Modern Medicine Library. No. 4. August, 1896. Issued Monthly. 
Subscription price, $1.00 per annum. 
™. Cure of 
Incurables. 
By 
J. h. KELLOGG, fl. D. 
Read before the Michigan State Medical Society, 
June, 1896. 
MODERN MEDICINE PUB. CO., Battle Creek* Mich. 
Entered at the Post-office in Battle Creek, Mich., as second-class matter. ' THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
J. H. KELLOGG, M. D., 
Battle Creek, Mich. 
The purpose of this paper is to call attention briefly to the 
methods by which a very large proportion of cases which are to 
a great extent abandoned as intractable, and which are incura- 
ble under ordinary conditions, may be cured by the aid of 
special therapeutic measures and such changes of regimen and 
environment as will remove exciting and predisposing causes 
and establish favorable conditions. 
I wish at the outset to disclaim any pretension of extraordi- 
nary skill or wisdom in dealing with this or any other class of 
cases, my purpose being simply to show what can be accom- 
plished in a case which is incurable under ordinary conditions 
by focusing, as it were, upon the case at one time and in one 
place the various resources offered by scientific medicine. I 
have often seen cases which have been for years abandoned as 
hopelessly ill, yield readily to a judicious combination of meas- 
ures, many of which had been used singly, but which had never 
been applied in connection. The cure of chronic cases must 
be achieved on the same principle as that by which a heavy 
building is raised. A single jackscrew, although powerful and 
efficient, can accomplish nothing in so great an undertaking, 
while a hundred worked together will easily achieve what is 
apparently impossible. 
A combination of physiological measures and rational reme- 
dies often results in the cure of cases, which from the standpoint 
of a practitioner familiar only with the application of ordinary 
remedial measures, would be justly regarded as absolutely in- 
curable. 
Among the disorders to which the term “ incurable ” is very 
commonly applied may be enumerated : Chronic rheumatism, 2 
THE CURE OK INCURABLES. 
locomotor ataxia, dilatation of the stomach, infectious jaun- 
dice, diabetes, Bright’s disease, and exophthalmic goiter ; and 
cases are not infrequently met in which patients suffering from 
asthma, hysteria, chlorosis, progressive emaciation, dyspepsia 
in its various forms, obesity, epilepsy, tuberculous disease of 
the lungs, insomnia, melancholia, migraine, tic douloureux, 
functional pelvic disorders of women, and the protein dis- 
orders included under the general term uric acid diathesis, 
have so stubbornly resisted all measures of treatment that they 
have been pronounced incurable by one practitioner after an- 
other, and the case has come to be regarded as practically 
hopeless. 
It is not the purpose of this paper to enter upon an exhaust- 
ive consideration of either the pathology or the therapeutics of 
the various maladies named, but to present a brief outline of 
the general and particular methods by which stubborn and 
so called hopeless cases belonging to these various classes have 
been successfully treated, together with a few briefly stated 
illustrative cases. 
The general principles which the writer has followed for 
something more than twenty years in the treatment of chronic 
ailments may be stated as follows : — 
1. The chronic invalid is, as a rule, sick as the result of 
some fault of constitution, of environment, or of habits of life. 
In undertaking a course of treatment for his relief, first atten- 
tion must be given to the removal, so far as possible, of every 
immediate or remote cause of his malady. 
2. The cure of chronic maladies is to be accomplished, not 
by any process of antidoting, nor by what might be termed 
therapeutic juggling in the use of tonics, stimulants, altera- 
tives, sedatives, cholagogues, laxatives, diuretics, etc., nor by 
medical magic of any sort, but by control of the regimen, 
systematic training, education, and the employment of such 
physiological agencies as hydrotherapy, electrotherapy, active 
and passive exercise skilfully and systematically employed, 
change of environment or climate in some cases, and the 
adoption of every measure calculated to establish normal con- 
ditions for every bodily function, not neglecting such attention 
to the patient’s mental and moral states as may be required. THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
3 
3. The chronic invalid is sick, not in one part only, but 
all over. What he needs is not simply an improvement in 
the condition of his stomach, his liver, his nerves, or any other 
single organ, no matter how conspicuous the symptoms may 
be in this particular part, but a general tissue renovation and 
reconstruction. He needs to be born again physically, so to 
speak, and no permanent improvement can be secured by any 
process which stops short of the complete rebuilding of the 
entire body. 
4. Those means are most effective in the treatment of 
chronic disorders which most profoundly and favorably effect 
tissue change and repair. No remedies are of real or per- 
manent value except those which secure an actual improvement 
in bodily structure. The long list of tonics, stimulants, reju- 
venants of various sorts, the administration of which is followed 
by an immediate quickening of vital activity, and a feeling of 
comfort and well-being, are, without exception, delusive in 
their effects, and unless employed merely as temporary expedi- 
ents, are highly injurious and in no way conducive to actual 
recovery, as they only hide the real condition of the patient, 
giving him the impression that he is better, whereas he is really 
no better, but rather worse. 
Tonics or stimulants do not produce an actual increase of 
strength or vigor, but only render it possible to get out of the 
exhausted nerve-centers or other organs a little more work 
without giving them an increased ability for work, thus still 
further lessening the body’s store of energy, and so making 
the patient really worse instead of better. Therefore in the 
rational treatment of chronic disorders they must play but a 
very insignificant role. What the chronic invalid wants is not 
simply to be made to feel better, but to be made actually 
better. 
The wonderful developments in bacteriology and physi- 
ological chemistry within the last few years, and the important 
facts to which Bouchard and Glenard have called attention in 
showing the intimate relation existing between various forms of 
visceral displacement and many nervous and other chronic 
disorders, and the wide-spread mischief resulting from the 
formation of various poisons within the alimentary canal and 4 
THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
their distribution throughout the body, as seen in functional 
disturbances of various sorts, and even tissue degenerations, 
giving rise to various forms of paralysis and organic disease 
of the kidneys, liver, and other organs, have thrown a great 
flood of light upon the pathogeny of a great number of dis- 
orders, and have opened up new paths in therapeutics which 
lead to success in cases which had previously proved utterly 
refractory to therapeutic measures now known to have been 
necessarily futile, because misdirected. 
For more than twenty years I have devoted myself almost 
exclusively to the treatment of chronic ailments, and a great 
majority of my patients have been persons who had been 
long ill, and who had resisted the use of medicinal and other 
ordinary medical means. With few exceptions my patients 
have been sent to me by physicians who themselves recog- 
nized the futility of methods of treatment accessible to their 
patients at home, and the necessity of more thoroughgoing 
measures. Not infrequently physicians write me, as did one 
of considerable eminence as a specialist in nervous disorders, 
who, in his letter introducing his patient, remarked, “ I have 
had this patient under treatment for nine years. I have been 
giving him all the tonics known to the materia medica, but he 
is no better ; he gets steadily worse, and I have made up my 
mind that he requires a course of physiological stimulation.” 
This is the situation of the average chronic invalid ; he 
requires, not artificial, but physiological stimulation. This 
sort of stimulation comes from the relief of overburdened 
organs and the facilitation of all the vital processes by careful 
regulation of habits and the application of such therapeutic 
measures as will aid eliminative, recuperative, and other vital 
processes. How this may be accomplished in the various 
classes of chronic cases it is the purpose of this paper briefly to 
outline and illustrate. 
I have accordingly selected a few typical classes of cases 
which are generally regarded as either incurable or so intrac- 
table that little or no encouragement can be properly given 
the patient, and will proceed to outline briefly the special 
therapeutic measures and regimen which I have found suc- 
cessful in dealing with each particular class of cases. THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
5 
BRIGHT’S DISEASE. 
There is no disease in which more satisfactory results can 
be obtained by treatment than in this disease, formerly regarded 
as so hopeless. Of course it is not to be expected that a 
patient suffering from Bright’s disease will be made absolutely 
sound; that is, that that portion of the.kidney structure which 
has been actually destroyed will be reproduced. Nevertheless, 
in quite a large proportion of cases, every morbid symptom 
may be made to disappear, and the patient may be established 
in a routine of diet and regimen by the careful following of 
which he may enjoy excellent health and even long life. 
In the treatment of. this disease, it must be remembered 
that in at least a large proportion of chronic cases the disorder 
is the result of the long-continued irritation of the kidneys by 
toxic substances absorbed from the alimentary canal, these 
having been received with the food, or developed in the stomach 
and intestines by abnormal fermentations. 
The relation of stomach and intestinal fermentations and 
decompositions through the action of microbes to disorders 
of the kidney and to so-called uric-acid poisoning has been 
very clearly pointed out by Bouchard in his wonderful work, 
‘‘The Auto-Intoxications,” as well as by his pupil, Rogers, 
who has carried still further the interesting researches begun 
by his master. The kidneys are in a crippled condition, hence 
are able to do less work than healthy kidneys ; and they are in 
a condition very susceptible to irritation, hence especially liable 
to injury from irritants of any sort, whether received from with- 
out or developed within the body, or from disturbances of the 
circulation resulting from exposure to cold. Keeping these 
facts in mind, the general plan of treatment pursued with this 
disease, is as follows : — 
1. Absolute rest in cases of acute Bright’s disease and 
during acute exacerbations in chronic cases. Exhaustion from 
muscular effort must at all times be carefully avoided on 
account of the danger of overwork to the kidneys in the elimi- 
nation of fatigue poisons. 
2. An aseptic dietary, which means the absolute disuse of 
flesh foods, especially fish, oysters, and shell-fish of all kinds, 
which readily undergo decomposition in the alimentary canal, 6 
IHE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
producing toxins and ptomains which require elimination 
through the kidneys, and hence may increase their work to 
an enormous degree. 
Bouchard called attention to the fact that the fecal matter 
of persons eating meat have a toxicity several times greater 
than that of a person living upon a non-flesh diet. In experi- 
ments made a few years ago I found that a flesh diet increased 
the toxicity of the urine fourfold. In this case the amount of 
urea in the urine was also increased fourfold, or from twenty- 
four grains to ninety-six grains per diem. 
In a case investigated by Bouchard in which there was 
clear evidence of intestinal infection, the urine was found to 
contain fifty times the normal amount of toxic substances. 
Kidneys exposed to such an influence as this must necessarily 
be irritated and imperiled to a high degree. In extreme cases 
it is necessary to confine the patient to the simplest and least 
toxic foods. A milk diet is sometimes advantageous. Gilbert 
and Dominici showed that an exclusive milk dietary in two 
days reduced the number of microbes from 67,000 germs per 
milligram to 1350. I have found, however, that in many 
cases ordinary milk does not agree well with patients, espe- 
cially in cases of dilatation of the stomach. The reason of this 
has been shown by Glenard to be that the dilated stomach is 
likely to retain fragments of hardened casein until decom 
position is set up. In such cases I have found kumyzoon, an 
improved kumyss, of great advantage. Kumyzoon is made 
by the addition of a pure culture of yeast to sterilized milk 
without the addition of sugar. The milk is then charged with 
CO„ and the resulting fermentation is practically non-alcoholic. 
Dr. Backer, in a remarkable work entitled “ I>es Ferments 
Therapeutique ” (“ The Therapeutic Ferments "), has shown 
that yeast-cells possess the property of phagocytosis, which in 
part explains the special value of kumyzoon as a means of 
securing intestinal asepsis. 
Fruits, nuts, and farinaceous preparations can ordinarily be 
employed with excellent advantage in these cases, though 
during an acute attack I have found a diet exclusively con- 
fined to milk, buttermilk, or kumyzoon most serviceable. Mus- 
tard, pepper, and condiments of all kinds must be avoided, THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
7 
likewise tobacco, alcoholic drinks, and tea and coffee. Cheese 
and other decomposing foods must of course be excluded from 
an aseptic dietary. 
3. The patient must dress in woolens at all seasons of the 
year, and should carefully avoid chilling the surface. His 
habits must be temperate in every respect. Sexual excesses 
are in the highest degree damaging, and every form of phys- 
ical exhaustion must be avoided as likely to precipitate at any 
moment an acute exacerbation of the disease. 
4. Drugs are of little or no value in these cases. Diuretics 
are in the highest degree detrimental, as well as mineral waters 
of all sorts, because of the crippled condition of the kidneys, 
which need rest and relief rather than additional burdens. 
The patient may drink from two to four pints of distilled water 
daily. Very hot and very cold baths should be avoided. The 
patient should take tepid baths two or three times a week, and 
each day be subjected to vigorous friction of the skin either 
with a dry flesh-brush or with moist salt. 
Care must be taken in the administration of massage, espe- 
cially at the beginning of the course of treatment, as otherwise 
an excessive amount of muscle poisons may be suddenly thrown 
into the circulation. Centripetal friction and superficial knead- 
ing, or fulling, are the most suitable measures. Swedish move- 
ments, breathing exercises, very light calisthenics, and light 
apparatus work in the gymnasium are indicated. It is impor- 
tant, however, that the exercise should be based upon a careful 
determination of the total strength of each group of muscles by 
the dynamometer (see paper by the author entitled “A New 
Dynamometer,” etc.), together with a careful determination of 
the urotoxic coefficient and the coefficient of nitrogen oxidation. 
The latter determination must be carefully made in each case 
at the beginning of treatment, and at frequent intervals while 
the patient is under observation. 
The urotoxic coefficient is determined by injecting the urine 
of the patient into a vein of a rabbit’s ear until death is pro- 
duced, then comparing the amount of urine required to kill the 
rabbit, the weight of the rabbit, and the weight of the patient 
with the total quantity of urine produced in twenty-four hours 
by the patient. The normal coefficient is .46. A low coeffi- 8 
THE CURE OK INCURABLES. 
cient indicates that the kidneys are not able to do the normal 
amount of work in the elimination of poisons, and shows at 
once the necessity for the strictest adherence to asepsis in diet 
and careful attention to all the precautionary measures whereby 
the development of poisons in the alimentary canal may be 
limited, while proper methods are used to increase the efficiency 
of the kidneys without overstimulating them. This is best done 
by means of the warm enema, with the retention of as large a 
quantity of water as possible, by copious water-drinking, the 
use of the wet girdle, or umschlag, massage of the legs, fomen- 
tations over the region of the kidneys, and abdominal massage. 
Case /.—A lady aged sixty-two years. Examination showed 
diminished quantity of urea and enormous amount of albumin. 
When heated in a test-tube with acid, the urine became almost 
solid. This patient had suffered from chronic malarial poison- 
ing, for the relief of which her physician had administered 
large doses of quinine, daily, for some weeks. It was found 
that the administration of quinine always produced a great in- 
crease in the proportion of albumin in the urine. The malarial 
paroxysms, which still continued in full force, were finally sub- 
dued by means of hydrotherapeutic applications, and after a 
few weeks the albumin had entirely disappeared. The patient 
returned home after five or six months, enjoying excellent 
health. The extreme anemia had entirely disappeared, to 
gether with all the malarial symptoms. The patient had gained 
in flesh, had plenty of color in cheeks and lips, and has re- 
mained in good health ever since, now some eight years. 
Case 2. — A young man aged eighteen, suffering from acute 
Bright’s disease, with general dropsy. His friends believed the 
attack to be due to an overdose of turpentine administered by 
a physician while the young man was suffering from an attack 
of typhoid fever. The urine showed an enormous quantity of 
albumin. At the end of three months the albumin had entirely 
disappeared, and the young man has remained in good health 
since, although some fourteen years have elapsed. 
Case 3.— A boy aged fourteen years, suffering from an 
acute attack of Bright’s disease, the cause of which was not 
apparent. There was general dropsy to an extreme degree and 
almost complete loss of vision from retinitis albuminuria. THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
9 
After three or four months’ treatment in accordance with the 
principles above outlined, the albumin had entirely disappeared, 
and the patient has now remained well for thirteen years. 
Case 4.— A young man aged eighteen years, a resident of 
Ontario, had suffered from Bright’s disease for a little more 
than two years. The amount of albumin present in the urine 
was enormous. The patient wras very weak, emaciated, and 
dropsical. At the end of two months he had made excellent 
improvement, was able to walk without inconvenience two or 
three miles at a time, and considered himself almost entirely 
well. He went on a two days’ visit to Chicago, tramped about 
the city all day, and ate several “square meals,” as he called 
them. On his return he complained that he was not quite so 
well. He was confined to his bed in forty-eight hours, and in 
a week was dead, in spite of all that could be done for him, 
evidently the result of dietetic and other foolish digressions 
while in Chicago. 
Case 5.— Mr. J. H. W., aged seventy, for many years a 
smoker, and also addicted to the use of alcoholic liquors, had 
suffered from Bright’s disease for twelve years. Examination 
of the urine showed four and one-half per cent, of albumin. 
The albumin was gradually reduced to one and one-half per 
cent., and finally disappeared entirely at the end of two weeks’ 
treatment. Both alcohol and tobacco were of course inter- 
dicted. 
Case 6.— Mr. P., of Ohio, aged seventeen, had suffered 
from Bright’s disease for two years. Examination of the urine 
showed twenty-five per cent, of albumin. In less than a month 
the albumin has been reduced one and one-half per cent., and 
is still diminishing. He is still under treatment. 
DIABETES. 
Although this malady is quite too often pronounced incur- 
able, or susceptible of only a very moderate degree of control, 
the careful study and management of a large number of cases 
show a cure to be possible in fifty or sixty per cent, even of 
cases in which sugar in considerable amount is found in the 
urine. In diabetes there may be either an overproduction of 
sugar, through excessive activity of the liver, or a lessened 10 
THF. CURE OK INCURABLES. 
oxidation of this element, the system failing to burn up the 
sugar circulating in the blood. There are three things to be 
accomplished: (i) To diminish the supply of sugar; (2) to 
diminish its production in the body; (3) to increase the 
oxidation of sugar. 
Before beginning the treatment in cases of diabetes, the 
exact amount of sugar per day is determined, together with 
the coefficient of nitrogen oxidation and the urotoxic coefficient. 
The simple form of diabetes is readily controlled by restric- 
tion of the dietary and general increase of oxidation processes 
by means of vigorous exercise, massage, Swedish movements, 
cool shower baths followed by brisk rubbing, the Scotch 
douche, the inhalation of oxygen, and the administration of 
oxygen by enemata. 
In the severe forms of diabetes great care must be taken to 
determine whether there is increased or diminished oxidation of 
proteids. The coefficient of nitrogen oxidation is determined 
by the following method: The total nitrogen of the urine is 
ascertained by quantitative estimation. By another determina- 
tion the amount of uric acid and xanthine bases representing 
the unoxidized nitrogen is ascertained. Dividing the unoxi 
dized nitrogen, and from this subtracting 100, gives the per 
centage of oxidized nitrogen, or the coefficient of nitrogen 
oxidation. By subtraction of the unoxidized nitrogen from the 
total nitrogen, the total nitrogen oxidation is obtained. The 
comparison of this amount with the normal shows at once 
w'hether there is an increased or a diminished oxidation of pro- 
teids, and to what extent. 
Increased nitrogen oxidation indicates an excessive amount 
of organic waste, a condition in which cachexia and diabetic 
coma are likely to develop suddenly, on account of the over- 
taxed condition of the kidneys. The urine often contains dia 
betic acid which shows the characteristic red color with chlorid 
of iron. In this form of the disease the patient must rest in 
bed. Even massage and other passive movements are avoided, 
with the exception of careful joint movements and centripetal 
friction. Warm baths, tepid sponging, and tonic applications 
of electricity are administered. The diet consists chiefly of 
kumyzoon or buttermilk and well-cooked preparations of nuts. THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
11 
In diabetes there is generally some marked disturbance of 
digestion occurring at intervals, with an increase of sugar in 
the urine. Such cases require inhalation of oxygen, oxygen 
enemata, cool spray or shower, with friction, massage, static 
electricity, breathing exercise, and manual Swedish movements. 
All violent exercise, such as bicycle riding and vigorous gym- 
nastic exercises, must be avoided. 
An excessive meat diet is objectionable in all forms of dia- 
betes, and especially so in grave cases. In cases of diminished 
oxidation of proteids there is special danger, from the fact that 
the system is not able to relieve itself of the normal tissue poi- 
sons, so that the addition of toxic elements (always present in 
the flesh of dead animals) may be sufficient to precipitate a 
crisis in an attack of coma. Dujardin-Beaumetz and other 
eminent French physicians long ago pointed out the fact that 
an exclusive meat diet is dangerous in diabetes, in consequence 
of the tendency to coma which results from flooding the system 
with the ptomains and leucomains which the flesh of dead ani- 
mals always contains. 
By careful management I have frequently seen the sugar 
reduced from eight or ten ounces in twenty-four hours to only 
a few grams, within a few days. In cases in which the amount 
of sugar is not more than one hundred to two hundred grams in 
twenty-four hours, the sugar may confidently be expected to dis- 
appear entirely in two or three months, if the patient’s co-opera- 
tion is thoroughly secured. Restriction to a diet absolutely 
free from starch is not required, as the system requires a certain 
amount of carbohydrates. The gluten of wheat, either pure or 
with the greater portion of the starch removed, is an invaluable 
food in this disease. But unfortunately most of the gluten 
flours and other gluten preparations offered in this country are 
fraudulent in character, containing practically no less starch 
than is found in ordinary wheat flour. The various prepara- 
tions of nuts and acid fruits are useful in these cases. I am 
making some extended experiments with Soja beans as a dia- 
betic food. This bean is a native of China and Japan, contains 
only eleven per cent, of starch and an equal amount of sugar, 
with thirty-five per cent, of proteid matter in the form of true 
albuminoids, and one per cent, of a very digestible fat. 12 
THE CURE OF INCURARI.ES. 
The following cases illustrate what can be accomplished in 
this disease . — 
Case /.— Mr. A., age thirty-five years, first came under my 
observation some fourteen years ago. At that time he was 
passing nearly eight ounces of sugar daily, was considerably 
emaciated and very weak, being wholly incapacitated for busi- 
ness. By careful application of treatment in accordance with 
the principles above outlined, the sugar almost entirely disap- 
peared, and the patient has since remained in good health by 
following a careful regimen. He is practically well, being able 
to attend to his business regularly. 
Case 2.— Mrs. C., of Ohio, age fifty-four years. On ex- 
amination the urine was found to contain over two hundred 
grains of sugar daily. At the end of four weeks the sugar had 
entirely disappeared, and the patient returned home in excellent 
health. 
Numerous similar cases might be cited. 
EXOPHTHALMIC GOITER. 
This disease, formerly so obscure, is now pretty generally 
conceded to be a disease of the sympathetic nervous system 
involving the thyroid gland, the disturbance of the heart and 
the undue prominence of the eyes being simply especially 
conspicuous features of a malady in which there is a disturb- 
ance of the whole body. In the discussion of a paper by the 
writer, Professor Thompson, one of the leading physicians of 
New York City, recently expressed at the meeting of the 
Academy of Medicine his belief that this malady chiefly 
depends upon the production within the alimentary canal of 
excessive quantities of ptomains and toxins. He had found 
that a milk diet persevered in for some months is almost a 
specific for this disease. He believed its efficiency to be due 
to the suppression of vicious fermentation in the stomach and 
intestines. The writer's experience agrees fully with this view 
of the disease, which has almost uniformly yielded to the appli- 
cation of rational measures of treatment. 
Case /.— One of the first cases which I find in my records 
is that of a young woman aged nineteen years, a resident of 
Michigan, in whom I observed all the characteristic features of THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
13 
this disease, the first symptoms having appeared the year pre- 
vious. Strict attention to intestinal asepsis, with the applica- 
tion of galvanism to the cervical and abdominal sympathetic, 
hot applications to the spine, tepid baths, and massage, effected 
a cure in the course of three or four months’ treatment. The 
patient remained well for a number of years, when a relapse 
occurred, from which, however, she recovered quickly under 
renewal of the same treatment, and with this exception the 
patient has remained well .for the last twelve years. 
Case 2.— Miss R., aged iwenty-two years, exhibited all the 
symptoms of exophthalmic goiter in an advanced stage. The 
first symptoms of the disease had appeared three years before. 
The patient had tried climatic change and all the usual reme- 
dy, having had the advantage of the best medical advice to be 
secured in Chicago, but had steadily grown worse. Abso- 
lute rest in bed, an aseptic dietary, and the employment of 
the other measures suggested in connection with the report of 
the preceding case, resulted in a perfect cure within six months. 
The patient has since married and has had two children. She 
has remained in excellent health. 
INFECTIOUS JAUNDICE. 
This disease is frequently mistaken for gall-stone, a malady 
which generally requires surgical treatment. The researches 
of Dujardin-Beaumetz and others have shown this malady to 
be due to infection of the liver, the result of the extension of 
catarrhal inflammation of the stomach, or chronic gastritis, 
first to the duodenum, and then to the biliary passages. The 
measures of treatment which I have found successful are : — 
A strictly aseptic diet and careful suppression of all irrita- 
ting articles of food, especially condiments, coarse vegetable 
products, cheese, butter, and in severe cases even fermented 
breads; lavage of the stomach, administered from one to 
three times a week in cases of dilatation of the stomach, a con- 
dition very common in this disease; fomentations over the 
stomach two or three times daily; the wet girdle, changed every 
four hours, worn constantly over the bowels ; the Turkish or 
electric-light bath for elimination, the latter being found espe- 
cially valuable as a means of relieving intolerable itching ; the 14 
THE CURE OK INCURABLES. 
wet-sheet pack ; the hot enema twice a day ; and copious water- 
drinking. 
Case i.— Mrs. , of Boston, Mass., aged forty-five years. 
Jaundice had been present for more than two years. Successive 
attacks had occurred with so great frequency that the skin 
had at no time presented its natural appearance since the first 
attack. The urine contained bile in great quantity. Fecal 
matters were clay colored. After application of the measures 
outlined for four months, this patient was restored to excellent 
health, and has remained well for the last four years. 
Case 2.— Mr. L., of Kenosha, came under my care for 
treatment eighteen years ago, having at that time been 
intensely jaundiced for three years. At the end of three 
months he returned to his home restored to sound health ami 
with his skin of the natural color. He has remained in 
health ever since. 
Case j.— Mr. B., a senator from a Western State, fifty-three 
years of age, was not only intensely jaundiced, but greatly ema- 
ciated. His case had been considered one of cancer of the 
stomach involving the liver. By the aid of a few months’ 
treatment, however, this patient made an excellent recovery. 
He gained, while under treatment, forty-six pounds in weight, 
and returned home well, as he still remains. 
LOCOMOTOR ATAXIA. 
Notwithstanding the various specifics which have been 
offered for this disease, it is still generally regarded as an 
incurable malady. Nevertheless, I have seen cases entirely 
recover under appropriate treatment. I find rational meas- 
ures of treatment so efficient that as a rule I have no hesita- 
tion in encouraging a patient that he may expect a very great 
degree of improvement, even though he may not become en- 
tirely well. 
Case i.— Mr. A., of Rhode Island, aged fifty seven years. 
The first symptoms of locomotor ataxia appeared six years pre- 
viously, beginning at the inside of the left hand, traveling up 
the arm and down the trunk. Shooting pains, crises, ataxic 
symptoms, girdling sensation, and impairment of sight gradually 
appeared. At the time the patient was examined the knee- THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
15 
jerk was absent. The patient could not stand with his eyes 
shut, could not walk without a cane, had difficulty in passing 
urine; both primary and secondary pupilary reflexes were 
absent; the plantar reflex was exaggerated, and also sensibility 
to heat and cold. The patient remained in the Sanitarium under 
treatment at the hands of my colleague, Dr. W. H. Riley, for three 
months. Improvement began almost at once. When he left, 
he had gained ten pounds in weight, there was a decided 
improvement in vision, he had discarded his cane, had little 
difficulty in passing urine, and was in every respect greatly 
improved. 
Case 2.— Mr. A., aged forty-six years, entered the Sanita- 
rium for treatment in 1893. He had first noticed ataxic symp- 
toms the year previous; had shooting pains, crises, girdle 
sensation, and incontinence of urine; impairment of vision, 
restriction of the visual field, and other characteristic symptoms 
being also present at the time of examination. The patella and 
skin reflexes were absent. The patient found great difficulty in 
walking even with the aid of a cane. He was under treatment 
ten weeks, during which time he made very great improvement. 
The pains, which had been exceedingly troublesome, had prac- 
tically disappeared, the patient having had but one severe 
attack after beginning treatment. He was able to walk two 
miles without weariness, and to sleep soundly ; the digestion 
was improved, and he had made a gain of twelve pounds in 
weight. The patient continued to improve on returning home. 
On placing himself under treatment again the following sum- 
mer, still further improvement was made. 
Case 3.— Mr. M., of Illinois, aged forty-three years. In 
this case, as in the preceding, the patient gave a history of 
syphilis some years previous; knee-jerk was absent; the 
patient suffered greatly from ataxic pains and from other char- 
acteristic symptoms. He could walk in the dark only with 
very great difficulty, and could not stand with the eyes closed. 
At the end of six months this patient returned to his home 
in good health. When seen twelve years later, his ataxic 
symptoms had not returned, but the knee-jerk was still 
absent. 
Many other similar cases might be mentioned. 16 
THE CURE OK INCURABLES. 
In the treatment of this class of cases, it must be constantly 
kept in mind that the degenerative process which lies at the 
foundation of the disease may be the result of the morbid 
influence of a toxin upon the nutritive processes ; hence the 
patient is subjected to moderate elimination. The electric- 
light bath is found especially useful in these cases, also the 
galvanic bath, local and central application of galvanism, 
static electricity, sinusoidal electrical current, massage, manual 
and mechanical Swedish movements, revulsive applications to 
the spine, suspension, fomentations over the region of the 
abdomen, the wet girdle, and other hydrotherapeutic measures, 
together with especial care in the regulation of the diet with 
reference to asepsis and the improvement of the digestion. It 
is the writer’s belief that if all cases could be placed under the 
proper treatment and regimen at an early period in the disease, 
the majority of patients might be cured. 
CHRONIC RHEUMATISM. 
The observation of a very large number of cases of this 
disease has led me to agree fully with Professor Houchard in 
the belief that this disease owes its origin to morbid intestinal 
fermentations resulting in the production of ptomains, through 
the absorption of which the nutritive processes are perverted. 
Bouchard found dilatation of the stomach in nearly every case 
of chronic rheumatism examined by him. I have not failed to 
find stomach dilatation in all cases of this disease which have 
come under my care within the last six years, since my atten- 
tion was called to the relation of dilatation of the stomach to 
this disease. 
The general plan of treatment followed is this: These pa- 
tients being generally poorly nourished and often anemic, a 
generous, but aseptic diet is required. Careful attention is 
given to regulation of the dietary to meet the conditions of the 
stomach, as determined by a test meal and a careful chemical 
and bacteriological examination of the stomach fluid. 
Associated with dilatation of the stomach, prolapse of the 
abdominal viscera is frequently observed. These conditions 
are to be combated by abdominal massage. (For method of 
abdominal massage, see “ Art of Massage,” by the writer, Mod THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
17 
ern Medicine Pub. Co., Battle Creek, Mich.) General massage 
carefully directed to the joints and surrounding tissues is daily 
applied. When there is much pain or sensitiveness about the 
joints, the massage must first be derivative in character. Later 
vigorous application may be made to the joints themselves, 
combined with fomentations and heating compresses; and still 
later, joint movements are employed. Galvanism, the sinu- 
soidal electrical current, and the application of static electricity 
are of especial service in relieving local pain and swelling. 
Chronic intestinal catarrh frequently accompanies rheumatic 
symptoms. This is generally relieved by an aseptic dietary, 
but sometimes requires, in addition, the daily hot enema, either 
with or without gallic acid in the proportion of a dram to a quart 
of water, as a germicide. 
Experiments made in Pasteur’s laboratory some two or three 
years ago have shown that the membranous-appearing mass of 
mucus discharged in these cases is often almost a pure culture 
of a specific germ. 
Fomentations to the abdomen once or twice daily, with the 
wet girdle, or umschlag, at night, and such general tonic meas- 
ures as the electric or galvanic bath, are used. Short appli- 
cations of the electric-light bath and tonic baths are also 
employed. It is a mistake to resort to vigorous elimination in 
chronic rheumatism. I have frequently received patients who 
had experienced great damage by hot baths of various sorts at 
popular mineral spring establishments and similar resorts. It 
is not an uncommon thing for patients suffering from this dis- 
ease, and so thoroughly crippled as to be unable to help them- 
selves about, to be so far restored that they can walk about 
with ease, and engage in the ordinary duties of life ; but of 
course it is not to be expected that in extreme cases the 
structural bone changes which have occurred, will entirely dis- 
appear. 
Case i.— Mrs. H. entered the Sanitarium in September, 
1880, being almost completely disabled by rheumatism, which 
affected nearly all the large joints. She had suffered from the 
disease from eight to ten years. Acute exacerbations were very 
frequent. At the end of four months the patient returned 
home relieved from pain, able to walk long distances without 18 
THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
difficulty; and when seen last year, she was still enjoying excel- 
lent health. 
Case 2.— Mrs. B., of Missouri, aged forty-seven years. 
The patient was so completely disabled by rheumatism that 
she was confined to her bed. Both limbs were flexed, the 
joints being almost immovable. Her elbow was flexed ; the 
large joints of both arms were also stiffened. The patient had 
been in this condition for several years. By persevering effort 
she recovered the use of her limbs sufficiently for walking, and 
was able to place her hands above her head. She scarcely con 
sidered herself longer an invalid, although there still remained 
some evidences of the disease from which she had formerly 
suffered. 
DYSPEPSIA 
Under this head is included a large variety of functional 
maladies affecting the stomach, which for centuries have been 
treated in a more or less routine manner, and unfortunately, to 
a large extent, are still thus treated. Some cases yield readily 
to ordinary remedial measures, while others are so refractory to 
all means that can be brought to bear upon them under the con- 
ditions of ordinary medical practise that they are pronounced 
incurable. I have, however, frequently succeeded in curing 
cases which had been regarded as malignant disease of the 
stomach, although (if course the fact of recovery showed that 
malignant disease was not present. 
In a careful study of the conditions of the stomach, as 
shown by examination of the fluid obtained after a test meal in 
nearly six thousand cases, I have been able to classify the func* 
tional disorders of the stomach, as regards the disturbance of 
the chemical processes of digestion, into twenty-six distinct 
classes, each of which presents special therapeutic indications. 
A careful chemical and bacteriological examination of the 
stomach fluid obtained after a test meal is the only means by 
which definite and exact indications can be obtained for the 
treatment of functional disorders of digestion. By the aid of 
this mode of investigation, a prescription for diet, treatment, 
and regimen can be made with perhaps greater exactness than in 
any other class of disorders. THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
19 
The facts obtained by such an examination, and which are 
necessary for intelligent treatment of the disorders of digestion 
are : — 
1. The quantity and quality of the gastric juice secreted 
by the stomach. 
2. The quantity and quality of the work done in the diges- 
tion of proteids. 
3. The activity of salivary digestion in the stomach. 
4. The relative rate of absorption of the digested food from 
the stomach. 
5. The presence or absence of abnormal fermentations in 
the stomach, and the character of the ferments present. 
The location and size of the stomach must be determined 
by physical examination. 
I have not space in this paper to undertake an exact de- 
scription of the technique of the methods employed for ascer- 
taining these important facts named. It is perhaps sufficient 
to say that we now possess exact methods by which the data 
referred to can be determined, so that the prescription of 
dietetic and other measures in cases of indigestion, need no 
longer be a matter of speculation or empiricism. 
The quality of the gastric juice is determined by exact 
quantitative chemical estimation, as also the activity of the 
stomach in the digestion of proteids and starch. By these 
quantitative estimations a mathematical basis for exact coeffi- 
cients of the work of the stomach is found. 
It is possible also to determine with the utmost precision 
the amount of fluid present in the stomach at a given time, 
and to determine with accuracy the dimensions of the stom- 
ach. This method, which I have elaborated from a suggestion 
obtained from a French author, consists in introducing into 
the stomach of a patient while fasting, a small proportion of 
water acidulated with hydrochloric acid, or containing a small 
amount of chlorid of soda, iodide of potash, or some other 
substance, the amount of which can be easily estimated. 
Then proceed as follows : After one or two minutes withdraw 
a portion of the contents of the stomach with the stomach- 
tube. Place this aside. Pour water into the stomach until 
it is completely filled, taking careful note of the amount of 20 
THE CURE OF INCURAHI.ES. 
water passed into the stomach. For this purpose I use two 
graduated bottles connected by a Y tube with the ordinary 
stoinach-tube, so that the amount of fluid passed into the stom- 
ach and removed from it can be readily measured. Then with- 
draw as much as possible of the stomach contents, placing it 
in the second glass. By a comparison of the acidity of the 
portion of the fluid first obtained from the stomach with that 
of the second portion, the quantity introduced and the quantity 
first removed, it is easy to determine the volume of the stomach 
and the amount of fluid in it. The quantities involved and the 
formulae to be employed are as follows : — 
Let b represent the amount of the fluid first removed from 
the stomach. Let q represent the amount of distilled water 
introduced into the stomach. Let a represent the acidity of 
the first quantity removed, and a' the acidity of the second 
quantity removed. Let x represent the amount of fluid in 
the stomach at the beginning of the experiment, and y the 
volume of the stomach. Then the following formulae will 
give the results desired : — 
- ° 4-b= the fluid remaining in the stomach at a given time. 
a—a 
Cl* Q 
—— 4-q=y, the capacity of the stomach. 
a—a 
In extensive studies upon dogs and human beings by means 
of experimental test meals, and especially in the study of 
salivary digestion, I have observed many facts of practical 
importance in the treatment of disorders of digestion, and 
have been able to confirm the observations of Roberts, Mosso, 
Chittenden, and others. A few of these facts which I have 
found of the most practical use may be stated as follows : — 
i. The activity of salivary digestion in the stomach de- 
pends (i) upon the thorough cooking of foods; (2) upon 
the thorough mastication of food substances; (3 ) upon the 
dryness of the food substances whereby the salivary secre- 
tion is stimulated; (4) upon the degree of acidity of the 
stomach contents and the rapidity with which the stomach 
contents become acid after the beginning of a meal. In 
hypopepsia the salivary coefficient is low; in hyperpcpsia, 
it is high. THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
21 
2. When proteid digestion in the stomach is deficient in 
quantity or quality, it is not because of a deficiency of pepsin 
or other organic ferments, but because of the absence or 
deficiency of free hydrochloric acid; it is because of a defi- 
ciency of the formation of hydrochloric acid. 
3. In many cases in which there is no quantitative defect 
in proteid digestion there is a formation, in considerable 
quantity, of toxic proteid substances resembling the products 
of normal digestion chemically, but of no nutritive value. 
4. Free acids, with the exception of the weak acids of 
edible fruits, when taken into the stomach, increase the 
functional disturbance in hyperpepsia, and do not lessen the 
disorder in hypopepsia or apepsia. Oxalic acid is particu- 
larly injurious in this respect. 
5. Microbes are not present in the normal digestion of 
sterile food substances, and cannot be regarded as useful in 
the digestive process. 
6. Tea and coffee interfere with the digestion of both 
starches and proteids. 
7. Alcohol in all forms interferes with the digestion of 
proteids. 
8. Mustard, pepper, pepper-sauce, and other so-called con- 
diments do not increase the activity of proteid digestion nor 
the secretion of normal gastric juice. 
9. An aseptic condition of the stomach may exist without 
the presence of free hydrochloric acid, although microbes are 
usually much more abundant in the stomach in hypopepsia and 
apepsia than in hyperpepsia. 
The following cases illustrate what can be done in the 
treatment of the disorders of digestion by the employment of 
rational measures based upon a thoroughgoing scientific in- 
vestigation of the morbid conditions present: — 
Case 1. — The patient, a lady of twenty-eight years, had for 
years suffered from chronic indigestion and resulting malnutri- 
tion. Shortly before coming under my observation she had 
been under the care of a leading Philadelphia specialist for 
several months, during which time she had grown steadily 
worse, until she had become greatly emaciated. Though of good 
height and naturally large figure, her weight was reduced to 22 
THE CUKE OF INCURABLES. 
seventy one pounds. In three months the patient gained forty- 
one pounds in weight. There was a marked improvement in 
respect to the hypopepsia from which she suffered, together 
with other serious symptoms which were dependent upon the 
condition of the stomach. 
Case 2.— The patient, a lady of twenty-six years, from Illi- 
nois, had been a confirmed invalid for three years, during most 
of which time she had been bedridden, and had been growing 
worse for several months. Hy advice of her physician she 
had been living wholly on malted milk. The patient was in 
such a wretched condition when she arrived that it was evi- 
dently necessary to cleanse the stomach by lavage, by which 
a great amount of putrescent matter was removed. A dry diet 
consisting of granose, a twice-cooked preparation of wheat in 
the form of dry flakes, and bromose, a preparation of thor- 
oughly cooked and malted nuts, secured improvement within 
a week, at the end of which time she began to gain flesh, and 
in two weeks gained exactly fourteen pounds. The improve- 
ment was so great that she was able to walk several miles a 
day. This case was of course somewhat unusual in the rapid 
ity with which improvement occurred. 
Case j. — The patient, a professional man, aged about forty 
years, had suffered from indigestion for many years, until he 
was reduced almost to a skeleton, and was unable to attend to 
his business. Examination showed hyperesthesia of the lum- 
bar ganglia of the sympathetic and the solar plexus, anemia, 
dilatation of the stomach, and great intolerance of fat in any 
form. The following table shows the improvement which 
occurred as the result of four months' treatment: — 
Normal Quantitin. 
t. 
j. 
Total acidity 
• 232 
.184 
Calculated acidity 
300 
.182 
Total chlorin 
.418 
.366 
Free HC1 
.054 
.030 
Combined chlorin 
.246 
.152 
Fixed chlorids 
.114 
.184 
Coefficient of albumin digestion 
70 
1.000 
Coefficient of starch 
.67 
.460 
Coefficient of salivary activity 
2.00 
.500 
Fermentation 
6.00 
3 000 
Chlorin liberation 
I. IO 
750 THE CURE OF 1NCURARLES. 
23 
I have in a number of cases seen a normal condition se- 
cured by a few months’ treatment in cases in which hyperpep- 
sia was present in an extreme degree, the total acidity reaching 
over three hundred milligrams per one hundred cubic centi- 
meters of stomach fluid. 
Case 4.— The patient, a young woman, had suffered for a 
number of years with migraine. The physical examination 
showed the stomach to be dilated to a marked degree. The 
chemical examination showed marked hypopepsia, and the 
bacteriological examination gave 1,912,000 microbes to each 
c.c. of stomach fluid. At the end of three months the head- 
aches had disappeared, there was a marked gain in health and 
strength, and the germs had disappeared, the stomach fluid be- 
ing sterile. 
Case 5. — Mrs. G., aged sixty years, suffering from apepsia. 
The chemical examination showed complete apepsia, and the 
bacteriological examination gave over 200,000 microbes per 
c.c. In four weeks the number of microbes was reduced to 
4000 per c.c. 
A large number of similar cases might be cited. 
PROGRESSIVE EMACIATION. 
Cases are frequently encountered in which loss of flesh is 
the principal symptom for which medical relief is sought. Not 
infrequently the patient is unaware of any digestive or other 
functional disorder, but a searching investigation always shows 
some vice of nutrition, the headquarters of which is more fre- 
quently in the stomach than elsewhere. I present a few illus- 
trations of what can be done in cages of this sort. 
Case i. — The patient was a young man, aged twenty-four, 
who had steadily lost flesh for several years. The loss of flesh 
slowly continued for a few weeks after the patient was placed 
under treatment, but he finally began to gain, and a few months 
later had nearly doubled his weight, having gained, eighty-five 
pounds. 
Case 2. — Mr. W., aged thirty years, a resident of Michigan, 
a teacher, had, by chronic invalidism, been reduced almost to a 
skeleton. He was too weak to stand alone, and had, in fact, 
been confined to his bed almost wholly for four months. After 24 
THE CURE OF 1NCURAM.F.S. 
two weeks’ treatment he began to improve, and gained steadily 
for six weeks at the rate of one-half pound daily. At the end 
of this time he considered himself well enough to return home. 
Case3.— Miss I., a young woman twenty-two years old, a 
resident of Michigan, had for a number of years been running 
down, and had finally become so much reduced that her weight 
was only sixty-three pounds. After a few weeks’ treatment the 
patient began to gain, and continued to make steady progress 
in strength and weight until she tipped the scales at one htin 
dred and eighteen pounds. 
Numerous similar cases might be cited, as, for example, 
that of a gentleman who gained eight pounds in ten days; 
a young lady who gained thirty pounds in three months; 
another young woman who gained forty-six pounds in six 
months; and another who gained forty-two pounds in four 
months. 
The general plan of treatment pursued in extreme cases of 
this sort is to give the patient absolute rest in bed, with 
moderate application of massage daily, hydrotherapy, passive 
exercises, such as Swedish movements, and other rational 
measures of treatment. The diet must be of such a character 
as to furnish the largest amount of nutrition with the least 
work on the part of the stomach, and should also contain a 
due proportion of fat-making elements. An abundance of 
cream, rich milk, well cooked grains and fruits, constitute 
an ideal fat- and blood-making dietary for those who are able 
to digest milk. In some cases, however, milk must be inter- 
dicted. Nuts are to be commended. Nuttose, a thoroughly 
cooked preparation of nuts, and bromose are perhaps the 
most fattening of all foods. They are at the same time very 
easily assimilated, as the fat is presented in a thoroughly 
emulsified state, ready for absorption. 
INSOMNIA. 
Inability to sleep is most commonly the result of some dis- 
order of the stomach whereby the sympathetic nervous sys- 
tem, and through it the general nervous system, is disturbed. 
These cases are commonly regarded as suffering from some 
disorder of the nervous system, whereas the real trouble is in THE CURE OF INCURARLES. 
25 
the stomach. The tongue is invariably covered with a dense, 
brown coat, the bowels are inactive, and a bacteriological 
examination of the stomach shows the presence of a great 
number of poison-forming germs. The thorough cleansing of 
the stomach by lavage, a correct dietary, and the employment 
of appropriate measures of treatment, rarely fail to secure 
a prompt disappearance of the leading symptoms. Sometimes 
recovery is very prompt; in other cases several weeks elapse 
before the best results are seen. 
Case i.— The patient, a man upwards of sixty yeifrs of age, 
had for several years suffered from insomnia, until his case had 
come to be regarded as a practically hopeless one. By the aid 
of the measures suggested, however, the patient made an excel- 
lent recovery in the course of a few months. Ten years later 
he was still enjoying comfortable health. 
Case 2.— Mrs. B. had suffered from insomnia for a number 
of years, until her case had come to be regarded as an exceed- 
ingly intractable one. The patient was greatly depressed, and 
had become incapable of attending to even the most simple 
household duties because of the extreme degree of mental con- 
fusion and oppression existing. Four or five months of treat- 
ment restored the patient to sound health, and she still 
remains well. 
Case j.— The patient, a gentleman aged forty-five, had 
slept so little during the year previous to his coming under the 
writer’s observation that he declared he had practically not 
slept at all, he being frequently unable to obtain more than 
half an hour’s sleep for several nights in succession. He had 
become exceedingly depressed, unhappy, and hopeless. By 
careful adjustment of the dietary and various appropriate ap- 
plications of water, electricity, Swedish movements, etc., the 
patient soon began to improve, and in three months was enjoy- 
ing excellent health, and able to sleep soundly six or eight 
hours at night. Great gain in flesh, increase of appetite, 
gradual disappearance of depression and other symptoms from 
which the patient suffered, marked the return to normal con- 
ditions. 
Case 4.— Mr. M., aged sixty-five years, had suffered to 
such an extent from insomnia and mental depression for three 26 
THF. CURE OF INCURABLES. 
years that he had finally come to be regarded as an utterly 
hopeless case; and after spending some time in an insane 
asylum without beneficial results, his case had been pronounced 
one of paresis, and his friends were informed that recovery was 
utterly impossible; although the patient might live for a num- 
ber of years, there would be no improvement in his mental 
condition. Nevertheless, at the end of six months this patient 
was in the enjoyment of excellent health and the best of spirits, 
was sleeping well, and had an excellent appetite. The tongue 
was clean, the digestion good, the bowels regular. Twelve 
years later, although advanced in years, he was still enjoying 
comfortable health, and had suffered no return of insomnia. 
In numerous cases patients suffering from insomnia and 
depression, as the result of disorders of digestion and nutri- 
tion, are committed to an insane asylum as hopelessly incur- 
able cases, and perhaps do ultimately become incurable, who 
might, by timely and judicious application of rational means 
of treatment, have been restored to health and usefulness. 
CHLOROSIS. 
Within the last few years much light has been thrown upon 
the nature of this disease. By the investigations of Meinert 
and others, it has been clearly shown to be a disorder of nutri- 
tion, and probably dependent upon the development of toxic 
substances within the body, whereby the blood-making proc- 
esses are seriously interfered with, the whole body thereby 
suffering through the -derangement of almost every function 
and the development of various morbid conditions. Meinert 
has shown that dilatation of the stomach and prolapse of the 
stomach and bowels are conditions universally present in 
chlorosis. My own studies of this disease have confirmed 
these observations. In the opinion of the writer, this disease 
must be regarded as a true toxemia. Restoration of the pro- 
lapsed viscera to position by skilful application of abdominal 
massage, tonic baths, Swedish movements, gymnastics, a dietary 
adapted to the production of fat and blood, and so far as 
possible the correction of morbid mental and moral conditions, 
have, in the writer’s experience, invariably resulted in a rapid 
return of the patient to a normal condition. THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
27 
A young woman residing in Chicago, aged twenty years, had 
for more than two years suffered from the characteristic symp- 
toms of chlorosis, which had become more and more pro- 
nounced. The patient was in a most wretched condition. 
She had no appetite, and was extremely weak, thin in flesh, 
and anemic. The hemoglobin was barely half the normal 
amount, and the blood count was 3,500,000. At the end of 
six months’ treatment the patient had gained over thirty pounds 
in flesh ; the hemoglobin and blood count were normal; there 
had been a proportionate gain in strength ; and the patient 
returned to her friends in the enjoyment of excellent health, 
in which improved condition she remains after the lapse of 
two years. 
This disease, quite too frequently regarded as a mental 
perversity, is almost invariably found to be connected with a 
hyperesthesia of one or more of the viscera of the trunk. The 
popular idea that hysteria is almost invariably connected with 
disease of the ovaries is an erroneous one, disorders of the 
stomach, liver, and other viscera being quite as frequently the 
seat of disturbance as disease of the ovaries. The disease is 
certainly closely associated with some morbid condition of the 
sympathetic nervous system, and success in its treatment is to 
be found in the recognition of this fact, and in ferreting out 
the source of the sympathetic nerve disturbance. A large 
number of cases might be cited as illustrative of the excellent 
results to be obtained from the judicious employment of careful 
regimen, exercise, baths, and electrotherapy in this class of 
cases. Two or three typical cases will suffice. 
Case i. — The patient, a young woman, aged twenty-five, 
a resident of Iowa, presented a most pitiable object. She was 
nervous to an extreme degree, emaciated, sallow, extremely 
anemic, and so weak as to be scarcely able to sit in an erect 
position when placed in a chair. Vomiting occurred after 
each meal. This symptom was so pronounced and persistent 
that the patient declared she had not kept a mouthful of food 
upon her stomach for three years. Violent hysterical con- 
vulsions occurred at frequent intervals, the patient sometimes 
remaining in a perfectly rigid state without the slightest move- 
HYSTERIA. 28 
THE CURE OK INCURABLES. 
ment for many hours at a time. Ily a judicious application of 
the methods suggested, this patient was restored to such excel- 
lent health that she became able to engage in the ordinary 
duties of a housewife, and was entirely free from the distressing 
symptoms from which she had suffered for nearly ten years. 
Case 2.—The patient, a young woman twenty-six years old, 
had been confined to her bed most of the time suffering from 
what was supposed to be disease of the spine and a great 
variety of nervous symptoms. The spine was found to be 
extremely sensitive its entire length. The lumbar ganglia and 
the solar plexus were sensitive to a high degree. The patient 
had dilatation of the stomach and prolapse of the bowels, anti 
the right kidney was movable. The pelvic organs presented 
no evidence of serious disease.. This patient had been treated 
for years for inflammation of the spinal cord, spinal irritation, 
spinal anemia, and various other morbid conditions of which 
the spinal cord had been supposed to be the seat by the physi- 
cian under whose car6 she had been. When encouraged to 
take exercise, the patient complained of aggravation of the 
symptoms, and gradually became helpless, until she rarely 
stood upon her feet, going about in a wheel-chair whenever she 
could be induced to venture away from her bed. The patient 
was by a few months’ treatment restored to good health, and 
became able to take long walks and enjoy them, acquired a 
good appetite, gained rapidly in flesh and strength, and was 
almost wholly relieved of the spinal irritability from which she 
had so long been a constant sufferer. The greatest relief 
seemed to be afforded in this case by the application of an 
abdominal supporter, whereby the viscera of the abdomen were 
held in place, and the abdominal sympathetic nerve thus 
relieved from abnormal strain, a frequent source of spinal pain 
and irritation. 
Case j.— The patient, Miss S., a resident of Chicago, had 
been for three years confined to her bed almost constantly. 
Several months of this time she had spent in an excellent 
hospital, but without apparent benefit. On examination, I 
found the patient suffering from dilatation of the stomach, 
prolapse of the bowels, rectal irritation, prolapse of the uterus 
and ovaries, extreme nervous irritability, emaciation, exhaus- THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
29 
tion, depression, and indisposition to effort of any sort. She 
was hysterical to quite a degree, and held her friends under 
such complete subjection that it was necessary to isolate her 
from them. In this case the young woman’s trouble had been 
wholly attributed to the diseased condition of the ovaries, and 
it had been supposed necessary to have the organs removed. 
In this case, however, as in scores of similar ones, the applica- 
tion of appropriate measures of treatment demonstrated the 
needlessness of a surgical procedure, as the patient was restored 
to such excellent health that within a year she was able to take 
up work as a teacher in a public school, a position which she 
has now held continuously for a number of years. 
MIGRAINE. 
This disease, which has proved so refractory to medicinal 
remedies of all sorts, yields in a most gratifying manner to the 
persevering application of appropriate measures of treatment. 
In another paper the writer has undertaken to show that this 
disease is due to a disturbance of the great sympathetic nerve. 
This disturbance may be the result of traction upon the abdomi- 
nal ganglia or solar plexus by prolapsed bowels, a prolapsed 
stomach, or a movable or floating kidney; or it may arise from 
the development of toxic substances in a dilated stomach or 
retained fecal matters in a dilated colon. Whatever the source 
of the irritation may be, I have always found an extremely sen- 
sitive condition of the abdominal sympathetic ganglia associated 
with this disease, and in a great number of cases have seen the 
headaches disappear in conjunction with the disappearance of 
the hyperesthetic condition of the sympathetic. Any one who 
will take the pains to examine carefully the condition of the 
abdominal sympathetic by pressure upon the abdominal ganglia, 
which lies against the spine, and may be readily reached by 
deep pressure applied at a point two inches on either side of the 
umbilicus, will be able to verify the statement made with refer- 
ence to the constant association of an irritable condition of this 
nerve with the condition variously known as migraine, nervous 
headache, and sick-headache. 
Case i.— Mr. A., aged forty-eight, had for several years 
suffered from migraine, the attacks sometimes being so severe 30 
THE CURE OK INCURAHI.ES. 
that his life was despaired of, and occurring so frequently that 
the patient was reduced to an extremely wretched condition, 
being greatly emaciated -and a constant sufferer. By advice of 
his physician he had subsisted almost wholly upon a meat diet 
for several years, but his symptoms had grown worse rather than 
better. Under a rational dietary and appropriate treatment, 
consisting of lavage of the stomach, general massage, applica- 
tions of electricity and tonic baths, the patient was very soon 
relieved from his headaches, and made rapid improvement in 
other particulars. In this case it was found necessary to con- 
fine the patient to an almost exclusive diet of kumyzoon for 
several weeks. 
Case 2.— Mrs. H., aged forty-four years, had for several 
years suffered from very severe attacks of migraine, which were 
also accompanied by rheumatic symptoms, general weakness, 
and an abnormal increase of flesh. Thorough application of 
rational measures resulted in the complete cure of this case in 
the course of a few weeks. 
Case 3.— Mrs. E., aged thirty-nine, had suffered for twelve 
years from severe attacks of migraine ; she was entirely cured 
of the headaches after seven weeks’ treatment. 
Case 4.— Mrs. B., aged thirty-five years, had suffered from 
migraine for several years, until she had become greatly reduced 
in strength and general health. Examination of the stomach 
fluid showed her to be suffering from hyperpepsia to a very 
extreme degree. There was dilatation of the stomach and 
general prolapse of the abdominal viscera. The application 
of careful treatment effected a radical cure. 
TIC DOULOUREUX. 
In the writer's opinion, this disorder is closely allied to 
migraine, though differing from it in a very characteristic way. 
The same morbid conditions have been found present in every 
case of this disease which has come under my observation, as 
have just been noticed in relation to migraine. In five typical 
cases which I have had under observation at the Sanitarium, 
dilatation of the stomach has been found present in all, and 
in all cases the tongue has been thickly coated and slimy, and 
the breath foul. The measures of treatment adopted have been THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
31 
the same as those employed in migraine; viz., an aseptic dietary, 
the application of galvanism, the sinusoidal current, fomenta- 
tions, the wet girdle, and the abdominal supporter as a means of 
relieving irritation of abdominal sympathetic, massage, Swedish 
movements, tonic baths carefully administered, and abundance 
of out-of-door exercise. The dietetic and other treatments for 
migraine and also for this disease the writer has fully described 
in a paper entitled “Migraine: Its Cause and Radical Cure.” 
Local applications of galvanism are made to the affected region 
and to the cervix and abdominal sympathetic. Hot and hot- 
and-cold applications to the spine, and fomentations over the 
affected part are also of some service, although the amount of 
relief obtained by local applications during an attack is not so 
great as might be expected. In some cases I have found it 
necessary to make an application of chloroform to each of the 
sensitive points from which the sudden darting pain seems to 
radiate. In some instances there is but one such point, while 
in others, several are found. Chloroform is administered by 
means of a hypodermic syringe, five to fifteen drops being in- 
jected into each point. This injection is sometimes followed 
by neuritis and a temporary paralysis, from which, however, 
recovery occurs after a few weeks. I have succeeded in curing 
this disease in every case in which the patient has remained 
under treatment for a suitable length of time. 
Case i.— Mrs. T. F. H., aged twenty-eight, had suffered for 
three years from attacks of tic douloureux, which had become 
more and more severe until for about a year she had been an 
almost constant sufferer. The upper lip was swollen to such 
a degree that she could not use a spoon in eating, and the 
jaws could not be opened more than a quarter of an inch in 
consequence of the constant muscular spasm. By applica- 
tion of the measures noted, this patient was in three months 
entirely cured, and has remained well for more than fifteen 
years. 
Case 2.— Mrs. H., of Indiana, first came under my care for 
the relief of migraine with which she had suffered for twelve 
years. She had had the benefit of the most distinguished med- 
ical counsel, but without relief, and had been informed that she 
could not expect a cure. She was confined to her bed, and was 32 
THE CUKE OK INCURABLES. 
an almost constant sufferer from the disease. Thorough appli- 
cation of the measures of treatment above outlined resulted, 
however, in a perfect cure in the course of six months. A year 
or two later the patient, while staying for a week at a mineral 
spring resort, taking frequent hot baths, and disregarding the 
dietetic rules laid down for her, experienced a severe attack of 
tic douloureux. From this time the attacks recurred regularly 
once or twice a week for several weeks, and she returned to the 
Sanitarium for treatment. The application of the same meas 
ures previously employed for migraine resulted in a permanent 
cure of the tic douloureux, and the patient has remained well to 
the present time, now some seven years. 
Case j.— Mrs. A., aged forty-three years, suffered from tic 
douloureux for five or six years. Several serious operations 
were performed for the excision of the affected nerve, but with- 
out benefit. After several months' treatment, which included 
two or three injections of chloroform at the*painful points, 
the patient was entirely relieved of the disease, and has now 
remained cured for three years. When last seen, she had 
gained twenty pounds in flesh, and was enjoying excellent 
health. 
Case 4.— Mr. C. had suffered from most excruciating 
attacks of tic douloureux for twenty years. During this time 
these attacks had occurred many times daily, with the excep- 
tion of an interval of two or three weeks some years previous. 
After three months’ treatment this patient was so greatly 
relieved that he expressed himself as practically well, and 
returned to his home. There was still some tenderness of the 
tissues of the affected region, but he was relieved entirely of 
convulsive attacks, and after returning home reported that 
improvement was still continuing. 
EPILEPSY. 
1 have long been convinced that idiopathic epilepsy, at 
least the convulsive seizures of this disease, are more or less 
directly due to the development within the system of abnor- 
mal toxic substances or normal tissue poisons in abnormal 
quantities. This belief has led me to give special attention 
to diet and eliminative treatment in the management of this THE CUKE OE INCURABLES. 
33 
class of cases. More than twenty years ago I was convinced 
of the importance of a strict dietary regimen in these cases, 
and especially of the necessity of prohibiting the use of such 
articles as meat, cheese, shell-fish, and other substances which 
readily undergo decomposition in the stomach and intestines. 
In the discussion of a paper which I recently presented before 
the New York Academy of Medicine on the bacteriology of the 
stomach, Dr. Roberts, a practitioner of large experience, 
remarked that he had succeeded in curing a number of cases 
of epilepsy by the exclusion of flesh food from the dietary, 
and by the application of hygienic measures, vigorous muscular 
exercise, free water-drinking, daily baths, especially moderately 
warm baths. The galvanic bath and the electric-light bath I 
have found particularly serviceable in these cases. 
Case i.— Mr. S., a young man aged twenty, suffered for 
three years from epilepsy, the result, he believed, of a partial 
sunstroke while he was working in the harvest-field. The 
patient was put upon an aseptic dietary and a course of treat- 
ment indicated, with the result that in a few months he was 
entirely relieved of the epileptic seizures, and he has now 
remained well for nearly twenty years. 
Case 2.— Miss M., a young lady aged twenty, had suffered 
from epileptic attacks for five or six years. By the advice 
of two leading specialists the ovaries had been removed, 
although there was no indication of disease in these organs 
other than the fact that the attacks were most likely to occur 
at the menstrual periods. The patient was no better, however. 
Every two or three weeks she suffered from a rapid succession 
of seizures, often remaining in this state for two or three days, 
an attack occurring as soon as she fell asleep, as the result of 
any slight noise or other disturbance. I determined the uro- 
toxic coefficient just at the close of one of these attacks by 
injection of the urine into the veins of a rabbit. The result 
showed that the urine possessed more than double the normal 
amount of toxicity. The effect of injection was to produce a 
characteristic epileptic attack in the rabbit at the close of 
which the animal died one-half minute from the beginning of 
the injection. The adoption of a strict aseptic regimen and 
vigorous eliminative measures, including copious water-drink- 34 
THE CURE OK INCURAHI.ES. 
ing, resulted in a great amelioration of the symptoms in 
this case. 
Now that the fad of operating for epilepsy has disappeared, 
medical measures whereby the disease may be controlled and 
its inconveniences mitigated, are likely to receive more careful 
and considerate attention than has been the case for forty 
years past. 
NERVOUS ASTHMA. 
In so-called nervous asthma the patient is unquestionably 
suffering from a toxic condition which manifests itself chiefly 
through the symptoms characterizing this disease. The phys- 
ical examination has, in my experience, shown dilatation of 
the stomach or prolapse of the stomach and bowels to exist 
in each case, and to be a constant condition in this disease. 
Lavage of the stomach, an aseptic dietary, the use of intes- 
tinal antiseptics, and the application of measures to build up 
the general health and relieve the irritation of the abdominal 
sympathetic nerve, which always exists in these cases, have in 
my hands proved uniformly successful in relieving this very 
distressing condition. 
Case /.— Miss L., of Michigan, a young woman twenty 
years of age, had suffered several years from asthma. On 
examination, 1 found prolapse of the stomach and bowels, and 
extreme hyperesthesia of the lumbar ganglia of the abdom- 
inal sympathetic. Pressure upon these ganglia and upon the 
pneumogastric was sufficient to provoke an attack of asth- 
matic breathing at any time. The application of the measures 
above outlined resulted in a cure in a few months. 
Case 2.— Mrs. 1)., of Michigan, a lady aged forty, had suf- 
fered for many years from asthma, which she supposed to be 
due to disease of the lungs. On examination the patient was 
found to have extreme dilatation of the stomach, prolapse of 
the stomach and bowels, and movable right kidney. There 
was a high degree of irritability of the lumbar ganglia. The 
case was entirely cured by the adoption of an aseptic dietary, 
the employment of suitable hydrotherapeutic measures, and the 
application of an abdominal supporter. She has not been 
troubled with asthma for eight or ten years. THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
35 
SUPPOSED PELVIC DISEASE IN WOMEN. 
A careful study of the cases of more than ten thousand 
women supposed to be suffering from diseases peculiar to 
their sex, has convinced me that in a very large proportion of 
cases the suffering is not due to pelvic disease or displacement 
of the pelvic organs, as is generally supposed, but to a dis- 
turbance of the sympathetic nerve, resulting from prolapse of 
the stomach or bowels, a movable or floating kidney, or 
dilatation of the stomach. In a paper entitled, “The Value 
of Exercise as a Therapeutic Means of Treatment of Pelvic 
Diseases of Women,” which I presented before the American 
Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, I reported a 
considerable list of cases in which patients suffering from 
various forms of supposed pelvic disease were cured without 
surgical measures, and with very little local treatment, by the 
application of measures for the improvement of the general 
health and the correction of the general visceral prolapse, the 
existence of which in connection with these cases I have 
pointed out in the paper referred to and in various subse- 
quent papers. 
I think I have clearly established, by an extended series of 
observations, that displacement of the pelvic viscera is almost 
invariably accompanied by displacement of the bowels and 
other abdominal viscera, and that the displacement of the ab 
dominal viscera precedes the dislocation of the pelvic organs, 
and is by far the greatest factor in the production of numerous 
symptoms which women often describe under the general term 
of “weakness,” such as backache, a dragging sensation across 
the abdomen, pain in the side, etc. 
In many cases in which a cure of pelvic diseases is supposed 
to be due to operations for the repair of a slight tear in the 
perineum or the cervix, the benefit which the patient is sup- 
posed to derive from the operation is really due to the three or 
four weeks spent in bed in a horizontal position, whereby the 
dislocated abdominal viscera have an opportunity to return to 
their normal places, the restrictions of dress being removed, 
and the position such that gravity does not act adversely. The 
return of the prolapsed organs to their normal places relieves 36 
THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
the strain upon the abdominal sympathetic, and thus alleviates 
the various symptoms from which the patient suffers. 
In not a few of these cases the application of a properly 
adapted abdominal supporter is of far greater importance than 
a surgical operation or any sort of local treatment. Indeed, 
the various local congestions, catarrhs, etc., to which the pelvic 
organs are subject, are largely due to the displacement resulting 
from the overweighting of these organs by the prolapsed viscera 
of the abdominal cavity. 
In another paper I have undertaken to deal with this ques- 
tion more at length, and to show the futility of many of the 
procedures which are commonly employed in the treatment of 
this class of disorders. I might cite hundreds of illustrative 
cases, but will omit doing so, as I have already presented many 
such cases in connection with other papers, particularly a paper 
presented before the International Periodical Congress of 
Gynecology and Obstetrics, entitled, “The Relation of Static 
Disturbances of the Abdominal Viscera to Displacements of the 
Pelvic Organs.” 
OBESITY. 
There is certainly no class of disorders in which the appli- 
cation of pure medicinal agencies is more clearly futile than 
in the treatment of obesity. In this disease, as has been 
clearly shown by Oertel and other European investigators, 
diet, regimen, and the application of physiological remedies, 
are the only means which can be relied upon for tangible and 
permanent results. In treating this class of patients, I first re- 
strict the diet, both in quantity and in kind. In some instances 
I allow the patient to eat almost anything he chooses, provided 
he eats but one thing. I have secured excellent results b; 
placing the patient upon an exclusive diet of grapes, apples, or 
some other fruit. A diet of kumyzoon, buttermilk, granosc, 
zwieback, gluten biscuits, but one article being taken at a time, 
has also proved efficient. When a patient takes but one arti- 
cle, he soon tires of it, so he is quite certain not to take too 
much. If bread is permitted, it must be eaten dry only. It is 
best taken in the form of zwieback or gluten biscuit. The 
patient is not allowed to take fluids at meal time, but he may 
drink at other times as much as he likes. THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
37 
Next to diet, exercise is the most important matter. The 
patient should exercise to the extent of decided weariness two 
or three times a day. Before breakfast, or rather, before eat- 
ing, is the best time for exercise. Walking is, as a rule, not 
sufficiently vigorous work to reduce the flesh appreciably unless 
the patient has an opportunity to climb hills. Cold baths, 
electric-light baths, Turkish baths, and other eliminative meas- 
ures used in moderation are useful, but care must be taken in 
the use of hot baths, or injury will be done. Hot baths should 
always be followed by a cool spray or shower, and for many 
persons the cold shower or spray is to be preferred. It is an 
excellent tonic, and stimulates the oxidation processes. 
Case i.— Mr. S., a lawyer residing in South Carolina, had 
for several years weighed over three hundred pounds. He 
recently found himself rapidly gaining in flesh, and at the 
time he came to the Sanitarium his weight was three hundred 
and fifty pounds. A few weeks sufficed to reduce his weight 
more than one hundred pounds. 
Case 2.— Mrs. M., a lady forty-five years of age, had for 
some reason been steadily gaining in flesh until she had be- 
come, as she said, “prodigious.” Though short in stature, 
she weighed over two hundred and twenty-five pounds. A 
thorough course of treatment resulted in steady loss of flesh 
until the patient’s weight dropped below one hundred and 
seventy-five pounds, when she found herself very comfortable, 
and suspended treatment. 
It is not wise to carry the reduction of flesh to the original 
weight, as the system accommodates itself to the increase of 
flesh, and injury might be done either by the too rapid re- 
moval of an excess of flesh or by an excessive reduction in 
flesh. A very fleshy person should never undertake to reduce 
the flesh to within less than twenty-five or thirty pounds of the 
original weight. When this plan is adopted, the patient’s 
general health improves instead of diminishes, as it does in 
cases placed under starvation methods and many other of the 
various special methods adopted for the reduction of flesh. 
The results are permanent, provided the patient will carefully 
follow the modified regimen laid out for him at the end of the 
Course of treatment, 38 
THE CURE OK INCURABLES. 
CONSUMPTION. 
Notwithstanding the great number of specifics which have 
been brought forward for the cure of this disease, including 
serum treatment of various forms, pulmonary tuberculosis still 
claims about one seventh of all the victims of disease in civi- 
lized countries, a fact which must be regarded as a reproach 
to modern sanitary science, considering the length of time 
which has elapsed since the contagiousness of the disease was 
fully established. That ordinary medical means accomplish 
little or nothing in the cure of this disease is a fact too well 
known to need mention. Tubercular disease of the skin, of 
the bones, and of other parts readily accessible to surgical and 
other remedial measures, is not easily cured ; and when the 
seat of the malady is in a part so inaccessible as the structures 
of the lungs, the difficulty of dealing with it becomes still 
greater. 
Numerous acute observers have called attention to the fact 
that consumption really does not arise in the lungs, but finds 
its foundation in a lowered condition of the body, which thus 
becomes a prey to the parasitical microbes to which the name 
of Koch is attached. 
Impaired digestion, resulting in impoverishment of the 
blood, defilement of the tissues by an excessive production 
of ptomains and other toxic substances in the alimentary 
canal, is undoubtedly the starting-point of pulmonary con 
sumption in a large proportion of cases. Sedentary habits, 
with resulting stagnation and deficient lung exercise, are other 
important means whereby the bodily resistance is lowered 
and tubercular disease of the lungs invited. Careful adjust- 
ment of the dietary to the condition of the stomach and the 
needs of the body, carefully regulated systematic exercise, 
massage, Swedish gymnastics, manual Swedish movements, 
gymnastics with or without the aid of special apparatus, the 
judicious employment of hydrotherapy, proper application of 
electricity,— these must be regarded as the most efficient 
measures in dealing with this disease ; but even these meas 
ures do not always succeed except under the most favorable 
conditions. THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
39 
I have, however, seen so many cases of recovery from this 
dread malady by the employment at the Battle Creek Sanitarium 
of the measures named that I determined several years ago 
to secure, if possible, the same advantages for patients in a dry 
and elevated region. Within the last two years the establish- 
ment of a well-equipped sanitarium, under the same auspices, 
at Boulder, Colo., has afforded opportunity for observing the 
progress of patients under rational treatment at an elevation of 
between five and six thousand feet. The large number of 
recoveries which have occurred, and the astonishing rapidity 
with which they have taken place in many cases, has convinced 
pie that by a combination of thoroughly rational and physio- 
logical treatment with climatic advantages, a cure may be 
secured in seventy-five or eighty per cent, of all cases of con- 
sumption when treatment can be begun in the early stages of 
the disease ; and in perhaps forty or fifty per cent, recovery 
may be expected in cases in which the disease has attained to 
the second stage before treatment is begun. Recovery may be 
expected in a small proportion of cases even when the disease 
has made still greater advancement. 
Case i.— Rev. G. T. This patient came under my care in 
the autumn of 1866. I found a cavity as large as a large hen’s 
egg in the left apex. The patient was expectorating freely; 
portions of the yellow elastic tissue and great quantities of pus 
were constantly present in the sputa. He had an even tem- 
perature of 103°, pulse was ninety to one hundred, breath ex- 
ceedingly short. The patient was greatly emaciated, and 
scarcely able to walk. I pronounced the case a hopeless one, 
and advised the patient to return home, but he refused to do 
so, and insisted upon receiving treatment. He showed so 
much pluck and determination that I thought I ought to give 
him a chance. The result was that in four months the pa- 
tient returned home with a normal temperature, only a slight 
cough, very little expectoration, and pulse sixty. He was able 
to walk several miles, and to resume his profession as a cler- 
gyman. After a few months more spent under my care, by 
my advice he went to Colorado to reside. For several years 
I heard from him frequently, and he always represented 
himself as enjoying good health. He may not now be 40 
THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
living, but I am certain that he enjoyed a good many added 
years of comfortable life as the result of rational treatment. 
Case 2.— Rev. J., another clergyman, aged forty years, 
showed The first symptoms of tuberculosis four years ago. I 
urgently advised him to place himself under treatment, but he 
declined to do so. The disease progressed for a year and a 
half, when several hemorrhages, great emaciation and loss of 
strength, high temperature, and a harassing cough compelled 
him to seek advice. After a few weeks’ rest and treatment 1 
sent him to Boulder, Colo., to our branch sanitarium there, where 
he was able to secure the advantages of rational and physiolog- 
ical treatment as above outlined, with the result that in six 
months he was restored to good health. He has since resided 
in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he is acting as business manager 
of a sanitarium devoted especially to the treatment of this class 
of maladies. 
Case j.— Mrs. B., case of pulmonary and laryngeal tuber- 
culosis. The patient’s age was thirty-two years. The physical 
examination showed extensive tubercular deposit at the upper 
part of the left lung. There were moist rales. The patient 
had entirely lost her voice, and could only whisper; was greatly 
reduced in flesh and strength, and confined to her bed most of 
the time. After a few weeks’ treatment I sent this patient to 
the Colorado Sanitarium at Boulder, where, after one or two 
relapses, her health seemed to become established upon a firm 
basis. She has since returned to her home in Kentucky, and 
continues in good health. 
A considerable number of similar cases might be reported, 
showing the benefit to be derived from rational treatment com- 
bined with climatic advantages. 
BEDRIDDEN NEURASTHENICS 
Neurasthenia, though commonly treated as a disease, is, 
in the opinion of the writer, merely an assemblage of symptoms 
which have sometimes one, sometimes another, morbid condi- 
tion for their foundation. For the most part the symptoms of 
neurasthenia may be directly traced to disturbances of the 
sympathetic nervous system. The most prominent causes of 
these disturbances are : — THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
41 
. The contact of stimulating, irritating substances gener- 
ated in the stomach and intestines with the sympathetic nerve 
fibers found in the mucous membrane lining these organs, and 
to reflex disturbances arising from this source of irritation. 
2. Circulation of similar poisons in the blood and tissues, 
whereby they reach the sympathetic nerve-centers. 
3. Irritation of the sympathetic nerve-centers, particularly 
the solar plexus and the lumbar ganglia, by a traction of the 
prolapsed stomach, prolapsed bowels, prolapsed liver or spleen, 
and floating kidney or depressed pelvic organs. 
In the treatment of neurasthenia it is necessary to look 
carefully both for the cause of the nerve disturbance and to its 
removal. Hundreds of nervous women are annually subjected 
to operations for repair of minute injuries of the cervix or 
perineum without the slightest relief, when a thorough course 
of massage, with careful replacement of the viscera by a skilled 
manipulator, together with proper regulation of diet, exercise, 
and suitable baths, are able to effect a rapid cure. I have had 
under my care some scores of such cases within the last twenty 
years, and might easily fill a good-sized volume with the records 
of successes in cases which had previously resisted the ordinary 
measures of treatment, including various operative procedures. 
Case 1.— Miss M., of Michigan, had been bedridden for 
six or seven years, and had been long regarded as an incurable 
case. The patient was emaciated to an extreme degree, and 
suffered with a long category of neurasthenic symptoms, 
which need not be here recounted. At the end of three 
months the patient had gained thirty-seven pounds in flesh, 
and had made a proportional gain in strength and general 
vigor. The neurasthenic symptoms had wholly disappeared, 
and she was practically well, requiring only some further 
gymnastic training and tonic baths for a few weeks to restore 
her to excellent health. 
Case 2.— Mrs. B., aged thirty-eight, a cultured lady of 
highly nervous temperament, through the strain of life in a 
large city and numerous family cares, had become reduced to 
a state of nervous wretchedness such as I have seldom seen. 
In this case, the nervous irritability was so great that the 
patient would frequently fall unconscious as the result of a 42 
THE CURE OK INCURABLES. 
sudden noise or unusual sight. The patient complained of 
disturbance of the perception of color, everything about her 
frequently appearing green, yellow, or red. Occasionally she 
was attacked by total blindness for the period of half a minute 
or more. On examination, the patient was found to have a 
dilated stomach, prolapsed bowels, and some displacement of 
the pelvic viscera. She had been under constant treatment for 
the pelvic disorder for a long time, but without benefit. By 
the application of an abdominal supporter, and the employ- 
ment of proper measures of treatment the patient was restored 
to good health, and still continues so after the lapse of four or 
five years. 
Case j.— Mrs. M., aged 
twenty-seven years, had been 
for six or seven years a com- 
plete invalid ; she was con- 
stantly afflicted with morbid 
fears. She could not endure 
to be alone, was sleepless, 
depressed, and constantly 
haunted with a fear of death. 
At the end of four or five 
months’ treatment the pa 
tient returned home enjoy- 
ing excellent health ; and 
although several years have 
since elapsed, she still re- 
mains well. 
Lexer mcal Device roe locating the Low Be 
Bourne or thk Stomach. 
I might prolong this paper to an almost indefinite length in 
reporting various forms of nervous disorders, the uric-acid and 
other diatheses, of chronic disorders of the bladder in men and 
women, of prostatic disease in men, and many other condi- 
tions, in those who have visited the Sanitarium for relief after 
having sought it in vain for long periods under the conditions 
available at home. 
I wish, in conclusion, to say, as at the outset, that I claim 
neither special skill nor the possession of any unique or peculiar 
methods of treatment by which success may be obtained In the THE CURE OF INCURABLES. 
43 
treatment of cases which have been regarded as incurable; but 
that I attribute the success which I have had the pleasure of 
constantly meeting, in dealing with 
this class of disorders, wholly to the 
judicious regulation of diet, regi- 
men, and individual habits, in con- 
nection with the application of the 
resources of sanitary methods, par- 
ticularly those measures which may 
properly be termed rational or physi- 
ological, and the use of which may 
be, to say the least, most conve- 
niently managed in a well-equipped 
and scientifically conducted sani- 
tarium. 
In connection with the above 
paper, the writer presented and 
described two new instruments : — 
1. An instrument for locating the lower border of the stom- 
ach in cases in which this cannot be done by palpation or 
clapotement. This instrument consists of a tube resembling 
an ordinary stomach-tube, 
in one end of which is 
arranged an electrical de- 
vice whereby a humming 
or buzzing sound is pro- 
duced when an alternating 
electrical current is passed 
through it. Passing the 
tube into the stomach, it is only necessary to locate the sound 
by the stethoscope as the tube is passed in different directions, 
to outline the lower border of the stomach. 
2. The abdominal supporter, constructed somewhat on the 
principle of a hernial truss, the relaxed abdominal wall being 
treated as a double hernia. 
Natural Abdominal Supporter. 
Supporter, Showing Pad in Back.