the result of slight attacks of colic, and in instances not a few have the pains occurred with severe bleeding when the subjects of them have been particu- larly excited in mind for a length of time. PILES. 437 Accompanying the existence of hemorrhoids there is often a severe irritation of the neck of the bladder and of the prostate glands in males, while in females there is, as I have already noticed, a decided congestion of the neck of the uterus, ultimately passing into a chronic inflammation, with such bearing down sensations as to make the person feel as if she were suffering from de- cided falhng of the uterus. The more remote consequences from the existence of hemorrhoids, which have been witnessed in my practice, have been prolapsus ani, with such irritation of other organs adjacent to the bowels, as not infrequently to produce very severe distress. My treatment in piles has been, for the most part, constitutional. I regard them, in general, as of a secon- dary nature, originating, usually, in great derangement of the stomach, Hver, bowels and external skin. When- ever, therefore, I have to do with the disease, in the main the treatment has been such as would naturaUy be indicated under such diagnosis. We have to treat two classes of persons who suffer from piles. 1. Those who are thinkers, of sedentary habit and careless eaters. 2. Persons of active Hfe, who are gluttonous in their dietetic habits, while at the same time they are neglect- ful of the calls of nature, in reference to relieving the the bowels of whatever fecal matter may have come within their walls. It may not \>e uninteresting to the readers of this 438 PILES. book to have me report two or three cases, succinctly, by way of illustrating in general our methods of treat- ment. CASE I. In the year 1851, there came to my house a young man who had been suffering intensely, and for a num- ber of years, from piles. He had been a gross liver, was at the time such a drinker of ardent spirits as almost to pass the line of moderation, in the common meaning of that phrase, and a tobacco chewer and smoker. His case, in some of its aspects, was the most remarkable I have ever had to treat. For nearly four months after he came to our house, he never had a movement of the bowels without passing blood in such quantities as greatly to deplete and exsanguine him. To that degree did the bleeding take place that his skin became more thoroughly bloodless and paUid than that of any other person I have ever seen. My treatment was injections, to enable him to pass the matter of the bowels without strain, then imme- diately to turn the bowel back by hand pressure, to set him down in a sitz-bath, at 80°, for twenty minutes, and then let him lie in bed for one or two hours. Every day I gave him a thorough ablution of the whole body, attended with vigorous dry hand-rubbing after the water had been wiped off with a sheet. Satis- fied that he never could be cured without change in his dietetic and beverage habits, I took away from him all stimulating foods and drinks, and gave him soft PILES. 439 water only as a drink. After about four months of treatment the hemorrhoidal tumors became suppurated, broke, and discharged large quantities of matter. At this time he was very thin in flesh, and quite feeble. Many persons thought that he would die ; but such was my confidence in Nature and her recuperative efforts, that I did not yield my conviction that he would ulti- mately get well; and after the suppuration of the hemorrhoids took place the bleeding ceased entirely, the young man's bowels became regular, his appetite was natural, and in six months from the time that he came to us he left our house much improved, and within four months after he left us he was in the enjoyment of as fine health as a man could ask, and within one year was weighing one hundred and seventy pounds. case n. A Philadelphia gentleman came to us who had had piles twenty years, and, to use his own language, had suffered pangs worse than death itself. He was in feeble health, carried with him a most thoroughly ala- baster look—a sort of dead, sallowish white, indicative of great bloodlessness of the general system. He was treated on constitutional grounds. On two days in the week he took a half-bath at a temperature of 85°, one minute. On one day in the week he took a pack which enveloped his whole body in a wet sheet, lying in it from thirty to forty minutes, and upon coming out he passed into a bath at a temperature of 82° for one minute, rubbed by two attendants, when taken out 440 PILES. wiped dry and put to bed. Three days in the week he took a sitz-bath at 85°, ten minutes ; 80°, five minutes; followed by wiping at the hand of an attendant. He wore abdominal bandages night and day, wet aU around all the time. His head was covered during the day with a wet head-cap. His appetite, which had been poor, graduaUy increased in intensity, and we finally put him upon a fruit and grain diet exclusively. In the course of seven or eight months he was so weU that when he left us he bore testimonies to our success, and his recovery was everywhere regarded by those who knew him as most remarkable. case m. A gentleman Hving in one of the western cities, who had been a great sufferer from hemorrhoids for many years, came to us as a patient. Perhaps from the growth of this particular structure he had suffered more than any other patient whom I have ever treated. Con- nected with his piles there was such torpidity of liver as to indicate very great derangement of that organ— the skin being of a decidedly yellow hue, so that he looked like a light-colored yellow Indian. His health had become greatly impaired under his disease, and he came to us and was treated by us for some six or eight months, during which time his skin became white, his blood increased in quantity, and the confidence of his friends in his recovery was greatly enhanced. When he left us, his improvement had been so great as to cheer us with the almost sure prospect of his entire PILES. 441 recovery. We have since heard from him, and learn that he is in good health and able to perform a great deal of business. Let these rules, then, be laid down for the treatment of piles: 1. Purgatives should never be taken. Persons who take internal medicine for piles make a mistake. No one is ever benefited by them. Nor is there any real benefit derivable from any one of the panaceas. Quack medicines are all delusions, thorough cheats, doing no good. If one is relieved thereby he is, as I have be- fore stated, more Hkely than not to have, as a substi- tute for the piles, a disease stiU worse. 2. Whoever having piles would get rid of them must eat unstimulating, simple food. Meats, cakes, dressings of rich gravies for the table, must be aban- doned, and in their place grains and vegetables, simply cooked, and fruits, substituted. Then, if the person is so situated as not to overtax the nervous system by labor or thought, and can give to himself or herself plenty of time in the open air whereby to re-invigorate the blood and make it pure, there is good chance that the person may recover. If persons would rear their children hygienically they never would have piles. If persons having piles will live hygienicaUy, for the most part they will get well. Surgical operations which are performed for hemor- rhoidal tumors are of questionable use, and are not justifiable on the score of philosophy or success ; for 19* 442 PILES. very many of those who seek reHef in this way are sorely disappointed. By a person troubled with piles hard water should never be used as a drink, nor should any- thing be done which tends to constipate the bowels. When paroxysms of suffering occur, the best remedy is sitz-baths, foUowed by a recumbent posture, and during the paroxysms as little food should be taken as may be. CHAPTER L. SEXUAL ORGANS I do not in this book propose to treat at length of the diseases of the genital and reproductive organs. The reason for this is that I have already written a work on the " The Sexual Organism and its Healthful Management," which covers, in the main, my ideas on the subject of diseases of the sexual structure. Whoever, therefore, wishes to get at my thoughts with reference to the diseases of the genitals of man or woman, can do so by procuring that work, wherein wiU be found a much more thorough and complete statement of my views than I can make in these pages. I therefore shaU only take Hberty to refer herein to some of the leading ideas which I have entertained with reference to the causes of sexual diseases, and the true method of treat- ing them. Sexual diseases in man or woman may be divided into two classes; those which are constitutional and those which are functional; and again subdivided into those which are acute and those which are chronic. Certain persons are born with predisposition to de- bihty or disease of the sexual organs. Such persons are uniformly scrofulous and constitute a class from (443) 444 SEXUAL ORGANS. which pnhnonary consumptives are furnished. In the male line, persons thus predisposed, when their habits and conditions of Hving are such as are favorable to development of actual disease, will be found to have diseases which arise from debility of the sexual organs, such as seminal emissions in various phases, and which ofttimes prove very destructive to the health, and, not infrequently, to the life of those who are afflicted there- with. In the female Hne, those who are thus constitutionally predisposed under such conditions of Hving as are un- favorable to healthy living, wUl have leucorrhoea or whites of a very debihtating and enervating character; wiU also have prolapsus of the vagina; wiU also have chronic inflammation of the neck of the uterus, and not infrequently wiU have tumorous growths upon the uterus, or, if not upon that, have enlargement of the ovaries. I do not think that I have ever had to notice a case of ovarian disease where the subject of it was not substantiaUy scrofulous, the original or primal cause being a defective assimUation, the blood-making organs transforming food into blood defectively, and thus creating an enfeebled nutrient and nervous con- dition. Where the disease is functional it arises from much more varied causes ; in many instances from masturba- tion ; in other instances from poisons introduced into the system in the act of cohabitation between man and woman; or, in the woman, from too frequent child- bearing ; or, in the man, from too great sexual indul- SEXUAL ORGANS. 445 gence, though it be within the conjugal pale. The functional derangements of the genitals, therefore, may be considered as much more numerous than those which arise from constitutional causes. Now, the way to treat all these diseases, whatever their name or nature, is on the Psycho-hygienic basis ; to revitalize devitalized parts, and to do this by making the effort at the centers of vitahzation. This demands, necessarily, an improved condition of the nervous sys- tem, and, of necessity, of the nutritive system. Who- ever has a defective or diseased state of the sexual sys- tem, can have the disease cured better by and through an improved condition of the nervous and blood-mak- ing system than he can by any specific remedy apphed to the part especiaUy diseased. In case of seminal emissions this is pre-eminently true. The Psycho-hygienic treatment is, beyond all question, superior to the drug-medicating treatment. I have had occasion to treat over seven thousand per- sons afflicted with seminal emissions, and I believe, out of the whole number, I have never failed to cure ten of them. The same is true of those diseases with which women are particularly afflicted, known in gen- eral terms as female diseases; such as falling of the womb, anteversion of it and retroversion of it; such as vaginal prolapsus, chronic inflammation of the neck of the womb, chronic inflammation of the internal lining membrane of the womb, ulceration of that membrane, ulceration of the neck of the womb, vaginal ulcera- tion, debihtated condition of the vaginal membrane, in- 446 SEXUAL ORGANS. ducing leucorrhceal flow, or what is known as whites; ulceration of the mouth of the vagina. All these and other forms of disease of the sexual organs of women, I have treated better by the Psycho-hygienic methods than they were ever treated by any drug-medicating methods however applied. I have treated over eight thousand women troubled with various forms of female weaknesses, and have never had, except in the earlier periods of my practice, to use any particular means, locally apphed, for their recovery. Both with men and women I have found that their progress to cure was better, safer, and even more expeditious, other things being equal, than in cases of other persons, in like manner affected, who were in the hands of phy- sicians who gave them medicines and applied remedies of a medicated character to the parts diseased. I am satisfied, therefore, that, as a grand fact, all the functional derangements with which either sex is afflicted, which are not caused by the introduction into the circulation of some virulent poisons, such as vene- real poisons, are more easily and permanently cured by Psycho-hygienic treatment than by any other method known. Where a diseased condition of the sexual organs exists, caused by the introduction of a specific poison into the circulation, whether it be in the form of gonorrhoea, acute or chronic, or syphihs pri- mary or secondary—but especiaUy of the secondary type —the Psycho-hygienic treatment is more thoroughly and decidedly curative than the drug-treatment can be. It has, in this direction, one advantage over the drug- SEXUAL ORGANS. 447 treatment of diseases, just as it has in the direction of the treatment of other diseases—that it does not im- pair the constitution nor waste the vitality of the pa- tient, nor fix upon him or her a diathesis or habit of body from which there is no escape. Drug-treatment does this in a great many instances, and it does it in the way of establishing, by constitutional involvement, a secondary disease, from which it is very difficult to relieve the patient even under Psycho-hygienic treat- ment. Secondary syphilis, therefore, is, in many in- stances, much more difficult to cure than primary syphilis would be, because it has been induced by the introduction into the system, as remedies, of poisons which, instead of acting as re-agents, and so overcom- ing the original disease, have only partially reacted, and therefore have left the organism in conditions more difficult out of which to deliver and restore it to health than it would have been had the drug-poisons never been taken. I therefore most seriously recommend to aU persons having any form of weakness or derangement or dis- ease of the sexual system, to avoid the use of drug- medicines, especially if these are in their nature poison- ous, and to seek for their recovery only through the Psycho-hygienic treatment. For further information in respect to the treatment of specific diseases, I most respectfully refer my readers to the work already alluded to, entitled " The Sexual Organism and its Healthful Management." CHAPTER LI. RHEUMATISM. This disease may be divided into three kinds: first, that of the muscles ; second, that of the joints; third^ that of the nerves. Physicians differ as to the nature of the disease, as well as to the causes which induce it, some thinking it to be a disease simply arising from disturbed circulation; others as stoutly claiming that it is entirely dependent for its existence upon the de- fective organization of the blood; others upon a de- praved condition of the blood. It seems to me that it may fairly be attributed to aU these; for under the treat- ment of the very many cases with which I have had to deal it has appeared that its existence in any form is dependent upon a scrofulous diathesis. I do not re- collect ever to have had a case of it wherein the sub- ject did not most clearly show this form of organiza- tion. The provoking causes to its appearance are very many, and so unlike, as, to a superficial observer, to seem to bear no natural connection with each other. A person of scrofulous constitution may have at dif- ferent periods in his life, and under circumstances quite different, aU the kinds of rheumatism. Where one (448) RHEUMATISM. 449 does have them, the usual order of appearance is that which I have described, rheumatism of the muscles appearing first, then that of the joints, and lastly nervous rheumatism. When one first begins to suffer from muscular rheu- matism, it is not difficult for him to be cured if treated Psycho-hygienically; but if he be treated from the drug-standpoint, it is likelier that otherwise than when he has rid himself from the disease in his muscles, he will find that he is not cured, but that he has changed the form of appearance of it, and that it will show itself with more or less severity in his joints. If he then proceeds to treat it by the administration of drug- poisons, he may, after a while, become relieved of it; and if he knows no better he may consider himself very fortunate. But if he thoroughly understand the nature of his ailment, and the effect of drug-medica- tion thereupon, he wiU be looking rather anxiously, and somewhat expectantly, for its appearance in the form of nervous rheumatism. It is not often that drug-medication serves to fix a rheumatic condition while the muscles only are affected; but it is not infrequently the case that where it has passed from the muscles to the joints, and the patient takes powerful drug-medicines for its cure, so far from being re- lieved thereby the disease takes on a chronic form, and the joints become so affected as to render any pros- pect of relief by the administration of drug-remedies altogether out of the question. It is almost always the case that when it has passed from the muscles to the 450 RHEUMATISM. joints, and from these to the nerves, and one comes to have what is usually considered and regarded as nervous rheumatism, the case passes beyond the re- actionary effects of drugs, insomuch that they can have no influence whatever in the production of cure. Rheumatism, whether of the muscles or of the joints, or of the nerves, or aU three, whether arising from de- rangements of the blood or from defective organization of it, or of depraved condition of it, usuaUy shows in connection with it, dyspepsia, torpor of liver, conges- tion of the kidneys, and very great inactivity of the skin. I now do not recollect a decided case of rheu- matism of any sort where the person could say with truth that the digestion was unimpaired. It might never have been obvious to him under the conditions under which he placed himself; for his stomach may have been made to take on tone by the introduction into the circulation of diffusible stimulants or of ner- vines, or of tonics, other than those which are furnish- able in the food one eats ; but if a change be wrought out under a disuse of these particular ©r specific sub- stances, and the system is left to show just such vital conditions as must exist in their absence and under the use only of proper nutrients, then dyspepsia is cer- tain to appear, and then more likely than not Hver derangement, as also derangement of the kidneys and the skin, will be manifest. But if not all these are shown in connection with dyspepsia, some of them will be sure to appear, and the case becomes a compli cated one. Where you have dyspepsia alone; where RHEUMATISM. 451 the stomach seems to be the main vital organ which has come to be deranged, then one may look for simple muscular rheumatism; but where the liver, as well as the stomach, is deranged, then one may calculate not merely on having rheumatism of the muscles but rheumatism of the joints as well. Where chronic con- gestion of the kidneys is marked as a feature in the case, then one may calculate on seeing, along with rheumatism of the muscles and of the joints, that of the nerves. Of course wherever there be a derangement of the blood caused by imperfect assimilation of food, so mak- ing a defective quality of blood, or where there is de- fective distribution of blood already made; or where there is depraved condition of it arising from imperfect or insufficient action of the eliminative organs, thus keeping the blood impure, there will be less difficulty in treating the disease than if all three of these pro- vocative causes for its existence should clearly show themselves. Originating as the disease does, no matter what its form of appearance, in one or the other of these con- ditions of the blood, the curative treatment is readily indicated. First and foremost as a curative must be the use of proper food. In this direction, I think the Psycho-hygienic idea to be worthy all that we claim for it. A rheumatic person should not eat flesh meats, nor should he eat highly-seasoned food either of an animal or vegetable nature. A great many per- sons suffering from rheumatism might be cured by means 452 RHEUMATISM. just as simple as one needs to employ. To eat only such food as can easily be made into blood, exciting for that purpose only such a modicum of vital force as may be described as minimum in its measurement; to keep up a healthy action of the secreting organs, thus mak- ing abundant blood and yet of a healthy quality; to keep in good conditions the excretory organs; and to see to it that on each day as it goes by the patient has ample opportunity afforded for recreation as against fatigue;—do this, and if the case be a new one, and the patient therefore has escaped heavy drug-medica- tion for this or for any previous disease, his recovery may be considered as not only certain but compara- tively easy. At any rate, such has been my experience when called to cases which may be clearly regarded as hav- ing been simple in their nature; and I have always seen the best results arise from an apphcation of the Psycho-hygienic treatment demonstrated in such simple form as to chaUenge the wonder, if not the surprise, of the looker on. In spite of himself he would say that, marked as the results were, the means used did seem to him to be altogether incommensurate with them; and, if he were disposed to be incredulous, it would be difficult to make him believe that such con- sequence could flow so readily from only such a course. In quite a number of cases I have had medical men ex- press it as their opinion that the patients must have had administered to them some form of medicinal reme- dies, it seeming to them utterly impossible that cure RHEUMATISM. 453 should be made without their use, they always having had their faith in their admitted principle of cure so actively in exercise as not to justify the behef that such results could be produced by means so simple. But if they were made to wonder when they saw how readily simple cases of muscular rheumatism yielded to the Psycho-hygienic treatment in its more obviously simple forms of appearance, their wonder has become surprise, and this, astonishment, when they have been told both by patients and physicians that rheu- matism of the joints, in some instances of the worst forms, and of the nerves also, has been entirely overcome and permanently cured by the Psycho-hygienic treatment. I do not know that any disease that it has been my good fortune to treat Psycho-hygienically with success has in its cure created more surprise amongst physicians than rheumatism. This might rationally be expected, because it is one of the most difficult diseases with which they have to deal under their methods of practice. I would not do them injustice nor speak in any way de- tractively of themselves or of their methods of prac- tice ; but truth compels me to say that where the simplest form of rheumatism is cured by the taking of poisons either allopathically, homeopathically, or eclec- tically administered, or in whatever form taken, fifty cases out of a hundred are not only not cured, but made very much worse from taking such poisons ; the effect of taking them, if not to make the disease more complicated, being to make it assume a chronic instead of an acute form. 454 RHEUMATISM. In this respect much is lost and nothing gained ; for any disease is more difficult to cure when it passes frora the acute into the chronic form. Where physicians have had acute rheumatism, whether of muscle, bone or nerve to treat, and have administered their drug- remedies with a view to its cure, and have failed, and the disease has become, under their administration, chronic in its nature—when such case or cases have passed into my care, I have uniformly found that a worse condition existed than could weU have been if no drug-medicines had been given. Had such persons been left to the treatment of nature alone, no physi- cians having been employed at all, they would have been better off, I feel sure, than they were; for in the latter case their diseases had become worse ; while in the former view, considerable many of them would, in time, have got entirely well. Let any person, then, who has rheumatism of any kind, and wishes to get well, avoid taking into his sys- tem, for remedial purposes, anything Hke poisonous medicines. If he will doctor with medicinal remedies, let these be of the simplest and most innoxious nature. If it be neccessary, in order to keep up his hope and make his faith active, that something in the form of remedies should be given, then let such be compounded of what may be termed the simples. I would, how- ever, most urgently and respectfully press upon the consideration of all persons afflicted with rheumatism, as I wrould for all other kinds or forms of disease, that the Psycho-hygienic treatment be employed, and tlrat RHEUMATISM. 455 they follow it with perseverance and the most thorough patience. If they will do so, they certainly will re- cover their health if they are curable. Where rheumatism of the muscles or of the joints exists, hydropathic treatment may be regarded, in con nection with other means used, as of prime quality The wet-sheet pack for the whole body, followed by the half-bath or the dripping-sheet, or the towel-wash, vigorously given; or a derivative sitz-bath, in some instances quite warm or hot, given for a little while, say for ten minutes, to be followed by a half-bath or dripping-sheet, at a temperature as low as eighty or seventy-five, wiU be found of most excellent service. The hot foot-bath taken for five or ten minutes, fol- lowed by a douche as cold as eighty-five or eighty over the parts particularly affected; the hot and cold spray or fomentation cloths over the parts affected (the latter foUowing immediately the former) with a half- bath or dripping sheet, wiU be found of most excellent effect. In connection with whatever form of water treat- ment may be given, opening of the bowels should also be secured, and abundant rest should be had both of body and mind. Food which is nutritious but un- exciting should be used. In all cases of muscular or joint rheumatism, I think the conditions of the blood indicate a free use of sub-acid fruits. Of the far- inaceous foods to be eaten none is so good as wheat. Of vegetable-, none better than soup made of peas, either green or dried, and the various preparations of 456 RHEUMATISM. potato. Hard water should be sedulously avoided. Sugar should be eaten, at most, only in small quanti- ties. Milk, where it does not create sensible disturb- ance, may be used in moderate quantity with benefit. Common salt should be dispensed with, as should all fatty and highly carbonaceous foods, whether animal or vegetable. Alcoholic liquors should be foregone en- tirely, whether fermented, Hke wine, or distiUed, Hke brandy, or brewed, like beer. Where rheumatism of the nerves exists in connection with that of the muscles and the joints, or disconnected with them, a primary necessity, in order to cure, is the use of the most rigid diet. It is always difficult to deal with diseases of the nerves themselves. With any organs where the nerves are not involved, one can more readily deal, because these are the medium of trans- mitting vital force, and while they are healthy in their nature or in their action, vital force can be compara- tively easily determined. But where the nerves them- selves are diseased, the distribution or apphcation of vital force becomes more difficult, and direct effects upon the outside parts can scarcely be looked for. It is only in such case that they can be reached through the change which may be made to go on in the general system. Nervous rheumatism, therefore, no matter what its peculiar form may be, is a very difficult disease to over- come. ' If it be generally neuralgic, showing itself at different points of the body at different periods of time, or if it be locally neuralgic, as in the case of sciatica or RHEUMATISM. 457 rheumatism of the great nerve which extends to the lower extremities, the physician and his patient may calculate on having a cure made only by such processes of change as amount to a reconstruction. Little ben- efit comes from seeking to produce permanently cura- tive results from the administration of means, what- ever these may be, only to the part affected. I have treated a good many cases of nervous rheu- matism with success, some of as long standing as ten years, and where, too, the patient had taken a great amount of medicines, and these of a narcotic nature ; but I should prefer never to have any more of like cases to treat. The patient becomes so wearied, and the physician too, with the obstinacy that the disease shows, as to justify the statement that, but for the fact that aU that a rheumatic patient hath will he give for his restoration, and that unless cured, so as to be able to enjoy health, he may Hve on for years and suffer very greatly, I would never consent to take a case of nervous rheumatism where the diathesis had become fixed under drug-medications. I can but think that if medical men of the drug-administrative schools could be led to reflect on the terrible suffering to which they subject their rheumatic patients by giving them poison- ous medicines, they would hesitate before doing so. To give strychnine, colchicum, arsenic, calomel, opium and many other drug-medicaments, as many of these physicians do, seems to me horrible. When Psycho- hygiene comes to be understood in its prophylactics, or means of prevention of disease, as I hope it some day °0 458 RHEUMATISM. will, then persons wiU not have rheumatism as much as they do now, and wiU therefore be less under the seeming necessity, on their part, of taking poisonous drugs. For that good time I most devoutly pray, and hope that I may Hve long enough at least to see its dawning. CHAPTER III. INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. This disease is so common in what is called marshy or lowland districts of our country as hardly to need any detailed description. In fact, at some time or other in the settlement of aU parts of the country the resident inhabitants thereof have had more or less of it amongst them. I hardly know of a wooded region where, in the clearing up of the land, the settlers have not had more or less intermittent fever. Its provoking cause is understood by physicians generally to be a miasm or malaria or poisonous effluvium developed under the decomposition and de- struction of organized vegetable matter, mingling itself with the blood, and poisoning it so as to create a febrile state of the body, though it has been lately claimed that it is the effluvium of a vegetable growth. The disease is of such a nature as not to be ranked as dangerous to life. Its ultimate and worst effects are seen in the impairment of constitutional vigor. The disease is not infectious or contagious ; is not con- fined to any season of the year, but prevails more in the spring and early autumn than in the summer or winter. (459; 460 INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. Medical classifiers of disease have divided fever and ague under three distinctions : the quotidian, which is a daily ague, the paroxysm occurring at or nearly the same hour every day ; the tertian, or that wherein the fit occurs every other day; and the quartan, or that wherein the paroxysm omits for two whole days and then returns. It wiU be seen that the interval in the first is twenty-four hours; in the second, forty-eight; and, in the third, seventy-two hours. The tertian ague is more common than either the quotidian or the quartan with the people of the middle and north- western States of the Republic. Out of many hun- dreds of cases with which I have had to deal, I have seldom found persons wiio had the quotidian or quartan ague. And in these cases, I think, nearly aU, if not all, originally had their paroxysms alternate days, which were broken up under remedies taken, to re- appear every day or every third day. Those who have seen more of the quotidian and quar- tan types than I have, say that these, like the tertian, have each characteristics peculiar to itself. Thus, while the fit of the tertian begins at noon, the quotidian be- gins in the morning, and the quartan in the afternoon. No matter, however, what difference in the time of ap- pearing the disease may show, the conditions of the system under it are substantially the same. A fit of ague in its duration puts on three distinct stages : the cold or the shivering stage, which lasts in different persons different periods of time, passing into the hot or fever stage, whose duration is longer in the rNTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. 461 cases of different persons; and the sweating or termi- nating stage. Some persons have severe shivering with modified fever, and little or no sweating; some less shivering, more fever and more sweating; some less shivering, less fever and more sweating, as the case may be, each person showing peculiarity according to his or her constitutional tendency or type of build. My own observation has led me to this view: that persons of the nervous or nervous-sanguine tempera- ment suffer more during the paroxysm from the ague ; those of bilious temperament from the fever, and those of the lymphatic temperament, or some combinations in which the lymphatic predominates, from the sweat- ing. I think this conclusion is not a fanciful one ; but is based upon a fair and quite broad accumulation of facts. If it has any foundation in fact, it may have something to do in determining the particular method of treatment to be administered in each case as it stands. Most certainly it would modify my applica- tion of remedial means that a person should have a severer chiU and fever than he did of sweating, or that he should have more fever and more sweating than he did of chiU. In the one case I should give one kind of combination of treatment, in the other case quite a different one, just as I should treat a person who had an attack of fever once in three days differently from what I should a person who had it every day in the morning. There are two very important views to be taken with reference to intermittent fever. One is that the true 462 INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. . Psycho-hygienic method of living would be almost a certain preventive of it, no matter in what district one might live. The other is that having it, Hving where- ever one may, it is far better to be treated Psycho-hygi- enically for it than to take the specific remedies which are in vogue amongst physicians. As to the first, I have never been able to satisfy my- self why, in the nature of things, human beings should be subject to intermittent fever because of the miasm winch they introduce into their blood through the at- mosphere that they take into their lungs any more than why horses should have it, except on the ground that human beings under their conditions of living are not so healthfully related thereto as horses are, except also that human beings have a more susceptible nervous system than horses, by reason of their higher cerebro- nervous organization. A horse has an organic nervous system—lungs, heart, stomach, Hver, bowels, kidneys and skin, each of which is intended to perform to the organization of which it is a part the same office pre- cisely that it does in the human organization of which it is also a part. The blood of a horse when analyzed shows substantially the same constituent elements that the blood of a man shows ; so that this great primary organ in the horse is clearly intended to serve the same purpose for him that the blood of a man does for him. Now, different as, may be the external organization of the horse from that of the man, the fact that he has all the vital organs which a man has, renders it altogether probable, and is, I think, logically conclusive that the INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. 463 same causes in proper proportion to the effects to be produced by their operation would produce the same effects in the horse as in the man; yet while human beings all over our country, and, for that matter, all over the world, are sick more or less from fever and ague, no horse on the American continent, or any where else that I ever heard of, was ever known to have it. No matter how much the miasm or malaria is mingled up with common atmosphere, the horse breathes it into his lungs and mingles it up with his blood without any ill effects therefrom ; yet it is under- stood, and generally supposed, that a human being can- not do this with any degree of impunity. The general impression is, and it has been confirmed by all that physicians have said on the subject, that if a man lives in a malarious district, no matter how he may Hve, he wiU have fever and ague. In this general conclusion I do most respectfully de- clare my disbelief. I do not think that human beings are naturally any more disposed to take on derange- ments of their bodies, resulting in fever and ague than horses are, provided they, in aU respects, were to live as thoroughly within the Hne of the laws of their health and their lives as horses always do when free from man, and as, for the most part, they do though they are sub- ject to him. I wish, therefore, to say that if human beings would do four things, being healthy, I think they would never have intermittent fever: First, eat farinaceous and fruit foods only; second, avoid all overstraining of the 464 INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. nervous system and over-taxation of the muscular sys- tem; third, keep their skin clean by frequent ablu- tions of it in soft water; fourth, abstain from the use of all condiments, including spices and common salt, and drugs and medicines of every kind, which, if they were taken into the stomach and the circulation of a person in health, would either make him sick or tend to make him sick. I am led to this conclusion by this simple fact, that I have had during my practice a large number of per- sons who, living in fever and ague districts of country, and having come to me to be treated for it after the ordinary remedies used by physicians had entirely failed, have been entirely cured under Psycho-hygienic treat- ment, and have gone home to foUow out the methods of life advocated by me; and though living in the same districts where they had lived for years previous to com- ing to me, and during which time they had annual at- tacks of fever and ague, under the new mode adopted under my suggestion, have not for years had one single recurrence of the disease. If, then, it be true that a man Hving in a malarious district of country does have fever and ague while the subject of certain habits or modes of physical Hfe, and ceases to have it, though he continue to reside in that district, when he changes his habits and modes of life, it logically follows, so it seems to me, that the malaria which he takes into his circulation is innoxious, because it lacks the proper constituents in his blood, or in his organized tissue, or in the conditions of his nervous INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. 465 system, whereby to be made effective in the production of disease. This is my theory about the matter, just as it is my theory about pulmonary consumption aris- ing from the ordinary use of impure air. I am, there- fore, convinced that if one can so regulate his dietetics and his labor, and the cleanliness of his body as to secure to himself good healthy blood, and healthy tissue organized out of that blood, simply, a malari- ous district and breathing what is termed the mias- matic poison, wiU not produce in him intermittent fever. I do not see why I may not rationally take up this view and rest upon it conclusively, because of the changes which have occurred in my own practice, and which are incontrovertible facts, and because also col- lateral evidence of the truth of my view is furnished in other directions through another class of facts. Take for instance this as one of them: Whooping-cough comes into a family and affects four children out of five, but the fifth is exempt. He is just as much exposed to the infection as are the others, yet they have it, and he does not. Measles gets into a neighborhood, and, un- der the same conditions of exposure, three-fifths of all the children in the neighborhood have it, but the other two-fifths escape. The small-pox comes into a commu- nity, and six out of ten persons have it, yet four out of the ten do not. How is this to be accounted for ? I account for it on the ground of different degrees of vital resistance which the affected and the unaffected show, those 20* 466 INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. who are made sick not having enough of it at disposa. to protect them, so they become sick ; those who do not have it being in better conditions to resist it, escape it. Largely the difference between these persons is to be accounted for not on constitutional but on functional conditions of their bodies at the time of exposure, and these conditions are mainly conditions of living involv- ing methods, habits, fashions, plans and ways of life. Though these are not obvious to the superficial ob- server, yet they are perceivable on close inspection. One man in his habits of living, take them together as a whole, so uses up power that when he is exposed there is no available vital force at command ; so he has to become sick. For under the Psycho-hygienic theory the vital principle always exerts itself, under any given circumstances, to the utmost possible degree in the direction of protecting life, and therefore in the direction of preserving health. No human being ever gets sick while, under the circumstances, it is possible for him to keep well, sickness being a condition of life abnormal, and therefore unnatural, and which, at the time, the vital force could not possibly guard against. I recollect, some years ago, suggesting the idea, through a medical journal, I believe, that fever and ague is a disease which might be avoided by persons living in miasmatic regions, provided always great care and attention were paid by the inhabitants to their modes of life. Amongst other things which I brought to notice were entire abstinence from animal food; great regularity of habit in the direction of labor and rNTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. 467 of rest; entire sexual continence during the summer solstice; complete and utter disuse of common salt; the avoidance also of condiments ; the use only of soft water as a drink, and this cold; the disuse of all fer- mented breads; a practical disuse, during the warm seasons, of sugar ; a free use of sub-acid fruits in their natural state ; the eating of two meals a day, and never any food later than three o'clock in the afternoon, if the person were going to bed early in the night; the washing of the body as often as three times a week, and such social conditions of life as would insure free- dom from fretting and long-continued mental anxiety. About two years after I had made the statement, I received a letter from a physician, stating that he had accidentally read my article ; was impressed with the thoughts in it; and himself a great sufferer from fever and ague, and an extensive practitioner in the direc- tion of the treatment of the disease, living himself in a malarious region, he determined to test my theory as well as he could in his own person. The results aston- ished him; for although by reason of his profession, which compeUed him to sleep and eat and work irre- gularly, he could not carry out my suggestions in full; to the degree that he was able to do so, he did, and though in far less favorable circumstances than he would have been coidd he have lived up to my advice, he nevertheless found himself so improved between the time of his undertaking my treatment and the fever and ague season of the succeeding year, that he entirely escaped the disease that year and the next, though he 468 INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. had not done so for several years previous, and though his neighbors had had it in the two years in which he had had nothing of it, as severely and as sufferingly as ever before. He said that upon reading my letter, the only point upon which the suggestions that I presented seemed to him unreliable was that of the disuse of flesh meat; but now he beheved that in all the things wherein he had made reformation in his habits, not one was more beneficial than that of abstaining from flesh meats. He concluded by saying, that he was entirely con- verted to my idea that fever and ague depended far more upon certain conditions of body produced by cer- tain conditions of living, in connection with the mal- arious poison introduced into the blood, than from the effects upon the body of the malaria alone introduced into the circulation. Some eight years ago I received a letter from a young man living in Indiana in the vaUey of the Wa- bash, who told me that he was a great sufferer from fever and ague, having had it for seven successive years, that he had taken aU the medicines which had been prescribed by his physicians, and that he felt that he was being killed. He wanted to know if I thought there was any help for him. I told him that having been drug-medicated so severely, I dared not, in the absence of a personal examination of his case, promise him a cure under a course of treatment at home ; but that if he would come and let me see him, if I decided that I could do nothing for him, I would make him INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. 469 Welcome for a few days, and would charge him nothing for looking at his case. So on he came; underwent his examination, and by my advice went under treatment. He had an en- larged liver and an enlarged spleen ; and, on the whole, was rather a pitiable-looking object. Of bilious tem- perament, he had become of a nasty, dingy, sallow color, a sort of rotton-stone brown. I kept him eight months, changed his whole organization in its func- tional relations, so that he was as fine and fair a specimen of manly health to look upon as one would wish to see. He went home, stayed in the neighbor- hood where he had lived the whole seven years during which he suffered from intermittent fever ; ^here, too, his neighbors had it more or less every year, and con- tinued to have it; and yet for five years, during which time he lived there, he never had it. He enlisted in the army, and went through a series of exposures as a private soldier, and for the two years, during which he was largely on fatigue duty, never had one sick day. Poor fellow ! What disease could not do, a bullet did. In a grand fight he was shot through the lungs and died. I have on record not less than fifty letters from men who came to me in poor health, many of them practi- cally broken down from having fever and ague for years before coming to me ; but who, under the Psycho- hygienic methods of treatment were cured of their agues; restored to good health ; went into the war; passed through all the hardships of it for two or three 470 INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. years ; never went into a hospital in the entire time ; never took a particle of medicine, and came out whole. Very likely the inquiry wiU be raised, what was their dietary ? I have to say that in the great majority of instances they utterly and completely refused the use of animal food, living, week in and week out, on bread and beans if they could get nothing else. But if one has not learned how to protect himself against intermittent fever, and so does have fever and ague, what is the true method of treating it ? I have to say that my plan substantially involves all those in- strumentalities which I have described as so effectual in preventing it, and, in addition thereto, a course of Hygienic treatment. In my earlier practice I used to give treatment to my fever and ague patients on the days in which the paroxysms occurred; but after a while the impression fastened itself on me that a better way would be to give treatment on the days of the interval of the parox- ysms ; or if the case be one of quotidian ague, to give it at that period of the day when the paroxysm was off the patient. So adopting that I have followed it with great satisfaction. In cases of fever and ague where the patient is of full habit of body, not being thin and skeletony and very debilitated, my plan of administrating treatment is substantially as follows : Give the patient a sitz- bath, the water of which is as high in temperature, at least, as the blood, and as much higher, up to one hun- dred and ten, as seems comfortable and pleasant. In INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. 471 connection with this also give a hot foot-bath, requir- ing the patient to immerse the hands in the sitz-bath ; wrap the head up in cold, wet towels ; cover the body up with sheets or a comfortable, well tucked up behind the neck and tucked in between his back and the back of the sitz-bath. After sitting a few minutes, give him a gill of cool water to drink. When he has come to sweat well, take him out and put him in a cold, wet sheet-pack, which will then feel pleasant to him. Put on clothing enough to keep him warm. If he falls asleep, let him lie while he sleeps, though he be in an hour or two. If he does not go to sleep, or wakes up out of his sleep, take him out at the end of forty minutes and give him a dripping-sheet, which should be at a temperature of eighty-five or eighty. Rub well by an attendant; dry off the body. Put the pa- tient to bed ; keep him there for two hours. Let him have farinaceous food with fruits, eaten plentifully. See that his bowels are kept open and his surroundings pleasant. This aU to be done on the day when he has no paroxysm. The next day, when the paroxysm comes on, keep him warm when he is cold, cool when he is warm ; and wipe his skin off at the close of his sweating. Let him live on fluid foods only. Follow this treatment up as prescribed. If the patient has had fever and ague for a long time, and has taken a great deal of quinine and arsenic, or any other poisonous remedy, he will, under such a course of treatment as suggested above, be very hkely after a 472 INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. while to have a crisis which will show itself in erup- tions upon the skin over the bowels or different parts of the body, in which case he will cease to have the ague when the eruption shall begin to appear; and if it should be quite extensive and eliminative, the condi- tions of the system will be so changed thereby that no fever and ague will appear after the crisis has disap- peared. If the circumstances be such that the patient cannot take a sitz-bath, then wet woolen fomentation cloths over the stomach, liver and bowels may be apphed, as also hot wet cloths to the feet, the patient remaining in bed until the time comes for the wet-sheet pack. If fomentations instead of sitz-baths are used, the wet sheets in which he is packed should be of a Httle higher temperature than in the former case. There is no difficulty in treating fever and ague after this plan ; the worst cases give away. There are great advantages in treating it after this plan, amongst which is this, that no unpleasant consequences follow the treat- ment ; the patient's constitution is not impaired; there is no morbid diathesis, or fixed morbid condition of body resulting from the treatment, both of which re- sults are often the case under the administration of drug-medicines. Where disease has been of long standing, occurring every year, and drug-medicines have been taken, it is not unusual that the patient has to remain under Psy- cho-hygienic treatment for months. In some instances I have had to keep my patients over a year at least to INTERMITTENT FEVER OR FEVER AND AGUE. 473 get them over the fever and ague which was on them when they came, and at the same time place their sys- tems where they would not readily give way to the re- currence of the disease under exposure. CHAPTER LIII REMITTENT FEVER. This is a form of fever where there are strong exa- cerbations with a remission of them, partaking almost of the nature of the intermittent, following each other so closely, however, as to leave but little space between them. Dr. Hooper says that in some cases where there is a great secretion of bile, the fever is called bilious- remittent ; where there is strong tendency to putres- cency it is termed a putrid remittent and so on. The disease is common to the eastern and middle States. It is not, as a general thing, dangerous when Psycho- hygienically treated ; but is a difficult form of fever to treat when powerful drugs or poisonous medicines are administered. The true rule for treating it is that which I have al- ready laid down under head of intermittent fever. Make less effort to control the exacerbations while they are at their height; but make more effort when they are at their minimum manifestation. Keep the bowels cleansed by injections; the head cool. Give no food except what is liquid in form. Keep the skin clean by packs and towel washings, or by the latter alone. Lay over the abdomen fomentations at least once every day (474) REMITTENT FEVER. 475 for the space of thirty minutes, and keep on cold com- presses all the while, night and day. In order to understand the difference between remit- tent fever and intermittent, the observer will take note that in the former there are no intermissions. There are what are called remissions, the severity of the fever dying down, but not disappearing. Ofttimes, too, in remittent fever there are diarrhoea and swelling of the bowels and tenderness over what is called the iliac re- gion ; though some physicians say that these symptoms are rarely observed; but I do not know that I ever saw a case of remittent fever treated without medicine where there was not more or less of flux of the bowels, with abdominal tenderness at some period of its progress. I have looked upon these as almost necessary concomi- tants to its manifestation. Where remittent fever is treated by drugs and the fever becomes protracted, it often puts on typhoid symptoms, showing delirium and sordes on the teeth. It does not necessarily foUow that because these are seen, there is a union of the typhoid with the remittent fever; because these often do occur in all fevers; but it is well worth while to watch the case. In a consid- erable number of cases I have been called to treat re- mittent fevers where these complications were to be seen ; but in such cases the patients had all been medi- cated previously to their passing under my care. I do not know that I ever saw a case of remittent fever where the patient showed typhoid indications and had not been medicated, unless such person had, before be- 476 CONGESTIVE CHILLS. ing taken sick, been in the habit of drinking largely of spirituous or brewed liquors. I do not think that simple remittent fever, as a gen- eral fact, therefore, is to be regarded as dangerous. Where such cases do become fatal, they are so because of morbid affections pre-existing, and which are involved in the case when the fever comes on. There is a kind of fever called by doctors pernicious remittent fever, characterized by quite different symp- toms from that of simple remittent fever, but needing much prompter and more active Psycho-hygienic treat- ment to its cure. Connected, however, as a consequence of remittent fever under drug-medication, there exists a liability to have enlarged spleen, general dropsy and want of blood. I never noticed, however, such Hability under the Psy- cho-hygienic treatment. Though remittent fever wiU differ in severity with different individuals, and at dif- ferent times and places, though, perhaps, always se- verer in a tropical than in a temperate clime, it is man- ageable everywhere under the Psycho-hygienic treat- ment, and should not be classed as among the danger ous or destructive diseases. Congestive Chills.—This is a disease more common in the south and southwest, and is known among medi- cal men as what is termed pernicious intermittent fever. It differs from the fever and ague in the simple fact that very severe congestion of the cerebeUum takes place. CONGESTIVE CHILLS. 477 Dr. Austin Flint in his new work entitled " Flint's Principles and Practice of Medicine," says of this form of fever that it prevails at certain epochs in malarious regions, and that of the cases of simple intermittent fever which occur at these epochs the proportion in which the disease is pernicious is more or less large. He thinks the pernicious variety prevails at particular seasons in all malarious regions. Dr. Drake in a work on the principal diseases of the interior valley of North America, printed in 1854, says that the regions in which this fever has prevailed most frequently are the level portions of Alabama, Missis- sippi and Louisiana; the southern shore of Lake Michi- gan from Chicago around to St. Joseph's River; and of Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie, from Lake Huron to Lake Ontario near the estuaries of the creeks and rivers. Congestive chills make their appearance in the first instance in such a form to one unacquainted with their ordinary manifestations as not to alarm him, their per- nicious character not being at first observed, the chilly stages at first being not very particularly marked, and when it is followed by the hot stage this is but partially developed. In some cases the person is able to pursue his business without any very great difficulty until the second chill takes place, when the symptoms become more marked, and in many instances decidedly alarm- ing, a comatose state of the brain immediately follow- ing the chill, while other cases are characterized by de- Hrium which shows itself before the coma. Western physicians say that in their practice they often find 478 CONGESTIVE CHILLS. their patients so actively delirious in the second stage as to require personal restraint. In a letter which I received from a physician living in the West who has had large experience in the treat- ment of this form of intermittent fever, and who be- came entirely disheartened and discouraged at his want of success under—first, the allopathic, then the homeo- pathic, and thirdly, the eclectic methods, he says, " I have found that in the first stage there is great irregu- larity of show, one case manifesting one class of symp- toms, and another case quite a different class of symp- toms. But in the second stage I have found a very great uniformity of exhibition, the patient showing heavy chills with numbness in the lower Hmbs and in the great toes, and in the arms at or about the wrists, in one or two instances the wrists seeming to be par- alyzed and the hands falling down, the patient being delirious at first and sweating profusely, followed by purging, and that by vomiting, and sometimes putting on a state of collapse such as medical writers describe to be an attendant in Asiatic cholera. Many persons whom I have treated in their first chill I have been able to cure by the use of quinine, and a few cases have recovered who have had the second chiU under the ad- ministration of quinine and opium, alternated as in my best judgment I thought fit to do ; but the great ma- jority of cases have died in the second chill. And within my own personal knowledge, I know of no case where a person suffering from the third chill has re- covered under the use of medicines. CONGESTIVE CHILLS. 479 " Now, I come to you as one who represents a new system of treatment, and I want your advice on the subject. What would your Psycho-hygienic treatment do?" To this I rephed : " In the first place, a man resid- ing in a malarious district wiU not have congestive chills if he will live hygienically. If, however, he does not Hve hygienically and has one, the Psycho-hygienic treatment, properly administered, will cure him. And once cured, if he will live hygienically, he will not have another. If he has had'one, and does have a sec- ond, the Psycho-hygienic treatment will cure him, pro- vided always that his system has not been broken down by drug-medication, by debauchery in general and spe- cial Hving, or by age." A year after I made my reply to his letter, giving him my thought as to the best way of treating this form of disease, he wrote me again as follows : " Upon the receipt of your letter I accepted your views, and have followed your suggestions with the most eminent success. Out of thirty cases of conges- tive chiUs, in which the large majority of them were of the second occurrence, and three or four of the third attack, I have lost but two ; whereas, under my former plan of treatment, I used to lose two out of every five. I congratulate you upon the profound philosophy which you have in respect to the nature, as well as to the method of treatment of this most terrible disease ; for there is nothing, not even Asiatic cholera, nor spotted fever, nor malignant typhus fever, nor small-pox, that 480 CONGESTIVE CHILLS. so frightens our people, as this pernicious intermittent fever. It comes when one least expects it, and goes only to recur when one least expects it; and our west- ern country is dotted with the graves of those who have died of it." The suggestions which I made to him with reference to the treatment of this kind of fever were substan- tially as foUows: Immerse the patient from head to foot, as soon as possible after the sensation of chilliness is perceived, in hot water. Keep him there until he sweats thoroughly. While in the bath, whether a sitz-bath or a reclining-bath, or by envelopments in woolen sheets wrung out of hot water, give him cool water to drink. There is no danger from it, provided the surface of the body be kept up at high temperature —in fact, it will make him sweat all the more profusely. Let him remain in the bath until he has complete relief to the brain and the nervous system, and the sensation of numbness in the lower limbs, and especially in the feet, has passed away. If he be faint, let him drink cold water. When the sensation of reHef comes on, which it will do as soon almost as he begins to sweat, let him remain until he feels heated in his blood all through ; then take him out and pack him from head to foot in a cold wet sheet, letting him lie in that until he gets thoroughly warm, when take him out, and give him a thorough dripping-sheet or towel-wash all over his body, wiping it dry and rubbing it with the dry hand thoroughly. Then put him to bed, wrapping his feet and legs up in dry warm cloths, and his head in CONGESTIVE CHILLS. 481 cool cloths, when he wiU be disposed to go to sleep. A Httle nap, if nothing more, wiU do him fine service. As soon as he wakes up, give him an injection of tepid water to move his bowels, provided there has been no movement that same day. From this time onward his recovery will be rapid. But any severe exertion of body or mind should be carefuUy guarded against for days after he feels as well as before his sickness. It does not always follow that the second chill occurs because of the introduction of fresh malaria into the system, but because of newly de- veloped activity of vital force against malaria previously introduced. It is, therefore, important that the patient in recovering from.the first attack should guard against a second by protecting himself from fatigue or exhaus- tion ; for if he does over-work he might have a renewal of the disease, when, if he were careful, he could avoid it. The general regimen, therefore, of a patient suffer- ing under this form of disease, should be of the sim- plest possible kind so far as food, drink, dress and exer- cise are concerned. If he will but care for himself, he wiU not only not have a second attack, but he wiU im- prove his health so that he cannot have it, though he does live in a malarious district. Curious enough, though I have never been a western practitioner, yet I have had over fifty cases of conges- tive chills in my Institution, the subjects of them being western men, women and children, and yet only one death has ever occurred under my care. That was a lady who, having had two congestive chiUs before start- ^1 482 CONGESTIVE CHILLS. ing from home, came to us, and as soon, or nearly as soon, as she had fairly become accommodated and do- mesticated with us, was taken with a third. We thought she would die in a very little while; but she Hved long enough for her husband to be telegraphed, and to ar- rive before she died. I feel confident that if the people residing in the dis- tricts of country where congestive chiUs are frequent would adopt our plan of living which is simple as weU as economical, they would find it a safe-guard against this form of intermittent fever. I do not think that one need have congestive chills any more than the or- dinary fever and ague. And where one is attacked with it, the treatment recommended above has proved itself so successful in "the cases of it with which I have had to deal, and proved so successful in the case of the physician whose correspondence and my own I have given, and also in many individual cases where by pri- vate correspondence I have recommended similar treat- ment, that I feel like earnestly forcing it on the atten- tion of my readers. CHAPTER LIT. TYPHUS AND TYPHOID FEVERS. The word " typhus" is derived from a Greek word meaning stupor. The word " typhoid" is a word of Greek origin, meaning like to typhus. Physicians of the present day are disposed to declare the non-iden- tity of these two diseases, affirming that while they show in many respects the same or similar symptoms, they differ so much in their symptoms as to justify the conclusion that they are not essentially the same, but different diseases. How this may be under drug-treat- ment I do not know; but in my own practice, where no medicines are given, I have not found the distinc- tion to be so broadly established as is generally claimed by medical men who administer medicinal remedies. The most that I can say in the way of distinction is, that in the one case the disease is of a severer or more intensified type than in the other. True, there are some symptoms in the one which do not show in the other; but this is true of any disease as it exists in different persons. In no direction have I ever seen so strong and marked a difference between the symptoms which the subject of typhus or typhoid fever shows when not taking drug-medicines, as when taking them. (483) 484 TYPHUS AND TYPHOID FEVERS. The difference is so great as at first sight to lead the medical observer to say, that if the person taking drug- medicines has the typhus or typhoid fever, the one wha has not taken any has it not; for a greatly modified symptomatic manifestation is seen under the two admin- istrations. Typhus and typhoid fevers, therefore, will be considered by me as essentially the same disease with different intensities; for were I to recognize the non- • identity of them, the treatment which I should suggest to be given would be essentially the tame. So there is no necessity of my making separate classification. The disease is, in most cases, inaugurated by a slight or severe chill of the subject, accompanied, in many instances, with hard headache, pain in the bones, espe- cially in what are caUed the shin-bones. This sometimes is so severe as to be almost intolerable. It is as pain- ful as it is sometimes in cases of small-pox. I have never had any difficulty in breaking up typhus or typhoid fever by the Psycho-hygienic treatment, if I could have the disease to treat in its earlier manifesta- tions. In the year----an Irish girl came to the town where I lived, to visit some friends. She was a freshly-landed immigrant, and within two days after she reached the house of her friends she was taken down with what is called ship fever. The disease was not well under- stood by the physician in the place, and it soon com- municated itself to members of the family, and from them to other families, and became epidemic. A great number of persons had it, and almost all of them who TYPHUS AND TYPHOID FEVERS. 485 were treated by medicines died. Of the nmnbers taken down with it, there were eighteen brought to my Cure. Not one of them died. Some of them were very severely sick, nevertheless four weeks was the longest period that any of them were confined ; while other cases in the town were sick four, five and six weeks and then died, and others were confined to their rooms for three or four months before being able to get out of doors; and when they did, it seemed as though they had suffered so much constitutional im- pairment as to render their future health quite ques- tionable. One case of a gentleman, a friend of mine, who had passed into the hands of an aUopathic physician be- fore I took him to treat, and who had administered to him thirty grains of calomel at one dose, which calo- mel was in him when they brought him to me, I have -considered to be, on the whole, the most remarkable of any case of typhus or typhoid fever I have ever had to treat. He was a large man, weighing about 245 lbs., delirious when they brought him to me, yet within twenty-eight days he rode from my Cure to his home quite convalescent. During his sickness, however, he had such a pustular eruption as I never saw upon any other person. At one time I counted over four hun- dred open-mouthed boils upon his body, from the size of a pea to the size of a hickory -nut, and along the dorsal muscles, where there were no boils, at one period during his sickness the skin could be pressed together under the fingers and pus would ooze out without any 486 TYPHUS AND TYPHOID FEVERS. difficulty. It was considered a great triumph of the Psycho-hygienic treatment that not a case of the eight- een who were placed under my care died. I so consid- ered it myseff at the time, and do still so consider it; for if every physician in this country who has had typhus or typhoid fever to treat has so succeeded in his practice as not to have a single case in each eight- een die, his skill may be regarded, I think, as greatly to his credit. I do not, however, take credit so much to myself for my success, as I give it to the method of treatment used. My plan of treating typhus and typhoid fevers is this : When called to a patient in the incipient stages, I endeavor, if possible, to break up the fever. I think one of the best ways to do this is to keep the top of the head covered with ice-cold cloths, or with a blad- der of ice. In four or five instances I have broken up a weU-established condition of typhoid fever in twelve hours by the application of ice-cloths or a bladder of ice to the top of the head. In two other cases I broke up a fever by putting a bladder of ice into the nape of the neck and letting it lie there steadily for twenty-four hours. In ont, or two other cases I broke up a fever by putting the whole body of the patient, save the head, into water of quite a low temperature, and letting him sit there for quite a long time, reduc- ing the pulse greatly, and keeping him there until the nervous conditions were changed. For whatever may be the cause of this fever, whether it be by the intro- duction of a poison into the system, or, as some physi- TYPHUS AND TYPHOID FEVERS. 487 cians think, by exhaustion of the nervous energy, so as to constitute what may be called a reactionary febrile condition, the treatment, to be successful, should have its effect primarily upon the nervous system. I think that in districts of country where the disease exists (or if the non-identity theory prevails with reference to typhus and typhoid fevers where both these diseases exist), if those who have to deal with it, whether phy- sicians or laymen, would so bring to bear heat and cold, by means of water, upon the circulation and the ner- vous system as essentially to change their action re- pectively or unitedly, they would be able to break up the fever any time within thirty-six hours of its first exhibition. In the hydropathic treatment proper, there is not anything Hke energy enough displayed. Where the pulse is very quick and the skin very hot, and there is pain in the head, and perhaps pain in the bowels low down, with cold feet and legs, and cold sweating knees and cold sweating hands in the palms, there is no danger from what may be termed active or even heroic treatment. When, however, the disease has crept upon the patient unawares for days, he feeling only from day to day not quite so well as usual, or simply unwell, with loss of appetite and less of vigor to work, some headache, and irregular action of the bowels, until all at once he is prostrated and the pulse runs high, the ton- gue becomes furred, the eyes suffused, and chills run up and down the backbone, it is not so easy to break up the fever, and therefore the treatment need not be so heroic. 488 TYPHUS AND TYPHOID FEVERS. Of course in talking about breaking up fevers, I use terms in their popular sense. A fever, as my readers weU know, is, of itself, a remedial effort. It is nature making an extra vital effort to change abnormal condi- tions of the system into those which are normal. When, therefore, I talk about breaking up a fever, I do not mean thereby to stop the vital effort that is going on, but simply to aid the vital effort to change the abnor- mal condition, and so re-estabhsh the system in its natural or healthful conditions. If there be contagion in the system, it is to render it inert by a new dispen- sation of vital force, or else to cast it out thereby, so as to leave the system free from its effects. Where typhoid fever is fairly established, or has got what is usually called its " conditions of run" fixed, the hydropathic or water treatment is of the first im- portance. Dr. Flint, of BeUevue Hospital College, says that " the known resources of therapeutics do not afford rehable means for the arrest of these fevers, or even shortening the duration of the febrile career. The measures proposed for these ends within late years are quinia in large doses, fuU doses of opium, and the use of the wet-sheet after the hydropathic method. The first of these, large doses of quinia, has been abun- dantly tried, and found to be an unsuccessful and abor- tive plan of treatment. Statistics reported by Dr. M. B. Peacock, of London, show an increased rate of mor- tahty, and a longer duration in hospitals of the cases ending in recovery, as the results of the employment of quinia in large doses. The opiate plan I have tried TYPHUS AND TYPHOID FEVERS. 489 in a few cases. These cases have not furnished evi- dence of success in arresting the fever, but in some of the cases the disease appeared to be favorably modified. This plan of treatment claims further trial. The wet- sheet, after the mode practiced by the hydropathists, commonly caUed packing, I have tried in a smaU num- ber of cases. A distinct amelioration of the symptoms followed immediately in every case, and in two of the five cases immediate cessation of the fever followed." During my Psycho-hygienic practice I have treated over one hundred and fifty cases of typhus or typhoid fever. I never lost a case where I was the first and only physician called. In cases of typhoid fever, where usually abdominal lesions are seen under drug-treat- ment, I have found, however, in my patients these to be avoidable. I never had a case of metastatic action of the disease from bowel to brain setting up delirium and coma ultimating in death. In truth, I do not know that I ever had a half dozen persons, show any- thing like delirium, not even to flightiness, unless it was at or about midnight for a little while at a time. When the fever is high, packs and dripping-sheets should be given. The pack may continue from fifteen to forty-five minutes as the case may be. It had better be given in the the middle of the day or thereabouts; the dripping-sheet, at a temperature of eighty-five de- grees, following the pack. If the patient be too feeble to be submitted to it, then towel washings after the pack, with dry towel and hand rubbings, should be given. In my practice I usually keep the head thoroughly en 21* 490 TYPHUS AND TYPHOID PEVERS. cased in wet cloths, including the back of the neck, applying warm cloths up and down the spine with cold cloths over the bowels ; the bowels cleaned every day by tepid injections, the patient to be permitted to have frequent urination. If any involvement of the lungs is shown, the cold wet compress is laid over them ; the patient to suck, dissolve and swallow bits of ice as frequently as he pleases; the feet to be kept warm ; the room well ventilated, with shadowed light; and to have, if possible, only one set of day nurses and relays of night nurses, the same persons taking care of him during the incubation and progress of the disease. During the earlier period of the disease, I give no food. As time elapses, and it becomes necessary that the pa- tient should eat, I give fluid foods only, and these in the form of gruels, usually preferring unbolted wheat- meal stirred into boiling water to a thickness that will make it convenient as a drink or to eat with a spoon, letting the patient have this and nothing else. As circumstances may seem to demand, I modify the applications of water, acting upon this plan that what- ever part of the body is in its temperature above the ordinary level, I keep cool, and whatever part is below the ordinary level, I keep warm; thus keeping up an equalization of the circulation and an equilibrium of the nervous system, and waiting patiently for na- ture to work out her cure. It is the speedier, as it is by far the surer and safer method. CHAPTER LV. ERYSIPELAS OR ST. ANTHONY'S FIRE. This is an inflammatory disease, or what may be termed a form of continued fever. Perhaps, consid- ered as a local affection purely, it would be regarded as belonging properly to surgery; but under the as- pects in which it appears in this country, it connects itself so with fever as to be regarded as a disease hav- ing constitutional aspects. Erysipelatous fever is a form of fever distinguished from other kinds of fever, because it has erysipelas as a complication. Where it exists independently of general fever, it confines itself to parts or locahties of the body, and may be treated as a local disease ; but where it puts on a febrile mani- festation, it is ofttimes a. dangerous disease, drowsiness and delirium accompanying it. The pulse becomes, under such circumstances, fuU and hard, and vesicles or blisters develop themselves as the disease progresses. It takes on two forms, affecting the internal and the external skin. It more commonly occurs with women than with men; is seen often in children; but shows itself amongst those who are of rather a robust consti- tution, and of what may be termed nervous-sanguine temperaments. It is a disease which, when it does not (491) 492 ERYSIPELAS OR ST. ANTHONY'S FIRE. affect the entire system, may affect any part of the body. It as frequently appears on the feet as on the face, on the legs as on the arms ; and with persons of certain temperament or condition of body it becomes of a phlegmonous character and quite dangerous. The causes which operate to induce it may be any which are likely to create inflammation, such as expos- ure to severe cold, or the external or internal use of stimulants largely. Some physicians think that cer- tain states of the atmosphere have the effect to cause it to become epidemic. I have been rather surprised to find that among allopathic physicians erysipelas is regarded as a contagious disease ; as, for instance, when a patient in the hospitals in New York is seized with it, he is removed from the chamber where other pa- tients are to a place by himself. In aU the cases which I have had to treat in my Institution, it has never oc- curred to me that any one could possibly be jeopardized by being brought into the freest communication with them, and no bad effects have ever resulted therefrom. Persons who are in very comfortable health have slept in a room where erysipelatous patients have been lying, and other patients, who themselves were quite sick, have remained in the same room and yet no such re- sult as one would expect to see, if the disease be con- tagious, or even infectious, has ever showed itself in a single instance under our management. My treatment for erysipelas is uniformly what may be termed antiphlogistic or anti-inflammatory. It is to deplete the system, and at the same time to purify ERYSIPELAS OR ST. ANTHONY'S FIRE. 493 the blood. Abstinence as one means of depletion, pack- ing followed by general ablution in order to excite ex- cretion by the skin, injections to remove alvine excre- tions, tepid wet compresses over the inflamed parts— these with gentle nursing have always been productive of the desired results. Never under the Psycho-hygi- enic treatment have I yet lost an erysipelatous patient, though not infrequently we have from twenty-five to thirty of more or less severe cases in each year. Whether erysipelas be regarded as a disease to be surgically or simply medicaUy treated, I have not found it necessary to apply any of the means which when it is surgically treated are regarded as successful. In no case, how- ever bad, that I have ever treated, have I felt myself called upon to " line" the disease with lunar caustic; but have found that, in from three days' to a week's duration, I have been able to bring the disease in check, mainly keeping up the general conditions of the patient to such a degree as to make him feel that the disease was within my management. Where the sweU- ing has begun in the face, and has extended over the head, as it has in some instances, I have never yet had a patient under my treatment who became delirious. I have seen a good many erysipelatous patients who were delirious and some of them semi-comatose; but never have I myself had a case go to that extreme. One need never have erysipelas, and, therefore, need never have to treat it, if he will live according to the laws of life and health. Whenever the disease appears, no matter in what form, it is because of an inflamma- 494 PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA. tory diathesis or habit of body, and persons who live upon farinaceous and fruit foods and drink water, wiU not have it, no matter what may be the injuries they receive. Purpura Hemorrhagica.—This disease is often seen in children and women. What its causes are is not clearly ascertained. It occurs, however, at every pe- riod in Hfe, but oftener than otherwise inside of pub- erty ; or, if amongst grown persons, in those whose habits are sedentary, and who live in Hi-ventilated rooms, or where the air is poisoned by the effluvia arising from poisonous substances. The manifestations of it are different in different persons, the disease show- ing itself inwardly. Where it appears externally, there are numerous little blue-red spots upon the external skin, looking very much Hke bites of fleas, and called by doctors petechia. These are more numerous on the breast or inside of the arms and legs than elsewhere. They do not itch at aU; but are indicative of a bad condition of the vascular system. Where they appear on the legs and arms, they are of a bright red color, the face being free; after a Httle they turn purple or livid. The capillary blood-vessels become so affected as that the blood extravasates and lodges in the cellular tissue, and in instances not infrequent the blood makes its way to the surface, so that there are spots on the body where the blood sensibly oozes out through the cuticle. Precedent to the appearing of the purple spots, the patient ofttimes shows great weariness of PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA. 495 body, and complains of aching in his lower limbs. Sometimes, however, the disease appears all of a sud- den. Whenever it does appear, however, there is at- tendant great depression of spirits. If the pulse is not quickened, it becomes feeble, and occasionally there is a flushing of the face with an unnatural heat of the body, and subsequently, perspiration. There is no regu- larity as to its appearance, nor to its duration. In some instances it lasts but a little while; in others it continues for months; and there have been cases where persons have suffered from it for years. I have had but few cases of it to treat. One very remarkable case, however, came under the care of Dr. Austin and myself. The patient was a young lad, about fourteen years old, the son of a friend of mine. When we were called to take his case in hand, he had been treated some fourteen days by an allopathic phy- sician ; had steadily grown worse, until he himself be- came decidedly opposed to being under his care longer, and, at his own suggestion, his parents requested our attendance. Di*. Austin and myself went to see him. We found him very low in flesh, as sallow as if he had the jaundice, greatly depressed in spirits, complaining of pain in his legs, lacking aU appetite for food. After looking the case over thoroughly, and deciding that we would take it in hand, we proceeded to our treatment, which was introductorily as follows : We had the body washed all over in quite cool wa- ter, and wiped gently and carefully until it was dry. The effect was quite marked, inducing sleep almost as 4&6 ACNE. soon as the bath was finished. When the lad awoke, I gave him some wheat-meal gruel to drink ; and during that day gave him a sitz-bath at a temperature of 90° for a few minutes, followed by one of 85° for eight or ten minutes. Compresses were put upon his abdomen and his bowels were moved by tepid enemas. On the second or third day, under our directions he took a wet- sheet pack, and was washed all over after it in quite cool water. So between packing and washing, sitz- baths, compresses and enemas given, with the disuse of solid food and the use only of wheat-meal gruel, the boy commenced to gain; and in less than one fortnight from our taking the case was riding out. Since that time we have had several other cases, but none so marked as this. Acne.—This is a disease appearing generally on the face, more particularly on the forehead, showing itself in hard pimples or pustules on the face. It is often seen in persons of fuU habit of body who are scrofu- lous, or in those who are particularly of the bilious temperament. It never appears except in persons who have more or less morbid conditions of liver, or who are of scrofulous habit of body. It appears in its worst form generally in spring or faU ; wears out in the win- ter, or disappears in the heat of the summer; but re- turns again as the seasons change so long as the condi- tions of the blood which first produced it continue to exist. The remedy for it is great cleanliness of body by fre- ACNE. 497 quent ablutions, and farinaceous and fruit diet, and such equalization of the circulation as relieves the external surface from great changes of temperature. The pim- ples range generaUy from the size of a pin-head to that of a pea. Where they are the largest, they often be- come hard and red, and, if pricked, bleed. In some per- sons they are exceedingly difficult to cure. I have known one lady whose face wore such acne as to re- sist the most thorough allopathic and homeopathic ap- plication, and who under the Psycho-hygienic treatment failed to improve until six months had transpired, at which time she began to improve, and went on until in about three months her face was entirely smooth, and skin as clear as it was on any other part of her body. She has had no return of it since she was cured, hav ing Hved hygienicaUy. CHAPTER LVI. ULCERS. Physicians and surgeons divide ulcers into five varie- ties : First, the healthy; second, the irritable; third, the indolent; fourth, the varicose ; fifth, the specific. I do not wish to say anything about the " healthy " ulcer, because, in fact, it is no ulcer at aU. It is an ab- scess whose formation is normal, and when it has reached its extent it disappears by normal vital action. All the need there is of giving it any attention or consideration is in making the person suffering from it as comfort- able as may be during the inflammatory process which precedes the suppurative. Such an ulcer is a common boil. How to treat it properly, everybody ought to know, consists in fomenting and poulticing it until the suppurative process has been completed, when the boil bueaks, and relief is had, after which healing, as a gen- eral thing, proceeds rapidly. The Irritable.—The second kind of ulcer, which is denominated by physicians the irritable, wears usu- ally a dark purplish appearance ; has but little matter in it, and this of an ichorous appearance, the smell of which, however, is very fetid, and the effect of which (498) THE IRRITABLE ULCER. 499 on the skin is sometimes quite corrosive. Dr. Hill in his Surgery says that the granulations in it are imper- fect, spongy and of a dark red hue. The peculiarities of it are that it affects the system in general, and in- duces what are termed constitutional symptoms. Thus, a person having it will often show thirst and chills, will be irritable and fretful, and sometimes suffer from great prostration. At whatever part of the body the ulcer is located, there will be a painful, smarting, burning sen- sation present. This kind of ulcer, when neglected or badly managed, often becomes gangrenous. I had two patients in my Cure who were threatened with ulcerous gangrene. It was with a good deal of difficulty that their vital force resisted the gangrenous condition ; but by very careful dieting and soothing, emollient poulti- ces, warm fomentations foUowed by cold affusions, the destructive condition was not reached. With the allo- pathic, eclectic, and, to some extent, the homeopathic practice, fomentations are made of bitter herbs, such as hops, poppy-leaves, and what is termed smart-weed. But these are not at all necessary. There is nothing to be gained in their use, unless it be in the case of hops and poppies, where the narcotic principle con- tained is absorbed into the circulation, and so relieves the patient. A very good poultice for them is made of the common carrot, which I have often tried, roasted. A bread-and-milk poultice is very good ; but these are merely soothing processes. The cure for such an ulcer is to be found in what may be called constitutional treatment. The liver, bowels, and external skin almost 500 THE INDOLENT ULCER. always conjoin to produce it. When, therefore, one is suffering from such a morbid external disease, the treat- ment which is the best calculated to cure it is that which involves the blood-making organs, the organs which circulate the blood, and those organs which carry off from the blood waste matter. Packs, sitz-baths, drip- ping-sheets, foot-baths, as these may be easUy or readily applied, constitute the external form of treatment. A rigid dietetic regimen is a sine qua non to cure. Prop- er defecation of the bowels must certainly be secured. Under such conditions, the patient will sometimes rap- idly, but oftener slowly, nevertheless surely, improve. I would not advise any one having irritable ulcers to take powerful medicines internally, nor to do anything externally calulated to shock or strain the nervous sys- t'jai. Give the patient time, and under the Psycho-hy- gienic treatment, he will get weU. Where there are strength and vigor enough of the body, to the other means already described there may be added quite fre- quent and powerful sweating. The persons most liable to have irritable ulcers are rank meat-eaters and large drinkers of distilled or brewed liquors. The Indolent Ulcer.—This, when described, proves to be almost entirely the opposite of the irritable ulcer. A distinguished surgeon says that each can be best studied in a contrast with the other. Reverse the de- finition of the one and you have that of the other. The indolent ulcer has the edges of the sore everted THE INDOLENT ULCER. 501 instead of being inverted, being rounded and thick, somewhat glossy and quite regular. 'The granulations, instead of being red and sensitive, are of a dull, pale aspect, and insensible, with round, flat heads, and gen- erally located on the bottom of the excavation, and have, in short, a fungoid character. The pus, instead of being ichorous, is thick and of a dark-yellow color, and so firmly adherent to the base of the ulcer that it cannot be removed without considerable force. This kind of ulcer is the more important inasmuch as it is the most common form of sore, and deserves attention from the fact that it is an affection as rarely cured by the profession generally as any that can be named, not in its nature incurable. Indolent ulcers occur most frequently on the lower extremities. I have had a great many cases to treat, and have uniformly succeeded in curing them by the Psycho-hygienic methods. I will state two cases as illustrative of my practice. Several years since, a gentlemen brought his wife to me who had been troubled with two indolent ulcers on the inside of her right leg, about two-thirds of the way from the knee to the ankle-joint. She had had them for four years, and had exhausted the resources of medi- cine and surgery, as usuaUy applied by the best phy- sicians and surgeons of the Northwest. She had con- sulted distinguished medical men in Milwaukee, Detroit, Davenport, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. These gentlemen had made examinations, and prescribed, and she had followed their treatment. But so far from being bene- 502 THE INDOLENT ULCER. fited thereby, on the whole she had been made worse; for while she wa*s no better as respected her ulcers, she was worse as respected her general health. The ulcers were about two inches apart; one the size of the top of a smaU tea-cup; the other the size of its bottom. The larger one had extended itself, originaUy not hav- ing been larger than the smaller of the two ; but curi- ously enough its extension was made in a direction opposite to the other, and so they had remained dis- tinct ulcers instead of becoming confluent. I saw at once that the treatment she must have, if it were to prove curative, should be mainly constitutional. So I told her husband that, if he would give her to me for six months, I not only thought that I could have the ulcers heal, but that she would be in so much better conditions than she had been as that they should not break out again. I put her under the following treatment: Her diet was composed entirely of preparations of wheat-meal in the way of unleavened bread, Graham pudding, Graham gruel and sub-acid fruits, she eating no beans or peas, potatoes, carrots, turnips nor any kind of vege- tables. For four months, twice a day, she had this food. Her baths for the first six weeks were a wet-sheet pack from thirty to forty-five minutes, followed by a drip- ping-sheet for a minute and a-half, at a temperature of 85°, one minute; 80°, half a minute ; rubbed dry and warm afterwards ; abdominal bandages night and day ; injections of tepid water once in twenty-four hours; THE INDOLENT ULCER. 503 from a-half pint to three pints of soft water a day for drink ; a douche on the ulcerated leg for five minutes, by pouring over it water as hot as could be borne, alter- nating with water as cold as could be borne (a dipper- ful of warm then of cold, and so on for the rutire time) ; the wearing of wet compresses on the leg ; the wearing of the American costume, and life, as much as possible, in the open air. When four months were gone, the ulcers were hr aled; the leg sound; the woman, to all intents and pui )oses, healthy. She so remained, for four years, at the expi- ration of which time I lost knowledge of her - ondi- tion, and have not heard from her since. The second case is, on the whole, more rema kable than the former. A gentleman said to me, " M r wife is out of health, and I have been thinking foi some time that I would like to speak to you about her." " What is the matter with her ?" I asked. " She is in poor health generally, but has an ulcerous leg ; and I have exhausted my purse and my patience in the employment of physicians, to no purpose." Being so situated that I could visit the lady, I said, " Well, if you wish, I wiU go and see her; then, per- haps, I may be able to tell you what I can do." He expressed himself as very desirous to have me do so, and I went. I found his wife to be a woman of about fifty years of age, who had had this ulcer for fifteen years; was dyspeptic, scrofulous and predis- posed to consumption. I talked with her, got at her feehngs and conditions, and then said to him : 504 THE INDOLENT ULCER. "Your wife can be cured, and by processes very simple but sure, provided she wiU do as I tell her." She expressed herself as wiUing to do anything that she could do and remain at home, saying that it was impossible for her to go away from home. I told her that I thought it was not necessary; that she might get well in her own house. She was a large meat-eater, tea-drinker, coffee-drinker, butter-eater, salt-eater, spice- eater, taking medicines aU the time, and' applying some sort of ointment or lotion to her leg all the while. I made her a prescription as foUows: To give up meat, butter, spices, common salt; to drink no tea or coffee; to drink only soft water; to eat for her food unleavened bread, Graham pudding and sub-acid fruits; or, in their stead, any kind of vegetable which she liked so it was simply cooked; to wear abdominal bandages day and night; to wash her body all over every day; to keep wet compresses on her leg; to keep herself free from company, and from the cares of the family, and to live largely out of doors. She said she would do so. I saw nothing more of her nor heard from her, nor do I recollect to have thought of her for the next six months, tiU one evening I met her husband at a public convocation, when he said to me, " Come and see your patient;" and he took me around where she sat, look- ing as nice and as fine as any woman could; health good; ulcers entirely healed, and she rejoicing greatly in her newly-recovered health. So true is it that God's mightiest things are his simplest things. VARICOSE AND SPECIFIC ULCERS. 505 The Varicose Ulcer.— This is an ulcer which always arises from, or is dependent upon, a swollen, or what is termed a varicose, condition of the neigh- boring veins. The same treatment which has to be given for either the irritable or the indolent ulcer is proper for this. Perhaps the treatment needs to be more thoroughly localized in this than in either of the other cases ; but, notwithstanding, constitutional treat- ment is important. Where varicose ulcers exist, they cannot be cured if the practice of ligating the part affected is kept up. As they oftener than otherwise appear on the lower extremities, and as aU the small veins in the region are involved, anything like the wearing of garters or elastics is inadmissible. To do so is to render the cure impossible. The Specific Ulcer.—These are sores which grow out of some specific inflammation, such as scrofula or venereal poison, and are to be cured by constitutional treatment only. They defy medicinal remedies. If, being located on one part of the body, they are cured by medicinal administration, it is only to break out in another part of the body. The treatment, therefore, which is necessary and proper for scrofula or syphilitic disease in any of its chronic forms, is the treatment fit for this ; and as I have called attention to this class of diseases in a work on " TnE Sexual Organism," and in " Consumption," I forbear to discuss them at length here, saying only with reference to them that the Psy- cho-hygienic method of living, as well as of treating disease, is the true method for curing them. 22 506 BOLLS. Boils.—A boil is an inflammation of the cellulai tissue and the skin; by surgeons it is termed a furuncle. It is liable to occur on any portion of the body, more commonly, however, upon the buttocks, nape of the neck, fingers, or face, oftentimes numbers coming in succession, or in groups, or on the same part closely adjacent to each other. The causes of the boil are not readily appreciable; the most that can be said about them is that they are the result of an effort of the vital force to expel acrid, excrementitious matters. I think no person has them who has not disordered digestion or derangement of the secretories. Usually, it is supposed that persons who have them have disor- der of the liver ; or, if they are women, that when they have them their appearance is connected with some derangement of the menstrual flux. When the boil first begins, it appears upon the skin as a little red, hard pimple, enlarging itself under the extension or inflammation of the part untU it swells up and looks like a cone. As it varies in size from a pea to a large-sized apple, the pain which is felt in it is, or may be, exceedingly severe. When it first begins, the pain is of a burning, smarting kind ; when suppuration is nearly reached the pain becomes throbbing or pulsa- tive. Sympathetic irritation often exists, especially when the boil appears in the region of the large glands. Boils are of different kinds ; they are called common boils or carbuncles. But whatever may be the peculiar causes which produce them, they are, in the main, the Barne, and the treatment should be essentially the same, BOLLS AND CARBUNCLES. 507 varied of course by the intensity of the inflammation and of the suffering of the patient. Under the Psy- cho-hygienic treatment, involving as this does the use of water and of all other hygienic means which are calculated to produce change from worse to better, the ordinary boil is quite a common form of crisis with our patients. The appearance of anthrax or carbuncle is less com- mon, but has often enough appeared to make me en- tirely familiar with it. The most common seat of the carbuncle is the nape of the neck, though I have seen a good many of them in the region of the fiftn dorsal vertebra. I think that persons who drink largely of ale, and Hve upon fat meats, are much more liable to have this form of boil than persons who live more healthfully. The extent of the inflammation of the carbuncle ranges from that of an inch in diameter to four or five inches. Dr. Gross, in his System of Sur- gery, says that little or nothing is known of the exci- ting causes of carbuncle. The outbreak is commonly ascribed to the effects of cold, to disorders of the stom- ach, overeating, constipation of the bowels, loss of sleep, excessive venery, and other debilitatmg influences ; but how far, or in what degree these circumstances tend to favor its development, it is impossible to say. My ex- perience does not lead me to such conclusions ; for those who have had the carbunoalar boil while under Psy- cho-hygienic treatment, have not been persons given to debauchery in any sense, unless it has been in the direction of drug-medication. The disease, therefore, 508 BOILS AND CARBUNCLES. I regard as of constitutional character, as I do erysip- elas; it may as readily appear in a person whose habit of body is scrofulous, whose conditions of Hving have been somewhat one side of the right, who has taken a good deal of medicine or drunk long, though in moderation, of malt or distUled liquors, or who has drunk so largely of mineral waters that cathartic action of the bowels has entirely ceased, no matter how much water is drunk, as from causes which involve great debauchery. I am disposed, therefore, to think that it is not a bad state of the solids, as some physicians suppose, which induces the carbuncular manifestation, but that the blood is befouled with excrementitious matters, which the ehminative organs have not been able to throw off, and that when they have come under Psycho-hygienic treatment and changes are instituted, demanding the casting out of acrid or poisonous mate- rials, the form of this excretion is carbuncular. Whenever I have had one appear on a patient, I have recognized the fact that the general system strongly sympathizes with the local affection, and so my treat- ment has been made accordant to this conviction. I have never seen a single case, though I have had some very severe cases, where I have thought the life of the patient was in the least danger. I know, however, that persons do, under the drug-medicating treatment, fre- quently die. I wish I could induce every surgeon in the country to employ Psycho-hygienic methods in severe cases. I think that if he would, he would find his success vastly greater than under the methods BOILS AND CARBUNCLES. 509 usually in vogue. For instance, there is no necessity for bleeding or actively purging a patient, no matter whether there be extraordinary fullness of blood or of body. It is far better to produce a change in the secre- tions by means of the skin at large, than through the action of the bowels under the use of purgatives. Mer- curial cathartics are decidedly contra-indicated. They never should be given. Nor should emetics be given, however great the gastric derangements; nor need stimulants nor tonics be given, even though there be some manifestation of cerebral involvement; nor need anodynes be given to procure sleep ; nor need blisters be apphed. This whole method of treating an inflam- matory skin and cellular tissue disease is unphilosophi- cal, and should give way to a better method, which may be as follows: Deplete the body by abstinence from food at first; sustain the body by tonic baths and semi- fluid foods; let nitrogeneous instead of carbonaceous foods be given. This is all that needs to be done. Of course, as you would treat any person having local or general fever, so treat a person having carbuncular in- flammation. Packs, sitz-baths, dripping-sheets, band- ages about the abdomen, injections of tepid water, cool cloths to the head, ventUated rooms, quiet surroundings, pleasant associations, with food made out of grains and fruits, wiU prove as much more efficient and successful than the common .plan as one can think. When the patient begins to improve, change of scene may be made. In a practice as extensive as is mine, under critical 510 BOTES AND CARBUNCLES. actions as numerous as I have to deal with, one may see in the course of a year more of this form of boils than in an ordinary city or country practice a physician would see in a lifetime. I do but state the simple truth when I say that not one time in a hundred would a person having a carbuncle run any risk of dying under the commonest knowledge how to make a fair apphcation of Psycho-hygienic treatment. CHAPTER LVII. BURNS AND SCALDS. To treat injuries of this sort might well pass under the head of surgery, and therefore I might omit all allusion thereto. It may, however, not be thought im- proper for me to say a few words with reference to the best method of treating them, because, after the hy- gienic idea of what disease is, these injuries may be called diseases. The human skin is, on the whole, as important an organ as any of the human body; and while it can, perhaps, perform its functions to such degree as will enable the body to retain general vital relations to its uses and offices, though the skin be diseased, better than any other organ in the body can do, nevertheless there is a point beyond which the skin itself cannot be injured and made to take on unhealthy conditions, and yet be able to perform its functions. Burns or scalds, whether made by the heat of fire or by heated fluids, are dangerous only as they are extensive. If they are local, nature takes care of the difficulty by the healing process which immediately begins after the scald or (511) 512 BURNS AND SCALDS. burn is received ; but if large portions of the skin are destroyed, then the system becomes so deranged, both in respect to the circulation of the blood as well as to the irritation of the nervous system, as to render resto- ration doubtful if not impossible. In the way of treating local burns or scalds, the treatment is to keep the part from the air. Anything which will do this may, in itself, serve a remedial pur- pose. Thus any poultice or plaster made of flour or any substance which can be spread on the burned part, and not inflame it by irritating the raw flesh, serves a temporary purpose. It becomes, in a measure, to the part injured, an artificial skin. I have never had but one serious scald or burn to deal with, and that I treated by immersing the entire part in water, keeping it there hour by hour for days, taking it out only when I felt that it was prudent to do so, either because of the desire of the patient to have it done, or because of the necessity of change of pos- ture to the patient; but, as soon as I could, placing the part back in water and covering it aU up by it. It proved to be a most successful way of treating the injury, and enabled the sufferer to sustain the pain better than in any other way of which I could con- ceive. When burns or scalds occur, water dressings are therefore of great value, provided the applications be of substances which are soft and delicate in their tex- ture. Wet these in water, and apply to the injured part, and keep them wet all the while. Nature will TUMORS—BRONCHOCELE. 513 produce healing quicker in burns and scalds, as in all kinds of wounds, under the application of water, than of any other substance which I know. Tumors.—Most physicians, and I think many sur- geons, would be surprised if they could witness the changes which go on in the human body in the reduc- tion and disappearance of tumors under Psycho-hygienic treatment. I am quite disposed to think that, in many cases where surgery proper is considered as the only remedy for certain classes of tumorous growths, the Psycho-hygienic treatment, properly and sedulously ap- plied, can render the knife or caustic quite unnecessary. I propose here to allude to some cases of treatment which have passed under my own management going to show the correctness of this view. Bronchocele.—This is a hard tumorous enlargement of the thyroid gland, a gland situated in the front part of the neck, just below the skin, which is called in common phrase "Adam's apple." The disease is known ordinarily by the name of "goitre." In the early stage of its appearance the tumor is elastic and quite soft, oftentimes growing to a large size, and be- coming sohd and compact in its formation as it ad- vances. The places where it is said to be more prevalent than in others are the valleys of Switzerland and the Tyrol, though in Derbyshire, England, it is very prevalent. In these districts of country writers affirm that more 22* 514 BRONCHOCELE. women have the disease than men. Few children, even in these districts, have it. It only appears in persons who have arrived at puberty. It is supposed to be more common with persons who live in malarious or marshy places; but I do not beheve that this would be the case if such persons were able in all respects, except in the direction of the atmosphere, to live as healthfully as persons do who Hve upon dry, high lands. It is generaUy considered, when weU developed, to be an incurable disease, surgery not being able to apply its remedial resources by cutting the tumor out, the place where it is located and the way of its growth both forbidding the expectation of successful excision. To stimulate the absorbents, therefore, so as to reduce it and carry it away is the method of practice. The particular specific which physicians and surgeons used a few years ago, and upon which they relied more than any other, was iodine. It was given internally and applied as ointment externally, but failed to pro- duce the effect desired, in many cases the constitution of the patient breaking down under the administration. The way which I have followed in the treatment of bronchocele, and under which I have had, in several instances most marked success, has been the paying of great attention to the conditions of living of the pa- tient, such, for instance, as giving him grains, simply prepared, with sub-acid fruits for food and soft water as a drink ; keeping him upon this for months, and, in a few instances, for two or three years. I was led to BRONCHOCELE. 515 adopt this dietetic practice in view of the results which were produced by a celebrated English physician, Dr. Lamb, in the treatment of cancers. His success sug- gested to me the idea of treating scrofulous accretions in this particular way. So, keeping from the patient all kinds of greasy or complicated foods, and causing him to eat farinaceous and fruit foods exclusively, for such a length of time as to produce marked changes in the structure of his body at large, I have found, when this course was accompanied by proper hydro- pathic treatment, most excellent results to flow there- from. One case which will illustrate my idea, but which was no more successfully treated than a dozen other cases, though, perhaps, none of them were as bad as this, I placed under the following conditions : In the morning the patient was required to get up and walk half a mile ; to eat his breakfast at eight o'clock—food consisting of unleavened bread, Graham pudding, some sub-acid fruit uncooked, and water; dinner at three o'clock, the same in kind as breakfast, though, perhaps, a Httle less in quantity ; at eleven o'clock each day a bath, one day a sitz-bath at a temperature of 85° for twenty minutes, 80° for ten minutes ; the other day a wet-sheet pack with fomentations over the bowels and over the neck upon going in; duration of pack forty minutes; to come out and take a half-bath at a tem- perature of 85°, rubbed by two persons, to be followed by a spray at 72° of one minute, on the tumorous portion of the neck, the patient standing in a foot-bath at a tern- 516 BRONCHOCELE. perature of 105° ; after being wiped, to put on a wet compress on the goitre and wear it night and day, as also over the abdomen ; bowels kept open when need- ful by tepid injections of soft water; life in the open air ; dress warmly and loosely. In the course of eight- een months, the goitre which was as large apparently as a hen's egg, lying directly over the thyroid gland in part, and extending around to the right side of the neck, had entirely disappeared. There was, however, no greater change in the conditions of this patient in respect to the disappearance of his tumor than there was in his general appearance. When he came under my treatment he was as feeble and inactive a person as could well be found of his age, complaining of want of power, of a sense of debility upon him aU the time; his appetite would be one day voracious, the next day capricious, and the third day perhaps entirely gone. But after his bronchocele was cured, he became fleshy and fair-looking, quite sprightly in his appearance, and as active and companionable a person as one could weU desire. I confess that I myself was astonished at the result; but I have ceased to be so since my discovery of the principle of reconstructioiV'that exists in the hu- man body under proper applications of its vital force. I am disposed, therefore, to think that where persons of a scrofulous or tumorous diathesis of body are af- flicted with any such defective organization of blood, or of its circulation and its organization into tissues, as to lead to the formation of abnormal growths, or to any modification of structure aside from the right line BRONCHOCELE. 517 of growth of it, proper external conditions of liv- ing, under a proper use of hygienic agents and influ- ences, will produce results such as at first wiU astonish the most candid and reflective observer. CHAPTER LVIII. VARICOSE VEINS. A great many women in this country who have passed middle life know what this disease is. Curious enough it is, that where one man has varicosity of veins, notwithstanding the much greater strain that he puts upon the legs in his use of them, ten women have them. I account for it in two ways; one that the habits of wo- men are much more sedentary than those of men, and the sitting posture is decidedly unfavorable to venous circulation; the other is that women in their style of dress ligate the lower limbs in the wearing of tight shoes, which in themselves are very bad, and in the wearing of garters just below the knee for the purpose of keeping the stockings up and smooth on the leg. Perhaps, also, the wearing of their clothes about their hips tied with strings or cords, as has been commonly the case, has also something to do in the matter, for to the degree that the circulation upward is checked, to that degree is varicosity of vein likely to be produced. The veins are the vessels which carry the blood back to the heart. From that part of the body which is below the heart they have to carry the blood against the law of gravity. In order, however, to the doing of this (518) VARICOSE VEINS. 519 successfully, the veins are constructed with valves in them, which open from below upward, so that the blood in its passage upward opens these valves ; as soon as a portion of it has passed, the valves set back and keep it there, while the blood below pushes the valves open, and this propels the blood into another venous chamber which is also constituted by a valve opening from be- low upward. Now, when from any cause, either by Hgatures applied about the limb, or from crookedness in posture, or from any cause or causes whatever, the blood is obstructed from above, the tendency of it is to accumulate in such quantity as to extend the vein side- wise, making it larger than natural. In this way the valves become too small for the purpose for which they are made, and drop down in the vein and let the blood set back. This condition is what is called varicosity or enlargement of the blood-vessel. Sometimes this dilatation or enlargement becomes so great as to ren- der the vein useless as a tube for carrying the blood, and the blood accumulates in such quantity and is pushed on so feebly that irritation and inflammation of the coats of the veins supervene. You have then what is caUed varicose inflammation, which is a danger- ous disease, and very difficult to cure, and which, if it is not cured, kills the patient. I have tried to explain the origin of varicose veins that the common reader might get some idea of the mechanical obstruction that exists in its production. I have not tried to be very precise and scientific,, but only inteUigent in the matter, bringing my description 520 VARICOSE VELN8. within such a range as would be suggestively available. This disease is usually considered to be only curable by surgical operation. First and last, however, I have had probably a hundred persons, four-fifths of whom were women, to treat for varicose veins of the legs. In some cases I have had varicosity of the spermatic veins to treat, but usuaUy those of the legs. I have been surprised, not to say astonished, to see how won- derfully Nature takes up even so bad a structural con- dition as this disease shows, and rectifies it on the best possible plan, when once the patient is brought into the best possible conditions for having it done. I am sure that there is a field of observation here which it is very desirable for medical men and surgeons to explore. I recollect, some years ago, having a case of varicose veins to treat. The gentleman was one who had con- sulted many surgeons, and they had told him that the disease was so extensive that nothing within the line of an operation could benefit him; and that he must make his life as comfortable as he could, and accept the issue philosophically. He came to me and I put him under treatment. He was a man who in every re- spect, except in his dietetic habits, had been a careful and temperate Hver; but he ate badly, and drank cof- fee enormously, and had dyspepsia. I put him under Psycho-hygienic treatment. In the course of six or eight weeks he was taken down with a general fever, and inflammation of the varicose veins of the legs set up. • We carried him through the fever, and succeeded in reducing the venous inflammation, and when he re- VARICOSE VETNS. 521 covered, his veins were almost normal in their appear- ance. Circumstances rendered it necessary for him to commence business sooner than I advised, and so he did not get the full benefit of a course of treatment; but such was the permanent improvement in his case that he is now Hving, and works as hard as any man, and his veins are not nearly so large as they were when he came under my management, and give him but very little, if any trouble. The improvement was so marked that when he went to his home, he submitted his case to the inspection of the surgeons whom he had consulted, and his own declaration was that " more as- tonished men one never saw." They wanted to know of him what had been done to produce so remarkable a change in the appearance of his veins, and in the condition of his health generally; and when he told them that he had been under Psycho-hygienic treat- ment, they expressed themselves in the most eulogistic terms of the results produced by it in his case. The treatment which I gave him, and which in gen- eral I give to such cases, is that which tends to produce a change in the quahty of the blood as weU as in the vigor of its distribution. I have found in this disease that sluggishness of circulation is as often produced by impurities in the blood, as by any other cause. That this should be the case is to be accounted for perhaps as much on the ground of debilitation of the nervous system as on any other ground ; for it is true that the nervous system soon becomes affected in its manifesta tions of power when the blood which furnishes it vigor 522 VARICOSE VEINS. to work with becomes impure, as from undue or over- use of such power. One may get sick from want of power as readily and as decidedly as from over use of power ; and where the blood, under the general habits of living of a person, becomes greatly depraved and deteriorated in quality, disease may arise in certain structures therefrom, as well as from exhaustion of nervous force consequent upon too severe and too long continued labor. To treat varicose veins, therefore, successfully, one not only needs proper surgical appli- ances, such as a bandage, in order to furnish artificial contractility to enable the blood to pass along its course, but such treatment also as will improve the general health and increase the disposable vigor, and in this way aid in producing normal conditions of the struc- ture affected. BATHS, AND HOW TO TAKE THEM. By MISS HARRIET N. AUSTIN, M.D. --------»♦«-------- To many persons the descriptions and explanations below may seem unnecessarily minute, but they will not, I think, to him who has had much experience in giving instructions for home-treatment. He who has seen persons attempt to take sitz-baths in* wash-bowls, to take half-baths without undressing, to give a drip- ping-sheet by wetting one corner of the sheet in cold water, or to give hot fomentations with a small Hnen towel, or a bit of flannel as large as his two hands, has learned how crude are the notions of the people in regard to the whole matter of water-treatment. A vast deal of injury has been done in this method of treatment, as weU by the bungling use of appliances, which, if skillfully used, would have been entirely pro- per, as by the use of such as were whoUy unsuited to the person to whom they were administered. We do not give heroic treatment. We do not believe in it. Our baths are aU mild, and given at not very frequent inteivals. The first thing to be done when a (523) 524 BATHS, AND bath is to be given is to prepare the room, making it of a comfortable temperature. The second is to pre- pare the bath, using soft water, and making it of the right temperature, as indicated by a thermometer. Persons sometimes ask us to explain what we mean by certain temperatures, so that they can get along without a thermometer. This is impossible. The terms hot, cold, warm, tepid, are so indefinite, and convey so different impressions to different persons, as to be entirely unreliable in giving directions. What is hot to one person is cold to another, in the morbid states through which sick persons pass. And the sen- sations of healthy persons are so variable that they can- not be rehed upon to temper baths by the touch, for those with whom a slight change is of consequence. Of course the line where cold passes into tepid, or tepid into warm, is inappreciable, but in general terms I should consider a bath at 75° Fahrenheit cold, at 85°, tepid, at 95°, warm, and at 105°, hot. The idea that the hotter a person is, the colder should be his bath, is productive of great mischief. The true rule is ex- actly the reverse of this; that is, a person in a high fever should have his bath at a higher temperature than if he had no fever; for what, in the latter case, would be a pleasant temperature to him, might be shockingly cold in the former. So, while in such con- ditions a bath at 90° would subdue the fever, one at 75° would be likely to produce violent reaction, and in half an hour the fever would be higher than before.* * If a person in fever is to be packed, bis conditions are much HOW TO TAKE THEM. 525 Having the bath ready, the next thing is to get the patient ready. One who is suffering from acute disease may often, when feeling nervous, and restless, and ex- hausted, be greatly refreshed and soothed by the ad- ministration of a bath. But persons who are taking a course of treatment for chronic ailments, or those who simply bathe for cleanliness, should never take their baths when tired. Baths are always most bene- ficial in their effects when taken with the body at its highest point of vigor. Hence, as a rule, ten or eleven o'clock in the day is the best hour for bathing. When this is impracticable, the hours of rising or retiring are unobjectionable. No bath should be taken immedi- ately after or before a meal. Care should be taken to have the feet warm on coming for a bath. In cases where they are habitually cold and cannot be warmed by exercise, it is often well to take a warm foot-bath for a few minutes before a general bath or a pack. Next, the patient lays aside all his clothing, and wets his forehead and top of the head in the bath or cool water ; and if the bath is continued beyond a few minutes, Hke a sitz-bath, a wet towel or cap should be kept on the head. If the bath is to be reduced, as we very frequently do, as reducing a half or sitz-bath from 90° to 85° or 80°, the patient rises out of the water while the attendant pours in cold water. Soap should never be used except" for persons who bathe very sel- more readily and safely controlled by wetting two sheets in water at 90°, wringing them but slightly, and packing him in them, or even by putting him into a fresh pack when the first one becomes heated, than by putting him into a cold sheet. 526 BATHS, AND dom, or who are very dirty. When a person comes from any general bath, that is, having the wh le sur- face bathed, he should be instantly enveloped in his wiping-slieet, and himself and the attendant should fall to rubbing vigorously. Sheets should b-; made specially for bathing purposes. A common cotton bed- sheet will answer for wiping; for a sheet of some kind must be used, towels after a general bath being entirely unfit, and crash towels quite out of the questio i. But for packing or dripping-sheets, use linen, and I ave the sheet not longer than to reach from'the person's head to his heels. The fabric may be coarse and heavy, but must be soft and smooth. As soon as the skin is thoroughly dried after a bath, the sheet is removed and the rubbing continued briskly and gently over the whole surface, with the dry hands, for four or five minutes. A healthy person can do his own rubbing, but the invalid is greatly benefited by having an assistant / and everything that this person has to do in administering the treatment, should be done with energy and expedition, not leaving the pa- tient in a shivering, uncomfortable state for even the shortest length of time. After getting through with the bath, immediate means must be taken to establish thorough and perma- nent reaction. If the person has a good degreie of strength, he may go out well dressed for a brisk walk, or to split wood, or fodder the cattle, or do anything which will keep him stirring. But in the case of very delicate persons, it is often better, particularly if the HOW TO TAKE THEM. 527 weather is inclement, to go to bed, well covered up, with a cool cloth on the head and a warm blanket at the feet, if needful, and lie for an hour or two, till the cir culation becomes entirely quiet. And sometimes com paratively strong persons do well to follow this course, and get up and take their exercise afterward. If a person uses these means, and stiU grows chilly thirty or sixty minutes after his bath, or if, after an hour or two, he feels an unusual languor or exhaustion, his bath has done him hoyrm instead of good. GENERAL BATHS. The Half-Bath, so called because about half the person is immersed in water, is taken in a tub about four and a half feet long, twenty-six inches broad to- ward the widest end, and gradually tapering till it is no more than fifteen inches broad toward the other end, and eleven or twelve inches high. At least, this is a convenient size and shape. Ours are made with staves and hoops, and sit on wooden horses about twenty inches high, with a hole stopped with a plug in the bottom, at the smaU end. The bath is prepared at the right temperature, about six inches deep; the patient wets his head and steps into it, sitting down in the broad end of the tub, with his feet extended toward the narrow end. To have it done just right, there should be two attendants, one to rub the patient's legs and the other to rub his back and arms, while he rubs the front part of his body. The rubbing should be done lightly and briskly, dipping the water up ou to 528 BATHS, AND the body with the hands very frequently. The com mon time to continue the bath is for two minutes, though to gain a particular and it is often continued much longer. In an institution where aU the apparatus is at hand, this is one of the most convenient, pleasant, and effi- cient forms of bath. The Plunge is taken in a tub four or five feet deep, nearly fiUed with water, and so narrow that the person can place a hand on each side of the tub, leap in, crouch down till the water rises to his chin, and then leap out. This is a very pleasant, and, if taken cold, a very ex- hilarating form of bath. When arranged, as we have it at Our Home, so that the temperature of the water can be raised to about 75° or 80°, it is one of the best baths which a robust, healthy person can take for clean- liness, daily or tri-weekly. The Dripping-Sheet will, perhaps, be found to be more practicable for invalids in families, than any other form of bath. It requires but Httle water, can be taken on the nicest carpet, and if mild in its temperature, produces very mild reactions. An oil-cloth should be spread on the floor or carpet, and the sheet put in a pail half full of water. The patient stands in the middle of the cloth, and the attendant raises the sheet by two of its corners and throws it around him, so as to completely envelop him from his neck to his feet, and immediately falls to rubbing him vigorously with both hands, over the sheet. If desired, the sheet can be partly relieved of the water by squeezing through the nOW TO TAKE THEM. 529 hand, as it is raised from the pail. It is common to apply the sheet twice ; first in front, lapping it behind, rubbing one minute, then removing, dipping in the water again, and putting around from behind, and rubbing another minute. A very feeble person can take this bath sitting on a stool, if need be; but in that case there should be two persons to rub outside the sheet. Or a strong person can take it alone, as he can reach nearly every part of his person to rub, and can wash his back by drawing the sheet across it. It is an excellent bath. The Pail-Douche should be taken in a room where a portion of the floor is lower than the main part, and from which the water is carried off by a drain. From one to six pails fuU of wrater may be used. The person stands on the depressed floor, and the attendant, stand- ing four or five feet away, takes up a pail and dashes the water with considerable force, at three or four dashes, over him, letting it strike near the upper part of the body, and so run down and cover him; the re- cipient meantime turning slowly round, so as to receive the water on all parts of the body. This is a very pleasant bath, if not taken below 80°, and entirely unobjectionable to be used daily for cleanliness by per- sons in health. The Towel-Washing has no advantages over the dripping-sheet, except in instances where it is used sim- ply for cleanliness, and is more convenient, or where the person is too feeble to sit up. One who is very feeble may be bathed in this way without fatigue or 23 530 baths, and exertion. The nurse uncovers an arm, or a leg, or a small portion of the body at a time, partially wrings a soft towel out of tepid water, and washes the part quickly and gently, wipes with a soft towel, rubs with the warm, dry hand, covers again, and so proceeds till the whole surface is washed. Or, if this is too much at one time, the operation may be suspended an hour or two. Patients who are feverish are often greatly soothed and comforted by having the back bathed in this way several times in a day, or even by having the face, hands, and feet bathed. Water may be used more freely by spreading a dry sheet or blanket under the patient to protect his bed. If the patient is able to get up for his bath, the dripping-sheet should be used instead of a towel. THE PACK. Preparation is made for the Pack on a bed or lounge, the pillow lying in its place, and two warm comfort- ables and a woolen blanket, or as many blankets as will amount to these in quantity, being spread upon it. Over these is spread the wet sheet, slightly wrung, and so high up that it wiU reach but a few inches below the knees, and may be wrapped around the head. The patient immediately places himself upon this, on his back, his arms at his sides, and the attendant quickly brings the corner of the sheet over from the farther side, under the chin, and tucks it under the near shoulder, and up close to the neck, and then all along down the body to the bottom of the sheet. Then the HOW TO TAKE THEM. 531 opposite side of the sheet is spread over and tucked Under in the same way. Then one side of the blanket, then the other, and so of the comfortables, being sure to make these snug around the feet. If there is liabil- ity that the feet will grow cold, they should be wrapped in a warm blanket or have a bottle of hot water placed near them, outside the blanket. Sometimes we wrap them in flannel folded and wrung out of hot water; and very frequently, when persons have local conges- tions, as of the lungs, liver, or throat, we place over the part hot, wet flannels when we put them in pack. I have known persons who could not take a pack in the ordinary way without chilling, have them admin- istered with great benefit by placing a strip of hot flan- nel up and down the back-bone, inside the wet sheet. A cool wet towel should be laid on the forehead, and the person left entirely quiet, and in three times out of four he will go to sleep and get a delicious nap. He should not be left alone, however, unless he is accus- tomed to it, as he may become very nervous on finding himself alone and helpless. The rule for remaining in the pack, if the patient is quiet, is till he feels thor- oughly warm; say from twenty-five to sixty minutes. It is usual to give persons some form of general bath, as described above, the moment he is taken out of pack ; though with feeble persons we sometimes throw the dry sheet round them instead, and wipe immedi- ately. Or such one may take a towel-washing, lying stiU, and being only partly uncovered at a time. 532 BATHS, AND LOCAL BATHS. The Sitz-Bath may be taken in a common-sized wash-tub, though we have tubs made on purpose, which are higher at the back, with so much water as nearly to fill the tub when the person sits down. The person should remove all his clothing, except his shoes and stockings, and be well-wrapped up in his bath with a comfortable. Many times it is desirable to undress the feet also, and take a warm foot-bath while a tepid sitz-bath is taken. In this case, the feet should be dipped into the cool water when taken out of the warm-bath. A cool wet cloth or cap should be worn on the head. This bath is continued from five to ninety minutes, to meet conditions : though the more usual time is from fifteen to thirty minutes. The Shallow-Bath may be taken in any tub suf- ficiently large to allow the person to be immersed in water to the hips, as he sits or stands in it. The upper portion of the body should be covered with a blanket or warm wrapper. This bath is continued from five to thirty minutes. Sometimes, however, it is taken sit- ting, in a half-bath tub, an attendant rubbing the limbs, and in such case it is continued from one to five minutes. The Hand-Washing is performed by dipping the hands frequently in a vessel of water, and rubbing vigorously a limited portion of the surface, as over the chest, abdomen, liver, spleen, or spinal column. Severe congestions are sometimes relieved by this process — HOW TO TAKE THEM. 533 dipping the hands alternately in cold and hot water, and continuing it ten to twenty minutes. Foot-Baths are made from one to five inches in depth, in a keeler or common pail, and are continued from five to twenty minutes. Hand-Baths taken alone or with foot-baths are often beneficial. When Fomentations are to be applied to any part of the trunk of the body, the better plan is to double a woolen blanket and spread it on a bed, and let the patient undress and He down upon it. A flannel folded to about six thicknesses is then wrung out of hot water and placed upon the part to be fomented ; the blanket is brought over it, first from one side and then the other, and then the bedclothes spread over all. The cloth should be applied at such a temperature as to feel de- cidedly warm, or pleasantly (not unpleasantly) hot; and should be replaced by a fresh one as often as it grows cool —say from six or eight to twelve or fifteen minutes. The head must be kept cool and the feet warm. The applications may be continued from ten minutes to two hours, as occasion requires. On finaUy removing the flannel cloth, the part fomented must be washed off with cool water — say at 85° or 80°—unless a cool bath is to follow, or a cool bandage or compress is to be applied. Here is an important point: Whenever water is applied to any part, or the whole, of the body at so high a temperature as to relax the coats of the capil- laries and distend them with blood, it must be followed by an application at so low a temperature as to con- ^trinp-p the ve—els and restore their tone. Othervi-o 534 BATHS, AND there is great HabUity to take cold. Hence, the old fashioned way of " soaking the feet in hot water," on going to bed at night, for a cold, had to be done with great care to avoid adding to the cold. If the hot-bath had been followed by a cold one, there would have been no difficulty. SWEATING. One of the most convenient and efficient methods of inducing sweating is to place the patient in a sitz-bath, with a foot-bath, letting both be as warm as can weU be borne. He must be well-covered with a comfortable, and as the baths graduaUy cool, hot water can be added. The head must be kept weU wet with cold water, and watch kept that the patient does not grow faint. When perspiration is thoroughly estabhshed, he may take a half-bath or dripping-sheet, and go to bed. If it is de- sired to check the perspiration entirely, a good way is to commence the half-bath as high as 90°, and gradu- ally reduce it to 80°, or lower. One of the safest and most effectual modes of breaking up a severe cold for a robust person, is to place him in the hot-bath till he sweats profusely, and then transfer him immediately to a pack at about 80°, and follow this by a dripping-sheet, and send him to bed with but little to eat for two or three days. If there is congestion of the throat or lungs, it is sometimes well to foment the parts while in the hot-bath. Such a course as this is a considerable tax upon the strength, and should be followed by, at least, several hours' repose in bed. If, after going to bed, the sweating continues too long, it should be HOW TO TAKE THEM. 535 decked by a cold bath ; or, if it continues at all, it is weU to rub off the surface with a wet towel on risino;. EMETICS Of warm water should be administered at the tempera- ture most sickening to the patient, probably about 90°. The draughts should be taken at short intervals, not allowing time for the absorbents of the stomach to take up the water to any great extent. It may be needful to give anywhere from a pint to four quarts. INJECTIONS, When used daily for cathartic purposes, should be taken at a regular hour, one hour after breakfast being a very smtable time, at a temperature of 85° or 80°. If there is particular inactivity of the bowels, the enema may be rendered more efficacious by lying down, having the water slowly injected, and retaining it fifteen or twenty minutes, if necessary for this purpose pressing exter- naUy with a folded towel. Some author has said that it is better to He upon the right side in taking an injec- tion, and it would seem from the conformation of the intestines that there might be reason in this. Where there is obstinate constipation, it is sometimes useful to take a small cold injection, to be retained, on going to bed at night. BANDAGES, To be worn next the body, should be made of heavy, soft linen. The outer, dry bandage may be made of com- 536 BATHS, AND mon cotton muslin, cotton jean, cotton flannel, or, if necessary to keep the person warm, woolen flannels. Both the outer and inner bandage should be made double. The rule for wetting the bandage in chronic ailments is, before it gets dry—say three to five times in twenty-four hours. In acute diseases, particularly . if there is much fever, they may need wetting much oftener. It is not necessary that they should be wet in very cold water, if this is unpleasant, but the water should be cool. Abdominal Bandages may be made about six inches wide, and sufficiently long to wind twice around the body, or only long enough to pass around the body once, and meet in front. In the latter case they should be wide enough to cover the stomach and abdomen, and need to be fitted to the form, by inserting gores in the lower part, or taking seams in the upper part. The Wet-Jacket is fitted nicely to the form, having arm-holes, and coming up snugly round the neck, and may reach only to the waist, or it may come to the hips. In this form they are admirable, worn in fevers. They should be made to lap in front, thus covering the chest with four thicknesses of wet Hnen and of dry cot- ton. These, as well as the abdominal bandages, may be left dry across the back, if they cause chilliness. In both cases, also, the outer bandage should extend a little over the edge of the wet one. The Throat Bandage should be about three inches wide, and made to pass once or twice around the neck. Compresses are limited bandages, as a folded wet HOW TO TAKE THEM. 537 towel, worn over the throat, or chest, or stomach, or liver, and so covered with a dry bandage as to be kept warm. THE WET CAP Is made by taking a piece of Hnen long enough to meas- ure round the head, just above the ears, and from three to four inches wide when doubled. This is sewed to- gether at the ends, and gathered at the upper edge into a round crown-piece. It is wet in cold water and worn on the top of the head, coming down on the forehead, and must be re-wet as often as it becomes dryish. It does not add particularly to the attractiveness of one's appearance, but is exceedingly comfortable where one suffers from heat in the head, from chronic congestion, or to be worn in the study or Hbrary when thinking is not easy. 23* THE LAWS OF LIFE, AND ®bzm$txmtz $anxml, Is devoted to discussions on all matters pertaining to Human Health, and the best means for its promotion ; and also to discussions on the best methods to induce our people to abstain from using substances which intoxicate. Spe- cifically considered its object may be said to be, 1st. To teach the people how to live without sickness. 2nd. If sick, how to get well without drugs or medicines. 3d. How to live and think and work without using intoxicating liquors 01 Intoxicating drugs. 4th. If addicted to their use, even though it be to excess, how to abandon them and recover their self-control. This makes a comprehensive plan of labor for its editors and contributors. On the subject of Health it may be said truthfully that our people are lamentably ignorant. Sickness prevails to a great extent, when, but for want of knowledge how to keep well, it might be avoided. Great numbers of persons die yearly who might just as well live if they understood the laws of life and health. Surely, in this direction no person ought to be indifferent. On the subject of Temperance the discussions in its columns will be new The Editors occupy advanced ground. They think that in order to induce those who drink ardent spirits habitually to abandon their use, something more must be done than simply to argue the question of their injuriousness to health and happiness and the well-being of society, and ask drinkers to sign a pledge to drink no more. They think the pledge should reach all narcotic and intoxicating drugs and drinks as well as cider, wine, ale, and strong liquors. Hence, we ask Temperance men and women all over the land to subscribe for our Journal, and hear what our editors have to say. The Laws of Life is issued monthly, is 16 quarto pages in size, and is edited by Miss Harriet N. Austin, M.D., James C. Jackson, M.D., and James H. Jackson, M.D. jpW Specimen copies, containing terms, seat upon receipt of a red postage Btamp by the Publishers. AUSTIN, JACKSON & CO., Damville, Livingston Co., N. T. THE SEXUAL ORGANISM, AND ITS HEALTHFUL MANAGEMENT. BY JASLES C. JACKSON, M.D. .----«-^---- PRICE BY MAIL, - TWO DOLLARS. This is one of the most valuable books ever written. It should be read by every married man and woman in the land. Every clergyman who takes an interest in the health and happiness and present as well as future well-being of his fellow-creatures, should read it. He may rest assured he will preach better sermons for having read it. Every young man contemplating marriage should read it. Every school-boy should carefully and studiously read it. Every young woman should read it. She will find in it nothing offensive to modesty, nothing that should make her blush, but much that will instruct her how to protect her rights and personal immunities so as forever to secure her from having cause to blush. This Book is by far the ablest ever written on the subject. It embodies the experience of one of the ablest physicians living, and whose opportunities for thinking and studying the Laws of the Human Organism in this special depart- ment have in our judgment never been equalled, certainly never excelled. If the tens of thousands of young men in our land suffering from debilities arising from their want of knowledge of the Laws of the Sexual System, could each have a volume of this work placed in his hands, what a blessing it would be to him. The Publishers are not unmindful that on the subject of Sex, the people of the United States hold a conservative position. The Publishers are happy to be able to say, that they hold the same position. Neither " for love nor money " could they be induced to publish anything that might serve to weaken in the minds of the people—especially the rising generation—the regard which they cherish and are taught to cherish for the Social and Family relations. This book contains no subtle sophistries, no cunningly concocted falsehoods made to look like truths, which once read shall seem to poison the mind and debase the moral sense of him or her who reads it. It sets no snares, and digs no pitfalls for the young and the unwary. The Author is a Christian gentleman, a philanthropist and a man of science, who, having won by his great talents and very large professional practice, an eminent position as a Physician, has turned his great knowledge to account, in writing on a special theme, and it is no small meed of praise to him that we can say, out of the ten thousand volumes of the work already sold in the United States, neither from press nor private individual has there ever come to our knowledge an unfavorable criticism. Buy the book, then, and read it. Having read it yourself lend it to your neigh- bor. You can do nothing better with the same amount of money. The violation of the Laws of Life in the department of the Sexual Structure is very great and knowledge should be had. Read, digest, do, and live. Address, AUSTIN, JACKSON & CO., Dansville. Livingston d... X. Y- Our Home on the Hillside, DANSVILLE, LIVIXGSTON CO., N. Y. This Institution is the largest Hygienic Water-Cure at present existing in the World. It is presided over by, and is under .he medical management of, Dr. James C. Jackson, who is the discoverer of the Psycho Hygienic method of treating the pick, and under the application of which he has treated nearly 20,000 persons in the last twenty years, with most eminent success, and withmtt ever giving any of them any medicine. The Psycho-hygienic philosophy of treating the sick, no matter what their age, sex, or disease, consists in the use of those means only as remedial agencies whose ordinary or legitimate effect on the human living body when taken into or apt lied to it is to preserve its health. The fallacy of giving poisonous medi- cines to Invalids has been abundantly shown in " Our Home " in the results of our treatment. Our Institution is large enough to accommodate 250 guests, is, after the plan adopted by us, complete in all its appointments, having worthy and intelligent helpers in all its departments of labor, and who give their proportion of sym- pathy and influence to the creation and maintenance of a sentiment and opinion cheering to the invalid, and, therefore, decidedly therapeutic in its effects. The scenery about the Establishment is very beautiful, the air is dry and very salu- brious, we have plenty of sunshine, and pure soft living water in great abun- dance. Besides all these, and which we prize as one of the highest privileges and health-giving opportunities our guests could possibly have, we live ourselves, and so can enable them to live, free from Fashion and her expensive and ruinous ways. Life with us is simple, not sybaritic, is true, not hollow and false, and so of itself tends to its own perpetuation, and, of course, to health. A gteat many of our guests who have for years been great sufferers, growing steadily more and more sickly, begin to get well, and go on getting well in such silent yet sure, in such imperceptible yet certain ways, as never to be conscious how it was brought about. The means used seem so utterly incommensurate to the results pro- duced, that it seems marvelous. So true is it that in Nature " God's mightiest things Are His simplest things," and that to understand how things are done, one needs to cultivate a teachable spirit, and to cherish a reverence for Law. To teach those who come to us for treatment what the laws of life are, and to awaken in them the desire to obey these laws, is to establish a most favorable condition-precedent to their recovery. Sick ones, whoever you are, or wherever you are, do you want to get well ? and to learn how to keep your health, having got well ? Come to '' Our Home " il you can, and once here learn the all-important lesson, that "Nature as a mistress is gentle and hoiy, And to obey her is to live." Circulars of the Institution or any information in regard to it may be obtained by addressing either James C. Jackson, M.D., Miss Harriet N. Austin, M.D., or Dr. James 11. Jackson. These Physicians may also be consulted by letter by the sick who are unable to attend the establishment. Fee for home prescription $5. Harriet N. Austin, James H. Jackson, Lucrktia E. Jackson. AUSTIN, JACKSON & CO., Proprietors. Are You of Consumptive Family? If so, do you wish to know ow to avoid having Consumption yourself, or, if you have already got it in its first or second stages, how to cure it ? Then send to Austin, Jackson & Co., and purchase Dr. Jackson's Book, entitled: Consumption: How 1o Treat It, and How to Prevent It. In this book you will find the information you need. Dr. Jackson is the only Physician who, having treated this disease successfully without the use of Drugs ind Medicines, has placed his ideas at the service of unprofessional readers. The Book is written in a clear style, is free from technical terms, and full of val nable instruction. Thousands of volumes of it are in circulation, and tens of thousands of human lives have been saved by reading it and following its in- structions. The work has two very valuable points : 1st. It elaborates and makes plain the methods and ways of overcoming hereditary tendencies and constitutional predispositions to the development of the disease, so that those who have them may escape, and, if children, may over- come them, and grow up robust and live to good Old Age. The instruction on this point contained in the Book is great, and ought to ba in possession and use by every father and mother who have Scrofulous children. Consumption in the United States and in Canada, is almost always induced under bad conditions of living operating on persons of Scrofulous constitutions. Where this is the case it is a pity that those who get it and die from it, could not know how to stop its development. " An ounce of Prevention is worth a pound of Cure," and that the advice of Dr. Jackson is ample to produce this result, the testimony of thousands of persons proves beyond cavil. 2nd. The Book tells the reader not only how to understand the Consumptive constitution, and how to avoid and overcome its active development, but it instructs the reader how to treat curatively those persons who are curable, with- out the use of drugs and medicines and poisonous nostrums. This is of itself most valuable information. Reader, have you ever thought what a drug-poisoned people we of the United States are ? everybody, almost, taking when sick, stuff to cure them which, were they well, would surely make them sick. So blind are the People, and so deadened their instincts, that from the child of a span long to the man of mature age, dosing with poisons is the remedy for every human ail- ment. So common is this practice and so destructive to life is it, that the wisest observers do not hesitate to say that War, Pestilence and Famine, have not killed as many persons since the Creation of Man as Drug-medication has. Of all the diseases to which the Human Organism is subject, none have proved so incurable under Drug-medication as Pulmonary Consumption, while of them all none has proved more curable under Psycho-hygienic treatment than it. Now, as there are in the United States thousands and tens of thousands of Consumptive persons who are curable, and tens and hundreds of thousands who, though not having Consumption as yet, are sure to have it under the ordinary course of things, we take pleasure in telling them that they can be intelligently instructed how to get well, or how to keep from having the disease. The Book is nearly 400. pages octavo, has been extensively noticed by the Press and always with favor, and is so ably written that one of the most scientific men in our country has said that ■' Were the Author never to write more, this book of itself in less than fifty years will place his name high in the temple of Fame, as one of the farthest-seeing men of his day and as a benefactor to mankind." Address, AUSTIN, JACKSON & CO., Dansvili.e, Livingston Co., N. Y., who will send the work, post-paid, for $2 50. 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