m -A^*^,.■>•£'' ■~j! NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ^C" MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NLM DDlDmflS D aan ivnouvn snidiqsw jo Aavaan ivnouvn snisiqsw jo Aavaan ivnouvn OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE aan ivnouvn 3Nioia3w jo Aavaan ivnouvn 3NiDia3w jo Aavaan ivnouvn OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE aan ivnouvn 3Nioia3w jo Aavaan ivnouvn snioiosw jo Aavaan ivnouvn OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE aan ivnouvn snidiqsw jo Aavaan ivnouvn 3nidiq3w jo Aavaan ivnouvn NLM001014850 Bethesda, Md /■>-/ J. H. SALISBURY, A.M., M.D., LLD WORKS OP: THE RELATION OF ALIMENTATION AND DIS- EASE. 332 pages, royal 8vo, cloth, nineteen full-page plates, $4.00, net. Postage 23 cents. An interesting and instructive work, written in the strong, clear, and concise manner characteristic of the Author. The subject presented is one of the most important that can engage the attention of the profession, as well as the general public. MALARIA. McNaughton Prize Essay, Albany Med- ical College Alumni Association. Ten plates, 152 pages, octavo, cloth, $2.00, net. Postage 15 cents. MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATIONS OF BLOOD FOUND IN VARIOLA AND TYPHOID FEVER. Seven plates, 65 pages, octavo, cloth, $1.00, net. Postage 6 cents. ORIGINAL INVESTIGATIONS IN DIPHTHERIA AND SCARLET FEVER. Seven full - page plates, 31 pages, octavo, cloth, 75 cents, net. Postage 5 cents. Address WILLIAM A. KELLOGG, 1023 Sixth Avenue, - - New York. Apkttov fiev vScop WHAT MUST I DO TO GET WELL? AND HOW CAN I KEEP SO? BY ONE WHO HAS DONE IT AN EXPOSITION OF THE SALISBURY TREATMENT "If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it 1 How much rather then, when he saith to thee, " Wash, and be clean ? " Fourth Edition, Thoroughly Revised and Greatly Enlarged NEW YORK WILLIAM A. KELLOGG 1889 $9ZSvs 1883a. /^-/^ *T&>7. 2-Hl^, £/ Copyright, 1889. by WILLIAM A. KELLOGG TROW'3 PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY, NEW Y«RK. TO HER WHO WAS THE BEST AND HIGHEST INFLUENCE OF MY YOUTH, AND IS NOW THE MOST BLESSED MEMORY OF MY AGE. WITH REVERENT DEVOTION, I LAY THIS LITTLE BOOK UPON GEORGE ELIOT'S GRAVE. PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. I AM very glad that a fourth edition is called for so soon (the former edition of two thousand copies being sold out in less than two months), since this demand shows,—as does much private correspondence,—that my little book supplies a real popular need. It is essentially for the People that I write, the so-to-speak, uninitiated — •not for scientists. I feel very grateful to those reviewers who have given a kindly and friendly notice of my book; and yet, I could have wished that some had seen deeper into the philosophy and rea- sons of the treatment, in order to approach the subject,—so vital in its importance,—in a more serious, earnest, and larger spirit. The Salis- bury Treatment — founded on the revelations of the microscope, and endorsed by the tests of chemistry — is no new thing, but has stood unshaken the daily trial of years. It cannot, vi Preface. therefore, be talked or laughed down. Truth— and this is truth—must at last overcome oppo- sition. Harvey, when he promulgated his dis- covery of the circulation of the blood, had, doubtless, a good deal to contend with, in the prejudices of the orthodox medical practitioners of his day, who perhaps would have considered the answer of the Indian medical student in his examination paper on that subject, near enough, " It runs down one leg and up the other." Similarly, practical farmers found it quite im- possible to believe, till shown by actual experi- ment, that water in wet land could find its way into drains, which is now the leading feature in modern scientific agriculture. Some of my critics good-naturedly charge me with enthusiasm; but when one .feels deeply, can one write half-heartedly ? The mind that seeks to move others, must it not be "red hot behind the pen "—especially when every word that flows from it, owes its being to experi- ence ? Some medical gentlemen, especially those hailing from Scotland, have testified an almost needless ferociousness against my (I hope) in- Preface. vii offensive little book ; which might have extin- guished me, had I not remembered the highly conservative tendency of " the Faculty " in Ed- inburgh, as evidenced by their Medical School, which held its doors relentlessly closed against the admission of women as medical students, long after others had more generously opened theirs. And also, that a distinguished physi- cian of the above-named city, gave, in my pres- ence, as the reason for his share in " the barrin' o' the door," that he had seven sons, and there- fore could not afford to sanction this wholesale invasion of his profession. Perhaps these crit- ics of mine are similarly provided with their quiver full of these problematical blessings, and so " cannot afford " that their patients should be instigated to think for themselves in the pre- vention and cure of their illnesses. But I do not anticipate that they, nor any doctor, need feel much apprehension*on this head; for my experience tells me that there will always be many cases where doctors, now paying one visit, will then have to pay three, there being great numbers of irresponsible people quite incapable of thinking for, and guiding themselves, who viii Preface. will require under the Salisbury system of self- denial for health's sake, so much constant per- suading, scolding, cheering on, warning and ex- hortation, that doctors will have their hands pretty full (likewise their pockets), ere the race of the helpless ones becomes extinct, and, fur- ther still, all cases of serious illness will abso- lutely require very careful and incessant watch- ing by the skilled physician and microscopist, were it even only for the purpose of detecting where the patients' performances are discrepant with his promises, and of averting the conse- quences. For a salient point in the Salisbury treatment is the easy detection of deceptions or unfaithfulness in diet. When the patient does not progress, or has relapses—it is his oivn fault, he has only himself to blame. Either he has not conscientiously followed out all instruc- tions,—or he has tried to improve upon the diet by the addition df vagaries of his own or his friends' devising. This is a matter of such positive certainty each time, that not only can it be safely " sworn to," but may be equally confidently and advantageously bet on. I am amazed, at the audacity and illiberality that Preface. ix can " pooh-pooh " so scientific and exact a sys- tem of investigation, and still hold on to the old, unsatisfactory fashion of " guesswork,"—at the unfairness which can treat this arduous, tried labor of years as a childish tale, even while withholding from it the test of an honest trial. It seems to me that the time has come— and none too soon—for patients themselves to wake up, and, in the interests of humanity and their own, demand a thorough, searching and candid inquiry into this alleged scientific meth- od of diagnosis, prevention, and cure. If it should be found to fail,—then let it speedily and utterly be consigned to the limbo of impostures; —if, after honest and reasonable trial, it is found to be successful, and to bear out its statements and promises, let it be frankly and generally ac- cepted. But to condemn it unheard, untried, is a confession of weakness, and an evidence of lamentable prejudice, wholly unworthy of the noblest and grandest of professions, that of Healer. This edition of my little book, is now, I am happy to say, being translated into French and German, and will appear in these languages in November, 1889. The first edition, in Ger- x Preface. man, had a pleasing success. Also, I am proud to say that a publisher in New York is, on gen- erous terms, publishing this book in that city. E. Stuart, April 20, 1889. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The origin of and apology for this little book, are the very many letters I received from friends, and more particularly from strangers, inquiring minutely about the Salisbury Treat- ment. The answers took long to write (often was I thus employed from 5 A.M. till 5 P.M.), and af- ter all I could not in the compass of a letter, in- dicate everything that from their questions I judged would be of use to my correspondents, in their endeavor to regain health or keep it. So this little book came to be evolved out of the needs of others, and I can truly say that I have put my whole heart into the work. And the abundant testimony that I did, and do still continually receive, to the very great benefits that large numbers are deriving from following the treatment as I endeavored to explain it in these letters, and in my first edition, has made Xll Preface. writing this second one—if that were possible to me—doubly a labor of hope and love. More especially as I saw far greater possibilities for helpfulness and good, widening before me, on receiving from Dr. Salisbury his masterly work, newly published in America, " The Relation of Alimentation and Disease." I begged and obtained his generous per- mission to use and make copious extracts from it. Accordingly, with close and deep atten- tion I studied his book; and then very care- fully rewrote my own; enriching it largely throughout with the fruits of Dr. Salisbury's wisdom, research and long and varied experi- ence. Knowing as I did for so many years what it meant to " eat my bread with tears, and lie weeping on my bed through the long night hours " in grief and pain, these pages have been written in the ardent desire to help others to help themselves, and save them from the suffer- ing that I suffered. I lay no claim to novelty, less than none to originality; I have but done my very best to explain helpfully and encouragingly to the sick, Preface. Xlll the beneficent operation of the Salisbury Treat- ment, as I have felt it in myself and seen it in others, to explain it so clearly and practically, that every intelligent man and woman may, by its help, get well and keep well. This is the goal towards which I have striven from my first page to my last. And with this view, I have in addition drawn attention to a few of the signs easily discernible, when one first begins to get out of health, so that the remedy may be adopt- ed at once; and the pain, unutterable weari- ness, nuisance, and expense of illness spared. Every word also that I have said from myself is the outcome of tried and hard experience learnt in conflict with a nine years' most se '- ere illness, and very much of it has been re- called to me now by those inquiries I spoke of above. That words and experience of mine should stir you to rise up and conquer back for your- selves health, and freedom from pain and misery, as I have done, by the simple, sure and safe means here narrated, makes me most truly happy, and I feel—thankfully feel—that all 1 have suffered and what I have written, are not XIV Preface. resultless. Nor for myself have they been alto- gether so either, "----all these years Of lonely being. I have grown To tenderer pity for the tears Of others,—gazing through my own." Elma Stuart. June 21, 1888. HOW TO GET WELL. MODUS OPERANDI; OR, HOW TO SET ABOUT THE SALISBURY TREATMENT. " Each truth, learnt from science or experience, must have become part of the man's existence ; the theo- retical truth must form such a part of his very being that it influences, almost unconsciously, every prac- tical action. If a theory of life is worth studying, let the propounder bring evidence that it has moulded his own character, has been the mainspring of his actions." —Karl Pearson, M.A. " Hundreds of thousands are dying, for the simple reason that they do not know how to live to keep well, or how to live to get well. Aside from injuries, infec- tions, and poisons, all our ills are caused simply by doing what we ought not to do, and leaving undone the things we ought to do. It is painful to think of the terrible slaughter caused by ignorance."—From a letter of Dr. Salisbury's. HE question that I am asked oftenest nowadays, is " What is meant by The Salisbury Treatment ?" This question I propose here to answer to the best of my abil- ity ; feeling it will do much to encourage and t 6 How to get well. reassure those who are ill, if I can partly tell them how carefully, patiently, and wisely this treatment has been thought out and tried in all ways; what painstaking research, reasoning, logic, insight, and earnest sincerity were brought to bear on its discovery. If I can make the sick see clearly the reason why it has attained such success as a cure in all kinds and stages of illness, during a long course of years—nearly thirty-five—-they will surely, for their health's sake, not refuse to try it. Dr. Salisbury of New York, a thorough microscopist and chemist from his early youth, entered upon the profession of medicine in 1850.1 He was at once strongly impressed by the al- most utter ignorance existing in " the Profes- sion," concerning the real Cause of Diseases, and consequently by the uncertainty and hap- hazardness inevitable in the mode of their attempted cure. The dire list of so-called in- curable diseases haunted his thoughts day and 1 It is from the clear, unerring disclosures of the microscope, and by aid of chemical analysis that this treatment has been discovered. How to get well. 17 night. He felt convinced that they must be curable since they could arise in previously healthy organizations, that there must exist a tangible cause for them, that the cause must be discoverable, and he resolved that he would never rest content until he had discovered it. I have no room here to tell of his long and arduous investigations, extending over many years, of all the means he used, microscopically, chemically, scientifically, both as to the human body, and the foods it most constantly con- sumes. Anxious, painful, and laborious were these first years; till at length daylight began to break in upon his persevering researches, and he found at last the clue by which he was to thread his way to complete success. Acting upon this glimmering of light "through the ob- scurity, he began to experiment first upon him- self alone, in the matter of diet, with vegetable and other foods, in undue proportion or exclu- sively ; carefully marking the results and symp- toms, and examining microscopically the pas- sages, which showed how much of such foods did not digest but fermented, filling the diges- tive organs with yeast, carbonic acid gas, alcohol 2 18 How to get well. and vinegar, affording therefore no nourishment to the body, but establishing diseased condi- tions. Then, and at various periods of his life, he hired robust strong working-men, four and six together to live with him for a time, paying them well. Without taking the exercise need- ful for health (which would have postponed the crisis), they all fed alike, exclusively on the vegetable or other foods on which he desired to experiment. In this way he soon produced in himself and them the various illnesses which we, taking longer about it from more favorable conditions and circumstances (exercise, partial meat diet, etc.), produce in ourselves by pro- longed unhealthy alimentation. Among the vegetable foods on which they all fed (one food* singly at a time) were bread, beans, potatoes, asparagus, maize, oatmeal, rice; and the other foods (also partaken of singly) comprised beef, mutton, chicken, turkey, lobster, fish, etc., of which ^^/"triumphantly bore away the palm as the aliment most easily digested and the most sustaining, and also as the food on which, exclusively, we can subsist the longest not only without injury, but with positive How to get well. 19 good. After that followed mutton ; and turkey came in third, the rest being, for the purposes of an exclusive dietary, practically " nowhere."' He watchfully noted down all symptoms and re- sults, and before he separated from his hired men, cured them by a course of diet exclusively of broiled lean beef, washing out systematically the while with hot water. Some slight medi- cines were brought in as well; but, as Dr. Salis- bury says, " they are merely aids to the resto- ration of healthy states, after the cause, or the unhealthy alimentation, is removed." But since he could not, as he naively says, carry his ex- periments on to the death-point with himself or his " boarders," he bought over a thousand hogs, so that he might test on them various methods of feeding. (I may remind you that the stomach and digestive organs of the pig ap- proach more nearly the same organs in man than those of any other animal. The digestive secretions are very similar and act in a like 1 Dr. Ephraim Cutter states that repeated experiments have proved "that adult man can exist and thrive indefinitely on lean beef pulp and hot water alone." That this latter is in it- self also a food is evinced by the fact that we can, at a pinch, sustain life, solely on pure water from five to eight weeks. 20 How to get well. manner upon the food.) In order to be quite sure of all his facts, he tended, fed, and when they died, dissected them himself; and by 1858 he perceived clearly and unmistakably that all diseases not caused by accidents, poi- sons or infections, emanate from unhealthy alimentation. And having at last reached the cause, the remedy was not so far to seek. The occurrences and details of his labors and experiments in this deeply interesting field are given in his great work lately published in America, " The Relation of Alimentation and Disease," a work of vital interest, which should be thoughtfully studied by every- body who duly values, and would learn how to keep his most precious possession, namely, his health. Dr. Ephraim Cutter, writ- ing on the above experiments and observa- tions on diet — says, that they were " care- ful, difficult, long, painful and thorough, and, I speak advisedly—without a parallel in history: and their results have removed some of the op- probria medicorum of the past." And thus, in 1858, his life-mission opened itself out fully be- fore him, and earnestly and with a deep sense How to get well. 21 of responsibility did he set about it—not so much to make a living for himself as to help others to live—to endeavor to prevent disease, and to cure it. Nobly has he fulfilled that mis- sion, as hundreds can now gratefully testify, who but for him would to-day be taking their long sleep in " the land where no man dwell- eth," or would be as I was, hourly, for eight and a half most weary years, sleepless, helpless, barely able to move, and night and day unceas- ingly suffering great anguish. If you who read these lines had but seen me then—could but see me now, after a few short months of the diet and hot water!' Honor to whom honor is due. Let us then pay our tribute of praise and grateful- ness, ungrudgingly, to the genius, solicitude, and unwearying perseverance that so long and care- fully thought out and discovered for us this sim- ple, efficacious, and safe means of prevention and cure of disease—Dr. Salisbury's Treatment. 1 Two months and a half after I began the strict treatment, I could bend, and put on my own shoes and stockings, and lace and unlace my boots, which I had been unable to do for nearly ten years. And then, gradually, each invalid appliance and device, and all cushions, etc., were discarded :—and oh the heartfelt joy with which I saw the last of these nuisances dis- appear ! 22 How to get well. I now proceed to unfold the means of cure, and I find that it is not superfluous to say that I address myself to THE SICK. ^F you desire to get well, you will take four pints of hot water a day, and re- strict, for a time, your diet to minced beef only. One good hour, or longer, before each of your three meals, always on an empty stomach, take one pint of hot water, * as hot as you can com- fortably take it, as hot as in fact your tea and coffee—that is from ioo° to 1300 Fahr. as it suits you best. Do not try to take it too hot. And some two and a half or three hours after your last meal, say, a good half-hour before bed- time, take your fourth and last pint of hot water. " The best times for the regular meals are 8 A.M., 1 p.m., and 6 P.M.; and the best times for taking the hot water are about 6.30 A.M., 11.30 A.M., 4.30 P.M., and 9 P.M." {Dr. Salisbury..)" 1 For children—half a pint. 2 Those who take their matutinal pint in bed—a good plan How to get well. 23 The water must NOT be swallowed quickly, but sipped slowly, so as not to cause weight and distention. If you fancy, after trying it, that you find it " very hard " to take the whole pint at first, then it is very easy and permissible to take a little less to begin with, but I strongly and earnestly advise you to come speedily to your full pint each time, if you really wish to gain the whole benefit of the treatment. You cannot, in adhering to your pint, take an over- dose ; do not be afraid of it. I take occasionally two pints at a time, and feel myself all the better for it, though I also thought a pint at a time rather stiff to manage at first, and only my conviction of the logic of it carried me through. In a very short while, habit, the great good you will feel yourself deriving from it, and its own soothing properties, will make it quite easy and even pleasant to you to take the full quantity prescribed, especially if you bring a cheerful good-will, courage, and dogged determination to your own cure. The keynote to this whole line for everyone—should lie down on their left side for a while afterward, as this position facilitates "raising the wind." Dr. Salisbury recommends this procedure. 24 How to get well. of treatment, is,—the patient does his own cure, not the doctor. Upon the patient's resolution, perseverance and intelligence, depend the suc- cess of the treatment. The doctor points the way, helps, exhorts, restrains, cheers and advises, —and the patient does it,—or doesn't. " It was only after repeated experiments that the most favorable temperature, amount, and hours for taking the hot water were determined accurately as above given." Should you fancy that the hot water " will make you sick "—or, from the foul state of your stomach, should it at first really produce some nausea, add to it a little aromatic spirits of ammonia, a pinch of salt, a squeeze of lemon-juice, or a little sulphate of magnesia—nothing else besides. If your mouth is dry and tongue clammy, lips dry and hard, add to your hot water a pinch of chloride of calcium or nitrate of potash, which will soon afford complete relief from the dry, parched sensations. Your tongue and mouth being in this state, is a sure sign of a sour stomach, and shows your urgent need of a good scour out. It would be well to take note of the fact, and How to get well. 25 remember, that no beverage whatever, quenches thirst in the way that hot water does. Some of the English doctors—especially lat- terly—prescribe hot water with, or shortly after meals. But this is to render its raison-d'etre of very little or rather no effect, and to retard or impede digestion by diluting and weakening the gastric juice. The object and uses of the hot water, taken as carefully directed, are roughly these :—(1) It washes out the stomach thor- oughly,1 cleansing away all the sour yeast, slime, and mess left there after food, leaving it clean and quiet for sleep, and free for the action of the gastric juice on the next meal. (It is therefore easy to understand, with a very little thought, why, along with its other benevolent work, it soon cures indigestion, heartburn, and flatulence, and makes you very hungry for your food.) (2) It stimulates the liver to activity, accelerating the downward flow of the bile 1 My son writing to me from his ranch in America, says, " An old miner to whom I showed your book, said, It's good horse- sense, and it's only nat'ral we should want a good ground- sluicing ! " Ground-sluicing is a term in mining which means sluicing the bed-rock or foundation with water, until it is left as clean and smooth as marble. 26 How to get well. through the right ducts and channels; and when you remember that a man in health pro- duces from a pint and a half to two pints of bile a day, you will appreciate the importance of not allowing this fluid to go " fooling around " everywhere, to become re-absorbed into the blood-stream, but of guiding it in the way that it should go. (3) It causes a flow of urine sufficient to keep in solution the uric acid, which, when the urine flows scantily, so often deposits as red sand ; and it renders the water quite clear and pale in color, as it ought to be, and consequently greatly eases the filtering work the kidneys have to perform. (4) It liquefies and purifies the blood, thus not only largely in- creasing circulation and vitality, and imparting an unwonted sensation of permanent warmth and comfort to the body, hardening it against colds and chills; but (5) it greatly lightens the work the heart has to do, making it much easier for it to " handle"1 the pure liquid blood, than 1 See " Hot Water as a Remedy," 4th Edition, 10th Thou- sand, price ^d. London, Simpkin & Marshall; Lancaster, E. & J. Milner. A very valuable pamphlet, whose compiler has done generous and noble work in the Hot Water Crusade, be- sides being the first to make known the Salisbury treatment in How to get well. 2 7 when it is sluggish, sticky, and congested. (6) It washes out the uric acid in the joints, which deposit causes in some cases, such as gout, rheu- matism, etc., so much distress and helplessness, and keeps the articulations lissom. (7) It quickly diminishes pain, soothes and strength- ens the shattered nerves, gives calm, cheerful- ness, and strength to the mind, through the good work it does to the body; and (8)—boon unspeakable—it induces, thanks to a clean un- troubled stomach, sound refreshing Sleep. It fulfils other beneficent offices1 for the suffering, as also for those in health who desire to keep so; for, well or ill, everybody needs an internal bath, more even than an external one, " even comparatively healthy persons find it of much benefit;" but what I have said is enough to show the reason why those who have seriously England ; to whom, for that, and ever ready kindness and help- ful encouragement, I gladly own myself deeply indebted. In this little book are many authentic and most interesting cases' of cure, notably one of stone. 1 Hot water is very valuable as at once soothing and stimu- lating in fatigue and exhaustion ; only, there must be two and a half clear hours since, or one full hour before eating ; for food and the hot water should in no case ever be in the stomach at one and the same time. 28 How to get well. tried it on the lines laid down above, are earnest in preaching it to fellow-sufferers, and indeed to all, and are ardently desirous that others should, by its means, enjoy a like benefit with them- selves. For myself, from the inestimable and unspeakable good it has done me, and the num- bers whom I have persuaded to take it, I seem now only to live to preach hot water, and also, where required, the diet of minced or broiled beef. In all chronic disease, hot water is the foun- dation of treatment by Dr. Salisbury, and he, as its discoverer, says, as the result of his long ex- perience, that were he limited to but one rem- edy, that one would be hot water. Let any having doubts of its efficacy note the above, and just try it. The longer you take the hot water, the more you will find the benefit, and you will very soon begin to feel a great difference in your condition. It may cheer and help you to get down the full four pints a day, to be told from the solid experience of another—namely mine— that each pint you take brings you nearer to the blessed goal of health once more : each pint tells, makes for health, and that, even if you did How to get well. 29 not wish to get well, in taking regularly and systematically the good hot water, you cannot prevent yourself from getting better and better day by day. Each meal of minced beef only, and each pint of hot water that you take, are milestones that you have passed on the road, and shorten the journey back to Health again. In reference to No. 4, my own experience may be encouraging to invalids. For many years past I have constantly felt cold, even near a blazing fire, east wind and damp caused me cruel suffering, and in summer I sat out only on the hottest days, in the sun, shivering with cold, though wrapped in furs. As to an open win- dow, the very sight of one terrified me and I fled ;' and the gratuitous alacrity with which I took very serious chills would have been laud- able in a better cause. This winter (1887-8), the first that I .have been on the minced beef diet, they tell me has been a severe one. But I know nothing of it. I have often by day sat 1 "I fled"—this is poetical. I scuttered off as fast as I could, hampered with a stick in each hand as props to a pair of very painful legs, as weak and limp as a sawdust doll's. Nous avons change tout cela / 30 How to get well. with an open window and no fire, have always slept thus whatever the weather, and walked and sat out of doors most days, by no means wrapped up, with deep snow on the ground. Dr. Salisbury foretold this happy revolution, last year in London, assuring me that if I fed properly, I should come to sleep on a snowdrift and be none the worse. I do not recognize in my present hardy self the poor, shivering, chilly wretch of but a few months ago. In illustration of No. 5, I may mention that I used to suffer a great deal from oppression and irregular beat- ings of the heart on climbing upstairs, when hurried or even slightly agitated. Not one trace of this remains. Almost immediately on beginning the hot water, these distressing sen- sations ceased, and have never returned. Now for the second part of the Salisbury treatment, namely the regimen. It is a diet, while the necessity for it lasts, of entirely ani- mal food—lean beef, chiefly minced. The rea- sons for this diet are very carefully and fully detailed later on, for it is so much more en- heartening to the patient to be- told why he must do such and such things, than to be left How to get well. 31 groping in the dark. The meat for this pur- pose should be from the round or flank, above the hock, which is richer, more juicy, and less expensive than the sirloin. The meat should be freshly killed, as it separates from the fibre more readily and can be more finely minced, or chopped, than when it has been hung or kept, as for steaks or roasts. The plan is to have the raw beef1 finely minced by sending it through a machine three times. All fat, gristle, connect- ing tissue to be completely scraped away, (this can be utilized for soup if carefully skimmed); the mince to be made up very lightly and rather sloppily into cakes; seasoned with black pepper and salt sufficient to make them tasty; moistened with good soup, but not pressed hard and tight, as that renders them unpalatable and indigestible. The cakes must then be grilled well through, lightly on both 1 It has always been a puzzle to me how the absurd idea orig- inated, that Dr. Salisbury wants his patients to become Can- nibals and eat the beef raw / Why, he even strongly objects to meat being underdone, as it is less soluble in the stomach than when " done to a turn.'1'' And, besides, it is dangerous to eat beef raw or nearly so, because of tape-worm, which is known to patronize beef, as well as pork and game :—an unwelcome tenant—not easily evicted. 3 2 How to get well. sides, over a clear fire, turning the griller often. N.B.—No re'chauffe's allowed, nor cold foods and drinks. If obliged to take them cold some- times, warm them well in the mouth before swallowing. The best griller (recommended by Dr. Salis- bury) for these beef cakes as for the ordinary steaks and chops is the American griller. The American Meat Chopper also is far the best, as it cuts the meat, instead of tearing it. Another way of doing the beef for a change, which is simpler, easier to cook, and which I like much better and find more easily digested than the beef cakes, is as follows. When finely minced raw (cleared from skin, gristle, etc.), seasoned with pepper and salt, and mixed thor- oughly with a little good meat soup freed from fat and used cold (in the proportion of about a pint to one and a half pounds of mince), stir and press smooth with a wooden spoon over a gentle fire until thoroughly, yet not over-codk&d. N.B.—On no account must it ever boil, as that makes it hard and lumpy, and thus detracts largely from its nourishing properties. (See How to get well. t>Z App. 3.) This is extremely good, easily taken, and digests and assimilates admirably ; one does not weary of it, and you will soon be able to eat very plentifully, without any trouble, and to enjoy it. Several people have been kind enough to let me know that they also find this way of cooking the mince more palatable and easier of digestion than the beef cakes; and that they can take the mince thus prepared for months without its palling, whereas, against the broiled cakes " their stomachs rise " after a very little while. I imagine the reason of this is, that the beef cakes require much more careful cooking than they usually obtain, and I for one have long discarded them and have held con- tentedly and entirely to the mince, cooked simply in my own fashion, as described. Dr. Salisbury does not object to its being done in this way, provided no carrots, greens, grease, etc., are cooked with the soup used in mixing the mince. If you find it too hard to manage the minced beef alone all at once,—the hot water, however, distinctly creates an appetite for animal food, and makes it easier to negotiate,—then, rather .3 34 How to get well. than give it up, take for a while, with each meal, one or two pieces, not more, of bread cut thin and roasted quite crisp in the oven. On these you may spread a little fresh butter, but you are not, on any account, to eat cooked but- ter in any form, or things fried in butter, grease, or lard. Make the minced beef your principal food, taking, say, four or six mouthfuls of mince to one of roasted bread and butter. Try, how- ever, for your own sake to come as soon as you can to the minced beef diet alone. You may have black pepper, salt, and mustard with your beef, if desired, and a dash of chutney sauce, but no vegetables except a little raw celery with each meal, no made sauces, and no puddings, pies, boiled paste, jam, vinegar (where you used vine- gar, substitute lemon-juice—as in salads, mint sauce, mustard, etc.), no pickles, cake, and so on ; and milk, as an ordinary article of food, be- ing very fermentative, is to be, as a general rule, avoided.1 It is a hard diet, and fully exercises all one's 1 " Milk contains a number of bodies which yield acidity by fermentation." When taken by the sick at all, it should be previously boiled. How to get well. 35 force of will, self-denial, and perseverance; and for that reason it is better to eat alone, or with those on the same regime, so as to avoid temp- tation. For myself, I always find it consider- ably safer to retreat before temptation than to resolve to get the better of it. That ends in its getting the better of me to a dead certainty; there is nothing for it, therefore, I find, but to show " a clean pair of heels " when good things are about—especially cake; and, therefore, I al- ways eat alone. You see, the moral of eating alone is just this,—that the first step in the wrong road leads so naturally to the second, and the second to the third, and the third on to the thirteenth; so that the good gained in weeks or months of hard self-denial and rigid diet, is more or less undone in yielding to the momentary temptation. In some severe ill- nesses (notably in diabetes), and in some stages of an illness, the diseased condition of the di- gestive organs, caused by long fermentation, is such, that a teaspoonful of sugar, or one mouth- ful of fermentable food is sufficient to act on them as a handful of " Mother " does when put into a barrel of vinegar—it sets the whole in a 36 How to get well. ferment, and the remedy has very much to be- gin over again. Hence the burthen of all Dr. Salisbury's let- ters to me : " Do not let one morsel of ferment- able food cross your lips :—if you do, you will suffer for it and delay your recovery." I proved the exact truth of this utterance,—not only once alas! for I too have " experimented " a good deal in diet,—not always, I fear, in the interests of Science ! I soon, however, found out how right Dr. Salisbury was in all his rules and prohibi- tions, and, at last, surrendered to the relentless must, and heartily wished that I had been so wise as to do it from the first. I also nobly hand on to you gratis, another admonition of his, given me when I wrote to complain of flatu- lence : " Don't overeat, and you won't have flatulence." Brief, but to the point, and emi- nently sound ! This rigorous diet has to be continued as long as the illness lasts, but great will be your reward if you pluckily and faith- fully persevere, nor will it long delay. If, being ill, in trust and confidence you adopt this diet and the hot water, you are extremely wise and very happy : and your recovery will How to get well. 3 7 probably be one gradual but triumphant prog- ress from first to last.1 As mine has been ; I was desperately ill when I began the strict Salisbury Treatment, I wish I could describe how ill, and with what complications, in which most severe gout and rheumatism, contracted muscles and rigid joints, acute neuralgia all over me, dyspep- sia and insomnia, each in an aggravated form, played its evil part:—but I have gone right ahead ever since, gradually, but steadily on the mend, with no disheartening relapses. I see no doctors, take no medicines or stimulants, only stick to my hot water and the minced beef diet (both of which I have grown to like very much), and report myself from time to time by letter to Dr. Salisbury. As to the quantity of food to be taken at 11 do not want anyone to be guided by mere Faith. I would not thank the keenest enthusiast led only by blind unreasoning belief. The Salisbury Treatment is a matter of clearest dem- onstration, it is not an affair of theory or arbitrary opinion. In this book I place the evidence of the Treatment plainly before you : here I explain the laws of its working, and ask you to searchingly weigh and try them ; and with the logic and rea- sons of it at your finger-ends, to take your stand bravely, seri- ously, sincerely, and from—not faith—but conviction, practise and preach the good doctrine everywhere. 38 How to get well. each meal, the rule is, eat heartily, always leav- ing off feeling you could eat just a little more. The Salisbury treatment calls not only for per- severance and self-denial in no ordinary degree, but it further exercises one's observation, judg- ment, and intelligence. For you need to very carefully watch that you eat as much as, and yet no more, at each meal than you can well di- gest, a point very difficult at first to arrive at; but necessary, in order to avoid blunders which would retard your progress. I am bound to say that I know no species of exhaustion so utterly flooring as that induced by an overtaxed-stom- ach. The whole body is affected by it, and, for the time-being, the mind too, is a sharer in the general collapse. No one can judge in this mat- ter so safely as the patient's own stomach. It is a mistake to try to eat by weight, by which I mean, to eat up to any special weight. You will soon learn to judge of the right quantity at sight, which is the safer plan. The strict diet is beef broiled or minced for breakfast, dinner, and supper (with the hot water as indicated). If hungry between whiles, take a sip of good meat soup, or a few mouthfuls of the minced beef, un- How to get well. 39 less this should interfere with your hot water hour, in which case, take only the hot water, as it is a food and stimulant as well. On adopting the minced beef diet so easily and quickly digested, you will, it is well to warn you, at first miss a good deal the filled out, pleasantly (aye, and sometimes mightily ^pleasantly) " crowded " sensation afforded by the vegetable foods; and, therefore, in the night are apt to grow hungry ; or perhaps, the feeling is one of exhaustion rather than absolute hunger. Do not try to go to sleep in that case. Your endeavor after sleep on an empty stomach, would be sure to end in failure. You would begin to think, then to worry over troubles that in daylight were quite bearable, but which in the silence, darkness, and your own exhausted condition become exceedingly black and grim. Always, as a regular habit, therefore have a cup of good meat soup, or a cup of mince (both cov- ered) beside you, and take, when wakeful, a few mouthfuls of either or both, and soon sleep and oblivion will kindly enfold you. A word of advice is absolutely necessary here, for those about to embark upon the 40 How to get well. minced beef diet, and I beg to call their atten- tion to it. You will not get on as you should do if you don't eat enough. This point is of such vital importance to the success of the treat- ment, and I have seen harmful consequences follow the not eating sufficient, that I urge it upon you very strongly. I think that where you restrict your diet to mince alone, you should try to begin with i£ lbs. of mince in the twenty-four hours. And do not neglect the caution already given concerning the habit of having food by you in the night, and to take some of it at once if you feel wakeful; other- wise by morning you will find yourself wearied and exhausted, when you ought to wake up refreshed and light hearted, and would do so, did you not allow yourself to run down for want of food. It is in these little things, which yet are not trifles I assure you, that the intelli- gence of the patient is of great value, and helps him to watch his own case to good purpose. It seems odd to me what a new idea it is to so many people, that, when they lie awake at night thinking, or are restless or have the "fidgets? nine times in ten, it proceeds simply How to get well. 41 from inanition and consequent exhaustion; and a few mouthfuls of soup and a biscuit, or a sand- wich—if they had any of these things handy— would speedily restore tone to the nervous sys- tem, and allay the restlessness, and the yet more distressing fidgets, so that they could very soon get to sleep again, as the effect of this renovation. Men and women in even strong health will allow Insomnia to become a disas- trous habit for want of understanding the true cause and the very simple remedy. Don't, if you eat with others, be discouraged and abashed if they look surprised and say, " What! are you going to eat all that ! ? " To be sure you are; and let them take note that while they have the whole provision department comfortably stocked (no corners left) with soup, fish, meat, bread, vegetables, pudding, cheese, and good- ness knows what besides—with liquids added ; —you have to satisfy your capacity on meat alone, which takes up little room, digests quickly, and for which your hot water has made you uncommonly hungry. The rule for you therefore is, mince a discretion. It is not so ex- pensive a diet as it seems, for it is your whole 42 How to get well. menu, there are no extras. Dr. Salisbury says, " You need not be surprised if the patient comes to eat from two to four pounds a day, and his appetite must be gratified." I began with from six to ten ounces a day, I now make short work of two pounds. But then I add no other kind of food whatever, and I am, as the result, so absurdly well, daily able to do and to enjoy more—and the unwonted sensation of buoyant health again, is more than delightful. (Written September, 1888.) Another word of advice and warning, is, my experience tells me, greatly needed here, and I earnestly speak it. When once you have delib- erately decided to adopt this line of treatment, impressed by its simplicity, common sense and reasonableness, you will be exceedingly wise to banish at once and entirely every vacillation, doubt, fear; to keep your mind full of perfect peace and tranquil hope, convinced that in pursuing this line of treatment with no undue haste and not without good reasons ; you are doing the very best for yourself that you know: —and remembering always that results are in other hands than yours. Leave them there in How to get well. 43 quiet trust, and indulge all good hope with cheerfulness, which, if you carry out the treat- ment (either in its entirety or only in a modi- fied form, as the case my require), you are as- suredly entitled to do. It is of supreme importance to you now, that body and mind should wholly co-operate and help each other, instead of pulling different ways. —" For the mind helps the body, and at times raises it, and is the only bird that upholds its cage."1 Be, then, like the compass true and un- deviating; not like the facile weathercock blown hither and thither by " I wonder if "—" I rather wish I hadn't"—" What do you think ? " (who have probably never " thought" about it). All these waverings are very unsettling and distract- ing, and will surely retard your recovery. Away with them, they are unworthy. Be at rest, hope, and trust. There are several points which I shall be careful to mention now, being anxious to omit nothing that can reassure and encourage you as you begin and continue the strict Salisbury sys- tem. 1 Victor Hugo. 44 How to get well. I therefore caution you beforehand that on commencing the treatment in its integrity you may expect to grow thin, lighter in weight, look somewhat pulled down, and lose—not flesh—but fat, and soft deteriorated tissue. Do not take alarm at this symptom, and, thinking it is all up with you, abandon the treatment. Your friends and " the Doctor " will be sure to say, " I told you so," wax doleful in their prog- nostications of what is going to happen to you, and try hard to persuade you back to the old ways of physic and feeding. This decrease in weight is really a good sign, not a bad one in spite of appearances; and it is for you now to show that you are made of the right stuff, can stick to what is for your good, and hold your own pluckily in the face of much talk.1 I have gone through all this myself, I grew even 1 Your part now is bravely and rigidly to stick to the Treat- ment, carefully avoiding all fatigue in all ways, reserve your strength, it is little enough you have ; and soon you will begin, gradually but very markedly, to feel all your old self again. Don't you be downed'by your own fears or by other peoples'. You are on the right road, and you will arrive all right at the goal when just the first pulling down is over. Keep up your heart in Hope, and be cheery and faithful. Everything de- pends upon You. How to get well. 45 thinner and looked yet more ghastly than long illness had made me; but though at first feebler and weaker in body, I knew I was all right, for besides my unshakable reliance "on the logic of the Salisbury Treatment, I grew clearer and stronger in mind than I had been for years. I have seen others in a like predicament, we came out of it in triumph, and so no less surely will you, however direful the forebodings. And you may tell your prophets of evil that Dr. Salis- bury himself forewarns you of this change, in these words. " Never mind the shrinkage in weight, it is natural and absolutely necessary, for the reason that those foods which upholster or make fat, are the very ones which produce the disease. The weight decrease is not at all dangerous or alarming.....The patient will again begin to make new and firm healthy tissue at a later stage of his cure, when normal blood-making processes are fully restored. The tissue with which he has parted—devitalized and enervated—is no loss, and must give place to that of the new order of things." Ere long you will be conscious of a gradual but sensible increase from heavier blood, muscle, nerve, and 46 How to get well. bone. You will find that you will gain in flesh and weight up to the necessary point for health, and if you feed properly, thereabouts you will remain. It is, however, very much to be deplored, when the patient's friends rashly endeavor to dissuade him from a mode of treatment, which such universal experience shows, and a little care- ful examination on their own part would estab- lish scientifically, to be for his undoubted bene- fit.1 It seems to me that it is a selfish, unkind, and unconsidered course of action, and that it would be wiser and worthier in them, to devote a little time and thought to the study of the rea- sons for the Salisbury system; so that, if in the course of the treatment his heart fail or his feet weary, they may be able—true friend-like—to bear him up on the wings of reason and faith, and cheer him on to persevere in the good but sometimes difficult way. How sweet a little kindly encouragement is, in the midst of opposi- tion and discouragement, none know better than 11 have seen people who scoffed at the Treatment, take very kindly to it themselves, in illness from which the usual reme- dies gave them no relief. I have seen many converts, I am glad to say. How to get well. 47 I, nor how thankfully it is treasured in the com- forted heart. And again I give Dr. Salisbury's own note of warning. " In the first days of the treatment the patient often feels very feeble, owing to the absence of the artificial stimulus of fermenting foods; this also is natural and need evoke no anxieties. A cleansing process is not per se a strengthening one, but is needful in order to prepare a basis for the requirements of real strength." You should not now take much muscular exercise, but should live a very still life, as quietly and placidly as you can, most carefully avoiding all fatigue. Dr. Salisbury at this stage (which is only temporary) advises careful and gentle massage and, if possible, drives, as providing passive exercise without ex- ertion.1 As soon as you grow strong again, of course take out-door exercise in moderation. Then would be the time for a tricycle, that sub- 1 The right time for the delicate in health to take exercise, is from two to four hours after a meal. Earlier than two hours interferes with digestion, and may cause pain or uneasiness. If exercise be deferred till later than four hours, there is the risk of exhaustion from want of food ; this speedily diminishes the remaining strength, and then, it is all up with digestion. 48 How to get well. lime institution for those of us who cannot af- ford to keep even a jackass, and who care to take our exercise at first hand (or foot) not vi- cariously. Cycling, in bringing into play the abdominal muscles, in quickening respiration and the heart's action and increasing circula- tion, has a powerful effect, through pressure, on the liver, squeezing out the flow of bile, pre- venting its dawdling about, and making it go quicker, and in consequence of these things, cycling is wonderfully exhilarating and inspirit- ing and makes for cheerfulness. Climbing steep hills has a similar excellent awakening effect on the liver, and if you can't manage a daily climb, take any chance that offers to run up and down stairs rather than sit still all the while; and divide twenty minutes between a morning and night performance with the dumb-bells. It will be well-spent time for man or woman, always guarding against over- doing it. From the first, as I hinted before, on beginning the strict Salisbury Treatment, it is almost wonderful how rapidly mental strength returns, how very soon work becomes once more pleasure and not toil, and what a keen How to get well. 49 interest we take again in subjects and things from which we so lately turned with weari- ness and indifference, if not with positive aver- sion. Again, there is another good symptom some- times mistaken for a bad one, to the extent of frightening the patient into dropping the treat- ment, and I call attention to it in Dr. Salis- bury's own words. " The passages from the bowels will become black and tarry, and rather small in quantity . . . this must be ex- pected. These dark and sticky stools are caused by the washing down of the black bile, which has previously been saturating the system and been partially carried off through the urinary organs and sweat-glands. The black condition of the biliary secretions is the outcome of long continued fermentation1 of foods in the stom- ach and bowels, keeping up constant reversed peristaltic action in the digestive organs, gall- bladder, gall-ducts. . . . The smallness of '"Ferments are a peculiar change which some substances undergo to produce vinegar, alcohol, or acid."—You can see therefore how injurious an excess of fermenting food may be to the interior economy, which is not intended by nature to be a yeast-pot. f 3 7ZV3J ) 50 How to get well. the passages is due to the meat foods being nearly all utilized in nourishing the body." The motions gradually lose their offensive smell, though they continue black, sticky, and " scrappy " for a long time, six or eight months; all which proves how greatly this washing out of the liver and bowels, and clearing the alimen- tary canal from fermentations were required. Yet again, on commencing the Salisbury Treatment, there is often just at first some diarrhoea. This is caused by the now plenti- ful downflow of the bile into the bowels—its proper place—and we should assist and encourage nature to eliminate the objectionable materials requiring ejection, by taking a mild laxative. As Dr. Salisbury says, " The cleansing process is in itself right and natural, these matters must all be washed out of the system." But there ought to be no violent " scourings," and should this diarrhoea continue too long, take a little boiled milk with a good dash of black pepper in it, or some cinnamon or ginger tea, and lessen the quantity of hot water so as not to dilute the tea too much; do not be alarmed, but eat well of the mince, and eschew for the time being all How to get well. 51 unnecessary expenditure of strength. Remembef that all foods, drinks, and medicines which heighten the color of the urine, or lessen the ap- petite for meat, should be avoided. Clothe al- ways warmly and comfortably, by day and night, in elastic woollen clothing,1 which, with- out overheating the body, should be thick enough to prevent your suffering from changes of temperature and weather. On the other hand, again, you may become constipated ; and this is the reason for it. You have been for many years feeding too exclusively upon fermenting foods: and the carbonic-acid gas liberated in the fermentations has partially paralysed the bowels, which were only moved by this bubbling, boiling, working yeast-pot, which passes the materials down through the bowels by the accumulating gases, which—except what may be eructed up from the stomach—have no other way of escape. 1 Jaeger, and other later inventions notwithstanding, I hold to the old-fashioned soft and light Shetland woollen undercloth- ing as the best. Being open in its meshes, it is warmer in winter and cooler in summer, and always healthy, as allowing freely for ventilation and evaporation. If cotton is worn, it should be the " Cellular" and never close in the grain. 5 2 Hozv to get well. Now we come to the point. The gas has paralysed the bowels, through being absorbed, and they are only moving off mechanically by the pressure from above. When the fermenting foods are stopped, and the patient is put on lean meat diet, but little gas is formed, and there is no longer the force from above to push the re- fuse matters along. The result is constipation. The meat does not cause it, but simply shows you how much the bowels have been paralysed by former errors in diet. If the meat is per- severed in, and simple laxative tonics used to help nature for a while, the normal tone of the bowels is restored, and they will move as readily with beef, as with fruits. In fact, whenever any food loosens the bowels, you may know it is fer- menting ; and you should therefore avoid eating special foods to make them act. The bowels should be kept so well toned up and in such good working order, that they will move nat- urally, without mechanical or irritating aids. When people persist in taking fermenting foods and fruits to keep their bowels open, the large bowels finally become a yeast-pot too, and after a while so thicken, as to cause running diarrhoeas How to get well. 53 or consumption of the bowels. This consump- tion of the bowels is the last stage in vegetable dyspepsia. The victims are still curable. The cure lies in stopping all fermenting foods which are the cause of the evil, going on the strict Treatment, and using cold water injections ev- ery morning to wash out the lower bowel and soothe it. The constipation you may experience on com- mencing the Treatment, need not however alarm you, as there is extremely little waste in the food you are now taking. But a gentle laxative tonic will be necessary ; and the gentlest, best (and nastiest!) is Cascara Sagrada, in fluid ex- tract, not tincture. Next comes fluid extract of Rhubarb, and lastly, of Senna. Just sufficient of one of these may be taken on retiring, to give a satisfactory movement the following morning,— a teaspoonful, more or less. If the dose has not proved enough, an injection of a dessert-spoon- ful of glycerine in two tablespoonfuls of water may be used in the morning and retained fifteen or twenty minutes. In chronic constipation, the right quantity to move the bowels once a day should be determined by patient trial, and this 54 How to get well. must be kept up every night steadily without a single interruption; lessening the dose gradually as the bowels regain tone. In this way consti- pated states disappear slowly but certainly : the cure requires time and patience. Avoid ex- tremes, for one extreme leads to another : take the happy medium. Never physic, but never allow constipation to gain on you. Use, as it were, just grease enough to keep the carriage- wheels from squeaking, and no more. You can, for a change, if you like, in tempo- rary constipation, chew a piece of Rhubarb root, a bit the size of a prize pea, two or three times a day. Dr. Salisbury calls this " lovely." I can't just honestly say I think it very nice, but it is decidedly good for the wholesomes.1 When you ask at the chemist's for genuine Rhubarb root, see that you get it, and refuse to be fobbed off with manufactured stuff. The genuine root is not very yellow, is light in weight, porous, and rugged in shape. It is right that, on commencing the strict 1 Several correspondents have been so good as to let me know that when they take the water pretty hot they are troubled with constipation, and they are all right when they take it cooler. I am obliged by this hint and tell it here, so that each How to get well. 5 5 treatment, you should be prepared for these contingencies, that you should know the reason of them all, so as to take things easy and not let yourself be upset or disheartened by them, as might be the case did they come upon you by surprise. Narrowly watch your own case with vigilance and intelligence ; not relying solely upon the assertions of others, in a matter that so closely affects your own interests. The urine should be examined daily with a view to color, dens- ity, and quantity; it must be perfectly inodor- ous, the color of a healthy infant's, which pre- supposes in most cases the absence of bile com- pounds, and consequently that your nervous system is not being upset and damaged by its own waste products returning to poison it. It should be without sand or sediment on cooling* it should stand uniformly at a density of 1.010 to 1.015,1 and never be above 1.020; and should flow freely at the rate of from 3^ to 4! person may study his own idiosyncrasies in this matter, and by trying and observing, arrive at what best suits himself. 1 A wise move would be to procure a Urinometer with case and jar complete. It is fragile but easily managed, and is very useful. Pure water stands at I.ooo, but as there is little 56 How to get well. pints in twenty-four hours. The skin should be moist and soft, the bowels act comfortably once a day, the appetite for meat be good, with no hankerings after forbidden food. Then you may be well assured that all is going on favor- ably within you ; " digestion and assimilation are so far improved that blood is made faster than it is used up, and repair of tissue is going on." Recovery has fairly begun, and if you are careful of yourself and kindly taken care of by others, so as to avoid all untoward accidents, you will win the day and go smoothly on from good to better, until health crowns their en- deavors and your perseverance. It cannot— such a change and building up as this,—cannot be done impetuously. Nature works without haste but without pause, slowly but surely; space on the indicator, this is represented by 0.---10, 15, 20, etc., follow. The best urine to take as a test for the specific gravity, is that which doctors call " the water of the blood ;" that is, the first you pass in the morning before drinking your hot water, and before taking food. Dr. Salisbury considers that this washing down and cleansing process requires at least a six months' course of hot water; but I know also that he considers it wise to continue the morning and night pints to your life's end, were it only to wash out the continually form- ing mucus from the stomach, etc., and keep the whole interior sweet and clean. How to get well. 5 7 and the Salisbury Treatment is essentially one that closely follows the calm, unhurried course indicated by Nature herself. To quote Dr. Salisbury again, " When you have cleansed out the system and purified the blood, keep them so, and hope all things. There should be no hurry. Calm, passive following out of all in- structions to the letter, will insure the life and health of the patient, if, with soul and body en- listed in the good cause, he treads this straight and narrow way." This is, indeed, a grand adaptation of the Co-operative System, and you will find it to be so, more and more, as body and soul associated, reap the reward. And what is meant by " following out all in- structions," is mainly this—to take your hot water regularly, as directed, and to feed upon the food least liable to cause fermentation, the muscle-pulp of lean beef. Take nothing else whatever, for the time-being; except an occa- sional change to broiled mutton. And now, having so honestly laid before you the least alluring side of the Salisbury Treat- ment, it is but fair that I should be allowed to throw into the bargain, into the scale with 58 How to get well. Health, this fact, which will surely be a com- pensatory reflection, and make up to you some- what for all the persevering self-denial you are exercising. The Salisbury Treatment (the hot water and minced beef diet combined) is a great beautifier and rejuvenator of the complexion. After just the first pulling down, as pure rich blood is made, and repair of tissue advances, the skin will gradually become smooth and clear, wrinkles and lines will disappear,' the eyes grow bright, your cheeks will take on the hue and contour of health, and you will look prettier and younger, and feel younger too, than you have done for many a year. All this, also, I can faithfully promise you from a very large experience. The temper moreover, very per- ceptibly sweetens under the benign influence of the Treatment. This consoling fact should be taken into account by friends who are inclined to discourage its adoption. It is so much easier " to be good" when one is free from gnawing pain and incessant malaise. I have briefly given the rationale of the hot water; I shall now proceed to show the reasons How to get well. 59 for the second part of the Treatment — the minced beef diet. But, for the better under- standing of it, I must preface my explanation by a few words on the cause of disease; for to expect to cure illness, while entirely ignorant of its cause, is to be indeed as one who leads a For- lorn Hope. Let us hear Dr. Salisbury himself on this important subject. " Improper alimen- tation is the predisposing cause of disease. Ali- mentation may be classified under two heads— healthy and unhealthy alimentation. Healthy alimentation is the feeding upon those kinds of food which any given organism is designed to live upon, as indicated by the structure and functions of its digestive apparatus. Unhealthy alimentation is the feeding upon food which the digestive organs cannot readily and perfectly di- gest. What would be healthy alimentation for purely herbivorous and purely carnivorous an- imals, would be unhealthy alimentation for man, since he partakes structurally of both the herbivora and carnivora, and belongs to the omnivora. By structure, man is about two- thirds carnivorous and one-third herbivorous ; " to put it in another way, he is expected to be 60 How to get well. judiciously omnivorous? " As a general rule, we have twenty meat teeth and only twelve vege- table teeth, while four of these latter, the ' wis- dom teeth,' are poor apologies as grinders. The stomach in man is a purely carnivorous organ, and is designed, both in structure and function, for the digestion of lean meats. The small bowels . . . are herbivorous mainly, and are designed to digest vegetables, fats, and fruits.2 . . . Healthy alimentation would con- sist in a diet of about one part vegetables, fats, and fruits, to about two parts of lean meat, by bulk, not by weight. When food only is eaten that digests and assimilates well, there is no fermentation or flatulence in the digestive or- gans. . . . Healthy alimentation, or feed- ing upon such foods as the system can well 1 I wish that some people read so that what they take in at one eye didn't go out so fast at the other, for then they would not so often say and write to me, that Dr. Salisbury and myself, denounce in toto all other foods, and condemn the wretched patient to a diet for life of only minced beef ! Does a doctor who advises temporary rest for an injured leg, condemn exer- cise wholesale ? The cases are exactly alike. 2 Please see preceding note. The average proportions of meats usually eaten, is about one-twelfth the bulk of bread, vegetables, puddings, etc. How to get well. 61 digest and assimilate, is always promotive of health. Unhealthy alimentation always acts as a cause of disease. . . . This species of feeding overtaxes those portions of the alimen- tary canal designed for digesting this particular character of aliment, and overtaxes them so far that the digestive process soon becomes imperfect, fermentation gradually supervenes . . . and palpable disease soon results." I beg you to note the exceeding significance of all these words, as a guiding light in our own hands. They show most clearly the enormous part that DIET plays in the health or sickness of each one of us ; and also to what a very great extent, and how easily serious illness, delicacy, and constant small upsets are preventable by practical attention to the plain rules of health, and it is everybody's imperative duty —yours and mine — to learn and to obey them. All illness that is not the result of infections, poi- sons, or accidents, takes its rise in the stomach,1 1 Not only illness ; imperfect digestion and malassimilation are often the unsuspected primary cause of many an ailment for which they scarcely get the credit they deserve : e.g. prema- ture baldness, asthma, deafness, failure of sight, wens, warts, corns, bunions, etc. 62 How to get well. and from thence invariably attacks the weakest part. " The disease proceeds along the line of least resistance.''' Nature's laws are unhasting, but remorseless and inexorable, and effect most surely follows cause. What and how you eat —your own actions therefore, determine unerr- ingly, sooner or later, what you have of health or the reverse. Now the meaning of the minced beef diet is significantly this. It gives the very greatest nourishment along with the least possible strain and labor to the stomach. Being already finely broken up, and containing no useless, fermenta- tive, or flatulent constituents, no hard, gristly, indigestible lumps, it is digested and assimilated with great ease and rapidity.1 It builds up healthy tissue and muscle to replace the degen- 1 The reason for removing so carefully all fat, connective tissue, gristle and skin, etc., from the lean meat, is, that they are as apt to ferment and generate carbonic acid gas, as are the farinaceous and vegetable foods : and also that there are many diseases which are specially fed by those fibrous tissues, which can be cured by a continuous course of diet, strictly of muscle pulp of lean beef : and return on the transgressor revert- ing to his old habits of feeding. (Cancers and tumors are among these.) Dr. Ephraim Cutter pithily epitomizes the sub- How to get well. 63 erated tissue and diseased muscle, the outcome of long, unhealthy feeding, which this rigorous diet, in conjunction with the hot water, starves out, breaks down, and destroys. In the same way also and by the same process, the mince and hot water get rid quickly, and with absolute safety, of a very burdensome ailment—superfluous fat. This diet of lean meat also affords rest to those digestive organs (the alimentary canal, bowels, etc.), which have been long and greatly overfed and overtaxed, and gives time for the repair of the diseased, partially paralysed states therein induced by fermentation and the formation of yeast-plants in the intestines, as in a vinegar barrel. To sum up—the aim and object of this course of diet is to exclude entirely from the patient all foods, drinks, and medicines that tend in any degree to get the system, or any part of it, out of order; and to persistently starve out those tissues that, from being over and unhealthily fed, require starving until no shadow of the disease ject thus, —" The yeast fermentation of the food, from the vege- table kingdom and the connective fibrous animal tissues, is best avoided by removing them entirely from the field of operation j as one renders a gun harmless by withdrawing the charge." 64 How to get well. remains, and at the same time to healthfully feed those tissues that require nourishment, un- til the beautiful state of perfect equilibrium is again restored to the whole frame, which is al- ways the issue and infallible sign of healthy ali- mentation. Feed healthily, and you will look like it, and what is more, you will feel like it. Talking of fat,—I once ventured to remon- strate with a very handsome man on allowing his beauty to be spoilt by obesity. He replied with an air of intense conviction : " It is in my family, an aunt of mine was quite fearfully stout, and in fact she died of it eventually." We can detect the weak point in this argument, and yet calmly accept for ourselves, consump- tion, gout, rheumatism, and many other ills that flesh is erroneously said to be heir to, on the plea that they are " in the family." Then get them out ! Napoleon's Junot said that the An- cienne Noblesse of France were merely descend- ants, he, with his title of yesterday, was an an- cestor. Let us then, be no longer descendants of gouty, consumptive, unhealthy families—but the ancestors of long lines of hale and sturdy men and women; it is ours to be so if we will, How to get well. 65 and is mainly to be achieved by healthy alimen- tation for ourselves and our children.1 Be careful to leave five hours between each meal, and never eat when hurried, worried, anx- ious, cross, or over-tired. Wait, rest, and grow calm; you will then digest your food comfort- ably and be the better for it. You should al- ways make it an invariable rule to rest tran- quilly and thoroughly for at least half an hour before and after each meal: to rest as the man said he did in church, who "just laid his legs up comfortable, and thought o' nothin'." Rest, nowadays, is almost a lost art. The manner in which women rest, like the way in which they 1 Very true is the aphorism, " Call no man (or woman) happy till he is in his grave ;" and yet, it were wiser still to add,— and his children are in theirs. Until it is shown to what he brought them into the world and with what predispositions; how he fed, how trained them, if he loved them well and wisely ; so that with virtuous minds and healthy bodies, they amid the fret and wear of the world, could fondly look back— " Oft from life's withered bower In still communion with the past I turn j And muse on thee—undying flower In Memory's Urn." Then indeed "happy" Father, happy Mother, even in the in- accessible silence and darkness of the Tomb! S 66 How to get well. eat when there is no man in the house to cater for, is merely a self-deception ! A man rests. He sensibly lies in an arm- chair with his legs on another, his head thrown back,—probably a pipe or similar delight in his mouth:—and thus, with mind and body in com- plete repose—he profoundly contemplates the ceiling. But a woman sits down with her work- basket, with her household accounts, with a book, anyway, with something to do, and announces darkly that she " is going to rest a while " ! In the same fashion if the male individual is to be absent from a meal, " anything will do," and so she pecks at one trifle and another, and wonders afterward why she has a headache, or indigestion, or "a sinking." Ten to one she will heap obloquy on the weather, and end by hasti- ly declaring " Oh, it's nothing, I'm all right." Mrs. Malaprop pronounced the ways of Prov- idence to be unscrupulous (meaning inscrutable) —I affirm that the ways of women incline to both, in what appertains to their own comfort and health. The recent writer in the Nineteenth Century, who strongly advocated an occasional day in bed of rest and quiet, was a very sensible How to get well. 67 and a very wise man. Try for only half a day sometimes, for the sake of mind and body, even if you are comparatively young and strong. If you have taken too much at one meal, don't miss the next, but make it a smaller one. Masticate thoroughly, especially vegetables and farinaceous foods, when you come to take them again. These latter absolutely demand a very great amount of mastication from every one, more so than animal food, even where, as in the case of meals and flours, they are already finely subdivided. This mastication is to ensure their thorough admixture with the saliva, which in vegetable foods is the first and a highly impor- tant factor in the process of digestion. On ani- mal food the saliva has no digestive effect, while vegetable foods are not digested by the gastric juice in the stomach as lean meats are. It is unphilosophical and unsound advice—if I may be permitted the digression here—when "great authorities" advocate the use of farina- ceous and vegetable foods as diet for the fee- ble and aged. For besides that these slops and messes are uninviting and unpalatable to many, they are mostly very hard to digest, and are not 68 How to get well. nearly, bulk for bulk, so nourishing and so sus- taining as lean beef finely minced and tastily cooked ; they also require far more mastication for insalivation from teeth that are absent—or, like some of us, have seen better days.1 Will the feeble and aged please to accept a lit- tle kindly hint from me here, and, while wisely sticking chiefly to their animal food, have their meat, poultry, game, etc., always finely minced for them every day before cooking. I promise them that in eating a good deal more of this nice mince than of other foods, they will derive the maximum of nourishment and comfort, with the minimum of effort to the enfeebled diges- tive organs; and will thereby ensure for them- selves a longer life, sweeter sleep, and a brighter time all round in this pleasant world, for taking Nature's hint In the decay of their teeth, that the stomach also is less strong for its work, and would be grateful for a little friendly extra- neous assistance. 1 If we swallow our food before masticating it properly, we don't have a second chance given us, like the respectable cow, to have it up and chew it over again—but must bear the un> pleasant consequences of having "bolted." The human stom- ach is not a mill for grinding food, that duty properly belongs to the teeth. How to get well. 69 To return :—Drop, as a rule, all stimulants ; you do not really need them, they will do you much greater harm than good. They should never be taken but in very special cases, and then only under the wisest, most cautious guidance. As those, however, who perceive the very grave responsibility they incur in advis- ing their use are rarer than a white blackbird, it is better and safer to leave stimulants alone. Wholesome nourishing food will soon supply all the real support you need, without the ex- hausting reaction which follows the temporary excitement and fictitious strength produced by alcohol. A very Will-o'-the-wisp it is. To drink with food is a pernicious habit, tending to indigestion, the formation of adipose tissue, and general flabbiness, and is quite un- necessary ; but if liquid is taken, the quantity should never exceed six ounces, a small cupful, since it dilutes and weakens the gastric juice, making digestion slow and difficult. You will find that having quenched your thirst an hour beforehand, you do not require any liquid at meal-time; but if you must drink then, take and sip while hot, a cup of hot water, or of 70 How to get well. good meat soup, or—if your nerves can with perfect safety stand them—but be quite sure they can—a small cup of weak black coffee, or weak clear tea, that is without milk and sugar. Always avoid these last two items, as fermenta- tive, flatulent, and difficult of digestion. If, however, your nerves interfere with tea and coffee—as in neuralgia, gout, rheumatism, and all nervous illness may well be the case—it is far wiser and safer to drop them altogether for a time, till you are well and strong again in fact, and to take instead Crust Coffee—made thus in America. Bake in the oven to a very dark brown, some thin slices of good stale bread. Roll or pound them fine, and keep in a well-corked, wide-mouthed bottle or tin. While a breakfast-cupful of water is actually boiling, put into the little saucepan a table- spoonful of baked crumbs (crust coffee); let it stand a few minutes, then pour into your cup through a strainer, and sip while hot. This is really " grateful and comforting," and far nicer than the flat, often sour, and often smoked mess called toast water, and is easily made fresh each time. With a little complaisant im- How to get well. 71 agination you can make believe that it is cafe" noir, and it is really very pleasant as a substi- tute for afternoon tea, and is warranted never to upset your nerves ! Be careful that you never, whether well or ill, allow yourself to swallow any hard lumps of meat, or gristly bits ; put them out, they cannot digest and assimilate, and are bound to do you harm,1 as shown in the note on page 62. On commencing the Treatment, do not, for every little pain you may have, and which could quite naturally be explained, blame the hot water and stop it, as I have known some impatient people do ;2 do not, as I have known uncandid persons do, lay the unpleasant re- sults of indiscretions in diet to the score of the hot water, dropping it instead of the indis- 1 Remember the old Scotch lady, who, on accidentally taking a bit of very hot potato into her mouth, speedily put it out ;— and looking round on the astonished guests, complacently ob- served, " Had I been a fule, I'd hae keepit that in my mouth ! " —and do you imitate her good example in regard to gristle, etc. ! 2 This is as reasonable as to blame abstinence for any ailment one may be subject to, after having left off alcohol. In each case the wish is father to the plausible thought. There is present the desire to adhere to the stimulant, or to give up the hot water. 72 How to get well. cretions, to your inestimable loss ; for without the hot water you may be tolerably sure you would have suffered a good deal more than you did for your imprudence. Do not, because the Treatment does not cure you in a week, turn from it with railing and bad language. You who have been patiently swallowing harmful drugs for many years, may surely hold on pa- tiently a little longer, while the diet and hot water, hand in hand with Nature, are silently but steadily accomplishing the purifying and re- pairing work within you. A lady from Amer- ica, who has had great experience in witness- ing the success of the Salisbury System, wrote to me lately these excellent words, which may be useful here. " Some people are so inconsis- tent about improvement and recovery. They do not take into consideration the probable years they were in getting sick, and the dilap- idated condition of their system when they com- menced the Treatment. And this diet must be a slow process to recovery, because it begins from the very foundation and builds up. But when the patient gets well again he is really better than he was in the beginning, having How to get well. 73 more healthy flesh and having acquired an ap- petite for substantial food." Above all, do not lose heart ; the way you may have to retrace is long, toilful, and weary, I know ; there is no royal road to health, it is a struggle at best; the crawl uphill again is not so fast as the run downhill was; but progress, if you persevere faithfully, will be sure and steady; and health —earth's best blessing—will be your great re- ward. If you ask me how long the Treatment should continue, I reply that, in the absence of more definite guidance, the exigencies of your own state of health must decide that ques- tion. If, at the end, say of two, three, four, or more months, you find yourself quite free from pain, with digestion good, appetite hearty for the meat which you eat with enjoyment, if your flesh is firm and healthy, your sleep sound as a kitten's, if you are bright and cheery, feel- ing well, with the urine pale, clear and inodor- ous, standing for some weeks unvaryingly at 1.015, and all other matters going on smoothly and pointing healthward, then I know Dr. Sal- isbury would readily allow you to introduce 74 How to get well. other foods, carefully and gradually, into your diet. Always on the clear understanding, however, that lean beef, broiled, roasted, or minced will continue to be the chief feature in your menus —your piece de resistance. You could then bring in as adjuncts or side-dishes, mutton, lamb, winged game, especially the darker sorts, sweet- breads,1 poultry, fish, a soft-boiled fresh egg, baked potato, well-boiled rice, bread stale,2 or roasted crisp in the oven, and such like. But always continue, even when quite off the sick- list, to eat relatively two mouthfuls of meat to one of the other kinds of food, and, as a general rule, avoid boils, stews, and fries. Watch your- self extremely carefully when you arrive at making the change from the strict diet, and should there be a return of pain or of any un- favorable symptom, come right down at once to the muscle-pulp of beef again for a time; and 1 Take care, however, that the sweetbreads are slowly and very thoroughly cooked. Ten years, ago I ate an underdone sweetbread, and it is such a vivid and painful reminiscence, that I have never even looked at a sweetbread since ! 2 If you have an enemy, keep the new loaf for him. Never touch it yourself. Dynamite is a joke to it, and it transcends putty. How to get well. 75 afterward you can gradually and tentatively recommence the other foods in moderation. Some alert and intelligent observation on your part now will not be thrown away, believe me. You may sometimes have a small bit of cheese, stewed prunes, or other compote, and fresh fruit, as a relish, but not as a food ; sweets must be used in great moderation, and fruit should be eaten only after the first two meals, never at night. Dr. Salisbury allows one good cigar or pipe, for a man where it agrees, after each meal; and I think he allows ladies who are used to it and like it, on the same conditions, when well, one mild cigarette. I have one last word to add to the Sick, then I bid them farewell and better than well; God speed their cure! It is a message of cheer and good hope, and is in Dr. Salisbury's own words, and I transcribe it with great pleasure. " If we have the knowledge and disposition to reform and to remove these causes [of disease], and we go into the good work with our whole hearts, eating and drinking as we should, repair —even to perfect health—becomes a certainty.^ 76 How to get well. TO THE SEEDY. AVING hitherto addressed myself to the Sick, I have now a little word to say to the " Seedy," after which I shall add a few words to those happy beings —none too many—who are able to write them- selves down as " Well." Dr. Salisbury, in his book to which I have been so deeply indebted through all this pam- phlet, says, " The first and most important knowledge of which a physician should possess himself, is a thorough and detailed understand- ing of all the appearances, symptoms, and con- ditions of the body which constitute a perfect state of health. Without this he is unable to determine, locate, and measure the derange- ments which constitute disease. . . . He should be quick to recognize the first departure of the system from normal conditions, as indi- cated by slight but unmistakable changes in blood,1 urine, stools, and secretions. . . . 1 Dr. Salisbury always makes it a point on first seeing a pa- tient, to examine the state of the blood microscopically. In How to get well. 77 He should not content himself with the recog- nition of established disease in its earlier forms, but should detect it, so to say, in embryo." I venture to think that this utterance of Dr. Salisbury's applies in a modified form to each one of us, for what could be wiser than to en- deavor to acquire some knowledge of the phy- siological appearances and signs which deter- mine a perfectly healthy state, so that we may be able quickly, and even at its very source to detect the first symptoms inconsistent with that state ? No illness comes on quite suddenly, there are always premonitory warnings, however slight. I proceed now to mention some of these, and beg to call your careful attention to my first interview, he at once bid me put my arm on the table, and with a long silver pencil-case looking affair, he gave my wrist a good prod. (It didn't hurt.) He then squeezed out a lan*e drop of blood, which he carried on a knife-blade to his microscope. He summoned me to look too, but I was none the wiser, not knowing the aspect of healthy blood ; only, he said, that if I followed the treatment faithfully, and had the chance again to examine a drop in a month or two, I would not recognize it for the same, nor, in fact, would it be the same. Of which truth I am well persuaded, remembering how the suffering, and the swollen veins gradually subsided, until the latter reached the normal, and the former the vanishing- point. 78 How to get well. them. For instance, when you find your water begin to be high-colored, scanty, having an un- pleasant odor, depositing a sediment or sand on cooling, and in density keeping continuously over 1.015, then take to your hot water at once —and see to your diet. Again, if the motions are constantly too fre- quent, liquid, frothy and yeasty, are offensive, expelled with wind and colic, are too pale or parti-colored, instead of being evenly of a dark- ish brown as in health; or if, on the other hand, they are continuously dry, hard, causing a feel- ing of weight and oppression, are difficult—per- haps painful—to pass, you are not in a perfectly sound state of health. See to your diet and take your hot water. If you become habitually wakeful and restless at nights, disturbed when asleep, dream evil dreams, if you arise in the morning heavy, unrefreshed, perturbed, and causelessly anxious and uneasy, with a " nasty taste " in your mouth, headachy, with weariness in your limbs, if you are unaccountably irritable in your temper, gloomy or depressed in spirits from no tangible cause ; if you become subject to chills, constantly have cold hands and feet, How to get well. 79 have little or no enjoyment in your meals, lose flesh suddenly, begin to be conscious of discom- fort, distention, heartburn, or actual pain after food; many, or some only, of these sensations combined, continuously experienced, you may take as pretty conclusive proof that all is not well with you, that your health is on the break and ivants immediate and careful looking to. Then begin seriously to consider your ways. Do not knock under at once and say it is "God's will" that you should suffer, or, "that you must be ill some time," or call it " Fate," or " Kismet," which it assuredly is not, except that Destiny is our own doing (or undoing). For at that rate you would be content to sink down into mental and bodily invalidism with- out a brave struggle against it, calling it Resig- nation, an easy and self-indulgent vice in many cases, and thus allow yourself to become a hor- rible nuisance to yourself and all around you. Resignation is often but a high-faluting term for sheer indolence of mind and body. Its true name is self-indulgence; or, if you want a fine one for it, call it laisser-aller. Energetically set about searching for the cause which produced 80 How to get well. the bad effect. Fight hard for health: it is worth a hard fight. Go back in your mind minutely over your recent diet, especially in reference to the adequacy in amount of animal food, and the proportion of fermentable foods, drinks, sweets, etc., ponder over all you have eaten and done, and amend your ways. Pull up, as it is called, in time, and take a course of hot water in earnest, correcting your diet the while. Do not despise the symptoms, because they are what you call "slight."1 Be thankful that they still are so, for they will be the more quickly and easily cured; and many a grave ill- ness is turned aside by the recognition in good time of those "slight" symptoms which mean so much, being the outward and warning signs of an inward deranged condition. They show distinctly that the human machine is not being kept in good running order. " Digestion and assimilation are very poor, and consequently blood 1 If I could but have read the meaning of these ever ac- cumulating, slight but significant first signs, ten years ago, ah! what long anguish I should have been spared, what heavy expense, and all the humiliations and inconveniences of abject helplessness. I should have thought its weight in gold a cheap price to pay for this little book of help, had I been offered it, in those sad, hopeless days. How to get well. 81 and tissue are not made fast enough to keep pace with decay and disintegratioi." Take warning then and preventive measures in time, so as to get back as fast as possible to that blessed state of absolute unconsciousness of our body which we call Health.1 A little careful watching of the water you pass daily, especially in regard to color, will teach you much that is valuable in the regulation of your diet and the conservation of your general well-being, and is quite worth the slight trouble, since prevention is always easier and cheaper than cure. When I say, " See to your diet," I mean this exactly, for there must be no vagueness here. That if you are, or are beginning to be really ill, you could not do better than, nor anyway half so well as to come straight on to the strict Sal- 1 The thing is this ; that when you are not in perfect health, you are not, as it were, on level ground, you are always on the slip, at the edge of a declivity. You may get along all right apparently for many months, until one day suddenly there comes some worry or upset, or a bad chill, or eating some fla- grantly indigestible food, or there is a mental or bodily strain, and—over you go. Then, it is not to say that you may run down,—but you are liable to toboggan down—to switchback- railway down,—to greased-lightning down :—and, once down, Ah ! it is easier sometimes to row up the Falls of Niagara, than to struggle back to lost health. 6 82 How to get well. isbury Treatment at once, without delay, till you have quite recovered. Stop the cause, which is the fermenting foods, drinks, etc., far too excessively and far too long indulged in. If you are only beginning to be " seedy " and out of sorts, greatly reduce the vegetable and farinaceous part of your alimentation, taking, say, three or four mouthfuls at each meal of beef or mutton, broiled or roasted (and lamb, game, fish, etc., on the same terms), to one of bread, vegetables, or pudding, of course avoid- ing pastry and rich greasy dishes and sauces, as well as fermentable drinks ; and always making your last meal at night an almost exclusively meat one, if not quite so, which would be wiser still. Pray do not, if you begin to feel ailing, fly to drugs, tonics, "pick-me-ups," which can only make you worse, aggravating the evil and en- feebling the whole system.1 Almost all medi- 1 I do not mean to say that drugs are never useful, but that it is far wiser and safer to trust alone to diet, hot water, and Nature, when we have to do with doctors who order medicines in the airy, affluent, and irresponsible fashion of which I, and very many others who have written to me on the subject, have been the victims. How to get well. 83 cines are in themselves very indigestible and cruelly exercise the unfortunate stomach already unable to deal comfortably with even good nourishing alimentation. As to tonics—my sad experience of them is this : as is the spur to a jaded horse, so is a tonic to a delicate constitu- tion, or in a weakened state of the nerves and health. It makes you do all you can, but is un- able to put any real strength into you, while " taking it out of you" to the utmost. The safest time, I should say, to take alcohol (" pick- me-ups "), drugs, tonics, and similar abomina- tions, if you must have them, is when you are quite well, robust, and strong, and able to bear being upset and knocked over; but even then, be careful. Dr. Salisbury says in this connec- tion, " Medicines alone will not cure disease. They are merely aids to the restoration of healthy states, after the cause or the unhealthy alimentation is removed." " Remember that the medicines cure nothing, they simply aid in keeping the machine in good running order, while rigid and careful alimentation is effecting the cure ; an alimentation freed as much as pos- sible from all elements which tend to form con* 84 How to get well. nective tissue and fat, or to paralyse the parts." " The medicines to be used are simply such as are necessary to aid digestion and assimilation, and to keep the bowels open once a day." How happy are the healthy ! There are two little words that for many years past have seemed to me to hold in their meaning and as- sociations all the music of the spheres. These words are Health and Work. Ah, and if you add Youth too, you indeed strike a chord that vibrates into space, charming the ears and warm- ing the heart of those who hear it. All earth's fairest happiness crowns the possessor of these priceless blessings, Health, Work, Youth ! and he is (or ought to be) as a King in his own right. N you who are Well, I urge emphati- cally do all you can to keep so ; take your hot water daily, in the way al- ready stated, and for the reasons minutely given. If business hours will not allow of the full four doses a day, you can always manage the morn- ing and night pints, and these are the most val- m How to get well. 85 uable. Do not neglect this if you care to pre- serve your health to a good old age. When you foresee the probability of getting home late, after one of those days of hard work, worry, scrimmage, and pressure, now so common, order —especially if you are not so young as you have been—for your dinner beforehand, at least for the meat part of it, not a joint after your fish, but a good big dish of Scotch minced collops, dressed alluringly, as in the recipes given below, any one of which is, in itself, a " dainty dish " and fit for a king—when in health ! Scotch Minced Collops, No. I.—Put one pound minced beef (raw) in a stewpan with a little cold water, or bet- ter still, cold stock well skimmed, and one onion cut small, black pepper and salt. Stir and press with a wooden spoon till thoroughly smooth and hot. Then add not quite as much water or stock as will cover the meat and stew very gently for one hour. To thicken the mince one tablespoonful of ketchup, one ditto Har- vey's sauce, one ditto flour, mix with a little cold water, and add to the mince a quarter of an hour before serv- ing. Garnish with triangles of bread roasted crisp in the oven. N.B.—In all cases where formerly toast was employed, it is best to use thin sliced bread baked quite crisp but not too hard in the oven, for pea-soup, sippits, 86 How to get well. eating with butter, and so on. I have observed about toast, that what I swallowed as good flexible leather, by some unholy hocus-pocus of the digestive organs be- came transmuted inside me into sponge, with almost limitless powers of expansion. This recipe for roasted or biscuit-bread, which is my own proud invention, is a great success and very popular ; many of my "pa- tients " telling me they find it so wholesome and nice, that they will not eat toast again. Minced Collops, No. 2.—When wanted in a hurry. Prepare a little browning of cut-up onion fried lightly in butter in your saucepan ; add the raw minced beef previously thoroughly mixed with a little stock, and keep stirring with a wooden spoon. Add more stock or gravy made from the skins, gristle and waste bits of the beef, and cook, stirring constantly for twelve minutes. Black pepper and salt to taste. Either of these recipes is nice as a curry for a change, and the minced curry, or collops, as it is not for a sick person, may be made from cold meat, beef or mutton. No. 3. A very nice, tasty dish and digestible, is made by adding nearly a third of bread soaked in boiling milk or stock, mixed smoothly with the mince, flavored with pepper, salt, and whatever else you like, made into cakes about an inch thick, brushed over with beaten-up white of egg, and grilled very thoroughly over a clear bright fire. No. 4. One more recipe—and this one makes a nice change for the sick as well as for the healthy. Cut the How to get well. &7 meat about an inch thick, and grill on both sides lightly, over a clear fire ; not to cook, but only to give a nice taste of the fire. Then cut in strips, pass it once or twice through the machine, and cook—if for an invalid —as on page 32. Make your last meal at night chiefly of one of these, or of broiled or roast meat, excluding fermenting foods and drinks as far as possible, so that there may be no disturbing element to interfere with your night's rest and quiet sleep. This light but substantial supper will produce in you a post-prandial feeling of buoyancy and cheerfulness, instead of the depression and irri- tability that often result from a solid meat meal taken when the stomach is already largely shar- ing the exhaustion and strain of the body. At- tention to this little hint will, I assure you, greatly ease your burden, promote undisturbed sleep, tend to prolong life, save you from head- aches, indigestion and malaise, and make you feel happy, cheerful, and benevolent, by the comfort it will give you. All this will be reflected in the happy faces of those about you, especially of your womenkind, and guarantee to your family (including the baby, the dog, and the cat), a 88 How to get well. good time all round. The same dietetic suggest- ion applies to animal food eaten in haste before starting on a journey l—mince it. Many a sud- den death is caused—as disclosed by the post- mortem — by hurrying, while the stomach is full of half-masticated, undigested, indigestible matter. Help it and yourself then, on these trying occasions, by sending down food already finely broken up. No man's soul and heart are quite in the right place, nor can he be reported safe and sound in health—whose stomach is overloaded and overworked. " Man lives by what he digests—not by what he eats." " Diseases enter at the mouth."—Japanese Proverb. " The keys of life and death are in the stomach." — The Rev. Ward Beecher. When you have passed the prime of life, it is much safer to let your train or 'bus go on with- out you, than to run the risk of hurrying to 1 Cold roast meat minced, and seasoned with mustard and salt, and put between bread (buttered or not), makes excellent and wholesome sandwiches to take with you on your journey, and are eminently digestible and no trouble to eat. How to get well. 89 catch it; for by running you increase the strain and labor of the heart at the same time that you depress its power by anxiety and apprehen- sion.1 I may add that I have received several kind letters from hard-pressed, busy men in London and elsewhere, thanking me for the suggestion of the minced collops and saying " what a good friend " it proves to them two or three times a week when they get home late, " body and brain quite tired out." Nor do they neglect their morning and night pints of hot water, I am glad to say. You who are well, can do a great deal toward preserving your health, with- out the expense and risk of doctors, by care- fully and intelligently watching the appearance of the water you pass. It should be, as we have seen, quite clear, and pale in color, " like a new-born infant's ; "—and in quantity from two to two and a half quarts a day. I hope you have remarked what has been said in this little book concerning the two - thirds 1 Since this was written, I have noticed in one paper alone five or six sudden deaths from this very cause. Pause, before thus exciting yourself, and remember that no return tickets are issued on this line. 90 How to get well. diet, as being calculated to keep well those who are so blest as already to possess their soul and body in health. A thoroughly healthy man or woman, one never having " anything the mat- ter " with him or her, is in my experience somewhat phenomenal nowadays; even quite young people complaining of insomnia, indigest- ion, neuralgia, and other ailments, of the very names of which I at their age, in the brave days of long ago, did not even know the meaning. For your help in this important matter, health—I wind up what I had to say to you in Dr. Salisbury's words—" Nature gives us plain indications for our guidance in our natural structure—as fully stated elsewhere. We have twenty meat-teeth and only twelve vegetable- teeth, and the stomach (the first and largest or- gan of the digestive apparatus) digests nothing but lean meats, while the small bowels . . . digest vegetable foods and fats. We are thus about two-thirds carnivorous and one-third herbivorous, and if we live according to this structure—other conditions being favorable— there need be but little danger of our ever getting out of order." Guard well then your best, your How to get well. 91 most precious possession, since the keeping of it is in your own hands. The hot water alone, even without the diet added, is the grand safeguard of those com- pelled to lead a sedentary life, through the want of time and opportunity or the physical inabil- ity to take exercise. Let the sedentary make a note of this, for should they be able only to take even the morning and night pints regu- larly, they will very greatly benefit themselves by so doing. And in this place let me say that I do not think it possible for a faithful hot water drinker to become a voluntary suicide. The gloom and wretchedness that give birth to that sad, un- reasonable deed — "cet acte desespere concu par la raison, mais execute par la folie" (the only error precluding expiation)—are in a great measure caused by the retention in the system of effete matter absolutely requiring to be ex- pelled ; the product of undigested, unassimila- ble food, which the clogged system is not able to deal with. Thoroughly flush the obstructed economy with the hot water taken regularly, throw and keep "the communications" freely 92 How to get well. open daily and feed healthily. You will soon again find life well worth living, and that your own part in it is not so unsatisfactory and dis- appointing as you perhaps imagined. "Beware of desperate steps, the longest, darkest day— Live till to-morrow—will have passed away." It would be well, too, if coroners' juries could be induced to return a common-sense verdict of unsound health, instead of the hackneyed one of unsound mind, in most of these cases. They would be speaking the truth, which in itself is not a disadvantage, and at the same time would read a necessary and valuable lesson to us who remain, to look sharp after the small first signs of a breakdown in health. When the body is not in perfect health, it causes a condi- tion of mental and moral uneasiness (often in- ducing cantankerousness) very hard to bear and be borne with. And many wretched, impla- cable quarrels, public and private, hopeless misunderstandings between friends, terrifying presentiments of disaster, melancholy and gloomy fears, are due solely to indigestible food pressing on some wrong place, or to a stopped- How to get well. 93 up duct, which the diet and hot water would soon set to rights,—clearing the sluggish atmos- phere, and—like Una—making sunshine in a shady place. The hot water is also a certain cure for dip- somania. It eradicates the weary craving for drink, the overmastering passion for stimulant, and, in regulating the digestion and quenching thirst healthily and naturally, it drives out the disastrous hankering after liquor. This means has again and again been tried and found effect- ual. Even habitual drunkards have come at length to prefer the hot water to " drink." And now I must be permitted to speak a little word to the hilarious and jocular, the facile jeerers, who, being of a certain calibre of intellect and a deplorable amount of prejudice, are much given to airing what they are pleased to consider their "wit" in the matter of the hot water and minced beef diet, on the scientific motive of which, and qualifications for preven- tion and cure, they are profoundly ignorant. Implying that it is a quack remedy, they style it a "universal" one, and declare it, sar- castically, to be "infallible." Well, I accept 94 How to get well. the challenge, and I too declare Dr. Salisbury's system, faithfully and accurately pursued, to the utmost limits of such meanings, to be a " universal" remedy and an " infallible " cure, in whatever stages and under whatsoever con- ditions remedy and cure are still possible. I go further — I pronounce Dr. Salisbury's sys- tem, thoroughly and honestly carried out, to be the grand preventive of disease; creating such healthy conditions as render disease well-nigh impossible, and that, I take it, is even better than cure. These are strong words, but not stronger than the well-grounded faith that I hold, warrants— not stronger than my now wide experience, and the very plentiful proofs I have had, justify. And if anyone will consent to use his common sense and judgment and forego his " wit," look- ing calmly and judicially at the question, he cannot fail to see that this whole line of treat- ment is a demonstration of the inexorable doc- trine of Cause and Effect. If there is some " good joke " here concealed, I regret my destiny, while frankly admitting my utter inability to appreciate—or even to see How to get well. 95 —it. Do not, I beseech of you who are ill and in need of help, allow yourselves to be laughed out of what is of such intense importance to your whole life's well-being.1 When the strong are " out of sorts," and the sick are feeling more achy and feeble than usual, friends look kindly on, and sympatheti- cally observe—often in good faith— " It is this wretched weather," or " It is this odious cli- mate." Don't you allow yourself to be gulled by that. Except in peculiar cases, weather and climate have very little directly to do with it; but errors in diet have a great deal. Bravely and honestly face the fact, for please let me say that, generally speaking, we carry our own cli- mate and weather within us, not without; and in feeding properly will become hardy and grow indifferent to both. And this is a merciful dis- pensation of Providence, or of Nature—since the remedy is thus not beyond our reach, but actually in our own hands. I do not say cli- 1 The above does not in any way apply to good-humored banter, which is always pleasant and amusing, and he is a poor creature who cannot take that cheerily, especially a.s—"fiira bien, qui rira le dernier / " 96 How to get well. mate and weather work you no harm once you are or are getting ill. But it is not in the power of the most malevolent east wind, or of damp, or cold ; it is not in the power of grief, anxiety, or worry, nor of all of them leagued together, to. make you ill. They cannot pro- duce, let us say, gout or rheumatism. They can but induce conditions adverse to the expul- sion of the uric acid, engendered by the un- healthy alimentation which is at the root of these illnesses. The camel's back, they tell us, is broken by the last straw. But "they" talk " bosh." It is what lies under the straw that causes the real breakdown of camel and health. The grief, the worry, the unfavorable weather and ungenial climate, they are the last straw under which, but for what has gone before, namely, unhealthy alimentation, you could have borne up bravely. No one has any right to die—bar accidents, before old age; and every one who does is either a suicide, involuntary mostly, or has been murdered by somebody's bungling. See all the sad and needless, early deaths in the obituaries; think over your own friends, young and in life's prime, alas! How to get well. 97 " Whose part in all the pomp that fills The circuit of the summer hills ----is that their grave is green." A great deal of nonsense is also talked when invalids, especially great invalids, and with re- stricted means to boot, are induced to leave their comfortable homes and betake themselves to German and other Baths (where they are sometimes—as I was—terribly forlorn); often to their sore disheartenment, well-nigh despair, when they find they come back worse than they went.1 The chief good, I take it, of these watering-places mainly consists in this: That 1 Among the innumerable Baths and Health Resorts I was beguiled into trying, one stands out so dismally in memory that an account of it may amuse my readers. The food was unwholesome, fhe baths cruelly draughty, the Medico a very rough diamond—all but the diamond—and the climate ungenial, damp and foggy. One eccentricity of the place—and it really seemed to be catching—was, that of the sojourners there, hardly one could keep his or her clothes on for long together, let the weather be what it might. Were there a gleam of sunshine, off they all scampered to rid themselves of their hampering garments and luxuriate in a "sun-bath." Were it raw and dull, it was an "air-bath" with gymnastic accompaniment, again clothed like Cupid. And uncommonly "airy" they must have found it too, on that housetop in the strong northeast wind that, even in summer, frolicked so free over the plain. In all weathers, at all hours, on looking roofward, bare arms and legs were to be 7 98 How to get well. people who are fairly well—well enough to have been over-eating themselves and indulging among other things in richly cooked, highly spiced dishes, heated atmospheres, late hours, and generally detrimental habits (in the back- ground I am thinking, also, of those who have added the strain of overwork to neglect of other rules of health)—are put at once on a plain, wholesome rdgime, undergo a good scour- ing out by a course of daily internal baths, drinking many tumblers of water with a fine- sounding name (" What's in a name ? "), either hot or cold, but generally at a high natural temperature. They are made to rise and retire early, to take plenty of active out-door exercise, seen whirling in bewildering confusion, like the sails of lunatic windmills. In my few short walks in the adjacent forest, I met the wom- enkind barelegged, barefooted and bareheaded, and the men re- taining little but what decency exacts in this nineteenth century. Other of their ways were odd, and not very nice. At dinner a Colonel in the German army rapturously devoured a dish of large raw carrots daily. The sight was not appetizing, and I thought this Teutonic Nebuchadnezzar should have been teth- ered outside and his dish of carrots put down to him. I believe that if I live to be three hundred, I shall never for- get my misery in that Unspeakable Hole, from the hurtful food, chills caught in the baths, and, in a lesser degree, from its rough queer ways. How to get well. 99 many external baths, which open the pores of the skin and give egress to much impure matter consequent on a long spell of improper feeding. They almost live in the open air, and altogether experience a thorough change in mode of life, habits, diet, hours, skies, and language ; and are thereby largely helped to repair the damage done to their constitutions. No wonder that they return home considerably lighter in heart, weight—and pocket, jubilant and elated, each one swearing by his own particular "cure." The great benefit to be derived from change of air, especially to a purer air—ways, food, peo- ple, skies, etc.—is by no means to be underval- ued, but, in nine cases out of ten, people's best and cheapest baths — namely, internal ones — were singing cheerily away in the kettle on their own kitchen hob, had they but known it; and if they had sipped their hot water at home, used a little self-restraint in the matter of diet, and lived at all rationally, they could have taken their " change " for pleasure instead of for health, and might have wandered at their own sweet will all over the world, instead of being " ordered " to some special health resort. i oo How to get well. To return to climate ; to the sick, I would say, as Dr. Salisbury said to me, " Live where you feel happiest and most comfortable, only let it be where you will have your hot water reg- ularly, and can get really good beef for your mince.1 With this proviso, go or stay where you yourself like best to be." If, however, you have a home of your own, I should strongly recommend your remaining in it, at least until you are well again, for, be assured that nowhere else can you carry out the precise treatment so faithfully, comforta- bly and satisfactorily as in your own house. / never could have attempted it — though I longed to do so—horribly ill in a foreign hotel; but that a lady, almost a stranger to me, pity- ing my sufferings and grasping at once the potentialities of the Treatment, most nobly minced and prepared my beef diet for me, daily, for eight months, at her own home. I wish I 1 I did not realize the full wisdom of this advice until I lived in Switzerland, and there daily demolished what was called beef ; but was just good honest blanket: tough, tasteless, and woolly as a sheep's back. It was skilfully cooked, I admit; but, for the Salisbury patient—the Roast Beef of Old England, and of America ! How to get well. 101 could raise a monument to her: but indeed / am her best monument—a walking demonstra- tion of her marvellous goodness, and of the effi- cacy of the Salisbury Treatment, I—who had once paid a very grand doctor to come a short distance to see me, six guineas, for the consol- ing intelligence that I " must never hope to walk again ! " Dating from almost the first day that I was able to begin the strict Treatment, the improve- ment in my condition all round, was so marked and so steady, that / did not dare to believe it, for fear there should be yet another terrible dis- appointment in store for me: and I felt that I had had just about as many as I could well bear. Try hard to avoid all fatigue, whether from too kind, inconsiderate visitors (a prolific source of exhaustion and over-fatigue), exercise, work, amusement, or any other cause, and everybody should always work, exercise, and play up to their weakest point, not to their strongest. As far as is possible, take anxiety and worry quietly ; to do otherwise can only knock you over, and will cruelly undo in a few days the good you 102 How to get well. have been slowly and toilfully gaining in many months. You should put pressure on yourself in this thing, for the more you determine to take the Inevitable1 easily, to be happy in your work and recreations, in your home and friends, and the more you feel a genial and comprehensive inter- est in everything going on in the world around you, the more perfect will be your digestion and assimilation, and the more healthy you will be- come in mind and body. Then, unless through accidents, there is no legitimate cause or impedi- ment why you should not live, and enjoy your life for a hundred years and longer. If care killed a cat with all its nine lives, let us, who have but one, take right good heed that care shall neither extinguish nor shorten ours. Dr. Salisbury, lamenting our present waste of force and vitality, all too justly says, " We spend our lives in casting life away." The hot water will help you well here, for it soothes the nerves and strengthens the mind ; 1 Even argument is lost upon the Inevitable. The only valid argument with an east wind is to hurry into your great- coat. How to get well. 103 so that cares and anxieties, which would have assumed exaggerated proportions and crushed you formerly, now sit far more lightly on your shoulders; you will find you have greater elas- ticity and courage to bear them, and can also judge them more justly. And in this place, with all possible earnest- ness, I entreat and solemnly warn you, especially if you are ill or any way ailing, never to allow yourself to be ensnared by that calamitous blun- der—that gigantic fallacy, Vegetarianism. Of all the gratuitous modes of flinging away pre- cious health and inducing illness, this is about the foremost for rashness and folly. I speak from experience, for, regarding it as the ideal, humane, and perfect diet,1 I anxiously desired to follow it always, and, to my life-long repent- ance, tried hard to do so six separate times, be- ginning more than eleven years ago. I carefully studied all its literature on which I could lay hands, I corresponded with and implicitly obeyed the guidance of some of its leaders, with this re- 1 I still consider it all that,—only, unfortunately, there is lacking to us the ideal stomach necessary for its digestion and assimilation. 104 How to get well. suit—that twice I brought myself so near death's door that I heard the hinges creak, and still un- daunted by that dire experience, tried it yet four times more, causing myself very serious ill- ness. And but that I had, to begin with, an iron constitution, nay, an adamantine one, this wretched diet—unnourishing, because fermen- tative, flatulent, impossible of digestion and as- similation—would have had me long ago under, instead of on the green earth. I never yet knew a vegetarian, and I have known many, possessed of much real stamina. He may keep well by dint of hard labor, or brisk exercise and careful living all round for a while, even for a long while, I admit; but when illness does overtake him, having no reserve of strength, down he runs like a clock with a broken mainspring, and his resisting and rallying force, thanks to his inad- equate nutrition, is lamentably weak. It may be " economical," as some count economy, penny- wise and pound-foolish ; but the bill is high in the end that we pay with doctor's fees and lost health. A " navvy " or a coal-porter may stow away and be able to digest and work off the reg- ulation amount of peas, beans, lentils, oatmeal, How to get well. 105 etc., but for us more or less sedentary beings there are many far cheerfuller and more seduc- ing ways of upsetting our stomachs, if we must do so, than Vegetarianism, and few—I speak feelingly—are more dangerous, chimerical, or so idiotic. In considering diet, we must bear in mind that the nutritive value of a food must be coun- terbalanced by its digestibility. For instance, cheese as a force-giver possesses very high value, but its indigestibility reduces its nutritive worth to a very low rate indeed. The same remark holds good in regard to beans, lentils, etc. May I add that before eating green peas you should always mash them slightly on your plate to flatten them, for if you do not, many will slip down whole, in which state, of course, they can- not be digested. When you eat salad, which should not be too often, cut it up small on your plate, and masti- cate it very thoroughly; and never swallow the skins, stones, or seeds of fruits, they are all in- soluble, alien, inert bodies—not foods. It may help to make the hot water a more welcome doctrine to you who are fairly well, to 106 How to get well. know that you may now and then, with impu- nity, " go for " something you like very much, but which, unfortunately, does not like you. If you continue to wash out well with the hot water, an occasional treat will not much hurt you; but be sure always to take the antidote. Of the two great evils, eating too much and eat- ing too little, the first is on the whole decidedly the least injurious, since Nature can throw off superfluous matter, especially with the help of the hot water, but she cannot create a supply of the necessary food. It is true of others besides the poor, that most people do not eat enough,—enough that is, of food the most perfectly fitted for assimilation and to supply the wants of the body. Many more die every year from under, than from over nutrition. The poor cannot get the right food, rightly cooked,—the rich, while seeming to fare sumpt- uously every day, yet consume mostly profitless and incongruous futilities, that are not in any real sense food: and starve in the midst of plenty. We need not wonder therefore, that an apparently trifling circumstance may cause How to get well. 107 a complete break down, for we can bear so little on an ill-used stomach. I give my own experience in regard to leav- ing off medicines, as I devoutly hope it may prove useful and encouraging to others. Though very ill indeed at the time, I entirely left them off eight years ago (this was written in 1887), with exceeding benefit to myself. The way it came about was this : one of my doctors, intending to dissuade me from passing on to an- other, since under himself I only grew worse, told me that his mother had been a confirmed invalid and had died comparatively young, " solely because she had plenty of money to muddle on doctors," and he added expansively that a great authority: had said that " Every dose of medicine was simply a blind expei'i- ment." a Like a flash my eyes were opened— the mystery was made plain. 1 I read lately of another "great authority," who, on retiring from a large practice, gave as his reason, "lam tired of guess- ing." 2 This candid dictum of Sir Wm. Jenner's, reminds me of Voltaire's saying, that a physician is a man who pours medi- cines of which he knows little, into a body of which he knows less. 108 How to get well. An appalling vision rose up before me of the whole chemist's shop I had, by doctor's orders, so confidingly and calamitously been swallowing in the last three years; and I no longer won- dered why I had become so rapidly, desperately ill and dreadfully weak; when, at the com- mencement, I had suffered merely from rather bad indigestion, so easily curable by the hot water, had I but known of it then. "Then," said I, " no one shall 'experiment' any further upon me, I have taken my last dose of medicine.'' I had rather a rough time of it with some, but I have held to my resolve—to my infinite gain. In the early years of my illness, in my eager- ness to get well again, I had over thirty-eight doctors of various nationalities, though chiefly English. After a long, long hiatus from the very hopelessness of finding any help among them all, by the greatest stroke of luck that ever befell me, I was told that Dr. Salisbury of New York City was in London. I will not speak of him, nor of the comfort, health, and happiness to which his treatment (the minced beef and hot water) has restored me, lest I be accused of How to get well. 109 enthusiasm—a grave reproach in this age. The other thirty-eight (among whom were five of the brightest medical luminaries in England) did for me, I imagine, their incompetent best, some with willing kindness which I still remem- ber gratefully; the rest (whom I don't remem- ber gratefully !) in a very apathetic, half-hearted way, discerning that the case was far beyond them.1 My slender purse became disquietingly empty, but I suppose money, like the watch in Bombastes, was " meant to go," and that is not my complaint against them. It is this : that they gave me, till I rebelled and would have no more of it, day by day strong, cruel medicines that still more reduced my feeble strength, de- stroyed my health, my power to digest, and my nerves, and enabled illness to obtain a mighty grasp upon my thus weakened constitution.2 1 The case, though a very complicated and aggravated one, was simple enough when the cause was exposed and checked, as is fully proved by my progress from almost the very first day when I began the Treatment :—progress, gradual, but steady and perceptible. 2 I have kept some of the prescriptions still as curiosities which, if they were not so sad, would be really too funny. In their elaborate length are conglomerated together the most in- congruous, not to say warring elements, whose battle-field, alas ! was my luckless inside. no How to get well. They should have known how much worse than useless was this mode of treatment, and if they did not know, they were ill-fitted for the high calling of Doctor. They bereft me of my health, and in so doing, took that which not en- riched them, and left me poor indeed. As to diet and its supreme and intimate rela- tion to health and sickness, not one among them all had the faintest shadow of practical, available knowledge. " Keep up your diet," their stock phrase, meant, to my ignorant ears, exactly nothing; and when I anxiously pressed for its precise meaning as a rule that I might obey, I found to my disappointment, that doc- tor and patient alike were floundering about in a quagmire of doubt and obscurity. But I for- get ;—Two doctors had their ideas on diet, and here they are. One, the first I consulted of the thirty-eight, when I was in a low state of health from over-work and suffering from indigestion, was a very celebrated man indeed, and this was the daily nourishment he ordered me. Break- fast, 7.30, a rusk steeped in boiling water, water poured off and a little milk added. Dinner, 1, wing of a chicken or game, a little green vegeta- How to get well. 111 ble, potato, bread, and a spoonful of a milk pud- ding. Tea, 6, same as breakfast. Voila tout / and I " might safely continue " my long hours of hard work the while. In less than three weeks, this magnificently substantial diet with the "remedies" added, developed—to my bewildered consternation—a terrible attack of rheumatic gout with great weakness, which laid me prostrate for many months with acute pain, helplessness, and total disturbance of the whole system. Another, honest man! put his faith in eggs, and set me on a raw-egg cure,1 which was to work me " wonders." I wTas desired to make a hole in the top and suck the contents. This I dutifully did, and I should be ashamed to tell you the number I imbibed in a twelvemonth. But at the end of over two years, having be- come quite painfully thin, exceedingly yellow, and altogether very like a mummy, I realized that I had gained absolutely nothing but greatly increased indigestion, and a dexterity in 1 There is a hallucination existent that raw eggs are more easily digested than cooked eggs ; but the fact is, that lightly cooked eggs are much easier to digest than when raw, as well as considerably pleasanter to the taste. 112 How to get well. sucking eggs, that would have qualified me to instruct even my grandmother in the art. So I abandoned this wholesale slaughter of the (Alas! not always prospective) innocents, and sought elsewhere for the cure which evidently did not lie in an egg-shell. Another doctor, by the way, saw my deliver- ance in brandy-rubbing. I was rubbed for an hour, daily, for many months, with good French brandy. This little entertainment cost me, in brandy alone,—exclusive of rubber and doctor's attendance,—just over £15. I only hope that I did " take it in at the pores," for it always seemed to me a quite sinful waste of good liquor. Besides, I felt injured that I should constantly smell so strongly of brandy (I was not allowed to wash it off), when I hadn't had one drop of it internally. This appeared to me hardly fair play ! Although I had had a good deal to do with bringing on the first stage of my illness by over- work and culpable unacquaintance with the laws of hygiene and proper alimentation (for of all that concerned health I was, eleven years ago, " as ignorant as the brutes that perish," How to get well. 113 without their judgment and discretion), I yet showed one redeeming quality, had one wise in- stinct, and I tell it as earnest exhortation to all whom it may concern, that it is safer to bear ills of which you know the best and the worst, than to add others to them the future consequences of which you cannot foresee. My wise instinct was this, and it undoubtedly bore its part in finally simplifying my cure : I always firmly declined to allow hypodermic injections of-mor- phia, or to take any anodynes whatever to soothe the excruciating pain that I unceasingly suffered, along with almost entire sleeplessness through many years. Doctor after doctor, in pressing them upon me, protested that till I had freedom from such great pain and some sleep, I need not hope to be better; and finally they waxed extremely wroth with me, and said I was a most provoking and obstinate patient, which indeed was true enough. But my refusal arose from the instinct that pain is a beneficent warning of danger, and that in silencing that monitor you lull the body and mind into a false ease and treacherous security. Anything radically curative I would so gladly 8 H4 How to get well. have taken, but I despised and distrusted mere palliatives, and I knew how morphia in all its forms, and the other anodynes, upset one in various ways, complicating illness; and that the very paralysing the nerves and soothing the pain which were to bring me comfort and sleep, meant depressing my powers of resistance and endurance, and enfeebling my mind. And I knew besides, for I had seen it, the iron grip which these counterfeit friends (opium, chloral, etc.) are apt to take of those who have come under their treacherous beneficence for relieving pain and obtaining sleep. I often thought I must go mad from the ter- rible longing for sleep and the still more terrible want of it, from the anguish of pain from which there was no repose, from the shattered nerves, and the overwhelmment of helplessness and misery. The very first night—years later—that I began my hot water, I got three blessed hours' sleep on end, and yet more sleep till morn- ing. When I awoke I felt so happy I did not know myself. And thus we have gone steadily on, the Salisbury Treatment (minced beef and hot water), Nature, and I, contesting the lost How to get well. 115 ground inch by inch, until we have very nearly regained it ail; and my condition to-day is healthier and sounder, my vitality stronger, and my sleep sweeter, than before I began sensibly to get ill at all, more than ten years ago. That is one reward for my " obstinacy," and the other I find in these words of George Eliot, " The highest calling and election is to do zaith- out opium, and live through all our pain with conscious clear-eyed endurance." So I say earnestly to my brothers and sisters in pain, Don't go in for " soothers," " pain-killers," lau- danum, morphia, chloral, chlorodyne, or any such poisons. You may have fierce pain to bear, but under the Salisbury Treatment pain is from the first sensibly lessening and becoming more bearable, as I can truly testify, until it goes away entirely; and in bearing it by the mere force of your own pluck, at all events you are always assured lord and master of your own castle—your mind and body. Hold on then bravely against all odds, and it will be the better for you, too, one day. N.B.—It is best to be explicit. The above does not apply in any way to anaesthetics or sedatives given for 116 How to get well. surgical operations, confinements, etc., or to bring tranquillity and relief at the last. These cases are totally different. My fight was for life and health, not for ease or euthanasia. Apropos—Dr. Salisbury, by prescribing a system of healthful diet with the hot water, for some months before a confinement, reduces that interesting event, even when a first one, to a very slight and brief affair—a signal advantage to mother and child, and the whole household. Miss E. J. Whately, writing to the Spectator of August 19th, 1888, mentions that a member of her family was suffering severely, when on a sea-voyage of some days' duration, from sea- sickness, and in hopes of finding relief took a cup of very hot water. " The result was imme- diately her falling into a quiet and refreshing sleep." Miss Whately here strikes a note in re- spect to the Salisbury System, that rings right truly. An American lady told me that for about a week before she started on her dreaded voyage to Europe, Dr. Salisbury limited her three meals daily almost entirely to broiled beefsteak, with the hot water at the usual times. A little bread baked crisp was allowed How to get well. 117 with fresh butter, or some well-boiled rice, but no sweets, puddings, pies, fruit, etc. Not be- ing able easily to get the hot water on board, she took a cup of weak clear tea with each meal of roasted or boiled beef for the first two days, and nothing else. After that she was able to eat royally at the four generous banquets per diem provided by the Company, and was, I be- lieve, the only lady on board who stood to her guns—I mean her victuals—with a healthy, hearty appetite to the end of a very rough voy- age. The rest, who had fed gorgeously at first, dropped out of sight by twos and threes, and their place at table knew them no more. I can bear out this good testimony too, for never since I have been a Salisbury patient have I enacted the tragedy of Jonah's whale, which, in the old days of promiscuous feeding, was with me, on board a steamer with its various sounds and sights of woe, an assured catastrophe. The demon of sea-sickness passes us Salisbury pa- tients by, and takes itself off to disport in less healthy stomachs. In treatment which deals so largely in Nat- ure's generous gift to us of Water, it is of essen- 118 How to get well. tial consequence that it should be pure and good. If you are in a place where the water is in the least doubtful, or is hard, or is, as in Italy, Switzerland, and many parts of England (Do- ver, Margate, Dorking, etc.), full of chalk, then your only wise course is to send to the chemist for distilled water. He has always more on hand than he knows what to do with, and ought not to charge you much. (At Margate the chemist had the audacity to ask me three- pence a pint for distilled water; at Territet- Montreux I got it from the chemist for five centimes a litre, i.e. a large quart for one half- penny.) Distilled water is always far and away the best water to drink in health or sickness. It has very strong solvent properties, and acts powerfully on the earthy deposits and salts which are apt to accumulate in the system, and lodge there to our woe and the shortening of our lives. It is also rapidly absorbed into the blood, and keeps the salts already there in so- lution, thus preventing their deposit, and also facilitating their excretion. How to get well. 119 If you cannot procure distilled water, then I believe rain water is the next best, and by boil- ing it, its natural purity is much increased. And now I shall endeavor to answer conclu- sively the objections often made to me in regard to the Salisbury Treatment. The first one very frequently made, is, " I must stop my hot water, for my doctor says it will injure the coats of my stomach." ' " And does your doc- tor," I ask, "object on the same score to your taking your tea and coffee ' comfortably' hot ? " "Oh dear, no, not at all." In reference to this embargo of the doctor's, please give due weight to this fact, that the hot water is a rem- edy, and one that is in the patient's own hands. I know great numbers of people who have braved all these forebodings, and have found the hot water soothe and strengthen the " coats of their stomach " with the best results to their health. I can fully corroborate this testimony 1 People have been so long used to paying their doctors to think for them, that when urged to think for themselves in the matter of care for their own health ; it seems an absurd idea which entertains them, but which they have a good deal of dif- ficulty in entertaining, although it is high time that in sober earnest they should do so. 120 Hozv to get well. as regards my own " coats," which were in such a feeble and irritable state before I began the Salisbury Treatment, that for very dread of the horrible pain I suffered for hours after eating, I had brought myself down to one meal a day— eaten in terror, and digested in torment. It is greatly to be regretted when we, whose closest interest it is faithfully and seriously to use what of common sense and power of thought Provi- dence may have conferred upon us, hide them away in the napkin, and surrender our health— and all that depeitds upon it—blindly to the keeping of another. And again, the sick say to me, " Why should I go on the treatment, my digestion is all right ? " But carefully read all that the treatment accom- plishes in other ways, besides curing the pain of indigestion; and be sure, that, if your digestion and assimilation were as perfect as you fond- ly imagine them to be, you would not be ill. There are many forms of suffering and malaise, besides local pain, in which faulty digestion and nutrition reveal themselves; for it is ever at his weakest point that each individual is assailed. The next objection often started is, " I can How to get well. 121 quite understand how the Salisbury treatment can cure indigestion, heartburn, dyspepsia, and such like, but I can't understand how it should cure other and quite different illnesses, such as consumption, tumors, rheumatism, etc." But there is no real difficulty if you once for all grasp the fact, that illness, however varied its forms (unless from poisons, infections, or acci- dent), is the consequence of unhealthy alimenta- tion ; and that the weakest part or organ in the individual constitution is the first to suffer. Let us take a few examples and duly consider them, for the question is one of such great importance to us, that it fairly claims our most thoughtful attention. And while briefly advancing these instances, let me ask you to bear well in mind, that for over thirty years Dr. Salisbury has com- bated successfully, these various forms of (some of them) generally supposed incurable disease, in all their stages and degrees, by treating them as varieties produced by one cause, that cause being unhealthy and defective alimentation; and also, that by exclusively adopting that spe- cies of alimentation which the system is not able readily to digest and appropriate, he watch- t 2 2 How to get well. fully produced in himself and his "boarders," as already mentioned, these very illnesses, and was able to cure them when they were well pro- nounced, and had assumed grave proportions, by systematically washing out the sour stomach and bowels, and changing the food to such as does not ferment and cause carbonic acid gas with the resulting disorders. Dr. Salisbury, with exceeding generosity, has given me largely direct help in these following instances. I. Bright's Disease is fatty disease of the kid- neys. Now it is not possible to have fatty disease of an organ until it becomes so para- lysed that it cannot take up the blood that goes to nourish it. In such cases Nature infiltrates fat in order to preserve the tissue and prolong life, long enough to give us time to remove the cause and cure the disease. The cause of this paralysis of an organ (the kidneys we are now considering), is the constant and long-continued over-indulgence in vegetable, starchy, saccharine foods, drinks and fruits, which induce fermenta- tion in the stomach and bowels, and keep them constantly filled with carbonic acid gas. The same foods also produce fat; hence in curing How to get well. 123 the disease we have to stop all the foods and drinks that ferment, form carbonic acid gas, par- alyse, and produce fat which feeds the disease. 2. Diabetes is a disease of the lobules of the liver. This portion of the liver is that which makes animal sugar. When we feed too ex- clusively upon foods that produce sugar (which include vegetable foods, fruits, animal fats, con- nective tissue, gristly bits, and so on), this por- tion of the liver becomes over-active, and forms more sugar than the system requires, and thus incites the kidneys to work excessively in order to carry off this sugar, and this over-strain of the liver and kidneys causes diabetes. By stop- ping all foods that make animal sugar, we lessen the activity of these organs, in time grad- ually bring them back to their normal state, and are thus able to cure the disease. 3. Consumption, which is a disease of the blood arising from continued unhealthy alimen- tation, is also to be cured only by removing the cause. This cause is fermenting food and the products of fermentation, sour yeast, carbonic acid gas, alcohol and vinegar. Any food that ferments with the acid yeast in the small bowels 124 How to get well. may cause consumption of the lungs, and when in the large bowel, consumption of the bowels. To cure consumption we must stop the foods and drinks that ferment with the sour yeast, and these include all foods which ferment in a yeast-pot or vinegar-barrel; and feed up gener- ously with the muscle pulp of lean beef, broiled or minced. The process is slow, as Nature's healing and repairing processes mostly are, but the cure is sure and certain, reaching even to those stages of this dreadful disease which have so long been deemed hopeless. The so-called Microbe, often advanced as the cause of con- sumption, is nothing but one phase in the de- velopment and metamorphosis of the various sour or acid yeasts. These vegetations, with the poisonous gases that are produced by their rapid development, cause both fibrous and tu- bercular consumption. And until the Microbe advocates learn and know what their "microbe" really is, and how to produce and also how to starve it out, they never will be able to cure consumption. (Dr. Salisbury's chapters on con- sumption in the work I have before alluded to, are of the highest value and importance.) How to get well. 125 4. Obesity is a disease produced by over-feed- ing on the foods that make fat or adipose tissue. The cure is safe and simple. Stop those foods that make fat, and rigidly adhere, till the dis- ease is cured, to lean meats, broiled or roasted, —beef, mutton, lamb, game, etc. (no great hard- ship !) 5. Rheumatism is caused by the too excessive feeding upon the foods that make acids. These acids, when absorbed to a certain extent, par- tially clot the blood, and make it ropy and stringy, so that when we expose ourselves to cold, the fibrous tissue round the joints con- tracts, which narrows the blood-vessels in those parts, and causes the ropy, stringy blood to hang in, and become dammed up around the joints, which condition causes rheumatic pains and excessive growth of joints. The cure is to stop all foods that produce acids by fermenta- tion in the stomach and bowels, all starchy foods, and sugar therefore, and remove as much as possible the fibrous tissue and fats from the meat. 6. Tumors.—" All these fibrous growths and thickenings, and all excessive developments in 126 How to get well. connective tissue where such development does not normally belong, are the outcome of un- healthy alimentation." All tumors are devel- oped in the fibrous, mucous, epithelial, and bony tissues; generally they are in the fibrous tissue. Any food that ferments in the stomach or in the vicinity of an organ, forms carbonic acid gas excessively, which is absorbed by that organ so as to partially paralyse the blood-ves- sels of the part, and a standstill in the blood- stream there is established; so that there is over-nutrition of the parts under a state of par- tial death; and thus there is excessive growth without pain. This process is one that makes tumors. To cure these tumors we have to stop all foods that ferment, and all foods that feed the fibrous tissue. Dr. Salisbury says of these diseases, as of cancerous growths, which are pro- duced by the same cause, that " extirpating the growth never removes the cause, and never re- sults in a radical cure. The same wrong ali- mentation may develop still further and other growths. . . . We must reach the underly- ing cause before we can cure. We may relieve and seemingly cure without knowing or re- How to get well. 127 moving causes, but such relieving and curing is not permanent. We should remember that all these states and conditions we bring upon our- selves, by something zve are doing daily and per- sistently. This wrong-doing must be stopped; then we may use with advantage any means that will help to gradually bring back and es- tablish healthy states and habits in the diseased structure." Words of highest import. If we would only become thoroughly imbued with the spirit that pervades them, what a shield we should set up between ourselves and ill- health ! 7. Neuralgia is simply pain in partially dead- ened nerves. This is partial paralysis, and most usually is produced by unhealthy alimentation ; although sometimes it may be either the result of an injury, or some growth pressing upon a nerve or nerves. Whatever the cause, that cause should, if possible, first be removed, and then in the second place we must restore the normal life to the affected parts by correct feeding (the meaning of which term you now well know), aided by massage, passive movements, hot baths, counter-irritants, etc., to bring the nour- 128 How to get well. ishing blood and warmth back to the sick and weakened nerves. This disease, neuralgia, very readily yields to the correct treatment. Over- fatigue and general " run-down" make us an easy prey to this painful ailment. Add Rest to the means of cure (the diet and hot water). 8. Dropsy is not in itself a disease, it is only a symptom of disease in very vital organs ; and hence is not to be treated as a disease, but as a symptom merely. Dropsy in the extremities indicates disease of either the heart or kidneys, or both. Dropsy in the abdominal cavity indi- cates disease in the portal glands. The cause of the diseases that result in Dropsy, is un- healthy alimentation. The fermentation pro- cesses, with the resultant gases and other pro- ducts, are at the bottom of all these derange- ments. The same rigid diet and drinks are to be used in Dropsy as in Tumors and Bright's Disease. 9. Pleurisy is either inflammatory or neural- gic. Both forms of the disease occur in persons who are more or less out of order from indiges- tion. The inflammatory type occurs in persons who are able to make plenty of blood, but How to get well. 129 whose digestive organs are filled to a greater or less extent with souring food. The acids de- veloped in the stomach and bowels are taken up and enter the blood stream, where they little by little tend to make the blood ropy, stringy, and tough by partially clotting it. In this tough, stringy condition of the blood, any exposure to cold, or to other causes that contract the glue or fibrous tissues, lessens the calibre of the blood- vessels, and causes the blood to hang, or be im- peded in its flow, resulting in a blockade and congestion of the parts affected, which is soon followed by inflammation. Now the great object in inflammatory diseases is to have the most perfect digestion and assimilation possible. The more perfect the digestion and assimilation, the more amenable to treatment are inflamma- tory diseases. In the neuralgic type of this dis- ease—pleurisy—the gases developed from fer- menting food in the stomach are absorbed with sufficient rapidity to partially paralyse the nerves about the heart, and often in other portions of the chest, producing partial death of the nerves in these parts. At a certain stage in this paraly- sis, the nerves begin to cry out in pain, to warn 9 130 How to get well. us of the approaching danger if we persist in eating fermenting foods. In both these types of disease, fermenting food, and the products developed by the fer- mentations, are at the root of the trouble. The cure is to stop all fermenting food, wash out well with the hot, or comfortably warm water, and feed upon the nicest broiled or minced lean beef or mutton in quantities that we can well digest. And finally, Cancers are curable, but they re- quire such close attention, such careful watching, that the patient would have to be under the daily and most vigilant care of one who has had experience in handling the disease. There are so many little things to do in keeping the moral, mental, psychic, and physical conditions all in perfect balance, that the sufferer cannot go on safely and successfully alone, as he very often can, if he will, in other illnesses. The diet has to be most rigid. The fibre has to be entirely eliminated from the lean meat, and this is a work which requires very great patience and unswerv- ing desire to have the food just right. The hot water comes in as a necessity, and all parts of How to get well. 131 the system must be kept in the most perfect order. We have now gone carefully, though neces- sarily very concisely over many dissimilar kinds of illness, and naturally are much struck by the similarity of diet and treatment in cases appar- ently differing so widely from each other. But when once we entirely realize the fact that some form of fermentation and decay in vegetable foods, sweets, fruits, drinks, and the fibrous con- nective tissues of animal food, is either the pro- ducing cause of diseases, or the aggravating ac- cessory (or both), it will cease to be a matter of wonder that, in handling them, the broad plans will of necessity be very similar.1 At the same time, however, a competent ob- server, closely following the symptoms of cure with open-minded intelligence, will soon dis- cover for himself where the nice distinctive dif- 11 have been asked to add this short notice, which naturally does not belong here, on account of Dr. Salisbury's few words about the diet and treatment : " Typhoid Fever is produced by an infectious vegetation that develops in decaying animal mat- ters in confined places, such as sewers, water-closets, etc. The treatment is by frequent baths inside and out, and a diet of lean meats, beef-tea and milk "—the latter should always have been boiled. 13 2 How to get well. ferences occur in the mode of treatment, and the reasons for them. Thus,—in the various fibrous diseases, Dr. Salisbury insists on the rigorous elimination of the connective glue tissues, skin, gristle, fat, and of all other fermenting foods from the patient's diet. In diabetes, he forbids all foods that ferment and make sugar. In Bright's disease, obesity, and all fatty infiltrations and deposits in organs and tissues,—all foods that make fat and are liable to fermentation, are strictly prohibited. And in consumption, all foods are removed that are subject to acid yeast fermentation. By closely studying the lines of treatment adopted in the various cases, the intelligent en- quirer cannot fail speedily to become deeply im- pressed by the true scientific character, beauty and minute precision of the work, as well as by the simple logic and strong common sense of this essentially rational method of cure. Another objection all too often urged is, " I don't like meat"—" I don't like hot water." This is simply childish, because when ill-health threatens or assails us, we may be certain that we have " liked," not wisely but too well, some- How to get well. 133 thing or other that we had better have liked in more moderation. Let me ask you, " Do you like to be ill ? Do you like your pain ?" No ? then of " two evils" choose the one that is not an evil, but a great good. I, too, in my day "liked''' bread and butter, jam, cake, cheese, oatmeal porridge and milk, and puddings and fruit much better than meat, and fed principally upon them. But I have been taught in a hard, stern school to like only those foods that like me, and those are chiefly broiled and roasted beef and mutton — animal food, in fact. But the pleasant sensations of ease and comfort, the glow and the feeling of health, lightness, and bien-etre generally (for want of an English word to express it) that I now experience after food, is far more than compensation for the old mixed fare. Meat often gets the credit—quite unde- servedly—of making us heavy, sleepy, and dull, whereas it really is the " bagging out" of the fermenting and flatus-foaming foods that gives rise to those unpleasant sensations, certainly not the meat. And here I subjoin a significant fact, namely, that I could, were I so minded, reproduce my ill- 134 How to get well. ness with all its accompanying horrors of pain, sleeplessness, and helplessness, and not be long about it either, for I know the road well,— simply by returning to my former unscientific and unsustaining alimentation, discontinuing my hot water, and eating between meals.1 And were I at the same time to resort to the genial assistance of Vegetarianism, and the kindly co- operation of medicines, then the rapidity of my relapse would only be rivalled by its stupendous folly. Here is another objection very frequently made, and I grieve to say that it is not only quite young people who deliver themselves of this very foolish and unconsidered utterance, — " Oh, I can't be bothered attending to my health; wait till I'm ill; why should I trouble about it now ? " I will venture to state the rea- sons why it were well to do so. First, because you are not the only person to be considered 1 To eat between meals, even only half a biscuit, means just to set the whole machinery in motion that ought to be ab- solutely at rest, so as to be able to do its work thoroughly and comfortably at your next meal. Do not, therefore, disturb this necessary, beneficent repose; for, late or early, you will be the sufferer if you continue to do so. How to get well. 135 in the matter; secondly, because attention to health is voluntary, easy, cheap, and painless; while attention to illness is compulsory, painful, difficult, and dear in all ways ; and by disre- garding the care of your health, you recklessly lay upon your home-circle anxiety, fatigue, trouble, worry, and expense, become a bore to your friends, and anything but a source of en- joyment to yourself—unpleasant results that are so easily avoided by a little good sense, thought, and unselfish consideration for others at the right time. " Sickness," truly says Emerson, " is a Cannibal that eats up all the life and strength it can lay hold of." It is absolutely selfish, heedless of what is good and great, af- flicting the souls of others, and losing its own with meanness and mopings and ministration to its voracity for trifles. All successful men are Causationists; they believed that things went not by luck, but by law, and there is no chance in results. The first necessity is Health. " Get Health," says Emerson ; and I make bold to add, When got, do your level best to keep it. Some object to the hot water on the plea that "it doesn't agree with them somehow, 136 How to get well. they are not used to drinking much, are not thirsty persons : "—as if what they are used to do, or thirst had anything in the world to say to it! The fact is, almost everybody is more or less subject to certain varieties of urinary de- posits; and by causing much liquid to traverse the tissues, many otherwise insoluble substances are thus dissolved and washed away out of the system. If, however, little fluid be taken as a rule, especially if it contains solid matter (as thick soups, cocoa, tea and coffee with milk and sugar, etc.), this tends rather to increase the lodgement of deposits than to dissolve and eliminate them. If, therefore, those who offer the foolish objections above quoted, had been "used" persistently to employ this wholesome sluicing, they would probably have remained free from the various disorders, such as gout, rheumatism, calculus, and other uric acid de- posits, to which people are subject who have "been used "to drink but little in proportion to their solid food. A wise-doctor says, "even in health it is important to regulate the amount of liquid according to the solid matter of the diet." And, in reference to the maladies I have How to get well. 137 just named, he also has this significant word : " Notwithstanding all that has been said to the contrary, there is no doubt that in the cases we are considering, the most important part of the Treatment—and that for which no alternative or substitute can be found—is the administra- tion of plenty of water." He would have been wiser still had he seen his way a little further. I am often asked, " Why won't cold water do as well as hot ? " Because cold water is apt to produce weight and discomfort, colic and pain. Nor does it act on the liver and bile as hot water does. It depresses vitality, and detracts from the heat of the body in its endeavor to raise the temperature of the water drunk to that of the blood, and this causes useless and even injurious expenditure of nerve-force. Cold- water bathing,1 because of the drain on the ner- vous system, is also to be avoided; and like- wise that insane practice of eating ices after a 1 A soap and hot water bath should be taken twice a week, for cleanliness, after which rub energetically all over with a hard towel. Every night or morning sponge all over with warm water, in which put a tablespoonful of ammonia (liquid) to the quart of water. Rub well in, and dry vigorously with a hard rough towel. 138 How to get well. full meal, chilling the stomach, which only di- gests comfortably to its owner at a temperature of ioo° Fahr. Ice is valuable as medicine, not as food. Cold or lukewarm water, taken in- ternally, never produces that feeling of relief and comfort given by hot water, to which thou- sands of us can bear testimony. In cases of hemorrhage, however, the water should be taken about 980, that is, at blood heat. In diar- rhoea it sometimes does good to take it very hot indeed. Again, some people justify their rejection of the Salisbury Treatment in illness, by saying a little sententiously, " Ah, I daresay the treat- ment did you good, but my case is quite differ- ent." First prove that your illness in its origin did differ from mine, and then please take as answer the last few pages on the various forms of disease, all arising primarily from unhealthy alimentation; and I think you will agree that, in this instance at least, what is sauce for the goose is sauce likewise for the gander. Many people are afraid of the beef diet, as being " too nitrogenous." But first, beef does not contain so much nitrogenous matter as How to get well. 139 many vegetable substances do. This you can see for yourself in the following short analyses taken from Pavy, Fresenius, Knopp and others. In 100 Parts. Beans ............................... 30.8 White haricots ....................... 25.5 Dried peas ..."........................ 23.8 Lentils............................... 25.2 Dry Southern wheat x................. 22.75 Lean beef............................ 19.3 Lean Mutton......................... 18.3 (While as to digestion, the first four require for that, at least an 80 wild-omnibus-horse-power.) And secondly; no one need fear to eat animal food freely, who unites to such feeding, its in- separable accompaniment, a thorough inunda- tion with the hot water as directed. This com- pletely averts any injurious effect; which fact, I, as a strongly rheumaticky and gouty sub- ject, authenticate, who have lived and thriven royally, for very many months, on an absolutely 1 By this you see that even your bread,—that part of it which isn't plaster of Paris and alum, may be more nitrogenous than beef. The statistics of the enormous yearly sale of alum in the rough to Millers, are truly alarming. What do they ■want it for ? I have long known that many an unaccountable illness is due to bread, and I am not surprised at it. 140 How to get well. exclusive, and for over two years on an almost exclusive meat dietary; breaking its strictness only latterly, by, occasionally, as a great treat, taking with my mince for breakfast a small sau- cer of oatmeal porridge without milk, etc., and, more often at my dinner at 1.30, adding to the mince two of Mackenzie's wheat'en biscuits and butter, with, sometimes, an apple, either baked or raw. (I should, however, be very sorry for my- self if Dr. Salisbury came to hear of either the oatmeal porridge or the occasional raw apple— and, indeed, the latter I have been compelled to discontinue, for it I could not cheat, cajole, nor coerce my stomach into tolerating; and as usual, on any difference arising between us, I had to go to the wall.) That is all the variety I venture on, and I never weary of the regimen, nor does it weary of me. As one result of the beef diet and hot water, my complexion was never half so clear, smooth, fresh and healthy, even in my first youth—whenever that may have been. Foster, in his large text-book on Physiology, says, that the most striking effect of a purely nitrogenous diet is to increase the metabolism How to get well. 141 (change-creating) of the body. ..." When, therefore, a rapid renewal of the tissues is sought for, an excess of proteid " (albuminous or animal) " food may be desirable. It is possible that an excess of proteid food, by reason of the renewal of tissue caused by its metabolic ac- tivity, may be of service." (We know now that it is something more than "possible.") And, although in ordinary circumstances, an exclu- sive, or nearly so, meat dietary would tend to overload the system with nitrogenous crystal- line matters, yet you may, without the least fear, and as conducing to health, adopt such a diet, while accompanying it liberally with the hot water, which keeps those crystalline sub- stances in solution, hinders their deposit, and ensures their expulsion in the urine. In this connection, in " Foster's Physiology," it is writ- ten, " Water is of use to the body for mechan- ical purposes, not solely as food in the strict sense of the word." And again, he says, " The quantity of water which leaves the human body " (which is made up of 75 per cent, of water) " by the skin is very considerable. It is estimated that while seven grains pass away through the 142 How to get well. lungs per minute, as much as eleven grains es- cape through the skin. It has been calculat- ed roughly that the total amount of perspira- tion from the whole body in twenty-four hours, might range from two to twenty kilos " (a kilo being 2 lbs.). Thus you cannot fail to perceive clearly the immense importance of hot water drinking to supply this perpetual deficit, and to preserve the tissues and skin, well-filled, plump, and soft, which otherwise become shrunken, withered, and dried up. To drink the good hot water is, in another way also, to ward off old age; for it keeps the articulations limber and supple, and thus stays the advent of rigidity, that sad herald of senile decay. It is often said to me in an airy, offhand way, " I don't agree with Dr. Salisbury about the beef diet; / think, or my theory is," etc. But it is no case of opinion, or question of theory ; it is fact, and fact of long-standing proof; and you may just as well disagree with those who have proved that there is no such thing as color,—the fact is there audaciously, irrepress- ibly, just the same as if we had never differed How to get well. 143 from its propounders. It is a way facts have of making themselves unpleasant. People sometimes say to me, " But I am obliged to give the patient ' slops,' for he will not eat solid food." Then give him minced beef as " sloppy " as he and you like. Reduce it to pulp in the machine, mix it very smooth and somewhat liquid with strong, well-skimmed, cold soup or beef-tea, cook carefully and slowly, stirring, and pressing all the time, and make it tasty with a little pepper and salt. You may conscientiously assure the patient that in taking this nourishing, sustaining, health-promoting food freely, his illness will be shorter and less severe than it could possibly be on farinaceous and starchy " slops," and his convalescence will advance as if to music. It will not be the weary fluctuating process that convalescence is apt to be upon fermentable, flatulent foods. Encour- age him by telling him this, for it is true. Varf his mince often, making him tempting little dishes, and add sometimes for a treat a little mutton, lamb, turkey, game or chicken to the beef, and invent a change of amusing names for his menu—anything to get him to take 144 How to get well. kindly to his minced beef at first; for soon he will very gladly take to it, as he feels the ever- increasing strength and comfort it imparts. In dealing with the sick it is good to remem- ber how very limited his digestive faculty must needs be; and therefore it should be taxed only with what will repay the effort made, by afford- ing the utmost nourishment to the patient. His power of digestion should in no case be wasted on futilities and kickshaws, but all economized for the right food that will be cer- tain to give and maintain strength. " Avoid all foods that cannot be digested well, and give only those that digest the best." And long and care- ful testing has proved that the muscle-pulp of lean beef is that desirable food, being easily di- gested and quickly absorbed, and being never too heavy nor too rich for the weakest patient, as most people quite mistakenly suppose it would be. When liquid food only is expedient, beef-teas, carefully freed from fat, should mostly be given. I lately saw in a little book by a doctor, a very sick man's diet-sheet which has since haunted me like a nightmare. The illustrious How to get well. 145 Patient died on the 15th of June, 1888, and this was his day's nourishment on the 8th of that month. " 10 a.m." (It is not said if he fasted till then.) " Half a plateful of very thick porridge "—which is slimy, sticky, flatulent, and needs a great deal of mastication (for in- salivation) and of exercise to enable it to digest, "ip, m-"—only three hours after the porridge, which could hardly have been all disposed of—" Four eggs beaten up with wine "—Truly this was sorry nourishment and sup- port for a sick man, though four eggs are heavy enough, however well beaten. " Dinner "—(the hour is not stat- ed, but it must have been tolerably sharp upon the heels of the four eggs and wine at 1 p.m.) " Dinner, puree of chicken with mashed potatoes." A barmecide feast indeed for him whose utmost strength and resisting force were desperately wanted. Of all the vain imaginings that have deluded humanity, this of potatoes being more digestible because they are mashed, is one of the fool- ishest. A hundred times better, if you will give the sick an injurious article of diet, is a baked potato. You can be sure—a point for invalids of great importance—that it is thoroughly cooked, which you cannot be in the case of mashed potatoes, mashing being with many even good cooks considered equivalent to sufficient cooking. I have had repeated demonstration of this in severe indi- gestions therefrom. " In the afternoon a large piece of 10 146 How to get well. cream ice and three eggs "—making seven eggs in one day for a great invalid. Among the inscrutable dealings of man with man, this "cream ice " is surely one of the most bewildering and mysterious. The reason of it is far to seek ; the effect of it is not hard to understand. " No supper," but " at 10 p.m."—when the patient should have had his last meal at least three and a half hours before, " at 10 p.m." he has " a large plateful of shaped boiled rice"—a fermentable, flatulent, starchy, compacted mass given to him whose stomach—worked so continuously, although so erratically, all day—ought then to have been clean, calm, and at perfect rest. How could sleep be his f In the night, boiled rice, cocoa and eggs." —More boiled rice, more eggs; and cocoa, which is al- ways somewhat heavy, even when prepared entirely with water. I could very soon make myself or another per- son ill upon such a diet. Knowing from practical experience the su- preme bearing of food on health and on sickness, the above is almost the saddest, most pathetic, record I have ever read. Tragic entirely :— otherwise ludicrous. And, great heavens! this is Science. I have no hesitation in pronouncing it all, a futile, nay, a starvation diet. It is sometimes rather triumphantly said to How to get well. 147 me that the Salisbury Treatment is " not scien- tific." On that point—particularly as no expla- nation is vouchsafed as to what precise meaning is attached to the word—I am too diffident to venture to pronounce an opinion. But I can confidently say for the Salisbury Treatment of illness, that if some narrow-groove men refuse to acknowledge it as scientific, it is notwith- standing thoroughly and undeniably efficacious, and the sick, I imagine, find that to be perfectly conclusive and satisfactory. May I, with sub- mission, remind my critics that in the world's progress what is Science to-day may not be so to-morrow, as much of what was Science yester- day has faded in the brighter sunlight of to-day ? In short, Science, only a hundred years ago, would incredulously have scoffed at, as a lunatic's dream, half the common appliances of our pres- ent daily life—not to mention how aghast she would have stood at the high perfection to which we have now attained, in the scientific adultera- tion of everything, especially food and clothing. It is often said to me, " I am not ill, only seedy and ailing off and on [generally on] ; will the hot water alone do me good ? " Be assured 148 How to get well. that it will. Can you thoughtfully read (pages 25-27) all the gracious services it renders, and doubt it ? Just try it. Give a fair trial to a good pint, even only morning and night regu- larly, if it is not possible for you to take it at other times too, and you will not be long in an- swering your own question very satisfactorily. Again, I am frequently asked, " What is the object of mincing my beef when my teeth are still fairly good ? " But Dr. Salisbury does not unvaryingly prescribe minced beef for everybody in illness, only when the patients are greatly reduced in strength, and digestion and assimila- tion are much impaired ; then he orders a strict diet of the muscle-pulp of beef, as being very much easier of digestion and assimilation, rapidly absorbed, speedily utilized for building up the blood, and changing steadily all the body-tis- sues from a diseased condition to one of sound health. The mince, take note, also, is unworry- ing to the invalid in consequence of being very easy to swallow, when nicely and carefully pre- pared as it ought invariably to be. But when very tender steak nicely broiled, can be well masticated by a patient, and also well and easily How to get well. 149 digested, then Dr. Salisbury has no objection to its use in cases where fibrous diseases (such as tumors, locomotor ataxy, fibrous consumption, asthma and rheumatism) are not present, and where no enlargement of joints has taken place. In all these latter instances minced beef or muscle-pulp, is always ordered, it being of the greatest importance to keep all connective tis- sue, fat, skin, and gristle rigidly away from the patient's food. To any one who has prepared the meat for mincing, or witnessed its careful preparation, it will be very obvious how the above-named substances are eliminated from the diet far more effectually than can be done by the patient himself in eating the solid beef, either broiled or roasted. And here I desire to bear my own strenuous testimony to the wisdom of adopting a diet of minced, in preference to solid meat, by the aged, or those not strong in health of any age, as decidedly tending to happier, easier, and longer life. An unspeakable boon, very simply obtained, and assuredly worth striv- ing after. Again, I am often asked, " What illnesses will hot water alone cure ? " To which I reply 150 How to get well. that to take only half'a well-attested remedy in a case of illness, is to trifle with your health and affront your understanding. Dr. Salisbury says, " The hot water should be taken as prescribed in every case of disease, and forms an inseparable and valuable adjunct to this radical method of cure" [the broiled or minced beef diet]. Again, he says, " Healthy alimentation, or feeding upon such foods as the system can well digest and assimilate, is always promotive of health : unhealthy alimentation always acts as a cause of disease. Special feeding, indicated by the condition of the system, acts as a means of cure in all diseases arising from unhealthy feeding." These few words will show you then, that it is not wise in the case of " illness " to divorce the diet from the hot water, since, so to speak, they play into each other's hands, and genially work together for your good. Now, I am obliged to protest, that I never made for the Salisbury Treatment the prepos- terous claim that "it can work miracles;" but I do emphatically say this, and stand to it:—that to an outsider intelligently watching the cure when faithfully carried out, the progress made How to get well. 151 by the sick on the strict treatment is very strik- ing, and the readiness with which they mostly at once respond to it, extremely gratifying and encouraging. It begins to tell in various clearly marked ways, almost from the first dose of hot water, and the first meal of minced beef. Here is no " miracle" ; only, the result one expects from this very rational and logical mode of help- ing our stern, but forgiving Mother Nature to help us. The following are some among the diseases which Dr. Salisbury has proved to arise, in the beginning, from unhealthy alimentation, and which are cured by his line of treatment. Con- sumption in all its phases, including chronic diarrhoea, dyspepsia in all its forms, rheumatism in all its varieties, neuralgia of all descriptions, diabetes, locomotor ataxy, ovarian tumors, all fibrous tumors, including uterine fibroids, and cancerous growths. Many paralytic diseases, softening of the brain, most cases of insanity, many demented conditions, all forms of deaf- ness, many diseases of the eye1 and ear; all 1 I heard an eminent oculist in London say that often he was the first to tell many who were sent to him, after exam- 15 2 How to get well. forms of gravel and stone, most kinds of asthma, all fatty diseases of the heart and other organs (except such as arise from injuries), anaemia in its various forms, most cases of prolapsus of the bowels and uterus, hypochondria, most cases of loss of voice, erysipelas, eczema, etc. All these diseases, and many others, are sim- ply the outcome of unhealthy alimentation, and by this, I repeat, is meant the too excessive and too long-continued feeding upon starchy and saccharine foods and drinks, and fruits, so that digestion and nourishment soon become imper- fect ; fermentation gradually supervenes, car- bonic acid gas,, which partially paralyses the organs, is produced, and disease eventually is, and must be, the result. The only real cure, is to stop all foods that ferment and paralyse and form carbonic acid gas in the stomach and bowels, to feed for a time exclusively upon lean meats, eliminating entirely from the meats all fibrous tissue, skin, and fat; and to thoroughly ining their eyes, that they were but out of health, and that the failure of sight and pains in the eyes were only symp- toms which would disappear when the stomach was restored to order. Doubtless many aurists could relate similar expe- riences. How to get well. 153 and persistently wash out the sour stomach, bowels, and the whole system with the hot water. Dr. Salisbury further says that if we have the knowledge and the disposition to amend, and if we eat and drink healthily; re- pair, even to perfect health, becomes a certainty. Surely this promise, given after such long and wide experience, is encouraging and stimulating in the highest degree. I, too, can only say, to reassure and cheer on the fearful and doubting, that in every case where I have seen the Salis- bury Treatment honestly and accurately tried (in serious illness as in only slight ailments), I never saw the shadow of failure, nor have I ever heard of any failure, nor of anything but out and out good to the patient that came from adopting it : nor do I see, logically, how it can possibly fail. A valued though never seen friend, whose experience of the Salisbury Treatment is very great indeed, writes : " I have never known of any case where the treatment did any harm to the patient. Even in cases where the patient has no ' grit' to see the treatment through, he has always been benefited in his general health by his spurts of temporary adherence," and I 154 How to get well. also have witnessed the absolute truth of this myself. People complain of the Salisbury Treatment that it is all very well for the rich, but useless for the poor who cannot afford it. I am very thoroughly ignorant of political economy, and my ideas on the subject, if I had any, would be quite out of place here. But I will just reply to the above objection that the Salisbury System points essentially to the prevention of illness, no less surely than to its cure;—and that if the poor would spend more on Roast Beef and Mut- ton, and less by several millions on fire-water and the poisonous adulterations which they call beer and stout, and would drink the good and cheap hot water instead, which increases the appetite for meat, and diminishes the desire for drink, there would be far less ill-health among them, far more happiness, leisure and ease ; and fewer broken heads,—not to speak of the broken hearts. I now come to a point which, though I have before alluded to it, I beg your leave to urge once more upon you strongly. Indeed, there are two points, and from experience and obser- vation I hold them both to be of great impor- How to get well. 155 tance. First, I advise any one suffering from sleeplessness, neuralgia, gout, rheumatism, in- digestion of all kinds, including sleep-walking, cramp, nightmare, sensations of falling, and so on, and from delicate health generally—even if such persons persist in rejecting the strict diet— while taking their hot water daily, as often as they can manage it; to make their last meal at night, a meat meal entirely; preferably of beef broiled, roasted, or minced, according to their illness, and their powers of mastication and di- gestion. And even those in comparatively fair health (especially those of us not growing younger), would be very wise to make lean meat, roast or broiled (which includes fish, poul- try, and game), their chief food of an evening : because the digestive powers in nearly all cases, are weaker at night than at midday; and the lean meats digest very quickly and readily, and do not produce distention and flatulence, as other foods are apt to do. The evening meal while hearty, should be the lightest of the three. It is, further, very bad for " the wind," by which I mean the respiration, to go to bed either on a full stomach, or on one containing an undue 156 How to get well. amount of fermentable food, such as bread, pud- dings, etc. A great deal of so-called asthma, even in young people, owes its origin to this latter pernicious practice. Let anyone try this meat supper conscientiously for a week or two consecutively, and he will experience a wonder- ful benefit. The gouty, and rheumaticky-gouty, will find, as the result of a moderate entirely meat meal at night (not forgetting their hot water of course), that they are able, among other good gained, helpfully and less and less painfully to use their poor weak hands in the morning, and similar advantages will accrue in the other cases also, and even yet more abun- dantly will the great gain be felt (almost at once too) by the Sleepless. I am now morally certain of this, that very many severe illnesses, in both the young and the elderly, owe their origin solely and entirely to a superfluity of fermentable food and drinks at late dinner,—too much bread, vegetables, sweets, fruit, etc., probably all to- gether, in undue proportion. Then almost im- perceptibly begin wakeful, restless nights. From my own experience I can fully bear wit- ness that the sleeplessness due to fermentation How to get well. 157 is altogether a more distressful sensation, and makes one far more wretched and uneasy, than even that produced by too strong tea. The un- conscious victim of fermentation soon has re- course to drugs and sleeping draughts, which cannot remove the cause, but instead, increase the evil: for complications will ere long arise, indigestion, constipated bowels, feebler health and resisting power, etc.,—until it ends in a com- plete break down. I am speaking from my own closely-observed experience, for I can now prog- nosticate pretty accurately my night's rest from my supper. With people that are in fairly good health, it is not what they eat occasionally that can hurt them. It is the continual dropping that wears the stone away:—the continuously and persistently eating the wrong food at the wrong time, in the wrong proportion, that causes the final disaster. I know not who invented the stupid saying that bread is the staff of life, so often hurled triumphantly at me in the sanguine expectation of its discomfiting experience and fact. Whoever it was, is as answerable in one way for a good deal of the world's unhappiness, as Solomon is in another, whose dictum respect- 158 How to get well. ing the rod and the child, made of my child- hood a misery at the time, and a pain to look back on. But Solomon had more excuse for his aphorism, since with his large family he must often have been driven nearly distracted, and constrained to lay about him with lavish pro- fusion. Tea being the cup that cheers but not inebriates, is another moonshine proverb. We cannot, we who are not robust and very strong, expect calm and undisturbed sleep with the " risings" of a yeast-pot inside of us from eating fermentable food at night. I repeat, for the sake of the exceeding gravity of the possi- ble consequences of continued sleeplessness, do please, just give this a fair trial." Many a fine highly strung mind which runs off the rails through insomnia, that all too common source of suffering and disaster nowadays, could be saved by thus simplifying the supper or last meal. The second point is this : I hesitate to press it, knowing the hardship of it, and that it will be unwelcome advice; I have not a doubt though, that it is good advice from my own 1 Bearing in mind the caution given (page 40) concerning having food get-at-able at night, always. How to get well. 159 oft recurring experience, and my observation of other cases. All those suffering from any of the above-named phases of illness, from weak nerves, nervous depression, any illness in fact in which nerves play even a subordinate part, will find themselves greatly helped to get better if they will for a time, give up altogether tea and coffee, and confine themselves, until stronger and sounder in nerve-force, to a little good meat soup, crust coffee, or a small cup of hot water with their meals. Tea and coffee have great medicinal value, and are, in aesthetic parlance, "distinctly precious;" taken on special occa- sions (by the delicate) they are splendid tonics, and don't do much harm : taken habitually, their effect is undoubtedly strongly deleterious in many ways, and notably as affecting sleep, and nerves. I do indeed passionately desire for the health and happiness of my kind, that the Salisbury System and its proved truth, efficacy, and ex- ceeding value as a logical, demonstrable remedy for illness simple and complex, shall soon be- 160 How to get well. come a household word ; for the accumulating experience of every week, aye of every day, con- firms me in the profound conviction that this system of cure is the most efficacious and benefi- cent ever conferred upon suffering humanity. And as practical recognition of its scientific principles of operation and thorough straight- forward success gains ground, illness in all its forms, and with all its attendant wretchedness, unless from poisons, infections, or accidents, will gradually be expelled from the earth. This is no Utopian dream, but a tangible Reality, which is indubitable and indisputable. I am told that I shall with unthinking people, weaken the cause of the Salisbury Treatment by what I have just said. But I do not write for unthinking people, nor dare I conceal or modify what I know to be a Great Truth, through fear of what they may unthinkingly say. I write for people whose lives are saddened and dark- ened by pain and illness either in their own per- sons, or by seeing others suffer, and who, with amazement, rack their brain day and night, as I did mine, to find out the reason of it all, con- vinced that if I could get hold of that, 1 was on How to get well. 161 the fair high-road to health again. Those who have kindly come with me thus far will, using their intelligence and power of thought, not misjudge the value of the Treatment, nor seek to controvert my statement, but will see that as we have stamped out the Plague or Black Death, and are endeavoring successfully to do the same by small-pox, cholera, and other epi- demics, through everywhere creating such san- itary conditions as shall render these unhealthy states difficult, and finally impossible : so shall we individually, holding in our own hands the knowledge calculated to keep sickness at bay, eventually become exempt from those other ill- nesses which we now bring upon ourselves, and which mar and embitter and shorten our lives. As now we are the makers of sickness for our- selves, so shall we then be the architects of our own perfect health, and all lend a willing hand in building up that of our weaker comrades. I am truly and warmly grateful to you, Friends and Strangers, who from reading my former editions, have so pluckily, and with fine faith and trust, gone in for the Treatment, to your "great benefit" as so many of you have ii 162 How to get well. kindly let me know. I venture to think that you will find this more recent edition (thanks to the extensive " cribs " from Dr. Salisbury's book and the appendices, etc.) much more de- finite and useful in all its details, so that you can guide your own cases successfully to a cure by its help. The questions you have asked me, have also taught me a great deal in various ways ; so true is it that the person who answers the question, is not seldom the one who is chiefly the gainer by the answer. Go bravely on in faith, in certainty of recovery. No man can hinder it if you, with your whole heart and soul associated in the good work, adhere to the right and avoid the wrong alimentation. In this, as in all else here below, you are your own best friend and helper, or worst enemy, and your dearest interest lies in your own hands. See to it that nobody, nor friend, nor doctor, succeed in dissuading you from the right path (alas for me this day had I listened to the de- jected forebodings of either when I began the Salisbury Treatment). The pain and weakness are yours to bear, yours and not another's, if you return to the old ways of * feeding that How to get well. 163 wrought your affliction; if, for the future, you feed in what has been shown you is the right way, the good health, long life and welfare will be yours no less; and the grave responsibility of choice—rests with You. Health be with you! And now I close with once more a quotation from the book which has so luminously eluci- dated for us the Cause, Prevention, and Cure of Disease. " From these experiments [in dieting the hogs] we learn this important lesson: Even hogs ' cannot make hogs of themselves * with im- punity, on a diet that the digestive organs were never made to properly digest and assimilate. . . . This fact is so vital, not alone to ani- mals, but also in an even greater degree to MAN, that I may be pardoned if I repeat, in closing my work, Nearly all our diseases, aside from those produced by parasites, poisons, and in- juries in general, are the terrible outcome of de- fective and unhealthy feeding. . . . It is my abiding hope that the People may be brought to see these facts for themselves, and may, by individual and intelligent self-control, aid their 164 How to get well. physicians to restore and maintain the oft-im- perilled balance of Health. Without it, there is neither Beauty, Use, nor Happiness for us; in its absence all the great glories and truths fade away from our sick vision. . . . If we will not learn Nature's methods, she crushes us in the reversion of her laws, and passes on. But if we examine and inaugurate her processes, we be- come as calm and strong as she, and, like her, in our lives we receive and manifest the Divine." Repetitions throughout this book, and un- wonted emphases, have been really forced upon me from the novel aspect, strange and seeming- ly very hard of acceptation, that the Salisbury Treatment of Disease presents to many minds in England; completely upsetting preconceived notions, popular fallacies and old prejudices, which die uncommonly hard ;—but, firm in confi- dence and trust, I joyfully look on to the time when all these shall have " melted away like streaks of morning-cloud, into the infinite azure of the Past." No man can do better than his best, and I beg How to get well. 165 to assure my readers that what I here offer them is, with all its deficiencies, my most anxious and painstaking best. For the subject-matter I in no way apologize. By every word of it I am prepared to stand, to die for its truth if need be, or,—what suits me better—while I live, to pro- claim it. It is my dearest and most ardent hope, to reach the minds and hearts of the people,—those who feel their sore need of help,—who, after many and bitter disappointments, are, as I was, sick with hope deferred. May my little book then, spread far and wide, the knowledge of the powerful and bene- ficent Salisbury Treatment. POSTSCRIPTUM. I am driven to reiterate very clearly and dis- tinctly, that from cover to cover of this book, I am advising, and speaking chiefly to the Sick; and afterward to the off and on Seedy — and that the few words I address to the com- paratively Well, are for such as yet require to use some care, having to lead, through circum- stances a more or less sedentary life,—the ordi- 166 How to get well. nary Town life of to-day, in short ; and are therefore, unable to take much active outdoor exercise :—Not for the healthy, living and ex- erting themselves vigorously all day long in the free open air of heaven. These thrice-blest individuals can digest—for a time,—not only any dinner they like to eat, but the table it is served on as well. APPENDICES. APPENDIX I. When I foresee (from worry, etc.) the proba- bility of less sound sleep than I am used to under the Salisbury Treatment, I employ this means, which I hope others will find as effective as I do ; —premising, however, that I always rigidly ab- stain from fermentable foods at night. On turning into bed, lie on the side on which you usually sleep, and get into a perfectly restfid and comfortable position. Close not only your eye- lids, but your eyes also, letting them follow the downward direction of the lids, and fixing your attention on keeping them down. Then, when the breathing has become quite gentle and regular, count softly to yourself, with no motion of the lips or sound at all, your respirations up to fifty. Invariably long before I arrive at half that number I am lost in the enchanted fields of sleep, 168 Appendix. and earth's joys, and cares, and sorrows, exist not for me. If this fails, try wrapping a nice cold (not too) wet towel round your head, with a dry one, folded, over it. Bring it all well down over the brows and the nape of the neck. An old-man's cotton night-cap, shaped like an extinguisher, wrung out of cold water, with a similar woollen dry one over, makes a very satisfactory apparatus. This is extremely soothing to the brain. APPENDIX II. I beg to say a few extra words to delicate peo- ple who are subject to catching chills or colds in throat and chest. To begin with, you should always breathe through your nostrils, zvith shut lips j never, sleeping or waking, through your mouth. Tak- ing this precaution will obviate breathing your own breath over again, further vitiated by the fluff from unnecessary woollen wraps over mouth and nose. And when you are out of doors, in spite of cold air,—nay, rather as protection be- cause it is cold, with shoulders well thrown back, freely inhale the fresh, cold air through the nostrils, down to the very bottom of the chest. Inflate the lungs perfectly with it, then expel it slowly and thoroughly, and repeat the manoeuvre again and again. Do it so constantly, when either walking or driving, that you will acquire the habit of taking these valuable lung-baths (always with closed mouth), so as to clear every hole and corner of the lungs, to fill and sweep them out, as it were, with pure, fresh air. You will thus wid- en and expand your chest, make yourself hardy 170 Appendix. who have been delicate, and strong to withstand even a severe climate and sudden alternations in weather as the Salisbury patient should be. If you are inadvertently caught in a damp, cold atmosphere, without sufficient protection against it, as may sometimes happen ; your best and surest chance of getting off scot-free, is to continue these deep full breathings all the while, with your mouth quite closed. I have often saved myself severe after-suffering in simi- lar situations, by this very simple expedient that I am recommending to you : and while taking my lung-baths, I do not fear now being out in any weather. Shortly after beginning these large inspirations regularly, your waistcoats and gown-bodies will require letting out,— {pace, ladies, at the chest only, no tat the waist /) to allow for the increase of chest-girth. No weakly person need fear to follow this advice and to banish muzzles — I mean respirators, boas, clouds, and comforters in cold weather, provided he or she always respires through the nose and not through the mouth, which was not intended by Nature as a breath- ing apparatus—which the nose clearly is. Please remember this also that any sudden emotion, a Appendix. 171 surprise of joy, or grief, or fear, excites the heart to beat dangerously fast, causing a horrid feeling of suffocation. Try and collect yourself in such a crisis sufficiently to take a succession of deep, full breaths ; your courage and presence of mind will be rewarded by an immediate feeling of re- lief. I do not mention anger as a cause of violent emotion, for it would be too foolish to risk sudden death through a fit of passion, though one has heard of some so unhappy as to quit life in this unbecoming and precipitate fashion. To return to chills and colds. If you have reason to believe that you have taken either seri- ously, and feel very wretched, shivery, and unable to get warm and comfortable again ; at once take the following steps to nip it in the bud. Get some one to heat for you, a large blanket at the kitchen fire, bit by bit, rolling it up as it gets hot to retain the warmth. Strip entirely, lie down in bed, get wrapped quickly in this nice hot blanket from chin to feet, and have the bed-clothes {minus the top sheet) piled on. Have a piping hot bottle to your feet (with a flannel between you and the bottle), and other bottles at your sides, if, you are not able to warm up quickly ; and sip slowly (someone holding the cup for you) a large 172 Appendix. cupful of very hot, clear tea, or hot water. Pres- ently you will be in a profuse perspiration, which, pray take the greatest care shall not get checked, and you will probably fall into a nice sound sleep, from which you may hope to wake up next morn- ing all right, and ready for a good breakfast. The same principle of Treatment, namely, to restore heat uniformly to the body, is to be pur- sued if you have taken something that has seri- ously disagreed with you, and causes you violent indigestion, such as, under some circumstances, ices, iced champagne, and iced milk may do,—or new bread, or pork, or any similar indigestible horror, only, in this latter case (of indigestion), besides the other hot bottles, one must be laid over the stomach, to help it by heat, to perform its needful task. Were it, however,—to let my fancy soar to poetic heights where I shall cer- tainly never follow it,—my own case in which new bread, pork, iced anything played me this ill-natured turn,—I should not let the enemy tor- ment me for hours, but should quickly rid myself of it by aid of a teaspoonful of antimonial wine ; and then lie down, keep warm and quiet, sip the hot clear tea as a tonic, and make good resolu- tions for the future. Both these contingencies,— Appendix. 173 the presence in the stomach of some stuff which it is not able to digest, or a bad chill, are really serious matters, and may have, if not sharply taken in time, a decidedly awkward termination. In regard to a chill, when you consider that the outflow, perceptible or insensible, of the perspir- ation at the million pores all over the body, is suddenly checked and thrown inward, it is easy to understand the danger attending such a state of things, nor is it surprising that it should cause very serious illness, and even death. Try and in- duce a rapid and abundant flow again by every means in your power, and those just detailed are, I should say from experience, among the quickest and safest. Be sure that in taking all reasonable and judicious care of your health, you are show- ing yourself to be, not " molly-coddlish," but truly wise and unselfish. APPENDIX III. INTERESTING CASE OF CURE, AND PARTICULARS ABOUT COOKING THE MINCE. The following case of one of my " Patients" (whom I have never seen) is so instructive that I am constrained to print a recent letter of his, and I beg to call to your notice its great value on several grouhds, especially as so clearly show- ing, by his sudden decrease in weight, that undi- gested food is worse than wasted, and also that the manner of preparing the mince is of vital importance to the complete success of the Treatment. About the middle of August last he was ut- terly broken down in health, and " had tried many doctors in vain." He was feeble in body and mind from his long ill-health, and had so little vitality left, that he was unable to get warm in bed, even with the help of hot bottles and many blankets. Sleep had forsaken him, appe- tite had failed him, he could only partially digest his food after great pain, and was greatly tor- mented with flatulence and distention. For none of these ills could he obtain relief. Appendix. 175 He had been in this plight for nearly three years when he appealed to me for help. I at once advised him to go strictly on the Salisbury Treatment, which, with its reasons, I fully ex- plained to him. This he said he did, with fair results ; yet not so good as I had expected. Therefore I knew he was tampering with it, and told him so. He re- plied that his friends were constantly dissuading him from the Treatment, and he himself was always wondering whether he had done really wisely in adopting it; so that while keeping to the diet and hot water which he felt were doing him good, he was, in addition, on his friends' ad- vice, doing such and such things, and among them was wearing some kind of magnetic com- press, which had brought out an eruption all round his body, and had greatly increased his weakness and general upset. In reply, I sol- emnly warned him that his health was in far too serious a state to bear tricks being played with it, and what was more, /would not bear them ; that my responsibility was already grave enough in conducting him through the Salisbury Treatment at such a distance, and this responsibility I was willing to take. But that I emphatically refused I j6 Appendix. to add to it the consequences of any experi- ments his friends might persuade him to try at the same time ; and that he must either stick to the Treatment alone — or I must "withdraw from the case." (I often could not sleep at night from the anxiety this complicated responsibility caused me.) He promised strict fidelity to the Treatment in future, and much correspondence ensued. On December 27, 1888, he was able to report, " I am glad to inform you I am doing very well. I have dispensed now with hot bottles in bed at night, I sleep very much better, and friends are saying I am looking much better. . . . I have enjoyed myself to my heart's con- tent this Xmas, a thing I would not have at- tempted last year or the year before. ... I can say that the hot water and minced beef have done for me what all other so-called rem- edies failed to do. ... I am so overjoyed to see myself going up in weight and feel- ings. . . ." And now I come to his letter regarding the cooking of the mince and loss and regain of weight:—It is dated "April 6, 1889. In your let- ter of Thursday week you said as the reason why I was troubled with heartburn and flatulence Appendix. 177 again :—' Probably your mince is overcooked, and the great stumbling block thro' all the Treat- ment is, to get the mince just right.' This caused me to very particularly notice the state of the mince, with gratifying results. For some six weeks I have had my mince cooked in a Bain Marie, and ever since I have been troubled with heartburn and flatulence, and have gone down in weight 9 lbs. Now I have commenced upon the old plan, cooking in an ordinary saucepan, stir- ring constantly until the mince is thoroughly hot all through, and has lost its red color, remaining as soft as well-boiled rice—not hard and curly [that is a good word of his to describe the gran- ular, gritty, conglobated lumps into which the mince forms when too quickly or over cooked] as it has been for six weeks. I digest this wonder- fully, no trouble in any way whatever, heartburn and flatulence gone, weight risen in seven days 3^- lbs., sleep improved, and I wake refreshed and ready for the day's work." And then he makes a very astute observation, to which I beg to call your particular attention, for it is entirely true. My intelligent patient continues : " The remedy of hot water and minced beef can be defeated by the mince being over cooked. I have had a sim- 12 178 Appendix. ilar experience with the beef cakes. Your plan of the ordinary pan, stirring all the time, is the best. I take daily note of my food, and it is by so do- ing that I can trace the evil and the hour it commenced. I have got Mackenzie's digestive wheaten biscuits, as you recommended, and they are what you call delicious, in fact I could eat a box of them a day, [!] they agree with me very well; so much so that I have had as many as six at a time. [This addition to the beef diet has been made only since he got well.] Some of my friends who are in fair health have partially gone on the Treatment with the object of pre- serving their health, seeing the wonderful change it has made in me thro' your guidance and per- sistency in urging me to keep on with the Treat- ment, and your earnest and repeated assurances that all was well with me, in spite of very dark days when I was inclined to give up and despair. I could only see through a glass darkly then, full of doubt and fears ; but now I can see the whole thing clearly, and if I had to commence again, I am sure I could get well in half the time it has taken to get where I am now. I did things I ought not to have done at times, and then friends turned round and said it was the hot water." Appendix. 179 So much for my satisfactory patient. When others write to me ," I cannot take to the mince," " I hate it," or " I am unable to digest the - mince," I know that the lion in the path is simply that the mince is too quickly or over cooked, and I tell them so. In a short while, when all direc- tions have been followed, I am told that it is eaten heartily, is "very nice," and that it gives no trouble either in eating or digesting. Once more please then, I repeat—the mince must be evenly mixed with cold water or stock, put in a saucepan, if over a hottish fire from ten to twelve minutes is sufficient to cook it, stirring briskly all the while—if over a colder fire it takes longer— but it is always done, and must come off the fire the moment that it is thoroughly hot through, and the red color has changed to gray. Its consistency before going on—and after coming off the fire, should be of a soft puree, more or less substan- tial or liquid, according as desired. Any devia- tion from this, renders the mince as insipid, indigestible, unassimilable and unpleasant, as good advice from a true friend! April 9, 1889. E. Stuart. APPENDIX IV. I confess to being very sceptical myself in re- spect to a testimonial unverified by the writer's name and address, and do not, therefore, ask any- one to believe in the following extracts, albeit they are entirely genuine. The reason they are anonymous is, that it was almost at the last moment the happy suggestion was made to me, that I should include them in my book "pourencourager les autres," and there was no time then to ask permission of the widely- scattered writers, who will, I fear, open their eyes a little, at thus suddenly encountering their own words. Will my kind correspondents—known and un- known—graciously pardon the freedom I have used, and indulgently accept my hearty thanks for this their good help in furthering the cause ? As some amends for withholding from publicity the names and addresses of my correspondents, I have been careful to furnish the dates. Appendix. 181 INDIVIDUAL TESTIMONY CONCERNING THE SALISBURY TREATMENT. A busy City friend writes : " February, 1888. I have stuck religiously to my two pints a day, and have wonderfully benefited thereby; have conquered the heartburn, indigestion, and the constant headaches I used to suffer from. I have minced beef, cooked according to your instruc- tions, three times a week at least, and find it a great comfort on my arrival at home, tired out with hard work. I am much better, many grate- ful thanks to you." A lady from abroad writes : " February, 1888. What with the bad food and constant chills, I should have had a regular illness this winter but for the hot water. . . . ------and his family all take it now, and I hand on to you the bless- ings they send me." [I wish " blessings " were substantial things ! E. S.] Another City friend writes : "April, 1888. Re- garding the minced collops, I do feel so grateful to you for your suggestion. When I come home jaded and tired out, brain and body, and feeling as if I could not touch food, I can always eat with 182 Appendix. much enjoyment, a nice dish of the mince, and feel so well, and light, and rested, all the evening afterward. The hot water too, has done me a very great amount of good in many ways." A gentleman at the Antipodes writes : "Janu- ary, 1889. I haven't had one bad night since I began my hot water. . . . and I am much encouraged by other good signs to go on with it." A gentleman who was thoroughly out of health writes: "December, 1888. I am still on the Treatment, and am much benefited thereby. . . I will cheerfully continue the Treatment, being greatly encouraged by my improvement." The same gentleman reports : " March, 1889. I am wonderfully better in every way when I keep to the rules of living " [he is not on the strict diet], A lady writes: "October, 1888. Nor must I forget to mention the servant who saw your pam- phlet on the drawing-room table, read it, and picked herself up from really bad health, entirely by following it." A lady writes : " October, 1888. I am feeling ever so much better for the hot water, and have Appendix. 183 quite a fine complexion now. Cook, who has suf- fered from eczema for years, and has been to nu- merous doctors without deriving any benefit, has taken to the hot water, and says she is feeling al- ready immensely better for it." A lady, after narrating the benefit various suf- ferers had derived from following the advice in my small pamphlet, adds : " As for----I haven't seen her with so good and clear a complexion as now, since she was a girl—all hot water." A lady writes (no date), 1888 : " My sister is keeping wonderfully well, thanks to you and hot water. I have not seen her eat so heartily and with such enjoyment for many years, and she looks so well too." An invalid old lady writes (no date, but it was in autumn), 1888 : "The treatment has done me a power of good. The very first day I felt a de- cided improvement, and my night was excellent." And a few months later, this same lady writes : " I may say I improve daily but gradually, and now I do look forward to getting about again be- fore long, thanks to your advice. I am able to keep pretty rigidly to my diet too." 184 Appendix. An old lady writes : "January, 1889. I have derived very great benefit from the Salisbury Treat- ment." A gentleman from the far side of our Planet, writes, toward the end of 1888 : " On receipt of your pamphlet, I began the hot water with en- thusiasm. At once there was an improvement . . . and already I have derived much benefit from the hot water in other ways too ; and feel sure it will do everybody good." A lady writes: "January, 1889. I cannot ex- press how grateful I am to hot water and all it has done for me. Mrs. C. gave me one of your pamphlets not quite a year ago, and I have stuck to the hot water-drinking night and morning ever since, and ieelyears younger in consequence, and those whom I have persuaded to take it regu- larly, tell me how much it has done for them too." A gentleman who was in a very broken-down condition and very sorry for himself writes: "April, 1888. I have tried the exclusive diet of minced beef, and hot water four times a day for a month now, with the best results. Quite free Appendix. 185 from the miseries undergone from indigestion, I may say, for years past. Though weak for the first few days, yet experienced a new sensation of lightness from the time I began the Treatment, and an absence of the sense of oppression and frequent pain after meals. Sleep, sounder and more refreshing. Increased facility in walking and mounting hills. Freedom from palpitation and pain in the region of the heart. Marked effect of hot water in relieving exhaustion, preventing any wish for liquids at meals, and quenching all desire for stimulants ; besides creating a hearty appetite, especially for breakfast. Exclusive meat diet unquestionably most easily and rapidly di- gested, causing no subsequent discomfort. So far from palling on me, the taste for it has rather grown. ..." A lady, who knows my own former pitiable condition, writes: "March, 1889. You are a splendid advertisement for the Salisbury Treat- ment. . . . The very simplicity of it makes people incredulous ; but I also can speak from experience of the good it does. I have taken the hot water steadily for about three years, and have not had, during that time, a single liver attack, 186 Appendix. and in many ways, am in much better health. In- deed I am very well and strong now, and feel I owe you a deal of gratitude for having persuad- ed me to try the hot water." A gentleman writes : "April, 1889. One good the hot water has done me is, that I simply love my meals." [Considering that the writer is one of the most popular diners-out, and that his meals at the time of writing, consisted mainly of minced beef, this seems pretty telling in favor of the virt- ues of hot water.] " I have no particular feeling of hunger, but when I sit down, I just delight in my food. Another good it has done me, is, that I have quite lost an inclination to be stout under my waistcoat, a great improvement, if I were younger and could care for that." A lady writes : " March, 1889. The hot water is doing my little boy good." A gentleman who had been very ill indeed, and whom I had helped by letter, writes : " March, 1889. I got your book on Monday week, and have read it through several times with profit, in fact I cannot let it out of my hands it is so inter- Appendix. 187 esting. . . . The best judges of your book and the System, are those who suffer, or who have suffered, and have put same to a test, among whom I class myself. . . . My friends say I am looking very much better, fuller in the face, and they can bear witness how at first, it seemed to pull me down ; now they see that the Salisbury Treatment is a building up of the frame. ... I am a different man from what I was a short time ago, prior to commenc- ing the hot water and minced beef. ... I will post you up in my state and progress. If I go back now, it will be my own fault." A lady writes : "April, 1889. . . . The doc- tors put me on a very generous diet [!] eggs, milk, cream, farinaceous puddings, etc., etc. In consequence, the rheumatism has returned, in- digestion, biliousness, acidity. . . . have been making my life miserable ;—when I fortunate- ly came across your book. I have been follow- ing the advice about diet and drinking the hot water four times a day, but I cannot take more than \ a pint as a rule, sometimes f, but the pint seems too much for me. ... I have tak- en the minced beef three times a day with a little 188 Appendix. crisp toast, for a fortnight. . . . I am de- cidedly better, and have nearly lost the rheu- matism, but still feel indigestion and biliousness slightly. ..." I replied, counselling per- severance. This lady writes again: "April n, 1889. I take the pint of hot water night and morn- ins: now, but have not been able to do so in the middle of the day yet. I have been feeling much better since I wrote, the rheumatism is now noth- ing to speak of, the dull aching pain in my chest and pit of stomach with heat, is much relieved. I still have at times aching in the middle of the back between the shoulder blades, which seems very much like flatulence. ..." Same lady : " April 24, 1889. Thank you very much for send- ing me the paper about your patient, it is very very cheering. You will be glad to hear " [I was more than glad, E. S.] "that I am much better than when I last wrote to you. I followed your advice, and 'thought it out for myself—and found the mince had not been cooked properly—too long done, and not stirred all the time. I can assure you I. haled it. Now it is only cooked about ten minutes and stirred briskly. It is very nice and I enjoy it. ... I have kept strictly to the mince and a few of Mackenzie's wheaten biscuits, Appendix. 189 although my friends keep telling me I look paler and thinner, and want me to take a more mixed diet. But I do not heed them. I can now take my four pints of hot water a day " [Bravo ! E. S.] "My rheumatism is gone; and the indigestion and flatulence are much better. I feel stronger altogether. ... I cannot feel grateful enough to you and your book for helping me so much . . . Many of my friends have got the book, and take the hot water and partial diet, and ex- press themselves so pleased at feeling so much better." A gentleman with whom I have been in corre- spondence on his health, for some months, writes from very far away : " April, 1889. ... I have just been dining with our new governor, Sir----■ and Lady ----, and was very fully on the ' Spree,' but you allow that sometimes." [It's a poor heart that never rejoices ! E. S.] " I am glad, however, to report that what with cham- pagne and other comestibles taken at dinner, no hurt to digestion followed, and I attribute this to the now healthy state of the organs. I am con- stantly preaching the minced beef and hot wa- ter." 190 Appendix. A lady writes : " May, 1889. I used to suffer a good deal from biliousness and sick headaches, but since by your advice, beginning the hot wa- ter, I am thankful to say I have got rid of both. Though quite well now, I still continue the morn- ing and evening pints, and would be very sorry to leave them off." A gentleman writes: "May, 1889. If ever I am conscious that I am selfish, it is when asked by a friend to lend your book ! I know you will be pleased to hear I have converted many with whom I come in contact daily. Not the least interesting case is that of Mr. ----, who was frequently detained at home on account of ill- ness. I lent him your book, he felt he was bad enough to commence the System ; and since, he says, he has felt very well, and thanks me for making it known to him. He is so in earn- est about it, that he has a small kettle at his office, which he heats on a gas stand, and en- joys his potation in the midst of his official work. I too have adopted this plan in my of- fice. I have also bought a mincer, for I do enjoy a good dish of mince for my evening meal, after a stiff day of mental and physical work. Being Appendix. 191 fond of athletics, I bicycle a good deal, and find the sustaining power of the well-digested minced beef, beyond that of any other form of nourish- ment I have ever tried. Also, in hot weather, for thirst in cycling, I have found that the hot water with a squeeze of lemon is most effect- ive in stopping the thirst, and refreshing one thor- oughly." The following testimony from a gentleman is valuable, not only as a record of his own im- provement, but, to thoughtful minds, for the broadside-light it throws on the suitability of minced food in semi-starvation—(which means weakness—and which would equally apply to a case of exhaustion from any cause whatever), and also, as showing how this Treatment does away with the need of, or desire for, stimulant. "May, 1889. . . . First let me assure you that I am very much better. It is observed by every- one, and many friends have already begun the hot water, and some the diet. One very stout man has already lessened his obesity, and, what is more, has got rid of an affection in the knee which his doctor could not cure, and he now walks well. . . . Your book should have a 192 Appendix. great sale and do a world of good. A matron of a great London hospital told me yesterday, that she had to prepare mince for 50 children every day, who are put upon that diet after half starva- tion. I am sure this system will be a great Tem- perance agent, besides other good things, for it seems to do away with all craving for alcoholics. I shall try and get some to reform their drink- ing habits with it. I never touch wine now, nor want it, my one glass which I took is really un- necessary, and I have stopped it. . . . The food when I wake in the night is delightful, and sends me to sleep at once." (This is what I call a most satisfactory and first-rate Patient, taking an intelligent interest in the Treatment, and looking at it outside of his own case. E. S.) A lady writes: "May, 1889. ... I am much indebted to your book and have derived one great benefit from drinking the hot water. I have had rheumatic gout all my life more or less, . . . the ache I used to suffer from continually has left me, and I find much less difficulty in get- ting my boots on. ... I take a good supper of mince at 8. I have only tried your system for about six weeks. Your book will help many to Appendix. 193 better health, if they will only persevere in fol- lowing it." N/ A lady writes : " July, 1889. I feel I must let you know the benefit I am deriving from the hot water and beef diet as set forth in your book on Dr. Salisbury's Treatment. I have been ill for nearly two years, suffering from dyspepsia, ner- vous exhaustion. . . . The suffering has been terrible, and my recovery seemed so protracted that I had begun to despair of ever feeling well again. ... I have now lived on the minced beef and a little toast and butter for a month, and am feeling quite different . . . and there are many other encouraging signs of improvement in my health. I went to some German Baths last August, but did not derive as much benefit from them, as I have from this beef diet and hot water after little more than a month's trial." I close the list with a pleasant word from a very dear French friend: "November, 1888. Je prends ma petite tasse d'eau chaude, tous les jours a. 4 heures, en souvenir de vous; j'ai meme invite Mme C. a. venir vendredi, se joindre a nous, dans ce repas aquatique ! " 194 Appendix. I regret that I cannot give my best and most telling Testimonials, having always sent them straight off to Dr. Salisbury to rejoice his heart too. These however which I have quoted out of an immense number, are quite sufficient to prove that, once started on the right road of the Salis- bury Treatment, you, who went forth with weep- ing, shall come again with gladness, bringing your sheaves with you. " Joyous as when the reapers bear The harvest treasure home ! " APPENDIX V. A FURTHER EXPERIENCE OF THE SALISBURY TREAT- MENT. In July, 1889, I met with a very serious tricycle accident, because, feeling quite ridiculously and buoyantly well, my riding became rash and fool- hardy. I smashed my ribs on the left side and was a good deal knocked about in other direc- tions. A doctor at once examined me, and an- other five days later, for I was sure that at least one rib was broken, from the great pain, and the impossibility of breathing except in short gasps, also from a slight grating I heard and felt on moving. Both doctors asserted after investiga- tion that I was quite sound and only very badly bruised internally. They urged remedies upon me, and "something to soothe the pain," all which I rejected, though assured that I should have fever and inflammation, and general disturbance of the system from the accident. This I did not for a moment believe to be compatible with the very healthy way in which I had for so long fed. I at once returned to the strict Salisbury diet, 196 Appendix. and increased my four pints a day to six. The result more than justified my confidence. For I had not one degree's rise in temperature, no fe- ver nor inflammation, nor the least derangement in any one way whatever : while my nights from the first, in spite of exceeding pain and imped- ed breathing, were uniformly lovely, with many hours of sound refreshing sleep. I felt so well in health too, the whole time I was laid up. Nearly a fortnight after the accident (during which time I had to make a short railway jour- ney, rising from bed to do it), on the pain becom- ing altogether unbearable, I sent for an eminent bone-setter ; who found one rib broken and an- other badly splintered. These he set to rights, to the music of my vociferous yells. He was amazed to find me in first-rate health, after so much pain, and the fortnight's neglect of the in- jury,—and could not understand the absence of in- flammation, and there being no systemic derange- ment in any way. I explained the reason, and the Salisbury Treatment, with the value of which he was greatly impressed, and he began at once to test the virtues of hot water on himself for liver, reporting in a few days his great improve- ment and relief. Appendix. 197 Now the sole reason why I have related this untoward experience is this. On the third day, I was, unfortunately, at my early dinner, tempted to take a tablespoonful of rice and milk pudding (made without sugar) which, if I had been going about as usual, would not, for a time or two have hurt me. In about half an hour the pains in my back and side became all at once terribly acute, and my breathing much more hampered. Dr. Sal- isbury has taught me to look for the cause of any relapse, in something / myself have done or left undone; so I searched assiduously now, and thought carefully over the last few hours. Ere long it flashed upon me that the rice pudding was the culprit, and that the sudden oncome of very acute pain, was simply due to flatulence ; from the wind or gas generated by the ferment- able farinaceous pudding, pressing upon the in- jured parts inside. Into half a pint of warm water, I stirred a large teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda, and drank it in big sips. This had the desired effect of immediately raising a great quantity of sour flatus, and at each eructation the relief to the in- ternal pains, was great, while my breathing be- came perceptibly easier. When I had finished 198 Appendix. the hot water and soda, I took, sipping slowly, one and one-half to two pints of plain hot water (it was then about 7.30 p.m.). Sour flatus con- tinued to rise for about two hours more, each time giving relief to the pain ; and my night's sleep was undisturbed. I studiously eschewed fermentable food till I was well again, and daily made good and rapid progress, on my exclusive diet of minced beef, at the same time causing six pints a day of pure, fresh warm water to traverse the bruised and wounded tissues. Now the moral of the whole matter is this. Farinaceous and milk puddings, and similar foods, are erroneously recommended for nearly all weakly persons, more or less ill, as "light, wholesome, and nourishing." I long ago, by ac- tual and repeated trial, proved to my entire con- viction, that their lightness and nourishing prop- erties are a snare and delusion ; and I have just now given my experience of—under certain cir- cumstances—their " wholesomeness." I do not, for one moment, intend to say that farinaceous puddings, etc., are harmful to all peo- ple, and at all times,—to the healthy, or even to the only fairly healthy, taken in moderation; but I do emphatically say this,—as the lesson Appendix. 199 learned from many carefully observed experi- ments, and I maintain it,—that for those with weak digestions and in delicate health, all such foods are distinctly hurtful, their " lightness and nourishing properties" are not a small third those of beef and mutton ; whilst the gas engen- dered by fermentation, is safe to cause some up- set to the delicate invalid (although not, prob- ably, like mine, aggravated by internal injuries), and this upset, slight or grave, will be laid at any door but the right one. Then, things are given to ease the sudden pain, and allay malaise (which are credited to the illness), but sedatives and ano- dynes, while the unsuspected cause is continued, can do no lasting good : and the mischief done by them to the invalid, can scarcely be overrated. I repeat:—All I have said has no reference to ro- bust people, who may be left to take care of themselves,—I am speaking, earnestly speaking, in the interests solely of invalids, great or partial, whether bedridden or not. INDEX. A. Absorption of carbonic acid gas, 122, 123, 126, 130, 152. Acids, foods that make, avoid, 125. Alcohol, to be avoided, 69, 83. Alcohol, when to take, 83. Alimentation, healthy, 59, 60, 150. Alimentation, effects of un- healthy, 59, 60, 150. American Gentleman's verdict of treatment, 153. American Lady's verdict of treatment, 72. Anodynes, have nothing to say to, 113, 115. Aperients, a choice of, 53, 54. Appetite, eat by, not by weight, 38, note, 61. Appetite for meat good, 56. Appetite, lose, a bad sign, 79. B. Baldness, premature, 61, note. Baths, German, and other, uses of, 97. Bath, ammonia in water of, 124. Bath, internal, 27. Beef can be lived on exclusive- ly, 18, 152. Beef, good, an absolute neces- sity, 100 and note. Bile, proper quantity of, 25. Bile should flow freely, and in proper channels, 25. Biscuit-bread recommended, 34, 74, 86. Boarders, Dr. Salisbury's ex- periments on, 18, 19, 122. Bowels should be opened once daily, 54, 84. Bread, new—"keep for stran- gers," 74. Bright's Disease, cause and cure of, 122, 123. Bunions, 61, note. Butter, cooked, forbidden, 34. C. Cake, forbidden, alas ! 34. Cakes, recipe for beef, 31. Cancer, curable, wants inces- sant care, 130, 151. Carbonic-acid gas, paralyses intestines, 126, 129. Cascara sagrada, best aperient, 53- , Cause of diseases, 20, 82. Celery allowed, 34. Chalky hard water, avoid, 118. Change of air, 99. Change from strict diet, 73, 74. Chutney sauce allowed, 34. Chronic diseases, hot water in, 28. Chronic illness removed by stopping cause, 126, 152. Cigar and cigarette allowed in moderation, 75. Cleansing process necessary, 47- Cleansing process weakening at first, 47. Index. Climate blamed instead of our- selves, 95. Coats of stomach not injured by hot water, 119. Coats of stomach soothed and strengthened by it, 120. Coats of stomach, own expe- rience in regard to, 120. Coffee, a caution about, 70, Coffee, medicinal value of, 159. Cold, effect of, in rheumatism, 125. Cold foods and drinks ta- booed, 30. Cold hands and feet, 78. Cold, treatment inures to, 26, Cold water bathing forbidden, Cold water drinking forbid- den, 137. Collops, minced, recipes for, 85, 86. Collops, minced, eat when hur- ried and over-tired, 85. Comfort after eating only meat, J33- Comfort from hot water, 138. Constipation, chronic, how to cure, 53. Constipation, never allow to be- come a habit, 54 and note. Consumption, cause and cure of, 123. Consumption microbe a fal- lacy, 124. Contingencies to be prepared for, 44—55- Corns, 61, note. Crust coffee, 159. Crust coffee, recipe for, 70. Cure, needs resolution, self- denial and intelligence, 34, 37- Cure, summary of, 63, 152. D. Daily misdeeds, cause of dis- eases, 127. Deafness, how often caused, 151 and note. Detection of first signs of ill- health, 78, 79. Diabetes, cause and cure of, 123. Diarrhoea, to arrest, 50, 138. Diet, exclusively animal, 30, 152. Diet, futile, an example of a, 145- Diet, on going a sea voyage, 116. Diet, the two-thirds for health, 60, 90. Diet, what you may add to, 74, .75- . Digestive organs indicate your food, 59, 68. Digestive organs weaker at night, 155. Dinner-hour for invalids, 22. Diseases arising from un- healthy alimentation, 151. Diseases cured by hot water and beef diet, 122, 151. Diseases cured by special feed- ing, 152. Diseases the terrible outcome of unhealthy alimentation, 163. Don't be discouraged, 43, 44, 72. Don't be laughed out of treat- ment, 95. Don't eat when anxious or in grief, 65. Don't eat when over-fatigued, 65. Don't eat in ill-temper, 65. Don't eat in over-haste, 65, 67. Indt Drinks in illness, 70. Driving recommended, 47. Dropsy, a symptom only, 128. Drugs, keep from, 82, 83. Drunkards come to prefer hot water, 93. E. Eat alone, if you are wise, 34, 35- Eating, cease from, before re- pletion, 38. Emerson on sickness, 135. Evening meal lightest, and chiefly a meat one, 155. Examples of illnesses cured by the Salisbury System, 122— 130, 150. Exercise and work to weakest point, 101. Exercise recommended, 48. Experiments of Dr. Salisbury, 18, 19, 20. F. Fact, success of treatment, a, 142. Facts, are a nuisance, 143. Farinaceous food hard of di- gestion, 67. Fat, how to get rid of, 63, 125. Fat preserves diseased tissues, 122. Fatigue to be carefully avoid- ed, 101. Feeble and aged, kindly diet- etic hint to, 68. Feeble, patient feels so at first, 47- Feed alone, to avoid tempta- tion, 35. Flannel clothing, 51. Fluid extracts of cascara sa- grada, 53. Fluid extracts of rhubarb, and of senna, 53. 203 Fluids taken with meals tend to flabbiness, 69. Folly of divorcing diet and hot water. JJ union fait la force, 149. Food, fermentable, injurious, 60, 122, 126, 128. Food, have near you at night, 39- 40. Food, how much to begin with, 42. Food, how much to take, 38, 42. Food, proper hours for, 22. Foods that are tabooed, 34. For whom this book is written, 160. Friends should help—not hin- der, 46. G. Game, winged, allowed as ad- junct, 74, 155. Gas, in fermentative foods, 124, 152. Gastric juice, 67. George Eliot, words of, 115. Ginger tea in diarrhoea, 50. Glycerine enema, 53. Goose, sauce for, 138. Gout, cause of, 27, 96. H. Headaches, how to avoid, 8?. Health, from " two-thirds diet," 89. Health, guidance in, 90. Health, most precious posses- sion, 90. Health is use, beauty, and happiness, 164. Health, worth a good fight for, 80. Heart, palpitation of, cured, 3°- 204 Index. Heartily, always eat, 38. Hogs, experiments on, 19, 20, 163. Hogs cannot safely "make hogs of themselves," 163. Hot water, alone is beneficial, 149. Hot water benefits everybody, 27, 149- Hot water cures dipsomania, 93" , ' * Hot water comforts and re- lieves, 138. Hot water cures indigestion, etc., 25. Hot water helps to soothe worry, 102, 103. Hot water increases vitality and circulation, 26. Hot water inimical to suicide, 91. Hot water is an internal bath, 25, 27. Hot water makes for health, 28. Hot water, nausea fancied from, 24. Hot water, objects and uses of, 25, 27. Hot water produces sleep, 27. Hot water, quantity to be ta- ken, 22. Hot water quenches thirst, best of all drinks, 24. Hot water removes tendency to catch colds and chills, 26. Hot water, right times for tak- ing, 22. Hot water strengthens and soothes nerves, 27. Hot water, temperature of, 22. Hot water, temperature in hemorrhage, 138. Hot water, to be taken in all illnesses, 150. Hot water, to be taken along with the diet, 150. Hours, five between meals, 65. Hours, for food, 22. Hours, for hot water, 22. How to keep well, 90. Hungry in the night, 39. Hurry never; "go slowly," 56. I. Ice a medicine, not a food, 138. Ill-health, we bring on our- selves, 127. Illnesses, cure for, 152. Illnesses, preventable, 61. Illnesses, produced by un- healthy alimentation, 95, 133- l63- Illnesses, severe, treatment cures, 152. Illnesses, slight, treatment cures, 148, 149. Incurable diseases shown to be curable, 121, 122, 123, 125, 130. Indigestion, cure of, 25. Indigestion, effects of, 155. Infections a permissible cause of illness, 121. Inflammatory diseases, 128. Injuries likewise are so, 121. Insoluble bodies not to be swallowed, 71. Instructions to be exactly fol- lowed, 57. Intelligence imperatively de- manded, 38, 55. Intelligent observation, advan- tage of, 55, 74. L. Last meal chiefly a meat one, 82, 155. Last meal entirely a meat one, J55- . . Lemon-juice, substitute for vinegar, 24, 34. Index. 205 Liver, good effects of hot water on, 25. Liver, good effects of exercise on, 48, 49. Loss of weight, don't be alarmed, 44, 46. Loss of weight, poor tissue, 44. M. Man, two-thirds carnivorous, 59-. Masticate thoroughly, 67. Masticate thoroughly, espe- cially farinaceous foods and vegetables, 67. Meals should be enjoyed, 79. Meat diet, effect of, 42, 62, 63, J33. H3- Meats, lean, digest only in stomach, 59, 60. Meat soup, sipped at meals, 69. Medicines alone cannot cure, 83: Medicines are to aid digestion and bowels, 83. Medicines, Sir William Jenner on, 107, note. Medicines, Voltaire on, 107, note. Medicines, when to take, 83. Mental strength restored, 45, 48. Microbe in consumption, 124. Milk, boiled, in diarrhcea,*5o. Milk, fermentative and indi- gestible, 34, 70. Minced beef, how to prepare, 31, 32, 85, 86. Minced beef, what to eat with, 34- Minced collops, four recipes for, 85, 86. Minced collops last meal at night, 87, 155. Minced collops, take when hurried, 88. Mouth dry and clammy—result of upset stomach, 24. Movement of bowels once a day, 52, 84. Movement should not be loose, 78. Movement should not be hard and painful, 78. Mucus always forming interi- orly, 55- Muscle-pulp of beef, 57, 62, 124, 143. Mutton allowed for a change, 57, !3°- Mutton next to beef in diet- scale, 19. N. Nature's laws are inexorable, 62, 164. Necessity of looking for causes, 126. Neuralgia, how caused, 127. Neuralgia, how cured, 127, 128. Nerve-force waisted in cold bathing, foods and drinks, Nervous, the, drop for a while tea and coffee, 70, 159. Never eat between meals, 134 and note. New bread, give a wide berth to, 74 and note. No one a right to die but from old age or accidents—if then, 96. O. Obesity, cure of, 125. Object in writing this little book, 160, 162. Objections to treatment an- swered, 119, 148. Over-exertion to be avoided, 47, 48, 128. Over-feeding better than under- feeding, 106. 206 Index. p. Pain during motion, 78. Pain not altogether likable, x33- Palliatives to be shunned, 115. Paralysis of organs, cause of, 63, 122, 126, 129. Passages, black and tarry, and why, 49. Patient, his own best friend and helper, 162. Patients' own hands hold the cure, 62, 91, 96, 119. Patients' responsibility great, 163. Pepper, black, allowed, 34. Pernicious habits, 69, 159. Physicians, my sad experience of, 108. Physicians, should detect dis- ease in embryo, 77. Physicians should know what constitutes health, 77. Pickles forbidden, 34. Pleurisy, cause and cure, 128. Pregnancy, Dr. Salisbury diets in, 116. Prevention cheaper and wiser than cure, 80, 135. Q. Quantity, right, of hot water, 22. Quantity, right, of urine, 55, 89. Quantity, right, to eat, 41, 42. Quenches thirst, hot water, 24. R. Rationale of diet, 62, 63. Rationale of hot water, 25, 26. Rationale of minced food, 58, 62, 88. Rechauffes forbidden, 32, 86. Recovery gradual, but safe and sure, 36, 162. Remedy in own hands, 62, 89, Repair becomes a certainty, 75. Resignation may be self-indul- gence, 79. Rest before and after meals, 65- Restful nights, how to obtain, 27, 158-. Restless nights how to avoid, 78, 155, 156, 157. Respiration affected by farina- ceous foods, 155. Rheumatism, cause of, 96, 125. Rheumatism, cure of, 125. Rhubarb, fluid extract of, 53. Rhubarb root to chew, 54. Rice, well boiled, may be taken, 74. Road to health, long and weary, but safe and sure, 3°, 72. Rule for healthy feeding, 38, 59- S. Salisbury's, Dr., Books, where to get, 20. Salisbury's, Dr., Books, ex- tracts from, 12—165. Salisbury, Dr., quoted nearly every other page. Salisbury diet, rationale of, 62, 64, 88. Salisbury's, Dr., experiments on self, boarders, and hogs, 17, 20, 122. Salisbury treatment, a build- ing-up process, 62, 72. Salisbury treatment, alluring side of, 57, 58. Salisbury treatment cannot do harm if closely and faithfully followed, 153. Salisbury treatment, cheering promise of, 75, 153. Index. 207 Salisbury diet, for prevention of sea-sickness, 116, 117. Salisbury treatment, how I got upon the, 108. Salisbury treatment, how long to continue, 73. Salisbury treatment, lessens pain, 115. Salisbury diet makes beautiful for ever, 58. Salisbury diet, never known failure of, 153. Salisbury diet, personal ex- periences on beginning, 29, 3°, XI4. Salisbury diet renews youth, 58. Salisbury diet, sensations to be expected on beginning, 42, 55- Saliva, importance of, in digest- ion of farinaceous foods, 67. Sauce for gander, 138. Sauces tabooed, 34, 82. Sedentary, to the, 48, 91. Sedentary habits to be avoided, 48. Seedy, a word to the, 76, 85. Senna, fluid extract of, 53. Showing how the cure is one, as the cause is one, 131. Sick, advice to the, 22—75. Sick, fatherly last words to the, 75- Signs, encouraging, 56, 58, 73. Signs, first small, of breaking health, 76—80. Signs of good progress, 52, 5.6. Skin, normal condition of, 56. Sleep, disturbed, 78. Sleeplessness, 155—159. Solid food, what to give in- stead of, 143. Soup at meals, 70, 159. Soup by bedside at nights, 39. Stimulants, needless and hurt- ful in most cases, 69, 83. Stomach affects eyesight and hearing, 151 and note. Stomach, carnivorous organ, 59- Stomach digests only lean meats, 60. Stomach does not digest starchy and saccharine foods and fruits, 60, 67. Stools, color of, in health, 78. Strain of active life, diet in, 89. Strength to be economized, 101, 102. Sufferer needs patience, reso- lution, and self-denial, 72. Sugar, avoid in rheumatism, 125. Sugar, fermentative, 70, 125. Supper hour for invalids, 22. Supper mostly of lean meats for all who would be well, 82, 87, iS5- Sweets, for the well, in mod- eration, 75. T. Tea, medicinal value of, 159. Tea, when to drop for a time, 7°, 159- Teeth, number and kind of, 60, 90. Time required to produce dis- ease, and also to cure, 72, 73. Toast, spongy and leathery, 86. Tonics, to be let alone by the sick, 83. To relieve, is not to cure, 127. Treat, an occasional, allowed, 106, 143. Treatment, objections to, an- swered, 119. Treatment, medicinal, alone will not cure, 83. 208 Index. Tricycle " a sweet boon " in all ways, 48. Tumors, how produced and how cured, 125, 126. Typhoid fever, diet in, 131, note. U. Unhealthy alimentation, definition of, 59, 150. Upsets to health preventable, 62. Urine, color, quantity, and den- sity of, 55, 89. Urine, good gained by observ- ing it daily, 55, 81, 89. Urine, should avoid what heightens color of, 51. Urine, specific gravity of, nor- mal, 55. Urinometer '' handy to have in the house," 55. V. Vegetables forbidden in dis- ease, 152. Vegetarianism, a harmful de- lusion, 103, 105. Vinegar, hurtful, 34. W. Wakeful nights, why, 87, 156. Warnings of first signs of break- ing health, 77, 78. Warnings on beginning treat- ment, 40, 55. Warts, 61, note. Water, coid, not desirable, 137, 138. Water, distilled, advantages of, 118. Water, distilled, fair price for, 118. Water, good and pure, a ne- cessity, 118. Water, hard and chalky, 118. Water, hot, advantages of, 138. Weakness felt on beginning treatment, 47. Weakness felt, renson of, 47. Weight, gain in, 45. Weight, loss of, 44. Well, a few words to the, 84. Why should I take care of my health, or lock stable door till horse is gone ? 134. Worry, hot water helps in, 102. Worry, take it easy, 102. Y. Yeast, sour, causes fermenta- tion and disease, 63, 124, 158. Yeasty movements, unhealthy, 78. A HOUSEHOLD REMEDY. In every family there should be some rem- edy for the speedy removing of inflammation, as this is the immediate cause of nine-tenths of the aches, pains, and annoyances to which the physical body is subject. By treating these different troubles at their commencement with some efficacious medicament, you get rid of the cause, and it is then an easy matter for nature to restore the diseased parts to a normal condi- tion. If the proper remedy is on hand, to be used in cases of emergency, days of misery are often averted. COMPOUND MENTHOL ICE is positively the grandest, the most wonderful, and truly marvelous HOUSEHOLD REMEDY ever prescribed by a physician and dispensed by a pharmacist. It has been used on prescriptions for a num- ber of years, and its great power for combat- ing the evils produced by that common enemy —inflammation—became so well known, its value so firmly established and so well sus- tained, that in the short time it has been be- fore the public its merits have carried it to the front. The following sentence heads the circu- lar describing this remedy: " We challenge the world for an ointment, salve, or liniment that will do as much, and do it as well? This claim is far-reaching, but it is justified by the actual results obtained from its use, as thousands have attested. Without doubt CATARRH is one of the most common and most annoy- ing ailments of the present time, probably five- sixths of the people in this country being af- flicted with it in some form. This need not and would not be, if every one used Compound Menthol Ice faithfully, it being almost a spe- cific for this malady. The beneficial effects are realized on the first application, as the air pas- sages are opened, the head cleared, and it is easily kept in that condition. Such expressions as this are very often heard after using the Ice the first time : "I have not breathed through my nose before for days, but 2 now it is perfectly free, and my head feels good." HAY FEVER and ROSE COLD are pos- sibly more annoying troubles while they last than CATARRH, but half of the cases can be prevented entirely, and the other half can be modified so that life is not a burden. As a pre- ventive, the Ice should be used fully a month previous to the expected attack. PILES, in any of its forms, is a most dis- tressing complaint, but a remedy can now be had which will effect a cure in nearly every case, and for this trouble as well as all others, one does not have to wait weeks for results: relief is experienced at once. ERYSIPELAS, ECZEMA, SALT RHEUM, HIVES, and SKIN DISEASES of all kinds are rapidly and permanently cured by using the Ice. The itching or burning sen- sation attending diseases of this class is imme- diately allayed, and the skin soon assumes its natural condition. SORES, and especially those of a chronic nature, are quickly healed by wrapping the parts in the Ice. PIMPLES on the FACE, 3 CHAPPED HANDS and LIPS, CUTS, BURNS, TENDER and FROST-BITTEN FEET, should all be treated with Compound Menthol Ice, as it is without a rival for combat- ing all the troubles induced by inflammation. This remedy is especially valuable for child- ren's use, and particularly so for breaking up those COLDS or SNUFFLES, which is the starting point for a chronic case of CATARRH. Mothers, use the right remedy at the right time, and save your children endless days of suffering. This preparation is a veritable medicine-chest, and no mistake is made in the claim that it is A HOUSEHOLD REMEDY. There is constant inquiry for some simple remedy that will " break up " or cure a COLD in the HEAD—something that will act at once and prove efficient in every case. Those who read this article need not make further inquiries, as COMPOUND MENTHOL POWDER is the right preparation to use, its merits being recognized by a multitude of people. It is a non-sneezing, non-irritating powder. It allays the inflammation, kills whatever germs there 4 may be—in fact, removes the cause of the trouble, nature does the rest. By using this Powder faithfully the most severe COLD in the HEAD can be "broken up" inside of twenty-four hours, and what is especially grati- fying, its agreeable effect is realized imme- diately. Its virtue lies not alone in its ability to cure, it is a preventive as well. HEADACHE is relieved by the first in- halation of this Powder. As a remedy for CLEARING the HEAD and THROAT it has no equal, and public speakers and singers are using it all over the country, and hearty words of praise are they bestowing upon it. Its wonderfully refreshing effect makes it a valuable agent to use in cases of FAINTING, it being far superior to " Smelling Salts" for crowded and ill-ventilated rooms. It is so con- venient and so pleasant to use, and as such a remedy" is in constant demand, it is only a question of time when its use will be universal. Your attention is now called to another prep- aration which is equally as beneficial for its purpose as Compound Menthol Ice and Com- pound Menthol Powder are for their's. 5 This one is COMPOUND MENTHOL DROPS, and is used for all troubles of the THROAT and BRONCHIAL TUBES. A HACKING COUGH yields to its action without a struggle. THAT TICKLING in the THROAT is < quickly subdued by its influence. A SORE THROAT is brought to subjection in a very short time, even when there are plenty of cankers to be seen. What is true of one remedy is equally true of the three : they contain no opi- ate of any nature, are perfectly harmless, and very agreeable to use. Rev. A. H. Clapp, D.D., Treasurer American Home Missionary Society, No. 34 Bible House, New York City, says : " You may use my name in any way you choose to further the sale of your very valuable Compound Menthol Remedies. I have used the preparations to my entire satisfaction (Drops in particular) and can heartily recommend them as being worthy the confidence of the public." These Remedies are being mailed to all parts of the country by the proprietors, KELLOGG & Hitchcock Co., 4 Park Place, New York City, the Ice on receipt of 50c; the Powder and Drops on receipt of 25c. each. 6 1730 Broadway, New York. Having called the attention of the profession to Men- thol and its preparations in several Medical Journals, and having at the request of a Japanese official made a report on the uses of Menthol to the Japanese Govern- ment, through His Excellency the Hon. R. Kuki, Min- ister resident at Washington, I felt that my knowledge of the value of Menthol warranted me in suggesting to you the desirability of making it a household remedy, and I think it is not derogatory in me to enforce my recommendation of your preparations of this article. Certainly I should not now endorse your " Compounds," had I not confidence in your character and in the Men- thol. Yours truly, ^jypyycuui^ Brooklyn. I found your "Compound Menthol Powder" gave me immediate relief, both from a severe headache and a cold in my head. I cheerfully testify to its efficacy and value. Yours faithfully, Opera House, Cleveland, O. Your " Compound Menthol Powder "has proved very efficacious. Lowell, Mass. I have the pleasure of informing you that I have per- sonally tried the " Compound Menthol Ice," and found it beneficial, as well as very agreeable to use. It has not prevented my annual attack of hay fever, but has held it in check to a certain degree, and promoted my comfort. Please send me another bottle of the prepara- Sec'y U. S. Hay Fever Ass'n. New York. The " Compound Menthol Powder" I have used with excellent results, and can recommend it to all suffering with a severe cold. Believe me, respectfully yours, *(>AslA>CX^^6 J^ HARRIGAN'S PARK THEATRE, Broadway and 35th St. Edward Harrigan, Prop'r. M. W. Hanley, Manager. New York. I found your "Compound Menthol Powder" excellent for a cold in the head, and as actors dread that afflic- tion, I would cheerfully recommend it to my brother professionals. Respectfully, Ge6t4,»-e( $**> 'ryo^~— District Attorney's Office, County of Cortland, Cortland, N. Y. This is to certify that I have used your " Compound Menthol Ice" in my family for catarrh and head colds,* with the most satisfactory results. I can cheerfully re- commend it to the public. District Attorney. Brooklyn, N. Y. Your " Compound Menthol Powder" found me with a cold, and I immediately tested its efficacy with favor- able results. It will, I am sure, prove a blessing to players, preachers, and all other public entertainers, who may have the good fortune to use it. ti-Vls HOWE & HUMMEL, counsellors-at-law. New York. I have used your " Compound Menthol Powder " with great benefit. It has on several occasions relieved me from severe hoarseness, and it is a valuable aid to public speakers. From the great benefit I have derived from it, I have recommended it to several of my legal friends who speak most highly of it. I shall never be without it. Yours respectfully, &**; The Gage Cutter Wood M'f'g Co., Homer, N. Y. I have personally used your " Compound Menthol Ice " for catarrh, and beneficial results were so quickly obtained, and have been so permanent, that I would advise every sufferer with this obnoxious disease to im- mediately procure a jar of the " Ice," and use it faith- fully. In our family we consider the "Ice" an indis" pensable household remedy. Burrough Bros. M'f'g Co., Baltimore, Md. I have used your "Compound Menthol Ice " for rose cold and hay fever during this entire season, and with my own experience before me, sincerely believe that the faithful application of this valuable remedy will afford complete relief from these most miserable of diseases. <3^ h^uus* AJMwivtuX* New York. I have found your " Compound Menthol Powder" to be a useful and refreshing preparation for cold in the head and for irritation of the throat. Yours respectfully, Wilmington, Del. I have personally received great benefit from your " Compound Menthol Powder," and warmly recommend its use in cases of cold in the head, neuralgia, etc. Yours very truly, New York. I received your bottle of " Compound Menthol Powder" at a moment when I was suffering from an aggravated nasal and bronchial irritation, contracted by coming out of a superheated audience-room and stand- ing in an east wind to converse with a friend. I had tried all the chlorates and all the astringents without relief. Your powder acted instantly, and I am bound to tell you has cured me. I never found anything so grateful to an excoriated membrane as the Menthol Powder. You can use this in any way you choose. (Nym Crinkle.) Memphis, Tenn. Your "Compound Menthol Powder" has afforded me great relief from hoarseness. Travelling, as I do, the change of climate ofttimes affects my throat, and your remedy certainly acts quick and effective. Respectfully yours, Philadelphia, Pa. I frankly answer your letter of inquiry just received. I have been a great sufferer from Hay Fever for more than twenty - five years. It is never attended with asthma. It comes promptly about the 20th of August and continues until the appearance of frost. I have never found any relief in medicine worth speaking of until last summer. Sojourning at Bethlehem in the White Mountains for two or three months each year, I escaped the attack, but I have an impression that the exemption is only temporary, and I think that I have stronger catarrhal tendencies in the Fall and Winter. I have a doubt whether it is wise to seek exemption by change of locality, especially when the Hay Fever is not attended by asthma. Last year I did not go to the White Mountains, but spent two or three months in the northwestern corner of Rhode Island near the Massachusetts line. I had little or no Hay Fever, certainly not more than I have had on "Hay Fever Days" in the White Mountains. Strange to say, I have less difficulty this winter with catarrh and colds in the head than for many years before. The place of my sojourn in Rhode Island last summer I know is not one of the "exempted places," for on previous occasions I have suffered extremely in that locality. I attribute my escape from Hay Fever attack last summer mainly to the free use of " Compound Men- thol Ice," prepared by KELLOGG & HITCHCOCK Co., of New York. I regard this preparation as one of the most wonderful discoveries of the age. I cannot say too much for it as a remedy for all diseases of the " Hay Fever " variety, and freely recommend it to my friends, and propose to give it another thorough trial next season. R. B. WESTBROOK, ».!>.. 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