PeSt? ■-.-■■■ •-•■■»■ for*!:':.): -.'•'■••• . - ruB' SSL iri''^5S''..'":,'''i - •"^•-""-i^'' .... -t^n-'^n'-r"v■'' '" ;^^ifet> 0-;V V." •r i" '■ :i ■ ?PK': ■jt i., ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY WASHINGTON Founded 1836 Section - Sumter .. £ -4_ ..fT. y?„>£=T= Fohm 113c, W. D.. S. G. O. 3—10343 (Revised Juno 13, 1936) HOME TALK ABOUT THE HUMAN SYSTEM—THE HABITS OF MEN AND WOMEN—THE CAUSES AND PRE- VENTION OF DISEASE—OUR SEXUAL RELATIONS AND SOCIAL NATURES; EMBBAC1NG yEDicAL Common Sense APPLIED TO CAUSES, PREVENTION, AND CURE OF CHRONIC DISEASES—THE NATURAL RELATIONS OF MEN AND WOMEN TO EACH OTHER—SOCIETY— LOVE—MARRIAGE—PARENTAGE—ETC., ETC. EDWAED B. FOOTE, M.D., MEDICAL AND ELECTRICAL THERAPEUTIST ; AUTHOR OF " MEDICAL COMMON SENSE," AND VARIOUS PUBLICATIONS ON RUPTURE AND HERNIA ; CROUP ; DEFECTIVE VISION J INFORMATION FOR THE MARRIED ; ETC., ETC. --------------^-W.--„ EMBELLISHED WITH TWO HUNDRED JLLUSTRATIONSr, *- LIXlUIlY »• NEW TORK:^^^' WELLS & COFFIN, 432 BROOM'S'sTEEET, SAN FRANCISCO: H. H. BANCROFT & CO. LONDON: JOHNSON, FERGUSON & CO. 1870. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870. By EDWAPvD B. EOOTE, M. D., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. "Common Sense," I am aware, is quoted at a discount; especially by the medical profession, which proverbially ignores every thing that has not the mixed odor of incomprehensibility and antiquity. Medical works are generally a heterogeneous compound of vague ideas and jaw-breaking words, in which the dead languages are largely employed to treat of living subjects. Orthodoxy in medicine con- sists in walking in the beaten paths of ^Esculapian ancestors, and looking with grave contempt on all who essay to cut out new paths for themselves. Progress is supposed to be possible in every thing except medicine; but in this science, which all admit has room for improvement, the epithet of " Quack" is applied to every medical dis- coverer. I trust I may prove worthy of the denunciations of the bigot- ed. This work is written for the amelioration of human suffering, not for personal popularity. To uproot error, and do good should be the first and paramonnt aspiration of every intelligent being. He who labors to promote the physical perfection of his race; he who strives to make mankind intelligent, healthful, and happy, cannot fail to have reflected on his own soul the benign smiles of those whom he has been the instrument of benefiting. My intention in preparing this work is to supply a desideratum which has long existed, i. e., a medical work, reviewing first causes as well as facts and ultimate effects, written in language strictly mundane, and comprehensible alike to the rustic inmate of a base- ment and the exquisite student of an attic studio; and if successful in fulfilling the promise of the title-page, I have too much confidence in the intelligence of the masses and the erudition of the unpreju- diced scholar to believe that it will be received with unappreciation and indifference. Many of the theories which these pages will ad- vance are certainly new, and antagonistic to those of "oldfogyism," iv PREFACE. but it does not follow that they are incorrect, or unworthy iho con- sideration of the philosophical and physiological inquirer. They are founded upon careful observation, experiment, and extensive medical practice, and if the truth of the theories may be judged by the suc- cess of the latter, then do they unmistakably possess soundness as well as originality, for living monuments to the skill and success of the author have been and are being daily raised from beds of sick- ness and debility in every part of the United States. If these re- marks sound boastful, be not less ready to pardon the conceit of a successful physician than that of a victorious soldier. The successful military chieftain is notoriously conceited; is it not as honorable and elevating to save life as to destroy it ? If a man may boast that he has slain hundreds, cannot his egotism be indulged if he has saved the lives of thousands? I shall claim the soldier's prerogative, for when medical charlatans at every street corner are blowing their trumpets, it does not behoove the successful physician to nurse his modesty. What I write, however, shall be written in candor, and with an honest intention of enlightening and benefiting humanity. It was with the foregoing preface that the author, about twelve years ago, issued a medical work bearing the title of Medical Common Sense—a book of about 300 pages, and something less than 100 illus- trations. When that volume first made its appearance, some of my pru- dent friends shook their grave heads, and predicted for the author pecu- niary failure and professional disgrace. Like those of many other prophets, their predictions proved to be only croakings, and the expected martyr soon found himself surrounded by hosts of new friends and swarms of new patients. While awaiting the popular verdict, after the first issue, one of the oldest and most noted clergy- men of New York called at my office for the avowed purpose of assuring me how much he was pleased with the publication, and his appreciation possessed greater value to me because he had studied medicine in his youthful days, with the view of fitting himself for practice. He pronounced "Medical Common Sense" a refreshing contribution to medical literature, and expressed a hope that it would obtain a large circulation. I breathed easier, for the splendid phy- PREFACE. V eique, generous countenance, cultivated manner, and commanding presence of the first juror gave to his encouraging words the color and impressiveness of authority, and I almost felt as if the popular verdict had already been rendered; nor was this feeling delusive, for as the book continued to circulate, letters came in daily, like the droppings of the ballots on election days, from intelligent men and women in all parts of the country, thanking me for the information I had presented in language which could be comprehended by the masses of the people. The appreciation of the latter has been attested by the fact that over two hundred and fifty thousand copies have been sold, a circulation which I venture to affirm has been attained by no other medical work of the same size in this or any other country. While these books have, as I believe, benefited their numerous readers, the latter have in turn greatly enlightened the author. My correspondence with the people has often exceeded one hun- dred letters per day, and the personal experiences and observations which have been confided to me by these numerous correspondents have enabled me to form some idea of the popular needs, and to supply, still further, that physiological instruction which is so greatly wanted to make mankind healthy and happy. In this revision, it has been my aim to present answers to pretty nearly all the ques- tions which have been put to me during the past twelve years, and to recommend such measures for individual and social reform as will prove morally and physically beneficial. To fulfill my duties in these respects, I could not make a volume that would popularly be regarded as suitable for the- centre table. Nor yet, is it a work that should find a place on some obscure shelf. It seems to me that the family library is not an inappropriate place for it. How far the heads of families may be willing to allow it to circulate among the younger members, it must be left for them to determine ; but, if in- telligent parents had had my experience, they would place this book in the hands of all 'children who are capable of being interested in it. In other words, they would take no pains to conceal it from children of any age, because only those who understand it will be- come interested, and all possessing this degree of comprehension are liable to obtain erroneous and injurious information upon the same topics through injpure and corrupting channels, though much care be exercised to prevent it. This is a fact which a large correspond- vi PREFACE. I ence with young people has impressed upon the mind of the author, and would command the earnest attention of all parents and guard- ians, if they possessed the means of knowing that the writer does. I have received enough lamentations from the young of both sexes, resulting from their indiscretions, to fill these pages, and many of their letters do not hesitate to charge their parents with cruel neg- lect, in keeping from them knowledge of such vital importance. I am a father, and I have written nothing in this book that I desire to conceal from my children. One of the most gratifying evidences that I have pursued the right course thus far toward them in this one particular, is the fact that they approach me familiarly upon all physiological questions that interest them, and do not hesitate to consult me with reference to the most delicate matters appertaining to their physical organizations. It strikes me that this is as it should be; and when a parent cannot place himself or herself in this fa- miliar attitude to a child, it becomes even more necessary that some book containing physiological information suited to the comprehen- sion of the child be placed within its reach. If this work is adjudged unsuitable, may be , other works Can be found that will answer the purpose, although I doubt if there is another book wherein the relations of all the organs of the system to each other, and those of the moral nature to the physical body, are more faithfully traced. For the adult, this work contains information which no man or woman can afford to do without, when it may be obtained at a price comparatively so trifling. If the physiological deductions and social views of the author are dissented from, the valuable facts upon which they are based remain, and the reader is at liberty to use them to sustain opinions and suggestions which he may adjudge more accept- able to the popular mind. Any thing, every thing—that the human family may grow wiser and happier. E. B. F. COISTTEISTTS. PART I. DISEASE-ITS CAUSES, PREVENTION, AND CURE. OPENING CHAPTER. Disease and its Causes. PAGE Opening words........................ 25 Our planet........................... 25 Its load of human suffering........... 25 The tyranny of disease............... 25 The Causes of Disease Are mental, blood, and nervous derange- ments........................... 26 The brain capitol of the nervous system 27 The nerves telegraphic wires......... 27 How the mind sends its telegrams..... 27 How quickly it does it................ 27 The brain a reservoir of electricity___ 28 The stomach a galvanic battery....... 29 Other sources of animal electricity.... SO Opening words....................... 40 Ignorance. A vehicle loaded like a city omnibus.. 40 Conveying disease to the human system 40 The world in the character of "blind- man's buff"...................... 41 Ignorance of two kinds............... 41 Where ignorance begins its work...... 42 How children are conceived.......... 42 Life and disease thrust upon them..... 43 What next ?.......................... 43 Ignorance of young women............ 4-1 PAGE How mental troubles produce disease.. 31 What the blood is made of............ 34 The heart the capitol of the circulatory system........................... 35 Also the reservoir of the blood........ 35 How it pumps the blood out and in... 35 The capillary system described........ 35 How the blood bui Ids up the body..... 36 What becomes of the waste matters___ 36 The dumping grounds of the system.. 36 How blood derangements cause disease 36 How the secreted enemy opens the sys- tem to contagion................. 37 The cause of fever and ague........... 88 What is necessary for good health..... 39 " Nature's calls" imperative........... 44 The coyness of young people.......... 44 The ignorance of grown-up children... 45 Physiological ignorance............... 45 Its effects upon women............... 45 Schools must ultimately redeem us .... 45 Violating the Moral Nature. Sympathy between the moral and phys- ical man.......................... 46 Moral strength produces physical strength.........; .....,......... 47 CHAPTER II. The Causes of Nervous and Blood Derangements. vm CONTENTS. r-AGE Mind your conscience, and not your neighbor.......................... 47 Mankind not run in one mould........ 47 A sense of right makes one invincible. 47 Moral neglect mars the features........ 4S Muck-wisdom, dirt, and property...... 43 Its value when disease comes......... 50 Effects of untruthfulness and injustice on health........................ 50 Nations suffer from wrong doing....... CO Individual reformation necessary...... 52 "Paying off in their own coin"....... 53 Effects of revenge on health........... 53 The Food we Eat. How food is converted into bone, mus- cle, etc........................... 54 The curious dishes of some people___ 15 Caterpillar soup puppy stew, etc...... 55 Maguey butter made from yellow worms 56 Emperor Maximilian induced to try it 56 Pork bad for the blood................ 56 Hogs not made to eat................. 57 The use Christ made of them.......... 57 People leaping down their own throats. 58 Swine are scrofulous.................. 58 Pork is wormy....................... 5S The name of the worm............... 59 Its effects when lodged in the system.. 59 A proposition to cook it to death...... 59 A new theory respecting trichinse..... GO Dr. Adam Clarke's grace at a pig dinner 62 Reasons why hogs are unhealthy...... 63 Diseases produced by pork eating..... 61 All animal food condemned by many.. 65 Its moderate use uninjurious.......... 65 Horse meat at Hamburg.............. 66 Meat makes men pugnacious......... 66 The controversy between meat-eaters and vegetarians................... 67 The theory of the writer.............. 63 Mr. Bergh on meat-eating............. 71 People eat too much grease............ 72 Conduct depends upon food.......... 72 Bonaparte and his poor dinner......... 72 Protracted intervals between meals should be avoided................ 73 Sensible views advanced by a writer .. 73 Preston King's dietetic habits........ 74 Further advice on diet................ 74 The Liquids we Drink. What every person drinks per annum.. 75 The beverages used by different nations 75 Authors and orators often topers...... 76 Tea and coffee....................... 77 When first introduced................ 77 What old Lo Yu said of tea........... 77 Who may drink tea.................. 78 Who may drink coffee................ 7S How tea and coffee are adulterated___ 79 How adulterations may be avoided___ 79 Malt beer .............. ............ 80 Who are benefited by malt liquors___ 80 The adulterations of beer............. 81 Vinous and distilled liquors.......... SI Have produced much good and mischief 81 Their popularity accounted for........ 82 Alcoh'.l a poison and a preservative___ 82 Beneficial to scrofulous people........ 82 Cases in which alcohol is beneficial___ 83 Distilled liquors injurious to many___ 84 Why they are so...................... 84 Alcohol disease....................... 84 Physicians should be careful in prescrib- ing alcohol....................... 85 The adulterations of distilled liquors.. 85 Drunkards not properly treated...... 86 How imprisonment affects the inebriate S7 A plain way for their reformation..... 87 Milk................................. S3 The difference between woman's and cow's milk....................... 88 Valuable hints to mothers............. 88 Adulterations in milk................. 89 The milk of diseased animals......... 90 Pure milk not good for every one..... 90 Buttermilk and its therapeutic value.. 90 Water............................... 91 Its impurities cause blood diseases___ 91 The effects of limestone water......... 92 The waters of the juniper swamps___ 98 Mineral springs and their value....... 93 Water poisoned by perspired and re- spired gases...................... 94 The water of leaden pipes............ 94 The effects of ice-water............... 94 The best rule in using water.......... 94 The danger in drinking from brooks... 95 The Atmosphere we Live in."1 How much the lungs take in annually. 95 How air promotes vegetable growth... 95 Air can make or unmake a man....... 96 What air is composed of.............. 96 The electricity of the air.............. 97 Electrical condition in dry weather.... 97 Electrical condition in damp weather.. 97 Evidence sustaining the author's posi- tion .............................. 98 Victor Hugo describes an equinoctial storm........................... 98 Philosophy of insensible perspiration.. 99 No book teaches this................. 100 Dry weather promotes electrical radi- ation............................. 101 A popular error refuted............... 101 The lungs aid the stomach............ 103 Why persons breathe harder in sleep.. 103 Greater proneness to disease in the sleeping than in the waking state. 103 The reason explained................. 104 Scrofula rendered contagious through the medium of the air............ 105 Professor Faraday's experience in a crowded room................... 105 Pure air as necessary as pure water.. .. 106 What Horace Mann said of badly venti- lated school-rooms................ 107 How nature purifies the air........... 107 Injurious effects of stove heat........ 103 Professor Youmans' opinion.......... 108 Dr. lire's experiments................. 103 Experiments of French savants....... 108 Heating by steam loss objectionable... 110 CONTENTS. IX PAGE Nothing like the old fire-place........ 110 Grates best of modern improvements. 110 Permanency of impure air............ 110 A hint to mechanics who work in metal 112 Shops should be aired daily........... 112 Churches after as well as before service 112 Advice for everybody................ 112 Clothes we Wear. The human being comes into the world rudely............................ 112 Old Dame Nature immodest.......... 113 How the poor baby is treated......... 113 The effects of certain clothing on health 114 Fashion has knocked out people's brains 114 Flora McFlimsey laughs at women in barbarism........................ 115 Women in barbarism laugh at Flora McFlimsey...................... 115 The Bloomer costume.l.............. 115 Men robbed women of the breeches,.. 110 Men in petticoats in the 15th century.. 116 Why long skirts are unhealthful....... 116 What Dr. Harriet M. Austin says.....117 The experience of another female writer.......................... US Comments on low-necked dresses.....120 Killing children with kindness........ 120 Dr. Frank Hamilton's fling at the cos- tume of men..................... 122 Knit shirts and drawers unhealthful... 123 Bed flannel better than white.......... 123 The number and value of the pores___124 Rubber and skin garments unhealthful 125 Patent leather injurious.............. 125 A lady in the " Home Journal " look- ing at gentlemen"s feet........... 126 Second-hand clothing a medium of disease.......................... 126 Clothes made from shoddy............ 127 We need rag inspectors............... 127 Some reformers recommend nudity___127 Experiment being tried in Ireland___ 123 Spartan customs...................... 129 Rules to be observed in dress......... 129 Bad Habits of Children and Youth. Seeds of disease sown in childhood___130 What candies are colored with........131 What they are flavored with.......... 132 Bad posture in sitting................ 132 Going to school too young............ 133 Going barefoot....................... 134 Remarkable case of poisoning by a bone 134 Wrong to sleep with old people....... 136 Vital electricity of the child absorbed. 136 King David knew the effects......... 136 Old men marrying young wives....... 137 Diseased and healthy children should not sleep together................ 137 Prevalence of masturbation........... 137 The terrible effects.................. 133 Children should be properly instructed 140 Standing on the head................. 140 Injurious effects of................... 141 Turning round to become dizzy....... 141 How to make healthy men and women 141 Bad Habits of Manhood and Womanhood. pagt: Good and bad habits.................. 141 The use of tobacco.................... 142 Fashionable women getting into the habit............................ 143 The habits of poets, preachers, etc___ 143 Dipping tobacco...................... 143 How it'is done........................ 143 Its fatal effects in some cases........143 Tobacco a medicinal plant............ 144 Injurious when habitually used........ 144 The testimony of various writers...... 144 Tobacco causes impotency............ 147 This proposition illustrated........... 148 Smoking alters the form of the mouth. 148 Other fashionable poisons............. 149 Tight lacing—its effects............... 149 How the power of the lungs may be tested............................ 150 God's works are perfect............... 151 The outspoken sentiments of a woman 151 Medicine taking...................... 155 Origin and effects of patent medicines. 155 The law of temperaments in medicating 156 Inscription on an English tombstone... 157 Arsenic eating........................ 157 Turning night into day............... 157 Why man should lie down at night... 15S Explained on electrical principles..... 158 Fast eating........................... 160 How a Yankee eats................... 160 Liquid should not be drank with food.' 160 Holiday stuffing and midnight dinners. 161 How people abuse their stomachs___162 Fruit and light food for public dinners 162 Habit second nature................., 163 Remarkable illustrations.............. 163 Sexual Starvation. A startling essay..................... 164 Who will turn up their noses......... 164 Two classes will comprehend.......... 164 A male and female element in all na- ture .............................. 165 The universal attraction between the two.............................. 165 How it finds expression............... 165 The sexual characteristics of different persons explained.................165 Sexual association beneficial.......... 166 The essentials to support life.......... 166 Four essentials to physical and spiritual health........................... 166 One of which is sexual magnetism___ 166 Effects of sexual isolation............. 166 Upon the shakers..................... 166 Upon nuns.......................... 197 Upon females in factories............. 16S Upon old maids...................... 168 Upon various classes.................. 168 Benefits of sexual magnetism in disease 169 The temptations of young men........ 171 Men and women want something they know not what........ ........... ]72 And take to narcctics................. 173 A remedy suggested.................. It3 X CONTEXT?. Prostitution. PACK Its moral and physical effects.......... 174 How disease is generated ............ 173 Is prostitution necessary f............, 1T7 The causes of prostitution............ 1T8 Families -upported by it..............l^1 How girls are seduced................ ls'^ Where reform should commence*..... 183 Abandonment of the courtesan unchris- tian ............................. ISfi The midnight mission................ iS6 Unhappy Marriage, Destroys the tone of the nervous and vascular fluids.................... 188 Curious statistics..................... 188 Effects on offspring...........,....... 1S9 Impure Vaccination. When the practice of vaccination origi- nated ........................... 190 The countrywoman's whim........... 190 The first discovery valuable.......... 190 Use only the vaccine from the cow ... 193 Adulterated Medicines. The baseness of medicinal adulteration 194 The extent of adulteration............ 194 Patients make ugly faces at their fam- ily doctors..."..................... 196 Brutality and Inhumanity. Their effects on the nervous system... 197 The impulse to kill and inflict pain___197 How the magnetism of man influences animals below him................ 198 Human and animal ferocity will die together.......................... 198 Physical effects of inhumanity........ 199 Evil influence of legal murder........ 199 The practice ef the ancients.......... 201 Prevention A text from Harriet Martineau........ 216 I Fight for good health................. 216 The gnmps who run the physical ma- chine ............................ 217 Providence takes away............... 217 This proposition disproved ........... '217 Our Heavenly Father the author of all good............................. 219 How about the dear baby............. 219 Its death accounted for................ 219 How to have Healthy Babies. Infirm people should not have children 220 Few are hopelessly incurable......... 221 How healthy people have diseased chil- dren............................. 221 PAGE Drowning versus hanging............. 203 Theatrical tragedy injurious to many.. Mi Health. Its dissipations induce disease......... 204 Dr. Hall's theory refuted ............. 204 Health begets wealth, instead of wealth besetting health.................. 205 A lesson from Socrates................ 206 Dr. Channing's view.................. 207 Failures in Business. Destroy the harmony of the nervous system.......................... 207 The brain compared to a bank........ 208 Tne organs compared to merchants.... 208 A physiological " panic "..............208 Failure after failure followsin the wake of the defaulter.................. 210 His conduct carries thousands to pre- mature graves.................... 210 How to avoid failures................. '211 Excessive Study. Overloading the mind................ 211 Literary world full of physical wrecks. 211 Excessive Labor. The system needs rest................ 212 One day per week set apart for rest by all nations....................... 212 Advice to sewing-women............. 213 Melancholy. People keen pet griefs...........--- 214 Some feel best when they feel worst.. . 214 Melancholy disturbs the nervous system 214 The value of a laugh................. 214 Conclusion of Chapter II... .•.......... 214 Causes of disease like insects........ 215 They drop into every thing........... 215 of Disease. | Advice to pregnant women........... 222 General hints to be observed.......... 224 How to Preserve the Health of Children. What to do after the baby arrives.....226 The popular delusion about clothing... 220 The baby kicks the clothes off........ 227 The reason why...................... 227 Valuable hints on baby raising........ 223 The food of children..................230 What a mother shou d be............. 230 Rev. O. B. Froth ingham's idea........ 230 Advice about nurses.................. 231 Bathing mid amusing children........ 2H1 Guarding tuem from injury .......... 232 CHAPTER III. CONTENTS. xi PAGE Don't dose tnem...................233 The punishment of children.......... 234 Dietetics for Old and Young. Stimulating diet bad for children...... 235 Self-evident philosophy regarding diet. 235 Simple rule for the baby, the child, the man, the aged..................... 235 Fasting injurious.................... 237 How to regulate the bowels with food. 238 The Physiological Instruction of Children. Results of physiological ignorance___239 How it may be overcome............. 239 A new plan proposed................. 239 Mental and Physical Recreation. Necessary to preserve health.......... 241 Idleness not recreation................ 241 Benefits of horseback riding.......... 242 Women should ride astride........... 244 Remarks on dancing.................. 245 Men and women should commingle in exercise... ..................... 246 Light gymnastics..................... 247 Swimming........................... 249 Christianity and Paganism 6hould be married.......................... 252 Sleep. Its value to health .................. 252 Insanity from want of sleep........... 254 How to go to bed..................... 254 Cleanliness. PAGE A preventive of disease............... 255 Nature's sewers should be kept active. 256 Pure Air. The value of the pure breath of heaven 257 Air baths............................. 253 How to keep pure the air of the sick- room ............................ 259 Sunshine. The instinct of a potato............... 2J9 A tadpole could not become a frog with- out sunshine...................... 259 Its value to the sick.................. 260 An overdose, sunstroke............... 261 How to avoid it....................... 261 A Good Temper. Its value to health.................... 262 Chronic grumblers never well......... 263 Petulance worse than grumbling.....208 Violent temper worse than petulance.. 264 Don't slop over...................... 264 Keep the Feet Warm. The prevalence of cold feet.......---265 How this condition affeets health..... 265 How to preserve the warmth of the feet.............................. 266 Artificial heat injurious............... 266 How to cure chronic cold feet......... 266 Spring Renovation. Habits of mankind make it necessary.. 268 Taking bitters........................ 269 An injurious remedy................269 The proper course to take............. 270 Concluding suggestions of the chapter. 270 CHAPTER IV. Common Sense Remedies. Introductory words................... 272 Redlicld describes the natural physician 273 Vegetable Medicines. The trees, herbs, etc., possess all the me- dicinal properties of minerals..... 273 The bone turned into a flower......... 274 Vegetation possesses sensorial power.. 276 Its life is like your morning nap....... 270 Paracelsus the Adam of the medical world............................ 270 The origin of the term " Quack "...... 217 Mercury as a remedial agent.......... 273 Its injurious effects exhibited......... 273 Medical men worshiping the metal calf............................ 281 The allopath owning up.............. 231 " Medicine a humbug"................ 231 How the animals doctor themselves... 284 Cultivated herbs worthless............ 284 Therapeutic Electricity. Its value as an auxiliary agent......... 285 Dr. Ure's theory refuted.............. 283 The philosophy of respiration........287 Electricity must be skillfully applied,. 28S A rap at old fogies.................... 296 What constitutes a good operator.....297 The testimony of distinguished writers 300 Animal Magnetism. Is it a humbug ?..................... 302 You say you believe so............... 302 Evidence' that you do not.............302 Animal magnetism employed in Japan 303 Its beneficial effects.................. 304 " The p'ayer cure".................... 305 Bad people cannot employ magnetism ruccessfully...................... 307 Names of scientific men who believe in animal magnetism............. 303 Observations of the author...........808 Xll CONTENTS. Water. tt u • PAGE Held in estimation in all ages......... 809 Priessnitz made it a one "cure all''___309 Valuable only as an auxiliary.......... 810 Philosophy of the " Water cure "...... 310 Explained on electrical principles.....310 The testimony of Faraday...........311 Who are injured by hydropathy.......311 People commit suicide with water..... 812 The hard raps they receive............ 816 What Voltaire thought of the doctors. 316 What a reverend gentleman said of him 316 The Indian joke on the doctor........ 317 The non-thinking booby class........318 Why the people lack confidence....... 318 Doctors " Jacks at all Trades." There should be three distinct branches in the medical profession......... 819 What constitutes a surgeon........... 319 A physician in acute disease.......... 319 A physician in chronic disease........ 819 Female Doctors. Fitness of women for the profession.. 321 A prescription for conservatives....... 321 The natural qualifications of women.. 322 Opening words........................ 381 Why the family physician is unsuccess- ful.............................. 331 How a surgeon acquires his reputation 332 Why a man of medicine must acquire his reputation slowly............. 332 How the invalid becomes discouraged.. 333 Medicated Inhalation. TAOB Valuable assistance in treating pul- monary diseases.................. 818 Good for nothing alone............... 314 Conclusion. Successful doctors don't ride one hobby 314 Different constitutions require different remedies.,,.,,,,,,,,,,....,...... 315 Women who have become noted In medicine......................... 322 A startling proposition................ 323 Women don't want female doctors___ 324 Men have little confidence in masculine doctors.......................... 324 What is sauce J'or the goose is sauce for the gander....................... 825 How the thing can be fixed........... 325 Rapacious Doctors. Sharks of the profession.............. 826 Your money or your life.............. 826 Wrong to alarm patients.............. 827 A painful illustration given............ 327 A striking case of humbug........___ 327 How the dishonesty of a physician may be detected ...................... 829 Conclusion of Part 1.................. 829 What is Chronic Disease ? Vague notions about it............ ggg What Hahnemann said of it..''.'."'.'..... 334 How Webster defines it............... 334 The true definition............,"..... 334 How to overcome chronic disease!... 335 CHAPTER V. Doctors. PART II. CHRONIC DISEASES-THEIR CAUSES AND SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT. OPENING CHAPTER. Chronic Diseases. CONTENTS. xiii CHAPTER II. Chronic Diseases of the Breathing Organs. PAGE The importance of these organs....... 336 The process of breathing explained___337 How it arterializes the blood.......... 338 Chronic Catarrh of the Head. How it obstructs breathing...........339 The prevalence of the disease......... 340 The profession befogged about it...... 340 The curious notions of the ancients... 340 The popular remedies................ 340 Easy to account for catarrh........... 341 When it may be regarded as chronic.. 341 The proper treatment of catarrh...... 84;2 Chronic Affections of the Throat. A peep into the throat................ 343 Avoid cauterization.................. 344 The immediate and predisposing causes 344 Gargles afford only temporary relief... 345 Local treatment not sufficient___..... 345 Chronic Bronchitis. An obstinate, but curable disease...... 345 Bronchitis mistaken for consumption.. 347 Valuable advice......................347 Asthma. Incorrect views concerning it.........349 Not such a puzzle after all............ 350 PAGE Its nature explained.................. 350 Its successful treatment.............. 351 Consumption. Terror in the name....................351 Is it an incurable disease 1............. 351 The nature of the disease............. 352 What are tubercles....................353 Treatment of chronic diseases of the breathing organs................. 354 The Dutchman's'dog-liver oil.........355 Dyspepsia a common companion of con- sumption ........................ 356 A hint to cod-liver-oil doctors......... 356 The atmosphere best for consumptives 357 How traveling improves the patient... 358 Eastern and southern slopes of moun- tains beneficial.................. . 358 Theodore Parker to Dr. Bowditch.....359 The value of Mr. Parker's testimony.. 362 The influence of liquor upon consump- tive patients...................... 362 Hemorrhage of the lungs curable...... 362 Persons may live with one lung.......363 President Day a consumptive in youth 864 Had ulcers and cavities................ 364 Was cured and lived to ninety-five___364 Cheerfulness essential to a cure........ 364 How the lungs work................. 364 How the lungs may become paralyzed. 3G5 The proper treatment of lung affections 366 Ordinary drugging injurious.......... 866 CHAPTER III. Chronic Diseases of the Liver, Stomach, and Bowels. Opening words ..................... 368 The process of digestion plainly de- scribed ................ .........368 Chronic Affections of the Liver. Liver the largest organ in the body... 370 The cause of torpidity................ 370 Torpid livers most common in the South and West.................. 371 Why it is so.......................... 371 How to avoid the disease.............. 372 The negro not subject to the disease... 373 Why he is not........................ 373 How his nose, lips, and skin protect him............................. 373 Advice to Western and Southern friends 374 Hepatalgia; what it is................ 375 Grub in the liver..................... 376 Consumption of the liver............. 377 Its cause and detection............... 377 Inflammation and enlargement of liver 37S Liver derangements cause constipation 378 The correct treatment of liver affections 379 Dyspepsia. The immediate causes................ 380 The predisposing causes.............. 381 Fat dyspeptics.. ..................... 382 Nervous dyspepsia.................... 3S2 Dyspeptic symptoms................. 383 A dyspeptic caunot be a practical Chris- tian.............................. 333 Lean dyspeptics...................... 383 The management of dyspepsia........ 384 Constipation. The course of food followed from the inlet to the outlet................. 886 How the waste matters are expelled... 386 The immediate causes of constipation. 387 The predisposing causes ............. 387 How constipation injures the procrea- tive system ...................... 388 How it affects both sexes.............. 388 xiv CONTENTS. FTM /• PAGE The formation of fecal plugs........... 869 How to remove them................. 889 Disagreeable effluvia of constipated people.......................... 390 Advice in regard to food.............. 390 Chronic Diarrhoea. The disease described................. 892 The causes........................... 393 Indiscreet treatment................. 394 What should be done................. 394 Hemorrhoids or Piles. The rectum described................ 394 Where piles locate themselves........ 395 Itching piles......................... 395 Tumorous and varicose piles.......... 395 Bleeding piles .......................395 Immediate causes of piles............396 Bad habits at the closet............. 396 Ttie predisposing causes of piles...... 397 Remedial agents...................... 3i)B Fistula in Ano. PAGE Tts cause............................. 399 Its management...................... 400 Stricture of the Rectum. Its cause............................. 400 Its symptoms........................ 401 Its treatment........................ 40I Falling of the Rectum. The disease described.................401 Its cause and management............ 401 Ulceration of the Bowels. Its causes and symptoms...... .......401 The proper remedy.................. 402 Intestinal Worms. The human family wormy............402 How to get rid of them.............., 403 CHAPTER IV. Aches and Pains. Heartaches and headaches............. 404 Acres of aches........................ 404 Bilious Headache. Child born without a head............ 404 Bilious headache common............. 405 What produces it..................... 405 Its effects ........................... 406 No person need suffer with it.........406 Nervous Headache. What causes it....................... 407 Its treatment......................... 408 Congestive Headache. Who are most liable to it.............408 The remedy.......................... 409 Neuralgia. As well look into Robinson Crusoe as into medical books for its true pa- thology .........................409 Its nature—successful treatment...... 410 Rheumatism. This disease never correctly understood 411 A self-evident explanation given...... 412 The nature of acute rheumatism...... 413 Chronic rheumatism explained.......413 Treatment........................... 413 CHAPTER V. Affections of the Eyes and Ears. The importance of eyes and ears...... 415 Hard to get through the world without them............................ 415 Old Eyes. How the sight becomes impaired...... 415 How to preserve the sight............ 420 How to restore it..................... 421 Near Sight. Valuable hints to near-sighted people.. 422 How near sight may be improved.....423 Chronic Sore Eyes. The mechanism of the eye described.. 423 Interesting to the plainest reader...... 423 How inflammation affects the eyes.... 424 How sore eyes are induced......... The treatment of chronic sore eyes. Amaurosis. Its nature and cause............... How its approach is indicated...... Hints to those affected............. Cross Eyes. Good for schoolmasters...... Troublesome to other people. Their treatment ............ Other diseases of the eye___ 425 425 426 426 426 426 427 427 427 Defective Hearing. How we are made conscious of sound 428 The organs of the ear plainly described 428 Cau.-es of defective hearing........... 4J9 How roaring in the ears is produced.. 402 Advice to deaf people................. 43a CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER VI. Diseases of the Heart. One of Artemus Ward's jokes........434 How people are liable to be mistaken.. 435 PAGE Causes of palpitation ............=... 435 Advice to invalids.................... 436 CHAPTER VII. Chronic Affections of the Urinary Organs. The urinary organs plainly described.. 437 Bridget and the water-pipes.......... 438 Man and his water-pipes.............438 Diseases of the Kidneys. Chronic inflammation of the kidneys.. 439 Chronic weakness.................... 440 Consumption of the kidneys.........440 Bright's disease...................... 441 A remarkable cure.................. 441 Grub in the kidneys................. 442 Affections of the Ureters. Diseases of the tubes................. 443 Affections of the Bladder. Chronic inflammation of the bladder... 443 How the neck of the bladder may be af- fected ............................ 444 Paralysis of the bladder............... 445 Gravel............................... 446 Gonorrhoea and Stricture. How contracted..........,........... 446 Gonorrhoea innocently caught......... 447 The symptoms in men................ 447 Symptoms in women................. 447 '• Infallible recipes"................... 448 People stiictured by them............ 448 Stricture of the urethra illustrated___449 What causes stricture................ 449 Treatment of diseases of the urinary organs.......,,.................. 450 CHAPTER VIII. Private Words for Womeni Opening words...................... 451 The prevalence of uterine diseases___453 Derangements of the Monthly Flow. Mothers should counsel their daughters The function of menstruation......... Wnat frightened girls have done...... When menstruation commences...... Symptoms preceding menstruation___ "The turn of life " explained......... It often takes place prematurely....... A common fallacy exposed............ What is the use of menstruation...... An interesting explanation............ Relationship between the breasts and uterine organs.................... Irregular and painful menstruation--- Immoderate flowing or flooding....... Insufficient or slight menstruation___ Suppressed menstruation............. How to distinguish suppressed men- struation from pregnancy...... Menstrual derangements should not be neglected ........................ Advice to sufferers................... Leucorrhcea. Tin's difficulty described.............. 460 Its debilitating tendency.............. 461 The predisposing causes.............. 461 Drolleries respecting the hymen...... 464 The hymen a cruel and unreliable test of virginity...................... 465 The natural purpose of the hymen .... 467 The treatment of leucorrhcea......... 469 Falling of the Womb. Co-existent with civilization..........470 Local symptoms not always present... 471 Valuable hints to suffenj-s............ 472 Ulceration of the womb.............. 474 Polypus of the womb ................ 474 Dropsy of the womb.................. 474 Chronic inflammation of the womb .., 476 Vaginal Affections. The vagina described................. 476 The diseases to which it is subject___476 Some plain remedies presented........ 477 Nymphomania. Excessive amativeness on the part of the female.........................477 The causes........................... 478 Females thus suffering deserve sympa- thy..................... ....... 47S My mode of treatment............... 479 xvi CONTENTS. Amorous Dreams. PAGE Women as well as men subject to them 47!) Practically involuntary masturbation.. 479 How they injure health............... 479 How it happens that apathetic married women sometimes have them.....480 Their treatment...................... 4S1 Anthropophobia and Sexual Apathy. Symptoms........................... 481 Healthy females subject to amative ex- citement ......................... 481 Sexual Dyspepsia. ^^ A. new name...............• ■ • •...... \^\ Married women subject to the disease. 482 The husband in purgatory............ 4V2 Causes and treatment.................482 Ovarian Diseases. Misht properly find place here....... 488 Deferred for another chapter.......... 4s;i Treatment of the diseases of this chap- ter .............................. 4S3 Curative powers of electricity......... 484 CHAPTER IX. Hints to the Childless. Barrenness abhorrent to every one. .. 4S5 The charm of " our baby ............4S6 Causes of Barrenness. Irremediable causes................. 439 Causes that may be obviated.......... 490 Local Inadaptation. Its prevalence........................ 490 Local inadaptation illustrated......... 492 Diseased Condition of the Wife. Womb diseases...................... 498 Ovarian.............................. 500 Diseased secretions of the vagina.....502 Obstructions of the fallopian tubes .... 503 Scrofulous causes..................... 503 Excess of flesh...........'............503 Impotency of the wife................ 504 Tumorous obstructions............... 504 Menstrual derangements.............. 504 Diseased Condition ofthe Husband. The husband frequently at fault....... 504 Common causes of male barrenness... 505 Excessive Amativeness. May cause barrenness.................507 On the part of the husband...........507 On the part of the wife...............507 Temperamental Inadaptation. What is it............................ 509 An important essay...................509 How to promote Child-bearing. The most susceptible period.......... 511 Plain rules for remedying local inadap- tation ............................ 511 How obstacles resulting from disease may be removed.................. 514 Hints to those excessively amative.... 516 Advice to those temperamentally ina- dapted.......................... 516 A word to jealous husbands........... 518 CHAPTER X. Private Words for Men. How little men know of themselves .. 520 An instance given.................... 520 The Penis and its Diseases. Two views of the organ given......... 521 Its mechanism plainly described...... 521 Deformities of this organ............. 522 Can it be enlarged ?................... 522 Diseases of the penis................. 522 Chancre described.................... 523 What should be done with this disease. 523 Necessity of personal cleanliness...... 524 Affections of the urethra.............. 524 Diseases of the foreskin.............. 525 Valuable advice...................... 525 Phimosis plainly described........... 525 Circumcision explained............... 525 How easily diseases are communicated through the penis...........___ 526 The Scrotum and its Diseases. The scrotum described............... 526 Its diseases.......................... 526 The Testicles and their Diseases. Their structure plainly described, where they are formed and how they descend........... ......... 527 The complexity of the procreative ma- chinery of man.................. 528 Intensely interesting matter.......... 523 Diseases of the testicles.............. 530 Seminal Weakness. Technically called spermatorrhoea..... 532 Are involuntary emissions natural___532 The idea ridiculous and its fallacy ex- ploded........................... 533 CONTENTS. xvii PAGE The author's experience in treating this affection..................... 534 Two kinds of spermatorrhcea.......... 535 Complicated spermatorrhea.......... 537 The only rational mode of treatment.. 538 An interesting case presented......... 539 Avoid clap-traps and catchpennies..... 540 The disease of tale-bearer............. 540 Opening words....................... 551 Paralysis. Bobbed of half its terror............. 551 Its nature and symptoms.............552 Cancer. Formerly incurable................... 554 Surgical operations discountenanced .. 554 Salves and plasters objectionable ..... 555 A variety or cancers.................. 556 Incipient cancer easily disposed of.... 557 Salt Rheum. Not in itself a disease................. 557 What it really is....................... 557 Spinal Curvatures. Their causes ......................558 Their treatment___................. 560 Scrofula. What is scrofula....... . ........ ... 560 How it is contracted................. 561 Its effects....................... .562 Valuable information to the scrofulous. 562 How their cases should be treated...... 563 People dosed to death................ 574 Everybody his own doctor............ 575 Dietetics............................. 580 Clear conscience better than a petted stomach.......................... 580 Satyriasis. PAGB Excessive passion in males............ 541 A woman's vitriol cure................ 541 Ever so many manias................ 541 Satyriasis one of them...............542 Rape a terrible offence................ 542 How the perpetrator should be treated 542 Dietetic and medicinal remedies...... 543 Syphilis. Own cousin of scrofula..............564 Offspring of scrofula................564 Mother of scrofula................... 564 How all this is explained ............564 How syphilis is generated............ 565 What is syphilis...................... 566 How constitutional syphilis is con- tracted ........................... 567 Constitutional symptoms...........568 Some think syphilis should not be cured 569 Christ healed the lepers.............. 569 When the disease was grappled and named .......................569 The allopaths treating it on homeo- pathic principles...............570 They should be kicked from their school........................ 570 The syphilitic era........... ...___ 570 Mercury caused it................... 570 How syphilis should be treated....... 571 A Variety of Chronic Diseases. A group of diseases................... 572 i Causes should be removed and aradical | cure effected.................. . 578 Invalids must not be impatient........ 583 Questions to invalids................. 583 Warranting cures.................... 588 Evidences of the curability of chronic diseases.............. ........... 589 CHAPTER XI. Impotency. Females as well as males impotent.. . 544 I Impotency causes dissatisfaction...... 549 The causes........................... 546 An interesting example............... 549 The mental congress of bumps....... 547 | The only rational treatment........... 549 CHAPTER XII. Concluding Essays on Diseases. CHAPTER XIII. Treatment of Disease. XV111 CONTEXTS. PART III Plain Talk ABOUT THE SEXUAL ORGANS; THE NATURAL RELATIONS OP THE SEXES; CIVILIZATION, SOCIETY, AND MARRIAGE. OPENING CHAPTER. Introductory Words. PAGE Why this matter is presented......... 605 Individual happiness trampled out___ 606 PAGK Our civilization..................... 606 Only the shadow of what is to come .. 60T CHAPTER II. The Sexual Organs. Opening words....................... 608 The Causes of their Disgrace. How came they to be regarded with dis- favor?........................... 608 The questioii answered............... 609 Their deification by the Pagan world.. 609 Nailing horseshoes over the door..... 609 The origin of the custom..... ........ 609 Sexual organs still deified in Japin___ 610 Christianity and Mohammedanism ar- rayed against this worship........ 611 The result of the conflict............. 611 Their Influence on Physical De- velopment. Parable of the acorn and pluin-stons.. 612 How the two sexes grow up.......... 612 The point of physical departure....... 612 I will tell you a secret................ 613 What produces the womanly character- istics ............................ 613 What produces the masculine charac- teristics.......................... 613 Interesting philosophy................ 613 Evidences sustaining the author...... 614 Their Influence on Health. I,ove platonic before pubescence...... 616 After pubescence then what?......... 616 Women need the magnetism of men.. 617 Man needs woman's magnetism....... 617 The sexes need the magnetism of each other............................ 617 These propositions sustained by f;icts.. 617 Nature's demands and the flat of cus- tom at variance.................. 618 The passions an integral part of the in- dividual..........,.,............ 613 Henry Ward Beecher on this subject.. 619 Asceticism at war with nature.......619 The uses and abuses of the sexual organs 620 Women suffer most from sexual starva- tion ............................ 621 Sensible words from Dr. Oliver Wen- dell Holmes..................... 621 How they are made the Instru- ments of Pleasurable Emotions. Philosophy of sexual intercourse...... 622 Electricity in three forms the source of sexual enjoyment................ 623 Individual electricity................. 623 Chemical electricity.........'.'.'..'.'.... 6^8 Frictional electricity................. 629 Only the last employed in masturbation 629 The office of the pubes................C80 Generative system the perfection of Divine mechanism............... 630 Ignorance leads to its pervertion...... 630 How they are made instrumental in Perpetuating the Race. The amative function separate from the procreative....................... 030 The distinction defined............... 631 The moral character of sexual inter- course ........................... 681 How the male and female germs unite. 632 A new theory........................ 683 Facts to sustain it.................[.. 634 Their Influence on the Social. Posi- tion of Women. These organs have made man master.. 635 A race of Amazons........... 635 What Aristotle said of women'.""'" gjg CONTENTS. xix PAGE How they were treated in Rome and Greece........................... 636 Did women cause the fall of the Re- public .......................... 630 The great men of those times......... 637 Wh.jM.hcy were so.................... 637 Wliy the Republic collapsed.......... 637 What St. Paul said of woman.........633 The views of the Apostles due to the sentiment of the times........... 638 Position of the church in the 4th cen- tury in regard to woman.......... 639 Results of mixing Roman and German civilizations ............. ....... 689 Strong-minded mothers necessary for strong-minded sons.............. 639 Gallantry"mistaken for justice........ 640 And soft soap for equity.............. 640 History of Introductory scraps of history........ 646 First attainable accounts.............. 646 Thirty-eight hundred years B. C....... 646 History of Polygamy. Reason why Adam had but one wife... 647 Marriage in Noah's time.............. 647 Menes founder of Egyptian marriage 648 His system practical "polygamy....... 648 Fu Hi, originator of Chinese marriage 649 Hij system polygamic................ 6^9 The polygamy of the ancient Hebrews. 649 How Joseph introduced it into Egypt. C50 The story of Moses............... ___650 An interesting narrative............. 651 His treatment of women.............651 The polygamy of David and Solomon.. 652 Solomon surrounded by 1,000 women 652 How he felt about it................... 652 The Jewish tenacity to polygamy.....653 Cecrops, inventor of Grecian marriage. 653 The system practical polygamy....... 653 But a step toward monogamy......... 653 Prostitution succeeded concubinage ... 653 The domesticity of the wife and the power of the courtesan........... 653 Men compelled to marry.............. 655 Grecian law concerning divorce....... 655 The blending of Grecian and Roman civilizations...................... 655 The result on marriage............... 655 Polygamy in ancient Persia.......... 656 Polygamy after the Christian era...... 658 The story of Mohammed............. 656 A curious story of this prophet....... 657 He left only nine widows............. 657 The spread of Mohammed's polygamy. 657 The ravishing girls of Paradise....... 658 The women of musk................. 653 Luther and polygamy................ 65S Early American "polygamy............ 659 History of Monogamy. It's ancient origin......,.............. 659 Their Influence on Civilization. PAGE The question of man's origin avoided.. 640 The first traditions................... 641 The beginning of civilization___..... 642 Influence of the sexual organs thereon.. 642 Early polygamy...................... 642 Induced compulsatory monogamy.... 642 How the two systems of marriage in- augurated prostitution ........... 643 Encouragement of prostitution by the ancients......................... 643 How it is in Japan................... 644 Our civilization a heterogeneous mix- ture of past social organizations... 644 We have not gathered the cream nor the dregs of the past.............. 644 The concealed wormwood that embit- ters social life.................... 645 Marriage. Offspring of masculine poverty and fe- male scarcity..................... 659 The oldest form of Roman marriage... 660 Were there divorces in ancient Rome? 661 Woman's position under the republic. 662 The introduction of Grecian customs.. 663 Radical changes...................... 663 Fathers compelled to find husbands for their daughters.................... 663 Commencement of the Christian era. 064 How Jesus was annoyjd with the mar- riage question.................... 664 Harpings of the Scribes and Pharisees. 664 German marriage previous to the Chris- tian era.......................... 665 German appreciation of woman....... 665 How they regulated family matters ... GGG Back again to the old empire.......... 606 Marriage in Nero's time............... 0G6 The first Christian emperor........... 6G6 Pagan and Christian law at variance... 607 The early Christians opposed marriage 667 Their opposition in the 4th century ... 667 Marriage from the 5th to the 15th cen- < turies............................ 669 The sexual immorality of those times . 609 The ascetics of that period............ 669 Marriage in ancient Scandinavia ...... 671 The considerate treatment of women by these people.................. 673 Historical Chips. Items of history not previously given. 673 Cicero's idea of the necessity of sexual association....................... 676 Curious usages...................... 676 Promiscuous bathing in Russia........ G77 Curious marriage usages reported by Captain Cook.................... 679 Selling girls at auction................ 679 Examination of candidates for matri- mony .......................... 689 now the Jews regarded marriage.....680 The courtesans of Venice............ Q81 Marrying sisters in ancient Peru ,,;,.. 631 CHAPTER III. XX CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. Marriage as it is in Barbarism and Civilization. PAGE Opening words....................... 6S4 Marriage in the Old World. In Egypt............................. 684 The women of Egypt................ 6S4 Their stories and murmurs............ 6S5 Marriage in China.................... 6S5 The ceremony described............... 686 A baby in the bride's lap.............. 6S8 Marriage in Japan............ .......688 A wise Japanese that knows his own mother!......................... 688 Japanese civilization.................. 689 Sell daughters to pay debts............ 6S9 Prostitution in Japan respectable...... 690 The bathing-houses of Japan.......... 690 Position of women in Japan.......... 690 What a girl costs in Japan............ 690 Marriage in Asiatic Russia............ 691 Among the Siberians.................. 692 Marriage in Persia.................... 692 Marriages for ninety years............. 692 Curious customs in various countries.. 694 Marriage in Hindostan............... 694 Marry at eleven....................... 694 Begin to bear children at twelve....... 694 Women with a plurality of husbands.. 694 A woman the wife of several brothers. 695 Free love in Abyssinia............... 695 Marriage in the Barbary States........ 695 Wife carried home in a cage........... 695 African customs...................... 696 Marriage and divorce in England...... 699 Undercurrent of English married life.. 702 Marriage in Spain.................... 703 In France............................ 703 What a young woman saw in Paris.... 704 Unfortnnate girls of Paris........... 706 A queer institution................... 707 Marriage in Portugal, Switzerland, and Italy............................ 708 In Greece, Prussia, Russia, and Austria 709 Illegitimate births at Vienna.......... 709 Marriage in Sweden and Norway...... 710 Sexual immorality there.............. 710 Marriage in Turkey.................. 711 Marriage in the New World. In South America.................... 711 In North America.................... 713 In the United States and Territories... 715 Marriages of convenience............. 715 How gold kidnaps women............ 716 Exchanges and elopements............ 718 Divorce laws......................... 718 Customs of the Oneida Community___ 719 Complex marriage.................... 719 History of the Community............ 720 The costume of the women............ 721 How their work is done.............. 721 The condition of their children........ 722 Interesting statistics.................. 723 The promise of the older ones......... 725 Bearing off the palm in the medical school.......................... 727 What a physician says of the Commu- nity ............................. 729 Declaration of principles............. 730 A social analysis..................... 731 The al ternatives of women............ 733 Marriage, prostitution, old maidhood. 733 Their condition in the Community___734 Civilization and communism......... 734 Civilization and barbarism compared.. 734 The principle of root, hog, or die...... 738 History of Mormonlsm............... 739 Smith the Groat.....................740 How he inaugurated polygamy....... 740 How he left the planet............... 740 Hepworth Dixon among the Mormons 741 An interesting narrative............. 741 Marriage among the Mormons........ 743 Sealing the living to the dead.........744 Swarms of babies..................... 745 Mormon girls don't like polygamy..... 746 The religious ideas of the saints....... 746 Concluding reflections................ 747 CHAPTER V. Defects in M What science and art are doing........ 749 Why marriage remains unimproved... 749 Is marriage a Divine institution?...... 750 If so, which of the systems 1.......... 750 How wives were formerly " taken"... 751 Pagan priests first solemnized marriage 751 The practice adopted by the Christian clergy........................... 751 Next marriages performed at the church door.............................. 751 Subsequently performed in the church 751 arriage Systems. Demerits of Polygamy. The objections to the system.......... 753 Demerits of Monogamy. The effects of idolatrous unions....... 754 The results of milk and water attach- ments .......................... 755 What incompatible unions lead to..... 755 How some classes are affected by the monogjtnic eystem............... 755 CONTENTS, XXI PAGE A word about widows................ 756 Selfishness in monogamy............756 Its interference with maternity....... 757 Woman's natural desire for children... 757 Miss Polly Baker prosecuted for bastardy......................... 758 Her defence.......................... 758 She never refused an offer of marriage. 759 PAGE Her charge against bachelors......... 759 Her subsequent marriage and irre- proachable character.............. 760 Effects of monogamy on children...... 760 Married people grow apart............ 761 Change in temperament............... 7G2 Illustrations given.................. 762 Further sexual philosophy............ 763 CHAPTER VI. The Remedy. The existence of evil.................. 765 Our duty to get rid of it ............. 765 A new order of things necessary....... 765 A work of time....................... 765 "Jenny June's" visit to the Communists 766 Henry Ward Beecher on institutions .. 767 The merits of complex marriage...... 767 The merits of polygamy.............. 768 Polygamy and the New Testament. ... 770 Necessity for some legal regulations... 770 Hens and jackasses laughing at some- thing ............................ 772 Rome had a censor................... 772 We want a secretary of marriage...... 772 A commissioner of agriculture....... 773 A human being of as much consequence as a big potato.................... 773 The heathen of Manhattan Island.....774 Social experiments sh«uld be en- couraged ..,,,,,,,,,,,,,.......... 775 CHAPTER VII. Sexual Immorality. Is sexual morality prevalent ?......... 776 Where is the oasis ?................... 776 It is not in our cities.................. 776 It is not in our villages................ 776 It is not in small neighborhoods....... 776 How the author knows................ 776 The Causes. Popular preaching based on a false idea 777 Evidence that it is so.................. 778 Origin of the idea that the passions are essentially evil.....................778 Its adoption by the Romish Church.... 778 By Calvin and the Puritan Fathers..... 77S A Pagan and not a Christian idea......779 The Cure. The silver rule of Confucius........... 780 The golden rule of Jesus............. 780 The original formation of society...... 7S0 The mutual understanding established. 781 A demoralizing spectacle.............. 7S2 The vow of fidelity.................... 7S2 The judgment of Antonius Pius........ 7S2 Something about lree-1 overs........... 783 About libertines....................... 783 Persuading others to do what you would not have done to your own.. 784 The platform of sexual morality com- plete............................. 784 Broad enough for everybody............7S4 CHAPTER VIII. Conclusion of Part Third. The founders of Rome as austere as our Puritan Fathers................... The reaction.......................... Christianity could not control it....... The rise of Protestantism............. Its influence on marriage.............. Growing agitation upon the marriage question.................• • • ••--- Opposition to the marriage institution.. Let us have facts and experiences...... Eev. A. P. Stanley on science and reli- gion............................... An alliance between science and reli- 785 gion recommended................ 788 785 Opinions guarded like wallets......... 789 7S5 Everybody should think aloud. ...... 790 786 People afraid to express opinions...... 790 786 They perish with them................ 790 Toleration necessary.................. TOO 787 | Or we must wear the opinions of pre- decessors......................... T90 George William Curtis on public opin- ion............................... 791 Public opinion a serpent.............. 791 xxii CONTENTS. PART IV. SUGGESTIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF POPULAR MARRIAGE, ETC. OPENING CHAPTER. Introduction. PAGE Monogamic marriage may be better than it is.............'............ 793 What its upholders should do......... 794 What Mrs. Jameson says of it......... 795 The importance thereof............... 797 I Necessity for platonic affection........ 737 Reciprocity in the sexual relation..... 733 ( The views of O. S. Fowler___.........739 Advice to the reluctant wife........... 801 Advice to the husband............... 801 Provoke your wife to love............ 802 What is Mental Adaptation? What constitutes it.................... 802 Interesting philosophy............... 803 How mental adaptation may be attained 804 What is Physical Adaptation ? What constitutes it................... 805 Magnetic adaptation.................. S03 Temperamental adaptation............ S06 Dr. William Byrd Powell on the tem- peraments........................ 806 The vital temperaments..............807 The smguine and bilious temperaments described......................... S07 The non-vital temperaments.......... 839 The lymphatic and encephalic tempera- ments described................... 809 What induces the non-vital tempera- ments ............................ 811 How the lymphatic temperament is in- duced ............................ Sll nov the encephalic temperament is in- duced ............................ 812 Plain rules as to marriage............. $13 FAGK What the clergy think of it.......... 795 What we want........................ 795 AVhat the disaffected would do.......795 How the more fortunate feel.........796 I The non-vital temperaments should not intermarry....................... 818 i Intermarriage of the vital tempera- ments not advisable............... 818 What combinations are best........... S14 The mixture of two temperaments___ 814 Plain explanations and descriptions___814 The mixture of three temperaments... 818 Explained in plain language........... 818 The mixture of four temperaments___ 821 An interesting fact.................... 822 Importance of temperamental adapta- tion ............................. §23 The difference between vitality and vi- tal tenacity....................... 824 The influence of temperamental adap- tation on vital tenacity............ 824 The observations of Dr. Powell........ 824 The observations of the author........ 824 A rule for determining vital tenacity .. 825 The prevalence of incompatible mar- riages ............................ 825 The difficulty in preserving compatibil- ity............................... 826 The effect n;ion offspring.............. 826 Why Mr. Wilkins loses all his little new-born pets.................... S27 How to guard against growing apart... 827 How diversity of temperament may bo promoted......................... 827 Dr. Powell's rules in selectingapartner in marriage.................... roS Tho whole matter made plain ... . b29 CHAPTER II. Adaptation in Marriage. CONTENTS. xxiii CHAPTER III. Law should enforce Adaptation in Monogamic TVlarriage. PAGE How it may be done.................. 830 A new plan suggested................. 880 Marriage at present like a rat-trap..... 830 Easy divorce alone will not answer___ 831 Science should be brought to bear.....S31 How it may be done.................. 833 How they do in Switzerland..........834 Marriage now a lottery............... 835 How men and women deceive each other............................. S35 The man bribes the tailor............. 835 Woman takes-to cotton and whalebone S35 The results of such devices........... 836 PAGB Marriage should conform to mental and physical adaptation............... 837 The plan to effect this................. 837 The new plan as affecting divorce...... 838 An amusing specimen of legislation___ 83S How an application for divorce was treated........................... 838 The two mortal sinners remanded to purgatory....................... 839 How a court of divorce should be con- stituted.......................... 839 Matrimonial underground railroads___ 840 Necessity of a change................. 841 CHAPTER IV. Three Phases of Monogamic Marriage Daguerreotyped. Lucifer Matches. The world full of ill-assorted marriages 842 Three of most prominent phases of mar- riage............................. S42 Mental Marriages. What constitutes them................ 842 Elopements from this class............ 843 Physical Marriages. What constitutes them................ 844 No social attraction at home........... 844 Physically pleasurable and prolific..... 845 How they may be defined............. 846 The world full of them................ 846 Whom we find in tins division........ 846 How gold kidnaps women............. 847 Marrying for homes or riches.......... 847 Marrying to please relatives.......___ 848 Milton's marriage, of the lucifer class.. 849 His experience........................ 850 Why the wives of bad men cling to them............................ 850 CHAPTER V. Philosophy of Elopements. Five hundred elopements in one year.. 852 Ascribed to depravity................. 852 No such thing........................ 652 The true philosophy................. 852 CHAPTER VI. The Intermarriage of Relatives. 1 The Pope cannot make it work well ... 857 I May as well marry a half-sister as a full The effects of such marriages.......... 857 cousin—the fact demonstrated.....858 Why cousins should not marry........ 858 | How intermarriage may be prevented. 860 CHAPTER VII. Necessity of confidence in each other.. S61 Heads and hearts must be open........ 861 No necromancer's game............... 861 Frankness indispensable.............. 861 Why happiness is impossible without it.............................. 862 A peculiarity of the human mind des- cribed.......................... 8C2 What mutual distrust leads to......... SG2 How to decide what is a secret........ 863 Essays for Married People. Fifty cents of every dollar belongs to the wife.......................... 863 The fact demonstrated................ 8G3 Her labors as valuable as his........... 864 Black wives at the South unwilling to work for board and clothes........ 864 Comments on spendthrifts............ 865 Injustice to the wife in cases of separa- tion ............................. S65 How the apple should be divided...... 866 The Wife the equal Partner. Men hold the purse-strings............ 863 Sleeping apart. Why married people should sleep apart. S67 XXIV CONTENTS. PAGB Philosophical reasons given........... 868 ^Esthetic reasons given................ S6S Love versus night-caps................ 869 A peep at sleepers in stages............ 869 Everybody snores a little.............. 869 Sexual Moderation. Excess exhausts the system........... 869 The fact philosophically explained.....S71 What Dr. Dixon says of the evil....... S72 Its effects upon the male.............. 872 Upon the female...................... S72 A good rule to pursue................. 873 Jealousy. A common visitor at the family hearth. 873 An infallible remedy.................. 873 For the husband...................... 873 For the wife.......................... 874 Strange words, but true................ 875 Prevention of Conception. The plan of the Oneida Communists... 876 Mr. Noyes' discovery.................. 876 PACK The author consulted by thousands on the subject of prevention.......... 880 Sexual Indifference. Frequent cause of.matrimonial infelicity 880 Results from disease................... 880 Or an uncongenial marriage............ 8b0 Females more subject to it than males. 880 The reasons.......................... 880 Women become indifferent by absti- nence............................. S81 Men are maddened by abstinence...... 881 Why it is so.......................... 882 Want of magnetic adaptation illustra- ted.............................. 882 How sexual passion may be destroyed. 8f-3 Indifference may be remedied......... 884 Food for Pregnant Women. Valuable advice...................... 884 How to avoid pain in child-bed........ 8S4 Card to Married People. Suggestions to the married............ 686 Barrenness and excessive child-bearing 886 Both may be remedied............... 886 CHAPTER VIII. Philosophy of Child-Marking. Rules and facts....................... 887 The key to the mystery.___.......... 887 Why offspring resemble both parents... 890 Why offspring resemble but one parent. 892 Why offspring often look like good neighbors........................ 893 An illegitimate child impossible....... 894 What Michelet says................... 894 Why widows often have children by the second husband resembling the first............................. 894 The first coition marks subsequent off- spring........................... 894 Interesting evidence................... 894 How objects and frights mark or deform the child......................... 895 CHAPTER IX. Essays **r Young and Old bearing on Happiness in Marriage. Ladies should be allowed to Pop the Question. Have they not preferences ............ 906 What Southey said.................... 907 The temptation to accept the first offer.. 907 Women should assume the right to choose and propose.........."......909 899 Opening word Early Marriage. Expediency of early marriage.......... The two passions implanted"by God___ Nature indicates when to be gratified.. Tables of nature's commandments bro- ken ............................... 900 The tendency of celibacy.............. 902 The old bachelor like a Chinese junk___ 902 Business avocations should be open to Females. Marriage as a refuge from pecuniary want.............................. 903 What Mrs. Jameson says.............. 903 Women should not be dependent on • men............................. 905 Poverty or prostitution the result of false education...;.,.............. 905 Card to the Unmarried. Suggestions to those contemplating mar- riage .............................. 909 Advice cheerfully given............... 909 Advertisements. The author's address................. 910 Useful articles supplied by mail or ex- press.............................. 911 Pamphlet publications................. 912 P ^ R T I . Disease: Its Causes, Prevention, and Cure. OPENING CHAPTER. DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. TJR planet with each revolution car- ries a huge load of human suffering, a large portion of which arises from dis- ease. We see this enemy in the cradle, dis- torting the features and bedimming the eyes of innocent babes. Too often it carries its lit- tle victims to the burial-ground, bathed with the tears of mothers. We see it in youthhood, arresting the physical development of young men and young women; consigning them to premature graves, or moving them like sickly shadows through years of hapless life. It rudely grasps people in the prime of life, and hurries them away from fields of useful labor to wearisome chambers, where the mind, which has been schooled to activity, becomes a dangerous ally to the enemy by chafing and fretting in itsiinpTisonment. It lays violent hands on our gray-haired fathers and mothers, who yesterday greeted us with the smile, animation, and elasticity of youth, but who to-day go groping about with rounded shoulders and trembling steps. At 2 26 DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. last, it arrests the physical functions, the outer shell returns to its original dust, and the inner, living body, enters the new life, where —may we hope—this fearful disturber of our comfort and happiness is refused admission. The Causes of Disease. Disease of every character, except that which may be induced by poison or by accident to body or limb, originates in a derangement of the circulation of vital electricity, disturbance of the mind, or an abnormal condition of the blood. Wherever it begins, unless speedily checked, the whole system is soon convulsed in its grasp, because of the close relationship existing between the various organs of the Fig. 1. CAPITOL OP THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. The above represents a horizontal section of the brain and bones of the skull; a «, outer layer of ash-colored matter; b b, the white or internal sub^ stance of the brain; c, the corpus callosum. body. Those who have neglected the study of Physiology, as well as all who have merely scanned the pages of ancient and'moderr; THE CAUSES OF DISEASE. 27 superficial writings, will not readily comprehend the truth of these propositions. The most illiterate men of the civilized world are aware that they have a brain (however barren of idea), and that their bodies have nerves, arteries, and veins. But few physicians, especially of the old prejudiced school, know the real offices of them. Doctors who have brandished scalpels in the dissecting-room can point out the exact locality of every nerve, vein, muscle, tendon, etc., but the means by which each performs its appropriate part, seldom awakens curiosity. Turn to a Medical Dictionary for a definition of the brain; the learned physiological lexicographer says :—" The use of the brain is to give off nine pairs of nerves and the spinal marrow, from which thirty-one pairs more proceed, through whose means the various senses are performed, and muscular motion ex- cited." This is all very well so far as it goes, but it will not satisfy the mind of a thorough inquirer, nor illustrate the truthfulness of my first remark. The sublime powers and superior beauties of the brain are undiscovered in such a superficial definition. The object of this chapter requires a better one. Let us have a name for the brain which will convey a better understanding of its office. I pro- pose to call it the Capitol of the Nervous System. It stands in the same relation to the human body that Washington does to the United States. There are telegraphic wires proceeding from Wash- ington which connect with other wires leading to every part of the Republic, and there are nerves proceeding from the brain which con- nect with other nerves leading to every part of the human system. These nerves are like telegraphic wires, and convey impressions to and from the brain with the velocity of lightning. They permeate the skin so extensively that a slight change in the atmosphere is quickly telegraphed to the physiological capitol. Experiment has demonstrated the fact, that the intelligence of an impression made upon the ends of the nerves in communication with the skin, is trans- mitted to the brain with a velocity of about one hundred and ninety- five feet per second. Intelligence from the great toe is received through the nervous telegraph at the physiological capitol, called the brain, in only about one-thirtieth of a second later than from the ear or face. The digestion of food, by which process blood is manufactured, depends upon the electric currents sent by the brain through the pneumo-gastric telegraph, or nerve, to the stomach. The correctness 28 DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. of this hypothesis has been illustrated by experiments, tried by a celebrated physician in England. In these, a couple of rabbits were selected, which had been fed with the same kind and quality of food. On one of them he performed the operation of cutting the pneumo- gastric nerve leading to the stomach. The latter being deprived of the nervous stimulant, the animal soon died from the effects of a loaded stomach coupled with suspended digestion. The other rabbit, which was not operated on, was killed after an interval of almost twenty-six hours, and on examination it was proved that the food in his stomach was entirely digested, while in that of the former, the food remained almost as crude and undigested as when it left the masticating organs. Another experiment was made upon two more rabbits in the same manner, except that after the nerves leading to the stomach were cut, galvanism was applied in such a way as to send the current through the disconnected nerves to the seat of di- gestion. At the end of twenty-four hours they were both killed, when it was found that the food in the stomach of the one whose nerves had been severed, and put in connection with the galvanic battery, was nearly as well digested as that in the other, which had not been operated on. These experiments show that the stomach depends for the performance of its office on the electrical or nervous stimulus which it receives from the brain. Similar experiments to those just mentioned have been tried with reference to the heart and other organs, in all of which they ceased to perform their func- tions when the nerves were cut, and commenced again as soon as the galvanic fluid was applied. It is not necessary for the purposes of this essay, to demonstrate that galvanism and this nervous element provided by the brain are identical. It is evident that they are not; but they are so closely related that one will perform the office of the other, and this fact is sufficient to show that the two forces or ele- ments are similar in their character, and that one is a modified form of the other. Animal magnetism, electro-magnetism, galvanism, and electricity, all differ a little from each other, and in employing the term electricity, chiefly, in speaking of the nervous forces, I do so because it is a term better understood by the masses. I have said the brain is the capitol of the nervous system. It may also be called the great receiving and distributing reservoir of nervo- electricity. It is largely composed of two substances, one an ash- colored matter, which, if spread out, would cover a surface of six THE CAUSES OP DISEASE. 29 hundred and seventy square inches ; the other, a fibrous matter, firm in texture, and tubular. The ash-colored matter is the receiving, and the fibrous matter the distributing reservoir. There are in other parts of the system various smaller receiving and distributing res- ervoirs, composed of the same substances, but all these are under the control of the superior one located in the brain. These are called by physiologists nerve centres, and to carry out the analogy between our nervous system, and the telegraphic system of our country, the nerve centres may be compared to our State capitals. The spinal cord is the great nervous trunk, or the main tele- graphic wire leading from the brain, and from the brain and spinal cord proceed the motor nerves, the nerves of sensation, and the nerves of special sense. With the motor nerves the mind telegraphs to the limbs to move, and they instantly obey, for the force they carry contracts one set of muscles and expands another; for elec- tricity, whether animal or mechanical, has the power to contract or expand any substance. By the action of the motor nerves upon the muscular system, the phenomena of animal motion is performed. Through the nerves of sensation the brain is quickly informed by the telegraph, if a wound is being inflicted upon any portion of the body, if disease is intruding itself upon any organ, or if any thing disagreeable or pleasurable is brought in contact with any part of the body. Through the nerves of special sense, the brain is informed by telegraph whether it be light, or dark—whether there be silence, or noise, etc. So we see that our great common Father, and not Professor Morse, was the inventor of telegraphy. To Morse belongs the honor, and it is indeed a great ope, of having adapted this same system of intercommunication with the quickness of lightning be- tween villages, states, and nations ; a discovery which will event- ually unite all mankind in common sympathy and brotherhood. Most people know that telegraphic operators supply the electricity which they send over the wires, by galvanic batteries, prepared according to the usual processes explained in our school books of Philosophy. But whence is this animo-vital electricity we have been speaking of derived ? Well, I will tell you. The principal source is the stomach, that ever-active laboratory. The dissolution of any substance sets free the element commonly called electricity. The food you eat, if digestible, goes through a process of dissolution in your stomach, and as it dissolves, the electricity evolved ascends 30 DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. through the nerves made for the purpose, to the ash-colored mat- ter of the brain. The vitalizing property of air is mainly electricity, and, consequently, we receive this element by the lungs and pores, from which it is taken up by the b'ood, and carried to the great receiving reservoir of the brain, which, I may add, accommodates more blood than the fibrous matter of the brain. The blood on FiS. 2. entering the ash-colored mat- ter discharges its cargo of elec- tricity and nerve nutriment, and returns to the body for another load. Large quantities of animal electricity are also generated by the alkalies and acids of the ani- mal organism. The mucous membranes, or linings of the cavities, are continually excret- ing a semi-fluid called alkali, and the serous membranes, or outer coverings of the body, an aque- ous or watery fluid, called acid, and according to the testimony of Dr. Bird, if these fluids are so placed as to be connected by parietes of an animal membrane, or a porou3 diaphragm, a current of electricity is evolved. Hence, we find that not only are our stomachs generating electricity, but we are inhaling it by our lungs, and our pores, and the external or serous, and internal or mucous surfaces, united as they are by natural pr.OF. i;rain'b telk^kapii. • . , ... , parietes and porous diaphragms, are producing it in large quantities. As it is produced, or enters the eystem, it is so modified as to be made fit for the uses of the body. The brain is as industriously distributing this vital electricity through the system, as the heart is in circulating the blood, and too THE CAUSES OP DISEASE. 31 much, or too little, given to any particular organ, produces disease therein. The complete withdrawal of nervo-electricity from any part paralyzes it, so that it has neither sense nor motion. If with- drawn from the motor nerves only, sensation remains, while motion is lost; if from the nerves of sensation only, then motion continues, but sensation is destroyed. If withdrawn from the nerves of special sense, the power of hearing, seeing, smelling, and tasting is lost; or it may be withdrawn from only one set of the nerves of special sense, producing some of the foregoing difficulties, without affecting the other senses. Too little vital electricity given to the liver, renders that organ torpid—too much, causes nervous congestion and inflammation; too little given to the stomach causes nervous dys- pepsia—too much makes the appetite voracious, and induces other derangements to the digestive machinery; and hence, we see that to all the organs a proper quantity must be distributed, or disease results. It is unnecessary to pursue this explanation further to show that the nervous system is a complex piece of machinery, as delicate almost as the spider's web which is spread out over the meadow grasses, and that many diseases arise from a defective nervous system. Those which do not, and which may not come under the exceptions mentioned at the opening of this essay, can be traced to disturbances of the mind, or an abnormal condition of the blood. From what has already been said, it is apparent to any logical mind that diseases often result from trouble, or depression of mind. So closely allied are the brain and the nervous or telegraphic sys- tem, it is impossible for one to be disturbed without exciting the sympathy of the other. The brain, beside being the receiving and distributing reservoir of animal electricity, is the residence of the mind, or the spirit, and this immortal principle controls its action. When, then, any thing occurs to disturb the equanimity of the mind, the brain at once telegraphs the melancholy news over the wires, or nerves, to every organ of the body, and, like a well-regulated and affectionate family, all join in sympathy for the afflictions of the one which they regard as the head and provider. In some cases, when great grief or emotion is present, the brain works so actively in pro- ducing intense thought, that it consumes all, or nearly all the vital electricity of its reservoir, and when this bankruptcy takes place, it even withdraws that which it has supplied to the vital organs. When 32 DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. it reaches this crisis, death results. Emotions of the mind, it is well known, greatly affect the organic secretions, and Dr. Trail does not greatly magnify a fact, when he remarks " that they may be depraved or vitiated as readily by excessive mental emotion, as by a drug- poison taken into the stomach." Fis- 8- He continues by saying, that" a paroxysm of anger will render the bile as acrid and irritating as a full dose of calomel; exces- sive fear will relax the bowels equal to a strong infusion of tobacco; intense grief will ar- rest the secretions of the gas- tric juice as effectually as bel- ladonna ; and violent rage will make the saliva as poisonous ae will a mercurial salivation." Says Combe: "The influence of the brain on the digestive or- gans is so direct, that sickness and vomiting are amongthe ear- liest symptoms of many affec- tions of the head, and of wounds and injuries to the brain, while violent emotions, intense grief, or sudden bad news, sometimes arrest at once the process of di- the gestion, and produce squeam- ^'g ishness, or loathing of food, al- though an instant before the appetite was keen. The influ- ence of the mind and brain over the action of the heart and lungs is familiar to every one. The sighing, palpitation, and fainting so often witnessed as consequences of emotions of the mind, are evidences which nobody can resist. Death itself is not a rare result of such excitement in delicately-organized persons." ARTERIES. system. ARTERIAL CIRCULATION. The arterial system carries out the good vital blond that nourishes the body. THE CAUSES OF DISEASE. 33 Fig. 4. A story related by the late English author, Eliot Warburton, is interesting in this connection. "A Howadji, or sacred traveler (more given to lectures than to prayers), met the plague coming out of Cairo, and reproached that demon with his murderous work. ' Nay,' said the fiend, ' I have slain but a few; it is true that twenty thousand of the faithful have died, but only one-tenth of them fell by my hand,—the rest were slain by my fellow-demon, Fear.' " In times of war, the influence of the mind on the health has been many times strikingly exhibited. During the great Civil War between the North and the South, all news- paper readers knew of the fatality attending the Federal "Army of the Potomac"," in the Ckickahom- iny swamps. Most people attrib- uted the prevalence of sickness and death among the soldiers, at that time and place, simply to the un- wholesome air of the locality, but this was not all. It was a dark day in our country's history ; many of our bravest men felt disheartened; and mental depression, if not de- spair, rendered our country's noble defenders susceptible to malarious influences, and they consequently became ready victims to the un- wholesome vapors with which they were enveloped. The awful fatality which attend- ed the allied armies at the Crimea, was undoubtedly more attributable blood after it has" deposited its good prop erties. to bad management on the part of the commanding officers than to inclement weather. The soldiers. having lost confidence in their commanders, became depressed ip 2* VENOUS CIRCULATION. The venous system carries back the 34 DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. spirit they were filled with fearful forebodings; the buoyancy of their nervous system was disturbed, and thereby digestion impaired. Through these discouragements they were made susceptible to disease. and would have been liable to its attacks, however favorable the climate; while a slight unfavorable change in a foreign atmosphere, under such circumstances, would induce fatal results. The English press attributed the sudden death of Lord Raglan to the censures heaped upon him at home. Many politicians in this country ascribe the brief illness which ended the career of America's greatest statesman, to disappointment in not receiving the Presi- dential nomination from a convention of his party. Thus we see the influence of the mind on the body is generally understood and admitted. But few stop to divine the means by which it is effected. It is well, therefore, to understand that every organ is notified on the telegraphic system, if any thing offends the spirit of the human being, and these organs are often taxed or com- pelled to give back part of the nervo-electricity with which they are performing their offices. If, through any accident to the limbs, contact with any powerful poison, or impurity of the blood, the har- monious evolution and circulation of the nervo-electric fluid in any part of the body are disturbed, the brain feels the effect, discovers the cause, and faithfully informs all the members of the family, who contribute vital healing forces with which they endeavor to conciliate the difficulty, and if they fail, the whole system is thrown into discord. Next, I will speak of the blood, for all diseases which do not arise from the causes already named and explained, have their birth in a deranged condition of that almost as mysterious fluid which circulates through the entire system. In plain language, the blood is fluid bone, fluid cartilage, fluid muscle, fluid nerve, and fluid every thing that goes to make up the human body. Technically, it is mainly composed of corpuscles floating in liquor sanguinis. These corpuscles are minute bodies, resembling, very nearly, in shape, pieces of coin, as represented in the illustration, Fig. 7. They can only be seen by aid of the microscope. There are two kinds of corpuscles, the red and the white, or colorless. In health, the red predomihates in the ratio of three or four hundred to one of the white corpuscle. Hoffman estimates that there are twenty-eight pounds of blood in a man of average size. This fluid is circulated through the system by the heart, THE CAUSES OF DISEASE. 35 Fig. 5. arteries, capillaries, and veins. The heart may be said to be the capitol of the vascular system, as the brain is the capitol of the nervous sys- tem. It may also be called the receiving and distributing reservoir of the blood, as the brain is the receiving and distributing reservoir of the nervo-electrical forces. The heart is an incessant worker and a good manager. It pumps vital or arterial blood through the arteries and capillaries to every part of the system, and pumps it back through the veins to itself again, and then pumps it into the lungs, to be- come revitalized by the oxygen of the air Ave breathe, from which it again receives it to send it on its recuperative mission. The heart undergoes four thousand contractions per hour; each ventricle is reckoned to contain about one ounce, and therefore, we are brought to the astonishing realization that two hundred and fifty pounds of blood pass through it in that brief space of time. The fleshy parts of the body are filled with what are called capil- , . . T • t. i a inferior vena cava: 3, the right au- laries. An Irishman once remarked, ' ' . ° ncle; 4, the right ventricle; 5, the that a gun was a hole with iron made situation of the tricuspid valves; 6, around it ; well, a capillary is a hole the partition between the two ven- With animal fiber built around it, and tricles; 7, the pulmonary artery; 8, the point where it separates and en- there are so many of them that the hu- ters the right and jeft pulmonai.v man system almost resembles a sponge artery for the corresponding lungs,- in vascularity. People who are COn- 9, the four pulmonary veins bringing ,,,.,. j. . . . the blood into the left auricle; 10, tinually drinking something when the the left auricle. u> left ventrlcle; thermometer gets into the nineties, 12, location of mitral valve; 13, loca- must readily comprehend this state- Uon o' rififmoid valves of th« aorta; ment. They are constantly drinking, ^^^^ and the water is constantly running out of them. Their clothing becomes saturated with their perspiration. Into the capillaries, the heart, through the arterial system, pours the life-giving blood, and after it has deposited its vital atoms, and taken up the worn-out ones, the heart sucks it up through the veins to be renewed. CAPITOL OF THE VASCULAR SYSTEM. 1, The superior vena cava; 2, the of the sigmoid valves pulmonary artery. 36 DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. The blood may be said to carry on a coast-wise trade with the various organs and tissues of the body. It goes out freighted with fresh living atoms, and visits every part of the body, even the bones and muscles, and gives that which will repair each part in re- turn for atoms which are no longer useful. These waste matters Fig. 6. A FROG'S FOOT. The Capillaries as seen in the web of a Frog's foot, under the microscope. 1,1, are the veins, and 2, 2, 2, the arteries. it carries to the dumping grounds, called the lungs, liver, kidneys, and pores, and these organs empty them out through the channels nature has provided. The heart is the shipper. I have thus intruded these illustrations to present the whole matter clearly to the mind of the non-professional reader, and I trust I am fully understood. Now then, let us suppose the blood becomes impure, so that the heart has no good arterial fluid to dis- pense to the various organs. The latter are not only deprived of the nourishing properties of good blood, but are left to counteract, as best they may, its corrupt particles. The vital parts are placed in the position of a man with his hands tied, who is called upon, not only to feed, but defend himself. The result is, the human machinery becomes clogged with poisonous humors. These may THE CAUSES OF DISEASE. 37 block up the liver so that it can not perform its functions properly, and thereby cause irritation, or inflammation, or they may produce a tubercular affection of that organ. They may attack the lungs, producing pulmonary disease. They may irritate or inflame the lining of the stomach so as to impair digestion, and ultimately induce obstinate dyspepsia. In short, no organ or fibre of the body is safe when they are present. These impurities ajje more liable to affect a person internally than externally. Many persons suppose if there are no pimples, blotches, ulcers, or tumors on the surface, the blood may be considered pure, no matter how much pain or suffering may be experienced inside of the outer covering. This is an error; for many of the most troublesome affections of th<»hidden portions of the body are caused by blood impurities. Those who have them on the surface are the most fortunate, for, as a general rule, when the blood possesses strength enough to pitch these trouble- some particles out on the surface, it also possesses the ability to protect the internal organs from their corrupting influence. What I have said in the foregoing relative to the blood, relates rather to active, than latent impurities. The latter may be defined as those foreign properties in the blood, which, under favorable circum- stances, may induce disease. Ordinarily, a person having them is unconscious of their presence. They fellowship with the corpuscles of the blood, as masked hypocrites fellowship with Christians. But let some poisonous gases infest the atmosphere, and they at once, like the secreted burglar, open the doors of the system, coalesce with them, and induce fevers, or difficulties of some kind. I think fevers of all kinds, including scarlet fever and measles, may be traced to latent impurities in the blood. A person could hardly contract small-pox when exposed to it, except for these insidious properties which render the system susceptible. As a female germ can not produce a child without the addition of a male germ, so these latent impure particles in the blood can not generate disease without meeting their affinitive poison. Seed cast on ground not suited to it produces nothing, while simply the pollen blown from some dis- tant field on to just the right quality of soil, seems to meet some- thing equivalent to the ovule, from which vegetation starts up, as if by magic. It is a fact known to maflfy scientific men, that in almost any locality, soil taken from a depth of thirty or forty feet is soon covered with white clover. This can only be accounted for by attrib- 38 DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. uting to this soil germinal qualities, which, brought in contact with the pollen of the clover carried perhaps miles on the wings of the wind, produce this species of vegetation. According to the investigations of a Dr. Salisbury, it is quite prob- able, at least, that fever and ague is produced by some such process as I have endeavored to explain. The following I find in a late num- ber of the American Agriculturalist. " The ague plant has recently been discovered—not the plant that cures ague, but the one that causes it. Here is one plant, at least, that we can notice with- out being overwhelmed with applications for seed. To be sure, it is a little thing, and takes a good eye, aided by a good microscope, to find it, but when found, it can not be said, 'it is no great shakes,' for it is the genuine shaker seedling itself. Dr. Salisbury, of Ohio, an- nounces in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, that fever and ague is caused by a minute plant which is found where stagnant water has just dried away. The spores, or reproductive dust of this microscopic plant, are diffused through the night damps, and being taken into the system by breathing, are the cause of that wide- spread scourge, the ague. The habits of this minute plant com- pletely accord with what was before known of the occurrence of miasm ; and that they are the real cause of it has been shown by taking boxes of earth containing them to places where an ague was never known to occur. In about two weeks after the agne plant was taken there, well-marked cases of the disease appeared. The spores only rise in the night, and then to a height, varying with the locality, of from thirty to one hundred feet. This explains why the night air brings on ague, and why elevated localities are free from it. After the ague-seed is taken into the system, the plant is propa- gated there, and the patjent becomes a sort of animated hot-bed." Now, " ague plant," as well as every other plant, must have suitable soil, and it is hardly sensible to suppose that any such soil can be found in pure blood. It is doubtful if cholera, or yellow fever, can attack those whose blood possesses purity and richness, whether the seeds of those dis- eases are insects in the air, smaller than any ordinary microscope can discover, as some aver, or simply poisonous gases in the atmosphere. The latent impurities in tne Wood must be of the right quality to unite with them, and engender those diseases, or a person, however exposed, will escape. THE CAUSES OF DISEASE. 39 There are other abnormal conditions of blood which can hardly be called impurities, active or latent. For instance, a person may have an insufficient quantity of blood, resulting from which he is weak, pale, and cadaverous. There may be an excessive supply of the. white corpuscle, or an insufficient supply of the red corpuscle, pro- ducing paleness and lassitude, but not necessarily leanness, as people so affected are often fat. There may be an insufficient supply of the white, or a superabundance of the red, giving undue redness to the skin, and predisposing a person to inflammatory affections and con- gestions. In short, the blood must possess very nearly that propor- tion of red and white corpuscles which nature originally instituted, or disease will present itself. Jt now having been shown that a free circulation of vital or nervous electricity, an unruffled mind, and good blood are essential to health, it requires only a moderate exercise Fig. 7. . of common sense to perceive that &\(F) -gjK all diseases, excepting simply those ~/T) $ /jjff*S3\ mduced by poison or accident, orig- inate from a disturbance of these indispensable conditions. There £& /gs may exist hereditary organic weak- nesses, but even those had their origin in conception, or in foetal life, CORPUSCLES OF THE BLOOD. from the disturbed mind or vital The corpuscles of the blood as revealed fountains of the nt thug not by the microscope—some separate, and others piled together like so many pieces of allowing a single exception to my coin. theory. The attention of the reader will next be directed to the principal causes of nerve and blood derangements, or the primary causes of dis- ease. But, before concluding, let me ask the reader if the foregoing does not lead to the irresistible conclusion, that the first duty of a physician to a patient is to see that his nervous system is set right, his mind emancipated from all depressing influences, and his blood restored to that condition which enables it to impart the tint of health to the skin, strength to the muscle, and' rich and abundant juices to all the tissues? CHAPTER II. THE CAUSES OF NERVOUS DERANGEMENTS AND AFFECTIONS OF THE BLOOD. I HE subject of this chapter opens a boundless field for the investigation of physiologists. Indeed, should an attempt be made to trace out all the influences, immediate and remote, which tend to destroy the mental and nervous equilibrium, and render the blood a fountain of death rather than life, many volumes like this would be filled, and then the task would be unfinished. I shall, therefore, limit myself to an explanation of the principal causes ; those over which we have the easiest control. Each shall be treated under its appropriate head, witlTsuch variety of matter as may be necessary to make it entertain- ing, as well as instructive. Ignorance. This is the vehicle, loaded down like a city omnibus, or an excur- sion steamboat, that conveys into the sys- tem nearly all the nervous derangements and affections of the blood which afflict the human family. A larg# proportion of all the evils the essays in this chapter will complain of, really spring from one com- mon root—ignorance. Errors in eating, drinking, sleeping, dressing, ventilation, sexual isolation, sexual association, medi- cating, &c, the bad habits of childhood, and of adult age, may be traced directly to ignorance. It casts a black shadow over every hearth-stone-it makes a dark Tr?™sf to f "m8elf ove,r J . the fence by the straps of corner in every institution of learning—it his boots. Fig. 8. IGNORANCE. 41 clothes with bigotry and intolerance thousands who claim to be the apostles of the Christian religion—and it even revels in the halls of science, putting smoked glasses over the eyes of those we are taught to revere as philosophers and sages—it makes the peoples of all our planet play " blind-man's buff," where, on every side, there are moral and physical pit-holes ready to ingulf them. No one sees his neighbor in his true character, and if he grasps for him, only catches costumes or professions. We are like moles, with only the rudiments of eyes, groping above the ground inhabited by those burrowing beneath. Thank God, we have powers which those little quadrupeds have not, and if we will but place ourselves openly to the light which is ready to shine upon us, if we will be tolerant of each other's opinions, weigh all things, and hold fast that which is good, our posterity, if not we, may behold the brightness of the " good time coming." There are two kinds of ignorance—real and wilful. 'The latter is the outgrowth of the former. No sane person will voluntarily sacrifice health through wilful ignorance, unless that wilful igno- rance is plumply backed by some of the genuine article. Like the "Jacobs," "Original Jacobs," and "Real Original Jacobs," they are all Jacobs after all. A person may shut his eyes to a disagree- able truth—resolve within himself that he will not see it, and impa- tiently trample it under his feet, and yet, did he fully comprehend the consequences, he would desist from his folly. A glutton "may overload his stomach, with a full knowledge that he is violating a physical law—knowing that this violation will certainly render him physically uncomfortable. But were he sufficiently informed to have presented clearly to his mind the latent as well as active derangements one such violation engenders ; could he but see the in- numerable ills which will remotely spring from a'cause apparently bo slight, is it to be supposed he would sacrifice years of physical comfort for a momentary gratification of a morbid appetite ? A thoughtless young woman may dress imprudently to attend a fashion- able ball, covering but partially, or leaving completely exposed, portions of her person which she habitually wraps in flannels or furs. She is told of the danger, but laughingly retorts, " I know it, but I am bound to have a good time." This may be attributed to wilful ignorance, but a stratum of real ignorance lies at the bottom of it. She has an imperfect knowledge of how fearfully and wonderfully 42 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. she is made, and how one slight physical derangement may lay the foundation for many diseases; to future years of mental and bodily wretchedness ; and finally, a premature grave. " A short life, and a merry one!" she gayly ejaculates, without knowing that such a thing is a physical impossibility ; but it is, unless she ends her brief hours of frivolity by cutting her throat, or otherwise abruptly terminating her existence in one short moment, for all recklessness leads to mental and physical suffering; and though life may be short under such cir- cumstances, it is al ways long enough for nature to inflict her penalties; for a person cannot die without disease, or physical infirmity, except by accident or suicide, and when a few days or weeks of reckless hilar- ity are followed by months of mental and physical distress, even if death does come to the rescue, what becomes of the theory, of " a short life, and a merry one" ? Let the foregoing two instances suffice for an illustration of what is generally called wilful ignorance. We see that this species has its origin in real ignorance, and that a better understand- ing of the laws of life and health would speedily put an end to recklessness entered upon with but a partial knowledge of the con- sequences. Real ignorance is the fearful enemy of mankind. Let us commence at the very beginning of the human being. How many know the essential conditions to bring into the world a healthy child ? A man and woman love each other, or think they do, or they do not, but it is expedient to marry, and they do marry. The next thing you hear is, that the wife is pregnant. How did she become so ? Accidentally, probably, for nearly all children are the accidents of gratified passion, instead of the products of willing parents who premeditated and prepared themselves for so important a work. Most married people are ignorant of the fact that their own physical conditions at the moment each yields the germ, which is to start into existence a human being, has an everlasting influence upon that being. Many a child has been conceived when its father was lounging about home on account of sickness, and to-day suffers physically, and perhaps mentally, from the effects of that paternal illness. There are thousands of children to-day with disordered nervous and vascular systems, who are so because they were con- ceived at the "making up" of quarrelsome progenitors. Many a child is the offspring of a rape, perpetrated by a brutal husband IGNORANCE. 43 upon an unwilling wife, and this offspring goes through life with a weakly nervous system as a consequence. Men and women marry, ignorant of the laws of mental and physi- cal adaptation. This botchery of human procreating machinery goes blindly at work turning out babies. The babies do not ask to be born. Life and disease are both thrust upon them. Poor things ! The doctors will earn half their bread and butter from these wretched specimens of humanity, if the unfortunates manage to live long enough to earn any thing. The ignorance of parents prior to, or at the moment the embryo of a new being is created, brings forth only the first instalment of disease with which it will have to con- tend. Here and there a prudent woman may be found who knows to what extent the offspring within her womb is physically influenced by her habits of thought and action. The majority do not. Few men, when treating pregnant women with unkindness, are conscious of the injury they are inflicting upon the miniature human being. The period of utero-life is one fraught with danger to the health of the defenceless little creature, which nestles as shrinkingly within the walls of the uterus before, as it does timidly to its mother's bosom after its birth. The babe is born ! What next ? Not one mother of a thousand knows how to rear a child in a way to promote health of nerve and blood. She'feeds and clothes it improperly during infancy and childhood; she drugs it almost to death, or lets some doctor do it, for ills proceeding from one or more of the causes already alluded to. Then the child must be vaccinated. How few know the fact that scrofulous, syphilitic, and other impurities are taken from the arms of diseased children, and inoculated into the blood of those who are free from such impurities! The knife of the father, or the needle of the mother, or the aid of a physician with whom the parents are entirely unacquainted, is employed to perform this im- portant operation, when only those combining skill with the great- est integrity, should be trusted. So that, from this source, a new element to corrupt the blood is imparted to the infant. As the child advances in years, a new and strange passion seizes it, often before the proper age of puberty. Ignorant of the complexity and offices of the procreative organs, it falls into bad habits in efforts to gratify the passion, and further nervous and blood derangements ensue. If it be a female, she arrives at the age when menstruation begins, un- 44: CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. taught regarding this function. She observes the blood issuing from her body, and frightened at its appearance, attempts to stay the flow. I have many times been consulted by pale women suffering from menstrual irregularities, which were induced in childhood, by attempting to arrest the menstrual discharge, by applying cold water, ice, or snow to the parts. Those who do know enough of the func- tion to avoid this error, do not know how necessary prudence is during its performance. In rural districts, the out-houses are often built to project over streams, or they stand on hill-sides, so that draughts of air are continually passing up through them. The best of them in the country are poorly built for the protection of the health, and especially the health of women. Many cases of menstrual irreg- ularities, particularly in those who have but just commenced the per- formance of the function, may be traced to exposures in badly con- structed places of this kind. Keeping the feet dry, and the bosoms from sudden changes of temperature, when they have been made sen- sitive, and susceptible to disease by excessive dress, are precautions too often neglected. In some cases too little, and in others, too much, exercise is indulged in during the menstrual flow. The coyness of young people of both sexes, but especially of young women, in attending to the "calls of nature," are also fruitful sources of nervous and blood derangements. Children are brought up to regard the necessary attentions to the bladder and bowels as something so indelicate as to require the greatest privacy, so much so, that if places constructed for such purposes are not entirely shielded from observation, a young man, or a young woman, will go all day, or possibly for several days, without attending to two very important functions. The results are, the blood becomes poisoned by the retention and absorption of waste matters, the nervous energies of the liver, bowels, kidneys, and bladder, become paralyzed, and if the victim be a female, the pressure of water in the bladder in front, of the excrementitious matters of the bowels above and be- hind, displaces that sensitive organ, the womb, and then follow all sorts of ills to make life wretched. What kind of etiquette is this which teaches people to be ashamed of the functions an All-wise Creator has instituted to preserve and keep active the most complex machin- ery ever made by His hand ? Is it indeed a disagreeable task, one we are to be ashamed of, to dispose of the useless portions of the liquids and solids we have put into our mouths ? May we not better IGNORANCE. 45 teach our children to be ashamed of gluttony—of besmearing their mouths with vile tobacco, and loading their breath with the vapors of unwholesome drinks ? May we not better place a gate at the door wherein so much that is injurious enters, than to stop up the outlets from which many things purer depart! Especially when absent from home, among pepple they have never seen before, and may never see again, are coyish young people—and some old ones— foolish in this particular; and because appropriate places for physical relief cannot be entered without observation, irregularities are inau- gurated which finally bring them to their beds, and their doctors. People in advanced life, unless sorely afflicted with mock modesty, are usually more sensible in regard to this matter, and still, they are not sensible enough for their own good, nor have they a particle of sense, in many instances, in giving right impressions to their children. Grown-up children know too little of themselves to instruct those who come after them. Mothers, who have the care of children, and who should, consequently, possess all attainable information regard- ing the-human system and its wants, often know the least. Picture to your imagination women, well-informed on most subjects, bear- ing in educated circles the reputation of being intelligent, calling on a physician, and trembling with anxiety on account of a tumor they had discovered, from which they apprehended the most painful con- sequences. An examination is made, and what they regard as a tumor, is found to be simply the neck of the womb, in a perfectly healthy condition, and in the place our Maker assigned for it! Such instances have occurred in my practice. One young married woman, of unquestionable popular intelligence, consulted me con- cerning a supposed cancer. Her mind was terribly exercised about it, and she hoped her case was not incurable. On examination, the cancer proved to be simply the clitoris, although somewhat in- flamed by her frequent manipulations after she first discovered it. At the outset, it was only the natural organ such as is found in all healthy women ; but she could not let it alone when she discovered it, thinking she " must do something for it," and the growing irri- tation resulting from her attentions to the supposed cancer, she at- tributed to the progress of the disease. Women have consulted me who supposed leucorrhcea was simply a natural and healthy dis- charge. With such ignorance on the part of mothers, especially when they are so thoroughly saturated with fashionable social non- 46 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD ARRANGEMENTS. sense, we can hope for little improvement in children. We must look to schools, ultimately, for our physical redemption, and if prop- er means will be adopted by those having charge of our institutions of learning, great things may be effected in one generation. In the chapter headed "The Prevention of Disease," I shall make some suggestions which should be pursued in all places where young people are taught. In a country like ours, so full of school-houses, ignorance in reference to vital matters pertaining to physical life, would be utterly inexcusable, if the right course were adopted by our boards of education, and school committees. I will now conclude this essay with the remark that much that will appear in subsequent pages might be embodied under this head, for ignorance lies at the bottom of all bad habits and usages. But under separate heads can be given greater prominence to many things to which I wish to call especial attention. Fig. 9. Violating the Moral Nature. Many people have an idea that if they pay fair respect to what are usually understood as physical laws, all will go well with them so far as bodily health is concerned. But few seem to understand the sympathy ex- isting between the moral and physical man. If an individual, to-day, has sufficient phys- ical strength and endurance to suppress the voice of the inward monitor—the conscience —and retire at night with a relish for sleep, after he has perpetrated some great moral wrong, he imagines he will always be equally successful in crushing out his better nature. But if no other cause inter- venes to render his nervous system, and hence his mind, wretchedly sensitive to all A man who has nearly worn mcfo violations, the effort required to put himself out in the service of •■ . .,,.., , the devil. down conscience will, in time, do it, and all at once he will find himself plunged into a mental hell, from which and into the sulphurous one pic- tured by ancient theologians, would be a grateful deliverance. We cannot persistently do those things which we feel to be wron"- VIOLATING THE MORAL NATURE. 47 without wearing away (by slow degrees, perhaps, in some cases), the nervous strength which, to-day, sustains us in violations of our moral sense. If, by a dishonorable course of life, a man may have attained wealth, and that wealth has given him position, and during all this time he has managed to preserve a fair degree of health— possibly excellent health—the loss of property, and of position at- tained through it, brings him to his reflections, and the doctors have no easy task to cure him of ills which almost surely overtake him. Then, if not before, the voice of conscience, which has been contu- maciously suppressed, keeps him awake at night-time, for the lessons which should have been received from day to day for years, are crowded upon him in one moment, and hypnotics and anodynes are of no avail in bringing sleep to his eyelids, and repose to his agitated nervous system. Nor is it sufficient that the moral nature be simply preserved, in order to make a man strong and noble. It must be built up. As physical exercise develops the muscle, so exercise of the moral faculties develops the moral strength of the man, and this moral strength makes him mentally buoyant, courageous, and happy; and this condition of mind promotes digestion, gives regular pulsa- tion to the heart, action to the liver and kidneys, full and deep res- piration, and muscular life and elasticity. It is not necessary that a man should do as his conscientious neighbor, or as society dictates. So long as mankind are not run in one mould, there will be diversity of opinion, and each man will form, from investigation and reflection, a moral standard, consider- ably his own, or at least modified by his individuality. It is not what others say of us individually, or what people of other nation- alities say of our nation, that will make us great, powerful, and happy. It is what we can feel regarding ourselves; it is the self- respect which a noble life creates ; if our consciences can unequivo- cally pronounce the verdict—Right—we are at once invincible—we are happy—we are healthy. The applause of others may tickle our vanity, at the moment we think it misapplied; but the applause of conscience sinks a shaft of moral strength, an unfathomable pleasure, down into the very soul's centre. It does not simply dwarf a man morally to devote his entire ener- gies to the accumulation of wealth, or the attainment of some other selfish object. It changes his physiognomy, or at least prevents it from acquiring a look of nobleness. An individual may not be 48 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. legally dishonorable, while straining every nerve for the accomplish- ment of a selfish purpose, but the simple neglect of his moral nature makes him less a man, not only in a moral but in a physical sense. The nervous stimulus, or life force, has been consumed for the realization of the one object of his ambition, and the various organs of the body have been cheated of that which belonged, in part, to them, so that a dwarfed soul looks out of a body which has not been healthfully developed. He may not be a shrunken man physic- ally, he may be fat—plump as an alderman; if so, much of the vital forces he wastes in his aggrandizement, are needed to spiritual- ize this gross corporeity. Have you never noticed how much differ- ence there is in the physical appearance of a good fat man, and a fat man who has neglected his moral development? From the former, the soul shines out like a light from a window; the latter has no more spiritual radiancy than the wax figure of a sixpenny showman. So that sins of omission, as well as of commission, against the moral nature, affect the physical well-being. There is no one way, perhaps, in which the moral man is more tor- tured than in the pursuit of wealth and position. In fact, this part of man's nature is often sacrificed entirely for the realization of these objects in our competitive world. Henry Ward Beecher, in one of his sermons, presented something interesting in this connection. "Did you ever," he asks, " see men made in this world? They had no great wisdom; they had no great honor; they had no great heroism ; they had no great patience; they had no great meekness; they had no great wealth of love; but they had a certain muck wisdom; they knew how to thrust their hands in where dirt was to be moulded; they knew how to amass property; they knew how to construct ships and houses; they had a kind of ferreting eye, a sort of weasel saga- city; they were keen and sharp; they were said to be prosperous, thriving men; they were being built up according to the estimation of men. Give a man five thousand dollars, and you have laid the foundation on which to build him—you have got his feet built; give him ten thousand, and you have built him up to the knees; give him twenty-five thousand, and you have built him to the loins; give liim a hundred thousand, and you have built him above the heart; give him two hundred thousand, and he is made all over. Two hundred thousand dollars will build a man in this world; two hundred and fifty thousand will make a good deal of a man; five hundred thou- VIOLATING THE MORAL NATURE. 49 sand makes a splendid fellow, as the world goes. The great trouble, however, is that although the materials may not be very costly, as God looks upon them, men find it difficult to build themselves in this way. Besides, they are very easily unbuilt. Where a man is merely what he owns, it does not take long to annihilate him. You can take a man's head off with a hundred thousand dollars; you can cut him in two with two hundred and fifty thousand; you can annihilate him with a kick of five hundred thousand, so that there would be nothing left of him but smoke! " There are thousands of thousands of men, of whom, if you take away their houses, and ships, and lands, and fiscal skill, and such other qualities belonging to them as they will not want in Heaven, and cannot carry to Heaven, there will not be enough left to repre- sent them there of righteousness, and godliness, and faith, and love, and patience, and meekness, and such like qualities. They have used all these qualities up for fuel for their machine. It has been their business in life to sacrifice probity that they might be rich; that they might gain power and influence; that they might make their hold on the world broader and stronger; and if they cannot carry forth these things which have been the objects to the attainment of which they had devoted all their energies, what is left for them to go out of life with? You see not only single specimens, but whole ranks of the dwarfed, insect class of men, patting each other on the shoulder, registering each other, and speaking of each other as ' our first men,' 'our largest men,' 'our influential men,' 'our strong men;' and yet, if you were to take away from them that of which the grave will divest them, you could not find them even with a microscope! "Do you not know just such men? If you were to think of those belonging to your own circle of acquaintance, and ask, not what this and that man are worth as factors in material things, but what they are worth as God looks upon them, what they are worth when measured by their righteousness, and faith, and love, and patience, and meekness, those things which are to make up our manhood in the eternal world, would you not find among them those of whom, if their selfishness, their heartlessness, their grasping skill, their worldly wisdom were taken from them, there would be scarcely any thing left?" It often happens that such men—men who, instead of making great names by pursuing some moral or beneficent object, simply 50 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. write their names on checks, business receipts, carve them out on trees, pencil them out on barns, on walls, and on the rude partitions of summer resorts—awaken to a consciousness of their moral im- poverishment after they become somewhat sated with wealth and petty enjoyments; and then there is a summary precipitation; a break- down of energy, of pride, of ambition, of appreciation of what they have attained, andso much disappointment and mental wretchedness, that health fails, and oh, how hard it is with hygiene, with tonics, with therapeutical electricity, with every means science and skill has discovered, to build up such men! They are the worst physical wrecks that enter a doctor's office; and although they say they would give all they possess for physical health and mental quietude, they cling tenaciously to the gold they have so long worshipped. How can they afford to part with it? All their generosity, all their love of humanity, all their love of God, and every good quality they brought into the world with them, have been melted into the glitter- ing lump. Although, as before remarked, there is a greater tendency to sacri- fice the moral nature in the pursuit of wealth and position in this world of pride and competition than in any other way, there is a manifest carelessness in regard to the preservation and development of the spark of the divinity within us in every department of life. Few men and women, comparatively, are fully truthful. Few treat their neighbors with exact justice; too many sacrifice peace of mind for momentary pleasure; thousands are daily and hourly doing what they Tcnow to be wrong. After all this violation of the moral sense come self-accusation, remorse, wretchedness, loss of sleep, loss of ner- vous vivacity and strength, and finally the whole system becomes more or less affected by the committal of sins for which punishment is only looked for beyond the present life, when it is hoped an escape may be effected through atonement and the grace of God. Present chas- tisements are overlooked, or attributed to other causes. People are often ill without knowing the cause, when, if they would turn their eyes inward and examine themselves searchingly, they would find that their physical discomforts arose from discords and inharmonies resulting from doing injustice to a neighbor, for wantonly letting slip a glorious opportunity to make some one happy. Nations, as well as individuals, suffer from wrong-doing. Govern- ments convulse and cripple their power, and shatter their constitu- VIOLATING THE MORAL NATURE. 51 tions by acts of injustice. It seems to me that nothing can be surer to end in discord, war, and bloodshed than despotism. Let any body of organized men prevent some other men from enjoying the privi- leges they arrogate to themselves, what more natural than for those oppressed men to conspire for the assassination, or, at least, over- throw of their oppressors ? What can be a more dangerous element in one people than the existence among them of another people, who, for some reason not founded upon justice, are denounced as not so good, not so intelligent, not so capable in any sense, and for which they are denied privileges in the pursuit of happiness which their more powerful neighbors maintain for themselves ? Can we reason- ably hope to outlive conspiracy, war, and bloodshed, till we take our neighbor by the hand rather than by the throat? Considering the prevalence of conceit in this world, are any of you quite sure you are any better or more intelligent than the man you are holding your foot upon ? and if so, is it not clearly your duty to take your foot off, give him a helping hand, and the widest opportunities and incen- tives for culture ? Would it not be better to devote the money you are paying the soldier or policeman to keep him in vassalage, to his education and elevation ? If, to-day, every ruler on our planet were making it the one great aim of his life to give equal religious, politi- cal, and social rights to all people ; if oppressions Were lifted from the hearts and shoulders of all God's children, if every individual would see his neighbor's rights as clearly as he discerns his own, the clash of arms on the battle-field between contending nationalities, the voice of intolerance between differing religionists, disputes in questions of law, the mutterings of men in petty strife, would all be swallowed up in one grand millennium of happiness and kindly feeling, which would go far toward promoting individual health and national greatness. This, you may say, is an ideal picture, and cannot be realized, but self-improvement will do it. If each one of us will be- stow a portion of that labor and criticism upon ourselves which we put forth professedly to improve our neighbors, the object aimed at in time will be accomplished. Nations are made up of individuals, and consequently, it is only necessary that every person know how much his own health and happiness depends upon that of his neigh- bor, and set himself about making himself more just, more truthful, more tolerant, to make society, nation, and government what each should be. We are too apt to say, our neighbor will not adopt the 52 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Golden Rule, and that, therefore, we will not. This is mainly the reason why a better condition of things is not attained. Every one is waiting for another. Let every one who feels the first impulse toward self-reformation, inaugurate the work at once. If none of his neighbors do, he will find a full compensation in the spiritual and physical benefitsthat accrue to himself, and if he suffers from injustice from others, he certainly does not suffer from injustice to himself. One thousand such men scattered over the world in one genera- tion, would become ten thousand in the next, and might in a few generations be counted by millions? Why hesitate because such a work cannot be accomplished in our life- time ? Because of the disposition of men to wait for each other in undertaking the work of self-improvement, the world is now filled with dishonorable retaliation. I will relate an instance in point. Standing at the counter of a tradesman, while the latter was telling a customer what a smart trick he had perpetrated upon some one who had cheated him, I was witness to the narration of the dishonorable feat, during which narration his eyes sparkled with revengeful delight. He concluded with the triumphant interroga- tory, "Didn't I serve him right?" This seemed as much directed to me as to my fellow-customer, and I felt morally bound to respond, when the fol- lowing colloquy ensued. " I don't think you did." Tradesman.—" Well, I do, for he is the biggest scoundrel in the city ; and I always like to get the start of such men. He is always looking out for a smart game of grab." " But of whom are dishonorable people to learn lessons of honesty, if every one who is defrauded by them, retaliates when opportunity offers ?" Tradesman.—" That is all very nice, but I am not the man to let a good chance slip to get even with the fellow who comes a big thing on me." GODDESS OF JUSTICE. VIOLATING THE MORAL NATURE. 53 "Well, then, you are only confirming the usual opinion of dis- honorable men, that ' all men are dishonest,' and your retaliation on. him will lead him, when opportunity presents, to again retaliate on you, and so on indefinitely, till death ends the warfare. Perhaps if you had reminded him of the chance presented to ' get even with him,' and spurned it as something you could not stoop to, it would have aroused the sleeping sense of honor within him ; but, if not, he could not justify his course of rascality with the reflection that he was as good as other men, for he would have, for once, at least, met, in a business way, one man who was above both petty re- venge and dishonesty. In my opinion, sir, you missed a golden op- portunity to do a neighbor good." The colloquy ended with a muttering response, which was not quite audible, but the tradesman, after all, was only practising a pretty well-established commercial code. Even when money is not an object, so dominant is the passion for revenge, business men often play financial tricks on their fellows, simply to " pay them off in their own coin," for some previous transaction of a similar kind, in which they were the victims. With this spirit of retaliation in the commercial world, where is fraud to end ? There is no one passion so dwarfing to man's moral growth, and, consequently, to his perfect physical development, as revenge. It whittles his soul right down to a pointed poisoned arrow, with which he is ever ready to pierce his offending neighbor. It plants in his eye an expression as fierce as the serpent's tongue; it shrinks the muscles of his face, and gives his lower jaw an unseemly protrusion ; it makes him a stockholder in " hell upon earth," and his neighbors unwilling sharers in the dividends. A revengeful man has that within him which destroys all capability of self-happiness, and all comfort to those who are compelled to come in contact with him. Perhaps it is something that many have not thought of, but it will be found, on experiment, that nothing pays better, physically, as well as morally, than the cultivation of the moral nature. One gets his pay as he goes along. As remarked before, he is recompensed in a happier mind, and better physical health, and there are those coming after him whose happiness should be considered as im- portant as his own, and the labor to promote which will make his soul larger, his nervous system more harmonious, his blood richer, and his muscles stronger, for is it not apparent in the light 54 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. of this essay, that a peaceful, just, generous mind, and a clear con- science, strengthen the whole animal organism? Fig. 11. The Food we Eat. Considering the fact that man by habit is omnivorous, and almost as much so as the pig, and that he eats about eight hundred pounds of food, exclusive of fluids, annually, it ought to surprise no one when I say that many derangements of the blood arise from the use of improper food. Look how directly the food goes to the stomach. It is taken into the mouth and masticated, into the stomach and digested, and then passes down into the lower stom- ach, where it meets the pancreatic fluids, and is sucked up into a duct, and carried directly into the blood at the angle formed by the great jugular vein on the left side of the neck, and the principal vein of the left arm. Then see how directly it goes to the manufacture of bone, muscle, nerve, &c. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in the North American Review, has presented this change very happily. " If," ho says, " the reader of this paper live another year, his self-conscious principle will have migrated from its present tenement to another, the raw materials even of which are not yet put together. A portion of that body of his which is to be, will ripen in the corn of his next harvest. Another portion of his future person he will purchase, or others will purchase for him, headed up in the form of certain barrels of potatoes. A third fraction is yet to be gathered in the Southern rice-field. The limbs with which he is then to walk will be clad with flesh borrowed from the tenants of many stalls and pas- tures, now unconscious of their doom. The very organ of speech, with which he is to talk so wisely, plead so eloquently, or speak so effectively, must first serve his humble brethren to bleat, to bellow, and for all the varied utterance of bristled or feathered barn-yard life. His bones themselves are, to a great extent, in posse, and not in esse. A bag of phosphate of lime which he has ordered from Professor Mapes for his grounds, contains a large part of that which is to be THE MARKET. THE FOOD WE EAT. 55 his skeleton, and more than all this, by far the greater part of his body is nothing after all but water, and the main substance of his scattered members is to be looked for in the reservoir, in the run- ning streams, at the bottom of the well, in the clouds that float over his head, or diffused among them all." The rapidity with which the food of to-day is incorporated into the body of to-morrow, should make us prudent in what we eat, If we would preserve our blood from impurity, and the atoms com- posing our bodies from disease. How prudent the human family is, may be seen by sitting at the tables of various peoples, civilized and barbarous. At home we are treated to all sorts of mixed dishes, seasoned with condiments, and saturated with the oleaginous juices of swine. Few of us stop to reflect that there may be as much an- tagonism in the stomach between the various kinds of flesh taken into it, as exists in the living world between the living bodies whose flesh we eat. A fashionable dinner comprises about three courses of different animal food ; in some cases turtle soup, then fish of some kind, then roast beef or turkey, with side dishes of mutton or lamb, veal or pork, etc. It cannot, perhaps, be demonstrated, but is it not reasonable to suppose, that each one of these meats pos- sess a latent magnetism, as individual in its character as when ani- mated by life. If so, the stomachs of some people have, every day, to conciliate and make up a happy family of a great diversity of mag- netic elements. To live fashionably is to live improperly. Now let us step intrusively into the kitchens of our neighbors. John Chinaman feasts his stomach on cats, dogs, wharf-rats, sea- slugs, sharks, bats, and caterpillar soup. Australians, and many other people, eat snakes, kangaroo-rats, mice, maggots, etc. The Japanese prefer green peaches, apricots, and plums, to ripe ones, as an offset, I suppose, to our eating green cucumbers. A traveler among the Indians of the Rocky Mountains, or a guest of the people of Zanzibar, will smack his astonished lips over puppy stew, with- out knowing what it is made of. One who visits Africa, may have a plate of tender young monkey; while the people of the Arctics treat their visitors to a diet of putrid seal's flesh, putrid whale's tail, reindeer's chyle, train oil, whale's skin, and partially hatched eggs. The native of Surinam eats toads, and the Hottentot considers roasted caterpillars to be savory as sugared cream. Frogs are eaten by the French, by the Chinese, and by many people in both 5G CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Europe and America. The French have lately taken to eating snails, having found their flavor superior to that of frogs. One hundred thousand are daily supplied to Paris by Burgundy and Champagne alone. On the Maguey plant in Mexico, a large yellow worm thrives, which the native Indian eats, and calls the dish Maguey butter. A Tribune correspondent is responsible for the statement that Emperor Maximilian was induced to try it. In brief, among the many strange things used as food, not already mentioned, may be named : elephant, hippopotamus, giraffe, zebra, antelope, wild ants, leopard, lion, alligator, crocodile, eggs of reptiles, lizard, wild-cat, panther, wolf, opossum, musk-rat, rat's brains, porcupine, bird's nest, locust, grasshopper, spider, and nearly every insect; and the Chinamen are so given to domestic economy as to eat the chrys- alis of the silk-worm after the cocoon has been wound off. In New York, the testicles of young animals are considered a dish for an epicure by many citizens. Charles Louis Napoleon Achille Murat, son of the great French general, who spent the closing years of his life in Florida, and who had tried all sorts of eating, declared as follows: — " Horse-flesh, good—dog, fox, and cat, only middling—skunk, tolerably good—hawk, first-rate—crow, second-rate—pigeon, jay- bird, and blackbird, tolerable, and " he added, " though I have no prepossession, buzzard is not good." Now, nearly all the foregoing animals, insects, etc., contain the true constituents of food, and many of them are not unwholesome. Some indeed which seem revolting to an educated taste, are better and purer for aliment than others which we regard as above criticism. To sustain life, we simply need food which possesses saccharine, oleaginous, albuminous, and gelatinous properties, combined with a proper admixture of salt, sulphur, iron, lime, and phosphorus. But what we should do is to avoid food which, possessing all the neces- sary alimentary elements, is also tainted by disease. One of the most common causes of blood impurities is the use of pork. It has been said that all things were created for some wise purpose. This is undoubtedly true, but hogs were never made to eat. We read that Christ used them to drown devils; they can never be appropriated to a more beneficent use. As an article of diet, pork exerts a most pernicious influence on the blood, overloading it with carbonic acid gas, and filling it with scrofula. The hog is not a THE FOOD WE EAT. 57 healthy animal. From its birth it is an inveterate gormandizer, and to satisfy its eternal cravings for food, every thing in field or gutter, however filthy, finds lodgment in its capacious stomach. It eats filth and wallows in its filth, and is itself but a living mass of filth. When, therefore, it is remembered that all our limbs and organs Fig. 12. TUB USE OF SWINE. "And when they were come out, they [the devils] went into the herd of swine: and, he hold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters."—St. Matthew, 8th chap., 32d verse. have been picked up from our plates—that our bodies are made up of the things we have eaten—what pork-eater will felicitate himself with the reflection, that, according to physiological teachings, he is physically part hog. " We have been served up at the table many times over. Every individual is literally a mass of vivified viands; he is an epitome of innumerable meals; he has dined upon himself, 3* 58 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. supped upon himself, and in fact—paradoxical as it may appear— has again and again leaped down his own throat." From the earliest history of swine, they have been regarded as more subject to scrofula than any other animal. This disease, so peculiar to the hog, before it received a name, so far ante-dated the same disease in the human family, that when it did make its appear- ance in the latter, it was named after the Greek name of swine, as best expressing its character. There are various diseases peculiar to certain animals. Cats are subject to fits; dogs more than other animals, to hydrophobia; horses to glanders and heaves ; the cow to consumption and hollow-horn ; sheep to the rot; fowls to the gapes, swelled head, and blindness; and scrofula is the prevailing disease among swine. The diseases affecting other animals than swine, are usually such as to condemn them before they reach the shambles of the butcher; and the law treats with severity all venders of diseased meats, with the exception of pork dealers. This is partly because the scrofula of the hog cannot always be readily detected, and in a measure owing to the indifference of pork-eaters to the known pres- ence of tubercles, tumors, etc., in pork. When man comes to be affected with hollow-horn and rot, beef and mutton must be more closely looked to! To what extent the flesh of various animals may be affected by the diseases to which they are subject can hardly be determined, but Professor Gamgee affirms " that one-fifth of the common meat of Great Britain—beef, veal, mutton and lamb—is diseased; while Professor Gerlach states that in Berlin at least as much diseased as healthy meat is consumed." It is apparent, how- ever, that when scrofula may be communicated simply by habitual contact with a scrofulous person, the contact of scrofulous food with the mouth and stomach must inevitably inoculate the system of the imprudent eater. One fact regarding pork is well known to all physiologists. It is, with few exceptions, the most indigestible food that can be taken into the stomach. Again, pork is charged with being wormy. It killed a great many persons in Germany, and not a few in other countries, including our own. Our consul, at Elsinore, wrote our Secretary of State all about it, and scientists, on both sides of the Atlantic, got out their micro- scopes, rubbed up their spectacles, and after examining the flesh of the arraigned porker, found he possessed imps of probably the same devils which were cast into his progenitors on the hill-side. The THE FOOD WE EAT. 59 illustrations in Figs. 13 and 14, show how these fellows appear under the microscope. They are called Trichinae, and the disease they produce in man is denominated Trichiniasis. The parasites are so minute that they can make their way to any part of the system, and a writer who has witnessed their effects thus describes them:— " This perforation of parts by millions of microscopic worms, is attended with symptoms more or less violent, depending upon their numbers, and the strength and health of the victim. While passing the coats of the bowels, violent purging often arises, simulating ar- senical poisoning, and many persons have been unjustly suspected of this crime, when persons eating food prepared for them have been thus alarmingly seized. As the worms make their way into the muscle, pains like those of rheumatism, cramp, weakness, or entire loss of power, resembling paralysis ensue; and when the numbers of Trichinaa are large, wasting, exhaustion, and death follow. Persons escaping with a few of these disagreeable tenants, suffer in a smaller degree from similar symptoms, but gradually recover, and a small portion of their muscles, removed and magnified, reveal the Trichi- nae arrived at their destination, and undergoing the various stages of calcareous encystment." Trichiniasis took the form of an epidemic in some parts of Ger- many, in 1865, and handled a great many people on this side of the Atlantic very roughly. Cases occurred in this city, in portions of Pennsylvania, and extensively in the West, where the hog enters so largely into the diet of the people. A scientific investigating com- mittee in Chicago, reported having found in twelve hundred hogs slaughtered, one in fifty-eight affected with a parasite; and the ad- vice of that committee was, that in cooking pork the Trichinae be thoroughly cooked to death ! 160° Fahrenheit was thought sufficient to do this. (Cooked Trichinae ought to be as good as the Hottentot's toasted caterpillar!) Other investigators contend that pork-eaters consume eighteen thousand of these microscopic parasites to every cubic inch of affected pork taken into the stomach, and that ten out of every fifty hogs are so affected, to which a newspaper facetiously responds:—" If it be true that ten out of every fifty Western hogs are Trichinous when only four out of one hundred are so in Germany, where people are dying with Trichiniasis as with a pestilence, the cholera is nothing to apprehend beside this pork evil. To be eating microscopic worms by the million is no joking matter, even to the 60 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. million who have to pay a big price for such food ; but if a million of worms are, in turn, to eat us—if they are to eat us into the grave, beside leaving others to eat us in it—the joke becomes entirely too opaque for satisfactory appreciation." The discovery of the Trichinse and the fatality attending its trans- mission to the human system iu many cases resulted in an excited Fi